A week had passed since we left the nameless little port, the Barnacle sitting a bit lower in the water now thanks to our provisions. Land was nowhere in sight, but there was a good wind at our backs as we made our way south by southwest. With not much to do on our small boat, we filled the time with…not much, really. Aside from Fitzy and me working on teaching Arabella how to use a sword and the two of us occasionally sparring with Jack or each other, there really wasn't much to do.

Which is why, after one sparring lesson that had been made particularly rough thanks to the choppy seas, Jack decided it was time we were all briefed on who, exactly, Left-Foot Louis was.

"As some o' us know," he began, tossing something into the air only to catch it again as he slowly paced the deck, "the diabolical pirate captain we are followin' is named Left-Foot Louis. This is because he lost his right foot in battle." As he drew closer to where I sat, I could see that the thing he was tossing and catching was the black stone that had once been Stone-Eyed Sam's eye.

"In a feat that can only be called miraculous, Louis was able t' slay his fearsome bo'sun an' lopped his foot off before having it expertly reapplied t' his own leg by the ship's cook, who just so happened to be the notorious pirate, Silver. Silver had recently sailed the high seas with a certain doctor an' had, henceforth, become skilled in the art of limb-replacement surgery. However, only after said surgery did it become apparent that Louis, in his panicked state, had severed the wrong foot from his late bo'sun."

I snorted—and I wasn't the only one. Fitzy also laughed, his brow raised in amusement. "What a load of rubbish," he said.

Glad to find that she wasn't the only one to find the story too ludicrous, Arabella also laughed. Jack, not pleased by this laughter, pursed his lips in a pout and narrowed his eyes at us.

"Oi! Your attention, please!" he scolded, putting his hands on his hips. "Your cap'n is speakin'."

"Jack, my friend," Fitzy began, earning a disdainful look from our captain, "just because you call yourself a captain doesn't actually make you one. Look around you! This trawler isn't a ship, nor are we even a real crew."

Jack walked over to where Fitzy was half leaning, half clinging to the mast; despite being a full head shorter than him, though, Jack managed to have an air of command about him. "Question my authority again, mate, an' you'll be havin' this discussion with Davy Jones," he said, voice stern—more stern than I had ever heard it. "On this ship, you shall call me Captain Jack Sparrow."

To our surprise, an almost mischievous smirk came to Fitzy's lips. It was uncharacteristic of him to wear such a look and, at the time, I hated to admit it, but I found it a rather attractive look for him. "Fine…Jack," he replied.

Grumbling, Jack shoved past him and made his way up to the bow, where he sat down on the railing, his back to us.

"Don't think the captain's too happy with you, mate," I commented, looking over at Fitzy.

He dismissively waved his hand. "You shouldn't encourage his delusions of grandeur, Emil. His mind's up in the clouds enough as is. I fear that if he were to actually believe himself a captain of a ship, he'll only get us into more trouble."

I cocked my brow. "First o' all, even fishing boats have captains," I began, "and secondly, Jack's the one who used his out-o'-the-box thinking to drag our sorry arses away from death a handful of times now. Non alios suo modulo." Do not measure others by your own measure.

"Ne puero gladium," he dryly retorted. Do not give a child a sword; I'll admit, it made me quietly snort. "Do you even know what you're saying or are they just phrases you've heard said by the aristocracy a few times and committed them to memory?" he grumbled.

I smirked, knowing just how much it annoyed him whenever I exhibited knowledge in something only the wealthy and well-to-do classes would know. "Scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem." Knowledge has no enemies but the ignorant. It was a phrase my late uncle used to say whenever someone would criticize him for giving reading lessons to those members of his crew who were illiterate.

He glared at me, ready to throw either an insult or another proverb at me, but Jack spoke before he could.

"Now, back to my story!" he chirped, his foul mood seemingly gone. The others groaned, but I was admittedly quite relieved to have the distraction from Fitzy. "Upon discovering the error Silver had made, Louis quickly had the cook-cum-surgeon-cum-pirate tossed overboard."

'Speaking of Latin,' I thought to myself, amused by his misuse of the word.

"But Silver was under the protection o' Sirens, who attacked Louis an' used their power t' fuse the botched job into place forever! An' to add injury t' insult, they clawed him right across the face, which is why he bears three scars runnin' from his right eye, over his nose, an' down t' his left jawbone."

Arabella rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, ye'll believe anything," she sighed. She was sitting on the deck, studying Tumen's astrolabe with interest.

The pout back on his lips, Jack turned around to face her. "Then, pray tell, my lady, why do you think the man in question has an abundance o' left feet an' a lack o' right?"

She didn't bother looking up from the astrolabe. "Disfigurement o' birth," she replied flatly.

"We are obsessing over the wrong details," Fitzy chimed in. "Louis is a dangerous pirate and we should be more concerned with how we will defeat him and how we'll get the sword from him—not the origin of his two left feet." He shook his head. "Rest assured, it won't be easy."

"You're not frightened are ye, boyo?" Jack taunted, smirking. "I did warn you that this journey wouldn't be for the lily-livered an' the pampered."

