The escape

This is my first published fanfiction ever and English is not my main language, so any constructive critisism is welcome!

The story below is set after the Jack Sparrow book series and before Jack becomes Captain of the Wicked Wench (5th movie), so Jack is 17-something in this.

An ordinary day at the shop in Tortuga. Yn was writing down the supplies that came in the morning in the book and trying to fight off the feeling of impending
doom that was falling on her like a cage. A voice woke her from her gloomy thoughts and she faced, by the looks of his clothing, a young sailor. "I've come to collect the rest of the stuff for captain Morgan. And buy some medical supplies." "Captain Morgan...I think most of the stuff was taken already. The canvas and most ropes were already carried away an hour ago. There's a saw, an axe, two pots, 100 yards of thinner rope, sewing utensils, 50 bobbins of strong thread...Watch out!" yn yelled and reached over the counter to pull the boy out of the way as some a customer tried to haul a knife at the guy standing beside him but missed, but he already swiftly, but casually stepped aside, the knife barely missing the sailor's long hair. "What's wrong with people today" she grumbled under her breath as the knife embedded in the wooden wall behind her and turned attention back to the guy in front. He seemed way too calm for someone who just almost suffered a knife to the back of his neck. "Anyway, what were those medical supplies you need? Let me guess, bandages, scissors, tweezers?" "And three scalpels..." Yn would almost bet she noticed boy's eyes flick towards the saw and the sudden uneasiness on his face. Is it that bad? Its not like Tortuga had a proper doctor to recommend anyways. And ships usually had a surgeon onboard. Hopefully less drunk than the local one. "Here's the scissors" she said, putting them in the box with sewing utensils-it'll come in handy for any wound stitching in a hurry.. "I'll need to go for other stuff in the back. 10..55..85...105..5 pounds and 5 shillings". The sailor grinned at her "Lass, you're pretty good with numbers here. Soon becoming a shopowner yourself?" "Yeah, sure I wish" yn sneered saracastically "As if they'll let a girl be a shopowner. I will be happy if I work behind this counter here till death...If I manage to avoid getting forced to marry, that is. When you're a girl, everybody is forcing you into stuff you don't want." "Just leave.. and find a job somewhere else. You should be able to decide your future." "Yeah, that would be nice, but the owners have ties with the officers and it's impossible to get an honest job without getting noticed, so I'm trying to convince people to just leave me alone." She said with a sigh, but quicky brushed it off. "Anyways, I'll go gather the rest." 'if at least it would be someone nice and cute, like this one. He even doesn't seem to mind a girl working and even becoming a shopowner, and a girl making decisions for herself. It would be so great if all the men were so openminded as he is. But it seems like most men can't process the idea of a woman's personal freedom. And then they ask why I don't want to get married.' She broke out her thoughts to give a questioning look to the sailor that followed her back in the storage space. "Well, seeing how stuff flies around here, I was just thinking of avoiding the need for any additional medical stuff...or the lack of it, savy?" He said, ducking out of the way of an empty bottle that somehow found its trajectory through the storage door, it's fragments falling onto a bag of flour. "It's good those bags are closed, otherwise some folks would be losing teeth of that." "Yeah, it's a common precaution. The owner just doesn't get it through his head that losing some shitty customers doesn't lose that much money than having the place wrecked and others too scared to enter does. Just a moment." Yn pulled out of her apron something that dreadfully resembled a gun and confronted the violent guests. "This is a shop, not a bloody tavern, go take yer blasted fighting someplace else!" Although the violent thug wanted to laugh at the girl at first, getting a gun in his face made him rethink that and the violent men all dissapeared through the front door. Yn turned back just to meet with the young sailor's wide eyes. She ignored him and began rummaging trough a drawer. "Tweezers, here." Yn put them in her apron pocket and franctically searched trough the next drawer. The scalpels should be put with tweezers, but by the looks of it, someone was messing with the stuff he shouldn't. Again. "Found them too." Pocketing the scalpels with tweezers, she went behind the corner and climbed the ladder to the crates that were stacked by the wall, taking the top one off, which would cause the whole stack to topple, if yn wouldn't catch it the last moment, her ladder slippering sideways and getting caught on the wall with a loud clank. The girl cursed when her elbow scraped on the rough wall, carefully stepping off the now diagonaly oriented ladder,  holding the big box of bandages. "Seriously, people who can't even stack crates properly should never work here. Talent for bussiness my ass." yn grumbled, the last part under her breath and quickly lowered her sleeves at the sight of the boy that came around of the corner with a worried look in his eyes. She quickly went over to the table to open the box, facing away to hide her clutched teeth from the stinging arm. "You okay here, lass?" Ugh, why do all people need to constantly remind her on every step that she has no future, being a girl? Even he, though he seems so nice. Wait  