Thank you everyone who reviewed! I appreciate it!
I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney does. I only own the characters who weren't in the movies. You know, the ones I made up.
Chills traveled my spine and seemingly rattled my ribcage as I walked through the tunnels with Chrissy and Oliver. The darkness seemed to consume us, forcing us to walk close together even though our lantern shined brightly in the abyss of the tunnel. The atmosphere felt very somber, not making the dampness and cold of the place any better. The ground was slimy and covered in grime, causing our footsteps to echo with a squish, instead of the prominent sound of a foot striking the ground.
Every now and then, in certain areas of the tunnel, we'd hear rain pounding relentlessly above us. It would be so loud and dark at times that we'd have to stop and huddle around the lantern, wait for the loud rain to ease up until we could hear each other talk, then gather our things and continue. We'd also hear the occasional sound of bats chirping and flapping their wings, and other times we'd hear rain leaking in from somewhere within the tunnel.
I silently allowed my eyes to flick back and forth between the wet walls and the ground, weighing my options, when I nearly slipped and fell into something dark, freezing, and wet. "Stop! Don't go any further!" I warned my wife and som.
"What is it?" Oliver ventured, walking a few steps closer than I would have liked for him to.
I furrowed my brows and lowered my lantern. I was standing dangerously close to the edge of a small pool, no larger length or width wise than three grown men laying shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground. Surprisingly, the water was clear, allowing me to be able to see the bottom of the pool. I estimated that if I walked all the way in, the water would come to at least my hips. Looking to my left, I found that water was running silently down the tunnel wall, causing it to look as though someone had taken a shovel and shallowly scooped out the one area where the water was trailing down the grayish rock.
I turned and smiled lightly at my family. "A shallow pool of water." I said, my relief showing in my voice that we wouldn't run out of water now.
"If we make camp, I'd wager that this is the best place we do." Chrissy said, relief also showing in her sentence.
"It's settled, then. I'll set up the beds." Oliver said tiredly as he walked away from us.
I laid quietly, contently in James's arms as he gazed at me in the faint light of the lantern. A light sigh passed my lips as his hands traveled my back, silently soothing the pains I'd been feeling from a long, exhausting day. A playful smirk pulled at the corners of my lips, and I began to rub James's chest in long, slow strokes. A soft groan sounded quietly in the deepest part of his throat, and my smirk melted into a smile. Very, very slowly, my hands trailed lower and lower until they grasped the hem of his shirt. James's face stayed composed, but his eyes sparked with poorly hidden surprise. My smirk returned as one of my hands went beneath his shirt, and my fingers splayed as I pushed that hand upward. My other hand, however, continued going lower. My smirk increased as James's eyes widened, and I fingered the hem of his breeches playfully as I still pushed that hand downward.
James squirmed nervously as he quickly grabbed said hand and pinned it to his chest. "Don't tease!" he whispered roughly, his warm breath lightly caressing my face as he said it.
"Why not?" I asked, still pushing my other hand up beneath his shirt.
"You know why!" he hissed. "You know what you do to me." he whispered, his tone a bit softer as one of his hands stroked my face tenderly.
"I know." I smiled, thinking of the times I'd made him squirm with just my gaze.
I placed a long, gentle kiss on his lips as those memories quickly flooded my mind. The happy memories of our home in Port Royal, and of Isabella, Phillip, Theodore, and Abigail, who I considered siblings. Except Theodore, who was my brother. His fiancée, Abigail, was like a close sister and protective mother all in one to me. I smiled at the thought of how happy she made my dear brother, before my thoughts jumped to Alexander. Just picturing his warm eyes and kind smile made me feel warm in this cold place, like a blanket had been draped over me.
But as quickly as the feeling had come, it dissolved and became an ache as I wondered if I would ever get to see the man that I considered a father, or the people that I loved like siblings. I leaned up and kissed James again, trying to force out the once happy memories that had now become painful. James, who had felt the change in my kiss and mood, gently tilted my chin up to get a better look at my eyes.
"What is the matter?" he asked quietly.
A sigh passed my lips as I gazed sadly into his eyes. "I was thinking about the happy times we've shared in our home in Port Royal. Then I started to think about Alexander, and Theodore…then the rest of our family." I paused. "What if we don't see them…ever? What if we don't get away from…"
My what-if's were silenced by James's lips, his kiss comforting me somewhat. "Don't think like that. We will get away from Davis."
