Temperance officially hated sand.

It was tiny, coarse, and got just about everywhere. Her mouth feels as though it's swallowed a desert, and her eyelids are caked with salt and sand. She can even sense it between her fingernails and she's pretty sure her clothes are covered in it as well.

Cracking open one eye, she doesn't feel anything, so she peels open the other.

She's staring at the surf line, the waves crashing lazily against the wet sand in which she laying in. She groans and sits up, the sand falling off her in waves.

She examines herself; both boots, check, shirt, more or less check (it's torn in several places) and pants, check. Both swords miraculously are both still at her sides, strapped to the belt that snakes around her waist.

The coin is also, somehow, still in her pocket, and shes quite shocked to feel the bump of it against her leg when she pats her pocket. Her hair is matted, still damp, and half made up of sand.

She rises shakily to her feet, taking in her surroundings.

Literal desert stretches almost as far as she can see, but a mountain strip lines the horizon, she's fairly sure it's the real horizon this time.

Turning back to face the what she assumes is another ocean, she looks out onto it. It unfolds, as she expected, as far as her eyes can see.

Pieces of broken wood and other materials litter the beachside. A piece that looks like it broke off from a mast has wedged itself in the sand not far from her, about four arms lengths. Another looks like a section of a hull of a ship, and to her other side, almost completely buried in the sand is a hunk of metal that she could've sworn was a cannon.

So they're not the only ones that have fallen down the waterfall, she remembers it with a shiver, one she can't feel, but her body shakes.

The question of how she ended up here, no matter the greatness of it, can wait, she needs to find where Jack ended up.

Maybe he drowned, she thinks and a voice inside her head speaks up. Good riddance. She shakes her head, no she will find him, with luck, he washed up here not far from her.

Taking a step forward, she stumbles and nearly falls, but she regains her balance quickly enough and takes another. Soon enough, she's shuffled a mediocre distance from where she woke in the sand.

And it's not long until she sees a lump in the surf, and it isn't driftwood or scrap, the lines are smoother. Rushing forward to Jacks side, she falls to her knees beside and hesitantly lays a hand on his shoulder. When he doesn't respond she rolls him from his side to his back.

She picks up his arm and drops it. It flops uselessly to his side, the frayed edges of his sleeves fluttering briefly before hitting the ground.

"No no no." She mutters, gently poking his cheek.

"There's no way I'm giving you mouth to mouth Sparrow," She growls.

Jack grins and his eyes snap open, Temperance's mouth falls open. He struggles to sit up, his arms flailing and when he finally does he tip forward as though he'll fall on his face.

Temperance leaps up, now clearly annoyed.

"You were awake the whole time?" Jack looks sideways up at her still grinning his strange grin that she can't tell means he'll kill her, or if he means no harm.

"Yes, a poke in the cheek is a fantastic way to wake up love." His grin infuriates her, and she growls, crosses her arms and waits for him to stand.

"Does the great Captain Jack Sparrow have any idea where we might be?" She askes mockingly, with the slightest hiss to her voice.

He stands, still smirking in the slightest, and sends a mock bow her way, then straightens and gazes around them. His grin vanishes in almost an instant, his face turning from normal with a red flush, to paler than the dry sand in front of them.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Temperance.

"What?" Jacks face, particularly the corner of his mouth, turns into what might be called a grimace.

"Bugger." Now she's confused as well as irritated

"Pardon?" Jack doesn't answer, marching forward, toward the expanse of sand.

"An explanation would be nice!" She retorts again, stumbling after him. Her feet sink into the sand, causing it so much harder to walk than it already was.

Jack doesn't respond to her antics but continues to stride away from the waters end. And soon, they're standing in the middle of a desert, and Jack has stopped walking and is now turning in circles.

"Bugger, bugger, bugger." He mutters and pauses in his pacing to kick the dust stretching underneath their feet.

Temperance, now fully fed up with his actions, marches up to him and scream, literally, in his face.

"Will you knock it off! You know where we are, so tell me!" Jack looks annoyed as ever, more irritated then she's seen him. He's holding his hands out in front of him, palms facing outward, and though he's trying to create a barrier between them.

She takes a step back, away from Jack, and slowly turns on the spot, taking in everything she can.

"The locker." Now she's thinking out loud, and Jack has heard her, staying frozen in his place.

"You said you didn't know how to get here, but you have been here. You told me, on the boat. This is it, isn't it? A place for the damned," She mutters as an afterthought, quoting Jack's description, he hasn't answered her yet, but she knows the response already, she's come to it on her own.

"And you got out before, I know you have, we both know you did. So how? I think that would be fairly useful right now." She stares at the back of his head with a calm expression. 

Jack turns around to face her, his face expressionless, and without warning, he falls backward. Temperance almost rushes to his side but sees that he kicks up his feet, and crosses one over the other.

She stares back at him in complete confusion, her mouth yet again, agape with query. Closing it with a snap, she begins to pace. She will not be stuck in another inescapable place with Jack, she simply won't. They've barely been here together and conscious for... for how long?

She's lost track of time, at least when they were on the boat, she could estimate it, but now, now the sun doesn't seem to move, keeping ridged in the sky.

Temperance licks her lips, but she can't tell if they're really dry or not, and begins to walk, but stops at the sound of Jack's voice.

"Best get comfortable love, we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

Helooooooo! Second update in a week! Because I owe you all so many XD XD. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, sorry if it's shorter than usual, I think next chapter we'll get some more action and the chapter after that.

I'm back in the game guys!!! I'm SUPER pumped!!!!

Thank you guys, seriously, thank you so much for reading! It makes me so happy!!

Hope you like it.

~Kelly~