Possibles of The Caribbean Chapter 4: Complications With The Medallion, a Kim Possible + Pirates of the Caribbean Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't Pirates of The Caribbean or Kim Possible, there, happy now?

Chapter 3: Complications With The Medallion.

She slowly toggled down the docks, her bare feet moving as though time was freezing over around her. A look of unhappiness on her face, the emotions overflowing in her green eyes and coursing through her sour frown. Her auburn hair was wet and tangled and fell very unflatteringly around her face, brushing over her shoulders and sticking onto her cheeks. The white skirt of her underdress flicked out with every step she took, also soaked with water and dripping most of it onto the dock.

She held her father's coat over her shoulders; tightly grasping the navy blue fabric to conceal the warmth she couldn't keep a steady balance of. The winds kept getting stronger and colder, as shadowy clouds doubled in size and became black as tar, bringing a sense of nighttime upon the island. She shivered lightly as the wind sifted through the treads of the coat, then she pulled it from her shoulders and slipped her arms into the sleeves, pulling the coat onto her back. She pulled the first gold button into a small hole in the fabric and let her arms drop; the sting of the cold was still constant, but not as strong. This would do until she reached the mansion.

The young woman wasn't sure what to think as she left the docks. Too much for one day, and her mind was too cluttered for her to concentrate on one subject. There was nothing she could say that would sum up the day's events, not in one sentence, anyway.

No, strike that. There was one word she think of that would be a perfect example of today…

Complicated.

From the moment she'd woken up, that's what the day had been.

Complicated.

When father gave her the dress to wear for the ceremony, at which Commodore Mankey proposed to her.

Complicated.

When her best friend showed up on her doorstep, only to not show the same feelings she believed, and hoped him, to have.

Complicated.

When she was rescued by a fearless pirate whom she had heard so much about, only to have the British Royal Navy arrest him. Then Jack Sparrow, the pirate who had saved her and inspired her for so many years, suddenly wheeled around and took her for hostage as a way to save his own skin from the noose.

Complicated! Complicated! Complicated!

She stopped right then, and looked around the dock to make sure no one was watching her. To the left, to the right. Then shifted her cold hand inside her coat, and pulled the gold medallion from her neck, she undid the clasp, slipped the chain over her red hair, and grasped the entire trinket in one hand, the chain dripped through her fingers, and the gold coin clutched in her hand like it had been so many years before.

Once her beloved treasure and secret, now more of a mystery then it had ever been, and posing more threatening then fascinating. For a moment she was back in her dream. Years of holding onto something she'd had taken out of false belief, and she was never sure why she never returned it to him. Her only true friend, and she had stolen from him the day they met. She was ashamed of this, and it dug at her sometimes, but she never meant to steal from Ron, only to save him, from death, because Senior would've never believed the boy's claims of not participating in piracy had the crew of the Dauntless seen the medallion.

But now she knew why she kept it, because of today. There was something different… something more about the medallion. Something deeper rooted then she understood. What it was, she couldn't answer yet, but she knew it had done something that had changed the course of her path. She felt it.

The medallion had put many questions in her head before. As a child, she would sit up hours after the house was dark and everyone was asleep, a lit candle at her bedside, she would pull out her favorite pirate book and the medallion, and slipping the trinket around her neck, she would spend sleepless nights paging through her favorite stories, pretending she was on the ship, fighting along side her favorite characters, real or fictional, silently reading to herself until the house maid, making her last, late night round, saw the candle light from under her door. Reading was a talent very rarely found in anyone, much less a twelve-year-old girl, but mother had insisted upon it.

"But dear, it's not known for a young woman to… to-" her father sputtered. Lady Janice Possible raised her hand gently.

"James, I do not care what popular society thinks about it! Now it doesn't matter who you get, but someone out there must be willing to teach her to read and write like anyone else at her status in society. And know this, Kimberly deserves to have a proper education as much as any man does." Janice's voice was demanding, but clear and careful at the same time. James took in a breath, and with a sigh, his expression loosened to an unsure frown.

"Well… I'm not sure…" he began to say. Janice quickly pulled out her secret weapon. Folding her hands together and tilting her head, she twisted her face into the most unbelievable expression. Her bottom lip puckered and jiggled as though she was about to break down crying, and her eyes grew large and sad.

