GUYS! SOMEONE BY THE NAME OF Marcus S Lazarus PUT THIS FIC ON THE RECOMMENDED FAN FICTIONS PAGE FOR THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN TV TROPES ARTICLE! I AM FREAKING OUT! GETTING ON A TV TROPES FAN FIC REC PAGE IS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN DREAMING OF FOR YEARS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Trigger warning: Twigg and Koehler make some serious rape threats against Syrena in this chapter. I won't say this is the only time those types of threats will be made – this is a story about pirates and a creature mostly based in sexuality – but this is the most serious they get in the story.

Also, I honestly have no idea why I've waited so long to update. I've literally got something like five chapters that have just been sitting in my computer ready to go.

Birds of a Feather

The Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Captain's Daughter

Philip and Syrena were smart enough not to be in their loving embrace when they reached the caves, but it was hard not to get caught when Ragetti and Pintel kept whispering over how cute a couple they were. It took a kick to Ragetti's shin by Syrena to finally get them to shut up.

Of course said kick nearly made Syrena's shaky foreign legs buckle under her, but Philip caught her, and Ragetti and Pintel awed over the sight of Philip checking to make sure she was okay.

"Our salvation is at hand, Boys!" Barbossa declared as the pirates flooded into the caves. The air was buzzing with excitement, though there was a sense of trepidation as the pirates worried this would be another false alarm. Barbossa tossed his apple in the air and caught it, "This time we get it right!"

Will – who was being escorted in by Ragetti and Pintel – leaned over to Philip, "You know, I don't think I can share the excitement."

"Well, you are being forced into a pagan blood ritual," Philip replied. He had an arm wrapped around Syrena and was helping her walk through the caves as Barbossa wouldn't let her swim this time. "We may not be Catholic, but I think after this several Hail Marys are in order."

"No reason to fret," Pintel said. "A prick of the finger, a few drops of blood-"

Twigg suddenly grabbed Will's shoulder.

Philip instinctively tightened his grip around Syrena's waist and pulled her away from Twigg.

"No mistakes this time," Twigg pulled Will's shoulder back. "He's only half-Turner. We spill it all!"

"What?" Philip gasped as Twigg and Koehler forced Will away from them. He looked to Syrena, "Is this true?"

"I guess the Captain's threat to keep that secret was quite pointless," Syrena shrugged. She caught the look in Philip's eyes, "Philip, I did want to tell you, but Barbossa-"

"Guess there is reason to fret," Pintel smugly interjected.

He and Ragetti burst out laughing.

Syrena's glare instantly shut them up.

"Careful Fins," Pintel nervously laughed. "You kind of look like you're about to eat me."

"I am," she said coldly, her hand resting on Philip's arm.

They backed up slowly.

"Alright, listen Fins," Ragetti held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sure we can think of something-"

"Like what, Master Ragetti?"

That was the moment he backed right into Barbossa.

He and Pintel instantly sprung back a few steps, and Philip moved too but Syrena tightened her grip on his arm.

Barbossa sighed, "Let go of the boy, Syrena."

"Syrena?" she lifted a brow. "So now that I have a name, you freely use it?"

"I am not doing this here and now. Now let the boy go."

Philip moved aside but Syrena dug her claws into him and pulled him back. He had to hold back a hiss as her nails broke the skin, but he wasn't going to say a word.

"He is my support," Syrena said coldly. "Since you insist on me walking everywhere, I will have assistance."

"But not from him." Barbossa ordered, "Bo'sun, grab her!"

"Philip!" Syrena yelped as Bo'sun tore her away.

"Syrena!" he exclaimed, rushing forward to her, but Barbossa grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"I will not have you wrecking my chance at breaking this curse," Barbossa growled. "Not again. I will have my apple!"

Philip stared at him, "I have no idea what that means."

Barbossa glowered at Ragetti and Pintel. The rest of the men had gone to the chest, so Barbossa was left with only one choice.

"You two," Barbossa shoved Philip at them. He shook his head when the bumbling pair barely caught him, "Take the boy off to one of the sides where our little mermaid can't get to. I won't have him getting in the way or her."

Syrena glared at him.

"And so help me if you two betray me," Barbossa threatened. "You don't even want to see my bad side."

"We haven't seen it yet?" Ragetti blurted out.

Both Pintel and Philip elbowed him.

"And you," Barbossa took a step toward Syrena. "You will not interfere."

Her eyes didn't waver as they met his, "And why not?"

Barbossa nodded to Bo'sun, who grabbed Ragetti and Pintel, dragging them and Philip out of sight in one move.

Philip and Syrena didn't call to each other or fight to break free. They knew they would have their moment, but this was not it. Still there was something strong and brave in Syrena's eyes that made Philip feel the closest thing he could to safe in that situation.

