-1712-

- The First Brethren Court Meeting Place, Neptune's Palace -

"Will?" He sighed as he popped open his hazel eyes. The eight year old glanced over at the door where he knew she would be standing. She did it at least once every single night since they came to stay here. He smiled, since he had already moved over even before she had woke him up. She smiled back and jumped on the bed beside him. She was quiet for a moment, before the young princess focused her emerald eyes on him and said, "Will?"

"Li..." Will whined, pushing one of his curls out of his face to stare up at her. She was making a pout face. Being three years younger than Will, Will always felt like he had some sort of an advantage over Lila. But at times like these, he didn't. He rolled over and saw the scared look on her face. When he saw this, he said, "Are you alright?" She shook her head, and snuggled into him as she whispered, "I heard our parents talking about that lady that was killed." Will fell silent at that, since he heard it too. "I'm scared."

"Li, don't be." Will said, sitting up. She was still laying down, but when he sat up, she sat up too and stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "Let's go downstairs and I'll get Mummy." Lila didn't protest as she usually would. Will got off of the bed, and grabbed Lila's hand. Lila sighed, grabbed her stuffed bear, and followed Will down the stairs.

Inside the room, Anne was holding on to a crying Jack. She closed her green eyes, and rested her head on top of his as Neptune stared out the window. Grant was silent as he stood behind where Bill was sitting. Alena was the first one to speak up, "If Athena was..." She glanced at Jack, then said, "Where are the children?" Neptune shook his head and looked at Grant who took over for him, "They moved here with their father."

"Father? Triton-"

"-not Triton." Neptune said, recovering from the silence that surrounded them. Jack was still silently crying, not caring anymore. Anne was trying to calm him, as Neptune said, "The man they believe is their father. Athena never told them that Triton was there father. She thought it too dangerous. Their family friend, Mercer. That's who they think their father is. That's all they've ever known." Neptune stood up from his seat, and said, "Athena and Mercer...had a relationship a few years ago. Now, he knows that the son isn't his...but the daughter, he believes actually is his. I think Athena believed it for a while herself, actually. We said they died along with Athena so that James wouldn't come for them."

"-I was aiming for Becket..." Jack whispered against Anne's shoulder. Anne's eyes were sparkling as she held on to her crying nephew. Grant darted his eyes over at his 16 year old son, and closed them momentarily. The young general tore off his naval jacket, and stormed out of the room. Neptune sighed, and followed after Jack leaving Anne, Grant, Alena and Bill in the room. Anne stood next to her brother, and said, "So, then it's agreed. Whoever mutanied Atlantis will come after us. If they can't get to us, they'll get to our children. Athena helped us start this, and we'll continue it." And it was on that night, that the Brethren Court was reborn after nearly a century. Outside the room, Will stepped backwards when he saw a man he didn't recognize storm out of the room with Neptune behind him. Lila held on to Will's arm tightly as Alena walked out, smiling. "Come here, darlings." She said, picking up Lila and putting her hand on her son's head. "There's someone we want you to meet."

Lila looked down at Will, who was holding Alena's hand, and together, the three of them walked into the ballroom. A young girl, no older than Lila, was standing beside one of the guards. Her curly black hair fell past her shoulders, and she fixed her auburn eyes up at them when they walked in. "Saphira?" Alena said, in a gentle voice. "Saphira, darling. This is my son, Will." Will smiled at her, causing Saphira to beam back at him. Lila, who was a little overprotective of Will, made a disapproving sound when Will introduced himself. Alena smiled at Lila and then said to Saphira, "And this is Lila."

"Hi, Lila." Lila gave her best princess smile, the fake ones she had seen her mother give on a daily basis and said, "Hi, Saphira." Once Alena left the three children in the ballroom, Lila said loud enough for both Will and Saphie to hear, "Stay away from Will. He's mine." Will rolled his eyes, and took Saphie to the next room. Lila was about to say something, but paused when she glanced out the window and saw a man standing by the window. She didn't recognize him, but she noticed that he had been staring at that Saphira girl. His silver eyes made her freeze, and she yelled, "WILL!" Moments later, Will and Saphie came running back into the room. "LILA! Li, what's wrong?" Will said, looking down at her. She only shook her head, but was unable to get that man's face out of her head...

- Present Day -

- The Flying Dutchman, Atlantic Ocean -

"Lila..." He whispered against against her hand as he held it. Saphira watched Will do this, tearfully as Calypso stood in front of the bed, staring down at Lila. Saph turned to see that Rupert was holding a sobbing Anamaria in the corner of the room, and had this been under different circumstances, she would have been smiling at this. But when your best friend is dying, there isn't really much to be smiling about.

"Will-yum. I cannot do a ting." Calypso said, shaking her head. Will wasn't for sure, but he could have sworn he saw a tear form in that bloody witch's eye. "If 'er will be strong, she can pull through...but it seem dat she be losin' all hope." Calypso put her hand on Lila's forhead as she said this. Will was holding Lila's hand as he asked her, "Lila never loses hope."

