"What the shit are you talking about!" Alison exploded, wincing as she stood up.
"Exactly what I said," Monica said, her grin not leaving her face. "We've been transported to another world."
"What world?" Alison asked, staring at her sister as if worried for her mental health.
"Pirates," Monica said simply.
Alison stared at her, then at Michelle, who was still sitting on the wooden floor, then back at Monica.
"What?" she asked incredulously.
Monica sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes. "It's not hard, people! Our dryer transported us to another world, back in time, I guess, only to the Pirates of the Caribbean world!"
She felt her face redden as she realized how stupid this sounded.
Michelle stood up, her hands on the small of her back. "Where are we?" she asked wearily, as if she thought this was all some kind of joke she was tired of.
"I told you, we're in the Pirates world!" Monica yelled furiously, finally getting frustrated with her sisters. "Really, it's not that hard to understand! It didn't take me this long to understand when I was here before!"
"Before?" her sisters asked in unison.
"Yes, I met Jack and everything--Jack," Monica said, whispering his name. Was it possible--would she get to see him again?
Without another word, she started examining her surroundings, trying to figure out where they had landed. Was there a chance Jack would be near, or even anyone she was familiar with?
I'd be happy to see anyone, she thought, glancing about the room. Well, except for Decklan...
Monica saw all sorts of clutter in the room by the dull yellow light coming from many lanterns. It was warm and kind of stuffy, and she couldn't make out some of the items. She did, however, see a sort of a couch and many different contraptions, like creepy-looking things hanging from the ceiling...
"Tia Dalma's," she breathed, turning slowly on the spot. "We're in Tia Dalma's shack..."
Alison and Michelle stared, dumbfounded, as their younger sister ran to the couch.
"This must be where Barbossa...but, when are we?" Monica said to herself, leaving her sisters to wonder cluelessly.
"Then maybe--!" Monica straightened suddenly, whirled around, and ran for a staircase she had just noticed.
"Wait!" Michelle said urgently, but Monica's form had already disappeared down the dark staircase. Without thinking, she and Alison ran after her.
THUMP THUMP THUMP--THUD!
Alison and Michelle froze as they heard Monica groan. Glancing at each other with alarm, they ran down the stairs to see Monica laying on her stomach on the floor at the foot of the stairs, her head up quizzically.
Well, at least that means she's okay, Michelle thought worriedly, hurrying down the stairs. But is she alright...in the head? Then again, am I?
The two elder Connors sisters rushed to Monica's sides, helping her up. When all three of them were standing steadily, Alison noticed she was looking up at something.
"Monica, are you--what?"
Alison and Michelle raised their heads at the same time to see Barbossa, Tia Dalma, Will, Elizabeth, Mr. Gibbs, Cotton, Marty, Pintel, and Ragetti staring at them.
Michelle crumpled to the floor in a dead faint.
Alison's jaw dropped and her grip tightened on Monica's arm, sure that she was about to faint, too, but she only swayed a bit.
Monica was dismayed. "I missed Jack, didn't I?" she asked quietly.
Then she realized how strange this must be for the characters of the movie. She cleared her throat and moved forward, gently removing her arm from Alison's grip.
"Uh...well, this is hard to explain..." Then she remembered something. "Gibbs! You remember me, right?" she asked hopefully.
Gibbs blinked a couple of times, then nodded. Monica let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, that might make things a bit easier...now, will someone help me get her up somewhere?" Monica said shyly, nodding towards Michelle, unconscious on Tia Dalma's floor. "It just seems...a little unceremonious, you know?"
Like us falling into a movie isn't unceremonious, Alison thought numbly, her mind emerging from a blank state into one of panic.
Gibbs spoke first. "Who're they?" he asked gruffly.
"My sisters," Monica told him, managing to sound a bit calmer. "They came too, by accident, I guess...now will you please help her? Where can we put her?" she asked, swallowing and turning to Tia Dalma. "I'll explain this, I swear," she said desperately. "I know this is bizarre..."
Gibbs moved forward first. Monica gave him a grateful look as he passed and bent down to Michelle.
"That's Michelle," Monica said brightly, trying to break the ice that had suddenly developed in the room. "She's eighteen. And this is Alison; she's twenty-one."
Alison swallowed and smiled grimly, trying hard not to vomit.
"Yeah..." Monica nodded and clapped her hands softly, as if waiting for something. "Uh...anyone wanna volunteer to bring Sleeping Beauty here to a bed or something?" she joked feebly. Then she realized that probably no one would get the reference. "Whatever. Just...come on!"
