By the time Amber reached the docks, Jack had just thrown his shackles over Elizabeth.
"Okay, so I missed all the drama at the docks." Amber muttered as Elizabeth placed Jack's belt over his head.
It wasn't her fault she hadn't reached the docks in time. Running in heels and a dress with more cloth than most people's entire wardrobe hadn't been an easy task. She was lucky to have gotten here when she did.
Suddenly, her attention was caught by a young teenage girl that had been standing behind Jack, stomping her feet and muttering about how lucky other girls were. Her wrists were shackled and her blond hair matted against her head. Her clothes looked stiff, probably from drying with saltwater in them.
Yes, all in all, the girl was quite a funky site, but Amber recognized her best friend immediately.
"Jessie." Amber breathed. She felt weak with relief. Her best friend was here; she wasn't alone after all. Just as she was breathing a sigh of gratitude, Jack made his escape.
As the pirate spun around on his personal twirl-a-whirl, Amber heard the Governor Swann yell out, "Now will you shoot him?"
When Norrington gave the order, gunshots could be heard. But Amber focused her gaze on Jessie.
Her friend watched Jack - and probably muttered a few insults too- before she turned and went unnoticed by the army through the crowd. When Amber was satisfied that Jessie would escape with Jack, she turned and retraced her steps back into the town.
She arrived in the alley where the blacksmith shop was just in time to see Jack drag Jessie behind the body that hung there.
Good thing for them too, because as soon as they were out of site, a number of soldiers marched right past. Fearful they would notice the two fugitives, Amber was struck with an idea.
"Oh, dear God." Amber put a hand to her forehead and tried to look faint. She had always wanted to be an actoress, and now was her chance to try it out. "Tha-tha-that pirate!"
At the mention of the word "pirate," the soldiers halted. Amber was amazed –they all stop at exactly the same time. It was kind of freaky, really.
"Pardon me miss," The soldier that had been in the front of the line stepped forward. "But, have you seen a pirate?"
"Oh, yes, yes." Amber said quickly, doing her best to look fearful. "He came rushing through here moments ago –nearly knocking me to the ground."
"May I ask in which direction this pirate went?" The soldier asked.
"Oh, of course." Amber replied; pointing a shaky finger back towards the direction she'd came. "After nearly trampling me, he turned and raced off, that way."
The soldier gave a quick bow in thanks. "My gratitude to you, miss. We'll have him in our custody in no time at all."
"Oh, please do!" Amber said a little too loudly, trying to keep the soldier's attention on her, and not behind him –where Jack was dragging Jessie by the arm into the smithy. "Such a man deserves the harshest punishment that the law can inflict."
"Oh don't worry, ma'am, Commodore Norrington will be sure of that."
Amber offered a weak smile in response, and the soldier gave another bow in thanks. "Look lively men!" He ordered, as they set off marching in the way Amber had directed them.
Amber watched them go, and had to stifle a fit of laughter. "Suckers."
---------------------------------------------------------------
"This is so gross." Jessie complained to Jack as they hid behind a dead body that hung near the blacksmith's shop. Jack shot her a glare that told her to shut-up-or-be-pushed-out-in-front-of-the-soldiers. Jessie took the hint and waited quietly as the soldiers stormed past, in hot pursuit of them both.
"Oh, dear God."
Jessie heard the voice- sounding very familiar- and glanced over at Jack. "What was that?" She mouthed to him silently.
Jack shrugged and leaned past her to watch. Even though her view was blocked by the pirate, Jessie didn't mind much as she stared in awe at how close she was to Jack Sparrow.
After a moment though, her star-struckness wore off and she waved a hand in front of her nose –an overly dramatic way of showing that something smelled bad. "My God, Jack. You stink."
He ignored her though as he waited and watched the scene that Jessie could only hear bits and pieces of.
"Pirate…Knocked me to the ground…rushed off…"
Jessie couldn't hear very clearly, but she was certain the voice speaking was female. And she recognized it too, though she couldn't place it with a name or face. That is, until the voice suddenly became louder.
