IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE PREQUELS, SEE THE AUTHOR'S NOTE BELOW THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY.

OMGWTF... Yes, teh Robin has started another story. She just can't keep herself out of trouble, can she?

Yes, this is a rewrite of DMC, wherein I shall try to change as much as humanly possible without changing anything at all... if you get my meaning. This is, in fact, a sequel to my last fanfic in my PotC series, Key to the Crypt... because that one (along with its prequel, Treasure of the Antrum Gaza) happened BETWEEN Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest... got it?

And I know in the previous ones I said that Liz and Will were married... kindly pretend you forgot that. I intend to go back and fix it later when I rewrite them all (after I finish this and AWE)... kay? Thankies much, me hearties. :)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who don't wish to go back and read the other ones (for which I don't blame you at all - they're excruciatingly long and desperately need rewriting - in my opinion at least), here's basically what's going on that you need to know before reading... trust me, just knowing this will make sense, you don't really need to go back to read the others if you know this. (Also, this can be a recap for those who did read but don't remember.) Okay, Robin (my character) met Jack pre-first movie, fell in love with him, got engaged to him in my second story, and married him at the end of the last one. She was raised as Governor Swann's daughter (and thus Lizzie's sister), but she's really the blood daughter of none other than Joshamee Gibbs... please, don't ask. The point is, she is now Robin Sparrow. As for Erindi Alcaren, she is a pirate through and through... and she is cousin to Mamorumi Kino, another OC (both are based on friends of mine) who may or may not show up (who, btw, is in love with John Swallow, who is ANOTHER OC - not based on anyone - who also may or may not show up). Erindi is engaged to... Aragorn Elessar (from Lord of the Rings, for those who don't know)!!! How did he show up, you ask? Well, he was brought to PotC-world via his magic Elfstone (shhh - pretend it makes sense) and he is NOT married to Arwen, because (as I bluntly explained when you met him in my second story) she was killed in a random bar fight (see what I mean about rewriting?). He loves Erindi, she loves him, THE END. They both are friends to Robin and Jack, and - along with Mamorumi and John - are former members of Jack's crew (they joined in the second story). Also, I threw in a crazy ship's cook named Elton Jon Presley Collins, just because I felt like it... but don't worry, he's not likely to be in this very much, if at all. The main people you gotta remember are Robin, Erindi, Aragorn... and, well, the people who are in the movies in the first place. Okay, got it? Now read on!

Disclaimer: Le sigh. I own nothing. Now leave me alone.

Chapter One: A Marriage Interrupted

It was a dark and stormy afternoon, the kind of day that kept children inside reading their favorite bed-time stories and forced sailors to make port. The usually azure Caribbean sky was gray and overcast, and the rain than poured down in buckets was icy-cold. It was not, to be certain, an ideal day for an outdoor wedding. To the bride and maid of honor who stood surrounded by the remnants of a ruined ceremony, it seemed a bad omen, a foreshadowing of darker times ahead, and they shivered in the cold downpour. The bride sank to her knees, lost in despair. Her day was as badly ruined as her satin dress, and her dream of the perfect wedding was being washed away by the rain. Where was her fairytale ending? Where was her groom?

The maid of honor placed a consoling hand on her adopted sister’s shoulder, wanting to comfort her but unable to offer any advice. She had concerns of her own, and not all of them concerned the bride or the missing groom. Her own husband had failed to show, and while she had not expected him at the ceremony, she had at least hoped to see him around town by now. He had promised to come, and she had waited for him. He had not told her where he was going, only that he would see her again before the wedding; she could only hope he was still all right. He had a tendency to get in trouble.

“Arrest her!” said an unfamiliar voice behind them, and before she knew what was going on, the maid of honor found herself being manacled by a pair of strong-armed redcoats. Gasping in surprise, the bride struggled to get to her feet and followed as her sister was dragged, struggling the entire way, to a waiting company of redcoats, a short but important-looking man who apparently was in charge of them, and a prisoner… a prisoner whom she recognized instantly.

“Will!” Elizabeth exclaimed, running to him. “Why is this happening?”

Will could only shake his head in reply. “I don’t know.” He paused, taking in the sight of her. She looked elegant, even dripping wet in a ruined gown. “You look beautiful.”

“What is the meaning of this?!” Robin demanded, ignoring Will and Elizabeth’s tender moment. She knew perfectly well why she was being arrested – it was common knowledge by now that she had wed the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, and that she followed him in his piratical ways. What she did not understand was why Will was being arrested as well.

The important-looking man turned to face her just as Governor Swann arrived at the scene. He was barred from reaching Robin, Will and Elizabeth by the crossed bayonets of two guards, and he glared at them imperiously, unused to such treatment. “How dare you! Stand your men down at once, do you hear me?!”

