(Arabella's POV)

              Blackbeard's beady and creepy yellow eyes landed on Cecilia, as she offered to make a deal. "You can't undo his deal woman, if that's what your thinking." He grins, taking a step towards her.

               "No, but I can make a new deal, involving him and the ship." Cecilia says defiantly, her gaze not wavering, and blackbeard merely laughs.

               "What can you possibly offer me that's worthwhile?" He chuckles, and Cecilia glares, her blue eyes hardening.

                "Two days, starting tomorrow. I'll  get you the Skull of Teoxuacata, from the isla de muerte, as well as the map to the fountain of youth. In exchange, you give us back the Sirius, as well as Morgan." She offered, and blackbeard stops laughing, looking intrigued.

We all knew he wanted the map to the fountain of youth. "I've been looking for that map for years. What makes you think you can find it?" He asks, genuinely curious, as Cecilia smirks, satisfied to have caught his attention.

"I have my ways. But I assure you, I know where it is." She reassured him, and he scratches his chin in thought.

"If you fail?" He asks, seriously considering her deal.

"I'll make a contract with the captain of the Flying Dutchman, whatever terms that pleases the captain of that ship, the Flying Dutchman." Cecilia says, carefully, making sure that she definitely says the Flying Dutchman and isn't misheard, or giving him a loophole.

Though Cecilia's deal had its own loopholes, for us. Especially considering Kris was going to be the new captain of the Flying Dutchman.

"Deal." Blackbeard smirks, offering the blonde his hand.

"Cece no." Morgan growls at his wife, not liking this.

"Are you crazy? We can't give this bastard the fountain of youth! Do you know what he will do with it?" Russell yells incredulously, but Cecilia takes blackbeards hand, shaking it, sealing the deal.

After the deal, we all scramble, going to pack what we will need for two days, getting ready to board the Fenrir. Morgan looked absolutely pissed, but there was nothing to be done now, Cecilia had made the deal, and she couldn't back out now.

                 Nate helps me back to our room, and we start packing, throwing clothes, and weapons into a bag. "Shit. What the hell are we going to do?" Nathan muttered quietly, throwing his clothes into a bag.

                 "Well it seemed like Cecilia has a plan." I shrugged, gathering my clothes, and weapons into my bag.

                "Right. But what? This could go two ways. We get the stuff and give it to him, making blackbeard fucking immortal, or failing, though I caught on that Kris would get her out of it... But if she plans to fail, the trip to the isla de muerte is a waste." He continues, frustrated.

                "Or maybe she has a third plan up her sleeve." I reply confidently. I knew Cecilia was upset when she offered to make that deal, but I also had faith she would think of something, or that we would come up with a solution.

                "Yea. But some of you still aren't healed yet. Nadia still has bruises, Kris isn't fully healed yet, but definitely better than she was. Hell, even Cecilia still hasn't recovered from what happened to her yet..." He trailed off, and I could hear the frustrated tone to his voice.

                "Plenty of us are okay, and we also have the Fenrir crew with us." I add, as I close my bag, and turn to face him.

                "Tomboy, you aren't even fully healed.. I still have to help you, and you wouldn't even let me touch you when you woke up..." He said quietly, looking at me. His voice cracked at the last part, and I looked away, my heart dropping.

           I felt guilty about pushing him away. I was a wreck, between being glad they found me, and upset watching Kris die in Russell's arms, and the guilt that consumed me. I was a mess then, and honestly I still wasn't back to what I was now. This was our family though, with a lot at stake. Ready or not, I would fight.

             "Nate, I'm so sorry about that..." I could feel my eyes starting to water, at the thought that I had hurt him. Truth was though, I was still a little messed up, and I was worried how he would feel about how I still wasn't back to fully normal yet, and I was self conscious about the scars I had gotten when Johnny tortured me. More like, I was nervous what Nate thought of them, of me. "I was a wreck Nate. I wasn't thinking... I'm so sorry... I never meant...." My voice cracked as I felt the water spill over, and start flowing down my cheeks.

"Hey...no... I'm sorry I couldn't get to ya sooner." He said, eyes softening as he walked over, taking me into his arms.

"It's not your fault Nate. I knew you'd come get me. I never doubted it for a minute, and I'm glad you guys got the other girls out first. I'm glad Funto reached Cecilia in time, that could have been a lot worse... Though what happened was certainly bad enough..." I trailed off, feeling his lips touch the top of my head, as my face was buried in his chest.

"Alright, we need to get going tomboy... We can talk more later." He reassured me, and I nodded, pulling away from him, as we gathered our bags. I grabbed an extra blanket, before we left the room.

We ran into the rest of the crew in the hallway, everyone looking kinda tired. I saw Russell carrying the dead man's chest, and I stopped him, putting the blanket I had brought over it, hoping it would camouflage it enough, to go unnoticed by blackbeard, as we made our way to the deck.

Blackbeard stood on the deck, along with Morgan. Cecilia looked highly upset seeing Morgan, and dropped her bag, launching herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead, while murmuring something only she could hear.

"Alright. Times up." Blackbeard grinned, as Cecilia started yelling, not wanting to let go of Morgan. Ed had to pry her off of him, kicking and screaming, while Penelope grabbed the bag she had dropped, as we all followed Funto to the Fenrir, including Nadia and little Dee as well.

                  The Fenrir crew made room for us, best as they could. It was a little cramped, but we couldn't really complain, especially considering we were lucky to have somewhere to go.

                Our entire crew settled in, before meeting in the Fenrir navigation room, along with Nadia, Dee, Funto, and Liz, from the Fenrir crew. We needed to figure out our plan, and where to go from here.

Not too long after we gathered though, did arguments break out amongst our crew. "We can't give that bastard the fountain of youth! You think he's gonna leave us alone if he's fucking immortal?!" Russell yelled, slamming his fist on the table loudly.

"If we don't give it to him, we fail, but then Kris could get us out of it..." Nathan suggested trailing off, talking louder than normal to be heard.

"We can't get Morgan or the ship back if we do that! We can't fail!" Penelope growled, glaring at Russell and Nathan.

"I'm not saying we should abandon Morgan, or the ship... But can we really allow blackbeard to find the fountain?" Ed argued, earning glares, as well.

"There has to be a solution..." Chris, still ever the gentlemen suggested.

"None of this sounds like a good idea yet." Russell huffed, still angry.

"There was nothing she could do, it was the only way he was interested, otherwise he didn't think making a deal was worth it!" I yell, pissed. I wasn't happy with the thought of blackbeard being immortal either, but Cecilia had done what she needed to do to save her man. I respected that.

"We'll think of something... Everyone just needs to calm the fuck down!" Kris yelled, though no one listened, only getting louder.

Everyone was surprised when Allison jumped from her seat, slamming both her hands down on the table, before yelling. "You all need to knock this off. Cecilia did what she had to do, to save her man, and our home. I know if I was in her position, and it was Thomas on the line, I'd do anything I could, regardless of what it was. So stop being a bunch of assholes and let's try to come up with a solution!" Allison yelled, the loudest we had ever heard the girl speak. It went dead quiet at her outburst.

"Any ideas Funto?" Luna asked the captain of the Fenrir, who hadn't said much.

"I feel like I'm in the middle of a family argument... That I'm not sure I should be in honestly." The quiet captain announced, drawing a few of our crews attention to him.

"That's not true." Nathan shook his head in disagreement. "You may be a captain of your own ship, but you're still one of us. You're family, even if you have your own ship and crew. You've fought alongside us, you brought Cecilia back to us, and I owe you my woman's life. Without you, and your crew, we wouldn't have made it in time to get Arabella out." Nathan continued, surprising Funto.

"He's right... You're family... And thank you. I couldn't have made it another day in there." I add, smiling at Funto.

"Well regardless, it seems we need to head for the island first, then officially decide about the map. The deal isn't complete without the treasure from the island." Funto thought out loud. Everyone nodded in agreement. This was true.

"Would he be able to tell the difference between a fake map?" Liz asked, looking at all of us, though Ed sat up straighter, looking like he realized something.

"Penelope has made copies of my maps before. She's so good at it, it's hard to tell one from the other. What if she made an altered version?" Ed suggested.

"It's a good idea... But don't you think he might hunt us down for it later?" Cecilia asked, curious. It was a valid question, and he could very well do so.

"I say it's worth a shot. I'll have the Flying Dutchman by then, if it comes down to a fight, I'm in." Kris shrugged.

"Count us in... I mean.. Right captain?" Liz said enthusiastically, before looking to her captain.

He smiled gently at her, nodding. "I'm willing, if the need arises. I'll come with on the island as well." Funto offered.

"Thank you, captain Funto. We greatly appreciate that." Cecilia accepted his offer, smiling at him.

"I can get the mermaids, Eric offered if we ever need help.." Luna says, and we all agree with her as well.

"As much as I hate to say it, maybe the Rika too? I mean, if we're going against blackbeard, we'll need all the help we can get. He might have back up that we don't know about as well." Ed suggested, and he had a valid point.

We didn't know who might support blackbeard, though why anyone would was beyond me.

              Afterwards, we all settled in for the night, trying to sleep, for what lay ahead tomorrow. We broke off into our usual pairs, but little Dee slept with Cecilia, and Nadia bunked with Liz. It was hard to sleep, knowing the dangerous island we would be facing tomorrow, knowing that most crews never survived long enough to make it off the island.

The following morning, we docked on the island, with Dee leading the way. Funto, and Liz, as well as Nadia, accompanied us, while the rest of their crew guarded the ship.

"Follow me, and don't stray from the path." Dee warned us seriously, all traces of her normal playfulness temporarily gone, all business now.

The island was deserted, mostly a deep jungle, with traces of crumbling ruins, and signs that civilizations had been here, but were long gone. The jungles trees had thick branches, and vines tumbled over the ground, making it hard to walk without tripping, especially the farther we went into the jungle. Dee was right though, we seemed fine as we navigated our way, with her in the lead.

The only sign of current life here was the wildlife, colorful tropical birds that I had never seen before. I wondered if there was something more dangerous lurking in these thick jungles, but then again, part of me didn't want to know.

After what seemed like ages, Dee stopped, at another set of ruins, larger than we had encountered so far. It looked like a large temple, made of a sand colored stone. It towered over us, though some places were broken, it was largely in tact. "We have to face the spirits that guard this island. Whatever test they set we must complete. Angering them is not a good idea. Remember, some of these test are not only physical, but also of the mind." Dee warned us, glancing at all of us with her light orange eyes. "The effects only last on the island, and are not real, though some of them may be... It's hard to tell the difference. Just know that whatever happens here, whatever effects, most likely are not permanent." Dee cautiously continued. We all nodded, letting her know we were ready, before following her into the temple, that was seemingly abandoned.

                We followed her down a dimly lit hallway, made completely of stone, barely tall enough for us to walk down, and those of us that were taller had to crouch down slightly. There were torches on the walls, but not many, just enough to barely light the way. We walked in until we reached a large room, that had a stone table in front. It was long, and had multiple stone chairs. The room was slightly cold, making me shiver. Crazy as it sounds, it felt like we weren't alone either. Like there was more to this room that met the eye, and like there was more people besides our group.

Dee stepped forward, approaching the table after a few minutes. She nodded repeatedly, at someone we couldn't see or hear. She held out her hand, and winced slightly, as her hand was pricked by some unseen force. She squeezed her hand shut, dropping what appeared to be blood onto the table before her.

"Since when can ghosts bleed?" Russell asked quietly, and though Kris shushed him, I'm sure it was what we were all wondering.

"I told you this island was special. It's specifically for the dead here." Dee said solemnly, not elaborating on the subject. The table glowed, an odd glow, as Dee's blood touched it, and the room filled with fog suddenly.

"What the hell?" Penelope's voice rang out, as we all looked around, slightly nervous.

"Look." Funto pointed to the table, directing our attention to the four spirits sitting there now, that were more visible with the fog, but still a little difficult to see.

Two men, and two women, dressed in odd clothing, almost like animal skins, with their faces painted. The men wore shirts and pants, made of some animal fur, and the women wore dresses of the same material, with animal bone necklaces hanging from their necks. They looked like they had been tan in life, with dark hair an eyes, almost like natives of a foreign land.

              "Welcome to the island of the dead, or better known as isle de muerte." One of the women said, loud enough for us all to hear.

                "You seek one of our treasures, but the question is, are you worthy of it? Many try for it, none have fully succeeded. Think carefully before you enter our test." One of the men announced, eyeing us warily.

                It was Cecilia who stepped forward. "We will enter, we can't fail."

                The ghost eyed the blonde carefully, before nodding. "This will not be easy, and all your groups must pass the test. Groups of four, though your ghost friend may make a group of three, due to the odd number." The ghost conceded, gesturing for us to chose our groups.

Chris, Luna, Thomas, and Allison, formed one group. Ed, Penelope, Funto, and Liz, made another. Cecilia, Nadia, and Dee, decided to be our group of three. While, Russell, Kris, Nathan, and I made up the last group of four. We separated, forming our groups, and one of the male ghosts waved his hand, and fourteen glasses of red wine appeared on the table, magically.

               "Everyone is to choose a glass at random, except for your ghost. Be warned, they may look, and smell the same, but they are not. One of your drinks will contain a drug that increases your stamina, another, contains one that makes you hallucinate. Yet a third will contain a poison, that, if the antidote is not reached in two hours, the poisoned person will die. This makes your journey more difficult, as you must travel as a group, and complete your task as a group, regardless of how those who are effected with the drugs act. The drugs have been distributed randomly, and even we do not know which is which. The drugs will not take effect for a half an hour. For the one poisoned, you will have two hours after it takes effect. Good luck." One of the males explained, handing each group two pieces of paper.

We all eyed our glasses warily, before downing them. The spirits then gestured for us to leave. Let the tests begin.

A/n: this took longer than I wanted to... Anyway... Sorry again... Bad Jinx!!! Lol... Anyway.. Thanks for reading! ^_^

-Jinx