Madeleine couldn't contain a smile as she leaned over the dress that she had been told to mend for in the small room next door from Elizabeth's bedroom. Thankfully, she had taken a sewing class the previous summer so her fingers weren't being pricked nearly as much as they would've been had Beth been given the task.
It struck her as odd how not a single person had noticed the two girls whispering and planning their next move while Norrington was inspecting Jack.
(flashback mode)
"We've got to somehow each be separated if we want the movie to continue the way it's supposed to and the way we want it to. One of us has to go with Jack, and one of us needs to go with Lizzie," Madeleine muttered.
"I agree. Since I started out with Jack and you with Liz, it'll make sense if we just continue with them. Besides, I'd kill Liz in a heartbeat if given the chance, whereas I think you can control your temper a bit more," Beth said.
"Yeah, but how do we go about doing that? Whoever goes with Jack needs to somehow also be on the run from the law to end up in the jail cell with him, right?"
"I dunno."
"Well…you could take some rope and strangle Liz. You learned how to make a loop with a slip-knot in camp last summer, right?"
"Yeah, but Jack's got to do that, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Then…why don't you do it to me? Remember, I won the award for best actress in the class last year and I've gotten the lead in all of the plays and musicals since fourth grade. I could probably pull off the shock of treachery in a semi life/death situation," Madeleine suggested.
"Okay, that'll work."
"All right. I probably won't see you until after they realize that Liz isn't Bootstrap's son."
"See you later! Oh, and Will is your mother's best friend's sister-in-law's cousin's son's fiancée!"
"Thanks! See you soon!"
"There you go, miss! It was a trying day for you, I'm sure," Madeleine heard Estrella say from the next room.
"Well, I suspected the Commodore would propose, but I must admit I wasn't entirely prepared for it," Madeleine mouthed the words with Elizabeth.
"I meant you being threatened by that pirate! It sounds terrifying!" Madeleine grinned.
"Oh…oh yes, it was terrifying," Elizabeth lied quickly.
"But the Commodore proposed! Fancy that. Now that's a smart match, miss, if it's not too bold to say," Estrella said.
"It is a smart match," Elizabeth thought aloud. "He's a fine man, someone any woman should dream of marrying."
"But that Will Turner, he's a fine man too," Estrella said.
"OH so true!" Madeleine thought happily.
"That is too bold…" Madeleine laughed out loud at this, causing a break in the conversation.
"Well begging your pardon, miss. It was not my place," and with that Estrella closed the door to Elizabeth's room. Following saying goodnight to Elizabeth, Estrella slipped quietly into the small chamber where Madeleine was finishing up her mending. The older maid smiled. Madeleine returned the look with a smile as well.
"You look tired. Here, drink some water," Madeleine said, holding up a small tin cup filled half-way.
"Thank you. I do say, it was hot today," Estrella said, raising it to her lips. After the first couple of swallows, she put the glass down on the floor. Then, slowly sinking to the floor, her eyes fluttered open and closed, and she was asleep within a minute. Madeleine smiled, picking up the cup and hiding it in a corner so no one else would drink the drugged water. She'd be awake within four or five hours, but the pirates would have come and gone by that time, so it left Madeleine available to warn Elizabeth and then accompany her aboard the Black Pearl.
"Come 'ere doggie, come an' get the juicy bone!"
"You keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to move," Jack said softly, barely moving.
"Well excuse us if we 'aven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet!" said the desperate prisoner holding the bone out for the dog with the keys.
"Oh my God, are you deaf or something? The cute little doggie from the ride is NOT MOVING anytime soon!" Beth exclaimed, sitting next to Jack. They gave her a dirty look then went back to what they were doing.
"Now that we've got the time, love," Jack began, adjusting his hat. Beth flopped down on the floor, so that her stomach was on the ground and her hands were propping up her face so that she could face Jack.
"How exactly do you know what I'm about to say and do before I do it?" Jack asked her curiously.
"Well…" Beth sighed. How much should she tell Jack? How much trouble could she get in?
"I know what happens to you, well, actually, everyone from where I'm from who hasn't been living under a rock for the last three and a half years does," Beth started slowly.
