It was already morning, another night having passed just as so many others had. Most of the crew was still heartily sleeping, including the captain, as the early hours of dawn crept over the horizon and the seas shifted in welcome to the sun. But as the first few rays of sunlight began to penetrate the murky waters that kept the submerged Flying Dutchman concealed, a few faint sounds also interrupted the solitude beneath the water as well. Bill stirred slightly, his eyes opening slightly as it moved overhead; the small shape of a simple rowboat, being guided across the water gently. But it was a piercing sound to those who dwelt in the pure silence in the deep, and the Captain's shrouded eyes eventually opened as well.

When Bill arrived to the deck of the ship, the other pirates had already arrived there. Captain Jones stood upon the Helm, looking towards the surface with a weary but almost curious expression; true, they had settled in by land, but it had been supposedly uninhabited territory. And this wasn't someone who had been shipwrecked or cast at sea, because within a moment of all standing quietly and watched the small boat tread across the water, they heard someone singing from above. It was a woman's voice, muffled by the water, but still reaching them nonetheless.

Captain Jones allowed a slight grimace to come over his face before his usual serious expression returned, with a twinge of agitation. Bill guessed what was about to come, and looked up sadly towards the surface. 'I wish…I could tell them to run, to try and escape…' He knew the Captain wouldn't bother with summoning the might of the Kraken from the deepest depth of the sea; no, instead it seemed whomever was on the boat unaware was going to suffer a more gruesome fate…

Treva rowed along gently; she wasn't very strong, but enough so to move herself and her son along in the boat at a decent speed. Meris grinned and hung his arms over the side of the boat, letting the water trail between his fingers as he smile widened, revealing his two lost baby teeth. Treva breathed in the fresh morning air, loving the feeling of being the only ones on this large portion of coastline. The air was crisp as a new day was being born, and the water was flat and allowed the boat unhindered passage.

"When is daddy going to come home…?" Meris asked yet again, and Treva sighed as she paused in her rowing for a moment.

"You know he's on a long trip Meris, he had to travel to a foreign place to protect a merchant ship…" she explained, and the boy sighed and just looked down into the water. She knew he missed his father greatly, but it was all a part of her Carlisle being an admiral. And with so many pirates out and about these days, it was an understandable precaution for him to venture alongside the traders who dared cross the vast sea.

Meris was right about to reply, when suddenly he looked straight down into the water with a bewildered and fascinated expression. "Mommy…mommy there's a ship down there…and it's coming up right over there!" he pointed outwards, indicating just beyond where they were sitting on the water.

Treva sighed, brushing some hair out of her face. "I'm sure it's just your imagin-"

She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence before suddenly a ship did indeed appear beside them, a massive vessel that sent a wave towards their small boat as it rose from the depths of the water. Treva let out a scream and grabbed Meris, holding onto him as their small rowboat was tossed and finally spun to a stop alongside the ship. Trembling, she looked up at the side of the ship, which she instantly saw was all but decaying before her very eyes. Scrawled in old, faded writing on the side of the ship was its christened name, the Flying Dutchman.

"Mommy…" Meris said, looking up at the ship as well as the sky seemed suddenly cast in darkness, and for a moment everything hung in still silence. "I'm scared…where…how did they come out of the water like that…?"
"I don't know…" she said quietly, suddenly feeling their small boat shudder as a large wave suddenly lifted it from the level water and become to carry it up towards the deck of the ship. The air suddenly smelled foul and stagnate as she cringed, closing her eyes and pressing her son's face against her shoulder, as though that would truly protect him from whatever awaited them.

They were dumped unceremoniously onto the deck of the ship, their small rowboat turned to splinters as it collided with the deck. Treva cringed as jagged mussels and other growths upon the deck gashed her skin when they landed, and she could hear assorted mutterings around her. After a moment of shaking, she slowly opened her eyes, and immediately her expression grimaced into one of horror.

The crew aboard the ship they had been cast onto…they weren't human. Instead, what she saw were mangled versions of humans merged with sea creatures, their bodies and faces distorted to the point where she sensed little to no humanity within them. They all smelt of rot and decay just like the ship, and showed outward signs of it as well. Even as she watched, the boils and other filth on them oozed and spewed onto the deck. She cringed and drew back against the railing, feeling the sharp edges of shells against her back. The members of the crew smirked at her cruelly, but their obvious amusement at her terror was nothing compared to the fear she experienced next when slowly, a sound began to resonate throughout the ship.

The thundering sound of something heavy dropping against the weathered planks and coming towards them at a maddeningly slow pace, and she watched as the inhuman crew parted to either side to allow the figure approaching them through. She could barely look up as the Captain of the crew arrived, only halting when he was towering over them. There was only the trace of a grin on his face as he watched them cower.

"You decided on a poor choice of sea to be venturing on…" he said, observing how she was clutching the child so protectively. "And what do we have here…? A precious child…" he shook his head in a mock disapproving way. "Children aren't meant to be on a pirate ship…but I'm sure we can fix that problem quite easily…"

Before Treva could even react, Meris was torn from her and held up in the air by one of the crewman, a particularly frightening one fused with a hammerhead shark, who gave her a toothy smirk as he held a large serrated blade to the boy's neck. The Captain's grin widened slightly as Treva got onto her feet but was halted by two other crew man who viciously held her back, making her powerless to stop them.

"Please, don't hurt my son! He's innocent…he hasn't done anything to deserve this…" her voice was panicked and drained thanks to her horror of the situation at hand. "Please…I'll give you anything…just please spare him…" she begged, tears falling down her cheeks in anguish.

The Captain paused, his expression softening for a mere moment, and not enough that she could detect it. "Anything you say…?" he finally said, lowering his head so he could face her levelly. "Even…your very soul…?"

She just stared at him for a moment in silence, still sobbing slightly from her pleading. "Y-yes…anything…if you promise he won't be hurt…" she said softly, and the Captain stood erect once more and signaled to his minion to release Meris. Her son was ruthlessly dropped to the ground in a shivering heap.

"Ah, the desperation of a loved one…willing to do anything to save another…" the Captain said, holding binary tones in his voice. He sounded as though he were both mocking her and at the same moment could relate to the pain of such a situation. "But if that is what you wish…my promise will be your son will be spared from any harm…and in return your soul belongs to me…forever…" his ominous voice bargained, barely above a whisper. Treva just nodded her head weakly and took in a shaky breath.

Davy Jones turned from her. "Very well then…when nightfall arrives…it will then be time for your to carry out your half of our…agreement…but to make sure make sure you can't escape it…"

He suddenly turned once more and seized her hand into his own deformed, slimy hand, and she felt a painful burning sensation in her hand. He released her hand, and terrible burn mark appeared on her hand. "If you try to escape, that mark will lead me to where you are…and you've no means to leave this ship at all…" the Captain said, turning as his archaic robes billowed in the wind that struck them, pushing the ship away from shore, and thus any hope of her going onto land.

"But wait…what about Meris…my son…" she said weakly. "You said you were spare him…"

"And I have from harm, but I never said anything about releasing him…" the Captain said simply in his hollow voice, before his thundering steps revealed he'd returned to the helm once more.

Treva was taken down into the bowels of the ship and thrown into a cell, and Meris into another a small distance from her. She sat down in the corner, listening to her son cry and call for her, but she was too stunned to respond.

In her heart, she knew she had just sold her soul to the devil himself…