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.

Having gotten no sleep, not even having attempted sleep, I just stared at the tunnel walls while Oliver and James lightly snored away. But, as I listened to the rhythmic breathing of my men, I began to take notice that the walls were turning lighter shades of gray, like someone kept dragging a paint brush across them every five minutes of a lighter color. In fact, it got to the point that I didn't need a lantern to see. I could actually see sunlight at the end of the tunnel!

I quietly pulled myself from James and Oliver and got to my feet in one smooth motion. Excitement building in me, I walked in large strides towards the sunlight, towards freedom. Vines covered the exit heavily, causing me to groan and growl in frustration as I tried to push through.

When I finally did get past the troublesome vines, I stood and absorbed the sunlight, not caring that the brightness was hurting my eyes. I breathed deeply, enjoying the fact that everything smelled so fresh, so…green. I was surrounded by green! Green ferns…full, large palm trees with large green leaves. Young green saplings and vines. The ground even seemed to be green, covered in fallen green leaves.

I inhaled the jungle aroma again, and walked forward to see if I could figure out where we were. I could smell water mixed in with the smell of leaves and trees, and could hear it, too. After a few moments of walking, I suddenly froze, and my eyes widened.

I knew our exact location.

I took off from my stand-still to an all out sprint. I took off so quickly, that if someone blinked, they would have missed my sudden start off. It was all hitting me at once. The familiar sounds and smells, the locations of the trees…I knew them all. I jumped over enormous tree-roots, I ducked under low branches…I launched myself between closely-grown palm trees and even swung from a few sturdy vines. I knew exactly where to go.

It was as though I'd never left. I smiled at the sight before me as I literally dug my heels into the soft ground. The clear water, the rocks spread out here and there, and the waterfall. This was where James and I had shared our first kiss, where he'd taught me how to dance. I nearly cried as the memories flooded my mind, and I sank to my knees in the water and bent over the surface and drank.

I savored the taste as I pushed from my chin to the bridge of my nose under the water. It tasted just as I remembered.

"James!" I whispered.

He'd need to see this! I leapt to my feet and took off, arriving faster to the tunnel than I had the water. It didn't take me quite as long to push through the vines, either. It felt like I just waltzed right through them compared to last time.

"Chrissy?"

I started a bit at the weak call. I'd not been expecting anyone to be up yet. Though, it wasn't the fact that someone else was awake that startled me. It was the fact that the voice that had called me had sounded so weak, and pain-filled.

"Chrissy?" Came the weak call again.

I stepped forward, squinting. Though the sun was shining in, the tunnel was still very dark. I continued forward anyway, my eyes adjusting as I tried to make out the awake figure. It was Oliver. He was sitting up and looking about, and his breathing sound quick, like he was panicked. Upon hearing this, I made my way to him in a haste, then knelt down in front of him once I reached him.

"I'm here, Oliver. Don't worry." I whispered as I cupped the left side of his face.

"I can't see you!" he nearly cried in panic.

I furrowed my brows. It wasn't that dark in here. I could see him perfectly now. "Can you see my hand?" I asked, putting said body part not even an inch from his face.

"No!" he panicked. "I can't see anything!"

I got up quickly and grabbed his breeches from where I'd laid them out last night to dry. "Can you stand up without stepping on James, or do you need me to guide you?"

"Help." he whispered.

I wasted no time in tugging him to his feet, before handing his breeches to him. "Put this on. It's your breeches. Maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you, because of the darkness of the tunnel." I said hopefully.

After feeling around for a few minutes, and with a little struggle, Oliver had his breeches on, and was soon reaching out for me. "Where are you?"

"I'm here, in front of you. See? This is my hand touching your shoulder."

When he didn't respond, I knelt down and grasped James's shoulder and shook with a lot of force. "James, wake up!" I shouted.

James jerked to a sitting position with a start, his green eyes wide with alarm. "What is it?!"

"I'll explain in a moment, dearest. On your feet, now."

With his brows furrowed, he did as I told him as I stood and placed my hands on Oliver's shoulders.

"Oliver, James is going to carry you, alright? Don't be alarmed. We're going to take you out in the sunlight to see if that makes things any better." I explained in a soothing voice.

He nodded curtly.

James's brow remained furrowed. I shook my head, mouthing that he would find out in a moment. With our silent conversation over, James put one arm around Oliver's back, and the other at the back of his knees. Oliver whimpered a bit as James lifted him with ease. Perhaps he was still sore from his misadventure last night/ I shook my head as though I could rid the images from my memory that occurred last night, then lightly gripped James's upper arm and began to lead him to the end of the tunnel.

"When did you find this?" James whispered.

