"No sign of a crew…" Matthew stated and he lowered the spyglass from his eye to look at Nicolette who had been staring at the beached Pearl since the dot of black first appeared on the horizon that morning. "How long is it they've been here?"

She shook her head, taking a deep breath to fill her lungs in the hopes of slowing her heartbeat. "I don't know." She had a very bad feeling about this and her gut felt like she had swallowed a cannonball with her breakfast.

"If it's any more than a few days I don't very much think it would be worth going ashore." Once again Nicolette shook her head and held her hand out as a silent request for Matthew to hand her his spy glass. "Nico-" He tried to start a compelling argument of persuasion as he dropped the heavy instrument into her hand but she interrupted.

"I have to go ashore." She heard Matthew shift beside her in frustration but moved her attention to the enhanced view of the Pearl she now had.

Their temporary Captain had been right by saying there wasn't a man to be found, if she didn't know any better she would have said the Pearl had been abandoned. But she knew Jack and he would have never left the Pearl for anything and he would never be found far from it either.

"Get the boy." She said to one of the crew members passing, lowering the spyglass and passing it back to Matthew. "You can take us ashore now and be on your merry way." There was a cargo ship travelling from Africa to Barbados which he was hoping to intercept, therefor Matthew could not bob up and down like a sitting duck waiting to see if they returned or not. It was something which seemed to cause him great headache this morning with him even threatening to cancel his mission for her safety.

But Nic knew him and his moral compass was too strong after she reassured him they could look after themselves. After all if the Pearl really was abandoned then at least they had a means of escape should things turn sour.

"Alright, but finding a man willing to take you all the way to the beach won't be possible. You'll have to swim part of the way." Nicolette grimaced, her lips snarling as the heavy sound of boots running across the deck caught her attention.

"Jack's here?" Will appeared at her side, shrugging on his coat and going to the deck to get his first look at the Island.

"Looks like." She grinned, instantly hiding her worried expression. The small fact of the islands inhabitants might have slipped her mind every time she saw Will but all for very innocent reasons. One, she simply did not want to worry the young lad and two…the mere idea of him knowing and having question after question of their plan would have irritated her to no end. Ignorance was bliss in her opinion and it also made her feel like she had the upper hand which was always nice. "You ready to get going?" Will simply nodded, looking between her and Matthew.

"My First Mate will take you ashore." Captain Rathbone gestured to the longboats further down the ship and Will eagerly followed, leaving her alone.

Her eyes narrowed once more on the Pearl before she did a quick cast over the entire Island. It looked beautiful, though from past experiences she had learnt it was always the most beautiful things that were the most deadly. "What are you up to Sparrow?"

Her whisper was lost in the wind and her jaw tensed, narrowed, due to the silence she was met with.

"Barker!" Nic turned as Matthew called for her and saw Will was already ready and waiting down in the long boat with Matthew's first mate.

"Safe ventures Captain Rathbone." Nicolette called as she joined the. "I do hope you find your Navy ship." She swung one leg over the railing to straddle it and paused to turn and look back at Matthew. "Hopefully we will meet again one day."

"Aye, wherever it is we may both end up."

"As long as it's not the gallows." Nic grinned. "And I owe you a drink." Matthew started to laugh then and with as much grace he could muster, he removed his hat and held it to his chest, bowing his head.

"Stay safe, Miss Barker." As she stood, swinging her other leg over the railing to begin the climb down to the longboat, Nicolette sent Matthew a final smirk which he returned, watching her until she was out of view.

"Old friends?" Will questioned, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

Was he trying to tease her? Based off her own words... The boy should have been happy enough that she got them both a passing for free to keep his trap shut.

"Mmm." She hummed with nothing else to say and he seemed to get the message for the next few minutes he managed to keep hush. Then, just as Matthew had told her to expect, the first mate stopped rowing and looked at them as if they were the ones acting weird.

They were about two thirds of the way to the shore line. That meant a lot of water remained left to cross. Nicolette hid her grimace ad of course acted minutely shocked when the sailors stare remained, shrugging when Will looked to her curiously.

"What's wrong, the beach is right there?" Should she just get up, pretending to take the initiative? Or would that be too obvious? She was almost ready stand when something very strange happened.

"Ne bougeais pas, c'set beaucoup trop dangereaux." They both snapped their attention quite quickly towards the man they sat across from, frowning.