Her pleading eyes searched the room. Sure, she had passed out when she had arrived last time, but had the crew of the Black Pearl acted this way?
Well, they just got a shock from Barbossa, she thought sensibly. I'm surprised one of them didn't have a heart attack...
Suddenly Will stepped forward. Alison felt her heart skip a beat.
Is this really happening? she wondered as he made his way across the room. Either this is a dream, or I'm going crazy!
Gibbs and Will picked up Michelle's unconscious form uncertainly, much to the relief of Monica, who was becoming more nervous by the second under the stare of these...characters. Stars.
People.
She shook herself slightly and once again turned to Tia Dalma. "Where to?" she asked, smiling weakly.
Tia Dalma pointed wordlessly up the stairs they had just come down. Monica nodded as she realized Michelle was to be put on the couch she had seen upstairs.
Gibbs and Will led the way, Will holding Michelle under the arms, and Gibbs supporting her legs. Monica was about to follow, but decided to stay behind instead.
"Alright, I know we've got a lot of explaining to do," she said after taking a deep breath. "So get comfortable, this is a long story...but Gibbs might be able to help me along the way; he's met me before..."
Monica stopped her babbling as Will and Gibbs descended the stairs, skirting Alison and Monica warily. They moved to the back of the room. Monica noticed how Will stayed far away from Elizabeth.
"Um, where to start...okay. We're from the future. That's why our clothes look funny. And why we talk funny, too--where we come from hasn't even been established yet, I think," she said, straining to remember her Texas history. "Anyway, we got here through a dryer--it's a machine that dries your clothes--and we ended up here. Yes, this has happened to me before, but only to me--my sisters weren't there. I landed on the Black Pearl. It was right after the first movie--I mean, when Jack escaped Port Royal when he was about to be hanged...and when you kissed Will for the first time," she added, looking at Elizabeth. She wasn't sure if anyone noticed the guilty look on her face.
"Anyway...well, basically, word somehow got out that I was Jack's daughter, and that got me into a huge mess--well, you don't really need to know what happened, but you do need to know that I know most of what's been going on in your lives for the past week or so. I saw most of what happened from when you fell off the battlements that day your corset was too tight--" she said, looking pointedly at Elizabeth, "--to when your wedding was ruined by that asshole Beckett, to right now, when Barbossa came down the stairs."
Monica paused, took a deep breath, and continued explaining. "I know you escaped from jail with the dog's help," she said, looking at Pintel and Ragetti, "and I know you've been on the Pearl," she continued, looking at Gibbs, Cotton, and Marty, "and I know Beckett wanted you to get Jack's compass to save Elizabeth's life," she finished, looking at Will. "Oh, and I know you escaped from Port Royal, pretended to be a man to get on a ship, led the crew to Tortuga, found Norrington and Jack, and--battled the kraken," she finished lamely, looking at Elizabeth. She didn't want to reveal the kiss between her and Jack. She was sure they all had enough on their minds.
"Oh, and I know you brought him back to life somehow," Monica added quickly, pointing at Tia Dalma and Barbossa. "And...and that's about it," she said stupidly. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "So...any questions?" she asked, smiling weakly.
Alison and Monica watched as they all shifted uncomfortably in their spots, but said nothing.
"Good!" Monica said, putting her hands on her hips. "Then we can get right to saving Jack!"
Alison stared at her, dumbfounded. "What?" she asked incredulously. "We have to get home! How do we get out of here?" she asked, sounding slightly panicked.
"We leave after thirty days," Monica said calmly, raising a hand at her sister's shocked look. "Don't worry--only thirty minutes will pass in our world. "Trust me," she added, smiling a little. "I've been through this before. Isn't that right, Mr. Gibbs?"
Gibbs nodded. Monica could have sworn she saw the tiniest hint of a smile on his face, as if he was remembering how bizarre it had been then and coming to the realization that it was happening again.
"Okay, now that that's settled," Monica said briskly, rubbing her hands together. "What about Jack?"
"What about Michelle?" Alison asked immediately.
Monica waved this thought away with a hand. "She'll be fine. I fainted, too--she'll be up in no time." She took a step forward, so that she was standing next to Barbossa. Which was pretty creepy, she had to admit. "What's the plan?" she asked earnestly, thinking she would scream if she was sidetracked from this question again.
