It's been quite some time. Really sorry about that, I was busy with school work. Now here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it! And yeah, I don't own anything in POTC.

CHAPTER 10: A PIRATE'S LIFE

"Lieutenant, forgive me for saying this but this search is totally pointless."

Lieutenant Morris continued to walk around in circles inside the Trinidad ship cabin. Commodore Norrington's last words of order seemed to be still ringing in his ears.

"Bring back the two girls to Port Royale, alive or dead. Don't think of returning without them."

Lieutenant Morris shuddered just thinking of those words. "How am I going to find two girls I've never seen before?" He fell back to his chair and stared at the rough, wooden ceiling. "Besides, I didn't become a lieutenant just to find lost girls." He sighed again. Lieutenants are supposed to take orders from Commodores, and that was an order. He'd be in trouble if he refused to take it.

The stout man was still chattering on, having not noticed that the Lieutenant was too absorbed with his own thoughts. Lieutenant Morris cleared his throat and the stout man finally stopped.

"I cannot agree better with what you have just said, Captain Marco. But that was an order the Commodore gave me and I must take it." He stood up and looked sternly at the Captain. "So must you."

Without another word, the Captain left the cabin and headed back on deck. He shook his head.

"First the Commodore, now even the Lieutenant is out of his mind."

The whole crew was waiting expectantly when they saw their Captain emerge from the cabin. A look on the Captain's gloomy face told them they still have to sail on. With groans and moans, they headed back to their posts.

-----

Captain Jack Sparrow eyed the British ship with his spyglass again. The stupid ship seems to be floating towards them. This worried him a bit. Will saw this too and waited for the Captain's orders.

"Maybe we should skip this one, Captain. Who knows what they're up to."

Captain Sparrow shook his head as he reached for his sword.

'This is too good a chance to miss. Besides, we're pirates. Looting is our life. Nothing will go wrong."

Will still looked worried. "Well, just hope Alicia will take it well."

"Don't worry." Jack smiled. "She'll love the idea."

Alicia felt restless as she joined the rest of the crew. Her first loot! She sniffed the sea air with a satisfied smile on her face. She really felt like a pirate. Jack Sparrow and Will were standing by the wheel, while the rest of the crew was led by Gibbs. Anamaria was giving out swords and pistons to everyone. When she reached Alicia, though, she stopped, ignoring Alicia's outstretched palms.

"The Captain wants to talk to you."

Alicia's jaw dropped. He can't make her miss this one. Reluctantly, she dragged her feet towards where Jack Sparrow was standing. When Jack saw her coming, he smiled at her and motioned her forward.

"Why the long face, luv? You don't think I'm gonna let ye miss this one will ye?"

Alicia's face lit up. "That means I'm in?"

"Of course you're in. But you're not going out there." Captain Sparrow pointed towards the British ship. "You're staying here." He pointed the wheel of the ship.

Alicia's face dropped down instantly. "What's the difference?"

Jack laughed while shaking his finger. "That's a lot of difference for me, luv. Ye see, while we're out there looting, ye stay here commandeering my ship. Ain't that wonderful?" He said cheerily.

Alicia stared at him with disbelief. "You can't be serious. I… I… I'll be missing all the action!"

Jack laughed again and laid his arms around Alicia. She was staring to hate this.

"Actually, luv, ye are still part of the action. Ye see, your job is to take care of my ship from intruders, and help me and me crew escape after the looting."

Captain Sparrow let go of Alicia and patted her on the shoulder.

"Ye have a difficult job, luv. If one of me mates were left in that ship, ye are going to answer to my pistol." At this he suddenly raised the pistol in his hand and made Alicia jump.

Jack roared with laughter as he turned around and joined his crew. Will, following close behind him, gave Alicia an apologetic look before joining Jack. Alicia rubbed her shoulders and silently watched them prepare themselves. She sighed. Guess this looting idea wasn't as good as she expected it to be.

