002

002

Tanya

Pulling the hat off my head, I let the wind go through my hair and brushed out any debris that may have gathered there overnight. Last night had probably been a bad sign of things to come. Not that I believed in bad luck, but when you set out on a new adventure and immediately get hit by an unforeseen storm, well, there are only a few interpretations that can be taken from that. And that probably meant that this voyage was not going to be fun.

Oh, I do admit, so far the voyage had been fine, but the captain and his first mate, the blacksmith? I think he mentioned once, they had not told the crew exactly what we were doing, only that it was dangerous and could be problematic. But so far, I didn't know anything. I was just a simple hand of the crew, working to ensure that this vessel was moving and that we were heading towards our destination. Said destination being the Isla de Muerta, apparently the only thing I've gotten out about our destination.

Colorful names the pirates came up with. Really, the island of death, the island of petulance, the island of revenge. I couldn't wait to be off this vessel and find my way into a civilized economy. Yes, some of them set up a republic. Yes, some of them were rather mercurial. But that didn't mean that they wouldn't just kill people, that didn't mean that they weren't monsters when they wanted to be, and that didn't mean that they weren't stinking.

The only good thing about being on this ship was moving fast enough that I didn't have to smell the rest of the crew.

Shaking my head, I looked out over the water, wondering what my first investment would be when I finally reached land. Coffee was probably on its way out, or was it tobacco? Oh, I needed to do some research. I know that by the 1800s, it was cotton, but I doubt that was a very exportable thing in this time. We probably needed to acquire coffee and tobacco plants, that's for sure. But how to acquire that money? I think there was a gold rush on the East Coast at some point in the 1800s. Plus, I could try and research where that was. No, I couldn't exactly research it. I would actually have to go searching for it or even hire someone else to do it, but that requires money as well.

Ahhh, another adventure. I would rather not do that, but well, there was another way to do this after all. Fine had managed to avoid the law for many years, and I doubt they knew her real name. I didn't know her real name and the artwork of this era wasn't that great. What stopped me from posing as Fine, getting my own ship, and doing a little bit of pirating before settling down...

Civilized pirating, of course. I wouldn't attack actual lovers of the economy, but there were plenty of pirates who didn't deserve their resources. They were just wasting it, sitting on mountains of gold that did them no good. What was stopping me from taking that mountain of gold for myself and putting it to better use? Building a civilization in some remote part of North America.

Hmm, to do that, I would need to acquire a ship, a crew, and all those things that I do not have, nor the money to acquire. Perhaps this mission will be successful and I will gather a little bit of money, or perhaps it will not.

I need to find out more about this mission. With more information, I could possibly acquire some long-term benefits. Right now, all I can see are short-term possibilities. But how can I acquire this knowledge? Looking over my shoulder, I see the first mate and the blacksmith having some sort of conversation, and most of the other crew members are doing menial tasks to pass the time.

One thing I did catch, though, was Jack looking my way, his eyes directly on me. I turn to look back at the sea, wondering what he is doing. Is he going to ask me questions? That's what I would do in this situation, after all. Finding a way to gain information from the crew would require questions. Of course, I have my own share of knowledge that could probably help us both. Well, perhaps I can get something out of him.

With a settling breath, he comes to rest on the edge of the ship, his back to the sea, and says, "Hello, darling."

"Hello, Captain Sparrow," I say, still looking out over the sea.

"So, the quick question is, is Fine still mad about that whole not being there for the job? It's been like 10 years, and I know it was kind of an important job, but things came up that I needed to handle."

I look at him before saying, "Yep, she's still mad. She's called Fine for a reason. Do you really think she wouldn't be pissed off with you? She left me on Tortuga as a possible spy to let her know if you showed up there."

"That explains the butterfly pendant," Jack says with a nod before smiling. "Well, what can you do? I guess I'll just have to try and charm her if she ever does catch up to me."

"Ha! You charming Fine? Oh, I doubt that."

"Doesn't she talk fondly about the days when she used to be Clara?"

I look at him before saying, "No, in fact, I had no idea that was her official name, though I did know about her situation. How much about the situation do you know?"

"Oh, the reincarnation thing. Yeah, I'm familiar with it. One of the first things I came across out here in the Caribbean was mysterious magics. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on after a few clues and personality changes after we met, not to mention her hair used to be very dark black and all of a sudden became naturally blonde."

I blink before imagining her with dark hair. I don't see it.

"Cut it shorter than your size."

I mentally do, and I have to nod. I can see it now.