Without warning, Barbossa spoke, making Monica jump a little. "We sail to the end of the earth to find him," he said in a low voice. Monica noticed he still had his apple in his hand.
"And when we do?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement.
I'm standing here, having a civilized conversation with Barbossa, she thought wonderingly. BARBOSSA!
"Well, that's a matter of what state we find him in, young missy," he replied. "Which reminds me...you never did say what your name was."
Monica lifted her head slightly. "Monica Connors," she said proudly, half a grin sliding to her lips. "Known to some as Monica Sparrow!"
When Michelle woke up, it took her a moment to remember where she was. Which was understandable, of course: she had only seen this place for about a minute. When she remembered, she felt a sick feeling in her stomach.
It wasn't a dream, she thought numbly. We really are...here...wherever "here" is, technically...
She sat up, groaning a little at the pain in her back. She remembered falling on it painfully when the sisters had arrived at the shack. She winced and put a hand on the small of her back, knowing she would be sore for a few days.
Suddenly, there was a thundering on the stairs. The noise scared Michelle more than anxiety about what might come up--she had just been through a major shock.
Well, duh she thought grimly, watching the stairs expectantly. Or I'm just going crazy!
Monica ran into the room, closely followed by Alison. Monica looked elated, while Alison looked freakishly pale.
Michelle felt her stomach drop to her feet (yes, even though she was sitting) when her two sisters were followed by Will Turner.
Will was her favorite character. Much of that was influenced by the fact that he was played by the lovely, dreamy Orlando Bloom, but nevertheless, she was floored to see him.
She tore her eyes from his face to look at her sisters--one, nearly bouncing off the walls with excitement and anticipation; the other, looking as if she was going to throw up.
"You're awake!" Monica said excitedly, ignoring the obviousness of this statement. And the thoughts of whether "obviousness" was a word. "You missed it!"
"Missed what?" Michelle asked, taken aback by Monica's energy. She hadn't seen her this excited about anything since...since she had gone with her friends to see Dead Man's Chest...and before that...well, it had been a long time, anyway.
"The plan!" Monica answered earnestly.
"Plan?"
"Yes--to save Jack!"
"What..." The end of Dead Man's Chest came back to Michelle slowly.
"Wow, you're really out of it," Monica remarked. "Well, that was a big shock..." She turned to Will, grinning. "You should have seen her when Barbossa came down those stairs! She threw her juice box down on the ground, she got so angry, it was hilarious!"
Michelle felt a blush creep onto her cheeks, but then she felt a bit more relieved when she realized that Will probably had no idea what Monica was talking about. Well, about juice boxes, at least.
"Come on, let's go downstairs," Monica said. "They're probably waiting...Tia Dalma said she wanted to talk to all of us, together. So hurry up!" she added, grinning.
Michelle and Alison glanced at each other. There was a gleam in Monica's eye that they hadn't seen in ages...had it been there since their father had died?
Michelle sighed and got up, wincing and returning a hand to her back. "Alright, alright, I'm coming," she said. She smiled weakly at Will, who was standing silently back. "Hi," she said shyly. "I'm--"
"Michelle, I know," he said quickly. "And I'm--"
"Will, I know," she said, smiling. She took a step and cringed at the pain in her lower back.
"Are you alright?" Will asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Oh, it's nothing, it's just when we got here, we sort of--"
"Fell from the sky," Monica interjected, grinning.
Michelle had almost forgotten her sisters were there. Her blush returned as she made her way to the stairs, looking up at Will shyly. As she took the first step, she stumbled a little, and Will placed a hand on her back to steady her.
Monica could practically see her face and ears glowing red from back in the room. She smirked at Alison, but it appeared her older sister hadn't noticed anything. She was still pale, but she stepped forward after Michelle and Will without a word. Monica followed, feeling excited.
When they all had entered the main room of the shack, they saw the owner seated at her table. The others stood, crowded around it. They seemed too wary of Tia Dalma to sit near her.
Monica made her way gently past Michelle and Will to sit at the table. She pulled up a chair and sat, gazing at the voodoo witch, suddenly serious--but the light never left her eyes.
Tia Dalma surveyed the room before speaking. When she did, her eyes darted around the room, pausing over every member of this eccentric party.
"You want to save Jack Sparrow, do you not?" she asked the room as a whole now.
"Captain," Monica said immediately. "Captain...Jack Sparrow," she said sheepishly under Tia Dalma's intense stare.
The rest of the group nodded, and Monica joined in quickly.
