Something was tickling the skin of her neck. Ash wrinkled her nose in protest and turned away, but the feeling persisted. She slowly started to wake, and eventually came to the realization that it was Jack, kissing her. Smiling now, Ash turned on her back and stretched out, making tiny noises as she did so, as it made stretching feel a thousand times better that way. Jack found it a thousand times more adorable than he normally would, and grinned down at her.

"Good morning, love," he said, his rough voice husky from hours of not being in use.

"Mmmmm, 'morning," Ash returned, smiling.

She scooted closer to him so that she could kiss him, slow and sweet, taking her damn time with it. She liked the way his hand cupped the back of her neck, how his fingers entwined in her hair. This moment was glorious and peaceful, and neither wanted it to end. But all things eventually ended, especially when there was a highly valuable and dangerous map to be tracked down piece by piece. It was funny how before, Ash viewed the task with reluctance and annoyance. But now, oddly enough, she was looking forward to it. She even hummed as she rose and wiped between her legs with a damp cloth. Jack watched her with a half smirk on his face.

"I don't believe I've ever seen you this happy this early in the morning," he commented idly.

Ash gave a shy smile as a blush spread across her cheeks.

"Shut up," she told him, trying to sound stern and failing miserably.

Then she looked down at the cloth and saw the white stained with red. Her face fell as she looked back at the bed, seeing the same red stains on the bright sheets.

"Oh, gods," she groaned, and Jack was beginning to worry she regretted the previous night after all when she added, "Rose is going to kill me. That's not going to be easy to get out."

Jack snorted, then laughed. She faced down Jolly Rodger, but an angry barmaid was what scared her. Ash glared at him.

"I'll blame it all on you, I really will," she threatened.

He put a hand in front of his face to conceal the wide grin he couldn't banish.

"Oh aye, you had nothing to do with this," he chortled, "She'll believe that."

Ash shook her head and muttered under her breath as she pulled her clothes on. Jack couldn't stop smiling as he dressed, and once they were both presentable, they left the room together and went downstairs for breakfast. It would be the last meal before they set sail, and so they savored it. The rest of the crew slowly came in, and the tavern filled up with other sailors and residents of the island as the hour went on. Across the room, Renzo began arguing with a stranger, and the sounds of their argument reached the table Ash, Jack, Gibbs, and Jahir were sitting at. They exchanged looks, but no one moved.

"It's a compliment!" Renzo huffed, "Honestly, you people..."

The stranger shoved him, which was when Ash stood up. Renzo pushed the stranger in return, who then stumbled backwards and collided with another man. It was truly unfortunate, that man was holding a bottle, which smashed to pieces when some stranger ran into him. That was when Jack stood up. The man whose bottle was broken did what any pirate would do – he punched the person that collided with him and caused his alcohol to spill all over him. Pandemonium ensued. As this was a normal occurrence in such an establishment, the well seasoned musicians didn't even raise an eyebrow, but had a lively tune going instantly.

A gleeful look came over Ash's face, as if Christmas had come early. Bar fight! She'd heard of such things. She pulled two daggers from their sheaths so quickly, it looked as if they jumped into her hands by magic. Ash was about to throw one into the throat of a man that had seized Gibbs by the collar and dragged him backwards onto the ground, when another random man came up behind that attacker and punched him. Then they were going at it. Jack shook his head, looking down at Gibbs, who was starting to climb to his feet.

"Time to go, lad?"

"Aye!"

"Awww," Ash complained.

Even as she began to protest, Jahir stood, grabbing the back of her collar, and towed her out of the tavern after their crew. The whole crew left the town at a run and made for the ship by the docks, Ash grumbling the entire way. She stood by the rail on the upper deck and sulked as the crew got the ship to sea. Once they pulled out of port successfully, Jack tied a rope to one of the spokes on the steering wheel and turned to face her.

"He did well," he said quietly, nodding in the direction of Renzo.