James took one look and squirmed uncomfortably, trying to ignore the strange, but unavoidable, tactic she always used against him. No wonder she almost always got her way in the house, and even though he was the man, and leader, of his family.

He couldn't help but feel a sudden change of heart for the subject. He loved his wife, and everything she did, too much to treat her like other men would treat their women. James was a man of respect, a family man, and Janice was a smart woman, defiantly ahead of her time, but amazing nonetheless, and he believed she deserved to be treated as such. And so does Kimberly, James added in thought. His expression softened completely, into a gleaming smile. He opened his arms wide and chuckled.

"Oh, how could I say no to you?" he said brightly. Janice broke her saddened face into a beautifully gracious grin; her eyes brightened once again, and she threw herself onto her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck, she lightly kissed him on the mouth. When they pulled away a second later, James smiled warmly, amused by his wife's reaction, glad that she was happy.

Janice slipped her arms off his shoulders and coiled them around his arm lovingly as the pair left the parlor room with smiles. Her husband looked down at her with an expression so filled with curiosity, Janice knew at once, from the point that she noticed he was watching her, that he was going to question her on something.

"What do you call that trick again?" he asked with a hint of delight in his voice. Janice looked up at him with a proud and sly smirk, then turned her head forward as they exited through the wood carved doorway.

"The Puppy Dog Pout." she answered plainly, but her voice sparking with pride. James just laughed heartily; so much that Janice began to laugh as well. By the time Kimberly had emerged from her hiding place behind the large, parlor door, her parents' laughter could be heard along each wall, echoing throughout every corridor with wide magnification.

The young Possible daughter smiled to herself as she watched them, so happy, so meant for each other, her parents were truly made a great team, and she smiled even wider, because she knew it was all because of her parents that she would be learning how to read very soon.

Kimberly lingered on the memory a bit longer, remember how the door's redwood edge felt under her small fingers, how the hallway smelled of ham and cherry pie as the scents wafted from the kitchen a floor above, the sounds of her parents unified laughter mixed with the sound of birds chirping outside the window, building a small nest for their oncoming family, reminding her of how her parents did such things for her, like building a nest, so she would do better and live longer in the world. She tried to hold on to the glorious moment just a second more before opening her eyes and looking down at the medallion once again, dragging her back down to the cold reality she was left to face alone once again. She wanted that place in time back, when the medallion was nothing more then her secret to keep and souvenir from her first, real encounter with pirates, when life seemed simple and worry-free, without all the problems she'd been handed as an adult. But now, she was faced with the reality of being her age, filled with proposals of marriage, money issues, and worrying over her image in the public's eye. Part of growing up a governor's daughter, she was sure, but why did growing up have to be so hard?

This trail of thought brought her back to her medallion wondering. Like I said before, it had put many questions in her head before. But there, one that hurdling day at the docks, Kimberly had found the most puzzling, mysterious question the trinket had brought her in a long time.

Why did Jack Sparrow recognize her medallion?

She kept playing that moment back again inside her head, that wide-eyed look of recognition that appeared on his face when he caught sight of it around her neck, then retelling all the stories she had heard about Sparrow, cross-referencing the medallion to each one. None of the elements connected, none of them! Perhaps she was forgetting something, one of the stories she had heard about Sparrow in the past.

Her mind was abuzz and the answers, unknown, Kimberly felt as though she had reached a fork in the road, with the medallion as her compass. And the direction she took depended upon whether she kept her compass, or dropped it where she stood, leaving her little secret behind forever.

Something told her she should leave it behind and go left, where she could continue her masquerade as a proper young lady, marry Joshua Mankey, and spend the rest of her days serving as a silent and pretty young wife to the esteemed Commodore, any man who took Governor Possible's daughter as his bride would surely have quite the reputation on the island, she thought. A little voice inside spoke, and said that it would be best, for everyone around you, you're endangering them by holding onto that thing, Father, Junior, Tara, even Ronald, everyone, let go of the accursed thing before it causes more trouble.

Yet her heart, her inner adventurer, said otherwise. And kept nagging her on to the right, where the unknown and the answers to all of questions, and her freedom, awaited her. Where everything she wanted and dreamed was there for her. The world before you, the wind in your face, and no ties to anyone! Isn't that what you've always wanted? Not this pompous life you've been handed, you want to scream, and shout, and live like you've never lived before! The medallion is your ticket to freedom! Do you want to lose that?

