I burnt for no more than a few seconds, but the pain was so intense that when it was over all I could do was stand there, eyes closed and soul singed. As I felt myself cool down I could hear Blackbeard's laugh echoing around me. I didn't want to open my eyes because I didn't want to know what was coming. I didn't want to know what I would see. Any story of Blackbeard's couldn't be a good one. He had no personal vendetta against me, as far as I knew, but I doubted that a man like Blackbeard would need one to inflict any kind of cruelty. I don't think that anyone can be pure evil, but from what I'd heard about this man, he was as close as they come. Any good that was in him was buried so deep in his cold and rotten heart that it had been completely forgotten by everyone. Even him.

I swallowed my fear and opened my eyes. The world pitched back and forth as I did so. I felt sick for a second and then when the world came in to focus I realised that we were on his ship. The sea was choppy but not stormy. Everything was dark. Darker shadows moved around me. In the darkness I heard something crackle and hiss. I didn't want to turn around and look at it, but something within me told me that I had to. It was the last thing that I wanted to do, but the thought of not seeing what was making that noise was even more horrific. I steeled my nerves and turned slowly around to look in to the darkness behind me. It didn't take long for me to find the source of the sounds, as it was also the only source of light. In the darkness there was a sinister glowing from the smouldering embers of fuses intertwined in Blackbeard's beard. They cast grotesque shadows over his face, twisting it so that it didn't even look human. The effect of those hideous shadows had still not worn off on me. I did my very best not to scream, but I don't think I could have even if I wanted to. Fear was literally choking me and I was too scared to so much as let out a whisper. It was difficult to even breathe properly. My silence only seemed to serve to heighten his sadistic pleasure at my fear. The dead version of Blackbeard laughed beside me. "You feeling alright there, Isabelle?" he asked and I shuddered at the way he hissed my name.

I swallowed and nodded. We both knew I was afraid, but there was still something in me that tried to hide it. "Fine," I said, gritting my teeth to stop my jaw from shaking. "Let's get this over with."

As if something in our environment had heard me there was an almighty bang, a flash. I jumped and the ship we were on did too. I had time to see Blackbeard's face twist even further in anger before there was another one and he was knocked to the deck. His ship had taken a hit and shards of wood flew everywhere. They fractured the moment around us, broke it, froze it and then everything was changed. The deck was instantly filled with Blackbeard's crew and the sound of gunfire. When pirates panic they often just shoot into the atmosphere to release their tension. It's not the safest way to release anything, especially if there happens to be someone in the crow's nest. Gunfire quickly turned to cannon fire and Blackbeard's once quiet ship became suddenly ferocious. Their fight was relentless and unyielding. This was something that Blackbeard's crew had done before. Many times. And they were good at it. It was over in a matter of minutes. The dark night around us was destroyed by the flash of cannons. There was a spark and then the whole of the enemy ship began to burn. There were cries and shouts and screams from the flames. Blackbeard's crew didn't wait around to see the ship burn, they turned their back on the burning wreck as if it was nothing. They'd clearly done it before. Many times. So many times that the horrific sight no longer had an effect on them. It had one on me however, and I was so distracted that almost didn't notice what had happened to Blackbeard. It was only when I heard him call out that I even noticed something was wrong. His crew had surrounded him and were doing their best to get him to his feet. He'd been hit by some flying debris and seemed to be in a pretty bad way. There was blood on the deck and by his feet. Even though his crew were only trying to help him, he pushed them away and staggered to his feet by himself. Every step seemed painful, but most help was angrily refused. The door of his Cabin slammed shut. That one action seemed to shake the nerves of his crew more than reducing an entire ship full of men to naught but screaming flames and silent ash had.

"I was badly injured," the ghost of Blackbeard told me as we stared at the door that had just slammed. "There's nothing that'll strike the fear of God into a man like having to face his own mortality." I didn't react to him, I didn't know how to. I was worried that the wrong reaction from me would ignite some kind of violent reaction in him. There was nothing in his tone to suggest any hostility, but I wasn't going to trust a man whose own crew was afraid of him. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along the deck and into the Captain's Cabin. The room was dark and foul-smelling. A trail of blood on the ground lead to where Blackbeard lay slumped in a corner. His eyes were open, but not fixed on anything. The only thing that told me he was still alive was the sharp rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Blackbeard walked over to circle is own wounded body. "Infection," he said. "Even now, seeping in to my wounds, into my blood."

"Good," I said and then was surprised to hear the word actually come out of my mouth. I had realised that he couldn't do anything to physically hurt me. I was already half-dead. He smiled, but not in a way I liked.

"Not so good for you, as it turns out, little Missy." His face twisted in his sadistic pleasure. "This is the start of a chain of events that cumulate in your death. I swallowed hard and then raised my eyes to look at him with as much defiance as I could muster.

"Not dead, actually," I reminded him.

His eyes lit up with a sick kind of enjoyment. "Not yet," he reminded me. I felt suddenly cold and hot at the same time. If I could have been sick in my current state then I probably would have just thrown up all over him.

Jack. I had to get back to Jack.