I almost jumped at how quickly Fitzy turned his head to glare at Jack. "I think we both know I've more than proven I'm neither of those things," he snapped. For the first time, he sounded truly upset by something Jack had said.

"No need t' get huffy, mate." He waved his hand in a mockingly dismissive manner. "Given how utterly dangerous Louis is, any perfectly sane person would be terrified o' the man." A contemplative expression now came to his face as he tapped his chin and looked skyward. "I suppose this means you are, in fact, proclaimin' yourself t' not be sane. Now I'm a bit worried."

Fitzy grumbled to himself and stalked over to the rigging; I almost applauded him for not taking the bait this time. But despite Jack's insults, I had a feeling he knew that Fitzy was right: Retrieving the sword would be dangerous. Louis wouldn't be about to give up the sword—not with the kind of rumors it had swirling about it.

It was about then that I began to feel it: Tingling in my fingertips.

As Jack—as well as Tumen and Jean—continued to talk, I walked over to the starboard railing, my eyes narrowing as I started to scan the horizon. There was nothing I could see, so I went to the portside and did the same thing. The others ignored me as I went to the prow, still looking around.

At least, I thought I was being ignored.

"What in God's name are you searching for?" Fitzy questioned when I went to the stern.

"Not sure," I replied. "I've just got a strange feeling is all."

"Are you certain you're not just hungry?" he suggested, his voice a bit sarcastic and a smirk on his lips. "There's only ocean surrounding us. What could possibly go missing? Your sanity, maybe?"

By now, the tingling was up to my wrists. "This isn't a case of something going missing," I said. "This is more a case of what's coming."

That wiped the smirk from his face. "What?" He glanced over at the others, his brows furrowing. "You…don't mean like another one of those storms Torrents conjured up, do you?" We both looked to the sky again; it was beginning to become striped with golds, pinks, and purples as the sun slowly began its descent. "I mean, red sun at night, sailor's delight."

"Even if I did think it was Torrents, that phrase really only refers to natural weather, Fitzy," I said, my brow rising. Shaking my head, I sighed. "May I use your spyglass?"

He gave me a skeptical look, but reached inside his vest to retrieve it. "Don't drop it."

As he handed it to me, I pretended to almost drop it, earning a pout from him. Then, extending it, I looked through the eyepiece and adjusted it so the horizon was clearer. But there was still nothing but water to be seen.

The tingling suddenly shot up to my elbows and, a second later, a sound drifted towards us, filling our ears. It was a soft, eerie noise—almost like it wasn't completely of this plane of existence. As quiet as it was, though, it had made the crew fall silent. Turning, I found everyone but Jack struck dumb, their eyes almost glazed over.

I swore loudly as the Barnacle rocked violently, the abruptness of it knocking both me and Fitzy down to the deck. My head thudded against the wood, making me thankful that I wore a bandana around my forehead: The knot had absorbed the majority of the impact, but I still felt an ache in my skull and neck.

A bit of panic filled my gut as the tingling quickly climbed up my biceps.

"Um…where did that come from?" Jack asked, his voice squeaking slightly.

Lifting my head, I had to blink a few times to make sure I was actually seeing something and not just having a hallucination from hitting my head. From nowhere, an enormous island had appeared in the near distance. Fitzy held his hand out to me and, still gawking at the island, I placed the spyglass in his palm.

"I can assure you," Tumen spoke, "that island was not there a moment ago."

Almost in unison, Fitzy and I pushed ourselves to our feet. He used his spyglass to look out at the island while I watched Jack go over to the helm.

"It's hard to make out," Fitzy said, adjusting the barrel of the spyglass. "It's like the island is there, but…it's also not?" He lowered the glass for a few seconds, squinting at the island before raising the glass to his eye again. "It looks solid when I'm not looking through my spyglass, but when I look through it, it looks like nothing more than mist."

"We're sailin' towards it," Jack declared.

"What?" I questioned, brows furrowed as I looked at him. "Jack, I'm not so sure that's a smart idea."

He gave me a bland look. "Drystan, ye should know better by now: When anythin' happens at sea that is out o' the usual—like, oh, say a huge island appearin' out o' nowhere—it would probably be wise t' ascertain that it happened for a reason, aye? An' that reason can often, though not always, lead anyone willin' t' explore it to great power an' treasure." He then paused to nonchalantly shrug his shoulders. "Besides, I'm the captain, savvy?"

"I guess we know where the rough seas were coming from earlier," said Jean. "Islands dropping into oceans will probably do that to calm waters."

"But did it drop or did it rise up from the depths?" Arabella questioned.

Before anyone could answer, though, the eerie sound from earlier returned. As the others fell quiet once again, I went to the edge of the boat and peered down into the water, searching for movement. The combination of the strange sound and its bewitching effect on the others led me to think that, perhaps, there was a siren nearby. The appearance of a mystical island, however, wasn't something I had ever heard in relation to the horror stories about sirens. And sirens, I had always been told, were similar to mermaids, in that their upper halves were that of beautiful women.

Not large, dark masses racing towards the surface.

"Jack!" I shouted, drawing my sword. "Monster off the portside!"