"I should think so, if he's been sailing for years, as he said. You don't hold that fight against him? Seemed to be a misunderstanding to me."

"Brawls happen," Jack shrugged, "No one got killed or maimed, and we're at sea now. All is well."

Ash smiled. His relaxed attitude shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. Now if only Jahir would warm to Renzo as well. But she couldn't do anything about that. She could only do something about the food, so she wandered down to the galley to get the noon meal in order, and while that cooked, she thought of dinner. Once lunch was eaten and the clean up done, she made sure she had certain healing concoctions in stock. Something told her that the race to find the map wasn't going to leave them without a scratch, and she wanted to be as prepared as she possibly could be. She took a break from her preparations to make dinner, and afterwards, she took a bottle of rum and cornered Renzo.

They drew up a couple crates to sit on, and set up a lantern along with the bottle and two cups Ash brought on a barrel top. Jack waited up for hours for Ash to come into his quarters, but she never did. At least not to his knowledge. When he saw the two of them smiling at each other at breakfast the next morning, his mood darkened immediately. Jahir saw the look on his face and stood near him, glowering at the pair across the room as well.

"Dey been talking all night," he grumbled, "What is saying? 'Thick as thieves'?"

Jack only gave an annoyed grunt in response. Never thought he and Jahir would be jealous of the same man. And it wasn't even romantic between her and Renzo! Jahir was jealous because he was worried the closest thing he had to a friend had found a friend she liked better. And Jack was jealous because Renzo was stealing time and attention away from him. He had waited so bloody long to have Ash to himself, all cozy in his bed with him, and this little shit comes along and prevents him from having exactly that.

He watched them all day, and his suspicions were confirmed. There was no romance between Ash and Renzo, but she did spend a ridiculous amount of time talking to him. When it looked as if she would be up for hours for the second night in a row, Jack decided to act. He pulled Ash into his quarters as she walked by him and locked the doors, shoving her against them and kissing her deeply. He was pleased when she willingly put her hands to his body and kissed him in return, but he was impatient to feel more of her and began tugging her clothes off without parting from her lips. Ash started laughing at this, and pulled away from the kiss so she could breathe.

"Jack, what is your rush?"

"I want you," he replied, bending to kiss her neck.

"We – oh – had the sex just the other night."

"Exactly. Far too long ago."

Ash was halfway between laughing and moaning, and her fingers curled tightly on the fabric of his shirt.

"You're jealous of Renzo?" she asked as his strong fingers found her clit and began massaging in determined circles, "Jack – oh fuck – th – there's nothing between – "

"I know," he interrupted, sliding his fingers into her wet heat and pumping sinuously.

Her head fell back against the doors with a breathy sigh. It was funny how she could have the focus to split her mind into multiple pieces in order to fight magickal battles, but when his mouth and hands were on her, her mind turned to clouds and mush. She was holding onto him for dear life now, because her knees were buckling and might not hold her up for much longer.

"Jack, please," she gasped.

The friction was delicious, but she needed something far larger inside her. He seemed to understand. His belt was undone, and for one brief instant she wondered when he'd done that. But that was all the thought she could manage before he lifted her, both hands under her behind, and sheathed himself inside her. They moaned in unison, and Ash wrapped her arms and legs around him, locking her ankles together behind his back, and kissed him deeply. He was all too eager to return it as he had his way with her against the locked doors of his quarters. This was so unlike the last time. It was quick and frenzied, but just as passionate, just as pleasurable. Ash shuddered and moaned as he found that certain spot deep inside her and hammered it mercilessly, feeling herself fall apart at the seams. It didn't take long after that for Jack to find his release, and this time when they kissed, it was soft and slow. Instead of setting her back on her feet, Jack carried her over to the bed and laid her down on it, settling in next to her contentedly.

"No fair," Ash pouted, "If I don't get clothes, you don't either."

Chuckling, Jack rose and undressed, and something she saw on his body made her sit bolt upright in alarm.