The decision was more difficult then anything she'd done yet. There she was, stuck between a life's desire and the people she knew and cared for, and once she chose, that was it. No turning back, she either kept the medallion or she didn't.

Kimberly looked around the darkening world of Port Middleton, at the shadowy clouds as the formed and rumbled above her. At the large British flag flapping in the high winds from its spot atop a nearby mast. At the elderly couple as they raced inside their house for shelter from the storm. Then she looked back down at the medallion with confusion and uncertainty in her eyes, the only thing that had allowed her to connect to her pirate dreams, a bookmark of one of the most memorable days of her life, reminding of the fear, danger, but friendship she gained years before, but then the problems and confusion it caused today.

She had to choose now, or be left standing on the dock forever.

James Possible slowly made his way past his daughter; his manner very stiff, quiet and deep in thought, he kept himself standing straight and his step well paced, like a true gentlemen. He bumped Kimberly's right shoulder unintentionally, breaking her attention for a second; she looked up and watched as her father walked back up the dock. At first it didn't seem like much, then the realization came, she looked again, her eyes filled with surprise. He was leaving without her?

Wait, something wasn't right about that. He would never, never leave anywhere without knowing Kimberly was coming too, or telling her that it was time to leave, he loved her too much to do something like leave her alone somewhere, and especially after what happened today, where she'd expected her father to have at least five escorts awaiting her to take to the carriage. But no, nothing of that manner, very unexpected, very unlike him. Time to get some answers!

"Father!" she called, suddenly picking up her pace and running behind him. As soon she within close range of his persona, she reached out her arm and placed her hand on James' shoulder, hoping to catch his full attention.

And she did. James Possible turned around very slowly, facing Kimberly with an expression that caused her to fall back several steps in flabbergasted shock, he suddenly bought back the memory of her mother on that fine day in the parlor. Her father staring at her the same way Mother had stared at him, with such hurt in his eyes, such a solemn frown that brought down several once unnoticed wrinkles on his cheeks and revealed them perfectly. It was the best example of the Puppy Dog Pout she had seen in a long time, but Father wasn't using it as a tool, he wasn't faking, this was real, honest pain he was bearing. Perhaps the most heartbroken face she'd ever seen him with. Kimberly, placing a hand on her heart, took a moment before regaining her ability to speak, then brushed a red lock of hair from her eyes and asked:

"Father…" she sputtered, though she had hoped to sound less surprised, "is something… wrong?" Her question came out in pieces, for this face he wore was most unlike her father, such a happy and bright man he was, even when he didn't feel that way, he still put on a smile for his family and the public. But he wasn't even pretending this time; his sadness was front and foremost when Kimberly looked at him.

James didn't speak to her for a long moment. Then let out an exasperated, lengthy sigh, breathing out for what like forever to Kimberly. He looked to her with the most heart-wrenching glint in his gray eyes, causing Kimberly an uncomfortable twitch in her stomach.

"Kimberly," James spoke, lowering his head, eyes closed tight. "Do you…" he turned away from her again, having too much trouble saying what wanted to her directly. He opened his eyes and felt tears suddenly begin to flow, so he shut them again. Fighting back the lump in his throat, he tried to finish the sentence. "Do you… do you… hate me?"

Kimberly was taken aback. She placed a hand on her father's shoulder. "Father, never! I could never hate you! How could you imagine such a thing?"

He looked to Kimberly with the same, sad ache on his heart, and regaining some of his lost composer, he tried to turn his expression serious, stern, and harder then he felt.

"It's just," he began, "I got a feeling that you thought I was…" his strength failed him, and his face fell back to a saddened frown. "Overbearing," he finished with another heavy sigh.

Kimberly took a moment to process what she was hearing. How could Father come up with such outlandish ideas as that? How could he think that she thought of him, hated him, in that way?

But she did feel that way about her father's overprotective attitude, and that made this conversation an issue. She had never told anyone about her angry feelings toward his unwillingness to let her live her own life, not even her mother knew about it. If Mrs. Possible had ever had a thought about her daughter's outlook, it wasn't in her knowledge. Those were private thoughts that belonged to the young Possible and her alone.

