(A/N: I've gotten a few faves on this story, but I would appreciate some reviews too ;;

Disclaimer, since I forgot it last chapter: Pirates of the Caribbean does not belong to me, but Michelle and most of the characters that end up being in this story are all mine, except for the Red Dread, Andrew Shackles, and the rest of that crew. They belong to my friend Drew.)

I'd heard rumors about the Red Dread before. Their captain, I was told, was a fairly young man, probably around my age. His whole crew was made up of rebellious teenagers, mostly from Japan, who were unusually good at sailing for their age. They had formerly been part of some famous gang. I don't know what went wrong, but they are now no longer part of it. They were all very agile and stealthy. Almost no one had ever won against his crew. My eyes looked the ship over. The red flag whipped in the wind. Before long, ropes from the Red Dread started swinging over to our ship. The first thing I saw was a flash of red and felt a thump under my feet. They were here. Their captain, I assumed, was wearing a blood red coat, brown pants a boots, and a pair of broken irons, still around his wrists. He had bright red hair and green eyes. Bryant moved in front of me. I could heard the other captain smirk.

"This is the Devil's Disgrace?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. I saw a few more ropes swing out of the corner of my eye as a few more of his crew members landed on our ship.

"What business do you have here?" Bryant asked him. He unsheathed his sword and held it, tightly, in his right hand.

"You have something we need," the younger captain said, taking a look around.

"I highly doubt we have anything that would interest you."

"Oh?" He took a few steps around. I could hear him mumbling something under his breath. He stopped moving around when I was in plain view to him. I looked over at him and he flicked his pretty eyes at me for a second. He looked at Bryant, smiling devilishly. "I believe you do." He pointed at me. "You give us her and we'll leave your ship and crew alone." My mouth dropped open, in surprise. Bryant and William looked at me for a moment.

"Absolutely not," Bryant said. "I have a pact with her that I cannot sever." The other captain dropped his arm and shrugged.

"That's a shame," he said. He pulled out his Cutlass and pointed it at my captain. "I shall have to take her by force then. Prepare to die by the sword of Captain Andrew Shackles." Before another word was uttered, Andrew broke out into a fight with Bryant, who recoiled and almost fell on top of me. An oriental man came up behind his captain and immediately went after Bonny, which left me to fend for myself for the time being. Andrew pushed Bryant away and took a look to someone behind me. He nodded after wiping some sweat off of his forehead. Before I could turn, someone grabbed me from behind, holding a hand over my mouth. He made me drop my sword. I elbowed him in the gut. He took his hands off of me and doubled over, his hands over his stomach. I bent down to pick up me sword and before he could do anything, I had turned around, holding my sword out towards him. He looked Spanish, and about as old as me, if not a year or so older. He looked up at me.

"I don't think so," I said, glaring at him.

"Diego?!" I heard Andrew call out a few feet behind me. The one called Diego, who I was fighting, stood up, rubbing his stomach.

"I'm alright," he said, looking at his captain. "The little bitch just caught me off-guard." He pulled his own sword out and crossed it with mine. It was a little smaller than my Arabian sword. He took a look at it. "Impressive sword. But, do you know how to use it properly?" He smirked, took a step forward, and went in for the first attack. I moved backwards and blocked his sword. "Good." He took two steps to the side, and I followed.

"I'm not stupid," I said to him. "I trained with a sword master before I joined this crew." Before long, we had made half a circle and I could see William, still fighting the same boy. Bryant was on his knees, staring up at his opponent, sweating and breathing heavily. He had a cut on his cheek, which was bleeding down his chin. Shackles was standing above him, holding his sword to my captain's neck. The broken metal chain, from the irons he still wore on his wrists, was clanking against the hilt. I froze, forgetting Diego. How could a boy his age bring my captain to his knees?

"Captain!" I yelled. Without thinking, I dropped my sword and started for Bryant. I only remembered Diego was there when he caught me with his arm and pushed me over. I fell to the ground, next to my weapon

"I don't think so, sweetheart. Your fight is with me," he said. He pointed his sword at my neck. "A word of advice, never drop your guard." I ignored him and glanced over at the other two. Andrew was about to drive his sword through Bryant. My eyes widened.

"Stop!" Andrew paused, but kept his eyes on the other captain. My captain looked over at me in surprise. My eyes were starting to well up, no matter how hard I tried to hold it back.

"Yes, my dear?" Shackles asked me. I stared at Bryant for a few seconds, staying completely silent. "Was there something you wanted to say?" I shifted my eyes back up.

"I'll go with you," I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I'll go with you!" I exclaimed, loudly this time. All the fighting around us stopped. "But you have to leave the captain and the rest of the crew alone." Andrew smiled, pleased. He dropped his sword from the other man's neck and sheathed it.

