SPOILERS! Here's a oneshot 10 days after AWE, based on the idea that the curse is broken after 10 years. Don't own POTC. Thanks for reading and reviews make my day!

Will Turner was on land.

And Elizabeth was running into his arms.

"Will," she cried. He swept her into a kiss and hugged her close. When they pulled away, he wiped the tears away from her smiling face.

" Elizabeth," Will said softly. She laughed and kissed him again, her sun-kissed hair swaying in the summer's breeze.

A gunshot rang through the air.

Elizabeth was gasping; there was blood on her back and her blood on Will's hands. " Elizabeth!" he screamed. She choked and crumpled to the ground. Will fell with her, holding her and firmly placing his hands over the wound. "Hold on, just hold on..." He heard a cruel laugh. Will met eyes briefly with the man that stood behind her with a cocked rifle. Then the laugh stopped and all he heard were her short, quick gasps of breath.

Until that stopped too.

With a start, Will Turner woke up. It took him a moment to realize where he was, and when he did, he felt the cruel hollowness of his chest more then ever. 10 years at sea.

He raised his hands to his face and felt the wet spots that stained his cheeks. It was his first voyage to the land of the dead and his tenth night as Captain of the Flying Dutchman. And it was the tenth night in a row that he had had a nightmare, each one cruelly different. Elizabeth, already dead and buried when he returned. Elizabeth, stabbed seconds before she fell into his arms. Elizabeth, shot in the back.

Will couldn't do this.

None of it made sense. Why him?

He left the cabin and entered the chilly air. The crew, consisting of the old crew and a few others looking to be spared of death for a few months, was mostly sleeping. Will moved through the night and stopped at the boat's bow. He stared at the deep, dark water.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Will turned to see a new edition to a crew, a naive merchant killed during the storm, standing nervously behind him.

"Everything's fine," Will replied stiffly. He moved aside a little bit and the man quickly joined him.

"What's it like, Captain?" the man asked eagerly. "What's Heaven like?"

All Will knew about was the locker, with its wild sand dunes and vast emptiness. "I wouldn't know."

"But your Davy Jones, aren't you? You go to Heaven all the time." Will finally looked at him in the eye. His eyes were wide, naive, and eager.

"I'm not Davy Jones," Will said firmly. "This is my second trip to the land of the dead, but I haven't seen where you're going yet."

The man blinked and knit his eyebrows together. "Then who are you?"

"My name's Will Turner."

"Then-then Davy Jones...?"

"He was killed," Will explained, looking away again. The man gave an uneasy laugh.

"I didn't know he was alive to be killed."

"Davy Jones was immortal. But if you stab his heart you can destroy him, and you become the new Captain," Will said softly.

The man leaned against the side of the ship. "I can't imagine why anyone would want that."

"I didn't."

"But you're here, aren't you? You've stabbed the-the heart, you made a choice--"

"I made no choice!" Will shouted angrily. Stinging tears burned his eyes. He pulled his shirt down and revealed a long, red scar across his heart. "Davy Jones stabbed me here. The pirate Jack Sparrow used my hand to stab the heart to bring me back to life. Don't you say I choose this!"

The man's eyes were glued to the scar. Will released his hand from his shirt and sighed. He leaned over the wall again and watched the rippling waves. "I'm sorry then, Captain," the man finally said.

There was silence for a few minutes, and Will thought the man had left. But then the man said, "Davy Jones--he didn't ferry people to the land of the dead then, did he? It's true then that he just captured souls?" Will nodded. "You being here--at least the jobs being done right now. It's awful what happened to you, but there is that, right?"

Will said nothing. Absentmindedly, he pulled the key out of his pocket and toyed with it.

The man let out a low whistle. "How long do you have to do this, Captain? 'Till your heart gets stabbed?"

"I was married the day it happened," Will said quietly. "If she's faithful it'll all be over in 10 years."

He nodded. "She'll wait for you."

Will knew the man wouldn't hear him, and he didn't even know if he wanted him too. But he whispered anyway, "I love her."

"I think it's a destiny sort of thing. You were meant to be Captain for a bit, and she's meant to wait for you. There's a reason for everything, I think," the man mused. Then he laughed a little. "Listen to me, going on about stuff I don't know a thing about. Goodnight, Captain." The man walked away.

Will didn't even know his name.

There were tears in his eyes still, and Will wiped them away. He had no heart but he could still feel the tight pain of sadness, the longing to see her again, the overwhelming love and pain.

He slowly traced the scar. It had hurt so much. A fast motion and Davy Jone's sword was plunged into him. Intense pain. Sights and sounds fading in and out, warm hands on his face, hearing Elizabeth's voice, and then feeling a rough hand take his own. Then another dagger, pulling into him and a horrible emptiness filling his chest.

At least the jobs being done right now.

But a steep price to pay.

He would do his job. The ship would have a purpose. He wouldn't corrupt himself. He'd ferry the dead in the way they deserved, in the way the man deserved, and he would do it for ten years. It would hurt, and it would kill him a little bit every day, but ten years would pass and he'd have Elizabeth again.

Slowly, he moved away from the ocean and back to his cabin. He didn't need sleep, but he fell asleep quickly anyway.

Just one more step and he was there.

Will Turner was on land.

" Elizabeth," Will said softly. She laughed and kissed him again, her sun-kissed hair swaying in the summer's breeze.

"I've missed you so much," she whispered. Will laughed a little.

"It's only been ten days."

"And you're not really here, are you?" Elizabeth asked. "I know I'm sleeping...that I'm dreaming...you're not really here...but I don't want you to leave. I don't want to wake up."

A dream.

"I am really here," Will said slowly. "I'm sleeping and so are you. But we're both here. Right now...we're both here. It's real, almost."

Elizabeth laughed. "I don't care if it's real. As long as it's happening." She kissed him again and he held her close. He could hear her heartbeat, and if he listened closely, he could hear his, a little bit, too.

"One day on land, ten years at sea," Elizabeth mused.

Will kissed her again. "All depends on the one day."