The world dissolved into colours, stripes of blue and warm brown, pinpoints of light mixing with darkness.  She watched it melt, strangely fascinated by it.  Will’s face swam before her eyes, melting down, first the top of his head dissolving into what was below and then that dissolved down further, until his whole being had disappeared.  It was a strange progression and it happened so slowly that Elizabeth was transfixed.

As soon as he disappeared, the world fell into complete darkness, only a pinpoint of light left.

When everything came back to her, she felt utterly disoriented.  A sword came at her and she parried the blow.  Sword…She looked dumbly down at the sword she held, knowing a moment ago she wasn’t holding it.  Another sword flew at her and she parried yet again, driving the man back and running him through cleanly.  As he fell to the ground, she took stock of everything around her.

She recognized this battle.  She had been here before…sometime…

“Elizabeth!”  Will’s voice caught her ear and she saw him emerge from the midst of the fighting. She tried to call his name but it was as if someone else were controlling her body.  Will rushed to her.  “Elizabeth…will you marry me?”

“I don’t think now’s the best time.”  She heard the words come out of her own mouth, but they sounded ghostly, a recollection rather than reality.

Will’s proposal.

Their hasty marriage.  Her eyes flitted away from Will for a moment and saw Calypso standing among the fighting men, looking calm and unruffled as always.  The sea goddess nodded at her, her eyes strangely soft and kind.

Will was continuing on, moving on with what he had said all those years ago.  His eyes looked confused and Elizabeth started to understand that he was trapped in this body and situation as much as she.   I want to be free…Those words had been a catalyst, launching them back into the craziness of a battle long over.

“Now may be the only time!”  Parry.  “I love you.”  Parry.  Thrust.  He moved closer to her, his voice fervent, his eyes blank. “I’ve made my choice.  What’s yours?”

She shook her head.  The emotions coursing through her were hers and yet not hers.  Had she really felt like this?  She didn’t remember feeling so confused, so unsure.

“Barbossa!”  She did remember shouting that, but she didn’t remember watching Will’s face crumple up in confusion.  Inside, she laughed.  No, she hadn’t been thinking of Barbossa in such a way.  She suddenly realized that at the moment she had made the decision to marry Will, had called to Barbossa, she had had an image of Jack’s face flash through her mind, had heard his voice echo in her ears…Pirate…

The self that was herself, or rather her current self, was more than a little surprised.  Jack…why had she been thinking of Jack?  Remembering his kiss, remembering the proud way he had proclaimed her one of his kind.  Someday you’ll come over to my side.  She had but then had rejected it cruelly.  She had killed the man she couldn’t stop thinking about.

The fight she was in escalated, even as Barbossa agreed to marry them.  “Fine then…Dearly beloved we be gathered here today…”  As he cursed at the men coming after him, Elizabeth and Will had exchanged their own quick vows, agreeing to be wed.

Elizabeth stood with Will, waiting for Barbossa to continue.  After he dispatched two more men, he turned back to them.  “As captain, I now pronounce you…”  Another man came after him, no doubt recognizing his distraction.  He thrust through the man, while Elizabeth and Will took care of two more men who came after them.  They managed to stay together, clung together, and both had looked up to Barbossa.

“You may kiss!” Barbossa shouted at them, sounding frustrated with the whole thing.

You may kiss…you may kiss…

That wasn’t right.

I now pronounce you…

Elizabeth’s voice suddenly came back to her.  No longer did she repeat the same words she had spoken all those years ago.  She was able to speak with her current voice.  “He didn’t pronounce us husband and wife!”  The words were shouted above the din of the battle around her.

The world went black.  The last thing Elizabeth remembered seeing of the scene was the cold, knowing eyes of Calypso.

“Hello, son.”  Teague Sparrow’s voice was deep, gravelly. 

“Oh,” Jack repeated stupidly.  He looked quickly around the room.  The men were gone.  Just like that.  Gone.  Disappeared.  They hadn’t walked off.  They didn’t even have time to run off.  They had just disappeared.

He was left alone with his father.

