Off the Map - A Pirates of the Caribbean AU

The plan. You see, the plan was quite simple. At least Maria thought it was. The plan didn't involve much money, none at all really. It didn't involve any breaking of laws. Well it did... maybe. Probably. But that wasn't the point. It wasn't as if Maria CARED about THOSE laws and they weren't the kind of laws that affected people like Alex and Liz; definitely not Liz. Why you ask? Because who in their right mind would EVER think that Elizabeth PARKER would stow away on a pirate ship by either pretending to be a whore or a man? No one really. And that's why it was such a grand plan. 
 
"The plan is stupid, Maria." Alex had tilted his head slightly, his mouth opening in an expression on unrestrained shock and I-really-must-be-hearing-things disbelief. He had stared at her like that for a quick second before shaking his head and looking right at Liz, who Maria should have known would have supported him. They always did that. "Liz. Tell her it's stupid." 
 
Funny how no one had thought so at the time. 

Maria unconsciously strummed her fingers down a guitar as she sat on her bed. If one was desperate enough to call it a bed. It was bunch of rags and old clothing scraps her mother had stuffed into a sack and sewed all together when she was fifteen. It was surprisingly comfortable, not that she let on. After all the bed was another way the higher powers were against her. There was an entire story with the bed. One that involved some rich twiggy flake, de la Luca's being crazy,  their money not being good enough., and this thing being created. Maria preferred not to think of it. It pissed her off and that was never a good thing. She would rather concentrate on the current situation. How to get the hell out of Tortuga. 
 
That's what exactly what she did. Her mind focused on the week just before Alex had left for Port Royale. Liz's uncle had found a suitor, that luckily had died of a mysterious cause that Maria blamed on cholera, and they had been throwing ideas around how to get her out of it. How to get them the hell off of the putrid island they unfortunately called home. 
 
Maria, of course,  had a plan. Planning wasn't her forte.  She usually left the planning to Liz and then Alex explained it to her.  However, there have been moments in their years of friendships where a demon would over take Maria (at least that's the way Jeff Parker had put it) and refused to let go.  There in those moments a plan would be born.  A plan that would ninety-five percent of the time be rejected.  Sometimes Maria would understand why but this time she couldn't imagine the reason. 

It was the best plan they had. Okay, it probably was a bit presumptuous to call it a plan. It was more of an idea she had while looking out the window-simultaneously getting seasick just from watching those crazy, uncontrollable waves crash around-and decided to run with it. She had to admit that she didn't LIKE where her mind had run to and escaped from her. Taking a pit stop at the outhouse. However, it was a sort of plan. The best thing they had. Even more then that it could actually be done. At least she thought so. 
 
Quickly noticing that her blonde friend was growing annoyed, Liz stepped in as referee. There were times Alex's straightforwardness and Maria's tactlessness needed a clear voice of reason. "It's not a stupid plan ..." She started slowly, ignoring Maria's triumphant look and the growing disbelief on Alex's features. "It's simply highly ... highly ..." 
 
"Stupid? Unthought-of? Oh, I don't know ... insanely crazy?" 
 
"Hey!" Maria frowned, a bit hurt that he was rejecting her plan so soundly. Yes, it was crazy but she didn't see him offering anything stable enough with uncraziness. Maria was also very annoyed. Just because he was her best friend didn't mean she wouldn't hit him. "Watch it there, matey. There is nothing wrong with the plan. Tell him Liz." 
 
Liz floundered for a moment when two pairs of light colored eyes turned at once in her direction, 
"She's right Alex." She continued in what her friends considered the dreaded 'logical' tone. Well, at least Maria saw it as dreaded, Alex only half paid attention to it. Maria wasn't the only one who went into bouts of paranoia. Alex's moments were simply more restrained and called 'anxious worrying'. "It's not stupid, but-" 
 
"Ha!" 
 
"She said but." 
 
"You're sitting on it." Maria said in smug sarcasticness. 
 
"BUT," Liz cut in, ever the peacemaker, and continued her thread of conversation. "It's not exactly plausible Maria." 
 
Alex didn't really resort to childish outcries but he did give his best friend a pointed look. One Maria chose to ignore to give her little, darling Liz a look of hurt betrayl. It caused Liz to feel bad for only a moment. Maria had many degrees of hurt betrayal; this wasn't a serious one and would be forgiven once things were explained. Only because Maria didn't stay angry with Liz the way she did with other people. It was either because she couldn't or because she wouldn't. Liz had yet to figure it out and surprisingly, it was something Maria wouldn't tell. 
 

Bastiaan has decided to steal a ship. It wasn't a sudden thought to just cross his mind one morning. It happened about mid day. While he ate a stale biscuit he'd taken off someone else's plate at the Jolly Roger... they were done with it (see: passed out from drink.) He sat beside the snoring smelly sailor, munching thoughtfully. He started watching the docks once again, same as he did a year before when looking for work as a cabin boy.
Bastiaan was raised on Tortuga and has the same history as (probably) all of the other children there. Mother is a prostitute. Not many honest women on the island with no honest men. If being a bastard and having a 'working' mother was ever pointed out to Bastiaan as something to be ashamed of he'd laugh. He's never been off Tortuga and though he's heard a lot of stories even most pirates feel no need to bring up that most children around the world can put a face to their father. Because most of the pirates can;t either. The children that get off the island will figure that out and the ones that don't- just don't. Besides the yelling and accusation of 'whoreson', 'bastard', or 'cockstain' being thrown out in drunken anger the kids are clueless. Bastiaan especially, being the king of only hearing what he wants to hear.

His life was the same as all the other kids. Not different in any way. He's never been to school. His mother is busy working and he runs wild.
Though at a wizened 36, mom is one dried up dutch whore. Bastiaan has to think about how he's going to take care of himself after she dies. He wont have the shelter of the room she pays for if he can't make his own money. And while most mothers tried their best to shove their sons into the arms of blacksmiths, sailors, and the like (while their daughters went to the only three professions open to them) Bastiaan's mother thought the best route for him was in her own line of work. She was hopeless for a better life for him and he seemed suited to it with his smooth delicate face and the way he took things. Nothing touched him so the little bit of her that could still care hoped this wouldn't either.

Bastiaan didn't take well to such things at the age of 11 and ran off. Since then he came home only when he knew his mother was passed out from drink or working so he could curl up in his corner of the room without being pestered to bring money home. He has his own plans of a career. And since pleading, begging, and demanding to be let onto a ship as a cabin boy only turned into more of the same he's come back to the island (never left technically. He was never let off the damn ship in the one port they sailed to) and ready with a new plan.


He finally saw his chance. A Dutch ship. The Zeven Rob docks and off that ships sways and lilts Captain Jack Sparrow. Bastiaan races back to the Jolly Roger and grabs Maria de la Luca, a woman that he can often score meals from with the promise that he'll leave her the hell alone afterward. The boy crawls under a table, waiting for the waitress to come close enough and then grabs her wrist, yanking her down with him.