Chapter One: The Strangest Beginning
Just as Li and Arlen closed the door, a sword flew in between them and into the lock, vibrating with the force. Their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and Liash fell against the door, clutching her stomach. Arlen gave a little scream and fell onto her huge backpack, causing water to squirt out.
"Arlen! I didn't need another swim!" Liash cried. Will let out his breath when he saw them argue; he had feared that he had hurt them.
"And I didn't need a bloody sword flying in my face!" Arlen howled, kicking her legs and flailing her arms in attempt to get up. In doing so she looked, hysterically, like a turtle on its back. Liash laughed until she doubled over in pain, while Will and Jack looked confused. Still trying to stop laughing, Liash bent to help Arlen up. As she raised her friend off the ground a couple inches, she toppled forward with the weight of her backpack.
"Arlen! Take your damn backpack off!" Liash scolded.
"O!" Arlen said.
She slid her arms out of the straps and Liash extends her hand. As Arlen grasps Liash's hand. Liash speaks.
"Hurry up Arlen! My wrist itches like hell!" Liash complained, yanking Arlen to her feet and consequently hurling her to the floor behind her. Ignoring her friend's threats and yells, she examines her wrist after much scratching! She gasped when she saw the tattoo of a P. When she pulled the sleeve back further, she noticed another tattoo! One of a raising sun over the ocean, a ship, and a wolf head.
"Uhhhhh... Arlen? Trouble?" she squeaked. Will and Captain Jack looked at her curiously.
"Where?" they ask.
"Uhhhh... "Arlen tackled Liash from behind, throwing her to the ground and holding her behind her back and sitting on her back.
"Why did you throw meh-" Arlen stops mid-word when she sees the tattoos. "Li you have a tatt-uh-" Once more she is cut off as Liash flips over and sits on her stomach, putting her hand over her friend's mouth.
"SHUT UP!" she cries, and Arlen gives an indignant grunt.
"OW! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO BITE ME!" Liash howled releasing her comrade to nurse her wound. As Arlen leapt to her feet, Liash notices for the first time that their cloths have changed again. Arlen is wearing a brown corset-like vest and an off-white tunic with billowing sleeves. She is also wearing brown leather breeches with white stockings and black buckle boots. Liash is wearing a three-quarter sleeved tunic of the same color as Arlen's with a black leather vest that had a slightly more masculine touch and a silver design winding up the right side of the leather. Her lower body was the same as Arlen except that the breeches were black.
"Our clothes changed!" Arlen cried.
"Thank you for stating the obvious." Captain Jack snorts. Arlen stuck her tongue out at him.
"That's mature." Will said sarcastically sheathing his sword.
"Is it pick-on-Arlen-day?" Arlen cries angrily.
"Of course, don't you remember? Yesterday it was pick-on-Liash-day!" Liash commented as she stood.
"No actually, I don't remember. Everything is getting all fuzzy..." Arlen rubs her forehead wearily, and from the angle she stands at Liash alone can see the tattoo on Arlen's wrist.
"Arlen c'mere." She said quietly. She stands with her back to Will and Captain Jack, then pulls back the sleeve of Arlen's tunic to examine the tattoo: it is a rising moon with a pirate ship in front of it. On top of it is a large four point star and below it is a separate tattoo depicting a P. Arlen lowered Liash's wrist next to hers and compared them.
"Pirates!" they whisper in alarm. Although they hadn't noticed, Captain Jack had been sneaking up on them. As Will strained to see what was going on, he stumbled and nearly fell, causing Arlen and Li to look away as Jack came up behind them.
"Pirates!" Jack cried when he saw their wrists.
"WHERE?" Arlen and Li cry at once yanking their wrists behind them and backing quickly away from Jack.
"Oh, oh it was a joke! Haha, nice one there Captain Jack!" Li laughed nervously, obviously trying to cover.
"Oh yes, a bloody good ol' knee-slapper!" Arlen joins in. Now Will has begun to sneak up behind them, and gasps when he sees the tattoos.