"Clara was a wild pirate, and we really enjoyed our time with each other. But then she got selected to be Fine, and well, our relationship became strained, and I screwed up that last job and did not show up."

"What was that job? She's never really mentioned what exactly pissed her off, only that she's pissed off and coming for you."

The pirate shrugged before saying, "Whether you want to believe me or not, I'll simply say we were doing a raid on a Spanish city. I was supposed to bring a boat that she lent me, and it was supposed to be a simple thing. But well, I took off before the situation became untenable."

"That's not really answering my question," I said.

He turned and smiled, saying, "Of course. Yes, the simple answer is we were going to raid a Spanish city. I was supposed to bring a ship to carry away most of the loot, but well, I ran into issues acquiring that ship. And once I did, I then ran into other issues that prevented me from getting there in time. And I knew once you're on the bad side of Fine, you're really not getting out of it. So, I went ahead with my other mission and acquired a map to the Island of the Dead, where we're going now."

"Yes, I'm going to guess you can explain that mission to me properly."

"Hmm, I could, I could. But, well," he smiled, "that would depend on whether you're willing to help me with a little problem."

"A trade, I see," I said, looking out to the sea for a moment before saying, "Alright, hit me! What is the problem?"

Smiling, Jack said, "I've yet to tell our young lad over there, Will Turner, the realities of what we're dealing with here. But the gold I went after was cursed. It would seem that those who pick it up can never truly feel alive again unless they return it to its resting place."

I snickered, saying, "Things like that are not exactly something you can break, from what I understand, unless there's some sort of condition."

"Well, I think I've already figured out the condition. You see, the lad over there, Will Turner, I'm pretty sure he's the son of Bill Turner. Bootstrap Bill. Ever heard of him?"

"Nope."

"Shame. Alright, well, the simple answer is, he was the one man who wasn't exactly in favor of kicking me off my ship 10 years ago before we got to the island. And I have a feeling that they probably dumped him overboard soon afterwards, but probably not before they became aware of the curse as well. So, they probably can't undo their curse unless they find either him at the bottom of the sea or someone of his bloodline."

"Hold up," I said, tilting my head to look at him. "So this Bill Turner is underwater somewhere alive?"

"Yes..."

"Which means if we break the curse, he's all of a sudden drowning..."

"I haven't considered that, but yes, after 10 years, I'm sure he's gone mad by now..."

Sighing, I rolled my shoulders before saying, "Fine, yeah, I can see that. But we definitely need to keep the exact knowledge of the situation away from Will. Don't you think the moment someone finds out that their father is alive, they'd be interested in rescuing him?"

"Hmm, I hadn't considered that, but that is a good point. Still, assuming that we reach the ship, the enemy is, well, immortal, already dead, and can't be killed. So, we need to find some way to acquire the ship and break the curse."

"Well, that's rather simple. Why is it, in fact, that you plan to take over the enemy ship? What's its name?"

"The Black Pearl."

"Of course it is," I said, shaking my head. "Alright, if you're ready to take over the Black Pearl, you go in there and be as open about your plan to free them as possible, as long as they see you as the new captain of the Black Pearl."

"I'm not sure they would agree. Barbossa would probably try to stab me through the gut."

"I mean, there's a chest of cursed gold sitting right there. All you need to do is get close enough to pick one out, and all of a sudden neither one of you is dying."

"Good point, but getting close to the chest seems to be a problem. I would think any movement towards it would trigger a lot of anger and suspicion, especially considering we're pirates and known for stealing."

"You're asking me to use my magic, aren't you?"

Jack smiled as he said, "I knew you'd figure that out. Fine doesn't raise kids with no brains between their ears. Yes, I'm wondering if you can cast some sort of spell to protect me."

I looked up at the sky before muttering, "Not exactly, but kind of."

"Go on."

"I can cast a personal shield to protect us. But we would need to be very close to each other, which means I would have to expose myself to danger, and I'm not exactly a fan of that. But well, I'd be willing to negotiate."

"Hmm, negotiate. What do you want? I've already given this ship away."

"How about a rank in the new command structure of the Black Pearl when you take it over?"

"Ah, so you want to become a pirate! Should have known. Fine does have a tendency to instill her bloodthirstiness into her kids."

"No, I do not want to become a pirate," I said, shaking my head. "I just need money to set up a legitimate business on the continent, away from all the random attacks that seem to take place here in the Caribbean and away from the magic."

"Hah, the magic is everywhere. Young pirate, you've been with Fine, you should know that."

