This chapter dedicated to:

Princess Amberly

ALSO: Kyrani Firefalcon

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She came upon a small cottage a little ways from town, seemingly abandoned. After knocking three times, a small slit in the door opened.

"Who is…" the voice trailed off, and the eyes sparkled. The door opened fully, revealing a girl her own age, dressed in black britches and a flowing green shirt.

"Well if it isn't the runaway." She replied in a snooty voice.

"Shove it Sydney. Just let me in." She could tell her voice was shaky, but she tried to sound as strong as possible. Her hands clenched, the ring digging into her skin. Sydney didn't move, so she pushed her way in herself.

The three room house was full of people, the air thick with smoke.

"Look who's come back to join us." Sydney came up from behind her and sat down on a large pillow on the floor.

Everyone looked up at her, and Kate felt herself grow uneasy.

"Kat?" Another voice called out. She wasn't used to the name anymore; no one ever used it.

"Yeah." She rubbed her hands up and down her arms in nervousness and made her way over to him.

"Well I'll be damned! Get your arse over here!" It was the first voice again, and she recognized it to belong to Henry. He was beaming at her, unbelieving. Henry had been her best friend. They had pulled off a lot of good schemes together.

They had all heard that she was back in town a year ago, but by the time the word spread she was gone. No one knew when she was coming back, and she never came to visit them.

"Where the Hell have you been?" He obviously didn't notice her eyes, reddened from crying; he probably thought it was because of the smoke.

"I've been out on my uncle's ship." She hugged her knees to her chest, preferring not to talk about it.

"Captain Sparrow's your uncle right? You were sailing with him, having awesome adventures, and didn't even come to tell us?"

"Or invite us?" Tova piped up. She put a hand over her chest. "I'm offended Kat." She had only been a twelve when Kate first met her. She was about sixteen now. They had been good friends. Kate was her mentor, once upon a time.

"I ran away. I had to stay low for a little while."

"So what happened? Wreak havoc on every port you came to?"

"Stuff happened. I was… busy"

"Go on…" Henry said flatly.

"Look I'd rather not talk about it alright!?" She snapped back, tears forming in her eyes again.

"Whoa. No need to explode on us Kat." Sydney quipped. "You always had a habit of doing that."

"God Syd, leave her alone." He turned back to Kate. "What's wrong?" He had noticed her eyes glistening.

"This… guy… I know… he just…"

"Oooh! A guy!"

"Let her finish Tova!"

"He… he just…" she couldn't get the words out.

"What did he to do you? Do I need to go mess up his face?" Henry punched his palm.

"No! He didn't do anything like that…"

"Well will you get on with it! Quit wasting our time!" She threw a glare at Sydney, who was inspecting her nails carefully.

"He… just asked me to marry him." There was a short silence before Sydney burst out laughing.

"He asked you? To marry him?" She laughed. "Wow, either he's blind or stupid!"

"Shut the Hell up Sydney! What is wrong with you?" Everyone turned to glare at her, and she went silent.

The two of them had never gotten along; neither really knew why. They just always seemed to clash. But that only seemed to happen when there were lots of people around. When it had been just two or three of them, they got along okay.

"What's his name? What's he like? Is he cute?" Tova leaned over closer, not wanting to miss a word.

"Slow down Tova! His name's Jonathan, he was Ben's best friend in Port Royal. We met in Savanna la Mar a year ago. He… saved my life."

"Psh, I'm sure you could have handled it yourself."

"Actually, I couldn't get out of that one. I was… hurt. Really bad." She wasn't sure if she should tell them. It was a very personal thing.

"You've probably had worse…"

"No I haven't Tova! I will never get anything worse!" She stood up suddenly.

"What happened Kat?" Henry asked quietly. She sighed and sat down.

"I was… kidnapped. I really don't want to talk about it."

"Prove it."

"What?" She narrowed her eyes at Sydney, who's arms were crossed over her chest.

"I said prove it. If you can." Kate sighed again.

"Fine. This is all I can show you. After that, you promise that we can talk about something else?" Henry nodded, as did Tova and a few others.

Kate turned and lifted the back of her shirt, making sure that the front stayed down. There was silence, and a few gasps. She lowered it slowly and turned back around.

"That enough proof for you?" Sydney was surprisingly silent, her hand clamped over her mouth.

"God Kate…"

"Please, just change the subject." There was a short pause.

"So you think you'll accept?"

"I don't know. I love him more than anything, and we share a room on the Pearl, but I'm just not sure. Experience makes you careful."

"Well if you ask me," Syd sat down in their little group "you should do it. If he loves you enough to propose, I would think it would be fine." Her voice was soft, slightly unsure of this change in her personality. Others nodded.

Henry put his hand on her shoulder awkwardly, now that he knew what lay beneath.

"Do what you think is right Kat." She nodded and wiped away a few tears.

"Did he give you a ring?" Tova asked.

The ring. Kate had almost forgotten. She pulled it out of her pocket and showed it to everyone. They all nodded in approval. It wasn't the fanciest ring in the world, but it was nice anyway. Just like she was.

She had forgotten the real people they had been. Not just delinquents like people in town thought they were, but real, feeling human beings.

"Can… can I stay here tonight? I need to think about it alone." They welcomed her warmly.

She moved onto one of the couches in the corner, covering herself in blankets.

Everyone continued talking, catching up on what had been happening in her absence. Not much had really changed.

Syd began to roll up a few cigarettes, passing them around the room.

"Still don't smoke?" She asked as Kate refused one.

"Nope. I do drink now though." She smiled slightly at her hint.

"Oh, daredevil are ye? Well here." She thrusted a bottle of something in her direction, and she drank a little. Kate coughed a sputtered as the burning liquid went down her throat.

"What is this stuff?" She held her throat, trying to sooth the blazing.

"Scotch, fresh from Ireland. Not what you're used to?" Syd lit her cigarette and inhaled, sending a wisp of smoke into the air.

"I much prefer rum myself."

"Got that too. Someone grab Kat rum!" It was almost immediately done.

A few minutes later a few people had left, others preferring to stay over night here. To some this was where they lived, to others it was just a place to hang out.

But for a moment, it was home.

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There we go, chapter 3.

Review please! I really want to know what y'all think.

Chicaga