The Black Pearl, one of the most magnificent ships in the entire ocean was being tossed about in the storm like a dingy. This was no ordinary storm though. The clouds above were red. Blood red. And the lightning seemed to be aimed at the ship. Jack had taken the helm, and every one was desperately trying to keep the ship from capsizing. Will had a chance to glance out over the water, and saw two ships that were not having as much luck as they were. One had already been ripped apart my the storm, and the other… the other was sinking, fast, but he could just make out a small life boat, tossing in the waves, over turned, with a small figure holding the ropes for her life.
"Jack!" Will yelled over the storm, that Jack was riding with the utmost skill. "Jack! There's some one in the water!"
"It'll be us if we can't keep the ship afloat!" Jack shouted back, "They'll have to wait!"
"Jack, if they wait they'll be dead!" Elizabeth was clinging to the doorframe behind the helm, "we have to help,"
"Elizabeth, I can't let go, unless you want to take a trip to see Davy Jones." Savannah slid down the pole of the main sail.
"I've got it," She said. Jack looked at her apprehensively. He didn't look to keen to hand over the helm of his ship. "Jack, just go save the girl. Maybe you'll get lucky, you aren't going to be getting much action with any of us women." Jack thought for less than a second,
"Alright," He said, "But just so you know, it's my heroic nature that's my reasoning here, not… anything else." He drawled, keeping a firm hold on the wheel until he was sure Savannah has it, "Just don't sink my ship, Savvy?"
"Absolutely savvy," Savannah adjusted her grip so that the wheel couldn't slip. "Now go!"
Jack joined Marti on deck, who had been trying to throw a rope to the girl in the water.
"She be either a very bad catch, or she be missing on purpose," Marti told him. "You give it a try."
Jack took the rope and look at it, then at the bedraggled girl in the water. Then, tying it to his belt, he did a magnificent swallow dive into the waves before anyone could say anything,
"Jack!" Marti yelled over they edge of the ship, holding on tightly as the deck lurched again. "Jack!" There was no sign for what seemed like an age, but then Marti could just make out the captains form heading toward the tiny life boat. He was a strong swimmer, but every time he got close, a wave would rise up and throw him backwards and under water, when he would come back up again, gasping for air, and go again.
Eventually, he reached the boat, and was exhausted. He was trying not to breath to deeply because the waves were crashing around him. He grabbed the rope the girl was holding and caught hold of her arm. She screamed, partly in shock, and partly because he had touched her.
"Get off me!" She screamed at him, still holding on the boat.
"I hate to tell you this luv, but if I get off you, we'll both be dead," Jack said, amazed that this woman was throwing insults toward her rescuer. Maybe she was just scared,
"I'd rather die than be in the hands of a pirate!" Not scared then. Just stupid.
"Listen luv," Jack was getting aggravated, and he had noticed that his toes were going numb in the water, "I'm rescuin' you right now, and there's nothin' you can say to stop me, savvy?" This was all too much for the girl, and at that instant, from terror, and exhaustion, and the cold, she fainted. Jack caught her and held on tight. "Not the best thing you could have done," He said, mainly to himself.
"Jack!" Marti's voice rose over the waves, "The rope!" Jack felt a tug around his waist and suddenly felt relieved. The crew were pulling him back to the ship. He tried to swim, but with someone else in his arms, it was impossible. His head dropped below the water, and it was all he could do to hope and pray that Marti was quick.
"I need some help!" Marti yelled. Clay grabbed the rope behind her and started to pull, heaving the captain and his new cargo back on deck. The figures appeared at the edge of the deck on the starboard side. Jack's arms were wrapped tightly around the girls waist, who was still unconscious. Marti pulled him over the side back onto the safety of the pearl. Jack spluttered and emptied his lungs of water, while Clay tried to revive the girl.
"She's not drowned," Jack said, glaring at her, "Bloody wench fainted at that jolly boat. Sayin' she didn't want to be rescued by a pirate." He shifted his glare to Will, "The next time he tells me to save someone, he can take a long walk off a…"
"All hands below deck!" Savannah's voice drowned Jack's out. "Quickly! Get below deck!"
