I do not own any characters other than my OCs.
Pirates of the Caribbean is not mine at all (no matter how much I wish it was)
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Enjoy!

Chapter One: the Introduction

All Arabella ever wanted was an adventure. Freedom. There was never a moment in her life where she didn't fantasize about slipping away in the middle of the night. Tonight was no different. She sat by the window, watching the stars in the sky. Her eyes reflected their shine and she longed to be under them, not trapped in her room.

There were footsteps coming down the hall, and she knew whose they belonged to. Running to the bed Arabella put out the light on her night stand. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing, to mimic the shallow even breaths of someone deep in sleep.

As the door opened and the light from the hall poured into her room she held her breath. The footsteps were heavy as they neared her. She could sense her uncle studying her, waiting for her to make a mistake and give away that she was awake. She forced herself to stay calm as he stayed there for what felt like hours, but in reality couldn't have been longer than a few minutes. He must have been satisfied that she was asleep because he turned and left, walking out and closing the door roughly. She let out a breath.

~~~

Arabella woke up the next day to rough hands pulling her out of bed. It was one of her father's henchmen as she called them. He looked at her with black merciless eyes, a sneer on his lips. She had almost grown used to it by now. Ever since her father died she had lived with her uncle, and his henchmen were always around.

Her uncle was a cruel man. He lived in a large house on the east side of London. He despised Arabella, the only reason he took her in was because he had had no choice. With the child's mother dying when she was an infant and her father dying when the girl was ten. The law had given her to her uncle. The only living relative left.

"Get dressed and hurry up. The train to Plymouth leaves in two hours," the henchman growled.

"If I may ask, will uncle be seeing me off at the station?" Arabella questioned while she changed behind a privacy screen into the dress she had set out the night before.

"No, he has business to attend to, not that it's any of your concern," he said harshly as he picked up the few suitcases she had and walked out of her room.

Arabella sighed to herself as she finished getting ready, putting her hair up elegantly and letting a few loose curls fall and frame her face. Before picking up her purse, she checked her appearance in the mirror and headed out.

Downstairs a few henchmen and a maid waited, her uncle nowhere to be seen. She didn't mind.

"The carriage is here Miss," the maid said kindly, being sure to stay formal with the henchmen present. She had always been kind to Arabella; she'd known her since she had first arrived. In fact, she was the one who had come to collect her and bring her to her uncle's.

~~~

It was a cold rainy day and the wind was biting. Arabella was sitting on a wooden bench inside Saint Emiliani's orphanage, looking out of the frosted window. The people in the streets rushed by with umbrellas trying to find cover from the pelting, ice cold rain. A carriage pulled up outside the mossy, vine covered old building. A woman wearing in a simple dress and rain coat ran from the carriage and into the building.

The old door creaked open and let in a gust of rainy wind, as the woman shook off her coat and hung it up. Her shoes clicked on the flooring as she walked up to the desk, making the only sounds in the deadly quiet room, and she waited patiently for someone to help her. Looking around she spotted the child on the bench. She gave her a small smile, but the child just tuned her empty eyes towards the window once more.

A gruff looking woman named Ms. Chapment arrived at the desk. She was nice enough, and Arabella remembered her attempts at condolences when she had first arrived two months ago. She had spent most of her time with this her, enjoying the comfort of her thick accent, which reminded her of her father's. Ms. Chapment was the head of the orphanage, she made things run smoothly. If there was anything going on she knew about it. Especially if it was bullying among the orphans. More than once the kind woman had saved Arabella from the cruel words of other children. The ones who were there only until somebody would adopt them, unlike Arabella, who was there temporarily.

"What can I do for ya, love?" Ms. Chapment asked.

"I am here to collect Miss Andrews," the other woman said. "I was sent by Sir Andrews, her uncle. I have the paperwork right here." She fumbled in her bag for them as she spoke.

"Ah, yes. We've been expectin' you. If you'd follow me we can get all that done in the office," she said as she took the paperwork and walked around the desk, motioning for the woman to follow.

They disappeared down the corridor shortly after. Arabella lowered her eyes and tried to focus on a mark on the floor through the blur. She reached up to wipe a tear away. If that woman was there for it, then there was no denying, no escape. Her father was truly gone. She was all alone.

The two women came back after a short while, a smile on one, a nervous look on the other.