"No!" Bryant said, standing up quickly and tried to come to me. The Japanese man that Bonny had been fighting, caught him before he could reach me. "What about -"

"It doesn't matter," I said, staring at him right in the eyes. One of the females on the crew of the Red Dread picked my sword up so I wouldn't get to it. Diego grabbed my upper arm, tightly, and forced me to my feet. Andrew motioned for his crew to follow him back to his ship. Diego dragged me with him, still holding my arm. When we passed Bryant, he grabbed my hand and forced me back. I spun around and found my lips on his, instantly.

When he pulled away, he whispered, "I'll find you." I nodded and squeezed his hand. The other man pulled me away from him. The last thing I saw of the crew I had been apart of for almost 11 months was Bryant, full of worry, and William, trying to hold him back.

When we reached the Red Dread, Diego finally let go of my arm. I didn't doubt that my arm would be red for a while. He had a strong grip. They took my belt, which had the sheath to my sword, my money pouch, and a small bag of extra gun powder. They took my gun, which was strapped around my thigh, and my knife, which was hidden in my boot. Andrew instructed my effects to be taken to his cabin.

"What about the girl?" the female pirate, who had taken my sword from me, asked her captain. Shackles thought for a few seconds to himself.

"Take her to my quarters," he said, finally. The girl nodded. "Ah, but don't let her have her weapons just yet." She nodded again. He walked away, towards the helm of the ship. Diego grabbed my arm again. I growled and pushed it off.

"I can walk on my own, thank you." I glared up at him. "And if I were to run away, where the hell do you think I'd go?" When we got to the cabin, Diego left, but the girl laid my weapons on the desk and waited for her captain to come in. A few minutes of silence passed before I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Andrew burst into the room. He looked at his crewmember and nodded.

"Thank you, Benten, you are relieved," he said. She nodded and walked out of the room. He closed to door and turned around to see me standing there, uncomfortably. He circled me, looking me over, which made me feel even more uncomfortable. He saw some of the ink from my tattoo on my bare shoulder and went to pull my sleeve down to reveal the rest of it. I slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me," I said, angrily. He smirked and walked over behind his desk. I watched him pick up my sword. He examined the curved blade, which was engraved with Middle-Eastern symbols and the hilt, which was embedded with black jewels. He looked at me with an approved expression on his face.

"This is a nice sword," he said, pointing out the obvious. I rolled my eyes. "I only know of a few people who carry swords like this." He put it in it's sheath and looked back up at me. His eyes were really a brilliant shade of green and his red hair complemented it well. He looked at my shoulder and then back at my face. "I see…You trained with them. What is the name they gave you?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Well, I have to call you something. And I know that you won't give me your real name," he said, with a shrug. "Or I could just kill you now…" He went to put his hand on his sword's hilt.

"Dragon Eire." Andrew smiled and slowly took his hand off his hilt.

"Good, we're making some progress." He moved around the desk and back over to me. He looked at my face, his eyes pouring over every feature. "I can see why he would want you…," he said, quietly.

"What?" I questioned, shooting him a glare. "What was that?" He hesitated for a moment.

"Nothing," the young captain said after a few moments. The ship shifted violently to one side. He grabbed on to the edge of his desk to keep from falling. I stepped back and tried to gain balance, but I stepped on a loose floorboard and fell backwards, landing on my butt. When the shipped stopped rocking, I looked up at Andrew, who was looking at me, trying to hold in his laughter. I scowled, stood up quickly, and ran out the door. I almost knocked over a short, little kid who was about to knock on the door. The poor kid looked shocked when I ran past him. "Wait!" I heard the captain yell out at the door. I ignored him and ran up to the deck. The sun was starting to set already, and the crew was starting to settle down. They were all sitting in a circle, the oriental ones telling stories of when they were in the gang. I stopped running when I reached the front of the ship. I took in a few deep breaths, trying to catch it and leaned over the railing. The ocean below us was pretty calm. I saw Bryant's face in the water. It made me close my eyes and look away. Someone walked up behind me.

"Go away, Shackles," I commanded, assuming that it was Andrew who had come to try to talk to me.

"I'm not the Captain…" I turned my head so I could see who it was. His voice was familiar. Diego stood there. His face looked kinder than it had before, when I was fighting him. I looked back at the water, hoping he would go away. Instead, he walked up next to me and leaned over the railing of the ship, next to me. "Sorry for grabbin' you so hard," he said, pointing at my shoulder. I shrugged.

Doesn't hurt…" We were both silent for a few minutes. I sighed. "Sorry for snapping at you…Being taken away from the person I love before I can say goodbye…" I bit my lip, thinking of Bryant again.

"Why don't you let me make you something to eat?" I looked up at him, surprised. "You must be hungry." Diego stood straight up again and held out his hand to me. I shrugged again.

"I'm…" I dropped the sentence. "Thanks." I took his hand and he led me down to his kitchen. "You can call me D.E."