"What do you mean, 'Where you're from'?" Jack asked.
"Not as drunk as you look, are you?" Beth grinned.
"Don't bloody change the subject, love," Jack said accusingly. Beth sighed again.
"All I can say is that you don't need to worry about things for a while. Go with the flow. Be Captain Jack Sparrow. Carpe Diem. Make levees, not war. Vote for Pedro. Whatever. Can we just say that I know things, and leave it at that?" Beth said. Suddenly there was a huge BOOM. Jack sat straight up and went up to the window of the cell. Beth followed, realizing what was happening.
"I know those guns!" Jack declared.
"IT MUST BE A GHOST SHIP!" Beth said excitedly, putting on a British accent.
"It's the Pearl," Jack whispered softly.
"The Black Pearl? I've heard stories. She's been raiding towns and ports for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors," one prisoner said worriedly.
"No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" Jack replied cleverly. Beth laughed. Suddenly, she saw a small black dot from the Pearl get larger and larger as it approached them.
"INCOMING!" She yelled. Jack and the other prisoners all ducked for cover as the cannonball broke the wall.
"My sympathies, friends. You've no manner of luck at all," one prisoner cried while scrambling out.
"Yeah, you BETTER run!" Beth yelled after them.
When Madeleine heard the first loud sound of cannon fire, she waited for a moment before running into Elizabeth's room, ready to say her lines. She almost forgot that Elizabeth wasn't originally in her room at the time, so it scared her when she ran into her in the doorway.
"They've come to kidnap you!" Madeleine told her after she regained her composure, grabbing Elizabeth's arms forcefully.
"What?" Elizabeth said stupidly. Madeleine rolled her eyes.
"You're the governor's daughter!" Madeleine said, as if repeating the obvious. "Duh!" She said when comprehension finally dawned on Elizabeth's face.
"Hide, and the first chance you get, run to the fort!" Elizabeth told her. Then she ran into the next room.
"SO not happening!" Madeleine declared, rolling her eyes. She chased after Elizabeth. Elizabeth picked up the thing full of hot coals and Madeleine grabbed a broom. Pintel and Ragetti ran into the room.
"YAY! Funny and funnier!" Madeleine cheered as Elizabeth hit Pintel in the back with the thing of hot coals. He was temporarily knocked out. Ragetti ran in and grabbed the pole that Elizabeth was holding onto before she had the chance to knock him out. She fought for a minute and he laughed and barked at her. Madeleine jabbed the end of her stick at his crotch and there was no reaction.
"Okay, THAT right there is proof they can't feel anything!" Madeleine declared. At the sound of her voice, Ragetti became distracted as Elizabeth pulled on the latch and hot coals came pouring out. It was the perfect time for escape. Madeleine led Elizabeth down the stairs. Ragetti jumped from the second floor and landed on both feet in front of them. A pirate carrying a mound of treasures that probably weighed more than him ran in, only to have everyone look at him as a huge cannonball blasted through the wall, killing him. Madeleine and Elizabeth ran as fast as they could into the parlor while the vibrations from the cannonball caused the chandelier to fall and break in the middle of the room. Keeping her head, Madeleine immediately shut the door and took a candle stick holder from the table in the parlor to lock the door. Elizabeth looked around frantically, and her eyes finally came to the swords hanging above the mantle. Not thinking, she tried to take one down, but the whole thing came down and the sword wouldn't budge. Pintel and Ragetti had found the door to the room and were violently trying to open it.
"In here, forget the stupid sword!" Madeleine said, holding open the door to a cupboard and gesturing that they should be going in. Elizabeth quickly flung herself in and the two girls closed the doors.
"This is an awfully big wardrobe," Madeleine whispered, unable to resist.
"SH!" Elizabeth shushed her. Madeleine rolled her eyes. It wasn't like the pirates weren't going to find them. Suddenly, they heard the crash of the door being opened. Then momentary silence.
"We know you're here, poppets!" Pintel said menacingly.
"Poppets!" Ragetti whispered, chuckling.
"Come out, an' we promise we won't 'urt you!" There were a couple moments of silence as Madeleine went over in her head their actions in the movie.
