Ahoy!

Before I begin I'd like to recommend PirateNinjaCJS's Fanfic "Never Would Have Lied". If you're a fan of Sweeny Todd (and of course the beautiful Johnny Depp) then you should definately go and check it out! It's awesome.

Lots of love to you all

LV xx

I tried not to panic. I really did, but then I thought about my unborn child and the current situation, the danger, and I started shaking. Where were they taking us? I tried to keep Jack in my sight as much as possible. Seeing him calmed me down greatly. With him, I had always felt safe. He was, and always had been, a dangerous kind of safety.

The streets that we were dragged through were empty, desolate. The buildings on either side were at varying stages of ruin. All of them were dark inside. They looked cold and unwelcoming. Behind the cracked glass of a few windows shapes moved and faces stared out at us. Our presence slowly built up more interest and soon figures began appearing at the doorways. Children stared at us until an adult pulled them back. Nobody said anything. The entire city was deathly quiet. Every face I saw was blank, void of any emotion except from the misery in their eyes. It surprised me how many of the people we saw were children. It seemed to be the vast majority. I changed from being terrified of them to feeling overwhelmingly sorry for them all. They just looked so sad.

By now, I had stopped resisting the hands that held me and just let them roughly guide me down many different streets. Each street looked basically the same as the one before. All the buildings were damaged and looked as if they had been for some time. I supposed that since Atlantis had sunk beneath the waves they didn't have sufficient tools or materials to repair everything. What about food? Did they have enough to eat down here? I tried not to think about the lengths that a limited food supply could drive people to. The Pelegostos tribe and their cages of bone sprang briefly into my mind.

Just… please don't eat us, I prayed silently.

Further in to the city centre the buildings got bigger and slightly grander. We were led to a particularly grand one which sat at the bottom of a hill. The flight of stairs which ran up to the large doors had cracked in half. The brickwork in the walls was crumbling and pieces were flaking off. Only three of the windows were intact. Whoever was holding me raised a fist and banged on the heavy, wooden door. The bang echoed in still air.

Everything about this place was so very quiet and still. I was sure that if someone at the other end of the city were to drop something, we would be able to hear it. It may sound peaceful, but it was not. It was eerie.

The door creaked open. A tall man dressed in rags looked at me. He looked proud and almost… regal. He didn't suit his rags. His eyes were full of pride and they were full of honour. He was fierce, almost challenging me to judge him. I stared back at him with my own agenda. Please don't kill us.

He said nothing, he just nodded to whoever was behind me and stepped back to allow us in. The marble floor beneath my feet was cracked and some of the huge pillars of stone stretching from floor to ceiling had crumbled to rubble. Around the walls thousands of tiny different coloured tiles were arranged in what was once clearly a bright pattern, but now the colours had faded and some of the paint was flaking off. In the middle of the room stood a giant, golden fountain. It glinted and shimmered, looking almost brand-new and out of place in this desolate room. The golden figures of an old woman and a baby were sculpted on top of it and from their mouths poured a sparkling purple liquid which collected in a basin at their feet. Around the basin were the words 'Aquæ istæ animam refove'. They looked familiar, then I remembered that they were the words that had been written in the book that Indigo had given us. That was it. That was the Fountain of Youth. I heard a muffled cry from Jack.

I tried to glance back at him but my captor kept my head facing forward. They dragged us past the Fountain to where a wide set of steps ran up to a platform . In the middle there was a grand chair which had a dark, hooded figure sitting in it. On the steps stood several young men, who bore a great resemblance to the one who had opened the door. The man who was standing closest to the chair walked down and stood in front of us.

They spoke to each other in a language I didn't understand. Then one of them spoke and looked directly at me. Was he speaking to me? The hand covering my mouth was removed. There was a huge silence. I took a breath and opened my mouth. He looked expectantly at me.

"Erm…" I said slowly. "I don't really understand…"

"Ah you speak English," he smiled. "Very good. Are you a threat?"

"No," I said. I couldn't help but think that it was a very stupid question. What kind of person would say yes?

He turned to the person in the chair. "Is she telling the truth?" I couldn't see the figure's face, but I saw him nod. He looked back to me and smiled again. "Good. And your name is…?"

"Isabel Sparrow," the hooded figure snatched the words out of my mouth. My mouth hung open, the man standing before me didn't look phased. He just nodded.

"How did you get here?" he asked me. I hesitated for a fraction of a second in case the hooded figure was going to answer for me again. He remained silent and still.

"It was a long journey," I sighed. I was tired and didn't really want to launch into the whole thing right there and then.

"I can imagine. Where are you from?"

"Well… we don't have a set home, as such. We're just sort of from the general Caribbean area." I said vaguely. The man before me frowned.

The hooded figure raised a hand, "They're pirates."

"Um… well yes, we are…." I gulped. Tension prickled around me. It was difficult to say which way this would go. If this was Port Royal that statement would have sealed our fate, but I had no idea what the Atlantisian view of piracy was.

He just nodded again, "Don't worry. Your kind is welcome here. It was not you who drove us here in the first place. Tell me, how is the New World?"

"It's… not as… interesting down here."

Quiet laughter rippled around the room. The man smiled at me. I could see he was warming to us. "I'll bet it isn't. And you… you are with child."

"Yes."

"How long have you got?"

"Three days," I gulped again. "The third is almost over."

"Then you should rest." The man holding me let go of me. I looked back at Jack and the others.

"Em…" I started to stammer.

"Don't worry, they can come too," he smiled again. "My name is Isaacio. "

Issacio placed a hand between my shoulder blades and started to lead me away. We had only gone a few steps before the figure spoke again. "They're here about the Fountain."

Oh, shit...

"Now…" Jack had managed to wriggle free. "That's not completely accurate… we were actually just worried about what had become of such a magnificent and-"

"He's lying," the hooded figure said. He was calm enough, but there was something sinister about the way he said it. Jack shrank back.

"Erm… I'm…" he stuttered.

"You're Jack Sparrow," the figure said. "and you have brought this all upon yourself."

My stomach twisted with unease.