"Oh my God," she gasped, "Are you alright?"

"Why? What happened?"

Jack looked down at himself, but could see nothing. He tried to twist around to look at his back, but would up turning in a circle like a dog chasing it's tail, so he quickly stopped and looked at Ash.

"Your back," she said, her face pained, "I... I did that. Doesn't it hurt?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ash got up to fetch a small mirror, then stood behind him and held it up for him to see over his shoulder. Across his back, mixed in with old silver scars from whipping, were fresher bright red stripes. It was only then Jack remembered her nails digging into his skin during their last coupling. Actually, now that he thought about it, she had been scratching him this time too, but since he had been too impatient to undress himself, his shirt protected him from the worst of it this time.

"Oh, that," he said carelessly, "It hurt a bit at the time, but I rather liked it. It's fine now."

Ash put the mirror down and stared at him.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't even know I was doing it," she said, her face a mask of guilt.

Jack smiled proudly.

"I know. That's why I like it, and why I don't mind it now."

Ash blushed and muttered something about infernal male pride as she settled back onto the bed, Jack resuming his place beside her.

"Just so you know, I was talking to Renzo last night about my parents," she said.

Jack grimaced. Bugger.

"Well, now I feel like an ass," he said.

But she smiled instead of agreeing.

"Jack the ass," she said thoughtfully, "I could write a poem."

She started giggling helplessly at the look on his face.

"Please don't, love."

"Oh, alright," Ash replied, her eyes twinkling, "But only because I absolutely loathe poetry."

"But not Shakespeare?"

"His writing is different," she protested.

They cuddled together in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"So am I to sleep in here now?"

"I'd like you to. But it's up to you, of course."

"Could I keep my room as a space to conduct private rituals and keep most of my magick supplies?"

"As if I'd say no."

"Then I'm satisfied, and I'd be glad to sleep in here from now on."

Ash moved certain things into the captain's cabin the next day. None of the crew mentioned the noises they may or may not have heard coming from there the previous night. Slowly, they got closer and closer to their destination, each day passing by without incident. When their lookout spotted land, Ash began pacing up and down the deck, glancing frequently over at the land mass that was inching it's way closer to them.

"Stop dat, captain my captain, you be making everyone nervous," Jahir said.

She looked at him, surprised.

"What? Why should they be?"

"Whatever makes you nervous, makes everyone else terrified."

Ash snorted derisively.

"Oh please. You destroy one undead skeleton lord one time and people think you're all powerful. Ridiculous."

"Did you really?" Renzo asked, coming up to them, "The crew have told me stories, but I can't quite believe it."

"I did, and it almost killed me. It's not an experience I want to repeat, you realize."

"But if you're capable of something like that, what is possibly making you pace like that now?"

Ash grimaced.

"I don't know. Just a feeling."

Gibbs, who was passing, shared a glance with Jahir. They both remembered what happened the last time she said something like that. Renzo noticed the exchange and thought he'd better sharpen his rapier. Just in case. One or two people being a bag of nerves he might pass off, but not an entire ship full of hardened, seasoned pirates. Ash went up to the upper deck to talk to Jack, who stood steering the ship towards the docks.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

Ash hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "We... we shouldn't bring everyone."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well... look at that town we're approaching. It's a respectable looking place. If we bring everyone, it will look... bad. Suspicious, I guess."

"Aye, agreed. And I'd like to leave some to guard the ship in any case. Pick who's to come with us, then."

"You're letting me choose?"

"This is your quest, love. You make most of the major decisions, especially on a land expedition. I'll be in charge at sea."

Ash smiled.

"This is an odd balance of authority. Almost as if we're co captains."

"If I were to share that title with anyone, it would be you."

She returned to the main deck to speak to the few people she decided should accompany them. In the end, she picked Jahir, Renzo, Gibbs, Gunnar and Carver. She thought of taking more, but thought seven of them might be pushing it already. She confined herself to the stairs while the crew pulled into port, where she would be out of the way, but was the first one to disembark.