"We will find you. It calls to us. The gold calls to us…" Elizabeth fingered the gold medallion hanging around her neck. Madeleine let out a little gasp when they saw his face in the crack.
"Ello poppets," He said. The door burst open.
"PARLEY!" Madeleine and Elizabeth loudly stated at the same time.
"What!" Pintel said angrily.
"Parley," Madeleine repeated. "We invoke the right of parley."
"According to the code of the brethren set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew you have to take us to the captain."
"I know the code," Pintel said angrily.
"When the adversary has declared the right of parley, you can do them no harm until the parley is complete," Elizabeth said nervously.
"Impressive. Now only if I could do that when memorizing geometry definitions…" Madeleine said.
"The blazes with the code…" Ragetti muttered.
"They want to be taken to the captain!" Pintel said to his partner angrily. Then he turned to the girls with a disgusting grin. "And they'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code!" Pintel grabbed Elizabeth's hands behind her back and Ragetti did the same for Madeleine. And with that, the pirates began to lead Elizabeth and Madeleine away from the governor's mansion. As they ran through the town, the girls made eye contact with Will once.
"Will! Even if you don't becoming the dashing hero everyone loves, which I know you will, I'll still love you!" Madeleine called.
"Will!" Elizabeth yelled frantically before they were pulled too far ahead in the midst of the huge raid.
"Elizabeth!" He breathed.
A cloud slowly moved so that a bit of moonlight was coming into the cell, shining upon the bone that the other guys. Jack looked at it, and then decided to try his luck with the dog.
"Come 'ere doggie…it's just you and me now, just you and old Jack…" Jack muttered to the dog, grinning.
"Eh hem!" Beth pretended to cough.
"And Bet here," Jack said, not breaking eye contact with the dog. The dog slowly began to crawl towards the cell.
"That's it doggie, come on…come on you filthy, mangy mutt…" There was a sudden clattering from above and the dog ran in the other direction.
"No-no I didn't mean it!" Jack called after the dog desperately waving his arms out of the cell.
"Not exactly the pride of the SPCA, eh Jack?" Beth smirked. A couple of seconds later, two of the Pearl's pirates appeared.
"This ain't the armory!" Twig said in frustration. Koehler noticed Jack sitting in his cell with Beth.
"Well, well, well. Look what we've got here Twiggy. Captain Jack Sparrow," He said mockingly. He spat at Jack's feet.
"And his accomplice, Piratess Elizabeth Melanie Cook, at your service," Beth said, standing up and pretending to bow. Koehler grunted in her direction.
"Last time I saw you, you were all alone on a God-forsaken island, shriekin' into the night," Koehler said to Jack. "'Is fortunes haven't improved much."
"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen," Jack told them with a bitter smile on his face. "The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers, and mutineers." In anger, Koehler suddenly grabbed Jack's neck through the bars. In the moonlight, it instantly became skeletal.
"Skeletal, undead pirates with attitude. Been there, done that," Beth said, faking a yawn.
"So there is a curse," Jack commented, not looking nearly as freaked out as a normal person might've been. "That's interesting…"
"You know nothing of hell," Koehler said spitefully. He finally let go and the two pirates left the prison. Beth came to kneel beside Jack.
"That's very interesting…" They said simultaneously, Jack looking thoughtfully at the bone with a new interest.
Elizabeth Swann was terrified as she climbed aboard the Black Pearl. Her maid was a bit more excited.
"I CAN NOT believe that we're actually about to board the Black Pearl!" Madeleine exclaimed, shaking from excitement. Pintel roughly took hold of Elizabeth and Ragetti did the same to Madeleine.
"We weren't supposed to take captives," Bo' Sun said sternly and Pintel and Ragetti.
"She's invoked the right of parley with Captain Barbossa!" Pintel said, gesturing to the two girls looking both annoyed and confused. Elizabeth stepped forward before Madeleine had a chance to advise her to keep her mouth shut. "I am here to neg-" She began when Bo' Sun roughly smacked her across the face.
