Meeting The Crew & A Storm

The next morning the would-be pirates met their would-be crew on the docks of Tortuga. Aggie stared at the unimpressive crew, a few of them looked in well-enough shape, others looked like they

hadn't had seen any good luck in years! But most of them looked like they had Jack's type of thinking and insanity.

Yeah... Aggie thought we're not gonna get far with this bunch...

"Feast your eyes, Cap'n" Mr. Gibbs said "all of them faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt and crazy to boot!"

"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked Jack.

"Talk about the blind leading the blind" Aggie shook her head.

"What was that, Aggie?" Jack asked.

"I said this guy here is bald!" Aggie lied, pointing to a crewmember named Marty.

Marty gave her a hard look.

"Well you are!" Aggie told him.

Will picked her up and brought her back down the line, where Jack was eyeing an older man with a colorful parrot on his shoulder.

"You sailor!" Jack addressed him.

"Cotton, sir" Gibbs introduced him.

"Mr. Cotton, do have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?"

Cotton remained silent.

"Mr. Cotton!" Jack barked "answer man!"

"He's a mute, sir" Gibbs came to Cotton's rescue "poor devil had his tongue cut out..."

Cotton opened his mouth to prove his point.

Will cringed and Jack stuck out his own tongue disgusted.

"Wow..." Aggie said "that must've hurt!"

Cotton nodded vigorously as did his parrot.

"...so he trained the parrot to talk for him" Gibbs said "no one's yet figured how."

"Mr. Cotton's... parrot" Jack said "same question?"

"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" Squawked the Parrot.

Everyone raised a brow.

"Mostly we figure that means Yes" Gibbs said.

"Of course it does" Jack said. "Satisfied?" He asked Will.

"Well, you've proven their mad!" Will said.

"And what's the benefit for us?" A voice rang out from the crew.

Jack moved farther down the line of sailors and stopped at one with a large hat over his face.

Jack pulled the hat off his head, to reveal he was actually a her.

"Anamaria" Jack grinned.

Anamaria greeted Jack like all the ladies in Tortuga with a slap across the face. Aggie was starting to believe that was how everyone greeted each other in Tortuga.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will asked.

"No, that one I deserved!" Jack said.

"You stole my boat!" Anamaria said.

"Actually-" Jack started only to receive another warm Tortugan greeting from Anamaria.

"I like her!" Aggie said, giggling.

"Borrowed!" Jack said to Anamaria "burrowed without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back!"

"But you didn't!" Anamaria yelled.

"You'll get another one!" Jack told her.

Anamaria pointed a threatening finger at him. "I will...?" She growled.

"A better one!" Will said.

"A better one!" Jack chimed.

"That one!" Aggie pointed to the Interceptor.

"What one?" Jack asked, following Aggie's pointed finger. "That one!" He said.

Aggie nodded, grinning.

"Aye. That one!" Jack said "what say you?"

"Aye!" Everyone said.

Anamaria snatched her hat back and gave Jack a glare as she boarded the ship.

"No, no, it's frightful bad luck to have a woman aboard" Gibbs told Jack.

Aggie rolled her eyes. "Boys just say that, because they're scared that the girls will do a better job than them aboard the ship!"

"It's a proven fact that females always stir up misfortune on the open sea!" Gibbs told her.

"Alright then pray tell, name one time a woman caused bad luck on a ship!" Aggie asked him.

Mr. Gibbs looked thoughtful for a few minutes, but in the end he came up blank.

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Aggie said, smiling.

                         ☠💀☠

That night as the Interceptor was being tossed about like a toy ship in a bathtub. The sky above was inky black except when cracks of lightening lighting up the sky. The waves were incredibly high, soaking the deck and the crew. The rain was coming down hard as well, drops of rain were hitting the crew like bullets.

Jack was at the helm trying to keep a hold of the wheel and keep them on course. Will and Gibbs were tending to the sails.

"How can we sail to an island that no one can find... with a compass that doesn't work?" Will yelled over the storm.

"Aye!" Gibbs yelled "The compass doesn't point north! But were not trying to find north, are we?"

Gibbs slowly fought his way to the helm to talk to Jack.

"We should drop canvas, sir!" Gibbs yelled to him, worried that the sails would tear.

"She can hold a bit longer!" Jack shouted.

"What's in your head that keeps ye in such a fine mood, Cap'n?" Gibbs asked him.

"We're catching up!" Jack grinned, his gold teeth gleaming in the glow of the lightning.

The storm started to die down about an hour or two later, just as the sun was coming up. Pretty soon the Interceptor was sailing through smooth waters again. Crew members lay spread out on the deck, soaked to the bone and breathing heavily, like fish out of water.

