Hey all! I is back! And it only took me two weeks this time, yayness! Wrote this listening to the second soundtrack, dang is that stuff inspiring! W00t!

And thankee fer all the lovely reviews! Dotdotdot, anybody else notice only exclamation points up there, or am I just weird?...or both?

Little Miss Sparrow: Wow, thanks for such a wonderful review! -sniff- It's reviewers like you that help make this fic possible! Yes, 'comfuzzled' is a word that everybody knows where I come from. Glad to see somebody not where I'm from knows something from where I'm from, though!

pirateobsessed: You really shouldn't be the one to talk; I've posted two chapters, now, and you haven't been posting any. Lol, though, I know how ya feel. Oh, and you think your summer is busy? Check mine: first two weeks Chicago mission trip wit' me church, next five weeks are strenuous horse camp, then one week with the family to the Poconos, then two and a half weeks of MARCHING BAND CAMP! Savvy? Oy... Oh, and did I mention you were lucky? You get a ship! I get a flute. NO FAIR! Lol.

Kei-ookami.kara.mori: Glad to hear that, mate! Here's your update, and thankee for the review!

Jess is a Pirate: Yes! We made it all seven months! However, now we hafta wait another TEN months for the third...and however long for the fourth, at that! Oh, and DUCK! There, I just saved you from a toaster, aren't you happeh now?

Authoressinhiding: MA'LIKI-LIKI! Happeh for the cellie! Don't worry, I've lost it worse—you'll see in this chapter. The conversation is one I actually had in my head with Jack, and I just had to put it in. Lol. Thanks for the review.

obbits14: Thank you for the review! Yes, as a matter of fact, I am Christian. Presbyterian to be exact, savvy?

Destinysway114: Ha, you changed your name! Lol, here's the update! Thanks for the reviewz!

RespectTheSporks: Didn't you just love DMC? Oh, and here's an update. Does that answer your question?

Disclaimer:Is this a dream? No? I thought not. If it were, I'd own PotC.

Here's your next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Tricks of the Mind

"Yes! Finally here!" Ames twirled around in the sand, the picture of happiness, save that she favored her injured foot.

Jack, human, watched contentedly form where he lounged in the sand, rum in hand. You're going to make it worse if you keep doing that, he commented.

She stopped, facing him, seeming to wilt. "Aww." She picked up her foot and shook it angrily with her hands. "Why have you betrayed me!" she wailed. Comically, of course. Jack chuckled slightly, but only to snort uneasily immediately after. This whole thing smelled off. Almost literally. The girl sensed his discomfort and sat down beside him. "No worries, Jack—we're sure to get through this."

He turned his head to look at her. You know, for a girl who's been tossed out of her world, into a world as unwelcoming as this, having discovered that she's been 'cloned', and that her clone is the mother of one of the Royal Navy's finest commodores, and with no knowledge of how or if she's going to get back, you sure have a lot of hope.

"Of course I have hope. Everybody has hope. And judging from some of your stories, there's never a time when you're without hope, either! It's the only way to keep from giving up, savvy? And giving up is one thing I'm not going to do." They both were silent, staring out to the horizon and beyond. Then, hardly audibly, the girl began to hum. And slowly the humming became a very quiet singing. "Keep your chin in the air / A spring in your step / Keep a-walkin' with flare / A-stridin' with pep / If rain keeps on falling / Let dreams keep on calling / Keep your sunny side up..."

It was a happy little tune, in a style of music Jack did not recognize. He blinked. You make that up yourself, luv?

She shrugged. "Some of it, but only because I forgot most of the words. I saw it on televi—uh, I saw it in a play."

Interesting.

"Uh huh." They fell silent again. Jack mulled over where this pond could possibly be on the island. After all, he knew this island better, even, than some of his crew did. He knew it almost as well as he knew the Pearl. How would something like this have escaped his notice? Especially something as large as the girl had described it! It just didn't make any sense. He puzzled over the subject a bit longer, and would have continued to for much longer had the girl not interrupted his thought process. "So do we plan on going any time soon, or are we gonna hang out here for a while?"

