A/N: Yes children, an update! I find it only fitting that I update today. So, raise your hands if you got into the Midnight showing... All I can say is I will be going again. Please spend the 8 bucks and have a good time. Oh, and I do tend to change POV's between 3rd person and 1st, it should be easy to catch if I do. Anyway, on with the story.

Play nice.

McFadden-

Chapter Three

At first it was like picking up an old habit again, but 12 hours in, the waves looked like they were laughing at her. Moira spent most pf her time berating herself for throwing so much caution to the wind. Jack was dead, and had been for many years. Why the hell was he still able to influence her to do something so stupid when he wasn't even there anymore. Taking the small and familiar compass out of her sachet, she noticed that it hadn't changed direction since she last picked it up. Being thus frustrated, she nearly tossed it overboard.

Silence was one thing that was not realized on the Lazarus. Moira cursed the waves for mocking her as she tried to steer and raise the mainsail at the same time, she screamed intelligible words at the dolphins that picked up route alongside of her ship, and Jack was thrown in there somewhere too, although, she couldn't tell you why. Inevitably something was going to have to change.

Almost a full day after setting sail, Moira was utterly frustrated with the ship. Call it being rusty if you will, but the point was all the same. Try as she may to deny it; she had to go to Port Royale to try and find straggler sea merchants who were once pirates to help her with the maintenance of her ship. She was either going to go mad managing it herself, or she'd just jump off of it and will it to sink on its own as she rotted in the sea.

Shifting a few degrees west, it took only a few hours more to be able to see the port town on the horizon. Growing darker by the minute, she was grateful that there were so many sailors lanterns on the small boats docked there. It would be easy to at least get her docked.

Once in port, Moira debarked and headed straight into town. Vaguely remembering by a slight sense of ease, she became comfortable with her surroundings. Few people we out enjoying the heavy night air. Walking down a pebbled street, Moira halted and did a double take at who she saw. There, headed into a seedy pub, she spotted Cotton with his parrot. Sneaking closer, leery of the possibility of the Navy lurking about, Moira slid into the bar and approached cotton by clearing her throat.

"Damned be my soul if it isn't Cotton!"

Swinging around fast, both the older man and his parrot looked her over with a hard and judging eye before they softened with recognition. The parrot then squawked.

"A needle in the eye...A needle in the eye!"

Moira smiled at his shocked expression.

"Make's a pirate go blind...Aye, it's me old friend."

Sitting on the stool next to him, she ordered him a drink and explained her whole situation and he sat and drank his rum. Inadvertently, he was convinced, which didn't take much goading on her part, to be the first to help her crew her ship. He knew just the person to start with too. And he happened to be sitting in the very same pub.

Excusing himself with a simple gesture, Cotton limped off into the corner of the room. Returning moments later with a face she had known most of her life. Jacoby Gibbs, who would be easily persuaded to return to the sea after so many years off of it, didn't even utter a word before he hugged her. Neither one of them made the mistake of mentioning Sparrow. Both had deemed it to be a very sore subject. Moira just felt lucky that she was able to find the two best mates that Jack ever had upon the Black Pearl.

Coming up to speed with the big gaps in their lives, Moira made a question of Anamaria whereabouts to which Cotton lowered his gaze and Gibbs shook his head.

"She was among the first to swing at the gallows. You know how damn stubborn that woman was. She would never hide the fact that she was a pirate, even if it meant saving her neck. Too proud. She's much like you in that respect. That's why I thought for certain that you were gone. I shoulda known better than to think that they could catch you though. You've saved our hides more than once in worse situations..."

Cottons parrot squawked in agreement. Moira was more than a little saddened to her the new, but more upsetting was the fact that it didn't surprise her that it had happened. Not everyone in Jack's crew could've survived like she'd hoped. Leaning in closer as to not draw attention to their conversation, Moira asked.

"How did you two manage to escape?"

Cotton's parrot replied on behalf of his divested master.

"One sail shy of a full mast."

An answer to which Gibbs agreed fully.

"That be true Cotton. It's easy to slip under their noses if they think you're a crazy loon."

He looked back at Moira and leaned in further. Raising a brow.

"Everyone thought it better to just leave him alone, I mean, whose he gonna tell? No one but pirates understand that damned bird anyway. So his secret was safe. I on the other hand, I had to make an accord with a local merchant. If I steered the casting nets for him and cleaned the barnacles from hulls down in the Harbor, he wouldn't turn me in. He's a good man. Someone I suspect might be engaged to join us if ye be so willing..."

He widened his eyes at her as she seemed to mull it over. It was the unvoiced recession in her eyes that let him know she was thinking about Jack. Gibbs watched her as she sprinkled spices into her tankard of rum. That was something only one other person did. Jack had bartered spices like cinnamon and a bit of cocoa on a passage through the straits once. He'd put it in to flavor the rum. Gibbs guessed that Moira grew fond of the taste. Or maybe she just favored the smell. Her eyes met his once more and she lifted her cup.

"I need all the good help I can get. Let's see what he's got Gibbs!"