"You will speak when spoken to!" He declared strongly. She grabbed her face, looking horrified. Barbossa took hold of Bo' Sun's hand.
"And ye'll not lay a hand on those under the protection of parley!" Barbossa said calmly.
"Aye, suh!" Bo' Sun said, getting the message.
"Captain Barbossa," Elizabeth began bravely. "I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal." Barbossa and the other pirates laughed.
"And I am here in the assistance of the negotiations favorable to the common benefit and welfare of all populace in said port," Madeleine added.
"There were a lot of long words in there Misses, we're not but humble pirates," Barbossa said with a sinister and mocking chuckle. "What is it that you want?"
"I want you to leave and never come back," Elizabeth said angrily.
"And I'm here to help!" Madeleine explained.
"I am disinclined to acquiesce your request," Barbossa told them. When Elizabeth's only reaction was a glare, he and Madeleine said at the same time, "It means 'no'." For a minute, Lizzie just stood there stupidly.
"The medallion," Madeleine whispered urgently. Elizabeth's eyes widened when she got the point.
"Very well," She said, and strode over to the edge of the deck. Madeleine followed her. Elizabeth held onto the medallion by its chain in her fist as she held it over the railing. "I'll drop it!" she threatened.
"Imagine, that little bit of shy matters to us," Barbossa laughed nervously, then added sharply, "Why?"
"It's what you've been searching for," Elizabeth said, finally fully comprehending the situation. "I recognize this ship; I saw it eight years ago on the crossing from England!"
"Took you long enough to recognize it," Madeleine muttered under her breath.
"Fine," Elizabeth said. Then she casually continued, "Well, I suppose if it is worthless, then there's no point in me keeping it." She skillfully let the medallion drop a little bit, but still held onto part of the chain tightly so that the whole thing wouldn't fall. When all the pirates lunged forward, she smiled slyly with a soft, "Oh…" She quickly put the entire medallion and chain safely in her fist.
"Nice," Madeleine smirked.
"Do you have a name, Miss?" Barbossa asked mockingly.
"Elizabeth…Turner," Elizabeth said quickly. Then she looked down humbly. "I'm a maid in the governor's household."
"And I'm Madeleine…Bloom," Madeleine said, smiling widely. "Another maid, at your service." She gave a quick, mocking curtsy. The pirates seemed a tad more interested in Elizabeth.
"Miss Turner," Barbossa said, giving significant looks to the other pirates, who all seemed very interested.
"Bootstrap!" Pintel muttered to Ragetti, who suddenly looked very excited.
"So how is it a maid of your standing came upon such a trinket, a family heirloom, perhaps?" Barbossa asked in what Madeleine guessed was supposed to be a would-be casual voice.
"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering," Elizabeth told them somewhat suspiciously. She seemed a little bit confused at this point.
"She's such a pirate," Madeleine said to herself, under her breath.
"Very well, you'll hand it over and we'll put your port to our rudder and ne'er return," Barbossa offered, holding out his hand. Elizabeth thought for a moment, then slowly dropped the medallion into the old captain's hand. He handed it to the monkey, who smiled his evil monkey smile and scurried off with it.
"Not her brightest moment," Madeleine grimaced.
"Our bargain?" Elizabeth said, looking anxiously from Madeleine who was now shaking her head and clucking her tongue to Barbossa, who wasn't really doing anything yet. Then he turned around and nodded to Bo' Sun, who started yelling out instructions to set sail.
"Wait!" Elizabeth called nervously after Barbossa, running to catch up with him. "You have to take us to shore! According to…"
"First of all, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations, so it must do nothing, second, you have to be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply, and you're not! And thirdly…the code is more what you call a set of guidelines than actually rules," Barbossa smirked. "Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner and Miss Bloom!" Some pirates roughly took hold of Madeleine and Elizabeth and began dragging them to a small room below deck. Cue dramatic conflict music!
Okay…THAT was really long! Twelve pages double spaced in Word! We've got references to a million things, see if you can recognize them! We love reviews, thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed so far, especially the ones who review every chapter! We love you guys, and new reviewers would be awesome as well! So go ahead, you know you want to press the little blue button! Laters!