There was a knock on his Cabin door and the dying Blackbeard who still lay slumped in his corner raised his head to take a look. "Come in!" he bellowed, still sounding horribly cruel despite the fact that he was the one who is mortal peril. A tall man with dark hair and a scarred face entered the room carrying a small dark bag in his hands. Despite of his height and obvious physical strength, even he looked nervous.

"Medicine, Captain," was all he said. Blackbeard motioned for it to be handed to him. The man passed it quickly and waited.

"Leave me," Blackbeard instructed and the man did so without hesitation. He was probably glad to be leaving. I wished that I could have left with him.

Blackbeard opened up the bag and an odd kind of dark smoke poured out of it. I started at it as it wrapped itself around his wounds and then dissolved into them.

"That's not…" I whispered.

"Dark magic," Blackbeard grinned. "What it is, is dark magic. Enough to stench the bloodflow and slow the infection," he said as we watched the slowly dissolving smoke. It seemed to cause him great pain, he called out and writhed on the ground where he lay, but it also seemed to heal him. His wounds were almost completely gone and the blood that was gushing out of him slowed to nothing but a trickle. Breathing heavily, Blackbeard slipped out of consciousness. His ghost looked at me, still with that evil, heartless smile and said, "Even with that I only had a few months to live. Go outside," he told me and I was immediately suspicious.

"Why?"

"It wasn't a request," he snarled and in one swift move he pushed me until I stumbled forwards and back out on to the deck. Three people lay dead outside of his door, their eyes had been removed and their jaws broken into a permanent scream. I recognised one of them as the man who had brought the dark magic to Blackbeard. I gasped.

"What happened to them?"

He shrugged. "All dark magic has its costs." I stared at the bodies again. These three men had died so that he could live a little bit longer? I looked back up at him and knew that he didn't care that he had killed them. Blackbeard plucked one of the fuses from his beard and tossed it absentmindedly over the side of his ship. Seconds later the waters erupted into flames once more. It was a fire that spread so quickly that it if I had blinked I probably would have missed it. It didn't quite behave like an ordinary fire. It didn't flicker, it just grew. It moved across the water and curled around us so smoothly that I just knew it couldn't be natural. It was tame, controlled, but not in a way that brought me any comfort. It wrapped itself around the ship and then closed in. The wood turned to ash, but it held together for the briefest of seconds before the flames tumbled down into the sea and the ship crumbled around us. Ash cascaded down like a waterfall, tumbling from the mast downwards. It covered me, smothered me, filling my eyes and nose and mouth. It blocked out the light, it blocked the sound and smell. And then it trickled off me as quickly as it had almost suffocated me. I coughed and rubbed the remainder from my eyes.

If you had given me an unlimited number of guesses I would never have guessed that the next place that Blackbeard would take me would be back to my own body. We were outside the door in Atlantis where I knew my physical body would be. There was something terrible about it. He wasn't supposed to be here, this was private. This was for me and Jack and our son. He wasn't supposed to even know about it. "What are we doing here?" I asked quickly, worried about everyone I loved who was still left alive.

"I just wanted to remind you of your own fight," he said and pushed the door open. "The fight you're losing."

"I'm not," I said and this time I didn't have to pretend to be defiant. I didn't have to muster it from anywhere. I knew beyond belief that he was wrong. I walked past him and into the room. Jack and Isaacio were sitting across a table from one another. Jack was angry.

"Jack," I called. He didn't react.

"You didn't think I'd let him know you were here, didya?" Blackbeard chuckled. "What would be the fun in that?"

"No," Jack said firmly. I saw his fingers graze against the edge of his pistol. I moved and heard the faint rattle of his Compass. Jack didn't notice.

"Jack…" Isaacio sighed, sounding tired.

"No," Jack repeated. "It is out of the question."

"We might not have a choice," Isaacio said gently and Jack pulled out his gun.

"No. You have a choice. You can let me do what I want, or you can't. But me? I don't have a choice. I cannot let Belle die. There is no other option. Do. You. Understand?"

Isaacio didn't flinch in the face of Jack's gun. "She's not come back, Jack. That's not a good sign."

"I'm alright," I whispered. "I'm right here."

"She's alright," Jack nodded with a faraway look in his eye. "I know she is."

Isaacio shook his head and looked down at my body. "We don't have long until she's dead for good, Jack. And then we have no choice but to burn her body."

"No," Jack said again. "She needs that to come back to."

"She's only got a few days left, Jack," Isaacio looked grave. "I'm sorry."

Jack stood up, knocking his chair back on to the floor. "No," he shouted and pressed the barrel of his gun to Isaacio's forehead. I heard it click.

"Jack! NO!" I shouted and then baby James started to cry. Jack blinked once and then his head turned towards the sound. He lowered his gun and put it on the table. "This isn't over," he said and moved to hold James.

"Oh but it is," Blackbeard laughed at me. "You see? You've already lost."

Thanks for reading, please review

Review replies:

PirateNinjaCJS: I'm not dead, I hope you are also alive. Hahaha, I do love a cliff-hanger ;)

thEcrEAtOr23: hahaha, thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

sparkylaurens: Thank you! Sorry it took so long!