Whiteness. That was all Jess could see as she clambered down the mast. Just a thick, damp, heavy blanket of white. She coughed, and gasped out a stream of colorful invective as the fog filled her lungs. The Pearl and the Fang had made excellent time, so Jess had been most optimistic about beating the Bane to Isla de Muerta. Then they had hit the passage of wrecked ships, and this fog. The sky was grey, the sea was grey, and going was perilous, to say the least. Sometimes the fog would thin enough that Jess could make out the dark outline of the Pearl ahead of them, picking its cautious way through the forest of wrecks, both above the water and, more dangerous still, just beneath the surface. The air was close, and all sound from the living crew was muffled. But there was still plenty to listen to.

The wrecks all around groaned and creaked like lost souls. Sometimes there would come an echoing crack! as the bow of the Pearl struck one of the rotting black ruins, snapping boards and sending the pieces down into the blackness. The whole place gave Jess the creeps, quite frankly. A low moan filled the air as they passed the waterlogged skeleton of what had once been a fast corsair vessel. Jess shuddered, but nonetheless strode to the railing to watch as they sailed by. A second person joined her, stepping out of the fog so silently that she jumped a foot in the air. "Will! Don't do that lad, you scared me out of a year's life! How's Elizabeth?"

"Still rather ill, I'm afraid," said Will, shaking his head. "She still has about two degrees of fever, but Tom says he reckons she'll be alright in a day or two." His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. "I remember this place. Jack told me-"

CRASH!!!!!

There came a horrible, rending, smashing noise from below decks, and all at once the Fang became a hive of activity. Tom sprinted towards her. He was soaked from head to foot, and began yelling as soon as he was within earshot. "Captain, we've struck something underwater! There's a massive hole in the hull below-decks, and we're taking on more water than we can handle! The impact made a lantern smash, and the lower decks are on fire! We'll have to abandon ship!"

Jess went quite pale. "If the fire reaches the powder magazine... Get everyone into the jollyboats, head for the Pearl, and tell Jack to get clear of the Fang, it's going to explode!"

Will grabbed her arm, desperation in his eyes. "Elizabeth! Elizabeth is below decks!"

"Come on, then, boy!" She raced down the steps and through a long corridor which was filling rapidly with smoke from the ceiling down, and with water from the floorboards up. Jess could hear the crackle of flames. She coughed, gasped, then coughed again, leaning against the wall for support. Will charged past her into Elizabeth's room, but leapt back as a wall of flames reached fiery hands toward him. "No!" he cried, and lunged into the room. Jess staggered after him, and a moment later he emerged, Elizabeth in his arms. They sprinted back out onto the main deck. Three of the Fang's jollyboats were already in the water, rowing as fast as they could towards the Pearl, which had come about.

The fourth boat, half full, was still alongside the Fang, so she swung her legs over the railing of the ship and dropped onto it. "Will!" she screeched above the roar of flames, which had emerged onto the main deck and had engulfed much of the rigging and the mast, "Lower Elizabeth down and get yourself out of there!"

She caught Elizabeth as Will lowered her to them, wincing as the girl's dead weight nearly pulled her over backward. She had just turned back to see Will, still on the main deck, trying to free himself from an entangling rope when the Fang exploded. The fire had reached the powder magazine at last. The force of the explosion blew their small boat end over end towards the Pearl. Jess and four others were in the water. One of the others was her first mate, Tom, who was still supporting the unconscious Elizabeth as he tread water near the overturned jollyboat. The other two were working on flipping the boat over, but Jess had more immediate concerns. She saw Jack Sparrow dive from the upper deck of the Pearl into the water and swim toward her. To his obvious surprise and consternation, she began to swim for the wreck of the Fang, away from him.

"What- are- you- doing?!" he yelled over the roar of the flames.

"Jack! Will was still aboard when it blew! We have to find him, NOW!" Jess shouted, and Jack swore filthily, but did not argue. Jess took a deep breath of smoke-filled air, then dove beneath the surface.

It was eerily bright underwater, lit from above by the glow of the burning wreck. There! The force of the explosion had ripped the Fang in two, and the front half was near. She could see a section of hull and deck railing, attached to the main bulk of the ship by a tangle of ropes and tattered sails, black with scorch marks. Also tangled in the rope was Will Turner. He was well under the surface of the water, and wasn't moving. Jess tried not to think what that meant. Lungs burning, she surfaced for a breath, pulled a knife from her boot, and dove again. She hacked and slashed at the ropes that held Will, finally working him free. She wrapped an arm around him and swam for the surface. It was hard work hauling the boy's dead weight through the water, and she found herself wondering dimly where Jack had got to. Breaking the surface, she managed somehow to keep Will's head above water, and struck out for the Pearl.

That was when she saw them. Sharks. Five of them. And Jack Sparrow, holding them off with a pair of knives, grinning as he slashed and stabbed at jaws, eyes, and silver bodies. "Jack!" she cried, sure they would kill him.

"I'll befine, love! Just get Will to the Pearl for me, alright?" He turned his attention to the nearest shark, and read it an impressive recitation of its parentage that didn't once mention aquatic animals of any kind as he opened long cuts in its hide. The other sharks, scenting the blood of their wounded compatriot in the water, immediately forgot all about Jack, who swam away from them and headed for the Pearl. Those aboard ship watched in morbid fascination as the sharks tore each other apart.
As it turned out, Jess, still carrying Will, and Jack, swimming unburdened, reached the Pearl at nearly the same time. Together they got Will up onto the deck. He was very pale, and didn't seem to be breathing. Jack thumped him, hard, right below his rib cage. Will gave a small cough, rolled over, and threw up a large quantity of water. Someone had apparently managed to revive Elizabeth while Jess had been in the water, because she screeched "WILL!" and dashed forward, dropping to her knees at Will's side, and throwing her arms around him, sending him into another bout of coughing as she knocked the wind out of him. The crews of both ships shook their heads and wandered off to watch as the wreck of the Fang slid lower in the water, still aflame.

Ignoring Elizabeth, who was now kissing every bit of Will she could reach, Jess strode to the railing and gazed across the water to where the Fang was dying its fiery death. Jack came to stand with her, still dripping wet.

"I'm sorry, love," he said softly. "I know what that ship meant to you."

She turned to stare coldly at him. "Do you, Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl? Do you really?"

He nodded, his kohl-lined eyes fixed on hers.

She dropped her gaze, and her voice shook slightly as she asked, "Oh Jack, what am I going to do now?"