"What?" I asked, still distracted by Oliver's reactions.

"The way out of the tunnel. When did you find it?"

"This morning when the sun rose. I could see the sunlight shining through." I answered quietly as I held the vines away from the exit, allowing James to get through easier. "Alright, ease him on the ground." I whispered, having lost my voice at the sight.

Oliver's skin had changed dramatically since last night. From his face to the hem of his breeches, he was incredibly pale, like a corpse. He was covered in thumb-sized purple knots where he'd been bitten, making it appear that he had hundreds of small bruises.

"I…I can't see." he breathed. "Well, not clearly. Everything is blurred, some things are blurred together." he whimpered.

I knelt down and gently cupped his milk-colored face in my small hands, then looked him directly in the eyes. I realized that his once light, grayish colored eyes were tinted a reddish color, making him appear to be a supernatural being. His pupils were tiny, and seemed to be covered by a purplish fog.

I waved my right hand before his eyes. "Can you see my hand?"

He nodded weakly. "Barely. It's just a blur."

Out of curiosity, I held my hand still in front of his face. "What color does my hand appear to be?"

He furrowed his brows and squinted, even leaned forward a bit and stared at my hand. "Sort of a reddish, purplish color. Everything is the same color, actually. That's why some shapes appear to be one instead of two." he whispered, gasping for air after just the three sentences.

I looked over at James worriedly as he knelt down beside me. "I've been bitten by these spiders before. They travel in groups to have a bigger affect on their prey, but, I've never seen that many in a group before!"

He furrowed his brows, and I could see the concern in his eyes. "When did you get bitten? How many bit you?"

I sighed. "About five years before I met you. I was bitten by ten, at least. I never got this sick, though." I whispered, gesturing to Oliver. "They do cause temporary, semi-blindness, and your skin does go pale."

"What about his sight? The color he's seeing and the change to his eye color?"

I nodded. "That's to be expected. Though, when I had it, everything appeared to be scarlet. I guess it has a different sight affect with different people."

"Well, what about the knots where he was bitten?" he asked.

I nodded. "That's to be expected, too."

His eyes widened. "That big?!" he whispered in shock. "Look at those! They're as big as your thumb!"

"Yes. That's normal for this type of spider bite." I assured him.

He sighed and turned his attention back to Oliver, who looked on the edge of fainting. He lifted his left hand and gently opened one of Oliver's half-closed eyes, and studied the different coloring the venom was causing. When he finished studying his eyes, he turned his attention to the large, purple knots, and gently brushed his index finger over the top of one of the bites. Oliver's eyes jerked open, and his muscles flexed then un-flexed several times before his head fell back against the ground.

I quietly seized James's wrist and clutched it to my chest. "From now on, don't touch the knots. They itch, burn, and cause you to be very, very sore."

"Is there a cure? Are they…fatal…if not taken care of?" he asked as soon as he was certain Oliver had passed out.

I sighed again. "I…I don't know." I replied brokenly, an audible lump in my throat. "I've never gotten it this bad before! When I would get bitten, I was only sick for a week! But this…" I faltered.

I rubbed my eyes furiously, trying to stop the flood of tears filling them. When James began rubbing my back, trying to comfort me, I shook hands off. "I'm not supposed to be acting this way! He isn't dead!" I growled through gritted teeth. "There is one thin we can try. Whenever I would get bitten, I would crawl down to my swimming area and pull a certain plant from the water. It would sooth the itching, and take care of a little of the soreness. I think there's some sort of protein in it that helps you fight it off, as well."

He nodded. "It sounds helpful, but…aren't we quite a distance from where they're found?"

I smiled. "No. We're only a few yards from the swimming area, James! I found it this morning!"

A slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Let's go, then."

I nodded. "Let me fetch his shirt, and some weapons, then we'll go."

Though my wife wasn't saying anything, I could tell by her body language that she was telling me to be gentle as I lowered Oliver to the ground. I eased him gently against a rock near the water's edge, purposely putting his feet in the water to see if it would bring his temperature down.

"Get his bandana wet, it might help." she suggested as she waded knee-deep in the clear pool.

"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked as I removed his bandana.

"It's a deep shade of red…" she started, now up to her hips. "It looks like…a quill, if you would. They usually grow beneath the surface, or just above it."

Her eyes brightened up suddenly, and in a heartbeat she dove gracefully under the surface. I watched anxiously through the clear, sparkling water as she grabbed plant after plant, not leaving until she'd gotten all of the ones before her. Moments later, her head broke the surface, and she swam to us as best as she could with the plants clutched in her left hand.

Just as she'd said, the plants were in the shape of a quill. The stem was thin and black, and the actual plant part of it was red, and flared out like a feather. Its texture was smooth, and appeared to be a bit slimy.

