"Violet. Violet. Wake up."
Violet opened her eyes, the voice becoming clearer with every second. The world was too dark. Too bright. Too loud. Too quiet. Where was she, anyway?
Then she remembered.
The Isla de Muerta. William Turner. Elizabeth. And- Jack Sparrow.
He was standing above her, a bit dazed, clutching the oar that Will Turner had smacked them over the head with. Slowly, Violet got to her feet, a bit disoriented in the dark of the cave. She registered noise coming from all around her but wasn't really sure what it was.
"Come on, love, we have to make sure Turner didn't mess everything up," Jack said, and started to stagger over to the cave that was filled with treasure. Violet followed, the shine of gold distracting her, and only noticed the other people there when it was too late.
"You!" a pirate screamed, and pointed an accusing finger at Jack. He was dirty and seemed to have only one real eye, and Violet wondered what the other, fake eye was made of.
Jack turned behind him to look at her, and pointed a finger at her.
"Her?" he asked questioningly, and the pirate shook his head, another equally dirty man joining him.
"No, not her, you!" said the new man, who fortunately had both eyes. "You're supposed to be dead!"
Violet stared at Jack, who looked slightly confused, and made a face of mock outrage.
"Yes, he's supposed to be dead!" she said, and the two pirates looked at her, becoming more and more confused with every minute.
"Am I not?" Jack said, in that drunken manner of his.
The pirates quickly drew their pistols, pointing them at Jack, and Violet unhooked her own pistol and pointed it at him, too.
"Love, are you kidding?" Jack groaned, and Violet shrugged.
"Pirate," she said matter-of-factly, and Jack glared at her.
"Is that Captain Coldblood?" asked the one-eyed pirate suddenly, and all the heads of the pirates swiveled to stare at her.
"Aye, it is!" one called, and the rest of them nodded in agreement.
"Let's kill her too! If she's with Sparrow, Barbossa will want her dead!" a huge, burly pirate said, and they all cheered.
Quickly, Violet smiled slightly, and turned her pistol away from Jack and onto the one-eyed man, which caused the men to tense and hold their pistols tighter.
"Perleley…" Jack suddenly called, waving his hands around as he tried to remember something. "Perleleyloo- Parlene. Parsnip. Parsley. Part… Partner, partner-"
"Parley?" asked the one-eyed pirate, and Jack nodded emphatically.
"That's the one! Parley! Parley!" Violet rolled her eyes at his exclamations and slowly lowered her pistol along with the other pirates. The second, two-eyed pirate glared at Jack, reluctant to lower his weapon.
"Parley! Damn to the depths whatever muttonhead thought up parley!" the pirate spat, enraged, and Violet laughed.
"That would be the French," replied Jack in a serious tone, his eyes laughing.
The pirates led Jack and Violet into the cave at gunpoint, and the one-eyed pirate held Violet's pistol from when he'd snatched it earlier.
Jack leaned against the oar as the pirates began to part, and whispered to Violet:
"I don't know if you've met Barbossa, but you're not going to like him."
She turned to him, smiling sweetly, and whispered back:
"Oh, I've met him. And I like anyone who doesn't like you."
"How the blazes did you get off that island?" demanded a loud, heavily accented voice, and Jack and Violet turned to see Captain Hector Barbossa striding towards them, a disbelieving expression on his face.
"When you marooned me on that God-forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow," crooned Jack, grinning his golden smile.
"Ah, well, I won't be making that mistake again. Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow? Kill him," ordered Barbossa, and the pirates eagerly hold up their pistols, aim, fingers on the triggers and-
"Wait!" Violet called, and the pirates turned to her, lowering their guns slightly. Barbossa, who had begun to walk away, turned around to face her.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Captain Charles," sneered Barbossa, and Violet put her hands on her hips, jutting her chin out slightly.
"Miss me, Captain?" she asked, and Barbossa smirked at her.
"If I might interject-" Jack cut in, but Violet elbowed him, hard, and he fell silent with a sharp wincing sound.
"What brings you to Isla de Muerta? And in the company of Sparrow, no less. And I liked you too, Charles," said Barbossa, stepping closer to her.
"Sparrow is a temporary acquaintance," she said carefully, and Barbossa chuckled slowly.
"Well, I'm afraid any friend of Sparrow's is no friend of mine, so, unfortunately, men, we are going to have to kill dear Charles here too," Barbossa said, and the men brought up their weapons once again, and prepared to shoot-
"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" asked Jack quietly, and Barbossa tensed.
"Hold your fire," Barbossa said to his crew, and the two-eyed pirate from before glared and rolled his eyes, obviously exasperated.
"You know whose blood we need," continued Barbossa, and Violet turned to Jack, knowing exactly what he was planning on doing.
"Jack, no," she hissed at him, but Jack refused to look at her. "You'd betray Will like that? After he got you out of prison?"
"Pirate," Jack whispered back to her, before turning to Barbossa.
"I know whose blood you need," he drawled, and Barbossa clenched his jaw, obviously repulsed by Jack, which Violet couldn't blame him for.
As Violet boarded the Black Pearl, she couldn't help thinking that it wasn't as impressive as Jack had made it out to be. Throughout her first journey as Captain, Jack had painted many a fine picture of his precious ship, at least before he'd been kicked off it.
He didn't talk about the mutiny much, or the island he'd been banished to. But his ship, his pride and joy, well, Violet felt like she'd been on the ship already.
Barbossa led them into the captain's quarters as some sort of gesture of good will, and Violet walked past her, refusing to look at Jack.
Inside his quarters, there was a huge table in the center of the decaying room, the features all over the walls slowly falling into more and more disrepair.
Barbossa took a seat at the table, still pondering the plan Jack had spewed to him moments before while Violet glared at him.
