Times of Trouble

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Ruined Wedding

A young woman with long brown hair sat by a window, staring out into the gloomy day. Her blue eyes were the same shade as the sea, and just as wild and untameable. The only daughter of Bootstrap Bill Turner stared out as not too far away, her brother Will was being arrested by the same soldiers that had recently arrived on Port Royal. She was not at the blacksmith's shop at the time, otherwise Arianna Turner most definitely would have had something to say about it. Unfortunately for her, Arianna was being hunted down by the same men that had arrested her brother.

She'd been at the governor's house getting ready for her brother's wedding. As the bride, Elizabeth Swann's, best friend, she was given the honour of being the maid of honour in their wedding and Elizabeth had insisted on her coming to her house to get ready. Arianna reluctantly agreed, though she'd had the feeling all week that something was going to go horribly wrong.

Ten months had passed since Arianna, her brother Will, and Elizabeth had assisted in the escape of Captain Jack Sparrow, the pirate that had saved them all from certain death, but who had been condemned to death because of the mere fact of him being a pirate. Ever since then, Will and Elizabeth had fallen more deeply in love and were getting married. Or were supposed to, were things to go according to plan. Arianna, too, had fallen in love with a member of the soldiers, a young lieutenant named Finn Warren.

Arianna and Finn had a wonderful summer, filled with laughter and romance, but she knew that things were about to change. Although his father had consented to his courting her, she didn't think he thought things would actually work out. And much to Mr. Warren's disappointment, things had seemed to work out with them.

Which was the reason why he had set out to have them broken up immediately. When she demanded an explanation, he told her that he wouldn't have a pirate for a daughter-in-law before slamming the door in her face.

Arianna must've cried for a week after it happened and didn't even want to go outside, but had put on a good face at least for the wedding. Will had been furious and wanted to go over to the Warrens and have a talk to Finn and his father, giving them a piece of his mind, but Arianna told him not to.

"There isn't any point, Will . . ." she told him softly as she lay curled up on her bed, her eyes red from crying. He hesitated, but reluctantly submitted to her request to let it be.

She knew he felt guilty about being so happy with Elizabeth when she felt so miserable, which was half of the reason why she had shown up today. The grey clouds matched her mood and she wished that she could get out of here, leave Port Royal behind. Other than her brother and best friend, Finn had been her only reason for staying. And now she didn't even have him.

Pulling herself out of the past, Arianna whirled around as soldiers barged through the door, slamming it open and pointing their bayonets at her. "What the—" she began as they surrounded her.

"Miss Arianna Turner?" a man in a navy blue suit addressed her. She nodded, confused. "I thought so. Arrest her."

"What?" Arianna was incredulous as the soldiers grabbed her, despite her putting up a decent fight. She managed to kick one of them down, but then they put her in irons and she had no other choice but to walk with them out of the governor's house down to the wedding chapel. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Will up ahead, in the same state as she was in, and Elizabeth was running towards them.

"Any idea what this is all about?" she inquired as she was shoved next to her brother. He shook his head as Elizabeth reached them, in her wedding gown soaking wet.

Arianna's eyes searched the crowd of soldiers and she suddenly came face-to-face with the green eyes of the man she loved. Finn stared at her for a moment before looking away, his face filled with shame. But she caught a hint of something else: love. Despite what had happened, despite everything that his father had put them through, he still loved her. Somehow, that made Arianna feel somewhat better, despite the current situation.

"Let me through!" The governor had arrived, looking incredulous as the two men held their bayonets to block him from moving. "How dare you! Stand your men down at once!" he ordered the man standing on the balcony, looking calmly over Port Royal. "Do you hear me?"

The man tossed off his coat and the man in navy blue took it calmly. "Governor Weatherby Swann, it's been too long," he remarked.

Staring at him, Governor Swann had a look of incredulity on his face as he asked, "Cutler Beckett?"

"It's Lord now, actually."

Waving his hand at the men, Beckett allowed the governor to step through. However, the governor showed no sign of being grateful for the command. Instead, he immediately started shouting at Beckett. "Lord or not, you have no reason and no authority to arrest these two!" he said, pointing towards Will and Arianna.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Beckett remarked. "Mr. Mercer!" This was the man in navy, who produced a series of documents and he picked two of them up. "The arrest of one William Turner and one Arianna Turner." The twins exchanged a look with Elizabeth as the governor examined the documents.

"But this warrant is for Elizabeth Swann!" the governor said, looking at his daughter with horror.

"Oh, is it? That's annoying," Beckett said without a trace of embarrassment. He was enjoying this, Arianna thought with rage. He was actually enjoying this. "Arrest her."

