Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. -shrugs- Somehow, I'm slowly getting over it... Perhaps Disney should, too, that way I don't have to do one of these every chapter... -continues to grumble about the uselessness of disclaimers-

Author's Notes: Well, this chapter took me forever to type, because I did so much research to made sure that my accounts for everything were accurate. If you look up Melusine on Wikipedia, you will, indeed, discover a similar story to the one I used. Also in this chapter is a few crucial things that you should all pay attention to. The first would be the prophecy from Poseidon. If you carefully analyze it, you will find the answers to this plot. I know the rhyme-scheme was horribly little-kid-ish, but I had to have it rhyme. I hate prophecies that don't rhyme. There is a lot of symblism in this chapter that is foreshadowing to the later plot... I hope someone picked up on it, because I've been told I'm crud at foreshadowing.

Eek. I'm rambling. But yes, this is a very crucial chapter... Just thought you ought to know.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Devil's Riddle

Chapter Two: Don't Die on Me

By: MJ

It was dark in the small cave now, as the only light had been coming from the outside, which was now seemingly blocked off by a wall of solid rock. Elizabeth instinctively took a step towards Will, and he ached to reach out and grab her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and protect her, but right now, he had more troublesome things to worry about.

One being that the… creature… seemed to know exactly who he was, as she had been cooing his name at him as the gates closed. A hand went to his sword, and whatever it was starting to giggle. It wasn't a human-like giggle, though, it sounded more or less like someone scratching his or her fingernails on a chalkboard. It ended abruptly, and there was a snap of someone's fingers.

Light flooded into the small, crowded space, revealing all for what they truly were. A group of four humans huddled together against the newly formed wall, and a mermaid-like creature blocking any further wanderings into the cave.

"What would we be trying to escape?" Will said shortly. The creature smiled.

"Me. Poseidon, perhaps… Possibly death, I'm not quite sure what the god of the sea has in for you, William Turner, but it's not as miniscule as the mystic told you."

"Mystic?"

"Dat be me," Tia Dalma said shortly, as she folded her arms over her chest and glared at the creature. "An' I didn't tell 'im anyt'ink wrong."

"But did you tell him everything?" Her voice was almost melodious; it was as if she were singing the words sweetly to them. She moved towards Will when Elizabeth stepped in front. He smiled softly at the thought, but it disappeared as the creature turned her entrancing blue eyes upon him. He avoided her gaze as she took both him and Elizabeth into consideration.

"So now the swinger-lady swings back to her first love? Sweet. A little pathetic, but sweet, nonetheless."

"I'm not a swinger-lady. I love William with all of my heart, and I'll be damned if you plan to kill him."

"She don't."

Elizabeth turned to look at Tia Dalma for a moment, astounded that she would know about something like this. "Then who is she… it? What is she?"

"She is still standing right here—and she can hear very well. I am Melusine, daughter of Elynas and Pressyne. When I was a young child, my mother took us away from our father… he had betrayed her, and I don't like it when people betray others," she gave Elizabeth a pointed look before she smiled fondly at Will. Elizabeth's blood boiled as Melusine began her story again. "So my sisters and I plotted revenge. We locked him and his riches in the mountains…" Her eyes flashed an emotion that clearly read, as insanity, and her smile grew wicked before both emotions fizzled out and were replaced with sadness. "…All went well until my mother found out. She put a curse on me that every Saturday, I would become this." She gestured towards the fact that instead of having two legs, she had two large fins covered in green and blue scales. Green wings to match the tails had sprouted from her porcelain skin of her back, giving Elizabeth the impression of the mermaids her mother would talk of during their bedtime stories when Elizabeth was young. "I met my husband a while later in the forest… I told him I'd marry him if he promised to stay out of my chambers on Saturdays…" Her voice grew sad and angry as she continued bitterly, "But he betrayed me… He betrayed me, yet I could forgive him," she looked pointedly at Will, "Because I loved him. I forgave him… and then we had a disagreement," she turned to Elizabeth, "And he said something so utterly horrible that I couldn't forgive him. I became a dragon and flew away. Poseidon had called to me from the sea—and now… now I am his muse."