"You didn't answer my question," Syrena crossed her arms, glaring at Barbossa in her best impression of Tamara, the Leader of Whitecap Bay. Syrena had always been able to look at lot like Tamara when she wanted too, but Syrena never knew why. "Why should I not interfere? You hold him hostage-"

"I'm not doing that," Barbossa cut off.

Syrena frowned, "What?"

Barbossa took a deep breath, struggling to muster the courage to say one simple word, "Go."

"Excuse me?"

"Go. Now's your chance. Go before anyone stops you. You can be safe. You can be free."

Syrena cocked her head to the side, but then understood, "You had Philip dragged off so you didn't have any witnesses to setting me free. I have a name and you are still putting on a show."

"Syrena," he gently took her arm. "I can't hold them all off. If you don't go now, when the curse is broken the crew will come after you. Not just Twigg and Koehler but the whole lot of them. They know that you can be a full woman… it's been so long since they've had one. They'll come for you. Please, go. I don't want you to get hurt."

"You don't want me to get hurt?" she asked flatly.

"No."

She stared at him, "You let me smash face first into a longboat."

Barbossa sighed, "Come now, I know you have healing magic. You were going to be fine. Plus your three were there to take care of you."

"My three? Don't you mean my two?"

His voice softened, "The boy named you. He's one of yours now, whether I like it or not."

"And… do you like it?"

"Well, a preacher… you could have done worse, My Girl. Much worse."

"Someone like you?" Syrena smirked.

"I like to think you have better brains than that." He stroked her cheek, "Stay away from scallywags, Sweet Syrena."

Syrena sighed and moved his hand away, "Please don't do this. I can't pretend the fight we just had didn't happen."

"I said things I didn't mean." Barbossa glanced towards the cave full of the crew, "The fact of the matter is… I've wanted to name you for years. I just feared that until we were freed from the curse, the crew might do something to me like they did to Bootstrap. Then what would happen to you? If they knew what you meant to me-"

"This would mean so much more if you confessed what I mean."

Barbossa took a long pause.

"You're my daughter. Not of my flesh and blood, but you are of my heart." He grimaced, "Now, I'll deny these words if you ever tell anyone else."

Syrena laughed.

"But it's true," he continued. Barbossa watched the brave young woman standing before him, "You are so strong, My Girl. To go through what you have and come out on the other end reasonably fine, you are braver than I could ever dream of. It was wrong of me to treat you the way that I have. You are a free woman or mermaid or whatever you want to be."

"I do not wish to be a human, Hector." Syrena paused, "But I do not also wish to be a Siren. Perhaps there is a middle ground in mermaid."

"Whatever you are, you are one of a kind. I'm glad to have met you, but I'm sorry for what I've done to you."

Syrena smiled and touched, "I have forgiven you long ago already. All I have ever needed to hear you say is my name."

He nodded, "Syrena."

"No… My name."

Barbossa gave a weak smile, "Alright. I am sorry for the wrongs I have committed. You are free to go wherever you want with whomever you want. But never forget who you are… My daughter, Syrena Barbossa."

Syrena smiled, "And never forget you are my father, Hector Barbossa. Just don't humiliate me in front of the crew again, alright?"

"Deal."

"Now," Syrena glanced towards where Philip, Pintel, Ragetti, and Bo'sun had disappeared to. "What of Philip?"

"You have to go now, Syrena."

"I'm not leaving without Philip."

"I'm not saying you are. I'm saying you go now, and the boy will follow."

Syrena frowned, "How?"

"We both know how Masters Ragetti and Pintel operate," Barbossa replied. "If they don't let the boy go simply out of their affection for you, the boy will find a way to outsmart them and escape. You go now and take a longboat with you. Hide among the rocks outside and when they boy comes out looking for you or a way to escape or whatever he desires, you reveal yourself to him. The two of you can then use the boat to escape. Take your share of the treasure with you and whatever provisions you need."

"But where would we go?"

"Wherever the stars lead you." Barbossa took a weathered black compass off his belt and pressed it into her palm, "But this might help you pick a path."

Syrena looked down at the instrument in her palm, "Your compass?"

"Not a magical one given to me by the Mother Goddess like Sparrow has," Barbossa said. "But it points north strong and true. I taught you to read the stars and to read maps as well as any Captain of a vessel, but you can never go wrong with a North bound heading."

"Hector, I… I do not know what to say."

He lifted her chin, "I want you to say but one thing… Say that we'll see each other someday beyond this night."

"We will," she promised. "I swear it to the Mother Goddess, we will."

Barbossa smiled and stroked her cheek. He was tempted to say something more, but whatever it was, Syrena would never know as he thought the better of it and stayed silent.

"Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood!" the faint call started coming from the cavern with the Aztec treasure chest.