The force of the thing speeding upwards was enough to displace the water, pushing it towards the Barnacle and making it rock violently again. It shot out of the water and roared, the sound waking up the dazed crew.

"Kraken!" Arabella shouted as the creature shot towards the ship.

"No!" Tumen called out. "The kraken is much larger and has tentacles—and it smells like death! This is something else completely!"

"But it looks an' smells no less dangerous!" Jack shouted. "Get your swords!"

The creature, which looked like an enormous, finned eel, launched itself towards the ship, but thankfully, missed us—but only just. Jack, Fitzy, and I stood at the railing, our swords at the ready as the monster opened its huge jaws; its mouth was filled with rows upon rows of teeth much like a shark's. It hissed at us, spraying us with a disgusting-smelling green slime. I would have retched if I hadn't been focused on finding the creature's weak spot.

It lurched at us again and, when it was just feet from the boat, Jack jabbed his sword forward, the blade plunging deep into the creature's eye. At the same time, Fitzy swung his blade at its side, leaving a nice gash in its flesh. Being on the other side of the thing, I did the same as Fitzy and my blade also cut into its side.

Once more it roared, recoiling back from us. Pink liquid oozed from its eye and it seemed as though we had managed to kill it with that one attack. It lay, motionless, in the water for a moment. But then it suddenly shot upright, heaving its massive bulk into the air before lunging towards the ship again.

Jack and Fitzy flung themselves backwards, which was the sensible thing to do.

I, however, was not so sensible and dove over the railing.

Arabella might've screamed as I went over, but with all the noise of the fight, it was hard to tell. Swimming down a few yards, I didn't bother attempting to surface, knowing the others would be too distracted with the monster to even think about searching for me. I turned around to look at the beast.

It was thrashing back and forth, its tail practically making the water foam as it whipped around. I would later find out that Jack had jumped onto its stomach and was holding onto its fins at this point. As for myself, I swam at the beast's tail and, with some difficulty, I managed to grab onto its dorsal fin. My sword still in hand, I plunged it into the creature's back and, as I used its fin to pull myself upwards, I moved my sword in a sawing motion to cut through its flesh.

Dark, almost black blood began spilling from the wound I was creating and I could hear the garbled sound of its roar of pain as well as the sounds of yelling.

Suddenly, the creature flicked its tail upwards with enough force that I was torn from its fin. I cried out as I was flung up out of the water and high into the air. Looking down, I found myself high enough that the Barnacle appeared half its size.

I could also see Jack as he stabbed his sword into the throat of the beast. As I started my descent, he slid down the belly, cutting it wide open and letting its guts spill out. The creature thrashed about in the throes of death, but it was about then I realized I had to try and adjust my form, lest I hit the water incorrectly and get seriously hurt. It was then I realized I still had a hold of my sword. That could make things difficult…

Just in the nick of time, I managed to twist myself around and throw my arms out in front of me. Both hands were wrapped around the hilt of my sword and I held it in front of me like my very own narwhal horn. Water encompassed me once more as I plummeted into the depths. The jolt of my sword hitting the water first wasn't nearly as great as I thought it would be, but it still made my arms and shoulders ache.

I turned myself over and, after sheathing my sword, started to swim back towards the ship. The creature, I saw, was finally laying still, some of its guts sinking out of its body. But there was something else I saw sinking down into the water: Jack. And he was tangled up in one of the beast's entrails.

'Shit!' I thought, starting to swim faster. Willing the water to push me forward, I felt myself start to move faster. Much faster. In no time at all, I was coming to a halt beside Jack.

He looked at me, desperation on his face as he fought against the intestines that ensnared him.

"Hold still," I ordered, drawing my sword.

Doing as I said, he held still, though I knew it had to have been a struggle for him. I did my best to cut through the guts as quickly as possible, but while also being careful to not cut him in the process. Luck must've been on our side because after getting through just three spots, he was able to swim free.

I sheathed my sword once more and grabbed hold of the back of his shirt. Willing the water to speed up my swimming once more, I took us to the starboard side of the boat, where we surfaced. Jack gulped in the air and, as I hoisted him up, clung onto the railing.

"Jack! Emil!" Arabella cried, her voice filled with shock.

"Who were you expectin', Bella?" Jack breathlessly laughed. "Davy Jones?" Jean and Tumen hurried over and helped pull him aboard while Fitzy came over and grabbed my arm to help pull me aboard. Shaking his head as he plopped down on the deck, he let out another laugh. "Well, lookin' on the bright side, we now how boatloads o' meat for the rest o' the journey!"

I shot him a small glare. "We are not eating that thing."


A/N: So uh...hi there. I know, I know-it's been a while. I thought I would have this chapter up a few months ago, but...It would seem I had greatly underestimated the combination of grief and burnout I was feeling and I just haven't really had the mental energy to work on my fanfics ever since mom's passing. I'm trying to force myself back into them, though. So I'm sorry if this chapter isn't the best...I'm a bit rusty.

With that said, here's something a little more important: For the past few months there have been rumors about this website being abandoned by the owners and the very real possibility of it basically...just disappearing one day because the owners aren't paying the host servers or something. If these rumors are true, you can find me over on Archive of Our Own under the same username.