She continued to speak, but neither Will nor Elizabeth was paying attention. I could forgive him because I loved him… Her words rang through Will's mind. He stared at his boots, suddenly fascinated by them. He truly did love Elizabeth, but did he honestly have it in himself to forgive her for what she did?

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was also paying close attention to this muse's words. He said something so utterly horrible during a disagreement… Painfully, she remembered the disagreement the previous day where she had used how improper their relationship was against Will as if… as if she was any better than he. Truth was that she wasn't—they were both pirates at heart. They had both broken the law for someone who truly didn't give a damn about either of them, and, eventually, they would both have to suffer the consequences of their actions. Maybe Melusine had a point; they should put aside their differences for their love. She looked towards Will and sighed.

"When you two are down being melodramatic, there are certain things that need to be discussed," Melusine said sharply, and both lovers' heads snapped towards the muse.

"Like what?" Will snapped back impatiently.

"Like something called destiny, dear William," she cooed, moving towards him again. She placed a hand on his cheek and stroked if for a moment. "You look just like him," she giggled again, causing him to place his hands over his ears to block out the horrid sound. She frowned, and moved away, grabbing a torch off of the walls. "Follow me."

They fell into a crude line behind Melusine as she led them further into the cave. From what Will (who was in front) could see by the light the torch shed, they were walking lower and lower into the ground. His suspicions were confirmed when they began to step in water. The muse spun around and grinned at the flabbergasted blacksmith, who merely offered her an untrusting glance before he backed up and took a hold of Elizabeth's hand.

"This is were you stop."

"And you just--?"

"I stay here, too. My, aren't we impatient, William!" She exclaimed, giggling again before she turned to the water. She opened her mouth and began to sing a soft melodious tune that none of the group was able to comprehend. The waters around her began to bubble and give off a bit of a purple glowing as her voice grew higher and higher, echoing off the walls, ringing in their ears. When she stopped, the small congregation of four pirates was gaping at the muse as she smiled at them sweetly.

Then, a deep singing voice returned her original song, the smooth tempos of his baritone voice soothing to the four. They relaxed, now realizing that this must be the way that Melusine and Poseidon communicate. When the song ended, she turned to them, and said.

"What have you to offer?"

"We be offerin' 'im dis," Tia Dalma took the small sack out of her pocket, and pulled from it a golden dolphin statue, with two black pearls for eyes. "For da Pearl."

"And what have you for the other thing you have come to request?"

"I fink ye already know what we be givin' fer dat," Tia Dalma snapped at the muse, obviously unamused and growing impatient.

"Very well. Am I to assume that William knows what he's doing, then?"

"No. Barbossa an' me figgered ye'd be da best one t'tell 'im o' his destiny." Will's head had snapped up at the mention of him doing something, and his brows furrowed as once more Tia Dalma mentioned his "destiny". Melusine smiled at Will, before she moved out of the water, took the dolphin from Tia Dalma's hands, and went back into the water.

She began to sing again, and Will turned to give Tia Dalma a questioning stare. She merely returned it with a knowing smile, and Elizabeth gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He jumped at the soft touch; he had forgotten that they were holding hands at all. He dropped the grasp and took a side step away from her. She was about to reply hotly when Melusine stopped singing.

"William Turner—there is a prophecy about you… about your life… about your choices… and most importantly, about how you will aide in the return of Jack Sparrow. You must listen carefully, and take all the words into account. I can only give you one clue, and it is this…

"Not everything is really what it seems to be. Things can have more than one meaning; it is your destiny to choose which one you want to follow… Are you listening?" At his nod, she continued.

"Good. Here is the prophecy:

"Eyes of road,

Knees of the trees,

Come to the Devil's head—

Where blood will be met,

Tears shall be shed,

And only one shall return from the dead.

