A/N Summary: One-shot post Dead Man's Chest in which Elizabeth, Will, and the crew of the recently sunken Black Pearl search the remains of the ship. However, even if one wishes something to be true, it may not be as they desire.
Repentance:
Tears spilled down her cheeks at the thought of seeing his mangled, bloody body among the remains of the ship. Elizabeth Swann, killer of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, afraid of seeing the body of the man whom had been victim to the deadly trap.
"Ye really shouldn'tve come, Miss Elizabeth." An older man, one she'd know since she was young, told her.
"I have to see for myself, Gibbs." She responded quietly.
"It won't be a pretty sight, the-the remains of Cap'n Jack." Ragetti, who was rowing the small boat they'd taken, put in. "'S gonna be a mess, it is."
Elizabeth turned away from the one-eyed man and gazed out across the water towards the chunks of wood and cloth bobbing around the surface of the water. She could've sworn that through the driftwood and torn sails that she saw a flash of color. She straightened up hopefully, trying to get a better look. She nearly gasped when she could make out the familiar shape of an old tricorn, that of a captain; Of the Black Pearl's captain. That was Jack's hat.
A pit grew in her stomach. Jack Sparrow never went anywhere without his hat. This was a bad sign. A feeling of doom grew within her, the guilt of what she'd done rose, the regret tore through her like a wildfire. Jack was either seriously injured to not care enough to fetch his hat, or he had in fact been killed and her plan successful.
She knew she'd done it for a good reason; tricked him and chained him to the mast. BUt it didn't feel right, deep down. It felt like a horrible mistake.
What have I done?
A feeling of nausea overcame her and she fought the urge to vomit over the side of the boat. A hand on her back made her look up into the eyes of her fiance. Those eyes were still darkened a bit, like they'd been earlier, but he looked concerned.
"Are you alright?" William Turner asked her. When she turned away, he lightly shook her arm. "Elizabeth?"
"I'm fine." She whispered, lying.
Will let go of her. When Elizabeth turned back, she saw that they'd reached the ruins of the Black Pearl and some of the men had climbed onto driftwood, climbing about the debris in search of items that could be of any use. She climbed out herself and struggled among the floating material towards where the hat had been. She reached the hat and picked it up, studying it. It was definitely Jack's.
At that realization, her heart must've stopped for a moment, because she found air hard to come by in a place so open and so airy.
Not far away, she heard a shout from one of the men, ordering some help. Between the way the man was acting and the look on his face, she came to the conclusion that he'd found something. A body. A dead body. Jack. Elizabeth carefully, swiftly made her way across broken beams and was the first to reach the crewman's side. Pintel, the man who'd called out, gave her a sympathetic look and a small shake of his head.
"I'm sorry, Poppet." He said in a soft voice that sounded foreign.
A fresh wave of tears threatened to pour out of her eyes. All she could do was give a tiny nod and murmur,"Hoist him up."
Within moments, the other men arrived. Will dove under with a rope to secure it to the dead man. He gave a tug on the rope a minute later and the men began to pull up on it. Within a few more seconds, he'd surfaced, inhaling air into his lungs. His skin was pale and it made her worry of how bad it was. Of how bad Jack had been mutilated.
The pirate captain's body hit the surface soon after and that new wave of tears broke free, streaming down Elizabeth's cheeks. The body was lifted up between several of the men and moved in the direction of the longboat. Still holding the fallen man's hat, she followed along.
She got a better look at the remains of him. Blood pooled around several gaping wounds, one of those being one torn through his chest. His white shirt was stained red, his black coat impossibly darked- tinted with blood and water. Her eyes moved up to his face. His eyes were closed, his expression calm.
As the crew reached the boat and climbed in, lying down Jack's body in the middle, she hated herself. She hated herself for killing Jack. She hated Jack for being a good man and coming back, for falling for her trap. She hated Davy Jones for going after Jack. She hated Will for thinking the only way to save her from the hanging that never happened was to find Jack and retrieve the compass.
The compass.
Elizabeth pulled the box shaped object out of her pocket and looked at it, moe tears leaking down her cheeks. Jack had given it to her, when she'd joined his crew. He'd been trying to seduce her at the time, trying to win her over. She knew it. But that'd only resulted in his death.
The boat began to head back for Tia Dalma's shack.
"I'm so sorry, Jack." She murmured to the body.
And Elizabeth also hated herself for falling for Jack in the end, when it all collapsed.
This feeling, the one of regret over what she'd done. What was it? It was repentance.