I'm back. Again. With the next chapter. Hooray!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of a PotC sort…except my poster…and the movies…Also, if you read this story and attempt to transport yourself to an alternate dimension via electric fence, I will not be held accountable for any injury/brain damage/death that may occur. Ye be warned.

Chapter Two: Activities of a Questionable Sort

It had been, oh, I'd say ten or so months since our vanishing. Both Aslynne and I were twenty (and unmarried, much to the shock of the old biddies in Port Royal) with steady jobs. Aslynne helped out in a bakery and I ended up a cleaning lady in a small pub.

In the first few months of our arrival, most people were a bit wary of us. But, we're pretty sociable people, and were taken into the fold rather quickly. Hooray for not being an antisocial jerk like I usually am! I didn't actually like most (if not all) of the people in this hick town, but I had to at least pretend to be a well raised young lady. Ha!

However, news got around real quick about how…unusual, Aslynne and I were. Like the whole reading and writing and mathematics thing. Oh, and the not being a little brainless doll, programmed to obey any male that gave an order, that one threw 'em. Yup, we were a couple of regular "forward" thinkers. And most people didn't like that.

I won't go into detail over what they tried to get us to change our ways. In the end, they gave up, thanks to my…persuasion. Did I mention that I have a very nasty temper when I get riled up? Yeah, it was a messy ending.

On this particular day, both of us had gotten wrapped up in helping serve food at some big fancy party at the fort. It wasn't until part way through the ceremony that I recalled why it was important. As soon as most of our work was done, I grabbed Aslynne and tugged her off to a secluded corner.

"Aslynne, you know what this means, don't you?"

"That our feet are going to be really sore?"

"No!" I whispered fiercely. "This is Norrington's promotion thingy, right?"

"Right."

"So what do we know happens on this particular day?" I smiled as the realization struck my friend.

"Jack's here! Which means Elizabeth is going to fall, which means the medallion sends out that funny pulsey thingy, which means pirates show up!"

"UNDEAD pirates, mind you. But, yes, that is exactly it."

"They're still technically pirates…But, so what? We need to go hole up somewhere and not get found."

"No! What we NEED to do is when the whole town is in chaos, steal stuff! No one will notice, and when they do, they'll think the pirates took 'em! It's a perfect plan!"

"Why are we stealing things?"

"Because we've both wanted to do something illegal and not get caught? Besides, not like the richer people in this town NEED that money. We can donate it…right? Or, sail to some island somewhere and build an orphanage! That would be a good use for it."

"True…besides, it's always good to have extra cash on hand! It'll be like…a nest egg, or something. Right?"

"Right. So, we need to go dig out those guy clothes we had made for us, get 'em on, make sure we look like pirates so nobody recognizes us, and make sure we have weapons with us while we're, er, borrowing things without permission without the intention of giving them back."

We shook hands, then headbutted, chuckling at how weird we were. It was about that time when the wind did its weird changy thing. We skipped out and proceeded to watch Jack's awesome escape, spy on the sword fight, then head to our small home to prepare for the night of ahead. The games were about to begin!

We waited in the shadows, listening for the first rounds of cannon fire, signaling the beginning raid. We heard the whistles and we grinned, before slipping out of our hiding place and into the town. After making sure there were no small children, pregnant women, old people, or cripples about (we may have wanted to steal, but we don't kill for no reason.) we began our thieving.

We started towards the docks and moved inwards, staying out sight and out of the way. If pirates were already in a certain place, we'd skirt around it and go back later. When Aslynne noticed escapees from prison, we figured now would be a good time to head towards the governors mansion. We still felt a deep loyalty to the wig head, since he'd helped us and all. Might as well make sure that nobody burned his house down.

"I really want to steal that stupid medallion from Lizzy. But then that would throw the whole thing into chaos." I muttered darkly to myself, navigating through the destruction and hordes of people, my partner in crime close behind.

"Well, maybe you can steal it and say that you're Annie Turner! But then Will wouldn't try to go and save you, since he's not madly in love with you."

"I really don't think I have anybody madly in love with me."

"I'm madly in love with you!" Aslynne smiled.

"Yes, and I'm your hero! We simply can't go on without each other!" I joked back. Ah, nothing like making fun of romance, especially when both of us had had rather rocky relationships.

We made it up the hill and heard various shrieking noises from inside the house. As a maid ran out, I managed to figure out which point in the fight we were at. We decided to slip in a side door and see what was up. As we approached the front parlor, we watched as Elizabeth ran down the stairs, but got caught between Pintel and Ragetti.

"Hey, Annie, it's Ragetti! The wooden eye guy, right?"

"Yup! Did you see that jump? I would have fallen on my butt."

"I probably would have fallen on my face."

"Well, nobody is perfect." We stopped and moved out of the way as the chandelier dropped and Lizzy ran into the dining room, which, coincidentally, was exactly where we were hiding. Under the table. Smart, wasn't it?

"Hey, Lizzy!" We whispered together. She whirled around, but sighed in relief as she saw it was just us. We had gotten on okay together, so we considered Elizabeth a buddy.

"Are you two all right? You should get out, now!" She told us while looking for a hiding spot.