“You followed me here.”  It was a statement, not a question.

“Oh Jacky, don’t you realize what is going on yet?”  His father’s voice was soft and resigned.  He shook his head.

“Apparently not,” Jack muttered to himself. 

“I’m not really here, Jacky.”

Jack leaned forward and reached out to touch the older man’s arm.  He was as solid as Jack was.  “Another lie, father?  There have been so many.”  The words were cold.

“I know there have, son.”  Son…It was strange hearing that from the cantankerous old pirate.  He had always seemed somewhat embarrassed by Jack.  The father had been a known, respected pirate, an old goat who had been through everything and come out of it unscathed.  When Teague’s father had died, he had passed the Code down to him, entrusting something of utmost importance to a man all could easily trust with it.

Jack had been clumsy in his youth, getting himself into scrapes and then talking circles around the other boys until they were so lost and confused that he could make his escape.  He was well known for running away and he had done the greatest disservice to the old pirate that he could have done when he ran from his home.  He had set out on his own to have a go at an honest career.

That plan had gotten waylaid when he had crossed Cutler Beckett and been branded a pirate.  It was a familiar life for himself and eventually he had come to realize that it was what he was meant to be, Teague or no Teague.  But when he had first crawled home to Shipwreck Cove, he had been a hollow man.  He had been beaten and attacked by the East India Trading Company, his ship sunk with him on it.  He had been forced to bargain with Davy Jones for not only his own life, but the life of his ship, which he rechristened the Black Pearl, after a rare and beautiful type of pearl.  One of the many trinkets woven into his hair matched the name of his beloved ship.

His father had never forgiven him for deserting the pirate’s life.  He had never forgiven him for losing his ship, nor for making a deal with Davy Jones.  Jack had been so proud of his deal, yet Teague had just given him a reproachful look and turned away.

It wasn’t the first time something Jack had been proud of had displeased his father.

It wasn’t the last time either.

He had always been a disappointment to the old man. 

“Well, at least you admit you lie.”  Jack waved a dismissive hand.

“You lie too,” the older man shot back.

Jack’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“You lie to yourself, Jacky.”  Jack’s eyebrows shot up even further.  Words, for once, escaped him.

“What would you know about what I’m thinking?” 

“I know a lot more than you would want to know.  I was like you once.  Young.  Brash.  Stupid.”

“I’m not stupid,” Jack shot back.

The older man just made a noise.

“I’m not.”  The words were accompanied by a slight pout.

“No?”  Teague stroked the cover of the book he had on his lap with one hand.  “What about the girl?”

“Elizabeth?”  Jack sounded confused.  “She’s not stupid either.”

An exasperated sigh.  “That’s not quite what I meant.”  The words were humourous.

“I know.”  Jack winced.  “She’s not open for discussion.”

“Oh?”  Teague rose, the book still held underneath one arm.  “Then what is?”  He looked down at Jack, his look neither curious nor angry.

Jack scrambled to his feet and stepped up the hill, leaned on the chest of gold.  He didn’t dare open it, though the thought crossed his mind.  Immortality often did.  His eyes still on the intricate carvings of the chest, he spoke again. “You.”

In that one word was a lifetime full of hurt, of anger, of rejection.

Teague remained silent for a time and then finally lifted one hand.  Jack’s eyes shot up at the movement and met the older man’s.  They stared each other for a time, taking an assessment of the other man, the truth of his being, the look in his eyes.

Jack almost missed his next words, they were so quiet.

“I’m sorry, Jacky.”

The book slammed open on the table, landing with a resounding thud.  Elizabeth’s eyes flew open.  She stood next to Will, who was looking at her strangely.  Calypso stood nearby, still with that cold look in her eyes.  When Elizabeth’s eyes met those cold ones, Calypso did nothing more than silently raise her hand and point.

Tearing her gaze from that of the goddess’, Elizabeth turned to look first at the book…I know that book…and then at the man seated in front of it.  “Teague,” she breathed.  She stepped closer to the great Keeper of the Code, a smile on her face. 