"Ye must be wary, though,

Of that Devil's fiddling tales,

Divided ye'll be,

Searching for the truth,

And of course, only one shall prevail.

"Don't let his surpassing greed,

Become your unfortunate fate,

Gold and silver are just things,

They do not equal love and hate.

"Just do the task before you,

And never turn back,

And once you are out of harm's ways,

He will help you cover tracks.

"Yes, beware of ol' Scratch's deathly riddle,

For it is not what it seems—

Because the true answers to this tale,

Shall come to you in your dreams…"

"That is all I am allowed to reveal to you, William, the rest is up to you and your friends to discover…. I believe there was something else you were here for--?" Melusine asked, although her knowing smile discredited the sincerity in her sickeningly sweet voice.

"Da Black Pearl," Tia Dalma said. Melusine nodded, and this time, she let out the same shriek she had when they first had seen her on the beach. Immediately, four sets of hands went to their respected ears as she screeched. When it was over, they looked at her, suddenly terrified."

"You have one hour to return back from whence you came," Melusine said. "The seas will be calm, the beaches will be normal, but only for that hour. Once that hour is gone, you are on your own to get off the island."

It was a ludicrous idea—as it had taken them two days to make it from one side to the other—but Tia Dalma had had a plan. She told Will right before the stalactites rose to go the same way they came—except this time, the path would be there for them. Confused, Will merely followed her directions, as he realized he didn't have a lot of time to argue. Elizabeth and the others fought to keep up with Will, who seemed to be going as fast as his legs could take him. "Will—slow down!" Elizabeth called, almost laughing at Will's sudden haste to make it off the island. She could see the black sand beyond them on the beach. "Didn't you hear Tia Dalma—we're going to make it regardless of how fast you--"

She was cut off by Will's sudden scream as he fell to the ground, landing right on the front beach. A hand flew to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Will!"

He was clutching his ankle, and breathing rather heavily. At first, she only thought of it as broken, until she heard hissing. A black snake was slowly making it's way from where Will was lying to the rocks a bit farther down on the beach. Elizabeth rushed towards Will even faster, realizing how critical the situation now was. Her eyes remained on the snake; however, just to insure she didn't get bit either. The snake turned back, as if it was coming back to her, before it winked. Or, at least she thought it winked at her—but she knew from her schooling that snakes don't have eyelids. She probably would have pondered how a snake could have possibly winked at her, if Will hadn't been groaning horribly as he clutched his leg.

"Move your hand," she commanded, taking charge of the situation. Not caring anymore of his silence towards her, he numbly obeyed, still groaning. She lowered her head to the wound and proceeded to suck the poison out. Tia Dalma and Barbossa had finally caught up, and they watched with intrigue as the Governor's daughter cared for her ailing fiancée.

"Oi! Lookie ovah there!" A familiar voice called to the quartet. Elizabeth didn't waste a moment's glance. She had immediately recognized the voice, and therefore discarded all of Pintel's comments. "The Black Pearl's been raised from th' depths!"

Well, you have to give the man some credit; after all, he hadn't been in Poseidon's cave. Still, Elizabeth snorted. She felt the pudgy man sink into the sand next to her.

"Time t'go, poppet," he said, motioning for her to join them in the rowboat.

"I'm not leaving Will here."

"Did I say tha'? I jus' figgered ye didn' want t'carry him yerself," he said sarcastically, taking on that bite in his voice she originally recognized from her first adventure on the Black Pearl. Will groaned and clutched at Pintel's shirt as the man picked him up. "Oooh… 'Eavy. Rigetti!" The tall man who had been talking animatedly to Tia Dalma (completely oblivious to what else was going on around him) nearly fell over as the shorter man addressed him. He ran over, in the awkward fashion that was nearly made infamous by the man, and was quickly at Pintel's side. "'Elp me carry th'whelp." He grunted. Rigetti nodded, but seemed clueless on what exactly Pintel wanted him to do. It wasn't until Will's legs were nearly forcibly shoved into his arms did the skeletal pirate comprehend the situation. They walked awkwardly to the rowboat, the ocean completely calm. Elizabeth followed behind them, her suntanned face covered in her moist, salty tears as she silently wept for her one true love. She heard the hiss of the snake, and an anger boiled up inside of her, one that she had never felt before.

