Thanks to Rose of the Dawn, rainbowluff, illiteracyisacrime, Myri78 and kaito142 for the reviews! Appreciate it :D
Chapter 2: Regan's Secret.
"Give the girl a shot of whiskey
Set the pirate lady free
Let her rule the sea!"
Kaelyn spent most of the day rounding up her crew; they had to begun to do what they'd come to Tortuga to do. Neely she found dutifully onboard of the ship after she came out of her room. The rest were a little harder to find. Some of the girls had found themselves some men, others some girls to play around with. One girl she found sleeping with the pigs, another had somehow ended up in a tree and fallen asleep there. It was nearly six o'clock when she finally had her whole crew gathered on the ship.
"Listen up!" Neely's voice boomed over all the other voices, and the ship fell to silence immediately.
"We'll split up," Kaelyn told them. "Half of you start preparing the ship! The rest of you will go find supplies; food, clothes and anything else you feel like. Do not forget the rum!" She emphasized the last part about the rum, she didn't have anymore left, and who in their right mind could live without rum? "I want you all back here by nightfall!"
"Aye, Capt'n!" her crew answered her in unison, and then hurried off to their assigned tasks.
"You going to look for 'im again?" Neely asked her, now that the two of them were the only ones left.
"Yeah..." Kaelyn answered with a sigh. She had been looking for her father for 10 years now, and whenever she seemed to get closer to finding him, she hit a dead end. "You go and watch over the ladies. Make sure they don't get off track," Kaelyn ordered her, "I'll be fine on my own."
"Aye, Captain." Neely nodded and went after the girls. Neely knew that Kaelyn had to do this, and she wasn't going to stop her.
Kaelyn made her way to the outskirts of town, to where she had lived with her mother. The sight that greeted her wasn't a pretty one. The house lay in ruins. After her mother, no one had taken over the house, and with time it had faded away. She took a step inside the nearly ruined house; there was no roof and worthless possessions were scattered everywhere.
She kicked around a few pieces of wood as she walked through the ruins, until suddenly she came to an abrupt stop. She crouched down and brushed away some dust. She reached down and picked up a piece of paper with a delicate touch.
On the paper was a drawing. Kaelyn recognized it and the memories of her mother came rushing back. The drawing was of a young girl, no older than six. It was the drawing her mother had done of her. Letting herself fall to the ground, she began to cry, clutching the drawing to her heart. She hadn't cried this hard ever since her mother had died. She was the captain of a pirate ship; she wasn't allowed to show weakness, so she had always suppressed her feelings. Now, at this very moment, she let it all out.
The crack of a twig sharpened her attention. She quickly got to her feet and drew her sword. "What are you doing here?" she asked the man who was standing in front of her, her eyes red from the crying.
"I apologize for the interruption," he told her, "I saw you walking this way and began to wonder."
"Go away," she sneered at him as she pressed the tip of the sword to his neck, "I don't need your pity!"
"We're both in the same boat here," he told her somberly. He gently pushed the sword away from his neck with his hand, and it fell to her side. "I never knew my mother, you did. You never knew your father, I do."
It took Kaelyn some time to register what he was saying. "What?" The sword dropped to the floor. "Me da, you know him?" She was confused. How did he know who her father was? He didn't even know who she was looking for! No one knew; she had kept her mission a secret from her crew for a long time now.
"Yes," he told her seriously, "I accidently saw your tattoo the other day and it's the same one an old friend of mine has." He reached out and pulled down her shirt to reveal her suntanned shoulder. The tattoo. A bird... A Sparrow.
"Take me to him!" she demanded. Her heart was racing and she became excited. Ten years she'd been searching and now, finally, maybe she would see him. She would finally meet her father!
"I can't," he told her carefully. He didn't want to upset her; he had been a victim to her temper before. "He is gone on some mad treasure hunt again."
It wouldn't connect at first. It refused to sink in. It had to sooner or later, though, and it did. Her mood took a total flip, from being ecstatic to quite depressed. "What is he looking for?"
"The Fountain of Youth," he told her with a shrug. It was obvious that he didn't believe it existed.
The Fountain of Youth... she thought to herself. She had heard the legend a long time ago, and even though she hadn't believed it existed, she still had a yearning to find it. Regan was the one who had told her about it. She had done a lot of research on it, and had some maps that supposedly led to it. Kaelyn had just laughed and not really thought anymore about it. Yet, she figured her father had about the same information, and so she had a clue to where he was.
"Alright, I'm going to find this... Fountain of Youth," she suddenly declared, "and you're coming with me." She smirked as she picked up her sword and pointed it at him, daring him to defy her. She was an accomplished swordswoman, trained by Regan herself – there was no way he could beat her (As long as they didn't have a fair fight, that is).
"It seems I have no choice," he surrendered. He didn't have much to do here, anyway. Besides, it may prove interesting, and there was a chance he would learn something about his mother, as well.
On board the Sea Serpent, an hour later.
"Ladies, listen up!" Kaelyn barked at her crew, "This here is William Turner! He'll be joining us for a while." At the sound of his name, the crew began whispering to each other. Turner had been Regan's last name, too. No one had ever known Regan to be with a man, and no one ever guessed she had, so the news of her so-called 'son' was quite surprising.