A shiver ran up my spine at the statement. Being with Fine, considering Fine had a few odd tastes when it came to training someone. I suspected it was more than just her kink than she let on.

"Be that as it may, let us confer on a prospective mission here. If I help you acquire your ship, you will help me acquire enough wealth to set up a small outpost somewhere on the continent. That sounds like a reasonable trade."

"It sounds reasonable, on one condition."

I gave him a look but said, "Go on, what is your one condition?"

"Free drinks for me and the crew whenever we come to that outpost."

"Free drinks for you."

He mused on it for a moment before saying, "Deal," holding out his hand. I took it, and we shook before he sat up from the banister and looked at the sea, checking his compass. I peeked over at it, and he attempted to hide it, but I did get a look at it. The compass seemed to be pointing west. Blinking, I said, "Is that thing broken or are we dealing with magic with that?"

He smiled and said, "You don't get to find out that information, my dear. Long-held secrets and all that. If you do, well, terrible things may come my way."

AKA it's quite valuable, and if I knew, it would be valuable enough for me that I might try and steal it. At least that was the implication he was making. Shaking my head, I said, "Alright, keep your secrets, pirate, and I shall keep mine."

"Ah, you speak as if you're not a pirate. But deep down, I think I can see the lust for gold. After all, why else would you want to set up that outpost? Obviously, you want to be at the top, just more of a land lover than a sea lover, I would guess."

"Yes, I'm more into stable things that don't sink on me, rather than 'Oh God, oh God, my boat has a hole in it, we're all going to die.'"

"Haha, worry not, lass. When we capture the Black Pearl, that vessel will never sink. You can trust me on that."

Letting out a breath, I shook my head, saying, "I'll believe it never sinks when I see it. Here and now, though, I haven't seen it, so I guess we'll have to wait until we see the Black Pearl then."

"You'll love her, trust me," Jack said, turning and starting to walk away. I just shook my head. It couldn't be any worse than the Valkyrie, Fine's ship, I thought. Well, maybe it could be.

William Turner

I looked over my shoulder at the slowly approaching landmass. Isla de Muerta looked rather cursed, even if you didn't factor in the debris from ships poking out of the water's surface. The place looked like it had been forsaken by all things good in the world, and the mist didn't help with the appearance, adding to the mystique that made me want to complete this mission as quickly as possible and get Elizabeth off this island.

Shaking my head, I looked back towards the boat and pushed onward, with Jack rowing alongside me.

"Don't you think having only three people on this rescue mission is a little low?" I asked as we passed under an entryway into a dark cave.

"On the contrary, I think it's a little too much. Perhaps you should go back to the boat," Jack said, eliciting a chuckle from Tanya, who was sitting at the other end of the boat with a gun in her hands. She was checking over the musket we had found on board the ship, making sure it was in perfect working order.

"Okay Jack, be honest with me. Why did you choose her to come with us?" I finally said. "It does seem rather odd to bring her along when we could have had another pirate you know, like Gibbs."

"Are you familiar with magic?" Jack asked as we continued further into the cave.

"Not particularly. From what I've seen of the world, there's no such thing as magic."

"So far," Jack said matter-of-factly, before adding, "though that is fair. You've lived a simple life, a simple blacksmith. You haven't seen the things I've seen, the world beyond the simple world that most people live in, the mysteries that are out at sea."

Turning to look at Tanya, he said, "This is a trained magician, alchemist, or mage, depending on which faction they belong to."

I looked at Tanya, who looked amused, and she said, "If I'm going to be given a title, let's go with mage. 'Seawitch' sounds rather evil."

"Sounds fine by me," Jack said amusedly as he continued pushing forward.

"So you can do a magic trick that'll startle all the pirates?" I asked.

Tanya chuckled and said, "Something like that. Think of me as a force multiplier. The two of you are worth two good swords. I'm going to make sure that you are worth a good dozen more than that."

"How exactly are you going to do that with a gun?"

She smiled as she reached over to the box of muskets that had been brought along and said, "Oh, you'll see, you'll see," patting the box almost happily.

It was an odd reaction, I thought, but before I could question further, we arrived at the shore.

Jack quickly got on the shore, followed by Tanya, and I brought up the rear. Looking at Tanya, Jack said, "Alright, just set up, and when the opportune moment strikes, make sure it is rather large."

Tanya smiled before effortlessly grabbing the crate of muskets and wandering off down the hall, while Jack motioned for me to follow. We quickly made our way through a passageway and entered an area where we could see into the main chamber. It was a room filled with more gold and riches than I could have ever imagined being plundered from the sea, although I must have been mistaken about that.