"Pirates!" He hisses distastefully , his hand going to the hilt of his sword.
"AHHHH!" Li and Arlen screamed, jumping in the air and turning so they land back to back. 'How did we know that?' they mouth to one another, then shrug.
"You know this joke REALLY isn't funny anymore!" Liash whimpered.
"Yeah..." Arlen agrees fervently, eyeing Will's sword. "Definitely not funny anymore!"
"Hold on.'" Jack begins to advance on them, crossing on foot in front of the other and watching them closely. Frantically, Liash begins to back up into Arlen, forcing her backwards. Arlen stomps on Li's foot.
"Ow, what was that for!" she cries.
"Don't back me up into him! He has a sword." Arlen cries.
"Well he has a gun!" Li shoots back, watching Jack's pistol nervously.
"A pistol with one shot." Arlen snorts.
"That shot could kill us both of us!" Li snarls.
"How did you know about my pistol. Not to mention how you know my name?" Captain Jack pointed his gun at each of them in turn, causing them to squirm in fear.
"We don't know!" Li cried in distressed defense.
"Yea!" Arlen nodded eagerly.
"I don't trust any of you." Will growled, his sword half out of its sheath. Suddenly, deep-throated cannons boomed out in the Port, causing the ground o shiver. Captain Jack unexpectedly lost interest in the two girls and listened carefully.
"I know those cannons!" He wasted no time in darting to the window to look out. "I's the Pearl..." He whispered ardently.
"The what?" Liash asked with a frown. Without warning, shackles were slapped on the two of them. With a yelp, Captain Jack tries to run, but Will tackles him and puts some on him too.
"Like I said, I don't trust you." Will said grimly. He jerked the sword out of the door and put it away on the wall. grabbing a small axe instead. "I'll be back for you pirates." Will spat the word with disgust before leaving and locking the door.
-x-
As the battle raged quite loudly outside, Captain Jack, Li, and Arlen sat and stared at each other. Silently, suddenly and with characteristic randomness, Li spoke up.
"I'm hungry."
Everyone sat still. Li looked at Arlen. Arlen looked at Li. They both looked at Jack and then their sacks, knowing their lunches were inside. They looked at the shackles that bounded them in a circle, and then up at Jack, who returned the look defiantly.
"I'm not moving!" He sniffed in defense. Arlen and Li shrugged nonchalantly and yanked themselves up, dragging Jack face down, over to their sack. They proceeded to plop down, and eat in front of a greatly disgruntled Jack.
"Well you could at least give me some!" he complained querulously, eyeing their sandwiches. They each tore off a piece of their sandwiches, flinging them far beyond the Captain's reach. They stared at each other. Silently. Jack looked at Li. Li smirked back. Jack looked at Arlen. Arlen stuck out her tongue. Jack looked at the food, then pleadingly at the girls. They crossed their arms as best as they could.
"WE'RE NOT MOVING!"
-x-
Later they were forced to move out into the open to be able to lie down comfortably. At first they tried to lie with their feet together, but nearly broke their arms trying. So, Li and Arlen curled up together while Jack scooted as far away as possible. This too was uncomfortable, so as the night wore on they edged closer. Sleepily, the twosome began to hum a song young pirates were taught so that they might learn the different parts of a ship. Jack edged closer and the two half asleep girls gladly curled up near to him for extra warmth.
"I knew two little girls once, who sang that song." Jack drew their heads onto his stomach to see them better, noting that they were asleep. "I miss them, very much." Outside the cannons still boomed, and Jack caught himself remembering another night when cannons roared, a night he lost so much... the moonlight flickered fitfully over Li's face and Jack saw a long scar running down her face that he was sure hadn't been there before. His gaze turned to Arlen when she shifted in her sleep and the shoulder of her shirt fell to below her deltoid, revealing a long white scar running down her arm from wrist to shoulder. The rotaries Captain nodded slowly, absorbing the information.
"I miss them very much..."