The stranger in charge smiled serenely at the distraught governor. “Governor Weatherby Swann, it’s been too long.”

Robin, Elizabeth and Will exchanged glances. How did this man know the governor? None of them recognized him, but Robin’s eyes widened when his name was given. “Cutler Beckett?” the governor said slowly, staring in disbelief.

“It’s Lord now, actually,” the man said with an unmistakable air of haughtiness. He motioned to the guards to stand down, and Governor Swann stepped forward the instant their bayonets uncrossed.

“Lord or not, you have no reason and no authority to arrest this man.” He motioned to Will, sparing Robin a sorrowful glance. He still could not accept that the girl he had raised as a daughter of his own had grown up to marry one of the most infamous pirates of the Caribbean – but he knew well enough she was beyond his help now. She was past clemency; she would have to get out of this one on her own, unless he could find a way to free her outside of the law. But he would think on that later; for now, he had his true daughter’s fiancée to defend.

“In fact, I do,” Beckett replied. “Mr. Mercer?” A gaunt, cruel-faced man who they assumed to be Mr. Mercer came forward and handed him a wooden box. Beckett opened the box and, taking out a formal-looking document, handed the paper to the governor to read. “The warrant for the arrest of one William Turner.”

The governor glanced over the paper, did a double-take, and looked more carefully. “This warrant is for Elizabeth Swann!” he announced, surprised.

“My mistake,” Beckett said, though it was obviously anything but. “Arrest her.”

“On what charges?!” Elizabeth and Robin cried together as the young Miss Swann was restrained and placed in irons.

Beckett seemed not to hear them. “Ah, here’s the one for William Turner,” he said, handing another paper to the governor. He pulled out a third paper and waved it over his head. “And I have another one for James Norrington – is he present?”

Robin flinched at the name. The last time she’d heard anything of the Commodore, now ex-Commodore, he had been chasing the Black Pearl off the coast of Tripoli. She had not seen nor heard of him since the hurricane that had finally halted his pursuit of them. “Commodore Norrington resigned his commission some months ago,” the governor said weakly.

“I don’t believe that was the answer to the question I asked,” Beckett returned, raising an eyebrow at him.

Will opened his mouth to speak, but Robin beat him to it. “Lord Beckett, it is our privilege and right to know the terms of our arrest, and I suggest you honor that right in the interests of upholding the very rules and regulations you are presuming to enforce!”

Beckett smirked at her, obviously amused by her temper. “Robin Sparrow, how very nice to meet you. I assume you are aware of the reasons for your own arrest?”

Robin’s eyes darkened. “Yes.”

“Lord Beckett–” Will began, but he was cut off once again, this time by Beckett himself.

“As for the charges against Mr. Turner, Miss Swann, and Mr. Norrington, I believe your father can tell you that,” he continued, and motioned to Governor Swann to read aloud what was printed on the warrants he held.

“The charge,” the governor began quietly, “is conspiring to set free a man convicted of crimes against the Crown and Empire and condemned to death, for which the…” Here, the governor’s voice faltered in shock.

“For which the punishment, regrettably, is also death,” Lord Beckett finished smugly. He turned his gaze to Will and Elizabeth. “Perhaps you remember a certain pirate named Jack Sparrow-” here he looked at Elizabeth in particular “-your brother-in-law?”

“Captain,” Will, Elizabeth, and Robin responded at once. “Captain Jack Sparrow,” Robin repeated, her green eyes smoldering as she glared at Beckett.

“Captain Jack Sparrow. Yes, I thought you might.”

“But they have been granted clemency by the governor of Jamaica,” Robin argued. “What right have you to…” Her words failed her in the face of Beckett’s undaunted certainty in the matter.

“Oh, these warrants don’t come from me, Mrs. Sparrow,” Beckett answered smoothly. “They come from the king.” Robin stared. Was Jack truly thought to be that much of a threat, that the king himself issued the warrants? Beckett, sharp as a hawk, caught the look of confusion on her face, and realized that, in this matter at least, he knew more about her husband that she did. “Jack Sparrow does, after all, have the highest bounty on his head of all the pirate lords.” With a wave of his hand, he ordered Robin, Elizabeth and Will to be taken to the Port Royal prison.

“Wait! Wait! What pirate lords? What are you talking about?!” Robin cried, struggling to get back to Beckett. But the guards were strong, and soon she and the others were dragged away, leaving a helpless Governor Swann staring after them. She had to get out of this, somehow, but what could she do? Seeing Elizabeth gasping from the tightness of her wedding dress gave her an idea.

As soon as they were out of sight and hearing distance of Lord Cutler Beckett, Robin began the show. “I feel faint,” she said breathlessly. The guards gave her a vaguely interested glance but did not otherwise acknowledge her.

