Inigo had never entered the Fire Swamp. Sure, he'd heard what it was like from the stories Westley and Buttercup had told on their voyage away from Florin, but he'd never been there himself and he definitely didn't know what to expect. A pit of something - maybe dread, maybe anticipation - settled into his stomach, only aided by the unnatural (to him, at least) stillness of the only-slightly rocking boat.

The crew of the Revenge had handled the transition to the Jolly Roger pretty seamlessly. For all their seeming uncertainty at Inigo's ruthlessness, they were all loyal - save, that is, for Felix - and had accepted the temporary change of berth without question, even after Felix had cast out feelers about a mutiny. Upon the fifth negative response, he had returned to sullen silence, but Inigo made a mental note to watch him even closer; his increasing boldness at seeking power was just another thing making the fearsome Dread Pirate Roberts feel a little less fearsome, a little more anxious, and a lot like an ordinary man.

Hook, on the other hand, had near effortless control over his men. They accepted his orders without complaint - every command was responded to with either silence or cheers, and no one spoke out against the man - even when it meant a sacrifice of housing, bedding, or even food. Inigo took a few mental notes on how the man handled his crew, but he saw little difference between how Hook handled his crew and how Inigo handled his own, leaving him utterly confused. Still at a loss - and feeling remarkably discouraged - Inigo turned his thoughts back to the mission at hand.

The entrance to the Fire Swamp looked horribly insidious. Tangled trees and vines spiralled around an opening, barely any light filtering through to reveal the interior. A slight chill of fear ran down Inigo's spine at the sight, but he pushed it aside, turning to look at the man standing beside him.

Hook was looking at the same sight, eyebrows raised. "Your friends live here?" He shook his head, a slightly strained smile on his face. "Well, I'll give them this… They know how to hide somewhere no one else will go."

Inigo nodded. Even as he felt fear turn his spine to steel, he simultaneously felt a strange relaxation. It took him a few moments to figure out what it was: they'd left the combined crews on the ships docked in the nearby harbor, leaving them free from posturing. Now, instead of two captains fighting to maintain dominance, they were just two men working towards a common goal. The change was refreshing, and Inigo almost felt like smiling.

Hook appraised the entrance one more time, then turned to look at Inigo. "Ready?"

Inigo nodded, then reached out a hand to stop the man from moving. "Wait… Before we go in, you need to know of the three dangers of the Fire Swamp… First, if you hear a popping sound, move away from it; it precedes a column of dangerous fire. Second, there is a kind of sand that will pull you into the bowels of the Earth and kill you. And, finally, there are great beasts, shaped like mere rodents, but large enough to tackle a man and eat him. If we avoid these, we should be fine, but I cannot say that it will be easy."

Hook gave his trademark smirk, sarcasm dripping from his words as he responded. "Well, you certainly know how to make things easy, don't you?" Then, he nodded and pulled out his cutlass, walking towards the entrance. Inigo followed with a nod of his own, and they both entered the ominous-looking swamp.

What little light had illuminated the entrance began to fade as they moved, yet there was still enough light for them to see. Inigo swore he saw something moving deep within the first, but he couldn't see anything definite and didn't mention anything. Several times, both men had to use their swords to cut away some of the thick, tangled vegetation, and Inigo was sweating after very little time at all. This definitely wasn't helped by the ridiculous amount of acrobatics they were having to do; the sheer number of times they heard the popping of a flame spurt was ridiculous, and they spent more time dodging than they did actually walking.

The physical exhaustion, however, was easy enough to set aside in favor of observing his companion. Hook wasn't sweating despite the fact that - in addition to still wearing his greatcoat over all of his other clothing - he was doing most of the clearing of vegetation. Inigo was nowhere close to out of shape - he still swordfought daily and helped his men with the hauling of ropes, baggage, treasure, and food whenever the situation applied - but even he was struggling slightly. The seeming lack of exhaustion in the man before him was curious, and that, if nothing else, kept him going.

Eventually, they reached a clearing. It wasn't what one would hope for from a forest clearing - no light shone from the sky, no grass or wildflowers littered the ground, and no gambolling fawns or burbling streams inhabited the area - but it was enough. Hook gestured for them to stop, easing himself down to sit on one of the tree roots and gesturing for Inigo to do the same.

Inigo calmed his breathing a little before speaking, hoping to diminish some of the signs of exhaustion in his own countenance before drawing attention to himself. "Have you been in many places like this?"

Hook looked over at him, once again looking him up and down as though reading his intention, and then nodded. "Yes, I've spent many a year in a place like this."

The man seemed willing to continue speaking, so Inigo pressed further. "Where?"

Another appraising gaze and the man spoke. "I told you of Neverland, to some degree. It is a forest much like this one. More foliage, of course, but similarly treacherous."

Inigo allowed incredulity to color his tone. "And you plan to return?"

Hook nodded, his right hand moving to run along the hook at his left wrist, a gesture Inigo wasn't sure he knew he was carrying out. "I must."

Barely pausing, save for a mere second's contemplation, Inigo asked, "On whom do you seek revenge?"