-x-
Will awoke on the streets with a throbbing headache, groaning, he stumbled past the Commodore and the Governor and heard them talking. Apparently Elizabeth, the woman Captain Jack had rescued, had been kidnapped in a pirate attack last night! Forgetting about his soreness, Will bolted for the blacksmith shop and kicked it open, the bright sunlight falling on the sleepers, who moaned at the pain the light caused.
"Where were you? It's morning!" howled Arlen.
"We notice." Li and Jack commented dryly.
"Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sleep in chains!" Liash complained.
"Do you know how bad Jack smells!" Arlen whined.
"I heard that!" Jack snapped.
"I got knocked out; I noticed; no, and no THANK YOU, I don't want to know." Will answered all their questions exasperatedly. "None of that matters! Elizabeth has been captured!"
"So you have found a girl!" Jack teased. Will glared.
"Do you know where the Black Pearl makes berth?" he asked urgently.
"Does anyone. It can only be found by those who already know where it is." Jack answered cryptically.
"But do you?" Will asked.
"Let me see... You want to get on a ship, sail after the Pearl, kill the bad guy and save the damsel so winning the fair lady's heart." Will nodded. "And you need me to do it." Will nodded again. "Tough luck mate, I don't see what's in it for me."
"I can get you out of here safely!" Will bargained quickly.
"How? The keys don't seem to be anywhere." Jack said sarcastically.
"True, I did lose them." Will admitted sheepishly. Jack, Liash, and Arlen groaned simultaneously. "But.." he darted over to the hammer and anvil and pick up a similar shackle. "With the proper pressure and leverage." He held the shackle at an angle to the edge of the anvil and struck a hard blow with the hammer. The shackle fell apart cleanly. "It comes undone." He said eagerly. Jack thought, and at tenth spoke. "What's you name?"
"William Turner" Will replied dubiously.
"William. Good, strong name. No doubt named for your father." Jack interrogated.
"Yes." Will frowned. Jack sat and continued to think, then responded.
"Count me in, mate." Jack smiled.
"But what about," Will paused and nodded at the girls, "THEM."
"We're coming!" Li and Arlen cried, standing and yanking Jack to his feet. Jack groaned with the pain of the whiplashes caused.
"You most certainly are not." He scolded.
"You're forgetting on thing, dear captain." Li reminded him, then both of them proceeded to jerk the captain wildly back and forth. "You are LITERALLY stuck to us until Will takes these shackles off."
"Will, take the shackles off." Captain Jack begged. Will led them to the anvil and placed Jack's left arm on it, leaving the chain of his shackles dangling off the anvil. Will raised the hammer.
"Just, uh, don't break my wrist," Jack gulped nervously.
"As tempting as that is," Will struck a hard blow to the chain, causing Li and Arlen to scream and Jack to wince. However, the chain fell away from the shackle, hitting Arlen's shin with a loud whack. "It wouldn't do for you to have a broken wrist should a storm arise ." They rotated so that Jack's right arm was on the anvil and struck it another hard blow. This time the chain hit Li. Jack eyed the actual shackles on his wrists.
"How do we get these off?" Jack asked.
"Oh, you'll have to make do with those," Will replied. "That's the part you need a key for."
"Well what about us!" Li cried, holding her other, still-chained arm up.
"The guards can figure that one out." Will said ominously.
"No!" Arlen cried. "You can't turn us in! That would be treating us like-"
"Pirates" Will finished, indicating the tattoo on her wrists. Blushing, Arlen hid it behind her. "I'm freeing one pirate here and that'll weigh heavily enough on my conscience." Will added seriously.
"Plus it'll be dangerous." Jack supplied, "It won't be a tea party on a pleasure boat."
"So, our fathers wouldn't mind us sailing without a full crew through dangerous waters pursuing cursed pirates!" Liash cried. She froze and faced Arlen,
"Sailing? Cursed pirates?" she asked curiously. Jack didn't have time to ponder their words, so lost he was in memories...
