Woman Overboard
By the Insomniac Sisters
Prologue
Bleary eyes, dry of many hours of flooding tears, stared fixedly at the scene before her. Everything was surreal. The HMS Porpoise was engulfed in flames, setting the ocean blazing with dancing red, orange, and yellow embers. Elizabeth knew everything was lost everything from the mizzen top (her favorite hiding place) to her Mama's prized ivory brush. All was lost in that fire. More tears cascaded down her cheeks and lips. Especially her mother and father.
She wailed loudly into the night, pressing her face onto the hard plank that kept her afloat on the water. Her parents were gone. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, the fact still stood. She saw it happen. She hid as her mother had instructed and watched. All innocence had drained from her eyes. Fierce ugly men towered over her weeping mother as her father desperately fought to protect his beloved wife. Goods were stolen and blood was shed. Elizabeth shuddered. That image will haunt her for the rest of her days.
What will she do? She wondered. Who would save her in this chilly darkness, miles and miles away from the coast? Where could she live? She had no other family, at least none that she knew of. No one could help her now.
Half-lidded eyes watched the smoke rise in the air, while the sea beneath lulled her to sleep. Slowly blackness filled her senses, the smell of burning and death engraved in her mind. Before she lost consciousness, one word sent her drowning in fear and relentless hate.
Pirates.
A merchant ship had discovered her before the break of dawn. She first opened her eyes to a craggily but kind face with grin that had a few missing teeth. The person had a long scar across his half-shut eye, his wrinkled skin coated with grease and sweat. Not to mention an unattractive smell wafting beneath her nose. Elizabeth thought she had never seen a sight so beautiful.
" 'Oy, Johnny! The lassie's woken up!" His smile grew wider as she looked up at him curiously. Another man appeared in her view, much taller and stockier than his comrade. Once he caught her attention, Johnny grinned and winked at her.
"Aye, she has indeed. Welcome aboard the Nalisty, miss."
Mr. Johnny an Mr. Barty were her saviors. She didn't miss an opportunity of thanking them the time she was on the Nalisty, until the point Mr. Johnny kindly reassured her that all her thank you's were welcomed and that rescuing dames in distress was their job, besides hauling cargo back and forth. At that, she only smiled a little in reply, not yet having the courage to laugh. Not when her parents were dead for less than three days. For the remainder of her lodging on that merchant ship, she grieved for her mother and father's fates.
The two merchants dropped Elizabeth off at their next stop: Port Royal. Elizabeth recalled the town mentioned several times by her father, in one of his political business talks that were but a bore to her.
The rising run greeted her skin with a warm sensation that brought a little feeling back into her body. She was still soaked to the bone from floating in the water for God knows how long. Her once elaborate gown, stitched with embroidery meticulously sewn by her mother, was now in ruins and hung limp and heavy on her frail body. The dress drew mud and frayed at the bottom as it dragged along the cobblestone streets. Her eyes darted franticly for a friendly face.
Hope drained from her body as she trudged barefoot through bustling townspeople starting their day. Fishermen were docking their boats after a successful morning of fishing. The smell of rotting dead fish and sea water lingered in the air. The streets were lined with fish markets, young springy boys running errands, and peddlers playing their concertinas and pipes, hoping to scrape a shilling. This was a whole different world to her.
More than anything, she needed comfort. She was frightened, tired, and most of all, she was alone. Loose rocks pierced her bare feet as she padded over to a nearby tavern, hoping to buy a delicious warm meal with the few shillings Mr. Barty generously offered her. Elizabeth approached the dingy-looking place with wide eyes, its wooden beams rotten and grimy.
She yelped as a stool flew out of an already-broken window and jumped out of its way. She ogled at it in disbelief. Obviously, she had never been to an inn before, not with her upper-class status in her hometown. Yet it was mostly due to the fact that her father was overprotective and forbade her to enter such a place. But now, she winced, her father was long gone. As a young orphan, no parent was here to stop her.
"Move out o' the way, girl," growled a cross-eyed man who smelled of some vile drink. Elizabeth nearly shrieked when he put a hand on her shoulder and roughly shoved her to the side.
She narrowed her eyes after the man, annoyed at being manhandled. Before she entered herself, a boy about her age or younger pushed his way in. "Sorry!" the lad carelessly threw over his shoulder, not glancing at her once.
Elizabeth angrily blew a puff of air. "I cannot believe it. All these people are absolutely foul, smelly, and rude!" She stomped inside, walked over to the counter and slammed down two coins.
"A full meal of whatever you have for me, please," she demanded with a haughty air.
The bartender behind the counter took one look at her and laughed loudly. "Who do ye think ye are, lass? We serve no filthy little girls in me pub. Run along on yer pretty feet." Then he turned away and rang up a pint of rum for the chap beside Elizabeththe same young lad that cut in front of her at the door.
Her jaw dropped at the injustice of it all.
She took a couple of deep breaths and swiped her coins off the table, glaring at every person her eyes met. "Whatever," she muttered and left the stuffy tavern.
Where was she going to eat now? She wondered numbly. It seemed that this particular town did not hold the same esteem for women as the did for men. The idea was totally outrageous in Elizabeth's opinion.
Suddenly, another idea popped into her mind. She slowly smiled. Just perhaps this plan would work.
Thirty minutes later, with much cajoling on Elizabeth's part and some fuss from an expectant mother and her needle, there she stood under the bright sun with a smug smile on her face . . . and not quite looking so much like a girl anymore. The dainty daughter of an aristocrat chucked the dress and donned the britches of a boy. Mentally patting herself on the back for her brilliance, she pursued the streets once more.
Days after that, entering taverns was a cinch for Elizabeth Swann. Three weeks after her arrival at Port Royal, after endless days of scrounging food and wandering the streets, she became Blacksmith Brown's young apprentice and took on the name Charles Wellington. For the next couple years, she lived the best that she could in that small town in Jamaica. Her life was content and routinely, waking up at dawn and welding metal under unbearable heat.
Until she met a certain pirate, of course.
Disclaimer: We don't own anything in this story, except for the plot and some unrecognizable characters!
Authors' Notes:
V0X Thank you so much for reading our story! This idea was generated from watching the second movie. And ever since we saw the scenes with Elizabeth and Jack . . . Well, one thing led to the other and voila! "Woman Overboard" is born. Kudos to Cookie Nuts for making the title. If it weren't for her, this story wouldn't even be on Please, please, please review. Constructive criticism is also welcome. Muchas gracias!
Zell Thanks again for taking the time to read our story. VOX and I are the bestest of friends and this is just one of our ways of combining our talents. Personally, I didn't really enjoy the second movie as much as I had hoped. The plot just didn't work for me. So VOX and I have decided to take matters into our own hands with this story. We really hope you enjoyed our prologue. We hope to go really far with this fanfic. Come back soon! R+R! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
Love from the Insomniac Sisters
