Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own any of POTC, except what is unfamiliar to you(duh!)


The dead silence on The Standoff had been replaced with a sad and depressing demeanor. Brian slowly climbed back up to the crow's nest. It was his only place to escape the sorrow that had swept onto the deck. Anne was in tears as she realized that her best friend had been taken away by a monster. Ian, although he was not crying, seemed miserable, the images of what just happened racing through his head. Anamaria was trying to console Elizabeth by telling her that Jack had escaped the Kraken and that he was still alive and well – if you could call Jack well. Brian was not sure how to feel. He realized that his sister had been taken, but what could he do. Obviously they were going to go after her and the Kraken, but he didn't know what to say. What was there to say? His sister had been taken by a mythological creature.

Out of nowhere, Brian's grandfather appeared right next to him. He almost fell out of the nest out of sheer surprise. Bootstrap sat down next to Brian as he regained his balance and calmed down a bit.

"So, what do you think of all this?" he said to Brian

"Of all what? That we've been on a ship for almost two years now with the occasional stops at Tortuga? That we're all pirates running from the law? Or that my sister was just taken by a monster and we have no idea how to get her back?" Brian replied, sounding very angry, although not at Bootstrap, just at life in general.

"Aye! That one. The one about yer sister."

"How am I supposed to feel? A monster just took my sister right in front of me when I could do nothing about it."

"That's what I figured."

"Why are you up here?" Brian asked him, not trying to sound rude, but just wondering why his peace and quiet was being disturbed. He was supposed to be a lookout-not chatting to his grandfather about his feelings.

"Oh! Right, yer father wants to talk to you with good ole Jack! Captain's orders!"

With that, Brian crawled down from the nest and headed in the direction of Jack's cabin wondering what he could have possibly wanted. When he got into Jack's cabin, his father and Jack were both standing there, looking distanced. Brian slowly walked over to the desk that Jack had bolted to the floor in his room and sat down in the chair adjacent to it. He noticed a knife lying on the desk and absentmindedly he picked it up and started throwing it into the wood of the desk.

"You wanted me?" he said, still throwing the knife into the wood and prying it out with a steady rhythm.

"Brian, what are you thinking right now?" his father said to him

"About what? About Jackie?" he questioned as he received a nod from his father. "What does he want from her? Like Jack said before; didn't we give him what he wanted? Why is he still alive, anyway? I thought Cutler stabbed his heart ages ago!"

"And since when are you on first name terms with Beckett? He's a bloody pirate himself! There was no reason fer him to stab the heart, unless he saw benefit fer hisself, anyway!" responded Jack as he eyed his slowly deteriorating desk.

"I thought you were in charge of protecting the heart, Mister Sparrow!"

"It's Captain and you bloody well know it boy! Savvy?"

"Still doesn't change the fact that it was in your possession when it was stolen!" murmured Brian as his father reprimanded him.

"We are getting off subject, Jack. Brian…watch it!"

"So what did you want me for again?" Brian asked, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Son, you need to understand something. When Norrington gave Beckett the heart the lord felt that it was his duty to hand it over to his proper master. Just because he was a lord did not mean that he was not a pirate."

"So he was a bloody pirate like the rest of us! A hypocrite! So what? His master couldn't have stabbed the heart? Or what, was he trying to be like Jack and use it as a matter of leverage?" Brian yelled as his patience dwindled.

"Who said his master wasn't Jones, mate? Beckett fooled the lot of us with his two-timin' the Crown and Jones!" Jack piped in, not wanting to appear useless.

"What?"

"Beckett was working for Davy Jones, Brian. By Norrington giving him the heart, it was as sure as giving it to Jones."

"Yeah, but that still leaves a whole lot of questions unanswered. Why did the Kraken take Jackie? I thought you had said that in exchange for Jack and Bootstrap's souls, Jones was willing to settle for Barbossa's."

"Aye, mate! Davy Jones felt that Barbossa's soul was worth even more than mine- ignorance on his part, really. Yer bloody father, thinkin' he was the negotiator of the world somehow managed to get Bootstrap free as well, all in exchange fer Barbossa, who had willingly fled over to Jones, anyway."

"Maybe that was just the problem. Ever think Jones finally figured out that his bloody captive, so to speak, was not so much a captive as he thought?" Brian responded cleverly

"Yer not makin' any sense there, young Turner."

"Sure he is! Jones, thinking he had struck up a good deal, numbering Barbossa's soul as worth a hundred and fifty, thought that with my father's five souls and your hundred, that he was making a profit with Barbossa. The only catch with that was that he thought you were handing him over to him. In reality, you were using the proper leverage to persuade Jones that Barbossa didn't want to go over there."

"In simple terms?" Jack asked, still not following.

"He finally figured out that you bloody tricked him!" Brian yelled at the baffled pirate as he threw the knife down on the desk for the final time before storming out of the cabin.

"Oh!" was the only response that Jack could think of.

Evening came and there was still no sign of Jackie, the Kraken, or Davy Jones. After having what was supposed to resemble a meal, Anne was still in tears about her sister's fate. Will had taken Elizabeth below deck with Anne and Ian, as Bootstrap offered to take the first watch. Brian, not wanting to go to sleep offered his help on second and Will, dutifully offered third. The sea was as quiet as the ship, almost as if it could feel the sorrow that had been washed aboard The Standoff. Shortly after first watch began, Anamaria, Will, Elizabeth, Anne, and Ian drifted off to sleep. Brian, who had been staring off into the blue nothingness was surprised when his grandfather appeared right next to him for the second time that day.