"Nothing like a storm to show ye what a crew is made of, eh?" Jack asked "Mr. Gibbs! Let's see if everyone is still onboard and not dead."

"Roll call!" Gibbs called out "Will?"

Will raised a hand from where he was laying on the deck.

"Cotton?" Gibbs called out.

"Shiver me timbers!" Squawked Cotton's parrot.

Jack and Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"Marty?" Gibbs asked.

"Aye!" Marty said from the top of the rigging from which he was now tangled in.

"Anamaria?" Gibbs asked.

"Aye!" Anamaria said from where she layed on the deck.

After naming off the rest of the crew which were all accounted for, give or take a few men, they came to the last name on the list.

"Aggie?" Gibbs asked.

No answer, not even a peep.

"Aggie?" Gibbs asked louder.

The crew exchanged worried glances at each other. In the short time before the storm, they had all met Aggie and took a quick liking to her. Now they feared the worst for what might've happened to the young girl. Even Captain Jack's heart skipped a beat when she never called out.

"Aggie!" Will yelled "Where are you?!"

"You mean ye don't know!" Jack asked him. "I thought she was with you?"

"No!" Will said "she told me she was going to see you at the helm!"

"Last I saw of her, she was playing right on deck around the time the storm hit!" Gibbs said.

"Oh my..." Anamaria put a hand to her mouth.

"Could she have..." Will asked, fearing the worst.

"She might've been..." Marty said, freeing himself from the rigging.

"She was swept away by the storm..." Jack said heart-broken.

The crew took off their hats and bandana's and stood in silence, mourning the loss of their youngest crew member. Even Cotton's parrot seemed to be bowing his head in sorrow.

"How could all of you let this happened!" Will cried out.

"Calm down there, lad!" Gibbs clapped a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"No, I won't calm down!" Will yelled "How could this have happened?! She was a child! She had her whole life ahead of her! And no one thought to get her to safety below deck!"

"No use spreading blame, boy!" Gibbs said "we're all just as upset as you!"

Will gave him an angered look then it softened.

"I guess your right..." He said. "My apologies" he told the crew.

Suddenly the crew heard sobbing and looked over to see their Captain with tears running down his cheeks.

"Jack?" Gibbs asked amazed "Are you crying?"

"No, course not!" Jack yelled "I'm sweating through my eyes! It's very humid!"

The crew stared at him.

"Alright!" Jack admitted sobbing "I'm crying! Little Aggie didn't deserve to die! She was just a sweet little lass! I dragged her out here! It's all me fault! Ye gods, I'm no better than a cold-blooded child murderer! I deserve to die as well!"

"Why's Jack crying like wimp?" Came a voice behind them.

They all turned to see Aggie standing behind them, snacking on a banana.

"AGGIE!" They all yelled happily, racing over. They hugged her and tousled her hair and Anamaria even kissed her on both cheeks.

Aggie looked completely and utterly confused.

"Where were you?" Jack asked as he gave her a bone-crushing hug. "We thought you drowned in the sea! I cried for you! And who are you calling a wimp?!"

"I just went to get breakfast in the galley?" Aggie said, holding her banana.

"Then where were you when the storm hit?" Will asked.

"What storm?" Aggie asked.

"Ye must be be joking?" Gibbs told her.

"No seriously, what storm?" Aggie repeated the question.

"The storm" Jack said.

Aggie raised an eyebrow.

"From last night?" Jack said.

"Oh!" Aggie nodded "Wait, there was a storm last night?"

"Yes!" Jack told her "A huge storm! With lightning and thunder! It rocked the ship all night!"

"I must've sleep through it" Aggie shrugged "cause I went to bed last night and I just woke up and got breakfast in the galley."

"You mean to tell me that you slept through that entire storm?" Jack asked her.

"I guess so..." Aggie said, shrugging.

"You didn't hear anything?" He asked.

"Nope" Aggie shook her head.

Jack's eye twitched. "Well, if ye weren't dead before you're about to be!" He lunged at Aggie.

Anamaria and Gibbs held him back as Aggie giggled.

Jack eventually calmed down and walked over to Aggie.

"I guess the important thing is that you're safe" Jack told her.

"Yeah, even though I wasn't in any kind of danger" Aggie said cheekily.

"Oh, look! A mermaid!" Jack pointed behind her.

Aggie turned her head as Jack took a huge bite out of her banana.

"Hey!" Aggie protested "Get your own fruit!"

AN: Well, that's all for now, mates! I'll try and post the next chapter ASAP! Comment! Vote! And keep an eye on your bananas!

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