"Under what charges?" Elizabeth shouted, but everyone ignored her, their attention focused on Beckett as he picked up two more documents.

Handing one of them to the governor, Beckett said, "Aha! Here's the one for William Turner. And I have another one for a Mr. James Norrington. Is he present?" He looked around at the crowd.

"What are the charges?" Elizabeth shouted, but Beckett continued to ignore her, his attention focused on the governor, who was answering the question asked.

"Commodore Norrington resigned his commission several months ago," Governor Swann told him.

"I don't believe that was the answer to the question that I asked," Beckett pointed out smoothly.

Arianna sighed as she thought about the commodore—or rather former commodore. After allowing Jack one day to escape, Norrington had pursued the pirate and never managed to catch up to him. He lost his crew, one-by-one, and then finally resigned, disgraced, and he disappeared from Port Royal. No one had seen him since then.

"Lord Beckett!" Will had finally had enough. "In the category of questions not answered—"

"We are under the jurisdiction of the King's governor of Port Royal and you will tell us what we are charged with," Elizabeth added, glaring at Beckett with cold fury. Arianna could hardly blame her; after all, the man had ruined her wedding day.

"The charge," her father answered, "is 'conspiring to set free a man convicted of crimes against the Crown and Empire and condemned to death, for which the punishment . . .'" He stopped reading the documents, his face suddenly going pale.

"For which the punishment, regrettably, is also death," Beckett finished up for him. Arianna stared at him before looking towards her brother and best friend. All three of them knew what this was about. "Perhaps you remember a certain pirate named Jack Sparrow?"

"Captain," all three of them said at the same time. Arianna winced slightly as she realised what they'd given away.

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth told him.

Beckett nodded, a smug smile crossing his face. "Captain Jack Sparrow," he echoed. "Yes, I thought you might. Take them away."

--

Arianna sat alone in the cell, shivering slightly as she tried to ignore the catcalls and whistles from some of the men in jail. Finally, she gave up, stood up, and turned towards them, her eyes blazing with fury and anger. "If any man here even so much makes one more disgusting remark like that," she said, her voice quiet but carrying with power, "then I will personally make that man a eunuch. Am I understood?" she asked, glaring at them.

The men all stared at her, then backed away from the enraged girl, conversing amongst themselves. "I thought so," Arianna muttered as she sat back down, pressing her head into her knees.

She glanced up when she heard clapping and looked up, her heart giving a painful twist when she saw Finn standing there. He was grinning slightly as he closed the cell door behind him, joining her on the ground. "That was nicely handled," he commented.

"What are you doing here?" she said quietly, not really in the mood to talk to him. She didn't look at him, couldn't look into his green eyes with it hurting too much to bear. "I didn't think that your father would allow you down here, Finn. Especially not after this."

Finn reached out and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look up at him, straight into his green eyes. "This isn't what I wanted, Arianna," he told her quietly. "I wanted you to be my wife, I told you that when I started courting you. Believe me, if I'd known that my father was going to react the way that he did, I wouldn't have put you through that. I would've just let you be, if only to not cause you the pain that you're going through."

"You could have stood up for me," Arianna pointed out. "Finn, you could have said that you were going to marry me, no matter what he said."

"I did." Arianna glanced up at him as he spoke, sea-blue eyes confused as he sighed, leaning back against the cell wall. "I did tell him that, after you ran out in tears, Arianna. You . . . you are the one that I want, not anyone else and that is never going to change." He cupped her face in his hands, drawing her in close. "You're my heart and soul, Arianna. My Anna," he added softly and she smiled slightly at the private nickname that he called her.

"Finn . . ." she began, but she was incapable of saying anything after that as he kissed her. The flood of emotions poured through her, coursed through her veins as she remembered why she loved him so much. He had never once judged her, never condemned her because of the way she was. And he had never tried to change her, just accepted her for the way that she was. The only two people who had done that before were Will and Elizabeth.

"I love you," Finn whispered. "And I always will. You are the one that I will choose above all others, Anna." He caressed her hair as she looked up at him, heart almost spilling over with happiness. "But I'm not so sure that we'll be able to find a way to be together. Don't get me wrong, I want to," he said quickly, reading Arianna's expression. "But Beckett is more dangerous than even the most bloodthirsty pirates. I'm not so sure we'll find a way. I've just got to find a way to get you out of here."

It was no sooner than he'd spoken than Will appeared, his face darkening the moment that he saw Finn with his sister. Arianna gave him a warning look, so he didn't say anything as Finn stood up and walked out of the cell.

"Come on, Ari," Will told her, "we've been given permission to undertake a mission for Beckett in exchange for our freedom. I'll explain on the way," he added to her puzzled look.