"What is your purpose in our port?" a stuffy, official looking man asked.

Ash gave him a wide, winning smile.

"Oh, we're just here to stock up on supplies and see the sights a bit. Half of our crew will be remaining on the ship, out of your hair."

The official looked them over, then glanced behind them at their ship. They were a rough looking lot, but he supposed if there was such an eloquent and well dressed woman with them, they couldn't be too much trouble. The one with the slender blade and bright hair might be someone close to her, as he was dressed equally well. Perhaps the rest had been hired by them. At last, the official nodded and let them pass. Ash began asking people of the town where they might find the tomb of the celebrated map maker, and they pointed her in the right direction. Their party followed her through the streets to the building they were looking for.

"I would have thought this place would be in a cemetery," Renzo commented, "But it's here in the square. Seems almost like a sort of shrine."

"This is a small town," Ash replied, "It makes sense they would be proud of him. Given that, it's probably best no one notices us going in there."

She circled around to find another way in, and found a small entrance near the back of the building. They had to descend a ladder, which led them to a stone tunnel. Flexing her fingers as if wishing to go for one of her daggers, Ash slowly led the way down the tunnel, stepping carefully and watching everything. But they made it down the passageway without incident, nothing seemed amiss. Which only made her anxiety worse. She stopped when she saw the wooden door at the end of the tunnel. It had been ripped off it's hinges and smashed to pieces.

Oh please no, she thought.

"Looks like someone got here before us," Gibbs said.

"No," Ash replied, shaking her head, "I won't believe it until I've searched the whole place. I'm not leaving until then."

Jack and Jahir exchanged looks behind her back, but no one spoke. They entered the room beyond, finding it to be a vast circular area with a domed roof and steps leading down to the polished marble floor below. At the back of the room was a coffin, but that wasn't what captured everyone's attention. Instead, they stared at the giant clear crystal that stood in the middle of the room, which reached far above all their heads – even Jahir was dwarfed by it.

"Spread out," Jack told them, "Search everywhere. We're looking for the fragment of a map."

He looked back at Ash, whose eyes had gone wide and unblinking as she looked at the crystal, moving with measured steps towards it.

"Does anyone else hear that?" she asked.

Jack, Renzo, and Jahir all looked at one another and shook their heads, then looked back at her. But she wasn't looking at them and no one spoke. Still, she took the answer from the silence.

"It – it's humming," she said.

Renzo was starting to look a little spooked, and he chuckled nervously to hide it.

"Uh... Capitana? Are you sure that – "

He never finished his sentence. At that instant, Ash put her palm flat to the crystal's surface, and it lit up with a pale, silver light.

"Daughter... hear us..."

Renzo looked as if someone hit him in the face with a frying pan. His eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped.

"Bless my soul," he whispered, "That's your parents voice's, capitana!"

The voices were strange, a male and female speaking in unison, overlapping and echoing in the stone chamber.

"Find our grave... we are waiting for you! Shining city... Cibola. Find us! Go to the..."

Now Ash looked as if someone hit her in the face with a frying pan. Her face had turned paler than normal, and it looked like she was on the brink of death, or fainting at the very least. But the voices faded into silence, and the light the crystal had been giving winked out. Ash was unhinged.

"Wait! No, come back! Please, don't go! Go to the what? Please!"

Jack's face was pained as he pried her away from the crystal. Ash clung to him and hid her face in his shirt as her small body was wracked with sobs. Renzo looked down at his boots, while Jahir turned to look at a crack in the distant wall. If Ash had any doubts about her parent's death in her mind before, it was shattered now. They all gave her as much privacy as they could while she cried, Jack holding her on her feet through her grief.

"Who's down here?" a cold, strong voice asked suddenly.

Ash gasped and looked up, and everyone else turned to look in the direction they came in through. Standing near the entrance was a tall, slender man dressed in black from head to foot, a long cane in one hand. When he saw them, he stopped short and gazed at them, his eyes as cool as his voice.