After gathering the supplies they would need for the long days at sea, the crew and it's captain returned to the docks in search for their final crew member. Gibbs led them down the shoreline a ways until they ran up on a small boat tied to the pier. He shouted and a man appeared, staggering out of the lower decks. It looked as though the commotion woke him up. Moira looked him over with a calculating stare. Sizing up the potential he had to be a good mate. He was an older man of 50 years, wild white hair with a beard like Cotton's, and a squint to his eye even in the dim dusk of the oncoming morning. He looked used to the sun and had rough and calloused hands. A perfect telltale mark of a good sailor. Gibbs explained the proposition and pointed to Moira. From the looks of it, he was more than willing to join them. He walked over to Moira and tilted his head.

"Ma' name's Manny, Captain. I've heard stories, and would be proud to be under the pirate flag as long as it was on your ship."

Looking over to where her ship rested, Cotton and Gibbs stood slack-jawed at the sight.

"It the ghost of your old ship Shadow! Last I heard, she was sunk off the coast of India."

That was what the King's Navy reported, but what they forgot to mention was that they didn't actually stick around to see her sink after they fired off their cannons. Moira smiled at that.

"She was a good ship, and she was badly injured while I was dealing with the East India Company, but I managed to salvage most of it and with time I made this one out of her."

With that she hauled the supplies and her new scappers, they all made a move to board the ship until Gibbs stopped them again. Looking quite uneasy with himself.

"Does she have a name? You know it's bad luck to be going out in the Locker on a ship without a name."

Moira smiled at Gibbs and his superstitions. Leave it to good ol' Gibbs to never lose a character trait. Of course her ship had a name! She walked up next to him and patted his shoulder.

"She's called Lazarus."

He considered it and grunted,

"Good name..."

Moira climbed aboard, headed to the wheel, and signaled for Cotton to haul the anchor up.

"Manny take in the extra line so that we don't drag the bottom. There's a row of coral that barrier this island. Don't want to snag it and lose the weight do we..."

It definitely felt better having people onboard with her now. Especially those she knew she could trust.

That night the remainder of the crew were familiarizing themselves with the ship's layout. Manny climbed up the mast of the ship and took post inside the crow's nest to keep an eye out for offending ships on the horizon. Gibbs was rightfully behind the wheel, taking the night shift for Moira. Cotton took it upon himself to tie down the lines of the sails so they picked up the starboard wind, billowing the sails out in full. Manny yelled down from his perch.

"Where are we headed Captain?"

She took out Jack's old compass, making sure no one was aware and took a peek at it. Watching as it spun around wildly and stopped, pointing South. She nodded to Gibbs.

"Keep the steerage south until daybreak. I'll come and take over from there. Manny, make sure we're in line with the southern sky. We need to get as far south tonight as we can. Lookout for small merchant vessels or anything that looks suspicious."

Gibbs took a glance at her and knew that she needed some time by herself to think. She held that far away look in her eyes, that never did anyone any good without silence.

"Aye Mariah, consider it done."

Smiling at the long-lost name he used, she retired for the night. Looking about the Captain's cabin, Moira started to ease up a little bit. Deciding it would be best if she changed, she undressed and brushed her hair out of the knots that the wind had tangled it into. While sitting on the bed, Moira picked up her dress that she wore that night and smelled it. The cinnamon was un her clothes. She relaxed with the scent, but it was so much heavier when she laid her head down on her pillow. This only made her miss Jack more. It also lulled her into a dream-filled sleep.

Early the following morning she awoke and took over the steerage and ordered Gibbs and the others to get some shuteye. A dream had put it in her head, the notion of a certain destination. She knew exactly where she was headed.

Misty waters had invaded their entire surroundings when Gibbs finally awoke. He wasn't the least bit thrilled with it either, and had no problem letting the Captain know how he felt. He knew where they were.

"What are we doing at the Graveyard of Ships?"

As the fog cleared, they could see the caves that were thought to be destroyed. Gibbs stood amazed.

"Blessed be...Isla De Muerta!"

Manny stood wide-eyed. It was something that he only heard in the stories that Jacoby told him and now, he was right there, looking at it. Inside the cave, it was still glittering with treasure under the water. Cotton just kept an eye on the passing wreckage so that they didn't hit any of it.

Hoping the anchor would catch onto something, Moira threw it over and watched it splash in the water. However, that wasn't the only splash she heard. Looking around, she nearly had a panic attack when she finally realized what had caused it. The oversized emerald skull ring had slipped off of her finger and into the water. Without thinking twice, she dove down into the water to retrieve her ring.

While underneath the water, scratching around the sandy bottom, she searched until she saw her ring lying next to another familiar one. It was gold, with a large, smooth amethyst set inside of it. She knew that ring...it belonged to Jack! She scooped up both of them and then turned her footing to swim to the surface when she was jolted with shock. Pushing up to the top and breaking the surface, Moira sputtered and inhaled a deep breath. Gibbs looked over the side of the ship and yelled at her.

"Ye alright Cap?"

Moving the wet strands of hair out of her eyes, she waved his concern off, letting him see that she was fine. Floating there and composing herself, she tried to wrap her mind around what she saw below the water. She could've sworn that Jack had been watching her from a porthole in the hull of the Lazarus!