-x-
He could not remember how long ago it was. The walls of the blacksmith's shop faded away into the sinuous sliver mist rolling over the ocean Caribbean in the eerie pre night dark. He could feel the ocean dip and rise like a restless giant beneath the elegant ship the Lone Star Running an could hear the creaking masts. Thick, salty, smell of the ocean rose to meet his nostrils and he slowly descended the stairs from the upper deck, sill rubbing his eyes with sleepiness as he crossed the main deck.
It felt good to have slept so late, he remembered. Had it been his on ship, he would've been up long before the, but it was not his ship. It belonged to Caylyn Starre, the leader of the pirate clan Starre. As Jack picked his way through the sleepers on deck, the frightening halcyon around them was suddenly broken by a sharp gasp coming from the port side of the shop. Jack turned abruptly, but relaxed when he realized it was one of his goddaughters, who had spooked when she saw a ship glide in and out of dark, churning waters of the Caribbean.
"What was that?" the frightened girl asked. The girl next to her replied.
"Hush, Lone Star, 'tis only my ship, the Wolf of the Sea." soothed the other.
"Aye, Black Wolf. It is." Lone Star replied.
"You must be truly frightened not to recognize it," Black Wolf chuckled. Lone Star returned the laugh but more weakly. "What's wrong my dear friend?"
"Everything Black Wolf, everything is going wrong..." Lone Star. Jack would've smiled at his goddaughters characteristic melodeon had he not had the same gut-wrenching fear in his stomach. Jack approached Caylyn, who stood at the helm, frowning into the mist.
"We're approaching the Pearl I believe... She must be somewhere near here.." Suddenly Caylyn gave a harsh curse and veered sharply to port and then straightening. Jack nearly fell.
"What was it." he asked.
"A rock. We would've run aground." Caylyn replied, whistling at the closeness. "These are treacherous currents extremely rocky." He went on to explain. "We have the advantage over the Pearl; Barbossa can't possibly know these waters as well as I. Since I first cut my teeth as a sailor around here. And we know the Running and Wolf are matches for the Pearl." Caylyn grinned.
Jack nodded. The Lone Star Running, the Wolf of the Sea, and the Black Pearl were the finest and fastest ships in the Caribbean, a deadly trio of pirates vessels that could outrun any other. But now it as only the Running and the Wolf that sailed under goodly captains. Barbossa, Jack's ex-first mate, had taken over the Pearl and it was the intent of Caylyn, Jack, and Captain Hank, the captain of the Wolf of the Sea, to retrieve it. The chase had lasted for two days straight, the Running and the Wolf negotiating the Pearl towards Alameade, the small island port that the Starre clan hailed from.
The waters were treacherous and fast along rocky coast, and the mists thick and deceptive during the twilight hours. Legend spoke of a god-forsaken Isle between Alameade and Normandy the port the Wolfe clan of pirates called home, an Isle shrouded by mist and fog and jagged rocks; an Isle under the perpetual cover of night with foam, red with blood of lost souls, crowning black waves. They say forgotten souls wonder there, eternally lost and they follow sunbeams to the final peace of death.
Caylyn realized that they were headed in the direction of that very Isle, and began to utter a string of cures under his breath.
"What is it?" Jack cried as Caylyn swung the Running widely around so that its starboard side banked the terrifying wall of fog that loomed suddenly before them.
"The Isle." Caylyn muttered. Jack grew angry as Caylyn turned them around, his son, up in in the crow's nest crying for the Wolf to follow.
"You're abandoning the Pearl because of a bloody legend?" Jack howled.
"It's not a legend Jack!" Caylyn cried. "Host the sail!" He shouted and the crew sprang to life. "Every sailor in those parts knows that those waters are so strong and that mist is so thick that a ship would be smashed within minutes. We're in the ideal place for a trap which means-"
"CANNON FIRES!" shouted James, Caylyn's son, from the crow's nest.
There was that horribly painful silence as the cannon ball flew through the air and then the gigantic splash and geyser of water that sprayed the crew with mercilessly freezing water on their port side as the cannon ball hit the water. Like a spectral wraith the Pearl slide out beside them, her cannons loaded.