"Sometin' is makin' 'er lose it. The baby..." Will's gaze met Calypso's as she said, "Give or take, it 'as a few more months. But goddess babies are different than mortal babies. And if Lila doesn't improve soon, she'll 'ave to 'ave it." Saphira let out a sob at that, knowing what Calypso meant. Lila was dying, and she'd have to have the baby so it wouldn't die too. Jack put his arms around her and brought him. He hadn't talked much in the last few hours, only stared. Will only nodded at this, as another tear rolled down his cheek. Calypso walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder as she whispered, "I'm sorry...I wish I could do sometin'." Will smiled sadly up at her, knowing that she would. Calypso took another look at her goddaughter, before walking out once more.

"What can we do?" Rupert asked, holding Ana who was still crying, now quieter. Saphira wiped her eyes, and pulled back from Jack a bit to say, "Didn't you hear her?" Jack sighed and leaned against the wall, cursing under his breath as Saphira said, "Nothing!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Saphira! If you think you're the only person in this room who cares about Lila, than you're sadly mistaken." Rupert shot at her, causing Jack to look up at him and shoot at him, "Shu' up, Rupert. Alrigh'? No one wants to-"

"-all of you shut up!" Ana said, lifting her head off of Rupert's shoulder. Everyone, with the exception of Will, turned to look at her as she did that. "We all bloody care 'bout 'er, so stop tryin' to compete over who's more upset!" Ana wiped the kohl lines that were smearing down her cheek as it mixed with her tears. Jack fell silent once again as he leaned against the wall and muttered, "We can't do this without 'er."

"So, what, Jack? Are you just giving up?" Will asked him, looking up at him. Jack couldn't help but notice the hint of anger in his voice as he said that. Jack looked down at Will with a look of mild accusation as he said, "Out of everyone on this bloody ship, I don't need to hear it from you, Turner-"

"-well, I'm just saying that it's not like the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow to give up-" Will got up as Jack took a step towards him. The pirate captains were pratically nose to nose as Jack spat at his former first mate, "You want to repeat that, Turner?"

"Of course, Captain Sparrow. I said-"

"Will! Jack! Goodness." Saphie said, shaking her head. Will and Jack tore the eyes off of each other momentarily to look at Saphie who was walking towards them as she said, "You're both upset! We all are! Alright, but this is no way to deal with it, and you know it. You also know that if there were two people in this world that Lila looks up to most, it's you two." That made Jack and Will both freeze, and look back at each other. Will sighed, and walked back over to the lifeless form of Lila. He sat beside her, and stroked her cheek, before saying, "What do we do? Lila had all the ideas-"

"-Will stop talking about me in past tense, honestly. I'm not dead yet." Will was taken back for a minute, before he looked down at who said that. Lila flashed him a weak smile, that quickly turned into a smirk. Jack sighed out of relief, as Saphira glanced over at Rupert and Ana and smiled, though she knew it wasn't over. Not by a long shot. Much to everyone's relief, the storms (which had been a mixture of snow, rain, hurricanes and a few maelstroms) had settled, and the seas had become calmer. Will smiled at her, and leaned down and kissed her. She smirked and said, "Honestly, darling..." She paused for a moment, Will knew because another pain had shot through her. She didn't have the Jewel, which meant everytime she had to use a power, it killed her. Literally. And until Calypso could make another Jewel, Lila's clock was quickly ticking. And Calypso had said, that putting together Lila and her mother's powers could take a while, a few days at the least.

"Triton's navy are surrounding Atlantis. Someone's set you up, Li. He has reason to believe that you're trying to-"

"-I figured as much." Lila said, in a weak voice that no one in the room recognized as hers. Will helped her sit up, and then sat beside her so that she could lean into him. Lila was thinking for a minute, before she looked at Will and said, "When I was asleep, or whatever I was...I remembered something."

Jack came to stand behind Will, and looked down at his cousin as Saphira, Ana and Rupert remained near the window. Saphira was looking out as if she could place where she was. Jack saw this, and was about to question it, but Lila interrupted him and said, "When we were little...and we heard our parents talking about their kids. Mercer thought that he was Athena's daughter's father. He knew he wasn't their son's father..." Lila looked up at Saphie at the exact same time that Saphira looked at Lila.

"Saphie, that's why Mercer's after you. You're not his daughter. Not really. And something made him figure that out..." Lila felt weak again, and put her hand to her head. Will pulled her into his arms, and rubbed her back as he said, "What are you saying, Li?"

"I think Saphira and Rupert are Triton's children. Which would mean that should Triton resign from ruling Atlantis, Rupert would take over. And if Mercer's as smart as we know him to be, he probably figured out that if Rupert's ruler of Atlantis, and I'm Queen of the Seas, then we can over power him and his bloody army in a heart beat. But there's got to be another reason-" Rupert and Saphie glanced at each other, not quite sure as to what was going on. Then it finally hit him, "So, I'd be king? So, I could...boss you around?" Rupert smirked over at Lila.

