Chapter 1

As the girl awoke she hardly remembered a thing about herself, she was in this ridiculous navy outfit that looked like it was from the 18th Century. Spitting sand from her mouth, she realised it was all over the side of her face and her clothing was quite drenched. The fair-skinned woman stood up and dusted what she could from the garments but that only seemed to make it worse. She spotted a set of stone steps leading to a path and took to following them. Within seconds she was in the middle of a rather busy center, marvelling at all of the people drinking, shooting and the women with their breasts practically popping out of their tops. But this was interrupted by a couple of men who noticed her English Navy uniform.
"Come out to Tortuga alone have you, lass? That ain't a good idea for someone in your line of work." One man said and the other grinned, a few teeth missing. Both smirking evilly they took a swig of what was left in their tankards and tossed them. The two men dragged her to the hog pen just out back of the Tavern and punched her hard in the gut. She keeled over into the muck with the pigs and the men laughed hysterically.
"You know the punishment so next time you won't be so lucky." They left, their shadows fading into the rest of the darkness- only the moon showed the outlines of the buildings now. Gut throbbing in pain and cold sweat from her brow running down her hot skin, she held her knees close. As she tried focusing on the coolness of the mud she heard a sound like soft footsteps. The footsteps neared and became slower and almost inaudible, stopping completely as they came to the entrance of the sty.
There was a long bit of silence before a sultry, gravel voice slurred. "Got yourself into a bit of a situation, have you lassie?" The voice asked, almost seeming sympathetic. "Come along then." The voice invited, outstretching its hand through the entrance into the darkness.
She reluctantly took the hand of this kind stranger and took a step out of the complete darkness. "T-thank you…" Was all she could breathe, practically holding onto his hand for dear life.
"What's your name, dearie?" He asked softly, as he brushed away a lock of her hair from her cheek.

"I-….. I don't remember…" She replied looking away.
"Did you hit your head?" The stranger brought his hand to his beard and rubbed it thoughtfully, his eyes wandering until he finally exclaimed with an abundance of enthusiasm. "Well then, for the night you can sleep in my quarters! And who knows, maybe in the morning you will remember yourself!"
Nodding with a small smile tugging slightly at the corners of her lips she seemed pleased knowing she had a place to stay. He seemed like a trustworthy enough man, compared to those other blokes from earlier.
"Well then, just follow me and we'll be on our way!" Guiding her behind all of the buildings to avoid another run in with those men and possibly someone else, he took her towards the docks. Walking over squeaking planks with the waves lapping at the shore and dock pilings like thirsty dogs made her slightly uneasy. The waves crashing in the distance, along with the wind bringing the salty sea air to shore which resulted in it whipping her strawberry blonde locks around- it almost all seemed like a dream.

They made it to the ship and she followed him up the wooden ramp onto the main deck. She had never seen anything like it in her life. Amazed and yet feeling right at home she stared in wonder at it all, the moonlight reflecting off the water and lighting up the ship, it made everything even more surreal. She was mesmerised, but the stranger seemed to have other plans for her.

"Right this way, love." He said as he was already at the cabin door with his hand on the handle and an oil lantern from outside the cabin in the other. She followed him into the room, and he quickly lit the other lanterns and it let out a golden glow in the room, kind of dull but it was better than no light at all.
"Thank you so much." Smiling, she looked down at the uniform- still quite muddy and extremely wet.
"Oh right. That. Well I'm sure there's something useful in that chest over there." He nodded in the direction of a chest. "We put any unneeded garments we happened upon in it, maybe they'll come to some use." Shrugging, the stranger walked out of the room taking his oil lamp and hanging it by the door.

Walking over to the chest she opened it slowly, resulting in it creating a rather loud creaking sound. So loud it made her jump. Getting on her knees she began rummaging through the garments, most were totally useless but there were a few things that interested her.
After finding a suitable costume consisting of some knee high brown boots, a crème coloured long shirt, a simple leather belt, some brown breeches, and a faded red vest she tied a woolen red and gold sash around her hips. For her that was to suffice.

She hadn't a clue how long she had been going through the chest but it had felt like ages, leaving her absolutely exhausted. Taking a good look around the room she noticed what must have been the stranger's bed. Practically skipping over, she crawled onto the bed, there were a few light blankets and what she assumed was supposed to be a pillow. It wasn't amazing but it would suffice at least for a night. As she thought about the events in the last few hours the gentle rocking of the ship and the sound of the waves eventually succored her into drifting off into a deep sleep.

She awakened feeling startled, her eyes shot open only to find an open cabin door with bright sunlight streaming through and the man from last night holding a banana in front of her nose. His beautiful russet brown eyes stared at her, his lips curled into a grin. She pulled the covers over herself frantically.
"Don't worry about that love, I've been here enough time that I 'inspected the goods' as it were long ago." She gasped and scowled at him, he grinned seeming rather satisfied with himself. "Name's Captain Jack Sparrow by the way." He stated, placing the banana in her hand and taking a few steps towards the exit. "And this is my vessel." He waved his arm to show that the ship was his. As he stood in the doorway there was only silence between the two of them. Clearing his throat he then cupped his hands together and said. "This is around the time you introduce yourself, darling."
Bringing her hand up and moving a stray piece of wavy blonde hair, she tucked it safely behind her ear. Staring at him with thoughts running through her mind, it seemed that she was gathering what she could and trying to piece it together. Finally her eyes blinked a few times and looked at Jack.

"I have no recollection of myself or who I was before yesterday." She tapped the banana on her thigh thoughtfully as she sat up on the bed. Shrugging and standing up for a stretch she bit her lip. "Perhaps it is for the best. Obviously it couldn't have been that marvelous of a life if I've forgotten it so easily."

Jack nodded but his eyes seemed unsure. "Aye…" After a few seconds of silence he clapped his hands together. "Well will find you a new name! And make this life the best it can be for ya, savvy?" He winked at her when she smiled appreciatively and proceeded to walk out of the cabin to allow for her to gather herself.
Feeling like she was ready to face the day, she walked out onto the main deck. The sun was shining brightly and the water was a beautiful blue. But just one thing was missing- the land! They were in the middle of the ocean and she had no idea who these people were! Feeling outraged and riddled with confusion she ran up the stairs to the stern deck to find Jack looking at his compass while steering the ship on track.
"Where are we and why are we in the middle of the ocean!" She shouted, her hair blowing wildly in the wind.
"I think you may have answered one of your own questions just then." He chuckled and went back to looking at his compass.
"You know that wasn't even close to what I meant." Clenching her fists and grinding her teeth she sighed. "That was the only place I would at least have a small chance of figuring out who I am and why I can't remember. But now I'm in the middle of some ocean on some ship with some crew and some guy who calls himself Captain!" She ran her hands through her hair and looked at him waiting for an explanation.

"This is not just some ship! And I'm Captain Jack Sparrow! Not some captain." He spat back, raising an eyebrow. "Now I'm sorry that this turn of events goes against what you had planned to do, if there really was anything you had planned. But you are a late riser and didn't wake in time to leave the ship- but that was your fault, not mine." He forced a smile. "Now either you deal with being here awhile or you can swim back. Hell, we can drop you off on a passing island. I'm sure someone would be kind enough to pick you up in a few weeks." He threatened with a bite in his tone.
Her eyes were glued to the planks of wood beneath her feet until finally they snapped up and looked him square in the face. "I suppose this will do for now." She forced herself to say and then stomped off to the bow of the ship.

Jack let out a long drawn out sigh, focusing his gaze upon the horizon thoughtfully. He quietly said to himself. "So this is why it's bad luck to bring a woman aboard."