"Full sails! Below deck and paddle for your lives!" bellowed Caylyn. A strong gust of wind expelled them from the fogs of the Forgotten Isle and into clearing in the mist. Caylyn called for a halt after turning the Running hard to starboard, the Wolf close beside them. With jeering calls the black sails Pearl slide out of the mists and towards them. With battle cries, the pirates on both ships drew their swords and guns. Captain Jack turned to Lone Star and Black Wolf who held their sword at the ready.
"Go in the Captain's cabin!" he cried.
"NO!" Black Wolf shouted
"We can fight!" Lone Star added.
"It's too dangerous! This is not a tea party on a pleasure boat!" Jack argued.
"But our fathers said-" Black Wolf began but Jack cut her off, hustling his goddaughters towards the cabin and thrusting them inside. He turned to lock the door, but a bullet whizzed by and he was forced to duck. Cannon-fire roared all around him like a clash of a titanic dragons as he stood drawing his gun and firing away at pirates on the Pearl. He didn't turn to lock the door. He could trust Lone Star and Black Wolf. The door didn't need to be locked.
How often, and how acutely, he would regret that decision.
-x-
"They're coming." Jack was quick to say as he pulled himself from his reverie.
"What?" Will asked, taken aback.
"I've got a gut-feeling that they should come." Jack explained. They heard a subtle click and turned to see that the girls had taken a wire from packs at their hip and unlocked their shackles. They stood, smiling smugly, with their hands completely free. "They are definitely coming. "Jack said affirmatively.
-x-
Will had no further say in the matter and had to sullenly follow the lead of the captain towards the docks. They silently followed shadows through the wreckage caused by the pirates the night before until they reached a seduced beach, where a small rowboat was moored.
"Here we are!" Jack aid cheerfully.
"This?" Li said skeptically "This is it?"
"Where are going to pursue the infamous Black Pearl in a rowboat?" Arlen cried.
"No." Will snorted "We're going to steal-" "COMMANDEER, commandeer a ship." Jack corrected.
"Fine! We are going to commandeer a ship in the Royal Navy." Will rolled his eyes.
"But what if we get caught?"
"We'll die horrible, nasty deaths," Jack said calmly. "Which is why we won't get caught."
"O." Liash said. "But how the bloody hell are we going to COMMANDEER a ship with a rowboat?" Jack smiled merrily.
"You'll find out won't you?"
"I don't like it when he does that" Arlen muttered.
"Neither do I." Will added.
-x-
"This is fun!" cried Arlen.
"Shut up Arlen or you'll bring the whole damn Navy on us!" Liash growled.
"That'd be fun too!" Arlen squealed. There was a thud and a yelp as Li kicked Arlen in the shin. Jack and Will groaned. Their underwater journey, the rowboat providing the necessary air, had not been fun for them. At any other time, they might've fought the urge to laugh, but now, walking along the floor of the port by dozens of Royal Navy guards, they fought the urge to strangle the dynamic duo.
After what felt like an eternity of walking through the water with a rowboat poised tentatively over their heads they began to approach the Dauntless. Arlen looked down and noted that Will had stepped in a lobster trap and was dragging it along with them, the flamboyant buoy above trailing them and attracting harmless attention. Arlen nudged Liash, who had noticed as well.
"Should we tell 'im?" she whispered. A devilish grin crossed Li's face.
"Nah!"
-x-
They had to work hard not to burst out in gales of laughter when Will realized his predicament. At a gesture from Jack, he didn't explode at the girls, who obviously knew. He pointed to them, then made an R and violently pretended to slash his throat. They gulped. It was obvious what he meant.
With false bravado they leapt aboard the Dauntless, Jack leading the way.
"Good afternoon gentlemen! Stay calm we are taking over the ship!" he declared cheerfully. Will drew his sword and brandished it widely.
"Aye! Avast!" he growled, but froze when he felt the others lean forward, cock an eyebrow at him and shake their heads.
"Amateur." they said in sync.
"Abandon ship!"