Before she left Isle del Diablo, Elizabeth picked up some seaweed that had washed up on the black shore. Tucking it into her pocket, she finally was in the rowboat, and they were making their way out to open sea. The Black Pearl could be spotted directly next to their old merchant ship, and the men were delivering their boxes of cargo from one ship to the other as Pintel and Rigetti hastily rowed them up to the overbearing black ship.

Elizabeth was cutting up the seaweed she had taken, while Tia Dalma had wet a cloth and was using it to dab off the sweat from Will's forehead. He was moaning, and had fallen unconscious halfway to the ship. "Can't you go any faster?" Elizabeth snapped severely at the two bubbling men, and they did, in fact, speed up.

By the time they had reached the ship, Elizabeth had finished with her haphazard poultice, and Tia Dalma had successfully removed of Will's shirt, and had used the cloth to block off the heavy flow of venom from Will's leg. She had tied a piece of the shirt about four inches above the wound. Elizabeth snatched some of the extra material from her, and applied the poultice gel to it. She then set it on the wound and tied it loosely over the bite. She let her fingers caress Will's face for but a moment, before the younger man was rudely shoved over Barbossa's shoulder as the crew on the Pearl began to pull people over the side and onto the ship.

"Careful," Elizabeth whispered, but she knew Barbossa didn't hear her. Either that, or the elder man truly didn't care what happened to the boy. Truthfully, Elizabeth wasn't sure. She sighed, and grabbed onto the last rope, where she was quickly hoisted upwards onto the Pearl.

Her eyes scanned the deck for any sign of Barbossa or Will, and panicked upon finding no trace of either. She jumped and squealed as a hand came to her shoulder, and she blushed when Tia Dalma chuckled.

"Jumpy, aren't we, chile? Yer dear William is bein' taken t'da Cap'n's quartahs. Ye need to stay wit him tonigh', no matter wha' he say or do, undahstood?" Tia Dalma asked, gently grabbing Elizabeth's shoulders to force her hazel eyes to stare into Tia's. Elizabeth mutely nodded and walked towards the cabin. Tia shook her head and sighed.

"Dose two are gonna haf'ta go t' 'ell an' back fer each other… I hope der ligh' 'earts can take da strain…" She said vaguely, before she instructed Ana Maria to talk the helm and steer them towards the Spanish Americas. "…'Cause dey may haf'ta do it alone…" She whispered when no one else was around her, her eyes glazing over as a weird smile crossed her features.

There was smoke all around him, smoke so thick that it blocked his line of vision in an entire 360-degree circle. He took a step forward, and the smoke seemed to clear… At least, it cleared in front of him to reveal a set of stairs. They were made of stone, but didn't look it. In fact, it looked like the stairs had been made of human skulls. Something inside of Will urged him on… Urged him to climb the stairs—what hurt was there to see where they went?

He began his trudge up the stairs; slightly numb the sound of his echoing footsteps that were beginning to sound like shrieks of horror. The smoke was clearing even more now; he could see so much more around him. It was at that moment that he realized he was carrying something.

Confused chocolate brown eyes went to the large thing in his hand. It was twisted and ugly—it looked like a horribly twisted, knobbed leg. Except there wasn't a foot, and Will realized (right before he was about to toss it away in horror) that it was made of wood.

He looked up from the odd-looking tree branch (as that was what Will assumed it to be) to realize that he was slowly running out of steps. A large platform loomed threateningly above him, and he gulped. Finally, he was there, and he nearly screamed in horror at what he saw.

