Disclaimer: I own nowt!

Chapter 7

The following day found Jack and Will at the helms of their respective ships sailing one behind the other. Jack had consulted his compass that morning and it had provided them with a heading. They both wanted to find this so-called fantastic treasure and the island but they were sailing into the unknown.

"Jack are you sure this is a good idea?" Will had asked concerned after what Jack had said about those who searched for the Isla de Shatsal had never come back.

"Sure it is mate, Jack Sparrow has not been beaten yet has he?"

"Well no that's true."

Will smiled at Jack who grinned back flashing his gold teeth.

"When we find it we'll divide it in half eh?"

"Sounds good to me." Will said excited at the prospect of treasure. He gave Jack a long lingering kiss before leaving the older pirate and making his way back to his own ship to order his own crew to be ready to set sail and follow Jack.

They sailed for most of the day before dropping anchors for the night. They were in no hurry and the two captains wanted to spend the nights together if they could. They had supplies enough for a long stint at sea and so the crew were happy enough to stay put which meant that they themselves could get drunk and have a good time bar the two crew who manned the crows' nests.

The following day they set sail again and made good progress. The wind was good and the compass kept pointing in the direction they needed to be.

It was late afternoon when the pirate in the Black Pearl crows nest spotted something.

"Cap'n somethin' up ahead!" He yelled and Jack pulled out his spyglass to see what it was. There was a thick fog up ahead which seemed strange as fog was not common on the Caribbean and it was a bright sunny day.

"That's interesting." He muttered to himself. "Raise the sails!" He commanded knowing that Will would be watching and follow his lead.

Will did indeed see the sails raised and tied and ordered his own to be raised as well. Peering through his own spyglass he could see the weird fog up ahead and knew that was why Jack had wanted to slow down.

The fog looked dense almost as if one could grasp it and hold it in ones hand. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Jack!" He yelled as his ship drew level with the Pearl.

"Ya see that fog Will?"

"Aye what is it?"

"I don't know yet but we best take it slow eh?"

"Agreed."

Both captains turned to their crews.

"Break out the sweeps!"

There was a scurrying on deck as the rowers descended into the ships to get the oars and start rowing towards the fog. Will wondered if it would be possible to go around it but it stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions so it seemed that they would have to go through it.

Side by side the two ships glided along as the fog loomed in front of them like a large grey predator waiting to devour its prey.

Will's feeling of foreboding grew as they approached and he wondered how many others before them had sailed into this fog. He dismissed the bad thoughts and concentrated on steering his ship and keeping as close to the Pearl as he could.

Jack was also getting a sense of foreboding and wondered how long it would be before they came out on the other side.

"If there is another side." He thought. "That fog looks like it goes on forever."

The prows of both ships entered the fog at the exact same moment and seemingly vanished from sight. The crews shivered as it seemed their ship was being swallowed by the mysterious thick fog.

Jack frowned. Usually with fog you could see a little way in front of you as it was merely cloud and thinner round you but not so this fog. It remained as thick and dense as if it was being seen from afar off.

The two captains steered their ships with an air of calmness so as not to scare the crews who were all beginning to look fearful.

The fog crept over the ship like a silent beast devouring its prey at first everything seemed okay but then as they went deeper into the fog it became apparent that all was not well. One by one the supposedly fearless pirates on board the two ships began to scream and cry like children.

"Get them away from me!"

"No please I can't stand it!"

"Argh help me!"

The crew were running round waving their arms or simply standing still staring in fear.

Jack looked down at his crew and wondered what the hell was going on. He grabbed a pirate who ran past him waving his arms.

"Oi mate what's going on?"

The pirate looked at him and his fear was clear in his eyes.

"Spiders, hundreds of them! Get them off me!" and he began to wave his arms around and jump up and down as if to shake of invisible spiders.

Jack let the pirate go and he ran off screaming and still waving his arms.

"Spiders? I didn't see any." He said to himself but was stopped in his thoughts by someone coming towards him. "Will!" He exclaimed and began to walk towards his love when he saw the look on Will's face and stopped short. "Will?"

There was pure hate written on those handsome features and Jack looked at him puzzled.

