Sinking with the Titanic, Rose ends up on a ship with the pirate Jack Sparrow and a sea goddess' diamond heart. When she tries to free the cursed Will Turner things get complicated, but falling for a dishonest pirate on rum withdrawal is an even wor...
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There was an instant flurry of activity. They weighed the anchor and set sails in record time, and soon raced in the direction the compass pointed, climbing crests and falling into troughs in a bouncy roller-coaster ride. Rose felt sick again and lost the last of her hardtack meal over the railing.
It took almost an hour until they saw their goal at a distance. The ship was easy to spot despite the darkness and cloudy weather as it was burning heavily, and over the howling of the wind they heard faint cries. It was a large three-master, two of which were entirely engulfed in flames.
"Pirate attack," hollered Gibbs. "But them who did it seem to have left already, thank goodness."
Rose clutched the railing, staring at the horrible scene they rapidly approached, and suddenly the reality of it struck her with full force. This was no adventure, no exciting quest to find the Dutchman. Actual human beings were fighting for their lives on that ship, and it would sink just like the Titanic had, and the sailors would drown just like she had. It was not right.
She grabbed the person closest, which happened to be Jack. "We can't do this!" she yelled to make herself heard.
"What?" He stared at her like she had lost her mind.
"We can't let them die! We can't just watch them drown!"
He turned his gaze from her face to the ship, where they could now make out individual faces of the panicking men running around, shouting to each other in a foreign language. Some of them were desperately trying to reach a dinghy, but it was tied to the side of the ship and large flames erupted between the men and the small boat.
"Damn. Damn your bloody conscience. Damn my bloody conscience." Still pouring out curses, one nastier than the other, Jack pulled off his vest, boots, gun and sword, pressing them into Rose's arms. "Hold my effects." He climbed the railing and dived into the murky waves in a smooth motion, swimming towards the sinking ship with strong strokes.
"What's he doing?" cried Elizabeth, who had just managed to haul the sails and turn the Barnacle. They were bobbing on the waves a hundred feet or so from the burning wreck.
"He's saving them." Rose dropped Jack's belongings on the deck and grabbed Elizabeth's arms earnestly. "We have to help him!"
Understanding dawned in her eyes. "Yes. Yes, of course." She frowned. "Much as I want to find the Dutchman, this way is wrong. What were we thinking?" She ran back to the boat's stern where they had been towing Gibb's dinghy along with them, calling out to him in passing. "Take the wheel and hold her close, but not too close. We don't want to catch that fire."
Elizabeth and Rose climbed down into the smaller vessel, the former grabbing the oars. The wind gave them speed, coming at the dinghy from behind. The ocean was wild and large around them and to Rose their boat felt ridiculously small and weak. Water splashed over its sides with every wave and soon their feet were inches deep in water.