"Wake him up." she said quietly as she crawled up next to Oliver.

"Oliver!" I said in a loud, clear voice as I shook his shoulder.

His eyes flutter open lazily, and filled with pain immediately. He squeezed his eyes shut in agony, and gripped fistfuls of soft, wet earth. "Make it stop!" he moaned. "It's too loud!"

I glanced at my wife in confusion, then looked back to Oliver. "What's too loud, Oliver? What do you hear?"

"The clanging! Can't you hear it? It's so loud!" he cried.

For the first time today, I stopped to listen. Then there it was! The distant clanging of swords! It sounded like many of them were clanging together, before the gunshots started going off. Oliver covered his ears and nearly fell over when this happened.

"Grab him!" Chrissy rushed. "We need to figure out what's going on!"

The familiar winding path led us from the swimming area to the front of the beach, where all of the fighting was going on. I was both surprised, and thrilled, to find that Davis's crew was being fought by men wearing Royal Navy uniforms. Looking closer, I found that I recognized some of the men.

"Oliver," I said in a strict voice as I hid him beneath some of the brush. "Stay here. I'll come back for you when this is over."

Chrissy knelt down and handed him the strange red plants, and nodded. "Do as he says, alright? You're going to be fine."

"We need to help them." I told her desperately. "I can't just stand by while my men fight!"

I drew my sword, anxious to dive into the battle. There was a certain captain I wanted to take revenge on.

She nodded, also drawing her sword. That's all I needed. I rushed forward with a scowl on my face, determination and adrenalin pulsing through my veins. I swung at the first man that came at me, striking him down without flaw. Some of the pirates were surprised to see me, and I took advantage of that. I swung at two of the men with my bloodied sword, hitting both of them successfully. One of them stumbled back in pain, and the other lunged forward. I swung at him in rage, taking him out with just a few swings.

All the while, my eyes searched furiously for Davis, who I found fighting Lieutenant Theodore Groves not very far from me. I began running at them, swinging blindly to make sure no one got in the way. The two of them looked at me with shock, both freezing briefly before Davis turned and swung at me. I blocked his blow and lunged.

"I thought you were dead?!" he yelled above all the noise.

"I'm obviously not!" I screamed, lunging again.

He dodged, then swung at my right shoulder. I growled when his blade struck me, but barely felt the pain. I was too angry. I swung at his chest and hit my target, leaving a bloody slash. He staggered back, then lunged again.

"Come now, Admiral! We must put on a good show for our audience!" he laughed, trying to cover his obvious pain.

I glanced quickly around me, only to realize that all of the fighting had stopped. Both pirates and navy men had frozen in surprise that I was alive, and watched as I had it out in fury with the pirate captain. Davis took advantage of my momentary distraction to lunge at me. I jumped away quickly, and his sword only grazed the knuckles of my right hand. I ignored the pain. I used my anger to urge me on.

"This is between you and me." I growled.

He only smirked as he reached inside his coat with his free hand, withdrawing a pistol. Panic began taking over my senses as he pointed the gun not at me, but at Chrissy, who was standing in front of our small crowd. Out of desperation, I jumped back a bit and kicked at his right hand as hard as I could. His sword flew out of his grasp and landed with a thud in the sand.

He only grinned. "I won't be needing that anyway."

I lunged forward, shoving my blade through his stomach. To my satisfaction, it went completely through him. His eyes widened, and the hand holding his pistol lowered slightly. He turned to me with shock in his eyes.

"You killed my son!" I snarled, twisting the blade in his gut.

His jaw tightened as he tried to appear strong in front of his crew.

"You tortured me, and an innocent young boy!" I growled, twisting my sword again.

His hand tightened on the handle of his pistol.

I gripped his right shoulder, and stepped close, so that I was dangerously near his face. "You made the fatal mistake of touching my wife!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, so that all of the people surrounding us could hear. "No. One. Touches. Her." I hissed, driving my sword hard the rest of the way, until the base of the hilt was shoved against his stomach.

To my surprise, and everyone else's, he smiled, and chuckled wickedly. "Did the boy…ever…tell you? Do you know…who's son…you've been…taking care of…this entire…time?" he asked through heavy breaths. He turned his head and looked at Oliver, who emerged from the crowd. "Lord…Cutler…Beckett's. That's…who."

He raised his hand again and pulled the trigger. Oliver's eyes closed as he fell limply to the ground, and lay there, unmoving.

Evil cliff hanger! Don't worry, I've already got some of the next chapter written, and an idea of what I want in the rest of it. Hopefully I'll have it up soon. Please review! Thanks!