"Oh, please do!"
That was when it struck Jessie, and she recalled the owner of the voice.
"Amber!" Jessie whispered in a voice louder than her regular one. Was her best friend here after all?
Jessie didn't have much time to dwell on it, because as soon as Amber made her outburst of how the pirate should be punished, Jack grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards the door of the smithy. It was a big risk, leaving his hiding spot while the soldiers were still here; but Jessie assumed Jack was relying on Amber to be a distraction.
Jessie only had a second to catch a glimpse of the speaker, but a second was all she needed. Right before Jack dragged her completely into the safety of the smithy, Jessie confirmed her guess that Amber was here as well.
Once inside the smithy, Jack released her arm with such a jerk, Jessie nearly fell to the ground. Waving her arms madly, she caught herself. Standing upright once more, she took in her surroundings.
"Not as big as it seems, is it?" Jessie mused. It was all here –the donkey, the cart, the many, many swords.
Thump.
Jack –who had previously been examining a hammer- whirled around. He located the sleeping man, and walked over to where he sat, slumped down.
"Oh, let me wake him up!" Jessie squealed.
Jack turned to glare at her. "There will be no waking of anyone. Just watch."
The pirate tapped Mr. Brown lightly with a fingernail. Naturally, he didn't move.
"That's not how you do it." Jessie scolded. "Yell in his ear, and see if moves."
Jack rolled his eyes, but decided to humor the lass.
"Whoa!"
Nothing. The drunken man did nothing but let out another loud snore.
The creaking off the blacksmith door alerted the two that they weren't alone.
"What the….?" Jessie wondered aloud. It was too early for Will to be coming back, she knew.
"Hush, lass." Jack ordered, dragging her by the arm to hide behind a barrel.
"Ow." Jessie complained, because Jack was gripping her arm far too tightly for comfort. "I'm going to have a bruise there, and it's all your fault."
The pirate shushed her again, as someone called out.
"Stop hiding, I know you're in here."
"Amber!" Jessie tried to scramble out behind the barrel, but Jack tightened his grip on her arm and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Do you want to face the gallows?" He demanded.
Jessie wiggled and squirmed so violently, that Jack was forced to uncover her mouth. As soon as he did, Jessie blurted out, "It's okay. She can help."
"Jessie's right, Jack." Amber's head appeared over top of the barrel, causing Jessie to shriek with delight and Jack to jump.
"And who might you be?" He demanded to know.
"A friend." Amber replied calmly as Jessie dragged Jack out from behind the barrel.
"Her name's Amber." Jessie explained, smiling as Jack winced in pain at the force of Jessie's grip. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?" She asked, smiling wickedly.
The pirate captain didn't respond. Instead he jerked his arm free and glowered at Amber. "How do you know her?" Jack demanded of Jessie.
"Don't worry Jack, you can trust me." Amber promised; though Jack's narrowed eyes told her he didn't believe her.
"And my name," He said. "How do you know it?"
Amber laughed. "The whole town's talking about ' the pirate on the loose.' One would have to be deaf not to have heard."
Jessie shot her friend and appraising look for having had covered so quickly. But it wasn't really a lie –the whole town was talking about Jack Sparrow.
"Amber's an old friend." Jessie told Jack, answering his earlier question. "Her father knew my father back in…" Jessie trailed off, having already forgotten the name of place she had told Jack she'd came from. "…St John?"
Jack was to absorbed in his study of Amber to pick up on the hesitancy of Jessie's voice. Amber did though, and shot Jessie a questioning look. Jessie shrugged and gave her a look that begged Amber to play along. Amber nodded.
"Sure, sure." Amber said. "We go way back, me and Jessie do. I haven't seen her since my family moved from…St John…" Amber waited for Jessie's nod that that was the correct place before she continued. "…To Port Royal."
But Jack wasn't interested in the made-up family history. He knew the girls were lying, but didn't care enough to demand the truth. Instead he asked Amber, "Tell me this: Why should I trust you?"