“Are you all right?” Will asked, though it was unclear whether he understood what she was doing or if his concern was sincere.

Robin shook her head. “I feel dizzy. I can’t breathe. May we stop for a moment?”

One of the guards glanced worriedly at the others, but they gave him a stern glare and continued on their way. They knew better than to listen to a pirate.

Suddenly, Robin slipped (or at least made it look as if she did) and cried out, and the slickness of the rain on her skin caused her arms to slip through the surprised guards’ grasps as she slid to the ground. The instant she hit the mud, she kicked back into a reversed somersault, kicking one of the guards away as she did so, and in the blink of an eye she was back on her feet and bolting away quick as lighting.

“I’ll come back for you!” she promised Will and Elizabeth as she disappeared into the foggy rain.

“After her!” the captain of the guards cried. A handful of guards chased after the escaping pirate, while the others stayed behind to guard the remaining prisoners. Will and Elizabeth tried to escape in the melee, but Elizabeth’s dress truly was too tight to run in, and Will would not leave without her. “Don’t even think about it,” the captain of the guard warned them when they struggled. Fuming, he sent one more guard away, back to Lord Beckett to inform him of Robin’s escape.

Lord Beckett’s jaw tightened at the news. He had been hoping to use Robin as leverage for Jack’s compass, and her escape not only ruined that plan but also deprived him of the hanging of the wife of the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean – for he, of course, would never have held up his end of the bargain anyway. He sighed – at least he still had the letters of marque to bargain with.

Robin, meanwhile, was crouched in an alleyway, panting. She was hidden from the view of the main street by a stack of discarded crates, but she wouldn’t be able to stay there for long. “Damn dress,” she murmured, her breathing labored. While she had tied her corset much more loosely than her sister had, it didn’t change the fact that it was still a constricting piece of nonsense that was extremely difficult to run in. The skirt wasn’t helping either. Sighing – for it had been a nice dress, a pity to ruin – she reached under her skirt for the dagger she’d hidden beneath it. She then used the blade to cut down the length of her skirt till it was half the size it had been before, reaching about to her knees. Keeping the dagger in hand, she listened until the sounds of the pursuing guards had faded into the rainy afternoon. She had to get out of these clothes – fast – and pick up some better weapons than a measly knife. She couldn’t go to the governor’s mansion, but she was betting she’d be able to get into her room at a local tavern. She’d chosen a small place called the Admiral Benbow Inn on the outskirts of town, both because it was small and largely unremarkable (and thus unlikely to draw unwanted attention) and because she was not known there, allowing her to give the false name Marie Copperdale.

But before she went into the inn, she’d have to get rid of the manacles on her wrists first – and that meant a side trip to the armory Will worked at. She hoped his master, Mr. Brown, was as drunk and unconscious as usual.

Taking a deep (if slightly pained) breath, she listened once more for the sound of guards. Hearing nothing alarming, she crept out of her hiding place and began making her cautious way to the armory, praying the donkey would be there to work the gears that could break the chains on her wrists.

With more than one close call, Robin managed to get to the armory undetected. It turned out that Mr. Brown wasn’t there at all; apparently, he’d left after the Navy’s forced entrance when they came to arrest Will. Unfortunately, it appeared as if he’d taken the donkey with him. “This just isn’t my day,” Robin sighed. Having been around Will long enough to know at least a little about how to work the forge, she managed to get a good fire going in the furnace within a few moments. Biting her lip to keep herself from crying out, she held the chain between her wrists to the furnace until the iron became red hot, then broke the chain and the manacles using a nearby sledgehammer. Her wrists were burnt and blistered, but at least her hands were free. Tearing off some material from the petticoat beneath her dress, she soaked the cloth in the cold rain outside before wrapping it around each of her arms. After dousing the fire in the furnace once more, she was on her way again, this time heading for her room at the Admiral Benbow Inn.

Once she’d retrieved her more comfortable clothes and other effects from the inn, she made her final payment and began heading back the way she’d come – back to the center of Port Royal. Placing squarely on her head a tricorn hat she’d stolen from a man in the lobby of the Benbow, she used a scrap of leather to tie her hair back, and pulled the hat low over her brow. With luck, she’d appear in her sailor’s clothes as nothing more than a young deckhand, a boy – most importantly, not the pirate woman the guards were looking for.

Rather than heading straight to the prison, Robin instead headed for perhaps an even more dangerous target – the governor’s mansion. Using a technique she’d learnt in her childhood when she’d been in need of sneaking into her own room, she scaled a trellis just out of sight of the road and, lucky enough to have picked a window that had been left unlocked, dropped into what had once been the bedroom she’d shared with Elizabeth. Pausing to ring out her hair and clothes as best as she could, she slipped out of the room and made her way to the Governor’s office, where she knew he’d be waiting.

