Author's Note: Welcome to Where the Sky Meets the Sea! If you're a new reader, thank you so much for clicking. I hope you enjoy and feel inspired enough to leave a review; each one means so much to me, and I'm always open to suggestions and critique. If you're a returning reader, you get extra hugs for sticking around this long! I've made some revisions, mostly with writing quality, but also with some minor plot points and details that may become more important in the future. (See my profile for more information.) I just hope you still enjoy!

Quick notes: this is a brief prologue written in third-person, but the rest of the chapters are longer and written in first-person. I probably won't include any more author's notes in these revised chapters, so you won't hear from me until I post the two newest ones. Probably for the best. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Pirates of the Caribbean! Any characters you don't recognize, however, are pieces of my imagination.

Where the Sky Meets the Sea

Prologue:

One warm night in September, Abigail Thomas, a young woman of eighteen years, anxiously walked down the dark streets of Port Royal, carrying her little nine-month-old child with her. The sleeping baby girl's head rested on her mother's shoulder as Abigail's alert eyes scanned the rows of small houses on the street, searching for her daughter's new home. New home. Those words would frequently bring tears to her eyes when they resonated inside her head, but now was no time for them. She had to find this new home for her daughter, or she would never have one at all. At this point, anywhere was better than the circumstances she lived in now, even if those circumstances were prevented from reaching the child by the safe and warm arms of her loving mother. But who knew how long that safety would last?

It wasn't long before she spotted the right house. The home of Mrs. Emma Corley. Though they had never been properly introduced, she knew much of the kindly Mrs. Corley; she had to. She wasn't about to leave her child with just anyone.

Emma Corley had always wanted a child, but being unable to conceive, her wish never came true. Now at the age of fifty-three, she was living by herself (because her husband, supposedly a merchant sailor, was hardly ever home) in a small part of Port Royal, working at her humble but fulfilling bakery for a living. Mrs. Corley was a very kind and decent person--Abigail was sure she'd make a fine guardian.

She stopped in front of the door of the house, took a deep breath, and gave it a knock. In a few seconds a candle was lit inside, and a woman in her nightgown came to the door and opened it a crack. "Yes?"

"Are you Mrs. Emma Corley?" asked Abigail, a sheen of worried and desperate tears covering her eyes.

"Yes," Mrs. Corley answered. She noticed the child in her arms. "What is it, dear?"

"Please, Mrs. Corley." Abigail carefully cradled the child in her arms, more of those tears forming in her eyes. She knew this would be difficult, and that there would be no way to prepare for it, but that knowledge was never any comfort. "My husband and I can no longer take care of her... we love her dearly, and want her to go to a loving home."

"Oh, darling," whispered the older woman. She opened the door wider and looked affectionately at the baby girl.

"She deserves a much better life than the one we are able to give her. Please, will you adopt my daughter into your home?" She'd repeated those words in her head so many times, finding no other way more persuasive. But really, the raw truth was all that was needed.

Emma greatly pitied the young woman in her doorway and was already in love with the baby girl. She opened the door all the way and motioned for her to come inside, saying,

"Come, come, now, dear. Let's talk about this."

---

"Will you ever return for the girl?"

"I... don't know," she answered quietly, heartbroken tears silently but steadily coming out of her eyes as they had for the past half hour. Mrs. Corley took a deep breath, considering everything Abigail had told her.

"There, there. I'll take in your little angel." She tenderly touched the soft skin of the child's cheek. Abigail looked down at the bundle in her arms. Her baby was no longer asleep, but still drowzy, looking up at her with a calm curiosity. Exhaling a shallow, slightly shuddering breath, she held her child close, her cheek touching the young one's warm and vulnerable head. Know I love you... I'll always love you. Always. The baby cooed quietly. Always. Closing her eyes, she placed a long, gentle kiss on her daughter's temple. When they opened again, Mrs. Corley offered her a reassuring look. Abigail placed the child in her arms.

"Thank you," she said, averting her eyes. She felt so empty. "I could never thank you enough for doing this."

"Of course. God bless you."

Abigail nodded gratefully and turned towards the door. She had to leave as soon as possible, but all the need to hurry left her after she left part of herself in Mrs. Corley's arms. After opening the door but before leaving, she turned one last time to the other woman and her baby, mouthing,

Goodbye, Charlotte.

---

For eleven years, little Charlotte Thomas remained under the care of Mrs. Corley, being brought up as a kind girl to become a gentle young woman. She worked at the bakery, running errands, stacking shelves, and if she was lucky, sometimes she'd even get to "help" Mrs. Corley with the baking. Emma also schooled the girl herself, and under her care and love the daughter she'd wished for grew in a way Emma knew would please the real mother of the child.

Though Abigail Thomas didn't know this when she left her daughter, Mr. Corley was a pirate--definitely not a merchant sailor. During the period that Charlotte was there, every single time that Mr. Corley returned home (which was only once every year or so, and he'd stay in Port Royal for just a few days), Charlotte was sent to the neighbor's house. As she got older, she began asking questions. Every time she asked Emma about Mr. Corley, she got the same answer: "He's a rough man, sweetheart. He doesn't really take to children too well and I just don't want you to get hurt."

Being the wife of a pirate, Mrs. Corley knew much about the life of one. Charlotte, being a very curious child, would beg Emma to tell her a pirate story almost every night. These tales never failed to amaze her, and she never tired of hearing about pirates like Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and most of all, Captain Jack Sparrow. It was safe to say that Charlotte knew far more than the average little girl about the dark history of the Caribbean, without actually being on the sea herself.

The two lived together peacefully until an unexpected event changed Charlotte's life for the worse.

As Charlotte was on her way back to the bakery after making a delivery, she noticed a small crowd gathering down the street. As she got closer she realized the crowd was actually in front of the bakery. Sensing some sort of trouble, she ran as fast as she could to the small street corner. She pushed through the crowd and into the familiar hut, losing her breath at the sight of Mrs. Corley, completely still and sleep-like on the ground. The other two cooks looked up to the little girl with the saddest expressions she'd ever seen. Her guardian was dead.

Two days after Emma's heart failure, her husband happened to arrive in Port Royal. He didn't seem incredibly surprised or dismayed about his wife's death, but attended the funeral and went to his house to collect the possessions. The neighbor temporarily caring for Charlotte until the "merchant sailor's" return brought forth the child, and after a meeting of shock and forced politeness with the guardian, Mr. Corley locked Charlotte in her bedroom and left her to her tears; having no idea what to do with the girl. But the arrangement didn't last long. The next morning, she was given away into the hands of Mr. Corley's former crewmate: Samuel Harvey. Though he'd given up the life of a pirate, Mr. Harvey continued committing crimes against the Crown on land as head of a large (though not very successful) group of criminals across Port Royal, and even a few of the other settlements nearby.

Needless to say, Charlotte had now fallen into the worst of hands.