"We're going treasure hunting!" Kaelyn announced. As the crew heard this, they forgot all about Will and broke out in excitement. Treasure hunting was the true pirate life! Kaelyn turned to Neely, who, as always, stood loyally by her side. "Get the ship ready, we'll sail as soon as possible."
"Where are we going?" Neely asked her captain.
"To find the Fountain of Youth," Kaelyn smirked. She had a glint in her eyes that Neely knew all too well. Whenever her captain was determined to find something, she would get the same glint. She wouldn't ever give up before she found it. "I'll be in my cabin. You follow me!" she told Will as she turned to him.
When she was in her cabin, she walked straight to one of a large chest and opened it. She pulled out several maps and parchments, all filled with notes, lists, and other such information. She laid them out on her desk.
"I knew Regan was onto something," Kaelyn murmured. "The thing is, she wrote them all out in riddles and codes. There's no making sense of it!"
"You were closest to her," Will said as he walked over to her side and looked down at the maps. "She would have given you clues to figure it out."
Kaelyn glanced at him, and then back at the notes. Will could almost see the wheels in her head turning. He recognized the look she had; it was the same as Jack when he was thinking. The more he got to know her, the less he doubted that her father was, indeed, Jack Sparrow. He couldn't say that he was really astounded that Jack had a child – it was Jack after all, and one of his assuredly many off-springs were bound to show up sooner or later.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, he looked over her shoulder at what she was reading.
"Those who seek the return of Innocence
the Source of life renewed
Sail to the Shore of the Land
where the Flowers live in peace
and Feast your eyes upon them
To find the treasure of Innocence
you have to look through the many Keys
at the Bottom of the chest
you'll find what you are searching for
Beware, things are not as they Seem
only the Pure can find it
let the Flowers show the way
no one can See it
although it's right before their Eyes
See what can't be Seen
among the Quest
and you'll know the Way
to the place where time Stand still"
He had no idea what it meant, but he could see Kaelyn had an idea.
"Return of Innocence..." she mused, "Well, it has to mean the Fountain of Youth, for who is more innocent than a child? Life renewed only confirms that. Land where the flowers live in peace... I don't..." She suddenly stopped and got a look in her eyes of revelation.
"What?" Will shouted after her as she made her way towards the door. "What did you find out?"
Kaelyn turned and gave Will a silent smirk before leaving the cabin. The crew was busy getting the ship ready. They would be done by morning and then they could get on their way. Kaelyn had forgotten she was looking for her father at the moment; the thought of the world's greatest discovery occupied her thoughts entirely. She knew the secret!
"Neely!" she barked. "We sail at dawn!" She told her second-in-command with an ecstatic and happy smile.
And the next morning, they were on their way. Kaelyn stood by the wheel and steered the ship, whistling happily. She hadn't told anyone where they were going yet, and it was making the crew anxious... Will even more so than the others. He had been dragged on this trip without much choice, and now he wondered if the captain had an inkling of where they were even going.
"Ma'am," Will begged, "please tell me where on Earth we are headed!"
"To the Fountain of Youth, of course!" Kaelyn answered between her whistling. She abruptly began singing,
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot
Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"
She brought a bottle of rum to her mouth and took a swig of it. Then went on mumbling the song. "...and really bad eggs!" she bellowed out, and grinned at Will.
"Is she always like this?" Will whispered to Neely, who chuckled at his question.
"Aye, Mister Turner. Always." She gave him a slap on the shoulder, causing him stumble a little at her surprising force.
"I always loved that song," Kaelyn said suddenly. "I taught it to the whole crew!"
"And they hate it..." Neely whispered to Will, making him smile slightly. No wonder. Usually only little kids and old drunkards sang that song. "Cap'n," Neely told the whistling girl, "The crew is getting anxious. They need to know our headin'..."
Kaelyn looked at Neely for a moment in silence. With a sigh, she gave in. "Tell 'em we're going to Florida." She grinned.
"Florida?" Will frowned.
"Where the flowers live in peace," she recited, "Regan taught me geography, and she showed special interest in Florida, which means feast of flowers." She didn't stop there with the explanation. "If Florida means that, and the place we're looking for is supposed to have flowers, then it would only be logical that Florida is where we seek." She said this so fast that Will only looked at her in confusion.
"Typical Jack..." he mumbled to himself.
"What?" Kaelyn asked as she heard him mumble, but she seemed a little absent minded, her mind obviously somewhere else.
"Nothing," Will told her and left her to her thoughts as he went to help the crew with the work.
The trip took several days. The crew was anxious, and Will was a little nervous. He didn't know if he trusted Kaelyn. Neely looked carefree, obviously used to Kealyn's behaviour.
"LAND!" one of the ladies yelled from the Crow's Nest.
Will ran to the front of the ship and lay his eyes on the land before him. Florida. As they came closer, he couldn't believe his eyes. There, not far from the shore, was the Black Pearl!
Sorry for letting you guys hang on for a while here, but be assured I'll get the new chapter up as soon as I make the finishing touches. :D Keep reviewing! ;D