-----

Captain Marco still sat silently on a barrel when a crew mate ran towards him.

"Captain, ship sighted."

Captain Marco remained seated, not raising his head to look at his crew mate and continued to mumble incomprehensible words under his breath.

The young man continued urgently. "Captain, this is serious. There's a ship coming towards us, and it looks like a pirate ship."

The word "pirate" seemed to have brought the captain back to his senses.

"What?" he stammered. "A pirate ship?"

The young man nodded. Captain Marco rose to his feet and walked towards the wheel. He snatched out his spyglass and looked. It is a pirate ship. "God must be helping us." He muttered to himself. The young man heard him and looked at him questioningly.

"Captain, you think Commodore Andrews' daughters could be there?"

"It is possible." The Captain replied as he lowered his spyglass. Then he turned to the young man and said. "Tell the crew to prepare the sails. We need to move closer for a better look."

He brought his spyglass to his eye again. "In the meantime, we still have to be ready. Who knows what those pirates are up to."

The young man nodded and left the captain to his own thoughts. The pirate ship seemed to be moving towards them as well. Do pirates always act so boldly? The captain thought. Maybe the girls are indeed kept hostage, and these pirates are coming to bargain.

The two ships were nearing it each other. Captain Marco could make out the movements inside the pirate ship. The whole crew was standing still, led by two armed men. When he looked towards the wheel, he was surprised to see a woman stirring. This is no ordinary pirate ship, he thought to himself.

The pirate ship came nearer. One of the leaders stood on the edge of his ship and shouted with his arms opened wide.

"We come in peace!"

Captain Marco eyed the man warily as he swaggered, trying to keep his balance and talk at the same time.

"What do you want?" The captain shouted in return.

The pirate cleared his throat. "Well, how should we say this? Let's see. We're not greedy pirates; we don't want ye ship. All we want is… ye gold." At this he smiled, showing his gold teeth.

"WHAT!" The captain roared, but it was too late. There was a shout, and all the pirates were climbing towards their ship.

Captain Marco shouted too, but his crew was definitely surprised by the sudden pirate attack. As expected, the British soldiers weren't prepared to see pirates storming into their ship. With a few hits, the soldiers were knocked over as some of the pirates ran down to the ship's deck.

Watching his soldiers fall one by one, Captain Marco panicked. He raised his own sword and ran towards the mob. He came face to face with the pirate leader. Instantly, the pair dueled. The pirate was gradually overpowering him when suddenly, luck was with him. A British soldier who was pushed aside by a pirate fell over his opponent. Quickly, the Captain disarmed the man and aimed his sword at the pirate leader's throat.

"Ask your men to stop or I'll slit your throat."

Before the pirate could answer though, there was another shout and a pair of legs hit him on the head. His sword flew away and he was knocked overboard. The captain broke through the surface of the water and looked. It was the girl he saw earlier stirring the pirate ship who hit him. He immediately swam towards a rope dangling down his ship. By the time he climbed aboard, the last of the pirates were leaving his ship. Still gasping for breath, he looked around frantically to ask his soldiers' help; but all of them lay down helplessly, wounded and battered.

"NO!" He moaned helplessly as he ran towards the edge of the ship. The pirate ship was picking up a strong wind, and was out of sight in a few minutes.

"No…" Captain Marco moaned again as his legs gave way and he fell down. Lieutenant Morris emerged from below deck, dragging a chair behind him and some loose ropes dangling from his shoulders. He looked around at the devastating state of the ship. Then he caught sight of the captain and marched towards him.

"Captain, I want you to chase that pirate ship right this moment! Those scallywags took all our gold and almost all our supplies. We have to stop them!" He slammed his fist on to the edge of the ship, staring hard at the captain.

The captain shook his head. "It's too late. They've escaped. We won't be able to catch up with them."