Barbossa was speaking about a curse and being unjustly punished, and Elizabeth stood next to him as he menacingly brandished a knife.

My urge to rescue her pushed me to start moving, but Jack held my shoulder and said, "Wait for the opportune moment," before leading us further down the line of passageways. I sighed and followed, hoping that this opportune moment wouldn't come after they killed Elizabeth.

If that happened, Jack wouldn't leave this place alive.

I was tempted to knock him out, grab Elizabeth, and go. But with Tanya here, I didn't have the numbers to pull it off, especially if she was loyal to Jack.

She was an unknown factor, so until I had an opportunity at the opportune moment, as he said, I would have to wait. But I didn't trust him or this Tanya girl one bit. There was something about the way she handled those guns that gave me the creeps.

Coming into view, I could see that they had cut Elizabeth's hand and were smearing the medallion with her blood before dropping it onto the pile. This action interrupted the chanting that had been going on the entire time. There was a moment of confusion as everyone looked around, and someone said, "It didn't work," which led to Barbossa pulling his pistol and shooting the crew member who had spoken, causing him to drop dead.

Well, that's terrifying, considering it was the second time I had witnessed someone who should be dead but wasn't.

At that point, Barbossa grabbed Elizabeth, said something, and then tossed her down the pile of gold as he tried to have a conversation with his pirates. But that's when a shot rang out from behind the group of pirates.

"Ah, gentlemen, good evening. Would you mind not hurting the girl I've been hired to recover?"

Through one of the more open passageways walked Tanya, accompanied by four floating rifles on either side of her. She held a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. Her eyes were glowing blue, and there seemed to be a slight distortion in the air around her.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" a pirate exclaimed.

"An agent of order. Now, would you mind handing over the girl, or shall I take her myself?"

Jack patted me on the shoulder and said, "While they're busy, go get her! Get back to the boat and wait for negotiations."

I nodded, slipping through a hole in the area and entering the water. I swam silently closer to the edge of the gold hill where Elizabeth lay.

I could still hear what was going on. One of the pirates yelled, "Agent of order my ass! You have no power here. Everyone in this room is immortal, and you can't kill us."

I heard a gunshot, followed by an explosion. The room shook, and an arm flew over the gold pile, landing in the water next to me. Elizabeth let out a high-pitched sound as the arm attempted to crawl out of the water but spotted me.

Carefully, I helped her into the water, grabbing something from the pile, possibly the medallion they were after, as we tried to silently move away.

"Yes, you cannot die, but that doesn't mean you're immune to explosion spells. So, shall we have a negotiation, or shall I render all of you limbless torsos and heads so we can have a civilized conversation?" Tanya declared.

"I think we can have a civilized conversation," Barbossa said from behind me as we reached the side of the area where we had sneaked into the water. I pushed Elizabeth through the gap, following her silently as we moved further away, heading for the boats.

I had made up my mind. I would leave. Let Tanya and Jack handle this whole situation. They seemed to have it under control, so why not make our escape while we still could? I quickly gathered as many oars as I could, loading them up before moving on. I was sure they would find a way to talk their way out of this—or maybe I should say "magic" their way out. I did not want to deal with that.

Barbarossa

Scowling with annoyance, I watched the young woman flip the rifle that had just fired a blast, rendering about five members of my crew into nothing but a pile of wriggling meat as they tried to reform into people.

On one hand, this was not the situation I wanted to be dealing with. On the other hand, she had just stopped a mutiny. Considering what we had done to Bill Turner, I knew there were worse fates than death that could have awaited me if the mutiny had succeeded.

Taking a breath, I observed as the musket she used to fire off that explosive shot fell to the ground, and another one floated in from behind her. I realized there must be a stash back there, but also understood that there was a limited number of shots she could fire off quickly before needing to reload. Could we overwhelm her? Possibly. However, she could also use those shots in a way that would turn most of us into piles of meat, which was not a desirable outcome, to say the least. Reassembling oneself was much easier in the moonlight than during the day. It took hours, and even then, some crew members who had been reduced to that state before ended up unable to do anything except moan in pain because something hadn't been put back in place correctly. Moonlight was truly the best way to restore oneself. When all your muscles and flesh were gone, leaving only bones, putting the bones back in place was easy. In the moonlight, everything naturally fell into its proper position. But during the day? Well, having your lungs facing backwards shouldn't really be a problem, yet it was just that simple.