"Now, Arabella, this is Miss Westmore. She'll be taking you to your uncle's, alright? I'll gather your things, and you can wait her' with her," she said as she led the young girl to the woman.

"Hello, Arabella. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Nancy, if you'd like," Ms. Westmore said kindly.

Arabella stared blankly back and nodded slowly. They stood there silently while they waited, though it was not long before the orphanage woman came back. Arabella had few possession. She and her father were not very well off, but many of the things she did have were left at her home. Funerals were expensive and her uncle decided to sell his brothers things so he wouldn't have to pay for it.

When Nancy had her coat on, they called for the driver to take Arabella's bags. Nancy walked out to the carriage and watched as the child silently walked ahead. Arabella got in and sat silently, her hands neatly folded on her lap. Nancy sat beside her equally as quiet. The rain had gotten stronger and the streets were empty spare for a few people darting from building to building. The driver had gotten back on the carriage and the horses started to move. Arabella stared out the window blankly as she tried not to cry, hot tears rolling down her cheeks anyway.

Nancy didn't know what to do, what does one do when a child of ten has lost her father? She looked at the girl and saw her reflection in the window. Her eyes were still red and puffy, though she was sitting up straight, hands clasped on her lap. She was trying to be strong, but her shaking gave her away. Nancy reached over and gently placed her hands overtop Arabella's.

Arabella looked over and met her eyes. She saw the sincerity in them, accompanied with a kind smile. That was all it took. Her face crumpled and before long she was wrapped in a hug. She cried into the woman's arms and let her rub comforting circles on her back and whisper calming words.

As Nancy held onto the weeping child, she made the decision to care for her. The girl needed somebody, after all, she was all alone now.

~~~

Since that moment, they'd been as close as mother and daughter. Which is why she was accompanying Arabella to Port Royal. She would not leave her.

"Thank you, Nancy." Arabella said as she gave her hand a small walked out together, arms linked.

~~~

The journey was extremely short to Arabella, mostly because she was dreaming of what her new life would be like. She was excited to get away from her uncle, and his henchmen. She wondered what governor Swann would be like. She would be staying with him and his daughter Elizabeth. Her uncle had told her they would be happy to have Arabella stay with them while he would travel for three years for business. She'd been excited when he had told her, the thought of being free, away from her uncle. And not to mention the adventure in the travel itself.

"Miss? The train has arrived," the conductor said tapping Arabella on her felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Had she really day dreamed the entire carriage and train ride there?

"Thank you, sir," she said smiling up at him. Arabella turned to Nancy. "I can't even remember the train ride at all. Oh, I must have looked like such a fool, staring off into space all this time," she said sheepishly.

"Don't worry dear, no one would have had a clue. I certainly didn't," Nancy said reassuringly. "Come on then, better get going, don't want to miss the boat now."

Arabella stood up and smoothed her cream dress. She picked up her purse and followed Nancy off of the train. They linked arms once again and started walking towards the luggage. As they neared they saw three men, definitely sailors, waiting with a sign.

"Arabella Andrews?" one of them questioned, his accent very common sounding.

"Yes, that is me," Arabella said flashing a smile as she looked at the sailor. His clothing was ripped in some places and dirty from working on the docks.

"Right, well, me names Tom, this here is Bert and that over there is Percy," the rough looking man said pointing to two equally rough men. "We're he'r to take you an' your bags to the ship. If you'd follows us please." Arabella nodded and followed. She could feel Nancy tense up a bit, feeling uncomfortable in the midst of such a rough group of people. Arabella laughed to herself. She thought it was quite exciting.

They came to the ship not long after. Her breath caught as she saw the glistening water. It was beautiful. She'd never been able to go to the sea, she'd lived in the city all her life with her father. And her uncle thought it a waste of time for her to go anywhere a block from the house seeing as she could do many things without leaving it. She smiled to herself as she boarded, wondering what the water would feel like.

They were led to their rooms and given time to freshen up before joining the captain for dinner. Nancy had looked slightly panicked when they had told her room was down the hall and not right next to Arabella's. She'd looked at her as if to ask her to say something. But Arabella just told her it was fine and that they would meet up outside her room before heading up.

She walked into her room and looked around. It was fairly simple. A bed, her bags, a nightstand and a trunk. She freshened up and changed into a more formal dress before meeting Nancy.