"What?" Will frowned. "What's he saying?" Again Nicolette shrugged but the whole confusion act got a lot easier for her to pull as she tried to work out why Matthew had a French first mate…could he even speak French?

"Don't know…" She drawled weakly…did he speak French? "...Don't speak French." Matthew wasn't French.

"Je ne pois, c'est trop dangereaux, j'avais le dit." Dangerous. That was easy enough for her to pick out and all too suddenly reality crashed back down onto her shoulders and she remembered they were here for a reason.

Nic stood, righting her corset and giving her arms a stretch. It wasn't too far from the beach...if you squinted...it wouldn't be a long swim, but god she did hate being wet.

"Bon voyage, Madame, Monsieur." Nic stopped for a half a second to pout down at the man impressed with the title and then faultlessly pushed off from the side of the small boat, completing a smooth dive into the water.

She assumed Will was going to follow her, there was no reason why he shouldn't then again she found herself being very indifferent to the possibility of him drowning… Unfortunately by the time she reached the shore he was only a few seconds behind.

Nicolette shook her hands in an attempt to rid some of the sea water but that obviously did nothing. Her boots were soaked, her hair was wet through and now sticking uncomfortably to her face and the skirts and belts around her waist were heavy.

"Wet…hate being wet…just bloody bathed, damn Pirates…"

"Jack!" Eyes wide, she was quick to glance around as Will began alerting the whole Island and those surrounding it of their arrival. " Jack Sparrow! Marty! Cotton!" Will cupped his hands together, dealing himself back like a fishing rod to try and project his voice up to the top deck of the Pearl. They weren't here, and if they were they were deaf. "Anybody?" He was breathing heavily from the swim and from the excessive yelling.

Nicolette made sure to get behind Will, taking care to oversee his movements and his…proceedings... Her plan wasn't to watch his back, but to avoid whatever it was which happened to said behind. That was easier said than done in most cases however, so when he started to stalk towards the jungle Nicolette kept a sharp eye out…more so when they were joined by a familiar bird.

"Ah, a familiar face." Will grinned.

"Awk, don't eat me!" The parrot squawked.

Will looked amused at first, though equally as confused, but unbeknown to him Nicolette started shake her head and thrash her flattened hand across her throat with a glare. An overnight boat ride and a parrot was going to ruin it…

"I'm not going to eat you." Will replied to the bird, somewhat amused, oblivious to Nicolette's threats.

"Don't eat me. Don't eat me. Awk!" The bird took off suddenly and as Will glanced at her, she quickly swept her hand up in to her hair, running her fingers down her face a little awkwardly in fake wonder.

"…wonder what he meant by that…" Nicolette hummed, raising her brows purposely just as Will watched after the bird with a similar expression. This did not bode well for them. They had only been on land five minutes and already she was 99% sure the crew weren't going to be bathing in pools or enjoying the sun. "We should carry along the beach." She whispered, shifting her eyes around the jungles border.

Going into there left them susceptible to attack, what with there only being two of them there was no way they could keep eye on all of their surrounding while, at the same time, looking for Jack.

Will however, ignored her, and turned to walk deeper into the jungle.

"No, look." He called out to her and when Nicolette finally finished sweeping the area for unwanted visitors, she looked and saw the boy holding up Gibbs' canteen - she knew from all the times he had asked her to fill it with rum due to his drunken shaking hands.

"Gibbs." Nic whispered and walked to Will's side as quietly as she could, lifting her feet and watching every step she took for traps. She took the small liquor pouch from Will and her fingers toyed with the end of the string which had been tied around its top. "That is oddly smart for them." As she studied their simple tracking tool, Will started to follow the trail of string leading from it.

"It stops here." Will called back as he reached the end of their line.

Nic frowned but instantly scoffed, chuckling under her breath. "Course they would use such a small bit a string…" She then remembered where they were and who she was trying to avoid. "Wait-"

But it was too late and there was an unnatural snap ahead of her followed by a flourish of leaves as Will was hoisted into the air by his ankle, leaving him hanging upside down. Without much, if any hesitation, Nicolette swung around and threw her back against the hard bark of a tree trunk she stood by, hiding herself from view. Her eyes were wide and she could feel the adrenaline starting to course through her veins as her heart hammered against her rib cage at a quickened pace.