Letting out a deep breath, I said, "All right, young blondie. You have the ability to harm us severely, but you must realize there are more of us than there are of you. We cannot be killed, and we will keep coming for the girl if she really is Bill Turner's daughter. So why should we hand her over to you?"

"Parlay is an interesting term, isn't it?" came a voice from behind me, a voice I hadn't heard in nearly 10 years. I felt a pang in my head at the possibility. Turning around, I saw Jack Sparrow walking along the edge of the central pool, eyeing the gold.

"Impossible," I said.

"Improbable," Jack responded.

"How did you get off that island?"

"Sea turtles."

"Sea turtles?!"

"Yep, caught them with rope made from human hair."

"Hmm, why do I find that hard to believe?"

"Probably because it's highly unbelievable," the girl said from the other direction.

I turned to her and asked, "Are you with him? What's going on here?"

"Yep, Jack is one of the members on this mission. The others probably already ran off with Elizabeth."

I blinked and looked down, realizing she was right. Son of a bitch. I turned to face her, but she said, "Don't even bother trying to leave the cave. We're going to have a nice, long chat about getting you uncursed. And after we come to an official deal, one that you won't back out of, trust me on that, then we'll go to get not only Elizabeth, but the one you're looking for."

I raised an eyebrow, turning from her to Jack, saying, "You know the one we want."

"Yep, I know the one you want. Funny thing is, he was also in the town you were raiding. When you got Elizabeth, you missed him by this much," Jack said, putting his fingers close together.

"In fact, an explosive boy over there ran into him and almost killed him. It would have doomed all of you," he continued, pointing towards a sheepish-looking boy.

"Okay, let's have our discussion. What are your conditions for giving us the one we want?" I asked.

"Hmm, well, his blood for safe passage for him and his lovely back to their hometown. In exchange, I want the Black Pearl as well," Jack stated.

"I don't really see the benefits of handing over my ship to you, Jack, especially when I don't know if this person is truly capable of ending the curse," I responded.

"Hmm, well, you could believe me. After all, I'm the one here who hasn't mutinied. Or you could not believe me and be left with nothing. You could kill me now and know nothing because the person who has your cure is getting away without even a piece of gold for you to track them down," Jack reasoned.

I looked down into the chest, then at the ground, before saying, "You'd be wrong on that. It appears that Elizabeth has taken the medallion, so we could someday track them down."

"Hmm, fair point. Tanya, do you have any ideas on how we can come to a reasonable conclusion?" Jack inquired.

"Oh yeah, I have an idea," Tanya said matter-of-factly. "I could point one of these guns at the Black Pearl and blow a hole in the side, sinking her. That would leave all of you stranded on this island without a boat, preventing you from ever finding the cure or having any logistical means of tracking them down."

"You would doom yourself," I exclaimed, shocked by her proposition. However, it only brought a smile to the girl's face.

"You couldn't touch me if you tried, and I could make it to that chest and pull out one of the gold coins, making me just as immortal as all of you before you could kill me completely. Choosing mortality and using explosives is a lot more dangerous than anything any of you can deal with, I would think," she retorted.

"Still leaves you trapped on the island," one of the other pirates pointed out. Tanya, floating in the air, smirked in response.

"Flight spell. Even if I didn't decide to grab your gold and become immortal, I could easily just fly away," she said, pointing up towards the holes in the ceiling. "I doubt you would even be able to hit me before I made it out there, meaning there'd be no way to catch up and get me. So, you'd be double screwed if the pair you're looking for had already gotten away."

I sighed, seeing the writing on the wall. I either had to work with these two or face even greater consequences, risking my crew tying me to an anchor and throwing me overboard, just as we had done to Bill Turner.

Turning to Jack, I said, "How about this, Jack? I will hand over the Black Pearl on the condition that you help me get another ship first."

Jack seemed to think about it for a moment before saying, "That seems reasonable."

"Now shake on it," the girl called, prompting us to look at her. "You're a pair of pirates, at least be trustworthy enough to shake on an agreement, otherwise you'll have nowhere to go from here."

I stepped down from the mountain of gold to where Jack was standing and offered my hand. He carefully reached out and shook it, looking surprised.

Turning towards the girl, I said, "Alright, can we go get the cure now?" In response, the guns were lowered, and the girl stepped aside.

"Where did you find this kid, Jack?" I asked, looking at him.

"Tortuga. Apparently, she's looking for me. Remember Fine?" Jack replied.

I shivered at the mention of that name. "Don't tell me she's one of hers." Jack smiled, and I just shook my head. "You're playing a dangerous game, Jack."

"To win, you need to sometimes," he said with a smile.