In a flash, the other captain's cool blue eyes had pinned Inigo in place. The fury behind them was obvious and, even as he recognized that the wrath was not directed at him, Inigo fought the sudden urge to gulp. The man spoke, though, and more pain than fury tinged his words, deepening his still-unplaceable accent. "A man - more a demon - who took everything from me."

He didn't elaborate, nor did Inigo push. Instead, they sat there in complete - though companionable - silence. When they ceased talking, the silence only grew, taking over the clearing and, it felt like, the entire swamp. It wasn't a natural silence, either; no birdsong or rustling broke the still air, and it grew stagnant. Were he not glad for the rest, Inigo would have suggested making more progress, if only to make enough sound to disrupt the unnerving stillness, and, were it not for the silence getting under his skin, he would have spent more time considering Hook. Neither solution, however, worked, and Inigo found himself looking around warily every few minutes.

Eventually, both stood in a simultaneous decision to continue on. Neither had caught sight of the R.O.U.S.s, thank the gods, and only a few of their flame-spurt encounters involved any real danger. They hadn't stumbled across any lightning sand, either, but that didn't exactly calm Inigo's nerves; he didn't have a good sense of what it looked like, much less how to avoid it, and it felt like they were merely putting off the inevitable.

Luckily, his fears were assuaged mere moments later. Hook stopped in his tracks a few feet in front of a clearing, pointing towards it. "I believe that clearing contains some of your lightning sand… We'll need to chart a course around it."

Inigo looked over, catching the barely-lighter sand as compared to the rest of the sandy ground. He couldn't help asking the man, "How did you see that?"

Hook shrugged, turning away and starting to pick his way around the clearing. "There is something similar in Neverland." He fell silent again, continuing to walk around the opening in the trees until he was confident they could move quickly again.

The journey was surprisingly easy. Save for a few more encounters with the flame spurts and several detours to escape another hidden patch of lightning sand, the trek was a - near literal - walk in the park.

Inigo felt the building of slight apprehension at the lack of R.O.U.S.s, but, once again, his thoughts were mirrored in his new companion. The man turned around just after he finished clearing another net of vines blocking their path, asking, "You described these giant rodents, yet we've seen none… Is there a chance that the swamp is divided into concentric rings?"

Inigo frowned in contemplation. The idea definitely held merit; they had encountered a great deal of flame spurts upon first entering the Fire Swamp, but they'd slowed down in frequency as the number of lightning sand pits increased, which, in turn, were slowly starting to decrease. He gave a nod of contemplative agreement, saying, "That would make sense."

Hook swiped at another vine, twisting to ask, "But you don't know anything about where they may be?"

Inigo shook his head. "No, I do not." Another few steps had him reverse his statement. "I take that back."

All at once, the light filtering in through the trees increased suddenly; instead of the sparse trickles of illumination, wide swathes of the forest became visible where large sections of vegetation had been cut away. A loud rustling filled the air and both men drew their swords, pointing them at the shuffling shapes of a number of R.O.U.S.s digging in the sand. It took several seconds for them to notice the ropes - or were they vines? - wrapped around the creatures' necks, keeping them trapped in place.

Inigo sheathed his sword, noticing that Hook didn't do the same, his eyes still darting around warily. The man moved forward, his greatcoat billowing out behind him, and Inigo followed close behind. He called out in as loud a tone as he could muster. "Hello!"

Hook whirled, eyes slightly panicked as he glared back, a mix of annoyance and alertness on his face. He stopped in his tracks, eyes darting around warily. Minutes of tense silence passed as both men listened for the tell-tale cracking of foliage or thump of footsteps, but no sound - save that of the R.O.U.S.s still digging ahead of them - came. Evidently satisfied, he turned again, glare still directed at Inigo as he hissed under his breath, "What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

Inigo shrugged, gesturing at the animals. "They are subdued. This must be a camp."

Incredulity passed across Hook's face. "And we don't know who's in it."

"It must belong to Westley and Buttercup, yes?"

Hook shook his head. "You said no one who has entered this infernal swamp has exited again, but that doesn't mean they're dead. Your friends were obviously able to survive here; who knows how many others have?"

Seconds after he'd finished speaking, a rustling of leaves sounded from their right. Even as Inigo tried to convince himself that only Westley, Buttercup, and the R.O.U.S.s occupied the Swamp, he found his heart beating far too wildly as he yanked out his sword, aware that Hook was doing the same. Willing himself to calm down, Inigo strained his eyes to get as good a view of whatever was approaching, but the vegetation was too thick.

The first thing to peak out from the vines was the point of a sword, slowly coming into better view as its owner stepped forward. Inigo took a step backward, creating an opening for the swordbearer to enter the clearing in which they stood, and looked over at Hook; the other man met his eyes and nodded, sidling over to the left on silent feet until the stranger had no choice but to stand between them. As soon as that was done, there was nothing to do but wait.

A figure - familiar and threatening all at once - stepped out, sword raised for a few more minutes before his lips quirked into a smile and the blade fell.