I gently stroked his cheeks at the display of determination and anger in his eyes and voice. Protectively, he pulled me completely against his body, and his arms tightened considerably around me.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked carefully.
"Davis." he growled. "You should be in this condition…you shouldn't have to be in fear because of him." he paused, then closed his eyes. "He's caused too much pain and fear. I want to end this so badly." he seethed.
"Shh…" I tried soothing his anger. "Relax, James. Relax." I tried rubbing his chest and continued to coo to him.
He breathed in deeply, held it, then exhaled loudly. "I'm sorry." he whispered, his eyes glowing a bit dimmer now with his fury.
I smiled, and snuggled against him as I tucked my head beneath his chin. "Don't worry about it. Try to sleep now, James." I whispered. "Try to sleep."
Shortly after the words left my mouth, I found myself having difficulty deeping my eyes open. Minutes later, I'd drifted into a light, dreamless sleep.
I was surrounded by pirates…hundreds, it seemed. They were all grinning wickedly at me, and all of them had a sharp weapon of some sort. The weapons ranged from swords, rusted old daggers, to broken rum bottles. Seemingly, all at once, they lunged me, each jabbing me with their sharp objects all at the same time. I screamed out in pain and tried to back away from them, but it was a wasted attempt. They all followed me and jabbed again and again. I continued to scream and back away, but something stopped me. I could feel someone's hands on my upper arms, and I looked up at the person in hope. My eyes filled with horror when I realized it was James, and he was looking at me with the same wicked expression.
"Help me!" I cried.
He didn't.
He started to yell at me, and got angrier and angrier when I couldn't make out what he was saying. The pirates were yelling and jeering, and it was simply too loud for me to hear him. I screamed like a little boy as the pirates jabbed harder and harder, and James continued to yell more and more.
"Wake up, Oliver! Wake up!" he screamed.
The pirates became silent all of a sudden, but James continued to scream me to wake up. A tall, nicely dressed figure stepped forward, despite James's screams.
Davis.
I tried to step back, but James's grip was too tight, like he was holding on for his life. I began to scream with James as well as the pirates dared to jab harder, and I realized something wasn't right. I looked at Davis a bit closer as my screams continued, and realized that he'd been stabbed right through the stomach, and shot in the head. He was bleeding heavily from his wounds, the blood covering the entire right side of his face, neck, and shoulder. The blood from his stomach wound covered from his stomach to his fine leather boots, but he continued to stand and grin like a mad man, as though he wasn't in pain.
I watched in horror as he drew a pistol from his bloody belt, some of the blond covering his hand and the shiny barrel of the gun. Before he pulled the trigger, he said something. I tried to read his lips, tried to make out the one word he'd said, but I didn't have time to figure it out. He pulled the trigger as James's screams and my own echoed in my ears.
"Wake up!" Were the first words I heard when I woke up screaming, the nightmare still fresh and realistic in my head.
My body still stung like I was being jabbed with hundreds of weapons. I sat up and swatted at my body, knocking someone's hands off of my arms in the process. The stinging continued, as did my screams, and I did the next thing I thought best. I got to my feet as quickly as I could and ran, not stopping until I was under the surface of the small pool. The water was freezing, like I was swimming next to a glacier. The hundreds of weapons went away, but now I was in shock from the freezing cold of the water.
"Cold! How could the water be this cold?" I thought to myself.
It was cold in this tunnel, yes. But could it be possible for the water to be this cold? No matter. It had done three good things for me. It had rid me of the jabbing, and numbed the pain with the cold. I was also wide awake, as well.
"Get out! Find a way out!" My instincts shouted.
But I couldn't move. I felt frozen, like I was stuck in the middle of a glacier and there was no way out. My body was slowly shutting down, I could feel it. I could hear my pulse in my ears like a stampede of horses right beside me…and it was getting slower. I tried to move my arms and legs, but those felt frozen stiff too. My chest was beginning to feel tight, and my lungs were seemingly shrinking, screaming for air.