"Hell no, woman! We came all this way to make sure you were okay! You're stuck with us, so too bad!" I muttered, remembering to keep my voice down when Aslynne shushed me. Elizabeth looked at me funny, but it was about then that the door started breaking.

"Escape out the window!" She whispered, opening it for us, before hiding in a closet. Before I could tell her that the corner of the carpet was up, the two comic relief pirates entered the room.

How they managed to miss us two under the table, I'll never know. Maybe it's because we'd dressed so darkly. We were wearing matching black breeches, soft dark brown boots, white poofy shirts, with brown vests and brown coats. I had a black bandanna wrapped around my head, my hair in a ponytail. Aslynne had hers in a braid, tucked up in a brown hat.

We were both wearing random sparkly things we'd found in the course of the evening, such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, I had earrings, and so forth. However, the lighting was pretty bad, so they didn't reflect too much.

We watched the pirates pace the room and flinched a little when they flung open the closet door. Lizzy yelled "Parley!", so we knew she'd be safe for a bit. It was about that time that I decided to do something decidedly stupid.

"Aslynne, I'm going to run up, steal the necklace, then jump out the window." I whispered as loudly as I dared. I knew I didn't have long, they were going to leave soon. I needed to get to them before they got out of the house, so I'd have plenty of places to run.

"Why? Annie, that's just stupid! Would you stop and think for once!" She hissed at me, grabbing my coat sleeve. I just grinned.

"This way, I can go with Ragetti and them, since when they get a hold of me, I can yell parley, and tell them I want to stay with Lizzy. And, while I'm doing that, YOU can go with Will and Jack! They won't dare tell you no, and then you'll have a reason to tag along with them, to come save me! Savvy?" They were leaving the room. It was now or never. My leg muscles tensed as I waited for her reply.

If she really hadn't wanted me to go, then I know I would have stayed. After all, she thinks things through more than I do. A little too much. Then again, I think these things through too little, so we balance each other nicely. I saw the fear and the worry, but she nodded. I smiled, gave her a quick hug and a goodbye, and ran off, leaving her with a promise.

"We'll see each other again! Alive, and no other way! I promise!" I knew she'd feel better, since in the whole time we'd known each other, neither of us had ever broken a promise to the other.

So we had split up. I felt a bit of a loss, not having her at my side, but I knew we'd see each other soon enough. So I pushed the dark thoughts out of my head and focused on what I was trying to do. Steal that blasted medallion.

I slipped ahead of them, and just about right after Will got conked out, I lunged, snatching the chain and breaking it, taking off as fast as I could go. Which is actually very fast, if you wanted to know. Especially when I'm running for dear life from a couple of pirates, who, I'm pretty sure, wouldn't give a damn if they skewered me and left me for dead.

I was pretty certain it was Ragetti and another that were on my tail. I circled around and around, eventually ending up at the beach. I was out of breath and knew I couldn't escape those stupid undead males, so I whirled around, giving each a quick kick.

I managed to knock 'em over enough for me to shout "Parley!" Both of them looked really, really, REALLY mad, but there was nothing they could do about it! Ha, ha, HA! So, I ended up getting dragged onto the ship not a minute after Lizzy. And I was the one with the major bargaining tool.

"Hello, Lizzy!" I cheered. She just stared at me, then rushed to my side.

"Annie! Whatever are you doing here? I told you to run! And where's Aslynne?" She suddenly paled. "She…She isn't…"

I laughed, patting the older girl's shoulder.

"Not to worry! Aslynne is off on her own little adventure, as it were, and she is right as rain!" I watched as relief filled her friendly face.

"I'm so glad. It's just that, well, I've never seen one of you without the other, if you could help it."

"Yeah, well, just me being stupid again, that's all. Now, I do believe we've kept the good captain waiting long enough!" I turned and tried really hard not to show everybody how scared I really was. Truth be told, I was terrified. I had been since this whole night had started. I flashed the mutineer captain my brightest smile.

"Sorry about that, sir! I do appreciate you waiting a minute or two." I shivered a little as he smiled back. Dang, but this man was creepy.

"Not at all, miss. Now, since ye've both called for parley, what can I be doin' for ye?" I looked at Lizzy.

"You can go first. I've got my own demands. Don't worry, I'll back both of ours up." And I could, too. I had the trump card! Undead or not, they probably wouldn't be able to find the blasted thing at the bottom of the bay. I sidled a tad closer to the edge, lounging against the railing. I yawned. The night was waning and I wanted to go to sleep.

"And ye, miss?" I jerked my head up, but smiled.

"Ah, yes. Now then, I would like for whatever Lizzy over there said, and I wish to remain with her, should any dangers arise."

"And what makes ye think that we'll be agreeable to this?"

"Oh, just this little thing I borrowed a little bit ago…" I dangled the medallion over the side. I remained perfectly calm, even through Barbossa's bluffing. I let the chain slip a little, and laughed at their reactions. But not out loud. That would just be dumb.

"Feel accommodating now, Captain?" I think I might have grinned a little evilly, but I tend to do that when I'm up to no good. He agreed, as I knew he would, and then Lizzy flipped out over being taken back to shore, like I knew she would. And there I sat, evilly chuckling to myself. My very dumb plan was going according to plan.

Tell me what you think! It will make me HAPPY!!!