"I thought I heard those pirates down here... but it seems I was mistaken."

Ash's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Those pirates?" she hissed, "Who are you talking about?"

The man tilted his head to one side as he looked at her.

"How odd... you do bear a remarkable resemblance to that woman. But her and her husband are dead now. The East India Trading Company saw to that many years ago. Ah. That's why you're here, isn't it? Well, you can save your pathetic efforts. We took the piece of the map that was here ages ago. Wait... I know you. You're supposed to be in Tortuga, aren't you?"

Shock flashed across Ash's face.

"Yes... we know all about you, pirate. Surrender the piece of the map that you possess, and I shall let you live."

Ash's face contorted into a mask of rage.

"Fuck you!" she spat.

"Very well then..." the man said nonchalantly, "Eliminate them."

He stepped back through the doorway, and several men dressed in black wielding various pointy weapons entered.

"The black guard..." Gibbs said lowly, "The East India Trading Company's deadly assassins..."

Ash bared her teeth and palmed two daggers, her glittering eyes filled with hate.

"Kill them!" she barked.

As the crew surged forward to face the attack, Jack grabbed the back of Ash's collar and plucked the daggers from her hand. She turned on him, enraged.

"What are you – "

"Stop," Jack interrupted her, grabbing her arms and holding them tightly to her sides, "You can't fight like this. You're not in your right mind. You'll get yourself killed."

"Jack, I swear to any God that's listening, if you don't let me go..."

"You'll get your chance," he said, "I can guarantee that. But not now, not like this."

Oh, if looks could kill, he'd be dead and burried. But after a second or two, her eyes showed sullen acceptance, her mouth tightened into a flat line, and she nodded once. Jack wrapped an arm around her to hold her to his side, while he drew his sword with his other hand. The crew had formed a line, but if anyone got past it, they would then have to get past Jack to hurt her. But as it turned out, there was no need for it. Renzo proved himself to be the best fighter in the lot, and saved more than one of them from a death stroke. When the last attacker fell, Jahir looked at Renzo.

"Butterfly stings," he said simply.

Renzo gave him a rakish grin in reply. Not all the attackers were dead, however, and as he stepped forward to run the final breathing man through, Ash interrupted him.

"No!" she shouted, tearing away from Jack, "Not yet!"

Jack opened his mouth to protest her getting so close to an assassin, even one on the verge of death. The chance he could surprise her and stab her heart with a hidden blade was too great. But she was knealing in front of him before he could get a word out, and he closed his mouth reluctantly. Ash grabbed the front of the man's shirt in both hands and pulled him closer to her.

"How does he know about me?" she demanded.

"You are known to many," he said, "When we heard you had a piece of the map, a price was put on you, only if you're alive."

Ash's mind flashed back to the night those men had captured her before she was going to leave Shipwreck Island. You'll fetch us a pretty penny, the slaver had gloated. Only now, she realized they had no intention as selling her as a slave. They were going to sell her to the EITC. Perhaps that was the same thing, she reflected, as the EITC dealt in slaves as well. But clearly those men didn't know exactly why she was wanted, or they'd have taken the map piece for themselves and slit her throat. The EITC had been after her for that long? Fuck the Rogue.

"What's his name?" she asked.

The assassin only smiled. Ash glared at him and shook him roughly.

"His name!" she barked in his face.

The man's eyes widened, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Ash looked behind her and saw Renzo had stabbed him in the foot.

"You're dying, but there's still time to hurt you," he said coldly.

Ash was shocked by his tone. She'd never heard him sound like that before. Still, she approved, and looked back at the assassin.

"Declan," he gasped, "His name is Declan, the spymaster."

With that, Ash slit his throat and released him, rising to her feet.

"Declan."

The way she said the word was terrifying. It was both as if she was tasting it and announcing a curse, a death sentence, at the same time. In that moment, Jack knew that Declan was a dead man.