"And you want to save your father?" Tia Dalma asked Will.
Will looked surprised, but nodded.
"And you want to save your father?" Tia Dalma asked again, this time looking at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked extremely taken aback, but she nodded too.
"Well, that's funny," Monica piped up, grinning. "I want to save my 'father', too! Heh, heh...heh..."
She shut up as she felt everyone's eyes on her. She was sure she saw Barbossa roll his eyes, and she felt her face redden.
"Yeah, just a joke...uh, continue," she said, gesturing towards Tia Dalma apologetically.
Tia Dalma nodded, looking slightly amused, and continued.
"None of you managed to get the 'eart of Davy Jones?" she asked, casting a somewhat amused glance around the room.
Monica smirked as the characters of the movie--minus Barbossa--shuffled uncomfortably.
"'oo 'as it?" Tia Dalma asked, but Monica was sure she already knew the answer.
No one spoke. Then, Monica realized that none of them were really sure who had it--except for the three of them who had seen where it had gone.
"Norrington," she said quickly. "He brought it to Beckett."
Will gripped the back of the chair he was standing behind forcefully. Elizabeth's eyes flickered to Monica's, but then back down at her feet.
"The 'eart is needed to call off the kraken, and to bargain with Davy Jones," Tia Dalma said, leaning back in her chair. "But as the kraken 'as already found Jack--"
"We don't need it to rescue him," Gibbs said.
Tia Dalma nodded. "That leaves it to be used by Will Turner...to fulfill 'is destiny," she said eerily. She smiled at Will, revealing her blackened teeth.
Will nodded, but said nothing. Then Elizabeth said, "But what about my father?"
Tia Dalma's gaze shifted to her. "You will find 'im on your own," she said sharply. "You know where 'e is?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Port Royal."
"Den you will go and find him," Tia Dalma said calmly. "Will you need 'elp?"
Elizabeth blinked, then nodded, looking at Will, who looked away.
"And you will need 'elp on de search for your fahder?" Tia Dalma asked Will, a small smile playing across her cracked black lips.
"Yes," Will said, refusing to meet Elizabeth's eye.
"Captain!" Tia Dalma said, now turning her stare upon Barbossa. "'ow many will you need on your journey?"
"It will depend on the size of ship we use," Barbossa said.
"Wait, you're going for Jack?" Monica asked quickly.
Barbossa nodded.
"Count me in," she said immediately.
"Monica--" Alison began.
"Oh, you want to come to?" Monica asked innocently.
"No, I think we should--"
"Well, if you don't want to come, you can always go with Will or Elizabeth," Monica continued, pretending she hadn't heard her sister.
"Dat's a good idea," Tia Dalma said suddenly, smiling at Monica. "You will go wid 'im--" she pointed at Michelle, then at Will-- "--and you will go wid 'er," she finished, pointing at Alison and Elizabeth.
"What--I don't--" Elizabeth began, giving Alison a wary look.
"She will go wid you," Tia Dalma said in a finalizing tone. "You will need 'er 'elp...and per'aps you, too, will meet your destiny...Alison Marie."
Alison stared at the voodoo lady, wondering how she knew her middle name. But now, nothing really suprised her. She nodded and glanced at Elizabeth.
"Looks like you're stuck with me," she joked, smiling weakly. Elizabeth returned the smile, but only halfheartedly.
"You will go wid dem," Tia Dalma continued, staring intently at Will, "with...Michelle Anne."
Michelle swallowed hard, not sure if she was more nervous about a movie character suddenly knowing her middle name or going on an adventure with Orlando Bloom--no, Will Turner.
"And you..." Tia Dalma fixed her eyes on Monica, who was sitting stock still in her seat, listening intently. "You will go wid the Captain and 'is crew."
"You mean Pintel and Ragetti?" Monica asked brightly.
Tia Dalma nodded.
"Excellent!" Monica exclaimed, grinning at the two pirates. They just stared back, looking bewildered.
"Dat leaves you tree," the witch continued, pointing at Gibbs, Cotton, and Marty. "You will sail wid Mr. Turner and Miss Connors as dey look for 'is fahder."
Gibbs nodded, wide-eyed, as Tia Dalma gave him his orders.
"You must start immediately," Tia Dalma said, suddenly businesslike. "I 'ave a boat--you can use it to get out of de swamp, then find ships to make your journeys wid. You can stay da night, review your plans, if you wish, but leave in da mornin'."