"It is time," Syrena said sadly.

"Yes, it is." Barbossa sighed and dropped his hand, "You have to go."

She smiled and nodded, "Enjoy your apple."

He laughed and then did something Syrena never thought he'd done. He pulled her forward and kissed the top of her head.

"Be safe, My Daughter." Barbossa smiled, "And if anyone gives you trouble, just tell them who your father is."

"And anyone gives you trouble, tell them you have a mermaid for a daughter."

"Oh, I'll be bragging about it for ages," he chortled.

Unable to stall any longer, Barbossa patted her shoulder and exited towards the Aztec treasure and horde of pirates.

Syrena stood for a while just watching Barbossa disappear and gathering herself mentally for what was to come next. Then she put her plan into action.

She stripped off Philip's shirt and dove into the water at the entrance of the cave. Syrena grabbed a hold of the longboat nearest to the rock and shoved it against the shore. Climbing back on land, she grabbed Philip's shirt – not really caring about her nakedness as there was no one else around – and tossed it into the longboat.

Syrena shoved in a few crates of food, not needing water as mermaids could drink salt water, and turn salt water into fresh water as part of their seduction tricks. When desperately, thirsty sailors washed up on mermaid rocks, they welcomed the sight of clean water as much as a beautiful woman.

Next, she grabbed some clothing, including the odd dress that they managed to pick up here and there over the years. Though she couldn't find the dresses Ragetti and Pintel had accidentally called dibs on the last time they visited the caves.

Then came the money situation. Syrena picked a reasonable sized bag and started collecting treasure that would not be too suspicious. A couple with a bag of guineas wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. A couple with rubies the size of skulls would.

Syrena was so focused on stocking the longboat, she didn't notice anyone else in the cave until the bag was thrown over her head.

Elizabeth Swann was not not going to tell the Navy soldiers about the pirates' curse. She just… wanted to find a way to convey that information without getting locked up in an insane asylum after their adventure. She had had enough trouble trying to convince her father and Norrington to let her change into pants as those were the only clothes on board that fit her. Elizabeth seriously doubted they'd believe the undead walk the earth on the first try.

Elizabeth couldn't help but glare at Jack Sparrow as he was helped down into Norrington's longboat. Didn't help that Jack mockingly saluted her as he did so.

But it wasn't until she saw a single longboat row back to the Dauntless and a man board the ship to speak with Gillette that she understood how the plan was starting to unravel. Rather than the soldiers returning to the ship where they could fire on the pirates without them being seen, the boats were waiting to surprise the pirates and see their full forms.

And then she realized that of course, that had been Jack's plan the entire time.

No! Elizabeth's heart pounded a mile a minute. She couldn't let it happen. The soldiers would be too overcome with shock and disbelief to defend themselves.

As much as Elizabeth hated the thought, there was no denying that by the end of this night, the Royal Navy would come face to face with the undead. Maybe it was best to give the sailors a fighting chance ahead of that reveal.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and gathered all of her courage. When she was ready to face the truth, Elizabeth narrowed in on Lieutenant Gillette. With perfect posture and head held high, Elizabeth strode across the deck to do her duty.

She would explain it to them. She would make them understand without getting locked up in the madhouse. Elizabeth would simply walk up to Lieutenant Gillette, and explain calmly and courteously that-

"No! No! You have to listen to me!" Elizabeth cried, trying to fight off the two sailors dragging her across the deck. "You don't understand!"

"Sorry, but it's for your own safety," Gillette seemed to enjoy the scene a little too much. He had never been the biggest fan of the Governor's rebellious children (especially with Elizabeth's fascination with pirates and Philip's act of piracy despite pretending to be a goody two shoes man of God), and even Weatherby knew that fact.

"Coward!" Elizabeth desperately shouted. "The Commodore! There's something I have to tell him! The pirates! They're cursed! They can't be killed!"

She was unceremoniously thrown into the captain's cabin like a prisoner in the brig. Not giving up the fight, Elizabeth immediately whipped around only to find Gillette blocking the door.

"Don't worry, Miss," Gillette said. "He's already informed of that."

Wait. What? Elizabeth blinked, feeling very confused. Had Sparrow really told-

"A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story," Gillette smirked.

Damn it.

Gillette laughed at her before pulling the doors shut. Elizabeth tried to jimmy the handle, but he had locked the door. She cried out in burst of rage at her helplessness to rescue Philip and Will, and slammed her fist against the door.

"You laugh!" Elizabeth yelled out. "But they actually do have a mermaid!"

She spun around and pressed her back against the door. Through the glass she could hear all of the sailors laughing at her.

Elizabeth grumbled, "So much for not getting shipped off to the madhouse."

