Disclaimer: Let go the mooring line! We're salvaging this here movie for the benefit of all! … Disney, we're helping you! I swears it!
A/N: Rated G for pictures of keys, fireflies, and graphic scenes of rowing through the swamp.
Squirrel shaded her eyes and watched as Will, Gibbs, Marty and Cotton barrelled down the beach. Mister Cotton's brawked loudly from his perch on the helm, welcoming them back. Squirrel smiled and gripped the railing. All's well that ends well. Now, all we need do is wait for Jack to show up.
"Get the moorin' line!" Pintel bellowed from waist-deep in the ocean. Already the ship was bobbing in the waves. It wanted to be free, but it wasn't going anywhere without her captain. Squirrel smiled and brushed her had across the wood, sharing the same thoughts.
Ragetti scrambled across the deck, chasing the well-dressed primate who bore the captain's name. Jack the monkey cackled, kicking the wooden eye across the deck, then leaping after it and chewing on it thoughtfully. This prompted another wail of despair from Ragetti. "No! Don't bite it!" He called down to his friend, "'E's got me eye!"
"Well, 'ow'd you get it back last time?"
Squirrel looked at the lanky pirate, surprised. "Last time? You know the monkey?"
"Get the moorin' line!" Pintel bellowed again. Ragetti scrambled for it, abandoning his eye for the time being.
"Good man!" Squirrel heard Will's voice.
"We was helpin' you!" Pintel said, simperingly, grinning at Will in what might be considered a comradely way. "We was doin' the work for you!"
Squirrel smirked to herself. And of your own free will too, no doubt.
"Welcome b-back, gentlemen!" She called. "Feel f-free to come aboard!" Gibbs, Marty and Cotton didn't need a second invitation, but Will hung back in the surf.
"What about Jack?" He called. "I'm not leaving without him."
Heads turned to the end of the beach. A single figure flailed down the stretch of white sand. Squirrel smiled, her heart fluttering at the sight of him. And then, her heart started racing in alarm. Two different types of panic.
Jack's worshippers were right behind him, armed and shouting.
"Time to go," Will whimpered, and quickly climbed up the side of the Pearl as she slid out into the waves.
"What happened to the rest of the crew?" Squirrel asked, grabbing hold of Will's sleeve. Will just shook his head; Squirrel moved back, shocked at the loss but not knowing what else to feel.
Jack hurried through the surf, grabbing for the ropes at the Pearl's port side, then turned back to bid the cannibals farewell. It started off rather dramatically, but it didn't end so well.
Squirrel snorted with laughter as the captain came aboard, his face smeared in makeup, sopping wet, and looking like he wanted to kill something.
"W-welcome back, y-y-your highness," she murmured, unable to stop grinning.
Jack shot her a look. "That's All-Powerful Omnipotent Being to you, love." Squirrel nodded in mock-seriousness, trying to hide her smile. Jack managed to pass a quick smirk her way before being accosted by Gibbs. Squirrel busied herself with the ropes, trying to work away her blush, too absorbed in her own thoughts to worry about the conversation between Gibbs and Jack. She did look back, though; Pintel and Ragetti dressed Jack in his cloak, saluting and smiling when Jack turned to look their way. But the captain didn't seem too worried about the crew's latest additions.
Which means that I'll have to apologise later for threatening them.
"… where's that monkey?" Jack grizzled, clearly not paying much attention to Gibbs either. "I want to shoot something."
A wooden eyeball shot down from the rigging, missing Jack's head by inches. Ragetti leapt after it, gleefully spit-shining it and returning it to its rightful place. The one who had thrown the eyeball leapt down from the rigging and hurtled across the deck. Jack trained his pistol on the darting beastie…
"Ah!" Squirrel jumped in alarm as she felt the monkey leap up under her cloak and cling to her back. Jack - the monkey - hissed while Jack - the captain - looked daggers at the monkey.
"Ah, captain?" Gibbs cleared his throat. "As much as you hate that bundle o' fur, I think you should take into account who he's hiding behind."
"Oh, I am." Jack growled, still aiming the pistol. "Miss Grey? Kindly turn around, please."