Jack's mind was still in turmoil, and he took a long swig of rum in the hopes of clearing his head some. But to no avail. Let's give it a while. I'm not sure either of us is ready to go just yet.

"Point," she nodded. "Was just putting that out there."

Aye. Prolly done good by it. I would likely have forgotten. Then again, to forget something is only to remember it again, so if it is remembered again then to be reminded against forgetting is really not necessary.

Ames' brows came together. "Unless of course you're old and have a failing memory in which case one is constantly forgetting and needs to be reminded, or if you have amnesia," she added.

...Unless you have a failing memory or if one has amnesia, Jack agreed. But what if the person who has lost his memory regains it only to forget everything that had happened during his time without it?

"Then of course he would need reminding, unless he were to lose his memory again, in which case he would have to remember what was forgotten before, unless he forgot what it what he was trying to remember."

So then if he forgot what he was trying to remember, he would need reminding, but the reminding would come from events rather than from a person, wouldn't he?

"Or she."

Or she...?

"Well, no. He or she would need to be reminded by whatever he or she needed to be reminded about, thus being reminded as a result not of forgetting, but of the need to be reminded."

Ah. But the need to be reminded comes from the forgetting, be it a loss of memory or just plain forgetfulness, would it not?

"Perhaps." Pause. "Uhh...remind me again what we're talking about?"

Jack grinned his lopsided golden grin. To be quite honest, I haven't the slightest of an inkling.

"Did you forget, or do you just need reminding?"

The two are one and the same.

"Nay, I do not believe that."

Neither do I, but I wanted to see how it was you think, savvy?

"Uh-huh. Sure. Yeah. Right, uh-huh." The conversation was going absolutely nowhere, but for some reason, Jack's tumultuous thoughts were quickly clearing.

I think we're ready to go, now.

"Eh? Me too. Let's see if Ellie is ready yet, too." Jack nodded, and she left to fetch her clone's son.

However, the slightly painful journey back to the ship was cut short, fortunately for her injured foot, when she spotted him striding down the beach toward them. "Ready to head out, miss Todd?" he called, hands cupped around his mouth so as she could hear.

She waved him closer. "Just about! Care to join us?" He replied by continuing nearer, rather than turning back toward the Pearl.

Jack heaved himself to his feet as the other man joined them. Right. Now, where's this pond of yours?

"This way," she answered, leading them both off into the jungle. They wound their way through the dense undergrowth. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning," she muttered as the green shadows closed in around them.

Jack rolled his eyes, taking her words as senseless rambling, as usual, before tripping over an upturned root– Whoa! Oop! –and disappearing amid the brush. He began to rise, hoping to catch up to the others before he was missed. However, hidden vines had wound and laced around his limbs, and he once again hit the ground with another Oof!

James rolled his eyes and turned back, whilst Amy continued on obliviously (...Teenager). "Here, let me help you," he offered, sounding resigned. He untangled the struggling pirate and steadied him to a standing position. Jack dusted himself off and was about to thank Norrington— however grudgingly—but when he next looked up to do so, the Commodore had disappeared. He looked around, before spotting him, already caught up with the lass. He shrugged to himself. Fine. If the Commodore didn't want thanks, then the good pirate Sparrow would respect his wishes and act like nothing had ever happened. He picked his way back to them, careful of looming vines. As he caught up, he saw the girl conducting some...silent(?) music, her step holding some spring of a beat as she walked. She sensed his curiosity and opened her mind so he could listen.

That would be your theme music in the sequel, she narrated. I was able to hear and memorize some of the songs ahead of time, to preoccupy myself from the biting impatience of waiting for the second's debut, savvy?

Jack listened a moment before smirking. Certainly sounds like me. Not bad, not bad at all, I must admit. She grinned back at him.

Maybe half an hour later (hey, it would have been half that had her foot not been injured!), they arrived at their destination. Jack stopped in his tracks, mentally whipping away from the 'Two Hornpipes' track, and looked around, confused. Amy, I thought you said there was a pond here.