He raised a hand and remained silent.  Elizabeth, confused, stepped back.  She looked to Will and was surprised to see him point toward the man as well.

Teague Sparrow turned his gaze back to the book, the Pyrata Codex, and stood to lean over it, one lock of dreadlocked hair falling over his shoulder.  He swatted it out of the way, the gesture of a man well used to his hair getting in the way.  Flipping two more pages, he traced downward with one beringed finger.  He nodded, murmured something to himself, and then looked up to take in all of those in the room. 

Elizabeth looked to Will, to Calypso, back to Teague.  She had a feeling the entire course of her life had just been decided.

“You’re right, Calypso.”  He sat back down, a slight grin on his face.

“Right about what?” Elizabeth asked.  Silence greeted her ears.  She looked from one person to the other.  Will would not meet her eyes, choosing to instead look away and down, seemingly fascinated with one of his boots.  Calypso shook her head and also looked away.  Only Teague met her eyes.  And smiled.

“The Code is all,” he said.  It was far too simple of an explanation.

“Right about what?” Elizabeth repeated, her voice turning slightly desperate.

“The Code is clear.”  Calypso agreed.  She moved to come between Elizabeth and Will, forcing them to separate.

“Just tell me what she is right about!”  She screamed the words.  “Tell me!” 

Calypso turned to look up at Elizabeth.  It felt strange to be looking down on a goddess, but Calypso’s human form was, indeed, shorter than Elizabeth.  “Elizabeth.”  The goddess smiled, reached out a hand, and drew her over to stand beside Teague. She pointed to where Teague’s finger still rested on the words of the book.

Elizabeth leaned forward and read the words aloud.  “A marriage can be performed on a ship only by the captain.”  She shrugged at that information.  That much was known and while Barbossa had not been the official captain of the Black Pearl in those moments, he had been acting as such.  That seemed to be perfectly in line.  She continued reading.  “Both parties must verbally agree to the marriage.”  I do.  She could hear her own voice echo in her head.  “The marriage is not complete until the captain pronounces the couple as husband and wife.”  Her eyes shot up to Will’s.  “We’re not married?”

“Not technically, it would seem.”  Will’s voice was quiet. 

Calypso stepped away from the pair, removing herself entirely from the scene.  She gestured to Teague who, with utmost respect, obeyed the sea goddess’ command. 

Elizabeth did not watch them go, but instead continued to read the words in the Code.  A strange feeling overcame her.  She didn’t know what it was.  She felt…light.  As if she were floating in the air, buoyed up by the knowledge she had just gained.

Will stepped closer to her, lifted one of his hands to her chin, and drew her eyes up to his.  “Elizabeth,” he whispered, the words sad, fervent.  “I lived all my life longing for your love, waiting for it, wanting to hold it close and cage it.  I gained it for a time…I think.”

She felt the tears in her eyes beginning to form and blinked rapidly to try to stave them off.  “Will.”  Her voice broke on the word.

“You are not one to be caged, no matter how pretty the cage.”  His smile was crooked.  “You are a swan, beautiful, graceful, and best when free to ride the waves.  You were never meant to be a Turner, to be the wife of a blacksmith…or the wife of the unwitting captain of the Flying Dutchman, for that matter.  Neither is fair to you.  Both keeps you in a cage.”

She nodded.  There was no use denying the realities of her life.  Freedom was what had become most important of all.  The wind in her face, the sea underneath the decks of her ship, wild, uninhibited.

“Like another bird we know, you need to be free to fly.”  She smiled at the quiet mention of Jack. Peas in a pod, love…

“Our marriage…”

“Never was.”  The words were choked.  “I’ll always love you, Elizabeth.”  He leaned into her and kissed her lightly on the lips before stepping back.  “You’re free.”

The scene shifted around her once more, swirled around slowly at first, then began to gain speed.  She saw Will, his eyes sad, Calypso and Teague, their looks both completely inscrutable.  The room swirled into darkness.

A white flash brought her back to herself.  She wasn’t disoriented this time.  As she looked around herself, she knew exactly where she was and what she was meant to do.