Title: One Day I Slowly Floated Away

Chapter: 1

Author: CarthsLostPadawan

Summary: Begins at the end of PotC 2: DMC. Caitlynn's lost her brother Jack to the Kracken and Will's lost Elizabeth to Jack. Perhaps they can find to cope somewhere in the middle with one another?

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 is literally a recount of the ending of DMC, so most of the dialogue is not mine. I own Caitlynn, but even she decided to steal a couple lines from Marty and Mr. Gibbs!

Fire and shrapnel showered the deck of the Black Pearl, pieces of scorched tentacles accompanying its decent to the scuffed wood below. What was left of the Pearl's unlucky crew emerged from their stations as the massive Kracken slithered back to the depths of the deep blue. Looking around, there weren't many left, just Marty, Ragetti and Pintel, Will, Elizabeth, Jack, Gibbs and Caitlynn, all but Jack looking a bit worse for wear.

"Did we kill it?" Caitlynn questioned peering over the broken balustrade portside. Mr. Gibbs joined her, though his gaze faced out toward the open depths rather than the immediate water below them.

"No. We just made it angry. We're not out of this yet." His gaze turned to Jack who had just walked down from the bridge while a few of the others crawled over debris to join him. "Captain! Orders!"

Jack stood there for a moment, looking around at the death and destruction aboard his precious ship, noting the massive loss of his crew. The ship turned quiet and for a moment it seemed as if even the sea mourned the loss of life that had taken place. Adverting his gaze from all, he made his final solemn decision. "Abandon ship. Into the longboat."

Caitlynn pushed her way through the surprised people to her older brother, her green hazel eyes searching his for a sign of what he could possibly be thinking. "Jack! The Pearl." There was a fear in her eyes at the uncertainty of willing leaving the ship that had been her home for nearly thirteen years now. Jack brought a hand to her cheek, mustering the most serious look he could.

"She's just a ship, Cait."

"He's right, we have to head for land," Elizabeth added before the younger pirate could protest. She glared at the woman, a look of disdain prominent in her eerie depths. There had never been once that she'd ever liked the noble woman from Port Royal, but this time above all else had led her feelings for her to an all-time low.

"'S a lot o' open wa'er," Pintel spoke softly looking over the rail. Ragetti joined him, following his gaze.

"That's a lot o' wa'er," he chimed.

Will Turner made his way towards the front of the group now, asserting his own charismatic pull to the conversation. "We have to try. We can get away as it takes down the Pearl." Caitlynn looked at him questioningly, but his own eyes spoke it all. It was hopeless and if they wanted to live, they had to leave the Pearl. There were no alternatives.

"Abandon ship," Gibbs spoke as he headed toward the longboat. "Abandon ship or abandon hope." His words were what everyone else was thinking but hadn't wanted to admit. Davy Jones wanted them dead and if they didn't get off the ship they would end up being just that. Dead. No one moved for a moment as they let realization set in. It was almost as if they were silently saying their own goodbyes to their memories aboard the black-sailed ship.

Pintel and Ragetti lowered the long boat ready to receive whatever equipment they were going to try to salvage to take along with them, while Marty quickly descended the ladder after them. Elizabeth pushed through the others who where grabbing guns and supply boxes and approached Jack who was nostalgically staring at his beloved ship.

"Thank you, Jack," she started, joining the rum-scented pirate captain. He turned his dark brown eyes to her, his face void of its usual mischievous mirth.

"We're not free yet, love." It was obvious by his voice that he hadn't liked having to come back to his ship, but he knew where his duty lied. His compass even said as much.

"You came back. I always knew you were a good man." She moved closer to Jack, their eyes both darting from one another's to their lips and back. They both wanted it, but Jack was surprised that it was she who initiated the kiss.

Will loaded the final box of things into the longboat and prepared to help Caitlynn in when he saw it. His heart clenched in his chest and his breathing stalled as he caught sight of his "fiancée" passionately kissing Jack aboard the ship. For a long moment, he was paralysed, his entire life seemingly being stole out from under him in just one fell moment. However, he was brought back from his painful experience as Mr. Gibbs broke his line of sight and handed him something else which he grabbed numbly. "Prepare to cast off! There's no time to lose!"

Caitlynn, who was behind Mr. Gibbs was ready to get off the ship as soon as possible, her resolve found somewhere in her lingering urge to live. Seeing as he wasn't moving because Will was in the way, she sighed heavily. "Come on, Will, step to!" His gaze flashed to hers for a moment and the hurt there nearly made her physically take a step back. Looking around to see what possibly could be the source of his pain, she found Elizabeth and Jack wrapped in each other's passion. Fire ignited behind her eyes as she fought her own urge to go rip the woman in half.

"Oh Will…" she found herself whispering as a tug on her boot from Mr. Gibbs beckoned her into the ship. Forcing away from the deck, she climbed into the longboat and took a seat next to the broken Turner. She placed a hand on his, but he turned away not wanting her to see the sadness in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Will."

The sound of shackles broke their kiss and Jack realized for the first time Elizabeth's ulterior motive. Pulling away, she flashed him an apologetic glance though she couldn't bare to look into his eyes for longer than just a moment. "It's after you, not the ship. It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see?" Tears choked her voice as she tried to slow her racing pulse. "I'm not sorry."

Jack watched as she tried to lean in to kiss him once more, but he only smiled softly, giving her conscience the excuse it needed. "Pirate."

Her lips lingered before his for another long moment before she finally turned and rushed for the escape ship. Gibbs stood to help her down into it, though she sat down a good foot away from Will. "Where's Jack?" he questioned with obvious hurt in his voice. Tears formed behind her eyes as she tried to assert herself matter-of-factly.

"He elected to stay behind and give us a chance." Her words grant her uncertain looks from the rest of the crew, a truly disbelieving one from the young Caitlynn. "Go!" The woman demanded suddenly and stepping to, they pushed the ship off and away from the Pearl.

He'll swim out and join us. Just wait, he's got a plan. Caitlynn tried to rectify in her head, her eyes never leaving Elizabeth who seemed to be engaged in a mental battle of her own. Her mind couldn't yet comprehend just how Will could be with a woman who would treat him so, but pass up herself as if it were nothing at all. She gave her all to Will, even if he did just view them as friends. Elizabeth used him.

The distance between them and the Black Pearl grew until she began to worry if they were even going to wait for Jack at all. And then it happened and the entire world seemed as if it stopped spinning on it's axis. Tentacles crawled up the ship, moving with a guided purpose now rather than a directed order. The crew watched on in dead silence as the Kracken wrapped it's sliming tendrils around the crafted wood of the Pearl and then in the next moment the sounds of splintering wood filled their ears and it drug the precious ship to the grimy deep.

There was no Jack. He hadn't jumped, he wasn't coming toward them… he didn't resurface. "JACK!" Caitlynn cried numbly trying to scramble for a hop over the side of the boat.

"Caitlynn, no!" Will grabbed her around the slender waist as she fought against him, rocking the boat.

"Jack's gone, Caitie," Mr. Gibbs' voice called out to her as she struggled. Placing a calloused hand on her shoulder he shook his head. "It'll only drag you down with it." Her tiny fingers let go of the side of the boat, she and Will falling back into the bottom of it. She turned, sobbing her heart out into his chest as he cradled her close to him. The rest of the crew stayed silent, unable to speak in the awkwardness of the loss. None had been as close to Jack as she had, though she hadn't been a blood relative, she'd been his sister for as long as she could remember. Elizabeth let a couple of her own tears fall, guilt written all over her face.

I just sentenced him to his death.