why is "even he" a separate category? He's just a random customer probably never to be seen again. "Yeah, sure, thanks for asking. And by the way, the "lass" has a name. It's Yn" "Jack" the sailor gave her a bright smile. Yn instantly felt a pang of regret for snapping at the him. She judged him too soon. He probably didn't mean it that way and it's not like its his fault. Yn hadn't met anyone like him for ages. He even came to ask if she's okay. Normally people would just laugh and poke fun of her. Like that box of bandages, that by the looks of it, thought it was Pandora's chest, at opening bringing disaster and ruining an otherwise relatively pleasant morning, because simultaniously with its cover the backdoor flied open with a loud shout. "Yn! My father let me the rest of the week off, so I'm staying here helping you in the shop. Isn't that great?" No, it isn't great at all, even the last time when the shopowner was supervising him it creeped her out to no end. She managed to slip away, thanks to an old elderly lady that needed help with her giant bags of groceries and was so happy when yn helped her carry them to her hut on the other side of the island that she invited her for tea and they ended talking about healing herbs for hours. Yn got a giant rant from the shopowner when she returned, but was too relieved that the butcher's son is gone to let it get to her. Why, just why had the owner picked the most disgusting guy in Tortuga? Ten years older than her at that? She ignored the loudmouth, robotically taking the bandages out of the box and putting them in a smaller, water-tight box. "What lass, not talking to me again? I get that for all the help last time?" Yeah, right Gaston, that "help" of yours created a total mess because of which customers have to wait and I'm running around like a clutz, making the shop and myself look utterly unprofessonal, not to mention I almost broke my neck saving a stack of crates full of china. Who even stacks china in height? Stupid butchers, noone else. Just being in the same room with that guy makes my skin crawl worse than putting a hand in the maggot-ridden moldy crumbs at the bottom of sea-biscuit barrels we're selling. Cleaning the wormy mess out of rerurned barrels was still far preferrable to standing a yard to that guy. To avoid said dolt, she stepped to the side of table Jack came to in the meantime, to insert some triagonal pieces of fabric cut to support injured arms by the side of the box and filling the rest with bandages. "Here, that should be it" she said to the young sailor with a smile. He doesn't have any idea how grateful she is that she is not alone in the storage with that gross giant. Speaking of whom, now towered behind Jack, who pointed over his shoulder. "I'm real glad you packaged this quickly 'cause sir 7-foot-beastie here has such a foul breath you'll need to ventilate this place. Really hope he isn't your boyfriend or you'll be better off getting him acquiented to a toothbrush." At the last sentence, yn's giggle over the young sailor's remarks changed into a face of utmost disgust. "He's NOT my boyfriend and NEVER will be. I'm too repulsed to even look at him. Actually, that's that guy I'm trying to avoid getting married to. AND the reason why I snapped at you for being called lass. I'm sorry, I just hate it when he says it." she said, voice calmer towards the end. "You're talking to him, but not talking to me, girl! So you've been lying all the time saying that you just don't love anyone, but all the time you were with him!? I'll tell that to the owner" "No, this is a huge misunderstanding. I've been telling the truth. I'm not with anyone. I never saw him until today." "Then why is he back here in the storage? Customers wait outside!" "Well, there were bloody knives flying out there. I don't want him to die!! Captain Morgan is one of our best customers and I cetainly don't want to tell him "we let your sailor die because we're so stuffy about the blasted rules", now do I?" "You don't want him to die? You were totaly okay with me dying repairing the shelves last time" "That you destroyed yourself and the old ladder in the process, blah, blah. Now move. I need to go pack stuff up for Jack here and make the receipt for Captain Morgan so just shout at the wall in the meantime." Yn turned to go back at the counter with young sailor following suit, but got stopped. "You're not going anywhere! Especially not with him! Why are you so nice to him if "you have never seen him till today". You allways used, 'I'm not nice to guys I don't know' against me and my father. Why is he any different! You're lying" "Maybe because he's just a customer that in contrast with you is not a problem in my life and I don't have any reason being mean to him. I'm just not nice to nasty creeps that I don't know and nag and annoy me. And for the nth time, I'm not lying! I've literally met him half an hour ago. Now stop harrasing everybody and let me do my job!" "You know you won't be keeping that dear job of yours for long. I'll beat that shit out of your head! And you'll never see your precious Jack again!" "You'll have to kill me first. And how many times do I have to repeat that we don't even know each other? We're not together!" "But we could be!" Jack quipped in between. Yn felt blood rush to her cheeks, but was somehow extremely relieved that the young sailor wasn't creeped out by the dolt's accusations. "What did you say???" the butcher's voice sounded completely inhuman, like a mad bull or boar. "I said "but we could be", has lard clogged your ears, mate?" "Don't you call me mate! I'll kill you, sailor.!" Jack