She paused outside the door, hearing voices within. It was the Governor, speaking to the captain of his own appointed guards… speaking of what sounded very much like bribery. Robin soon came to understand he was buying Elizabeth’s freedom his own way – apparently, he’d arranged passage to England for her, and now he was bribing his own guards to make sure his daughter’s escape went unhindered. Robin hid behind a false suit of armor statue until the captain of the guard left the room, waiting until the man was already downstairs before stepping through the wide-open doorway and into the governor’s office.

“Robin!” Governor Swann exclaimed when he saw her, then quickly quieted himself, shutting the door behind her and glancing nervously out the window. By now, it was already nightfall. “What are you doing here?” he demanded in a half-whisper. “They’ve already been here once. When they don’t find you, they’ll be sure to look here again.”

“I need to see Will and Elizabeth. I need you to gain me entrance,” she answered simply. “Please… father.” Though she’d long since accepted Joshamee Gibbs as both her biological and true father, she couldn’t deny she’d been raised by this man, and he’d certainly earned himself the title putting up with her all those years. Still, it felt strange to say it now, knowing as they both did the truth of her heritage.

The governor’s face paled, but he could not refuse her. Together, they returned to the Port Royal prison and, introducing Robin as a lesser-known cousin of Elizabeth’s named Scott, gained her unhindered (albeit guarded) entrance to the cell she sought. She was surprised to see Elizabeth alone in the cell, with no sign of Will.

“Robin?” Elizabeth whispered as her sister crouched in front of the cell. “What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Will?” Robin demanded, keeping her voice low to avoid sounding too much like the woman she was, rather than the boy she was supposed to be passing off as.

“He’s gone after Jack. He figured he’d check in Tortuga first, since Jack hasn’t shown up here.”

Robin frowned. “Beckett let him go?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Will’s made a deal with him. Beckett’s agreed to drop the charges against us if Will brings back Jack’s compass.”

Robin blanched. She knew what Jack’s compass pointed to, just as she knew what Beckett had done to Jack years ago, because he had told her – what she didn’t know was what Beckett needed the compass for in the first place. She assumed it wasn’t good. “He doesn’t seriously expect Jack to just give up his compass, does he?”

“Beckett’s offering letters of marque for both you and Jack in return for the compass.”

“Employment under the East India Trading Company is not the same thing as freedom,” Robin answered dryly. She knew Jack would not want to give up his compass for the papers, but she feared he might if he learned they were meant to go to her as well. Her throat constricted as she thought of another possibility – what if Beckett had his men trailing Will? What if Will’s mission was really just a ploy to get Will to lead them straight to Jack? With the Navy already on the lookout for her and Beckett’s men guarding the town prison, she knew it was just as likely as not that her sudden fears were unfounded. But, if she was right, she needed to get to Will before he got to Jack. Will already had a head start – she’d be hard-pressed to catch up. She didn’t doubt that Beckett had letters of marque with him – they’d come in handy sooner or later, whether or not he intended to actually give them to Jack and Robin as he’d promised. Either way, she had the feeling he wouldn’t hold up his end of the bargain when it came time to free Elizabeth and Will. Once Will had done his job, there would be no further need of either of them.

Robin paused as the beginnings of a plan formed in her mind. If she could manage to take the letters of marque for herself, she could use them to gain Will and Elizabeth’s freedom..

Suddenly her plans came to a screeching halt as her mind came back to the present, and she focused on her still-imprisoned sister. Elizabeth. She couldn’t leave without her… but could she afford to leave with her? Robin was optimistic at times, but never cocky, and she was certain she would only get away with one mark against Beckett before she had to leave to chase down Will. If she freed Elizabeth first, the alarm would be raised, and there was no way in hell she’d be able to get to Beckett’s room to steal the letters of marque. And if she stole the letters first, she had no doubt she’d run into Beckett, and the instant she left with the papers, he’d call for his guards – and her chance to free Elizabeth would be gone.

She heard Governor Swann shift from one foot to the other behind her, and took consolation in his presence. Though she would not be able to get the papers to Elizabeth this night, she and Will could go together to find her sister in England. She met her sister’s gaze steadily, willing Elizabeth to see what she could not speak aloud. “I cannot help you now, Liz,” she whispered, “but I promise I’ll take care of Will for you.” Resisting the urge to try and hug her sister through the cell bars, she straightened (making sure to keep her face hidden under her hat) and followed Governor Swann out of the prison.

Without a backward glance, she trotted off into the night to seek out Beckett’s office, and secure the letters of marque that would save Will and Elizabeth – provided she could find the former of the two before it was too late.