"You bastard." Will shouted at him. "You brought us into this damn fog and we'll get lost in it forever."

"But my compass…"

"Is useless Jack, I hate you and I never loved you."

"W…What?" Jack said completely at a loss for words for once. Will drew his sword and pointed it at Jack.

"I'm going to kill you now you worthless pirate." He snarled and raised his hand to strike. Jack was too stunned to react he could do nothing but stare at the man he loved more than anything and who was about to kill him.

"Will…"

Over on Will's ship, its captain was watching his own crew run round or cower in fear of things he couldn't see.

"What's going on?" He muttered and descended the steps leaving one of the crew who seemed to be unaffected by this strange phenomenon and went into his cabin. He looked at the bed and what he saw there made his eyes open wide and his mouth open in a silent scream.

On his bed lay Jack but it was not Jack alive and well opening his arms to welcome his lover, it was Jack laying there dead. His throat was slit and oozed blood, his lower abdomen was carved out and his entrails spilled out onto the bed. There was blood everywhere and as Will took in the horrific sight, he saw that Jack's hair had been hacked off and was lying on the floor.

Will backed out of the door and rushed to the side of the ship where he promptly threw up. He sank to the floor tears of shock and sorrow coursing down his face as the image of Jack on his bed danced in front of his eyes as if taunting him.

He vaguely heard a scream from the Pearl and in his grief clouded mind he thought he recognised it.

"Will please don't do this!"

His head snapped up as he knew that voice all too well. If Jack was over there screaming then it couldn't have been him in his cabin just now. What was it a hallucination? He ran back into the cabin but the horrible image was still there.

"It's not real." He said quietly and then louder "You are not real!"

He watched in amazement as the bloodied figure on the bed began to fade away until there was no trace of it left.

"It was a trick." He said frowning. It was his worst fear to lose Jack and seeing him there like that it had seemed as if it had come true.

"It's this fog! It brings people's worst fears into reality."

Remembering the scream he had heard from Jack, he dashed back out of his cabin and tried to see across to the Pearl but the fog was so thick and dense that he could hardly see the side of the ship let alone any further.

"Jack!" He yelled.

Over on the Pearl, Jack was cowering and trying to protect himself from an advancing Will, He had no desire to draw his sword and fight his lover hoping to talk him out of it instead. Still Will advanced on him and got ready to deal a fatal blow when a shout cam from somewhere to the left of him.

"Jack!"

"Will?" Jack said recognising his lover's voice immediately. "If Will was shouting from over there, then you can't be him!" Jack said suddenly grasping what was happening. "You're not the real Will." He said and the image froze in front of him mid-strike before fading away to nothing.

"Will! I'm okay!" Jack yelled.

"It's this fog! It makes people see their worst fears."

"Tell your crew!"

"Aye!"

Jack turned to whom he could see of his crew which wasn't many due to the fog.

"Listen to me! This fog is making you see your worst fears but they're not real, you hear me? NOT REAL!" Several of the crew stopped and Jack could see them challenging their fears.

"Tell the remaining crew." He commanded those who were back to normal. They ran off to find the rest of the crew and tell them just as Will and his crew were doing the same.

Soon every last pirate had confronted their fears and they had vanished leaving them all exhausted but relieved.

Quite suddenly the fog round them dissipated leaving a perfectly clear calm early evening.

"Drop anchors!" Will and jack commanded in unison and the anchors were duly dropped.

Will crossed over to the Pearl and ran straight into Jack's arms.

"Come on whelp this calls for rum." Jack said and pushed Will into his cabin.

"I saw you dead." Will whispered when they were settled with a bottle of rum each.

"And you were going to kill me." Jack said.

"I wonder why the fog vanished?"

"I don't know mate but maybe it's because we beat our fears and it didn't need to linger any more. It must be there to trick sailors who try to reach the Isla de Shatsal."

Will nodded. "Aye I wonder how many sailors and pirates have fallen foul of it?"

"Many lad I would think now drink up. I'm not dead an' you don' hate me so we can drink safely."

Will grinned and took a long swig from his bottle.

Much later on in the night they would be found curled up together spent and happy and ready to face anything the following day.

TBC…