The platform held to it an alter, but that was not what had scared Will senseless. No, behind the alter was a throne, and upon that throne was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. It had the upper body of an adult human, but the lower half of a goat. He had long, flowing, curly hair, and out of said hair came two large, pointed horns. The thing grinned devilishly at Will, baring yellowed teeth hidden behind a curly goatee. His skin was bright red, and it was then that Will realized where he was.

"Am I dead?"

"Not yet," Hades answered. "Will."

"What?"

"William…"

"What is it—what have I done to deserve this—if I'm not dead—"

"Why am I here?" He shouted into the unknown, thrashing in the bed Barbossa had placed him in as Elizabeth continued to call his name, trying her best to keep him from falling out. "Why are you tormenting me like this? WHAT HAVE I DONE!"

Elizabeth was openly sobbing, for she hated to see her love in such a state. Obviously the fever had taken over him, as his eyes were tightly shut, he was sweating profusely, and looked as though he was about to be sick. "Will—please--"

"Please what--? I refuse to kill anyone… ANYONE. I don't give a damn about Jack Sparrow anymore—how can I get out of here!"

"Will, you don't have to kill anyone--"

"No! NO! I won't do it! YOU CAN'T BLOODY MAKE ME! DO YOU HEAR ME! CAN YOU HEAR ME! You have no control… no control… Elizabeth… Elizabeth…"

"Will, I'm right here! Will… Please…"

"Elizabeth… I'm doing this for you… Only for you… Please… Be happy… Please…"

"Will, I'd be happier if you'd just come back to me!"

"Can't… Elizabeth… didn't… you… hear--?" Will said, his voice quieting down. He was no longer thrashing, although he still seemed to be delirious. His eyes opened wide, and he saw her and smiled. "Didn't you hear, Elizabeth--? I'm dead… I'm dead to you—that's what you said… I heard you say it, Elizabeth… You said it just a few moments ago… Didn't you think I'd hear?"

"Will—what are you talking about--?"

"Elizabeth, get away from me… You don't need me now… Jack's here. Jack is the one you love… Not me… Don't try to make me happy, Elizabeth… You love Jack… You've always loved Jack… I was too big a fool to realize--"

He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening. "Will! Will, what's wrong!"

"Good-bye, Elizabeth… Good-bye forever and ever… Dead… world's gone… dying… blood… tree… tears… dreams…" His eyes were slowly closing… Something rose up inside of Elizabeth, something so powerful that it caused her to raise a hand and slap Will painfully across the face. His eyes opened, and he looked at her. "Can't I die in peace? You're happy now… I see the way you're looking at Jack…"

"Will," she sobbed, grabbing onto his hand and squeezing it, "I see no one but you… I love no one but you…"

"Stop trying to merely make me happy… You don't love me… You wished me dead… I heard you… I heard you… I…"

"William Turner—stay awake! I need you! I love you!" She had buried her head in his shoulder, and panicked at how hot his skin was. "Don't die on me, Will… Please… Please…"

"Didn't you hear, Elizabeth? I'm already dead."

"No, Will—NO! I don't care who is talking to you, you are alive… You love me, and I you, and we are going to marry. I don't give a damn about Jack anymore—Will, don't you see--? I killed him! I killed Jack Sparrow so that you and I could be together!" She lifted her head to see that his eyes were already closed; he hadn't heard her. He hadn't heard her before he…

Then, quite suddenly, his chest rose and fell. Elizabeth cried for joy, before she began to cool him down, taking a wet cloth and dabbing away at the sweat that was all around him. Still crying, she began to monitor the status of her love, her hands shaking as she worked.

"I love you," she whispered over and over to his unconscious form, "Don't die on me…"

Would I be so cruel as to kill off Will so early in the game?
What could possibly be the meaning of his mysterious dream?
What was he holding in his hands?
Did Elizabeth really wish him to be dead?
What does that bloody prophecy mean?

...All will be answered in the next chapter--which should be coming by the end of the week, so keep a head's up, and a sharp eye on the horizon! -laughs at her own corny joke-

BTW: THANKS TO ALL OF THOSE WHO REVIEWED. IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!