"You should get some sleep if yer gonna take second watch." Bootstrap said

"Is it necessary for you to keep sneaking up on me?" Brian responded rudely, although he softened at seeing Bill's face. "I won't be able to anyway."

"You've seen more than most grown men have seen in their entire lives and yer still only a boy. You'd best do by forgetting about them; they'll only come to haunt you."

"I'm not a boy. I'm nearly seventeen! And I can't just forget about my sister being taken by a monster."

"Yer more like yer bloody father then even I'd like to admit!" Spinning around, Brian found Jack standing behind them with a bottle of rum in hand. "Bill, I believe yer sposed to be on watch, eh? And young Master Turner! A word please!"

Rolling his eyes, Brian walked over to Jack as took another swig of rum and Bootstrap returned to his post. Mockingly, Brian bowed before Jack acting as if he were the king of England. "Come now, Master Turner, a bow like that and you'll surely get us hanged fer treason!" Jack said as the two of them burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. "And besides, I have an extra bottle of rum that I know no one else will drink aside from yerself! Whadaya say ter that, eh?" Curiously Brian wondered why Jack was offering him a drink. He recalled very well that the last time Jack offered him a drink when he had a watch later that evening was really a trick on Jack's behalf. Thinking whether or not to take the rum that Jack was holding out for him, he decided to take it. His father hopefully wouldn't bitch about him having a drink anymore. At least not tonight. Not when his sister had been kidnapped by a godforsaken creature.

Before Brian knew it, all of the rum in his bottle had been drained. He had ignored Jack when he had said to drink it a bit slower. Those consequences included Brian feeling a bit tipsy as his grandfather looked at him in amazement. Bootstrap had thought for sure that Brian would never drink rum again, especially since he had to go on watch shortly after him. Recalling what had happened last time Brian drank some of Jack's rum, Bootstrap laughed to himself. His son had not been very pleased with his grandson at that moment. He was very close to whipping the child, but his daughter-in-law had stopped him. Of course she had. She had never allowed William to beat his children. It might have been her upbringing as a governor's daughter or just the guilt that she might have felt to see her children in pain. Whatever it was, she wouldn't let him lay a hand on any of her children in her presence. Brian, instead, had been punished enough, though. After having to suffer through his father's yelling and screaming about how foolish he had been, he had had to mop all the decks of The Standoff for a month-not an easy feat, especially with William standing over him the entire time yelling insults at him. It wasn't that Will had minded Brian drinking-just the fact that Brian had to go on watch after he had had a drink and that Brian had fallen asleep while on his watch that evening.

As the second bell rang, Bill signaled to Brian to start keeping watch. Brian, who had been talking to Jack nodded his head and decided he'd go up on the riggings to look out. It wasn't that he didn't want to be near Jack, just that…well, maybe he didn't want to be near Jack. Jack had been a bit too talkative lately and Brian still needed some time to think for himself. He needed to have some peace and quiet for once. Bootstrap had walked over to Jack to tell him something and then went below deck. Brian, noticing Jack's huge grin, contemplated what that was all about, but quickly moved on from that. He started to wonder what it would be like to fall from the riggings, as Jackie had once done, since he was feeling as if he would. His mind then started thinking about Jackie.

How she could be obnoxious, but at the same time you had to love her. You couldn't not love Jackie. She was just that type of person who everyone liked. She had a smile that could light up a room and make even the most miserable person smile. Brian had never really understood Jackie. She was someone who was so easy to get along with, but in a second she could be yelling and screaming at you for what seemed like no reason at all. Oh, but to Jackie there was a reason. Everything she did she had a reason to her. Of course not many people-and by saying not many people, it usually entailed no one at all-knew what the reason was, nor would they ever find out, but there was a reason. You could see it in her face. That was one of her only faults-she was unable to let other people see her emotions. She wasn't able to lie at all, and that's when Brian finally really started to feel remorseful about the whole situation.

He started to wonder why the Kraken couldn't have taken him instead. Everything he knew about her told him that she was in fatal danger right now and he couldn't do a thing about it to protect his little sister. He thought that if the Kraken could have taken him, he would have at least had a chance to fight back. Not to say that Jackie couldn't take care of herself, though. She was stronger than most girls at her age in the physical sense, but in the mental sense, she was too compassionate. Brian had already known that Jackie was incapable of hating someone by the age of twelve. If she had come across the evilest person in the world, and no doubt Davy Jones was up there, she'd find some good in them. That was just how she was. It was two years ago, when their grandfather had just died. Murdered was really the word for it, though. Jackie had seen the whole thing along with Brian. Jackie had a pistol in her hand as well. She was about to shoot the man who killed her grandfather right in front of her own eyes, but she couldn't. Instead Brian took the gun from her and shot. The bullet pierced the man's heart, killing him instantly. It wasn't Jackie who killed him though. She said that he probably had a good reason for killing the governor. She also had said that Brian had a good reason for shooting him too, as not to make him feel guilty. That was the problem with her. She was too innocent to be a bloody pirate.


Hope you're liking it so far...please review-flames are welcome...just anything, please!
Lauren