Lieutenant Morris' eyes widened with horror. He staggered towards a box that was still whole and sat down. Now he is really in trouble.

-----

"Yo ho ho… a pirate's life for me…"

The sky had fallen dark but the Black Pearl is brightly lit. The crew was celebrating for a successful loot that afternoon. Captain Sparrow never felt any better. He watched as his crew danced around the lamp light, drinking rum and singing the pirate song he taught them. Alicia was one of them, her silhouette Jack couldn't stop staring at.

"What are you staring at?"

Jack looked up as Will came over to sit beside him, holding a bottle in his hand. Jack didn't know what to say; there were some things that could leave Captain Sparrow speechless, and this was one of them.

Will nudged Jack, thinking that the Captain was already drunk. "Is Alicia your new target?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe yes, maybe not."

Will eyed him warily.

Jack sighed. "Alright, mate, I'll tell ye what I think: I think Alicia really likes me."

Will snorted. Jack's drunk so soon? He thought. Seeing Will's reaction, Jack shook his head and said.

"I'm serious mate. Many times, she's been helping me out. Like this afternoon, she saved me from that British poodle." Then he lowered his voice so that Will had to move closer to him to hear what he was saying. "Though, I personally think she saving me was a stupid thing to do, coz ye know, I can't die so what's the point saving me? Savvy?"

Will rolled his eyes. He is drunk. Will cleared his throat and said.

"Listen Jack. First of all, I think Alicia helps you because you once saved her, so she's just repaying your kindness. Secondly, I don't think she likes you at all. She'd be hard to impress."

Jack laughed. "Nonsense, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, mate."

"The problem is, she's not really aware that you're Captain Jack Sparrow."

Jack opened his mouth to argue but Alicia suddenly ran towards their direction.

"What are you talking about?" She asked as she reached for another bottle of rum.

"Nothing." Jack and Will replied in unison.

Alicia gave them a quizzical look. "Then, come on and join us!"

"I think I'll do that." Jack replied immediately and swaggered his way towards the dancing pirates.

Alicia laughed at him and ran back to the crew as well. Will smiled. On second thought, maybe the two would actually make a perfect pair. He drank from his bottle and saw Lynne emerge from below deck.

She still wore her party dress, already worn, tattered and smudgy. Her hair was askew and her face showed signs of disapproval of the celebration going on. Will sensed trouble brewing and rose up immediately. Lynne walked towards the dancing crowd. No one seemed to have noticed her presence. Alicia was leading the crew in their song, with Jack behind her.

"Yo ho ho… a pirate's life for me… hey!"

Lynne suddenly pulled Alicia away from the crowd.

"Lynne! You've finally decided to get up! Come on and join the celebration!" Alicia was all-smiles.

Lynne, on the other hand, was not amused. "I heard the ship did some looting a while ago, from a British Navy ship! How would you explain that?"

"Aye, that's why we're celebrating! I'm so happy I had my first loot!"

At this, Alicia sang out loud: "Yo ho… a pirate's life for…"

A resounding slap went across Alicia's face. All the singing and dancing stopped. Everyone was looking from Lynne to Alicia. Alicia's hand was on her cheek, which was reddening from Lynne's slap. Lynne's eyes were staring right at Alicia, flaring with anger.

"How could you say such a thing? You are NOT A PIRATE!" Lynne shouted at Alicia.

Tears streaming down her face, Alicia replied. "Go back if you want to, but I'm staying here. Things would have turned out all right if you hadn't slapped me. But you did, and now, I'm not going anywhere but here!"

Alicia ran away, sobbing. Lynne was dumbstruck. Jack was the first to break the silence.

"I think I'll go with her." And he ran after Alicia.

Everyone started to drift away. Soon, Will and Lynne were the only ones left on deck. Will looked intently at Lynne, who was still standing still, motionless. Suddenly, Lynne broke into uncontrollable tears and dropped down into her knees. Her cries echoed into the darkness.

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