"Don't get your hopes up, darling." Lila said, in a cocky tone. "You would rule over Atlantis. Something I don't have power over. The only thing that I don't have power over." When Rupert didn't say anything, clearly confused, Lila said, "Put in your terms, you'd still have to listen to me, darling."

"Damn." Rupert muttered, causing Ana to smile at him as she leaned against him. Now, since Lila was a little better, Saphie decided that she could smile. Will looked at his wife with concern as she coughed. He kissed her head, rubbing her back, and said, "What should we do, darling?"

"You're in charge of the navy, Will. You, Rupert, Saphie and Ana will go circle Atlantis with the navy. Keep some with Jack and me for backup. We'll go talk to Triton and see if we can't get this straightened out. Either way, there'll still be a war." Lila glanced down at the map, to see that they were still a good few days away from being close to Atlantis. She sighed as she saw the red moving dot, locating where the Sun was, getting closer to Singapore.

That was the magic of this map. Along with the book that Lila managed to snag from her father's study. The book had every single registered pirate captain listed pretty much since the day that they were born, complete listing of their ships, spouse and children when they had them. Same went for the map. Every ship registered was shown on the map 24/7. The red dots would move to where it was headed, and even if the ship had been sunk for over a century, it still showed up on the map.

"The Empress?" Lila whispered to herself, looking at the map. That was a name that made Will's head snap back around. He peered down at the map to see the Empress sailing towards Singapore, countering their route just the opposite way. Saphie glanced up too and said, "The Empress? But Lila, I thought-"

"-I did too. It shouldn't be moving anyway." Lila took the book that Jack was handing her, and flipped to the S's. "Swann..Swann...nothing. Where the bloody hell is she?" Will shifted, uncomfortably beside Lila and said in a reluctant voice, "Try the T's, darling." Lila blinked at him for a minute, before making a disgusted sound. Jack smirked, causing Saphie to smack his arm as Lila turned to look under Turner. "Captain Elizabeth Tur-" Lila winced slightly, and decided it best not to go on. She looked down under ships and read, "No one's captained the Empress since Elizabeth-" She trailed off and glanced at Will.

Will smiled at her and said, "Darling, I'm fine. I promise." He put his hand on her knee, and gave her a reassuring smile. Lila smiled at him, before saying,"No one captained it since she died, not even any of Fang's relatives..ew, he had kids? With who?" Jack made a noise, causing Rupert to start laughing as if he had read Jack's mind. Ana and Saphie looked at both boys with a disgusted look, as Lila and Will turned to glare at them.

"Sorry." Rupert said, glancing at Jack who shot him a smirk before turning back to Saphie. Lila rolled her eyes, ingnoring a pain that shot through her, and said, "Tell your ships to stop in Singapore. Someone's not registered as the Empress captain. That was one of the things my father stated if we were to allow piracy in the kingdom. They had to be registered."

"So, wha'? You're goin' to arrest them?" Jack asked, amused as he moved his hand around Saphira's waist. Lila nodded and said, "Yes. Unless they give me a good reason not to." Will smirked. When Lila was in Queen mode, it was hard to get her out of it. For someone who wanted so badly not to take the job just a few months ago, she was taking it very seriously now. Lila got up off the bed, causing Will to practically jump off of it, and walked an inch behind her, "Li, do you think you should be-"

"-darling, Calypso said there's nothing that can be done. Moving around isn't going to kill me faster." At the words, 'kill me faster' Will winced slightly, causing Lila to kiss him briefly and say, "Querido, I'm fine. I promise you." Will smiled at her, and moved his arm around her waist, letting her lean into him as Saphie asked, clearly still in shock, "You really think that Rupert and my father is Triton, Lila? I mean..."

"I do." Lila said, smirking. She took a step towards Saphira and said, "I always wondered why you loved the ocean so much. I knew you weren't a goddess, because I am and I grew up hating it." Lila smiled as she said, "You know. Athena was part mermaid...opps." Lila smirked as she put her arm around Will, and walked out leaving a shocked Saphie behind. Jack made a face and said, "Wha' the 'ell was tha' 'bout?" Saph shook her head, and sat back down, causing Rupert, Ana and Jack to all stare at her.

As Will and Lila made it to the top deck, Will was shocked to see how pale Lila's usually glowing, tanned skin had become. She didn't look like the Lila he knew. The strong, full of life pirate he always knew. She coughed, trying desperatley not to since she knew Will was behind her. Will walked up behind her as she held on to Jack's compass she managed to slip away from him a few days ago. She watched it spin, as Will took the wheel of the Dutchman, and said, "Calypso said that you're will wasn't strong, Li. Why isn't it?"

"My Will's strong." Lila said with a smirk as she turned to look at her captain. Will smiled back at her as she said, "That had nothing to do with it, love." Lila said, leaning against the railing, holding in another cough. She smirked again, causing Will to feel relived that she was acting somewhat like her usual, sarcastic self, "Let's just say this..."

She walked over to him. He moved one of his arms off of the wheel so that she could stand in front of him. Keeping one arm around her, and one arm around the wheel, he smirked down at her as she said to him, "...where there's a Will, I'll always have a way..."