A Most Unusual Interest

A Most Unnatural Interest (NC-17)
Disclaimers: I own nothing. Disney owns the characters except for those from history, which I don’t own either. Situations and dialogue are my own unless otherwise noted. So, to recap…I own nothing. If you recognize something, someone with lawyers and money owns it and loves it and calls it George (even that parody line);I make no money from this work of fan fiction and do not intend infringement upon held rights to characters, movies and situations.

A/N Goddess Foxfeather is the best beta ever!!!!! (new universe, new tag line, lol). This is my first PotC fanfic…I usually write X Men Evo so this is deep waters, to coin a phrase. Be gentle with me. Read and Review, please! This fic is going to start of, I hate to say slow, but not fast… It will be an NC-17 due to violence, sex, drinking, mild opium use, and other things kiddos shouldn’t read. So if you’re a kiddo, don’t read.

“Give that back!”
“I swear, you are a most unnatural girl!” Hazel MacLeod peered down her nose at her youngest sister, then the item she had purloined. “Pirates! In a penny dreadful!”
“It isn’t nice to swear!” Myrtle tried in vain to rescue her pulp reading material, not quick enough to stop her sister from throwing it over the railing.
“That’s ill luck to have on a ship, I should think,” Hazel intoned piously. “Besides, a girl like yourself could do with decent reading materials. The Bard, or even the Good Book, both of which are in our cabin…”
Myrtle had heard the expression “to see red” before but never fully understood it’s meaning until just then. Her sister was awash in a pinkish haze as she prattled on in a self-righteous tone, gesturing grandly as she expounded on the virtues of proper reading material to develop a young woman’s mind. Myrtle finally snapped. “Be quiet, Hazel! Your voice is like a cat screeching! If you say one more word to me, I shall throw you over the railing!”
“You…you…”
“That’s two,” Myrtle growled. She stalked towards her beautiful sister, hands extended. She was not sure if she would actually push her or not, but she knew that she certainly wanted to.
“Girls! What’s going on here?”
Hazel sighed in relief, Myrtle in annoyance. “Nothing, Willow.”
“Why do I find that unbelievable?” the oldest of the MacLeod girls asked, a smile tugging the corners of her lips. “Come now, Myrtle. If you throw her overboard, they’ll have to send some poor sailors in after her, create a huge fuss and most likely make us late getting to Port Royal. Wouldn’t you rather wait and, oh, say, put an interesting lizard in her bodice when we reach our new home?”
Myrtle smirked. “I do much prefer that idea…” Hazel looked properly horrified. “Maybe one with sharp teeth…”
Willow held her laugh in until Hazel made a break for the safety of her cabin, leaving the two sisters to giggle over her piety. “You really should not let her goad you so!”
Myrtle sighed and squinted up at her oldest sister, the sun making a halo around her golden hair. “She just doesn’t understand me… I have no interest in a husband or becoming some bluestocking for the other women to pity…I want adventure!”
Willow laughed again and pulled her sister into an embrace. “I think you’ll find that aplenty in Port Royal! And Richard said that he will arrange a trip to Barbados as soon as we are settled so that you may see the sights there…and there is to be a library opening in the colonies! An honest to goodness library!”
Myrtle could not help but fall in with her sister’s good humor. Willow had married Richard Green when she was eighteen, some ten years before, and the two of them had raised young Hazel and Myrtle as their own since the death of the elder MacLeods in an accident at sea some years later. “I think you and Richard are the only people on earth who understand what I need,” the youngest MacLeod sighed. “You won’t try and marry me off, will you?”
Willow’s laugh faded. “Myrtle, marriage is not a trap…you don’t just wither on the vine within the vows, you know.”
“No man will ever interest me the way books do,” Myrtle said firmly.
“I saw that penny dreadful,” Willow replied softly. “I know it is not books that interest you in Port Royal. I know you crave danger, Myrtle, but I must ask that you maintain some sense of propriety and sanity. Do not seek out that which will harm you.”
“Getting out of bed in the morning can harm me if I do it too quickly,” she sighed. “I am not going to let you coddle me, Willow. Not now!”
Willow sighed painfully. “I do not seek to make you into some simpering miss. That,” she added dryly, “is more Hazel’s milieu. I just want you to be safe. You’re nearly one and twenty…you’re far too old to act like a child, Myrtle. If you do not wish to be settled, there is nothing I can do to change that. All I ask is that you stay away from the docks, that you stay away from these brigands. Richard has told me enough of them for me to know that they are nothing like the dashing buccaneers in your penny dreadfuls!”
Myrtle pulled a face and waved airily, saying, “I read the things, I don’t hold them for God’s truth!”
“Watch your blasphemy,” Willow said sternly. “Richard will never allow that in our home!”
She rolled her eyes at her older sister and sighed. “Right. I’ll mind my wenching tongue.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that quite means what you think it means…”
The clanging of bells and sudden shouting of men made them both jump. “What is it?” Myrtle breathed, too fearful to speak loudly.
Sloane, one of the sailors who had been assigned to “keep an eye on the MacLeod girls,” skidded to a halt as he pelted by. “Pirates, ladies! Get below deck and don’t come out, no matter what happens! Get down there and stay until I come for you myself!”
Willow gasped, the color draining from her face. “Pirates! Myrtle, you jinxed us!”
“Shut up and go!” Myrtle responded, fear and excitement warring in her stomach. This is it! Real pirates!

