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Jack watched Jones fall to the deck below the mast, conscious that even a fall from that height would not kill Jones. Only his heart being stabbed could do that. Jack grabbed a rope and swung down to the deck below, noticing several things. Will had the chest open and a dagger in his hand. Davy looked somewhat worried about that. Elizabeth came running from where she had been disposing of two fish fellows. Beckett was nowhere to be seen.

Jack stood in front of Jones, holding him back with the tip of his sword. He glanced toward Elizabeth, and to his horror, saw Beckett rise up from behind a barrel, aim his pistol, and shoot. Without a sound, Elizabeth fell to the deck. Jack drew his pistol and shot Beckett through the heart. At the same moment, Will plunged the knife into Jones' heart, and the captain of The Flying Dutchman fell to the ground. Will stood up and saw Elizabeth collapsed on the deck, Jack already rushing to her side.

Jack hurried to Elizabeth, a dozen frightening thoughts rushing through his head. He had mentally prepared himself for her leaving his life, going back to Port Royal to marry Will. If it made her happy, he would accept it. Personally, he doubted she loved Will as much as she felt it her duty to love him. But he had accepted that Will was her choice.

But now, all he could think of was that he was going to lose the woman he loved. Softly, he felt for a pulse, and finding her still alive, he leaned down closer to her.

"Lizzie. Lizzie, can you hear me." "………Jack…..what happened?" her voice was almost imperceptible. "Beckett shot you. I killed him." He tugged her shirt open as he spoke, having no thought for her womanhood, just wanting to save her. "Am…I…going to…die?" The wound was close to her heart, and had probably gone through a lung. She coughed up blood. He felt a call to be honest. "Lizzie, I know you want the truth, so I'll give it to you, luv. I don't think I can save you now, but I will come for you, like you did me. I'll bring you back." Will was kneeling on the deck nearby, apparently in shock, just staring at his fiancé wasting her last moments on another man.

"Jack…you can't save me…I…gave up…my…right… I loved you…too much…Only Tia knows…what I had to do. Jack…I…" her voice faded off, and for a moment, Jack thought he had lost her. He was puzzled and elated and heartbroken by what she had said. Why couldn't he come save her? What had she had to do that only Tia knew of? Suddenly, she spoke again, her voice hoarse and whispering through blood stained lips. "I….love…you, Jack………..goodbye." Gently, he leaned down. "I love you, Lizzie." And then he kissed her lips even as her last breath left them. When he pulled back, her soft dead lips were curved in the slightest trace of a smile.

Not even looking at Will, who had begun crying in a mixture of pain and anger, Jack walked to where Beckett's body lay, and, ensuring that the sharks he had seen earlier were still present in the water, he threw the body overboard. Then he walked up to where Tia Dalma had just dispatched one of the last of Jones' loyal men. The crew of the Dutchman had become normal men when their captain died, and only a few had not immediately surrendered. The EIC men had either fled or been slain much earlier.

"Tia. Beckett shot Elizabeth. She's dead. We need to get her back." Despite her dark skin, Tia paled. "We can't Jack." "She said that too, but why not? You saved me." "No. She saved you. You see, when you want to save a person from the locker, one person has to give up their right to be saved when they die. I told only Elizabeth this, because she loved you and she felt she owed you. I knew if I told the others, Will would not let her do it, and you see, it had to be a woman. Each person can save one person of the opposite gender from the locker, and in doing so, they give up the right to be saved themselves. I would have done it, but Barbossa was my one man saved. Elizabeth was completely willing. She saved you, and now you cannot save her."

Jack stood by the rail that night, alone and sorrowful. Elizabeth lay on the deck beside him, dead and cold. He wished there was something, anything, he could do to turn back time, to just let himself be hanged back in Port Royal. No one would have come after him, he'd just be gone, and Elizabeth would have lived happily ever after.

He knelt beside the body, and let his tears fall down. Slowly, he reached for the little ring he had hanging in his hair. It was one of the few trinkets he had come by honestly, for his father had given it to his mother, who had given it to him right before she died. Of course, he had no idea where his father had gotten it. He loosened it from the tangled mass of dreadlocks and held it to his lips. Then, he slipped it onto Elizabeth's ring finger. Will had taken his ring from her finger and thrown it overboard. He noticed that the ring Will had given her had been too small for Elizabeth's finger, and had left a painful looking mark. Everything about Will had been too small for Elizabeth; his life too restricted, his freedom limited to what went on in Port Royal. Jack noticed how easily and beautifully his mother's ring fit on Elizabeth's finger. How he wished he had given it to he while she lived.