tried to dodge the punch of an log-like fist, but tripped over a bucket of mops that was stupidly moved out of it's designated corner and the force of the blow knocked him on his back. "Jack!!!" yn shouted in horror and grabbed the first hard thing she could get her hands on-an old damaged iron and intercepted the beastly attacker with a hard blow on the skull to prevent him from reaching the young sailor. The iron's handle broke in her hand, parts of the damaged appliance falling to the floor and her shoes and the butcher stumbled backward, dazed. Despite the pain of busted knockles and the iron falling at her foot, yn bravely stepped inbetween the injured seafarer that managed prop hiself on an elbow, other hand clutching his face trying to stop the blood and the bull-like attacker, rubbing her bleeding knuckles. "Jack, lean forward, so you don't choke on your  blood." "You never help me with the injuries. If you protect him, you're only proving yourself a liar! Might as well punish you up for acting like that!" Gaston yelled, his voice more and more resembling pigs. The girl's eyes flashed with horror when the berseker pulled out a giant knife, the blade as long as her forearm. She dodged it by tooth's skin, the sharp tip tearing trough her outer clothes like they were made of thin air. She blocked the armed wrist with a swift grab of her left hand, in a blink swapped support to her right forearm back to firmly grip the giant arm by an elbow and managed to finish with a sharp hit to the madman face, making him drop the machette-like weapon that landed with a clang on the stone floor. Jack, who just managed to comprehend the situation, after the blow disoriented him, blind with tears reflexively flowing from his eyes, tried to kick the sharp blade away from its mad owner, barely succeding in what felt like the eternety. But the mad minotaurus wasn't showing any signs of surrender yet. Using his massive weight as an advantage against much lighter yn, he tried to chush her into the nearby wall of shelves, filled with garden equipment. The girl dug her feet into the flloor and tried punching her way out to no avail, not even the sharp chop to the neck she learned from asian worker, whose name she cleaned by proving he wasn't a thief hasn't work on the short neck of the stout attacker. "Behind you!" the sailor crowed painfully, coughing. Yn turned her head to see sharp points of hay forks just at the side of her head. She braced the side of her left foot to the crates stacked by the wall and reached at the madman head in last desperate attempt, grabbing the side of his face and pushed her thumb in the swollen eye socket with all the force she could muster. The butcher's son roared like an injured animal, stumbling and tearing her hand off his eyes and tried reaching for her throat, but the girl managed to catch his arm by middle elbow with her left hand and pulled her own knife out of the pocket, setting the tip of the small blade on Gastons' bleading eye, preventing him from pushing any further. Jack managed to sit up, horrified at the scene happening right before him. "Yn stop! You don't have to kill him!" "Jack, don't try to stop me. It's not like HE would let US live." "Look lass, think about this a moment. That's exactly why you shouldn't kill him. Because you're better than him." "I don't have another option, Jack. I'm not marrying that pig and i'm not letting you get hurt any furter. You don't have to witness it. Go out, look away, cover your ears, don't look back." "Lass, listen to me" Jack said gently "Put the knife away, please. You have an option. Escape. To the sea. Just think about the freedom this would give you-and you wouldn't need to see Gaston ever again." The girl froze. Then she reached on the shelf and grabbed a hay fork shoving it into the butcher's neck. "I don't want to forever scar Jack here with a memory of witnessing a murder or failing to prevent one. Go and make sure to never show your filthy face here again or else." She said, while keeping Gaston at the fork's distance and making a point by pressing it harder into his neck. "The next time you're not gonna be so lucky and I'll show you for all the times you ignored me! You will regret this fight and you'll regret protecting your sailor "friend" back there!" "I will never regret fighting for my freedom nor will I regret fighting for Jack!" "Oh, and your shopowner's little secret will come to the navy's ear, dealing with this pirate lot. Alongside with your little witchcraft ideas, that is. You'll both rot on the gallows. After I finish with YOU that is." He added with a sick, disgusting grin. Yn froze, slumping at the wall, the severity if the situation hitting her like a train. She put her face in her hands "Damn, why haven't I bloody killed the blasted pig." But who thought the old man was stupid enough to tell him about everything. He should have known Gaston would use that information to blackmail her into accepting him. Or was this his plan all along. Hopeless, she looked at her knife, that she was still clutching in her hand. She will be dead till the end of the week anyways and ending a few fays earlier was nothing in the face of facing Gaston again all alone. She put the blade on her veins and closed her eyes thight to avoid the sight of the bleeding wound, when a soft voice reminded her that she's not as alone as she thought. "Yn, please, stop. Snap out of it!" The young sailor's voice was laced with worry and well-hidden pain from the punch he suffered before. She opened her eyes to see the Jack's worried face, his nose still bleeding. "Oh, right. We need to get you out of here and onboard. Tell Captain Morgan to leave Tortuga IMMIDIATELY or you're all as good as dead staying here. I'll help you carry your stuff. But before that we need to get that blood off your face so we don't get the whole town staring at you. It would make sneaking away way more difficult. Let me just go get some water." The girl took a china bowl off the table and pulled a soft clean linen cloth she was using to polish clean silverware out of her apron pocket, barely preventing the scalpels and tweezers from falling in the bowl, and gently handing the ice-cold water soaked cloth to Jack, hiding her own bloody knuckles. "Hold this to your face until the bleeding stops. I'll go and gather all the stuff. The minotaurus took the keys of the cash box so you can't pay for the medical stuff. It's not like the bastards deserve the money anyway." she said, rushing to the counter to put the tweezers and scalpels into the sewing box and that with the sack of thread bobbins into the smaller of one in the other pots that she kept from making noise with a coil of rope inbetween putting everything by the door to be carried away. Quickly checking on Jack that was washing the blood of his face, she sneaked up the ladder to her sleeping space and quickly grabbed all her possessions that were small enough to fit in an old sack, making sure to not forget her collection of healing herbs and removed her disabling skirt, staying in pants with a belt she was always wearing under it because of comfort and constant climbing the ladders in a shop full of men. Pocketing her trusted knife, an old but clean cloth from the other skirt pocket and a bandana to tie her hair later, she returned down the ladder to Jack, sincerely hoping her being called a witch hadn't made him scared of her. "Is your face any better, Jack? Everything's ready to go. I put a box of medicine in the pot for a bit of compensation for getting hit and all the crap." While Jack wiped his face, she quickly cleaned her own wound and tied the wet cloth around her hand. There was no time to bother with dry bandages. She handed Jack the tools and the box of bandages, grabbed the big pot and opened the front door. "Lead the way." she whispered to her partner in crime. Jack usually wouldn't allow a landlubber to see Morgan's ship, but he knew he can trust yn. They managed to sneak out unnoticed. Gaston is probably still shouting his father about everything and by the time the old butcher explains it to the authorities, they should both be out of town. At the deck, he looked at girl's face again, noticing the well hidden awe in her eyes at the sight of Morgan's ship. "So this is the famed Wicked Wench all the tales talk about." Jack proudly beamed "The tales are true, lass. It is the fastest ship in the whole Carribean." "She's so beautiful. Go tell your captain to leave now. She's too beautiful to sink." Yn noticed a chubby girl arranging some rope on the deck. She's so lucky, yn thought with a pang of jealousy. A girl. On a ship like that, not to mention on the same ship with Jack. Don't the sailors believe in some bullshit about women being bad luck on ships? Or are pirates different? At least Jack seems to be, considering how openminded he is. She tore her eyes of the Wench, took her sack and went the other way, hoping to find some other ship to sneak on and stow away to somewhere the word of her supposed witchcraft wasn't heard yet. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to her if they catch her on a ship. Her hand felt for the knife in her pocket. Her last resort is still there. Then she heard a familiar voice behind her "Yn, where are you going?" "To find a ship and stow away somewhere to never be found to get a new job?. It was your idea, remember? Anyways, go get your captain now and tell him to get away from this blasted place immidiately or you're a dead man. Hurry, the Wench is in danger!" She turned to go, but Jack grabbed her arm. "Wait, come with us!" The girl gave him a puzzled look. "You don't need to be a stowaway.  And besides medical supplies, captain is also looking for new members. You're quite a good fighter already and I...we shall be lucky to have you onboard... And with that accusation of witchery on your head, you're a dead man too. Well, woman. Well, girl." he stuttered. "And think about the freedom sailing on such a ship. The Wicked Wench!" Yn tried her best to mask it, but Jack could see she was in love with the idea. He noticed that her eyes darted towards the ship immediately and how just before she was freaking out about the ship's safety before she even put a foot on it. That and her fighting, brains and bravery, she would be a fine pirate, Jack thought. "Alright, I'll come with you, but on one condition. If I'm treated like one of the guys." This is way preferable to getting caught as a stowavay. And this way I wont be the only girl on the ship. Looking at Jack yn couldn't decide if that's a good thing or not. Why is it not rather an older woman? And why am I even making a problem out of THAT? I should be happy there's any other women on a ship when thise stupid superstisions exist. But then again, Jack... Though she would never admit it, he was by far the best guy she met in a lot of time. "Hurry, the Captain is just recrouting some new crewmembers. We don't want to be late. Who stays behind is left behind, it's a rule." The captain was actually happy his daughter-the girl yn saw before had another girl on the ship and it turned out, that she had a crush on a tailor's apprentice in Tortuga, and hearing that yn needed all her self control not to breathe a giant sigh of relief.