"Well yeah. It's right here in front of you, don't you see it?"

Jack and James exchanged confused expressions. "Amy, all I see is a sand-filled clearing," replied Norrington, concern etching his face as he looked at her. Jack whinnied agreement. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, yes, fine, fine. I just don't get why you don't see it. I've freaking swam in it!—More times than I care to count!" She began to pace, tapping her forehead, Pooh-style. "Think-think, think-think, think-think—." There was a rustle and she froze. She whipped her head up, looking around. "Wassat?" Norrington and the pirate both shrugged, before looking in the direction the sound had come from. She followed their gaze, thankful they were both skilled in this sort of thing. "Hey, there he is!"

'Who?' both men asked in unison.

"That guy who told me about the Eohippus," she answered, pointing discreetly off in the same direction as the sound's source. She straightened from their little huddle, cheering "Break!" quietly before turning and striding off in that direction. The figure she'd sighted suddenly turned tail and made a run for it. "Oi you! Ho'd up there, I gots a bone ta pick wit' ya, savvy?" No response. She gave chase, ignoring her aching foot. 'The Kraken' played in her head as she went.

Amy! Wait, don't— Jack tried to warn her. But she had already disappeared into the jungle. He and James again exchanged worried expressions. They, too, had seen the figure. And, whatever it was, it wasn't human. They'd seen what could only be described as some demonic being. It was not of their Earth, nor possibly of hers. A moment more of staring at each other, shocked, and they exploded after her.

Meanwhile, the girl was still chasing after what she saw as a lying, cheating scumbag of a man. "Hey, come on, I gotta talk to ya 'bout sommat!" Still nothing. Getting desperate and irritated, she did something she would never do again. She talked urban. "Yo, playa, hold up! I got a problem fo' shizzle wich you an' it ain't gunna get no betta fo' ya unless ya'll turn around an' face me like a man instead'a some spineless pussy, ya heard?" That stopped him in his tracks.

He whirled around. "Can I help you?"

"Fo' rizzeal." She snapped her mouth shut and switched out of 'fo' shizzle' mode. "I mean yeah."

He strode back toward her taking his dear old time, yet never once breaking eye contact. "Now, what is it I can help you with?"

"Dude. You gave me this Eohippus fruit, right, and well a friend of mine ate almost the whole thing and now he's, like, part horse and stuff and he can't talk and omigod doubleyoo-tee-eff, mate zomg!"

He smiled wryly. "'E didn't eat the whole thing?"

"Nope. I saved him of that one bite."

"And this has created...some sort of problem?"

"Uh, duh."

"Are ya goin' ta tell me what it is, or are ye jes' gonna stand here?"

"It turned him into a horse, but he can, like, change back into a human and stuff, but he can't talk or anything, and we're linked telepathically and oh forget it, what the heck is going on, God's bread!"

He chuckled. "Good child, it was all in good fun, now. Please allow me to explain." He extended his arms, inviting her closer so that they might more comfortable converse.

But the explanation never came.

X

Jack and James raced after them. There was no telling where the demon had led her, but they were both experienced at this type of thing, and the girl's clumsy steps made tracking easy. They soon happened upon the pair in a small, grassy clearing, hardly large enough for two swashbuckling men to circle. Well, they thought it was the pair. There was one form which they could discern as the girl, and the other seemed fuzzy—like a mist, or a fog. A green-grey, glowing fog, which was whipped up by a sudden breeze so that it surrounded her, engulfed her.

"Amy!"

Ooohh...bugger.

TBC

Aha! So there you have it. I know, I know, short chapter, took a long while, at least it's up, people! Now review, or I won't be embarrassed to be updating with you, savvy?

P.S. God's bread is just the Shakespearean way of saying 'god dammit'. Savvy? Not my favorite phrase to use, and heck, I'm a Shakey phan, so I thought; hey, why not? Oh yeah, and the conversation with Jack—the confusing one? That was semi-real. We talked about it in my head, like we always do. Much fun.

P.P.S. Now go on! Review!