"Seems to me, Jack," Jessie answered. "That you don't have much choice. If I were you," She added. "I'd be worried about getting off the those irons." She nodded towards the chains that still bound Jack.
"You still have 'em on, too ye know." Jack replied, gesturing towards Jessie's irons.
"Right." Jessie said. Truth be known, she had totally forgotten about her chains in her excitement of hooking up with Amber.
But Jack was no longer listening. Instead he began working on removing his shackles. He tried hammering them apart first.
"Not working." Jessie told him. She was still shackled herself, but when she stretched out her arms in an attempt to reach the gears, she came up short. "Drat."
Jack shook his chains in frustration, unable to break them. When his gaze landed on Jessie –still trying in vain to reach the gears- he smiled.
"Lovely idea, lass." Jack said. He grabbed a red-hot iron from the fire and poked the donkey with it.
Startled, the donkey gave a shrill neigh before he started running in circles, turning the gears.
"Any other day," Jessie said distractedly, as she was still trying to reach the gears. "I'd say something about animal cruelty to you. But, on this particular day, I have more important problems."
Jack said nothing, only slung his chains over the turning gears. It worked, and in moments the irons broke in half.
"Amber, give me a leg up." Jessie begged, because she knew she was running out of time if she wanted to get these shackles off.
With Amber's help, Jessie finally reached the gears and was able to hold them still long enough to have them break apart.
"Much better." Jessie sighed, rubbing the sore spot on her wrists.
"Quick, someone's coming." Amber told Jack, gesturing for them to hide behind the barrel.
"More dragging results in more bruises." Jessie complained as Jack once again grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the barrel Amber was. "I'd have thought you'd learned your lesson when I dragged you."
"Oh, shut it." Jack whispered as soon as Will Turner became visible.
Both Amber and Jessie released dreamy sighs and the site of him. "Oh, God." Amber breathed. "Now that I've snapped out of the state of shock I was in when I first saw him…Wow."
"Jack," Jessie whispered. "Why did you let go of my arm? You better grab it again, or I'll jump out from behind this barrel and start screaming at the site of him."
Jack made sound of disgust, but Jessie and Amber paid it no mind.
Luckily for the three people hiding, their whispers and sighs went unnoticed by Will as he quickly quieted the donkey –who was still running in circles. Then he glanced around him.
"Right where I left you." Will gave a sort of humorless laugh at the site of Mr. Brown, who was still snoring in the chair.
"Not where I left you." He added curiously, taking in the site of the hammer Jack had been using.
"Hot as can be, but pays way too much attention to his things." Amber sad, shaking her head sadly.
"Agreed." Jessie said.
When neither teen heard a response from Jack, telling them to shut up or else, they glanced over their shoulders at where he was supposed to be. Of course, he wasn't there. The pirate captain had already left them and was pointing his sword at Will for trying to touch his hat.
"You're the one they're hunting," Will accused. "The pirate."
"That's him alright." Jessie piped up, popping out from her spot behind the barrel.
Will glanced at her quizzically. "And you must be the other one they're hunting."
Jessie glanced down at Amber; "I'm being hunted." She boasted. "Because I'm that important."
"Don't flatter yourself." Amber said, standing up slowly. It was hard to pop up as fast as Jessie had when in a dress.
"Miss…Reece?" Will squinted, unsure if it was the same girl he had encountered in Miss Swan's mansion earlier that day.
Amber did a tiny little curtsey. "The one and only."
"Why are you in the company of these pirates?" Will asked.
"They are…uh…holding me hostage?" Amber stammered.
"Liar." Jessie accused under her breath.
"Well," Amber spoke under her breath as well; "I don't want him to know I'm with you by choice. What would he think of me then?"
Jessie shook her head and refocused her gaze on Jack. Will did the same, only to find was Jack studying him closely.
"You seem somewhat familiar," Jack said peering at him past the sword. "Have I threatened you before?" Jack asked.
"I make a point of avoiding familiarity with pirates." Will replied coldly.
