I know I'm terrible about updating, but the good news is the story should be picking up a bit now, and I've already started on the next chapter, which is an amazing feat for me, so hopefully the next update won't take as long.

Jack tore out of Gillette's room, nearly knocking Will over as he did so. "Time to go!" he shouted as he flew past, and Will followed as quickly as he could, which unfortunately, was much slower then in their past adventures. They met Elizabeth at the front door, and all three took off into the night.

"Elizabeth darling, I must thank you for the flour." Jack said, slightly out of breath.

"So it worked! I knew it would!" she said excitedly.

"More or less." Jack knew that a face full of flour would only hold Gillette off for so long. Luckily, it would take the man considerably longer to think of an excuse for rousing the navy to chase after them. A dead man in a time traveling ship wouldn't exactly qualify as a valid reason. Nevertheless, he needed to proceed with a his hastily improvised and utterly hopeless plan as quickly as possible.

"Will, what happened to the rest of the crew after they were caught?"

"W-well they a-a-ll served ja-a-il time, b-but most didn't h-h-ave a b-b-rand and eventually were r-released." said Will, panting heavily. Jack took his current state into consideration, and slowed the pace a bit before asking the next question.

"And how many stayed in Port Royal?"

"Quite a few. The Navy kept a close eye on them, so there weren't many that returned to Tortuga. Even if the Navy hadn't been a factor, I don't think any of them would have returned to piracy anyway. None of the crew could have even thought of serving on a ship besides the Pearl."

Jack allowed himself to be sentimental for only a few moments before continuing with his interrogation.

Who's still here?" Jack asked, trying not to hope for too much.

"Gibbs and Anamaria." Elizabeth said suddenly from beside Jack. "And I know where to find Ana."

Jack followed as Elizabeth took a turn and headed for the rougher side of town, with Will huffing and puffing behind them. At the moment, he had been too excited at the news of his two most valuable and trusted crew members being in the city to actually question how Elizabeth knew where on earth to find one of them, but his curiosity finally caught up with him and he cast a suspicious glance over to Elizabeth.

"How exactly do you know where to find Anamaria?"

Elizabeth, despite her face being flushed from running, still blushed visibly. "Living with James, I had everything I could ever want or need, but it was so incredibly dull. After Anamaria was released, I found her, and I guess we-we struck up a bit of a friendship. I would sneak out of the house whenever I got the chance and we would visit. We mostly talked about you and all the trouble you got into." Elizabeth's face took on a look of wistfulness at suddenly recalling the old memories. "She would tell me all about life on the Pearl after our little adventure with Barbossa."

"How absolutely lovely." Jack said in a tone that didn't quite convey his sentiments very convincingly. "Now, where do we find her?"

"She'll be down by the harbor."

As the three ran past increasingly destitute looking homes down roads that because more and more treacherous with dis-repair and neglect, Jack wondered just where they would find Anamaria. He wasn't surprised that she was down by the harbor, but what could she possibly be doing? Women working on and around the ships in Tortuga may have been all well and good, but Jack highly doubted it was a practice that was as common in Port Royal.

Suddenly Elizabeth halted in her tracks. "Here we are."

Jack looked up and to his surprise, found that they were standing in front of a dilapidated old tavern.

"No, it couldn't be." scoffed Jack.

"W-what couldn't be." panted Will just behind him. He had finally caught up and had his hands on his knees, trying desperately to catch his breath.

Instead of answering, Jack swung open the door to the tavern and swaggered in, Elizabeth and Will tow.

The dimly lit tavern was full of weathered old sailors sitting at mismatched old tables and hunched over their drinks. Occasionally there would be a murmur of conversation here and there by a younger sailor who had some wildly exaggerated story to tell, but most of the inhabitants looked like they had run out of stories to tell several years ago, and would be too tired to tell them even if they did.

The barkeep looked up from the dirty glass he was polishing with an even dirtier rag and shouted. "Ay! Out here! We got customers!"

Out from the doorway shuffled the most defeated looking woman Jack had ever seen. Her clothes were tattered and filthy, her hair was wild and unkept streaks of gray running through it, and she walked as though the weight of the entire world was on her shoulders. She kept her head down as she made her way towards them, only looking up slightly to mumble a barley audible "Whaddlyave?" When she didn't get an answer, she finally looked up in irritation at her customers, and her jaw dropped.

Jack had finally gotten used to how people who recognized him reacted when they saw him now, so he was waiting for the ususal response. This made him even more surprised when he was given a hard slap in the face. Will winced and said sympathetically, "You know Jack, for once, I really honestly don't think you deserved that."

Jack could only nod in agreement, as he was fairly certain the force of the slap had dislocated his jaw, if that was possible. "How dare you, Jack Sparrow!" the woman said, her voice shaking with rage. It was, of course, Anamaria.

"...Come again?" Jack finally managed to spit out.

"How dare you see me like...like this!" She said gesturing to her ratty clothing and disheveled appearance, and then at the establishment around them. "I've never been so humiliated!"

"Ana, darling, aren't you even the least bit curious as to how I'm here? You know, alive and whatnot?"

"Humph! No doubt by some deal with the supernatural or some such nonsense, I should imagine!"

Jack opened his mouth to speak, thought a moment, and closed it again, realizing how she wasn't far off the mark. He then held up a finger in protest. "In my defense, I had absolutely no say in the matter."

Anamaria crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him sternly, but twenty years Jack-free didn't make her any less susceptible to his pleading eyes. She finally sighed, "What do I have to do?" Before she knew what was happening, she was grabbed by the arm and dragged out of the tavern.