Captain Jack Sparrow grinned, sweeping a low bow to his favorite people. “Will! Elizabeth! How good to see you again!”
Will blinked in surprise then let out a laugh of sheer joy before breaking Elizabeth’s grasp on his hand and holding his arms wide in a gesture of welcome to Jack. “Captain Sparrow…or is it Commodore Sparrow by now?”
Jack grinned, settling his hat firmly back atop his head, gold inlaid teeth winking in the lantern light. “Just Cap’n Jack, mate. The Pearl is the only ship I need!”
Elizabeth snorted delicately. “But the wares of other ships are a different story, I take it.”
“You know me too well, milady,” he murmured, half-bowing with his hands pressed together as if in prayer.
“How did you come to be here?” Will asked urgently, remember where they were and the fact Jack Sparrow was still a persona non grata in Port Royal. “Norrington still has a price on your hide.”
Jack laughed outright at that. “I came to be here courtesy of Captain Anna Maria Escobar and her lovely crew. The Pearl is anchored not far out of the cove. Anna Maria is welcome here and was more than happy to provide me with ingress into this lovely port.” His grin became far more edged. “How is ol’ Norry anyways? Married and sprogged up by now?”
Elizabeth looked faintly guilty at this. “His life is the sea at the moment.”
“Good man. Women are far too much trouble. Tell me, Will,” he continued, ignoring Elizabeth’s outraged noise, “where can a man like me find good drink and company for this evening?”
Will grinned anew. “With the Turners, I believe.”
“Ah, the Turners…” Jack stroked his beard as if giving this great thought. “I believe I owe them a great debt…I should like to visit a while with them…”
Elizabeth smiled finally and took Jack’s and Will’s arms both. “Then walk with us and tell us why you’re here without your crew.”
Jack fell silent for a short time as they moved down a back street, away from the crowd thronging the main square for the Christmas season. Port Royal was trying hard to emulate Christmas celebrations from home, which, for it’s residents, included England, Ireland, Scotland and a few colonies, but the heat and general tropical air of the place lent it’s own flavor. When they turned down another street, leading to the small Turner home purchased after much protest from Governor Swan as to it’s suitability, Jack spoke again. “We suffered heavy losses a month or more back. We came upon some fellow seadogs who outmatches us in firepower…”
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth breathed, wondering which of the faces she knew she would see no more.
Will stopped at the gate and frowned. “Who?”
Jack sighed. “Jameson the Elder, One Eyed Jack…” He shook his head. “Too many.”
“So you’ve come to recruit?”
“Something like that,” Jack allowed, not quite answering.
A loud clanging went up from the square behind them, followed by canon fire and shouting. “Oh, no!” Elizabeth cried.
“Pirates?” Jack asked idly.
“Pirates,” Will confirmed.
“Don’t look at me, mate,” Jack shrugged. “I’m here. My men are off shore… And Anna Maria is…Anna Maria.”
Will pushed Elizabeth towards the house. “Get inside. Jack, come with me!”
“Now, think first,” Jack slurred lightly. “If I show up in the middle of everything with pirates being seen…who do you think will end up at the end of the noose?”
Elizabeth slapped at her husband’s arm, trying to get his attention. “It’s not pirates!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Elizabeth! You know the bells! You know the canons!”
Jack paused and cocked his head to one side, listening. “She’s right, mate. It’s not pirates…”

The dock was flooded with people as The Nautilus limped in, sails shredded almost to nothing, it’s hull gaping and flooded. It sat low in the water, marred by battle and death. No signs of movement could be seen from the docks. Elizabeth, pushing her way to the front of the crowd with Will in tow, Jack safely behind in the shadows, drew to a halt next to her father and Norrington. “What’s happening?”
Governor Swan looked at his daughter with stern disapproval. “Get home. This is no place for you!”
“Tell me,” she beseeched of Norrington. “What is this?”
Will sighed. “You know she’ll not leave until you tell us.”
“This ship was sighted foundering not far from the cove. It was due in yesterday but it seems…” he swallowed hard. “It seems disaster befell her.”
“How did it get in?” Elizabeth asked softly, horrifying memories of Captain Barbossa and his undead crew threatening to burst forth.
“We sent a crew to board her.” As he spoke, several of the king’s navy could be seen disembarking, looking sick and pale. “Stevens! Report!” Norrington was off, striding down the dock with a look of grim determination on his face.
Elizabeth turned to Will, eyes wide. “What…”
“Go home,” he said shortly.
“But…”
“Go find Jack and go home,” he ordered under his breath, turning her so she could no longer see the ship. Sailors were bringing bodies off. Headless bodies.