There was no doubt whether Syrena had the instinct of fight or flight as the second the bag was pulled off her head, she swiped out with her claws to tear through flesh without a second thought. It sliced through their skin in a most satisfying way.

Before she could even see who had taken her prisoner, a hand caught her wrist and twisted it in a direction opposite to its intended function. Syrena cried out in pain, unable to shake free as her captor bent her limbs, forcing both wrists together and binding them together with rope far too tightly.

Her brain went on high alert and it raced to formulate what was happening. She was able to recognize herself being half submerged in one of the openings of the grottos of Isla de Muerta, so she knew help wasn't far off. Her next instinct was to cry out for Philip or Barbossa or Ragetti and Pintel, but before she could even whimper a gag cut into her cheeks. She struggled not to choke on it as she tried to scream for help, but her cries were muffled.

Syrena shook, hissed, splashed her tail powerfully in the water, trying anything to fight off her attacker. It was when they dragged her by the wrists forward and began to secure her bindings to a chain and shackle embedded in the rocky wall that Syrena recognized said attacker, or rather attackers.

"We've had this shackle set up and ready to go for you for years, Monster," Koehler chuckled as Twigg secured a clip on the end of the chain around her binding.

"Yes, we have," Twigg bent down to the mermaid when his task was completed. His breath was hot on her face, and Syrena turned away in disgust. "Twelve years I've been waiting for a woman's touch. And I've been dreaming of a mermaid since you were fourteen."

Bile rushed up her throat, but she forced it back down. Angry words came to her, but Syrena's disgusted response was muffled as she desperately tried to yank free. The chains wouldn't budge, so she bent her face to her shoulder, using the joint to shove her gag up to expose her teeth. Fury took over her body, irises blacken, scales littering her body, and most importantly her nails and teeth sharpening. When her mouth was free enough, she lunged her head forward and gnawed at her rope bindings.

She earned herself a slap in the face for that little stunt.

Syrena hissed, but it was cut off when Twigg shoved his bandana in her mouth. She suffocated on the cloth as Koehler secured the gag back in place. Syrena struggled to regulate her breathing all through her nose as she grimaced over the taste of the bandana. Twigg's scraggly black hair was perfectly greasy, and his bandana tasted of it.

Had Syrena not have been trained from birth to hold back her tears, she would have wept at her helplessness.

"Look Twigg," Koehler chuckled. "I think she knows there's no help to be had."

"I think you're right," Twigg gazed at her body in a way that made Syrena very aware that Philip's shirt was back in the longboat. "Captain's busy and the preacher is with your nannies. Even the monkey doesn't know you're gone. By the time they figure it out, we'll have had our fun."

"But don't you get the wrong idea, Monster." Koehler reveled in the fear in Syrena's eyes. Unconsciously he flexed the muscle of the arm she had torn his flesh out. He would make her pay. Her and her pet. "We're going to let the preacher have some fun too."

"That's right," Twigg laughed. "When your idiot two let him go as everyone knows they'll do, we'll attack him. We'll drag him here, tie him up, and when the curse is broken… all of us will have some fun."

Syrena couldn't stop her shudder.

"We'll take our turns, like gentlemen we will," Twigg's terrible eyes locked with hers. He was hungry, burning with that hunger that had consumed him for twelve years. "First Koehler, then me, then Koehler, then me again. Like gentlemen."

It wasn't the bandana shoved down her throat that made Syrena dry heave.

"And we'll make the preacher boy watch," Koehler said. "He'll be chained up so he can't help you, but he can stare into your eyes as we do to you what he doesn't have the stones to take for himself."

"Then we'll kill him," Twigg said. "We'll torture him as you lay there bloody, broken, and helpless. We'll make him beg for death in such a horrifying fashion that tears will pour from your eyes."

Syrena clenched her fists; fury boiling her blood.

"Then we'll each have a turn or two with you again." Koehler's eyes were almost as black as hers. "Then we'll send you to Hell to be with him."

Her mouth bound, unable to make any retorts or threats, left Syrena with only the option to hiss dangerously at them.

"The Captain's saved you and the boy twice from us," Koehler continued. "But this time? This time we will have our fun."

"So start counting down the minutes, Little Monster," Twigg grinned. "Because when the first drop of blood falls from Turner's cut throat… you and your missionary will know Hell."

A/N: On a lighter note, I would like to just say that Elizabeth's reaction to Gillette's mermaid joke was honestly one of the first things I came up with when I thought of this story.

Also, after seven years of calling her The Mermaid, it frankly just looks weird to me to call her Syrena now.

Quick question, I had someone ask me if this story was going to go up to an M rating, and I wanted to ask you guys if you wanted to see that? There will be some plots involving adult activities later on, but my plans hadn't really been to make it too explicit. That said, if you guys want to see more detailed scenes, I'm totally up for writing them. Is that something you guys would like to see?