"I'm captain of this ves-" Jack spotted the enormous wave Savannah had her eyes fixed on, "All hands below deck! Teeny, take the lass wi' ye,"
"What about you?"
"I just said, I'm the captain didn't I? Get below deck!" Marti did as she was told, because she had no intension of becoming shark bait. Jack swung himself up to the helm and grabbed one side of it.
"Get below deck Flint," He said,
"You need my help."
"That's an-"
"Hold your breath!" Jack instinctively did as she said, and felt the pressure build up as the wave reached them. Savannah's hands slipped off the wheel and she grabbed his coat. Eventually, the pair of them were wrapped tightly to the helm, holding on to each other for dear life. Savannah knew that when the wave passed, it was going to be harder to hold on than it was at that moment, and as she felt it start to rush back, she held on so tight that her knuckles were white. The pair of them gasped for air when it was available and both collapsed onto the deck, gulping the salty air into their lungs. The storm was over.
"What did you think to that then?" Savannah asked, when she had got her breath back.
"Oh, if everything's like that, this'll be over in no time." Jack said, "You?"
"Absolutely," She gasped, "Piece of cake."
"Rum cake."
"Rum truffles."
"That sounds very French."
"What can I say. I have an education."
"Are you okay? Jack? Savannah?" Marti opened the trap door between decks,
"No," Jack said back, standing up, "We're currently takin' up residence in Davy Jones' locker."
"They're okay," Marti said, "Where did the storm go?" Ana Maria followed her out,
"Who cares? As long as it isn't here."
"The sky's clear as a summers day," Marti said, "That cannot be right, can it?"
"I have a feeling that there's going to be a lot of things not right for a while Teeny," Jack told her, "Now where's that scrawny girl I probably caught pneumonia for?" His face looked grim, and Marti could see he was genuinely annoyed,
"With Elizabeth. She woke up when the wave hit, and won't talk to any of us except Elizabeth."
"Bloody women." Jack said, then, dismissed the thought from his mind, "Right men! Let's get this fine vessel ship-shape! Gibbs, take the helm, Mort, Ana, hoist the main sail," He looked at his compass. "We've been thrown off course. Come on you dogs! We've lost time!" Marti, Clay and Cotton were left on deck, with Will stood between decks in the trap doorway, and Savannah stood behind Gibbs at the helm. "You two," He said, pointing to Clay and Cotton, "check the ship over, I don't want us getting' to this bloody island and sinkin' wi'out getting' what we're goin' for." The two men disappeared in different directions, Cottons Parrot circled Jack's head a few times cawing random profanities before taking off after it's master. Jack turned to face his remaining crew members. "Anyone feel like sharin' any theories?"
"Even I haven't seen a storm like that before," Savannah said, "And I have seen a lot of strange things."
"One thing be certain, that weren't any normal storm. But then this be no normal voyage. We be sailin' for an island no one's ever heard of, in search of a man who's been dead for eleven years, with a crew of pirates, English ladies and the occasional blacksmith. And Savannah, whatever she be callin' herself these days." Marti said, "And we've just added another inconvenience to the mix. That bloody woman, who would help matters a lot if she stopped screaming!" She raised her voice, and the screams were lowered to general sounds of anger.
"Don't look at me," Jack said, pointing at Will accusingly, "It was your bloody wife who made me save her."
"I think she may be regretting it," Will could see his wife trying to reason with the woman below the deck.
"By the powers!" Jack said, throwing his hands up in the air, "Will, Teeny, go down there and help Elizabeth. Put that woman in one of the cabins and make sure you lock the door. Savannah, you are coming with me."
"Jack, this really isn't the time," Savannah started, then saw the look in his eyes and knew he was serious.
"I have some questions for you." Jack told her gravely, and walked off toward his cabin, not bothering to check if she was following him.