-x-
Walking around, the Commodore, heard shouts from the sea. "Commodore pirates on the Dauntless!" Catching his attention, he looks through his scope to see Jack and Will about to sail.
"That's got to be the worse pirate, I have ever seen."
-x-
Jack and Will acting like they where going to take the Dauntless plan had worked. Will went up to Jack saying, "They're coming." A devilish grin on his face, Jack turned to look at the Commodore.
-x-
Sailors leapt into action aboard the Interceptor and Commodore Norrington leapt aboard.
"Open fire on the Dauntless!" the Commodore shouted
"On your on ship?" cried a crewman.
"I'd rather see her at the bottom of the Caribbean then in the hands of pirates." Spat the Commodore.
Soon the Interceptor pulled up alongside the Dauntless and they prepared to board. However, as they swung off the Interceptor and onto the Dauntless, Jack, Will, Arlen, and Liash swung onto the Interceptor in their place. Jack and Will landed with catlike grace, but Liash and Arlen jumped for the same rope, bashing heads in the process. They screamed wildly as their rope swung in the opposite direction. Crew members dove out of the way, only to leap at the two airborne girls in a desperate attempt to capture them. They shifted their weight to veer wildly out of the way smashing Arlen into the mast.
With a groan, she started to slide off, but Li caught her and pushed off of the mast barreling into several crew members as they plowed forward, then swung back again. This time when the mast approached, they leapt off and clambered up it, slipping and cursing all the way. They stopped, panting, at the top and saw, to their horrors, that Jack and Will, oblivious to their absence, were sailing on!
"JACK! WILL!" They hollered, frantically waving their arms. They nearly fell as the Dauntless lurched forward, but managed to grab hold once more, Arlen looked down.
"Oh shit... Li!" she cried noting the crew members climbing steadily towards them. They began to shimmy towards the other side, shouting for Jack and Will the whole time. At last, Will looked at the Dauntless, and then up to its mast. He saw two frantically waving shapes...
"Jack, the girls!" he cried, Jack looked up.
"Damn!" Jack cursed, turning the Interceptor around so fast Will was nearly flung overboard. It seemed that the two titanic ships would smash into each other for they headed in a straight line towards such a collision. Li and Arlen's stomachs tightened as they drew closer and they clung desperately to one anther.
The crash, and their doom, seemed imminent, but at the last instant Commodore Norrington veered away nearly catapulting the twosome over to where they had been before. They held on though, and looked down to see Jack.
"JUMP!" He shouted, holding his arms up to show that he'd catch them.
They never knew they so instinctually trusted Jack, but they locked hands, gathered their courage, tensed their muscles, and sprung from the mast and towards the waiting arms of Captain Jack Sparrow...
It seemed to take forever to fall. Their hands were locked and their eyes met, a silent agreement that they'd die together as they always knew they would. Sights and sound slid by like mud dripping. The sun glared off o the sea, like molten fire in the night...cold...misty...lost...
Suddenly everything sped up and Captain Jack seemed that much closer. They finally regained enough of their little sanity to scream bloody murder, but the wind was knocked out of the three of them as they slammed into Jack, sending him crashing to the deck with groans of pain. Jack had no time to feel the intense pain though. He lifted the girls off of himself and ran to the helm, pulling the Interceptor out of Port Royal as fast as he could. He waved his hat in a trial farewell. On the Dauntless, a crew member smiled.
"They are the best pirates I've ever seen."
-x-
The day passed slowly, Liash and Arlen trying to help Jack and Will out, but their bruises defeated them in the end and the captain told them to sit down, which they gladly did. Soon Arlen fell asleep on Li's shoulder.
"Jack?" Li asked. The Captain glanced at her. "Where are we going?"
"Tortuga." Jack answered. As Li slowly, nodded her head, she felt her eyelids dropping. Sighing, she closed her eyes and began to fall asleep.
Later, Jack and Will picked up the sleeping girls and carried them below deck. They lay them on a billow between some barrels and with muffled sighs they curled up close and murmured 'good-night' before falling back asleep, rocking in the gentle arms of the Caribbean sea.