On an island in a southern part of the sea, shortly after Will Turner leaves Elizabeth….

The Flying Dutchman was gone. Although both newlyweds had attempted to make the seconds before their doomed fate last as long as possible, the Dutchman did inevitably disappear into the horizon for what would be another ten years. Elizabeth felt as if it would not reappear for another eternity. Ten years seemed unbearable, and she did not see how she would be able to live through it.

Elizabeth hugged the giant treasure chest in her arms as tightly as she could and sunk into the warm, sandy ground. She wondered how the simple noise of a heartbeat could be so comforting and yet so agonizing to listen to at the same time. Grief rested on her like a heavy blanket, but she didn't dare take it off just yet. The thoughts that came to her from thinking about him and listening to his heartbeat brought pain and sadness, yet his love enveloped around her as his heart continued on in its mantra. Thump-thump, thump-thump.

She wouldn't be able to see or touch him for another ten years. His warm smile and sweet eyes looking into hers would become but a memory. His rough hands accompanied by his light touch would not be felt. She could still feel the memory of him on her, comforting her and loving her with every ounce of energy he had left. She knew that the memory of it would soon fade. The full realization of this caused her to breathe irregularly. Despite wishing to suppress her feelings for as long as she could, Elizabeth cried slowly and silently under the sound of the soft waves. She wanted to be strong. She didn't want to be a weak, helpless woman. Although Elizabeth thought that she was stronger than this, she wasn't. She couldn't be.

Elizabeth knew that everything would soon be forgotten. Both her and Will would forget how it feels to love someone and be near them at the same time. They would instead becoming familiar with the pains of separation and regret. Both would not feel comfort from the one they love for another ten years.

Elizabeth's soft cries turned into agonizing sobs as she watched the horizon. She despised this fate. Her cursed life was something that no one should have to suffer through, and Elizabeth felt like she would never be able to bear it. She looked away from the horizon that tortured her mind and delicately placed the chest back on the rocks. Elizabeth thought back to the words he had spoken to her and felt like she could still hear him despite them now being miles apart.

"It always belonged to you."

She knew this. She had always known this. At times this truth was wonderful, and at other times it seemed to be torturous. Their lives had changed at an incredibly quick pace, and the hardships they had to endure both together and apart changed everything they had ever known. These hardships bonded them together, yet it often made them feel like complete strangers. It confused them both, and Elizabeth was still not confident in her feelings. She knew that Will's heart belonged to her, but she was unsure if her's completely belonged to him. Elizabeth could recall questioning him on numerous occasions, and she wondered if he had ever truly known her. They seemed to both surprise each other quite frequently.

When the proposal happened, Elizabeth thought they would be dead within minutes anyway. Their previous attempt at marriage had been interrupted by an arrest, and their final wedding well may have been interrupted by their death at sea. It seemed fitting, and so they got married then and there. He died, and she did not. Although he was still alive in a way, it would never be the same. Elizabeth of course didn't want him to be dead, but why did it have to happen this way? Elizabeth could not seem to decide which was worse: a death that was certain or a disappearance that was not. She would only see him for less than a total week of the rest of her life. Will would not age, but Elizabeth would gradually get older and older until she was gone.

Although it was ten years away, Elizabeth was nervous for their next meeting. It would most likely be awkward and strange. Both of them would be unfamiliar to the other, and neither of them would know what to say or how to say it after ten long years.

Elizabeth's thoughts shifted to what she was going to do. Staying on this practically deserted island watching a horizon did not sound like the most ideal plan to her. Living in adventure had become the norm, and waiting around romantically for her rescuer to return from sea sounded incredibly boring, but Elizabeth seemed to have no choice. The Black Pearl, which included Barbossa and Jack, had left her.

"Perhaps Jack left some rum on this island," Elizabeth thought to herself with a sigh.

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean…

Captain Jack Sparrow didn't know where he was going. His compass wasn't working, his rum was gone, and there was no undead monkey to shoot anymore. On top of everything, the boat, if you could even call it that, had sprung yet another leak.

With a tired look in his eyes, kohl smeared and eyelids mostly closed, Jack flipped open the compass one more time.

"I know what I want. I know what I want. I know. What. I want," he muttered to himself, hoping that he was not lying this time.

It spun, spun, and spun. Jack's eyebrows raised up hopefully when the arrow landed on one spot only to be disappointed again when the arrow landed on another. It went back and forth hopelessly and endlessly.

Letting out a slight growl, Jack got up to open the sail again, wanting to head back to where he had just left.

"Perhaps I'll get some more rum there," he muttered to himself with a grunt.

Somewhere else in the Atlantic…

Captain Barbossa was furious. He did not know how he could he have been so foolish, and he regretted not watching Jack Sparrow more closely. There was no point in going anywhere if they didn't know where the Fountain of Youth was, and now that Jack had the map, their quest was hopeless. Barbossa knew that he needed to find him but didn't know where he could have gone to. Jack had most likely left Tortuga already, but someone had to know where he was.

Barbossa glanced over the horizon, suddenly coming up with his solution: Elizabeth would know where Jack would be, and no other person had ever been able to make Sparrow do things better than her. Besides, Barbossa had helped Elizabeth get married. She had to help him. All he had to do was get her off of that island. Hopefully she was all right. Barbossa hoped that she was not angry at him and Jack for leaving her there.

"Persuasion is the key," Barbossa thought to himself. "Eternal Youth would make young Mrs. Turner very happy."

Barbossa continued to steer the Pearl. If he had been looking out at the horizon behind him, he would have spotted a man wearing a tricorne hat bailing out water from a small boat in the far distance.

"Now where's me rum gone to?" Barbossa muttered to himself as he furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin.