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Trigger warning: elements of non/con, language, intense scenes of peril, and general distress in this chapter. Please read with care. I have provided a quick non-triggering summary of the chapter down at the bottom so if you need to just scroll all the way down past the 888.

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Gibbs took the stairs down two at a time, berating himself for allowing James to go ahead before them. As he raced down the stairs, he noticed that on each step there was a letter;

M

E

T

U

M

O

R

T

I

S

F

A

C

I

E

M

T

U

A

M

But his concern for James overcame his curiosity and even though he knew that it must be some sort of clue he didn't stop running. He heard footsteps behind him as Will and Jack followed him in pursuit.

When he reached the chamber, it took all the courage he could muster to not bolt back up the stairs in fear. James was cowering on the floor, his hands raised to protect his face and in front of him was the biggest spider he had ever seen. Eight dark shiny black legs made click-click sounds against the mosaic tiles and towered over six feet take, a body the size of a boulder, eight blood-red eyes, and worst of all two long sharp pincers dripping with venom. This spider—no, monstrosity—lunged towards James, and he let out another shriek of fright. Holy fuck.

For a moment, Gibbs just stared in horror. He knew—they all knew—that James was absolutely terrified of those asinine creatures. When they had encountered them in the jungle before they found the first chamber, James had paled and nearly fainted when he saw them crawling towards them. He nearly turned back towards the ship. If it hadn't been for Will, who for some reason didn't mind the spiders, they probably wouldn't have made it through the jungle.

Will leaped in-front of James, brandishing a small dagger that he had pulled out of his boot. The spider stopped and then started spinning. When it stopped spinning it wasn't a spider anymore, it was a giant orange and black butterfly.

Will let out a yelp of surprise and stepped backward, tripping over James. He scrambled with another shriek as the butterfly flapped towards him. Will got to his feet and hid behind Gibbs.

"Don't let it hurt me!"

As soon as Will was out of sight, the butterfly started spinning again and this time it turned into a giant anaconda. Gibbs felt his stomach go cold. He hated snakes, but he was starting to understand; this wasn't a real snake, or a spider or a butterfly. This was some other creature, one that could shapeshift into whatever it thought was the scariest.

"Jack! Stay on the stairs, don't make eye contact!" Gibbs shouted, not moving his eyes from the snake. The last thing they needed was the bloody Kraken to appear in the chamber.

The snaked hissed, but Gibbs didn't move. Instead, he hissed back at the snake.

"Go back into the shadows from whence you came, little beasty," Gibbs said with all the courage he could muster.

The creature started spinning again, and Gibbs braced himself for whatever was coming next. James stood up, tripped on his skirt, and fell into Will.

"Spiders?" Will asked

James raised his eyebrow, "Not as bad as butterflies."

"Shut up."

"William?" A familiar voice said. Gibbs and Will looked up to see Elizabeth standing in front of them. She was in a cream-colored dress, and her hair was pulled back in elegant curls. She delicately raised her silk fan and waved it in front of her face.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing here?" Will asked before Gibbs could stop him and tell him that she wasn't real. This wasn't the real Elizabeth.

"It's not any of your concern, you spoiled little bitch." Elizabeth said, her face contorting in anger.

"What?"

"What did I ever see in you? You? A blacksmith? What on earth was I thinking? I never really wanted to marry you, I never loved you. I hate you, oh god I hate you so much," she let out a high brittle laugh and then turned to James.

"That color suits you, after all, isn't that what you would wear before I caught you."

Her voice deepened and the creature shifted again into a tall man with a sharped hook noise and black cold eyes. He was wearing a general's uniform from the British navy and he carried a long wooden walking stick topped with an emerald.

"You were in your mother's dressing room, prancing around like a little sissy in her Sunday best. And that's when I knew you were nothing but a vulgar whore." He raised the walking stick and used it to slap James across the face.

James hit the ground hard.

"No, no, please. Please"

"You never told your mother what I was doing to you. Did you do it to protect her or were just a simple coward who couldn't learn to say no? You are worthless, a worthless little slut—-."

Gibbs stepped in-front of James.

"Leave him alone. I ain't scared of you." He said

The man laughed, and made a mocking sad face "Oh Jimmy, letting other men fight your battle for you how typical."

Gibbs heard a hitched sob from and he knew he had to keep this ghost…this entity from getting through to James.

The entity laughed again, a high pitched cruel laugh, and then it started spinning, spinning faster and faster and faster until with a loud roar it crashed down in the shape of a large crocodile. It roared and snapped at Gibbs, who had to fight with every ounce of strength he had to not feel fear.

"It isn't real! It's playing with us. It's trying to scare us. Come on, get up." Gibbs said, and he offered a hand to James. He hesitated for a second and then took his hand. Gibbs could feel that his whole arm was shaking. He pulled James up and squeezed his shoulder.

"It isn't real, lad. Come, we have to fight it." He said

James nodded silently and then straightened his shoulders. He turned around to look at Will and Jack, who were both pale.

"The map said nothing about this," Will said over the roar of the crocodile.

"The map didn't tell us about a lot of things. Nevertheless, we must endure." Gibbs said and then he turned around, pulled another hidden blade from his belt, and dived towards the crocodile.

The entity did not expect this brave yet foolish act from Gibbs and hesitated for only a second but with this second Gibbs was able to sink his blade deep into the crocodile's eye. It shrieked loudly and then flung Gibbs off of him.

Gibbs went flying through the air and landed on the opposite end of the chamber. He scrambled up to his feet and watched the crocodile went straight for Jack. It started spinning again and then it turned into a short, stout man wearing a ragged long coat, a black hat with a large red feather. It was Captain D'Claudio from the Barstow pirates.

The entity laughed and lunged towards Jack. Will attempted to block him, but with a simple swing of its arm, the entity threw Will across the room. It grabbed Jack with both arms and pulled him out from the staircase and into the center of the room. Jack put up a fierce struggle, ripping the seams of the dress he was wearing in the process but the entity held on strong. It laughed, a high pitched, piercing sound that made Gibbs blood run cold. He tried to get up, to run towards Jack, and help him but the entity let out a fierce scream and suddenly Gibbs was sinking into the ground. He looked and saw with horror that both James and Will were sinking too.

"Jack, Jack, Jackie, Jack." Captain D'Claudio said, and he caressed Jack's face with one long fingernail. Jack continued to struggle fiercely.

"Don't listen to it, Jack. It's not real! Don't give in to it!" Gibbs shouted.

D'Claudio turned around and faced him.

"Silence," he said, and he waved his hand.

Gibbs's face felt hot, and then very very cold. He tried to scream and realized he couldn't. The entity had sealed his mouth shut and he was sinking deeper and deeper into the floor. He couldn't help Jack, he could only watch and pray that Jack was strong enough to defeat this entity on his own.

"Such a pretty face." Claudio—the entity said, turning back to Jack. Jack's face was white and his entire body was shaking.

The entity pulled out a dagger from its cloak.

"What should I cut out next? An ear perhaps, or maybe your fingers one by one by one by one." It said, putting a hand up to Jack's ear.

Gibbs was sinking faster. He didn't have much time left. His stomach and chest already emerged completely into the floor. He met eyes with Jack, and then suddenly Jack gave him a little wink.

Jack sent the entity a death glare and then slapped its hand away from his face. And then, with a sudden speed, he whipped his leg out, twirled around, and hit the entity in the back with his elbow. The entity shrieked and attempted to grab Jack, but he evaded it with a side step and pulled his own dagger out from his boot. He pointed the dagger at the entity, bravery etched in every line on his face.

I'm not afraid of you.

The entity, still in the form of Captain D'Claudio laughed again but this time Jack didn't flinch. He stared it down, rising to his full height. The entity shrieked again, but this time Jack didn't hesitate. He hit it again, again and again with his dagger. Each time he hit it, it became more and more transparent. Gibbs felt the floor around him hardening, and then pulled himself upwards with his hands. He pulled his legs free and then rolled over to Will. He grabbed Will by the arms and pulled him up. He felt his mouth soften and realized he could speak again.

"Come, let's get James." He said

They had James out in a second and the three of them stood up. They charged behind Jack and the entity shouting profanities.

The entity turned to them and started spinning again, but this time it seemed to be confused. First, it was a spider, and then a lobster, then a single coconut.

James stood forward and pushed it hard into the middle of the room.

"I am not afraid of you." He said in a loud, clear voice. The entity let out a long hair raising shriek and then burst into bright blue bubbles. In the center of the bubbles was a Silver key. The key floated for a moment and then fell onto the ground with a loud thunk. As the key hit the ground, a large door appeared on the other side of the room. In the center of the door was a silver keyhole.

Gibbs walked towards it with shaky legs and picked it up. He turned around and saw that Jack had backed into the corner of the room and was sliding down onto the floor with his head in his hands. James had his arms crossed over his chest, looking very very pale and Will was staring at his shoes.

He held the key in his hand and realized that his entire body was shaking. He hadn't expected this, he hadn't expected it to be this hard to get to the wishing well. He told a deep breath in, and then let it out.

"Come on, lads. We are almost there. One more room to go. Think about the end, think about what all this is for. Your wish." He said, moving towards Will and clamping a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Will nodded but didn't say anything.

"What that thing was, it wasn't real. None of it was real. It was trying to scare you." Gibbs continued, now feeling worried that the entity had gotten to his companions.

"But it was real," James said in a soft voice. And suddenly Gibbs realized who the man the entity impersonated was. It was Jame's stepfather, the one he had spoken about before they left Port Royale.

"You were very brave, standing up to him—-I mean It. Very quick thinking, you saved us all. " Gibbs said to James.

James nodded, then uncrossed his arms. Gibbs could see red marks where he had dug his nails into his skin. He sniffed and then rubbed his eyes with his hands.

"He—it— is gone now. Let me take a look at that key, it goes in the door, no?" James asked, suddenly all business as he took the key from Gibbs's hand and walked over to the door. With a quick nod, Will followed after James.

As they examined the door, Gibbs walked over to Jack and knelt down next to him. Jack didn't move, he seemed empty, almost void of all emotion.

"We are almost there. Soon you will be making your wish and all of this will be behind you." Gibbs said.

Jack didn't move at all, and suddenly Gibbs realized that Jack's wish to have his tongued healed so he could speak again wasn't going to be enough. He needed to forget the Barstow Pirates, forget the wishing well, and forget everything that had happened to him. And then Gibbs knew what he had to wish for.

Slowly, very slowly he put his hand out and touched Jack's arm. Jack flinched away from his touch but then looked up at him.

"Come on, let's go help the lads open the door. We are nearly there." Gibbs said. He stood up and waited for Jack to get to his feet. When he was standing, he rearranged the parts of the dress he was wearing that was still intact.

"Red is a good color on you," Gibbs said with a smile.

Jack shot him a look, Oh shut up you old scallawag.

Gibbs held up his hands in defeat, "alright, alright. I'll quit it with the dresses."

Jack gave him a rare smile and then pointed to the door. James and Will had managed to get it open but were waiting for them to enter the next chamber.

Gibbs smiled, "Two down, one to go."

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Summary: James fights a giant spider which turns out to be a Boggart from Harry Potter. Gibbs and Jack fight it too and first, it turns into a butterfly then a crocodile. James finally defeats it and it reveals the silver key. The silver door appears and they walk towards the next chamber. One more to go, YAY!

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