He lifted her left hand to his lips, again kissing the ring, tasting the salt of tears on his lips. "I love you Elizabeth." He pressed her hand to his heart. Then, he stood up and turned back to the rail.

Suddenly, he heard a soft moan behind him. He spun around, expecting to see Will, probably with a sword drawn, ready to kill him. But there was no one but himself and the body of his beloved. He looked at the body, and suddenly felt shock wash over him. She was bleeding. People who had been dead for several hours didn't bleed. Then she groaned. He was certain this time.

"Tia!" He called frantically, and Tia came quickly. "Tia, she's bleeding. And she groaned twice! She's alive!" Tia hurried to Elizabeth and checked for a pulse. "I don't know what you did, but she's alive. If we don't stop that bleeding though, she's gonna die again right quick. Take her into your cabin, and don't let the others know about it." She scurried down the stairs to get some things.

Jack took off Elizabeth's bloodstained top, and then used a blanket to cover anything that didn't absolutely need to be uncovered. He used a rag to wipe off the blood, then felt a moment of shock. She had stopped bleeding, and there was only a scar where the bullet had entered. A scar that looked like it had been there for years. He checked to ensure she was still alive, and found her pulse stronger than before. Suddenly, something occurred to him. Did this miracle have something to do with the ring? She was breathing normally, and then her eyes opened.

"Jack, what happened? How did you….? This is impossible. I was dead, Jack, and I gave my right to be saved to you." Her voice was as strong and healthy as ever. "I don't know luv. You just came back. Maybe Tia can explain."

Tia came into the room and looked shocked, which made the situation even more puzzling, since Tia often seemed to understand everything. Just then, Elizabeth, who was sitting up and covering herself more thoroughly with the blanket, noticed the ring on her finger. "What's this?" Enlightenment flooded Tia's face. She hurried over to the bed, then looked at Jack. "Did you put this on her finger?" "Yes. It was a sort of parting gift. It was my mother's." Tia grinned, showing teeth which had become very white when Jones' died. "I've always wanted to see one of these. There are only four of them in the entire world, though long ago there were many. These rings are embodiment rings. They embody the feelings that the giver has when he or she gives it away. It you hold it and hate someone, then give it to the person you hate, the person will die. If you love someone, then give it to the person you love, they will have much love and happiness, or, if they happen to be dead, may come back to life if the love of the giver is strong enough. Jack, your love saved Elizabeth." She smiled, then left, saying one last thing as she left. "I will not tell the others, that is your job." She motioned Jack out the door, then spoke to him quietly. "She is weak, and remember, your love saved her, not your lust. True love, which I know is what you feel for her, will save things like lust until the time is right. Tonight, the time is not right. Take care of her, do not debauch her. Goodnight Jack."

Jack went back into the cabin, his mind still ringing with Tia's words. Up until she mentioned it, he had not even thought about what he could have from Elizabeth tonight. Despite that she was weak, he knew she would not refuse him her body. But he knew Tia was right. This was not the right time to take his beloved in the physical sense. He knew just when the right time would be. But for tonight, he would love Elizabeth with his heart, not his body.

The next morning, after the crew found out about Elizabeth, Will couldn't take the fact that Jack's love had been what brought Elizabeth back. He took the chest in which Davy Jones had buried his heart, and he took his dagger that his father, who Jones had killed, had given him, and, after shooting one last look at the cabin which Jack had locked himself in with Elizabeth, he took the longboat and rowed toward the distant shore.

Despite what Will thought was happening in the cabin, Jack had kept his promise to himself. He slept in a large chair by the bed. In the morning, he had announced Elizabeth's resurrection, then fled to the cabin, leaving Tia to explain how it all happened. He had mostly fled because he didn't want to fight Will. He sat beside Elizabeth and softly took her hand. She watched him, silent.

He slipped his ring off her finger. She sighed, worried that he was reclaiming his heart. But instead, he looked into her eyes and spoke softly. "Lizzie my love, will you marry me? Wear my magical little ring forever?"

She couldn't believe it. Captain Jack Sparrow wanted to marry her! The only word her mind could formulate at that moment was the one she whispered against his lips.

"Yes"

Jack slept in a hammock in the crew's quarters for the next three weeks. The search for Will proved fruitless, much to Jack's private relief. When Jack and Elizabeth were married, Elizabeth was completely healthy, with only scars to mark her death. His father, sober for once, performed the ceremony. It was a beautiful wedding, a second chance at life for two people who had been beyond the grave.

And that night, Jack knew the time was right.