Squirrel sighed, and backed away slowly, one hand snaking around behind her to soothe the undead monkey. She always ended up between the two of them, somehow. Always. "S-s-sorry, captain. Can't f-follow that o-o-order."
Jack sighed in what might have been mock-anger, and put away his pistol. "Women. Always getting in the way."
Squirrel turned away, blushing furiously, and the monkey scurried around to her front, curling up in her arms. It looked adoringly up at her, but Squirrel wasn't fooled.
"You owe me," she hissed at it, then melted and scratched it under its chin. Even though it was undead and Jack hated it intensely, there was something adorable about this thing. The monkey cooed, made a surprisingly human bow, then leapt up and away into the rigging. Squirrel watched it go, smiling, then looked shorewards. The Pelegostas were leaving… chasing someone. Squirrel felt her heart lurch. One of the crew? Had someone else survived and been left behind?
She squinted, and felt a minor bit of relief. Just the mongrel dog that had barked at her before. The poor thing. Squirrel's heart went out to it. She hoped it could escape.
Funny, Squirrel thought absently, You worry about a dog but you don't care about Leech and the other members of the crew. Squirrel twisted the edge of her cloak in her hands, feeling guilty for not feeling guilty.
"… there comes a time when every man must pay for his mistakes."
Squirrel turned back to the decks, and was met with the sight of Jack standing awkwardly, and Will with a sword against Jack's throat.
This is what happens when you pay more attention to a monkey and a dog, Squirrel, she berated herself, looking from Jack to Will in alarm. You miss something important.
"I need that compass of yours, Jack. It's the only way I can save Elizabeth."
Squirrel felt herself jolt with alarm. Elizabeth Swann? Will's fiancée? She was in danger? How? When? Why?
Jack appeared unconcerned. He brushed aside the steel and moved to Gibbs, who was at the helm. "It seems we have a need to travel upriver."
Squirrel briefly cast her eyes back to the shore with undisguised fear. We're going back? After we just managed to escape?
Gibbs' expression mirrored Squirrel's. "A 'need', as in, a trifling need? A fleeting need? More of a passing fancy?"
"No," Jack said, his forced grin failing to mask the determined and grim look on his face. "I mean a resolute and unyielding need." He wiped at his face, smearing the makeup; he looked at his coloured fingers with a moue of distaste before wiping them on Gibbs' jacket. The first mate's eyes hardened, but other than that he didn't react.
Jack looked back to Will. "You help us find this," he said, procuring the piece of oilskin with the drawing of the key, "And what it goes to, and then you get to go back to save donnie-bell, wotserface. Savvy?"
"This," Will pointed at the drawing incredulously, "Is going to help us save Elizabeth?"
Jack's mood darkened slightly, and his voice lowered an octave; Squirrel had to move closer to hear him, but even then she barely heard Jack whisper, "How much do you know about Davy Jones?"
"Davy Jones?" Will frowned, seeming to think. Finally, he shook his head, perplexed. "Not much."
Jack's mood lightened, and nonchalance marched across his features. "Yeah, then this'll save Elizabeth," Jack said dismissively, looking out to sea.
Squirrel watched the exchange between the men curiously. She'd heard legends of Davy Jones growing up in Tortuga. From all accounts, he was a myth. A terror of the sea, one that haunted many men's nightmares, but nothing more than a myth. But then, so was Barbossa, and - for that matter - Captain Jack Sparrow. What was Jack getting everyone into this time? Chasing another legend? You would have thought that he'd had enough adventure for one lifetime. Even for a pirate's lifetime. Even for the lifetime of Captain Jack Sparrow.
But… Elizabeth? She was in danger? And Will…? Squirrel found herself smiling softly. Will was risking all in order to save his beloved? It was so… romantic, for lack of a better word. … No. There was no better word. 'Heroic' came close, but to do so much for the woman he loved? Purely romantic. Something out of a love story.
But if Will - and Jack, of course… and the crew as well - had to face Davy Jones in order to save Elizabeth… then that was one adventure Squirrel was very much willing to be a part of.
I'm going to help you, Will Turner, Squirrel thought silently. Because nothing's more important that what one will do for love.
Her eyes strayed briefly to Jack, and she found herself blushing and smiling warmly.
They moored the Pearl in the shallows and continued on by longboat. Heading upriver. Squirrel was nervous, constantly scanning the trees and shoreline as they approached for any sign of the Pelegostas. But the cannibal tribe did not appear to be looking for them.
Squirrel looked ahead, at the longboat which contained Jack. She would have loved to be in that boat with Jack, just sitting beside him, but Jack had insisted she go with Gibbs, Will and the two new pirates. Pintel in particular had been nervous even sitting near her, but on Gibbs' assurances and Squirrel's murmured and embarrassed apology all was forgiven.
Jack had wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Or, at the very least, alone. Squirrel had silently - though sadly - accepted that.
"You said your name was Squirrel?"
Squirrel woke from her silent watch to turn to look at Will, whom she was seated next to. "Aye. Squirrel G-Grey."
"That's not your real name… is it?" He looked at her, curiously.
Squirrel shrugged, her cloak falling a little closer around her. "It's been my name for years. I… I have amnesia. I've f-forgotten a lot." She felt for her amulet, feeling her eyes well slightly with tears. Why cry so easily? You'll remember them someday. Don't cry - not in front of Will Turner… She wiped at her eyes and let the amulet drop.
Will nodded, understandingly, and changed the subject. "How long have you been a member of the crew?"
"A few m-months," she said. She saw, in the trees, what might have been a human figure. She squinted at it, but, between the afternoon shadows and the thick plant cover, it was impossible to tell. "A few months," she repeated, "Since Jack p-picked me up in T-Tortuga." She smiled slightly, and added by way of explanation, "I was b-born there. Not a very p-pleasant childhood."
Will smiled and nodded, then looked upriver, where Jack stood at the prow of the longboat ahead like some ancient Greek god. "So do you know Jack very well?"
Squirrel blushed, despite the innocence of the question. "No b-b-better than anyone else," she said. Her eyes locked on Jack, and could not turn away. "He's changed, recently. I… I don't know h-how to explain it." She paused a moment, thinking. Then, her lips formed the words which had been brewing silently in the back of her mind for days. "He's a-afraid. Afraid of th-the open ocean."
Squirrel felt Will's eyes turn back to her. "Why is Jack afraid of the open ocean?"
Gibbs took over, knowing the chance to tell a good story when he saw it. "Well, if you believe the stories, then there can be only one thing that Jack's afraid of." He paused, holding everyone's eyes - Will, Ragetti, Pintel and finally - as she brought her eyes back from the captain - at Squirrel. "The Kraken."
Gibbs looked grim, and Pintel and Ragetti both looked somewhat frightened. Both Squirrel and Will were listening intently - Gibbs had that kind of power as a storyteller.
"Imagine," Gibbs said, his voice nothing but a burring whisper, "The last thing you know on God's green Earth is the roar of the Kraken… and the stench of a thousand rotting corpses."
Will glanced at Squirrel. She blushed slightly, not used to people looking her in the eye the way Will did. She glanced aside to hide her face, and saw Pintel and Ragetti looking to her for reassurance. The alarm in her eyes did not reassure them at all. But she wasn't just alarmed at Gibbs' story. She had seen people in the trees. Negroes, escaped slaves by the looks of them. Watching and waiting, they were silent sentinels to the passing longboats. It was strange how they stood so still and quiet, like they were part of the swamp the pirates were rowing through. Squirrel bit her lip, debating whether or not to raise an alarm, then looked back at her captain.
Jack seemed unworried. But then, he had larger worries. Squirrel held her gaze on Jack Sparrow, lost in her thoughts.
"Of course," Gibbs finished, smiling knowingly, "If you believe in such things."
"And Jack thinks the Kraken is after him?" Will asked, his voice low.
Gibbs nodded. "Aye. Apparently so." His mouth pursed in distaste. "He's afraid enough to even visit… her."
Will tilted his head. "Her?"
"Aye." Gibbs' frown deepened, and he did not elaborate. The silence of the swamp suddenly seemed oppressive.
Squirrel was aware of someone looking at her. She unfocused her gaze on the back of Jack's head, and found Ragetti looking at her awkwardly. She'd been looking over his right shoulder to see Jack; perhaps he thought she'd been staring at him. She nodded at Ragetti - received an embarrassed nod in return - then lowered her hood. Hiding her blush and her face, Squirrel was able to look out at the water and watch as the night rolled in.
She dared not look to Jack again.
Night came slowly, as slowly as the longboats crawled through the swamp. Strangely enough, as the shadows grew and blended into one another, the number of faces watching from the trees and the water increased. And they seemed to be bolder now, too. The sentinels were no longer hanging back, camouflaged amongst the trees - they stood waist-deep in the water, or sat close to the waters edge and followed the crew's slow progress with their eyes.
It was a little unnerving. Squirrel pulled at her hood, trying harder to vanish into the blue-grey cloak her mother had left her. She didn't like being watched. She'd rather be the one doing the watching; and from up above, where no-one could see her.
She wanted to be invisible. She didn't like it here.
Soft flickering lights began to shine over the water, and Squirrel found herself reaching out for one of the tiny will-o-the-wisps. Gently, her hand closed around one, and she brought it to her and stared at it. Resting in her cupped hands was a small brown bug. It wasn't anything special, and Squirrel was somewhat disappointed. But as she watched, it slowly gave off a soft yellow light, a dull throbbing luminescence. Smiling, Squirrel opened her hand, and watched as the firefly took wing and bobbed back through the air towards the foliage.
"Beautiful," she whispered softly. Even something so plain can glow brighter than any candle…
"Yes," Will said, "They are." Squirrel jumped slightly - she hadn't meant for anyone to hear her. She ducked her head, pink once more.
Gibbs coughed slightly. "We're here," he murmured, "Heaven help us."
Squirrel lifted her gaze over Ragetti's shoulder, and saw a hut in the trees - a home built on stilts half-in, half-over the water. It was, in a strange ungainly way, a house which could easily be called home. But something about it - maybe, about what it contained - made Squirrel feel strangely uneasy.
You're letting Gibbs get the better of you, a voice scolded Squirrel. His fears aren't yours.
She wanted to disagree. But still, she thought, On a cannibal island, in a swamp full of silent watching faces, nothing good can come from whoever lives in this house.
As they moored, Jack stood up on the tiny dock and greeted everyone with a cocksure grin. "No worries, mates. Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves; nigh inseparable we are." He paused, looking a little less sure. "Were." He looked downright glum now, "Have been… before…"
Gibbs stood and faced his captain, as any good First Mate would. "I'll watch your back."
Jack winced a little. "It's me front I'm worried about." He twirled and started to climb the wooden stairs.
Gibbs turned back, looking down at Will. "Mind the boat," he ordered, then turned to follow the captain.
Squirrel rose from her seat, and just set both feet on the dock when Will turned to her. "Mind the boat."
Squirrel blushed indignantly. She'd been denied the chance to be in the longboat with Jack Sparrow - she wasn't about to miss the chance to follow him into the hut of Tia Dalma, whoever he or she was. She turned to the person behind her - Ragetti - and gave the order. "Mind the boat." Without waiting for an objection, Squirrel hurried after Will, climbing at his heels.
A few moments later, Squirrel felt claws on her shoulder. Mister Cotton's parrot had decided to join them.
"Mind the boat," it laughed softly, then nibbled on Squirrel's ear. "Pieces of eight?"
Squirrel fiddled with a bag tied to her belt, and pulled out an almond for the bird. She'd always carried a bag of assorted nuts on her person. They made for a good snack, they were partially the reason for her name, and besides… who was she to break tradition?
Cotton's parrot flew off of her shoulder to sit on the railing, chewing on the nut, as Squirrel reached the top of the stairs. She stood on the threshold of the house with Gibbs and Will, watching as Jack slowly entered the house. Squirrel watched Jack with marked concern. He moved cautiously, nervously, as though wondering whether or not he would be welcomed.
That welcome was assured at the sound of a woman's gleeful voice from within, but it sent shivers down Squirrel's spine.
"Jaaaack Spaaarow... I knew de wind would blaw ye back t' me door sum-dee."
A/N: Next up - A touch of destiny! Meeting the voodoo witch! …well, yeah, you kinda knew this was coming. I mean, you seen the movie, right? Reviews make me happy, and will likely get a reply. :D