"Why?" Jessie asked, coming around to the other side of the barrel. "They're fun to hang out with. Just ask Amber…Ow!"
Amber smiled smugly as Jessie reached down to rub the sore spot on her shin where she had just been kicked.
Aside from a shut-up look from Jack and a confused look from Will, both men ignored the two girls. Jack turned to address Will about his earlier statement. "Aw, well. It would be a shame to put a black mark on your record." Jack turned to go. "So, if you'll excuse us…" Jack trailed off, realizing Will was pointing a sword at him.
"Do you think this wise, boy?" He asked, drawing his own sword. "Crossing blades with a pirate?"
"You threatened Miss Swann." Will snarled.
"So dedicated." Amber sighed.
"Mm." Jessie said in response.
"Only a little." Jack smirked, running his blade up and down Will's.
And so the fight began.
"You know what you're doing, I'll give you that." Jack commented. "Excellent form. But how's your footwork? If I step here…" Jack sidestepped, but Will matched his steps with ease.
"Very good." Jack praised. "Now I step again…" Again, Will countered Jack's moves. As the fight went on, Jack finally threw Will of balance.
"Ta!" He smirked, sheathing his sword and turning to go.
But Will wouldn't let him go so easily. He flung his sword directly at the door, and his aim held true. The sword wedged itself in the wooden lock, trapping Jack inside.
Surprised, Jack looked at the sword. He tugged on it. He pulled on it. He shook it up and down. And when at long last he realized it wasn't coming out, he turned to swagger his way back to Will. "That is a wonderful trick." He claimed, to cover up his annoyance. "Except, once again, you are between me and my way out." Jack smirked at Will and drew his sword. "And now, you have no weapon."
But Will wasn't so sure. Quickly, he turned and grabbed the same red-hot iron Jack had used earlier. He pointed it at Jack as the donkey began running again.
"Kodak moment." Amber said, talking about about how priceless the expression on Jack's face was when he found himself at the receiving end of the hot sword.
The sparks flew each time Will's weapon and Jack's sword met. The fight continued near the wheel where the swords where hanging.
"Who makes all these?" Jack asked between sword hitting sword.
"I do!" Will declared. "And I practice with them…three hours a day!"
"He needs a life." Jessie commented, just as Jack called out,
"You need to find yourself a girl, mate!" Jack jumped back, dodging Will's sword. When Will lunged again, Jack caught Will's sword with his own and held it above his head. "Or, perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day, is because you already found one…and are otherwise incapable of wooing said strumpet." Jack paused a moment before adding, "You're not a eunuch, are you?" He grimaced, and looked down.
"Jack's a bit of a perv, isn't he?" Jessie whispered to Amber from their spots sitting on the barrel.
Amber burst out laughing. "And how many times have you, my dear friend, called someone a eunuch at school, just because they made you a little ticked?"
"I practice three hours a day," Will said, not paying any mind to the girls, "so that when I meet a pirate, I can kill it!"
"That's not very nice." Jessie commented as the fight move into the rafters.
When the fight move into the rafters, the two girls –who had the whole thing memorized-, lost interest in it. Instead, they had their own conversation.
"I hate you." Amber declared to Jessie in a tone that told her she was teasing. But still, Jessie played along.
"And why's that?"
"Because, while I've been stuck with Elizabeth, you got to hang out with Jack!"
Jessie laughed and scratched an itch on her neck. When she did, she felt the chain of the medallion she still wore. "Amber, do you still have your medallion?"
"My medallion?" Amber asked, confused.
"Yeah. The replica I gave you."
"Well, sure." Amber removed the medallion from her neck. "I can't believe you remembered it. I hadn't though about it since we were on the boat."
"So, when Elizabeth's medallion sent off the signal, you didn't feel anything?"
"I felt the wind, and it blew off my bonnet."
"But your medallion didn't do anything?" Jessie asked, taking the medallion from her friend.
Amber shook her head. "No."