"Not anymore…" snickered the little voice, giggling inside Kimberly's head.

Then it all came to her, then she remembered, taking the information with a shock. She wasn't alone in her thoughts; she had shared them unwittingly!

With all the attention she had received from Jack, and all the excitement that ensued afterward, she had completely forgotten about her little temper tantrum that she'd thrown against her father and the Commodore, the bashing she'd brought down on James' parenting techniques and the heartbreak she had used to run Mankey through and through. Now it made sense, now she understood why father looked so sad, she had hurt him, his own daughter, and she had crushed him! What had she done? What had she said to him? Everything from the conversation was a blur, all she remembered the boiling rage she felt because they were taking Sparrow away. Big mistake, she thought to herself, I should've let them take him, I should've just left it alone! She was never supposed to say those things to him; they were the words that she had expected to keep within her own mind, not shout them to the heavens when anger met with passion. Why couldn't she control herself?

Kimberly felt her heart plunge two feet in her chest, as she looked her father straight in the eyes, her own olive orbs widened and were put at the brink of tears. She had wounded her own father! She didn't mean to destroy him that way; she never wanted to hurt him ever!

"Father, you must understand… I… you… I couldn't have… shouldn't have… I didn't mean…" Kimberly stuttered, but she just couldn't find the right words to apologize. He deeply cared for her, and she had slammed him for it, how does one say sorry correctly after an event like that?

The young aristocrat reached out to her father, trying to send a sign that she still cared for him, but James only shifted away and turned his back on her, still upset and too pained to speak. Kimberly understood his reaction and slowly recoiled her hand, slipping it around her waist and hugging herself, rocking her body gently. He had right to be angry with her, he had the right after what she had told him today, she had crushed him in front of the Royal Navy. He should be angry for what she did, it didn't matter to her anyway, she felt too guilty to let it matter.

But Governor Possible was not angry, just hurt, hurt that so many years had gone by, and Kimberly had never told him these things before, hurt that she felt this way, though he had always suspected something different about her personality, hurt that his attempts to protect his young had only caused the rift between them to grow. No, he was not happy about the whole predicament, but he could never be angry with his own daughter, he cared about her too much. They would talk about all this at home, though.

James looked back Kimberly from over shoulder, his head moving very slowly. He watched as she hugged herself. She must've felt awful after all this, he figured. Maybe turning away wasn't the greatest idea. Maybe talking about it now would be better.

He turned himself around completely, and motioned like he going to say something to the young girl. But when he opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was a small choking sound. James cursed himself inwardly for this. He couldn't do it! He could not conjure the right words to explain the lifetime of lies the two had weaved to each other. He closed his mouth again, seeing if he could think up anything helpful to say. He strained his head and brainstormed for two minutes before giving up due to an oncoming migraine. No help there either.

James pressed a hand to his forehead and straightened up his back a little. What could he say to help? What?

He grunted softly before speaking.

"Come along, Kimberly. The carriage is waiting." He spoke solemnly. These were the only words he could come up with. He gave her a gentle stare in the eyes before wheeling around and walking away in the opposite direction.

Kimberly looked up at her father and sighed heavily, yet another problem laid down in her life's path. Perfect. She was about to take a dragging step forward and follow, when she realized something heavy and cold was still in her hand. She gazed down into her palm; the medallion was still clutched between her fingers as it had been before her father came, her decision on it still pending. Not anymore, she thought, positioning her hand above her head, as though she were about to throw the medallion into the shallow waters surrounding her. If the disaster and mayhem, which she could tolerate, was what fueled this choice, then the pain she had caused her own father was what gave it the stamp of approval. As much as she loved the old thing, she knew that it was playing some sort of part in her story that she didn't want it to play, a gut feeling told her that it had a place in the day's roughness, and nine out of ten times, her gut was right. As many happy moments it had brought her, if her passion for the secrets it harbored was going to ruin the lives of loved ones, it wasn't worth the trouble of keeping.

She swung back her arm in the position of a catapult, the medallion raised high in the air, its metal chain swinging off her hand and onto her wrist. Her face was clenched in anger, but also disappointment. She was losing her favorite treasure and everything it meant to her, all because of a near crazed theory that it was bad luck to keep it. She lowered her hand a little, remembering all the happy moments she had shared with the little trinket, then the voice returned.