"So you expect to leave me standing on some beach with nothing but a name and your word it's the one I need, and watch you sail away with my ship?" Barbossa demanded, and Violet sighed, taking a seat in front of him at the table, putting her boots up on the table in front of her. "And would you mind, Captain?" Barbossa said, turning to glare at her feet.
"What?" she asked, yawning loudly, and Barbossa sighed.
"No. I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on my ship - and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?" said Jack as he prowled around the cabin, smiling wickedly.
"But that still leaves us with the problem of me standing on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need," said Barbossa again, and Jack strode over to the table, helping himself to a luscious green apple from a bowl on the table.
"Why do you two do this?" Violet groaned, and both men turned to stare at her, Jack's apple hovering an inch from his mouth.
"What do you mean, love?" Jack asked, holding out the apple to her in silent offering, and she shook her head at him.
"I mean, why do you two talk like this? In this confusing, idiotic way that makes no sense and just confuses everyone further. I can put up with it when it's just Jack, but when it's both of you…" Violet trailed off, and, changing her mind, snatched the apple from Jack's hand and took a huge, crunching bite.
"Ah, so you and Sparrow have been doing some talking, have you?" asked Barbossa, grinning, and Violet rolled her eyes.
"Oh yes, me and Sparrow do a great deal of talking. Most of it includes him doing something stupid and me laughing," she said sweetly, and Jack coughed pointedly.
"That is not true in the slightest," Jack said, sitting down at the table and crossing his boots on top just as Violet had done moments before. "And I suppose Violet would know all about idiots, considering she is one."
"Violet? Is that your name?" Barbossa asked as Violet glared at Jack. "Seems rather pretty for a pirate. Although I suppose one could say the same about your appearance," he added, leering at her, and Violet turned her dark stare on him.
"Captain!" came a voice from the doorway, and all three of them swiveled to face a tall, burly pirate who looked like he could snap a neck with his bare hands, and Violet was seriously hoping he put that skill to use on the two men beside her. "We're coming up on the Interceptor."
The deck of the Black Pearl was filled with pirates as Barbossa led Violet and Jack across the ship. Barbossa pulled out his telescope to get a better look at the Interceptor, but you didn't need that- Violet could see the ship off in the distance, speeding along through the choppy sea.
Jack frowned at it, and Violet could tell he didn't like where things were going. Quite honestly, she didn't care what happened here, all she wanted was to dock somewhere in hopes of getting her ship back.
"I'm having a thought here, Barbossa. What say we run up a flag of truce? I scurry over to the Interceptor and I negotiate the return of your medallion, eh? What say you to that?" Jack said as he shoved himself into the view of Barbossa's telescope.
"A right genius, you are," Violet said, smirking, and Jack shot her a look.
"No, you see, Jack. That's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easier to search when they're dead," Barbossa said, and gave them both a grin that sent a chill down Violet's spine.
"You know, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Captain," Violet said, smiling. "Why is Jack still alive, anyway?"
"Believe me, I wish he wasn't, but killing Jack Sparrow isn't as easy as you might think," Barbossa said, and Jack glared at both of them. "He's been known to cheat death many a time."
"I've heard," she said, and was about to say something more when Barbossa called out to his crew.
"Lock them in the brig!" he shouted, and Violet swore under her breath as pirates rushed over to take them away.
"You're a cruel man, Barbossa, locking me up with that idiot," Violet yelled at him, and Barbossa simply snatched the apple out of her hand as they were dragged away.
"I'm afraid trouble would have found you with or without me, Captain. It tends to follow Jack Sparrow wherever he goes," Barbossa grinned, and Violet saw him throw her apple out into the sea just before they disappeared below deck.
Violet didn't stop cursing until Jack finally spoke, breaking the silence as they stood in the cell, their boots soaked from the water on the floor. It felt too familiar, virtually the same situation having happened just three years before.
"Apparently there's a leak," quipped Jack.
"You know what, Jack? Save your talk. If I cared about your stupid words I wouldn't have kicked you off my ship two years ago," she said, fire inside her. It was her fault she was in this cell, she knew, and she had gotten herself into this, but a pirate never admitted she was in the wrong. "You're always an idiot, talking in riddles, finding yourself in trouble. Barbossa was right, you know. He was right about everything. You think you're so clever, that you can beat everyone. Even death. Well surprise, Jack. You can't."
She turned to face the wall and her words hung in the air, weighing down on her as if she was- guilty? That made no sense. Violet had never felt guilty. Not for anyone she'd killed, not for anything she'd stole, not even for kicking that British captain off his own ship and leaving him stranded in the middle of the ocean. She never regretted anything.
But Jack- everything got screwed up when it came to Jack. He was unlike any other pirate she'd ever met: clever, arrogant, and a complete idiot. So why was she drawn to him?
"I know, love," he said, in a voice that made Violet turn around to face him. He was leaning against the cell wall, and she almost felt like it was three years ago all over again. "I've sold my soul to the sea and soon my luck will run out," he continued, and she couldn't stop staring at him. This was a side to him she'd never seen before. "And I won't get to do everything that I've wanted."
He looked at her as he said it, and Violet felt his eyes bore into her.
"And what's that?" she asked, trying to control her heartbeat. She didn't need this. She was trapped in the brig of the Black Pearl, for heaven's sake.
Jack opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly, the sound of a cannon echoed through the ship, jolting them both.
"Suppose my hopes and dreams will have to wait, love. Pity, since most of them are about you," he said, and grinned at her.
And Violet Charles, for once in her life, was speechless.
A/N: Hello reader! I hope you are enjoying the story! I'm hoping to soon fall into a regular publishing schedule once I get a few more chapters done. Also, if you are enjoying this, please leave a review so I can keep making this better!