Jessie's breath caught in her throat as she stared down at her friend's medallion. It was exactly the same. It was lightweight, and flimsy, just as it had been before. Why had her medallion changed when Amber's had not?
"Amber, look at mine." Jessie removed the medallion around her neck, and showed it to her friend. "Feel how heavy it is?"
"Yeah." Amber nodded. "But that does that really mean any-"
"Turn it over." Jessie interrupted.
"Jess..." Amber trailed off, noticing the Aztec Map that was on the back of Jessie's medallion. "That's not normal…"
"You're telling me." Jessie said, flipping Amber's medallion over. It looked the same as it always had; "Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean" engraved on the back. "And, when the signal was sent out from Elizabeth's medallion, mine vibrated. And it had been scalding hot, burning my neck. Just for a moment, I had thought it was glowing, too…"
Amber shook her head, appalled. As she handed the medallion back to Jessie she asked, "Jess, do you think our being here could be changing things?"
Jessie shrugged and gave Amber back her medallion. "I don't know, Amber. I was wondering the same thing."
The conversation ended then, because the fighting pirate and blacksmith were making a lot of noise. Will had knocked Jack's sword out of his hand, and was jumping down off the rafters. Jack followed him down, and before Will could make a move, Jack kicked his sword out of his hand and sprayed red dust in his face.
By the time Will could see again, and had armed himself with a new weapon, Jack had his pistol out and was pointing it at him.
"You cheated!" Will accused.
"Pirate." Jack told him, as Jessie and Amber came up and stood on either side of him.
"Duh." Jessie said, trying to forget the weird things going with the two medallions, and focusing on what was happening.
There was a pounding at the door as the royal navy –finally realizing Amber's tip had been a lie- tried to burst in. Quickly, Will ran to block the other exit.
"Move away." Jack warned Will.
"No." Will shook his head.
"Please move." Jack said again.
"No!" Will's voice was firmer now. "I cannot just move aside and let you escape!"
"Actually, you can." Jessie informed him, but the blacksmith chose to ignore her as the pounding on the door became louder and Jack's face grew more serious.
"This shot was not meant for you." He warned in a low voice as he cocked the pistol.
Will hesitated, looking confused. But he didn't have time to reply before a loud crashing sound as Mr. Brown finally awoke and brought his empty bottle down on Jack's head.
"Jack." Amber and Jessie whispered in unison, staring with concern at the unconscious pirate before glaring at Mr. Brown.
Will lowered his sword, knowing the two girls wouldn't present much of a threat. At the exact moment, Norrington and his men broke open the door.
"Um, it might be best if that one in front doesn't see me." Amber said nervously, pointing out the same soldier she had tricked earlier. She ducked behind Jessie, but the two girls were the same size, and it didn't do much to hide her.
"Excellent work, Mr. Brown." Norrington said as he caught sight of Jack lying facedown on the ground, and Jessie just standing there. "You've assisted in the capture of two dangerous fugitives."
"Just doing my civic duty, sir." Mr. Brown sounded too drunk to function.
"Well, I trust you shall remember this as the day that Jack Sparrow-"
"Captain." Jessie snarled. "Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Yes, well." Norrington looked mockingly at Jessie. "I trust you shall remember this as the day that he almost escaped, 'Captain' or not." He gave Jessie a quick once over. "Take them away."
When the men came to take Jessie, it was then that Norrington noticed Amber. "Tell me I don't have to take you away as well," He stated.
"Um…" Amber started.
Before Norrington could make a move to arrest Amber as well, Will reached and caught her wrist, pulling her away from Norrington.
"It's alright," He said. "She wasn't with them…She's with me."
Amber swooned mentally at two things…Will Turner was touching her, and at the thought of being "with" Will. Life is good…
Norrington dismissed both Amber and Will with one quick glance, before turning to face the soldiers carrying the unconscious Jack and the silent Jessie. "These two have a dawn appointment with the gallows…Until then, I want them to be locked away in a private cell, separate from the other prisoners."
Silently the soldiers nodded and took the two away, hurrying to carry out the Commodore's orders.