Just as the air left my lungs and water replaced it, something grasped my upper arms. I could feel myself being lifted, and then a shiver shook my entire body as a wave of cool air rushed to greet my wet body. My vision blurred a bit, and I could feel myself fading. Was I dying? Why couldn't I breathe? A simple task that I'd learned how to do the moment I was brought into this world seemed to have escaped my mind, and I felt like I was being squeezed to death.
"Move!" I heard a female voice order.
I felt my arms and legs being pushed away from my body, and I could barely tell that I was now sprawled out completely on the ground. It felt as though someone was tearing at my body, trying frantically to rid me of something. The tearing and clawing went away in only a matter of seconds, and then I was still again. That is, until a pair of hands began pushing forcefully down on my chest. The next thing I felt were lips against my own and then…air! Sweet, wonderful air. When the lips left mine, the pumping on my chest started again. As though something clicked in my brain, I began taking in large sums of air. This triggered a different reaction, however, and I began to cough.
I could feel a pair of hands on my upper arms again, and then I could feel myself being turned on my side. My coughing became so bad that I began to gag, and shortly after, I coughed up the water that had been in my lungs…and whatever had been in my stomach. Whatever it was, it tasted horrible…like acid was being forced up my throat and out of my mouth. When the horrid event was over, I drew my legs and arms close to my body, only to find that I was completely naked. I didn't care, though. All I cared about was the precious air entering and exiting my lungs.
"James, would you fetch a blanket while I get him on his feet?" I asked quietly as I stroked Oliver's hair out of his face.
James didn't say anything as he got up with a huff.
"Come along, Oliver. It's vital that we get you moving…we need to get the blood flowing through your veins at a normal rate." I urged, tugging on his arms as I said so.
With a bit of tugging, and a small amount of effort on Oliver's part, I got him to his feet in only a matter of moments.
"Bloody..!" James shuddered.
"What?! What is it?!" I rushed, trying move Oliver quickly along with me.
"Look!"
I looked to the blanket that Oliver had been laying on only…only moments ago, and shuddered as well. Hundreds of spiders seemed to be crawling angrily across Oliver's makeshift bed. They appeared to be no larger than my thumb nail, and were different colors. They had a shiny sheen about them, and they ranged in color from green, to blue, red.
"Get back! Get back from them!" I cautioned James. "Grab one of our blankets. I don't think I see any spiders on them. Check to be sure, first, though. We don't need him to get bitten anymore than he already has been. We've got to get him covered up and moving."
James quickly obliged…probably in haste because of the fact that Oliver was standing completely naked beside me. I didn't care, though. If we'd have kept those cold cloths on him, we may as well have just let him die.
"Here. It doesn't have any spiders on it, I checked." James stated as he quickly draped the blanket about Oliver's shoulders, then pulled it around and covered the rest of his still shivering body.
With a nod, I quietly pulled Oliver to me and began rubbing his back and shoulders, and every now and then I would make him jump up and down, or something of that sort. When I became satisfied with the amount of movement he did, I had James move the beds, and check for spiders before we eased Oliver down atop the blankets.
"What are you doing?" James asked irritably as I laid down beside Oliver…who was still shivering. "You realize that he's naked beneath that blanket?"
"He needs warmth, James. This blanket isn't good enough." I whispered, wrapping my arms about Oliver as I said it. "Come along, James. He can use all the heat he can get."
"Darling…" he started.
"I don't care!" I nearly shouted. "He doesn't have anything you don't! I will not lose another child, James! Now get down here and share your body heat, like me. That's an order!"
Without another word James eased himself down on the blanket, then pressed himself against Oliver as I had, causing him to be pressed tightly and warmly between us.
"Go to sleep now, Oliver." I whispered as I stroked his hair. "Go to sleep."
Oliver whimpered as he continued to shake and shiver, trying his best to fall asleep as I had told him. I held him close to me as I shushed and cooed, even sang lullabies to him as I tried to rock him from the position we were in.
"He's asleep." James whispered after a few minutes. "You need sleep, too."
"After that?" I chuckled. "I won't be getting anymore sleep."
With a sigh, James began to stroke my cheek tenderly. "At least try." he yawned.
He was asleep shortly after.
I did exactly as I said I would. I didn't catch anymore sleep after the events that had occurred. I stayed awake until the sun rose, and continued to hold Oliver to me the entire time.
GO CHRISSY!! It seems that James isn't the only one who can give orders! Please review! Thanks!