Stop it, chimed the proper voice from before, throw the blasted thing into the water! Believe me, the thing is evil! Look what's happened in times you'd had it. Sunken ships, pirates, you nearly drowned, then were taken hostage, and all those horrible things you said to your father and the Commodore. The medallion caused all that! It's all its fault!

With these thoughts running though her mind, Kimberly's hesitation dissipated completely. It was all the medallion's fault! She lurched her hand backward, then sped for the nearest edge to the dock. With a silent grunt, she stopped where the wood planks ended, and was about to release the medallion from her grasp, sinking it to the bottom of the ocean where she thought it would do no more harm. When all of the sudden…

"Kimberly! The carriage is leaving! Now!"

There was a sharp pulse inside Kimberly's hand, surging down her arm, into her chest, and all the way down to her toes. The young woman froze in her spot at end of the dock, staring back at her father, who was waiting impatiently, comfortably seated inside their black carriage, which was parked at the end of the boardwalk, the driver tapping his foot in an annoyed way.

Kimberly watched them for a short second, confused. She looked down at the water.

For some strange reason, she couldn't remember what she'd been doing before all this. Last thing, she was going to talk with her father, but how did he get to the carriage? Why was she standing over the dock? Why was her medallion hanging over the water? She couldn't remember why. Had she blacked out? She'd never blacked out before. Kimberly scratched her chin gently. How much time had it been since her last memory? Why had she forgotten? Had she forgotten?

She pondered it a little more as she ran back to the carriage, her father opening the door for her as she jumped inside, seating herself next to him carefully and giving him a small smile. The driver let out a soft "finally," and cracked his whip a bit sharper then intended. The horses took off, causing the carriage to jolt, sending the Possibles backwards in their seats.

Kimberly straightened up after a moment, smoothing out her underdress and hair, feeling the carriage slow down a bit from the speed of the launch. As James sat up in his own seat and fixed his wig, Kimberly pulled her arm out and looked at the gleaming medallion still clutched in her palm. She suddenly got the feeling of daja vu, like she'd done this before, recently, but she couldn't remember the exact time. The missing few minutes of her life was causing quite a pickle. She hooked the chain back around her neck and placed the medallion on her chest.

Another pulse in her body, this time from her heart. She cringed and put her hand on her ribs. What was that? She'd felt it right after father had called for her, now again here. It was most strange, and she couldn't explain where in was coming from. She grabbed the medallion again, lifting it to her face. It looked different for some reason, though she couldn't place the change.

She rubbed the gold between her fingers and pondered back on the pulse. Perhaps she hadn't quite gotten her land legs regained since the near drowning she had faced, or all the water hadn't pumped out of her system, though Kimberly very much doubted it. She leaned back in her seat and gazed down at the medallion, trying to ignore the tingling sensation as it ran up and down her body, numbing her toes and fingers every now and again.

After a few minutes, the strange sensation wore off again.

Thank you to chapter 3 reviewers, Josh84, Darth Comrade, Invader Johnny, DuffKilliganFan, Arya MageFire, Aero Tendo, chocoholic1, dartblade, spoonlord153, ARA reader Not The CrimpMaster, and KP FF reader Darrin X, and all the silent readers out there, love you all!

Any spelling errors, grammar errors, or any problems involving the story, please report to me and I shall fix it.

Finally! An update! Sorry this took so long! Holidays and schoolwork put me behind. I'm sorry to say the big sword fight will be in the next chapter, it was gonna be in this one, but it wasn't finished yet, and I had to update or be forgotten. I also hope the whole medallion magic and 'Kim suspects' thing, wasn't too far out there. I wanted to put something original in it. I liked the idea, did you?

Also people, parts of next chapter I am dedicating to Eddi, who I will thank for inspiring the Yamonuchi subplot you all should be expecting to see soon, as well as Shego and more on the Possible clan.

Just a friendly reminder to everyone, the voting for The Fannie Awards has started. There is a Crossover/Fusion category, as well as an AU category this year (cough, cough, people!)

So when you cast your vote, be sure to remember this story! As well as others I've written!

Next Chapter: Sword Crossed.