She didn't know if there were men coming or if they were already there ready to ambush but she closed her eyes and prayed that they hadn't seen her or that she was not in fact sitting in a different trap.

"Come on! Let's go!" Will called out and the curiosity overgrew the fear, causing Nicolette to silently turn and pear out from behind the tree, her face hidden by the foliage. "Come on, who wants it?! I can do this all day!" Will had drawn his sword and was starting to fling it about in a very odd manner. She winced at the technique.

"Nicolette!" At first she was enraged at the fact he had given away her presence but then, when she saw irritation crossed the villagers faces instead of suspicion, she smirked.

"Nicolette!" Will called for her again but she remained still and soon enough one of the villagers looked to the others before raising a hollow shoot of bamboo and shooting a poisoned dart into Will's neck.

To give the boy credit, he did keep wildly swinging at them for another second or two until he graciously fell limp and passed out, slowly swaying from the rope as the sword dropped to the jungle floor with a dull thud.

For a few minutes she watched on, barely even breathing, overseeing the villagers ungraciously cut Will down and tie him to a post much like she had seen Imelda tie up a hog roast back in the Ol' Sailor. It was only once Will had been carried off deep into the jungle that she became torn.

Should she follow them, trying to be discrete, with the high risk of getting caught but a very high chance of finding Jack? Or should she turn and run, going a different way around, with a high risk of getting caught and very high risk of ending up being where Jack was…in a boiling pot somewhere? Tricky. Then again there was always the Pearl…she could just sit and wait for someone to come back…like a coward.

She had never liked cowards, never really been one to understand them either. Though, when faced with cannibals…

With a grimace aimed only at herself, Nicolette turned and headed back towards the beach as quietly as possible.

Meanwhile, higher up amongst the dormant volcanos, a clearing in the jungle was chaotic with life. Will's half conscious body was heaved up the uneven rocky hills, across terrifyingly unsteady bridges and through the middle of a village.

Around him, the foreign chatter of the villages slurred together in his mind and the eccentric colours of their painted faces and clothes blended together into some sort of melted wax mess behind his eyes. It wasn't until he felt himself come to a stop that the queasiness subsided and he noticed the blur of a man sat in a throne.

"Jack?" Will's voice was raspy and at first the words came as a whisper. Then, as his vision started to clear, a grin broke out on his face. It was in fact Jack sat there, back straight and eyes narrowed at him. "Jack Sparrow. I can honestly say I'm glad to see you."

The man rose from his throne with an added flourish, as was to be expected, and swaggered over to where the villagers held Will, backside hanging only inches from the ground. He rounded him and Will thrashed trying to follow Jack's figure before he completed a full circle and poked Will's shoulder.

"Jack, it's me, Will Turner!"

"Pah se ko?" Jack suddenly spoke through it was directed towards one of the tribesmen.

"Teen dada, eeseetis." Everyone around Will sounded like they were humming in agreement. "Eeseetis."

"Tell them to let me down."

Jack ignored this. "Kele lam. Nom piki piki, nom minsi winsi." He swung around to Will's backside, glancing at him curiously. "Lam seisei, eunichi. Snip snip."

"Eunichi." An echo of 'ahh' accompanied by slow understanding nods sounded around Will and understandably, the boys brow creased and he became anxious. That was until he spotted Jack's compass.

"Jack, the compass, it's all I need!" He began to struggle, falling short of breath at trying to reach Jack as he turned and started walking back to his throne. "Elizabeth is in danger. We were arrested for trying to help you. She faces the gallows!"

Jack appeared to think this over for a moment, stopping in his tracks with his back to Will. But coming to the conclusion that there were bigger problems at hand, he continued, until Will grasped at what he believed was his last straw.

"Nicolette helped me find you here. She's out there somewhere, in danger!" Jack stood for a second moment thinking, his figure complete still until he swung around and approached one of the villagers.

"Seiserom shup shup sha smame mame shuku, savvy? Maliki liki." He then waved Will away as the men and women around them began to chant, first only one of them, then within a few seconds it was a whole chorus.

"Maliki liki! Maliki liki!"

Will's capturers shifted him, readying to carry him off, but before they could make a move Jack swung down to Will's level and whispered a speedily hushed; "Save me."

But Will didn't understand and as Jack turned to return to his seat and as Will began to be carried off, the boy tried his best for the Captain to just help him.

"Jack, what did you tell them? No! What about Elizabeth? Jaaack!"