A/N: This is my first fiction work… so please be kind! Flames accepted, but be nice about my stupidity with grammar

Disclamer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean… unfortunately :'(

Pirates of the Caribbean: Revenge of the Dead

By An Unknown Writer

Prologue

Their swords clashed as the sun set behind the horizon. The ship rocked as the waves crashed upon the bow. A young William Turner fought for freedom and the woman he loved, while Lord Cutler Beckett fought to command the Seven Seas. Will locked his blade with his enemies while he glanced over to some of the other ships resting on the water. Some ships supported his cause, mainly for the sake of rum, while others supported Beckett, and hoped to submerge piracy in this final battle. An image of Elizabeth flashed across Will's mind, and a new force, determination, and hope flooded every part of him. He launched himself at Beckett, with more strength than before. Beckett looked at him and tried to suppress a smirk that inched across his face.

---

An ear-splitting rumble filled the air and Elizabeth quickly turned her attention to the source.

"Will…" she murmured. A wall of flames, smoke, and debris rose from the ship where Will had been locked in combat. The attention of the crew of the Black Pearl was quickly grabbed as well. The lot looked in horror as gruesome thoughts filled their minds.

"Will!" Elizabeth cried as the shock crashed upon her like waves crashing on a beach. A pair of strong arms pulled her into a tight embrace. Tears ran down her cheeks like little waterfalls and thoughts of Will invaded every thought. She quickly turned around to face Captain Jack Sparrow, whose face was filled with remorse and sadness.

"He's not comin' back luv. You know tha' no one could survive a blast like tha'," Jack said. He was now painfully looking over to where the navy ship had once floated, but now was only debris littering the water. His eyes looked to be faraway, in a distant land, and Elizabeth quickly recognized it as sorrow for the loss of his best mate. "Will loved ya' Lizzie. Don't you forget it," Jack murmured.

"But Jack… He's… he's… everything! Everything I had ever hoped to find! And you expect me to live without him?" she exclaimed, her emotions taking control. Her sadness. Her anger. Her everlasting feeling of un-fulfillment and emptiness. Everything that sprung into her mind came rushing out of her lips. "I… I can't Jack! Live without him!"

"Shhh..."

"Honestly, I have no reason to live! I might as well turn myself over to those bastards. I'm sure they'd love to have me rotting away in their bloody prison," she exclaimed. She no longer had control, for her emotions had completely taken over. Jack just stared, not knowing what to say. "So… just… take me to Norrington or someone of the like… or… or…"

"Or what? Liz, are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright!" Elizabeth replied hastily. "Send me there... or I'll walk the plank!" Reason and sensibility had surely escaped her.

"Ya' know I can't do tha' Liz!" Jack argued. "First o' all, I won' take ya' there 'cause then they'll try ta' kill me. Second, I'm definitely not lettin' you walk the God damned plank! And thir' o' all, they'll kill ya'! And Will would not've 'ad that now would 'e?"

"You have a point Jack Sparrow, about them killing you, but I'm not so sure about the other two. Just give me a God-forsaken life boat and I will row myself down to the ship myself. And you, with all you selfishness will not have to come within twenty feet of Norrington. Is that understood?" Fury consumed her every action and thought. The mere consideration of being separated eternally from Will was hard to grasp for Elizabeth's grief-stricken mentality. Without thinking of what she was about to do, she grabbed a dagger on her belt and pointed it at Jack's chest.

"All righ'… all righ' Liz! Just get tha' bloody thing away from me body!" Jack exclaimed as he backed up. "Cotton, get one of those life boats for 'Lizbeth."

"Shiver me timbers," replied the parrot perched on Cotton's shoulder as Cotton moved to lower one of the lifeboats. Jack motioned for Elizabeth to follow him to the awaiting life boat. Before she hoisted herself aboard the tiny vessel, she glanced around the ship; many were badly wounded and in dire need of medical assistance. She prayed a silent prayer and motioned for Jack to lower the rowboat.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Elizabeth said as she watched Cotton move over to one of the injured crewman from the recent battle.

"Not so fast luv. I'll lower ya' on one condition."

"And that would be?"

"Ya' gotta promise me tha' you'll let no 'arm come ta' yerself. Savvy?" Jack said as an essence of seriousness crept onto his face.

"On my word as an English gentlewoman. Now bring about this bloody rowboat!" Elizabeth anxiously replied.

"Alrigh' lass. Keep ya' bootstraps on. Why are ya' so moody lately?" Jack pondered.

"I'M NOT BLOODY MOODY!" Elizabeth cried as Jack lowered her down to the murky water.

"Nutin' else ye got ta' say before ya' go then Liz?"

Elizabeth calmed down some. "I don't suppose I'll see you again. I guess this is goodbye, Jack." The boat made a splash as it entered the water and Elizabeth grabbed the oars and started to row away. She painfully smiled to Jack and he in turn tipped his hat and murmured a goodbye. He did not know if he would ever see her again. He watched her row off toward the horizon, and to a probable death.

- - -- - -- - -- - -

Jack whispered a final farewell as he saw Elizabeth being hauled into the deck of the Dauntless. Now, pieces of the ship blown apart by the explosion were starting to float their way past the Pearl. Jack scanned the water for any sign, but there was nothing. Nothing proved that Will was alive. All hope was quickly drained from Jack. But before he turned around to order the crew about, he noticed a lump clinging to a piece of wreckage for dear life.

"Oh bugger..." Jack exclaimed.

"Sweet mother o' God!" Gibbs, too, had seen him."Man overboard!"

"Good God! Get 'im on board!" Jack yelled. "Come on you dogs! Bring him up on deck! Chop chop!" He cried out with such authority, which was rather unusual for him. He thought about Will, then Elizabeth and soon realized. 'What have I done? I shoulda known that Will would be alright! He's survived at least two blasts throughout his life, and could've survived another! And I've sent Elizabeth to her death! Why couldn't I have been more level headed and made Elizabeth stay here, on the Pearl?'

The crewmen hauled Will onboard, who was barely conscious. There was a long gash running from his ear to his chin, and various other cuts, burns, and bruises littering his wet body. His dripping wet and bloody clothes clung to his body. Jack only hoped that Will had inflicted even more pain and wounds to Lord Beckett.

"Jack?" Will moaned. Jack didn't know what to say.

"Ye gotta get some medicines to 'im Jack," informed Gibbs.

"I sodding well know that!" Jack said harshly.

"Jack? Gibbs?" Will repeated.

"What is it?" Jack replied.

"Where's… Elizabeth…" Will said before he drifted into unconsciousness.

Jack knelt beside Will, assuming that he would not be waking for quite some time. He decided that it was best for Will to quickly take him to a cabin and treat to the many wounds that he had received from his duel with Beckett. Jack sincerely hoped that Will had managed to defeat Beckett, and would never have to deal with that slimy grease ball again.

- - -- - -- - -- - -

Meanwhile, on the Dauntless, Commodore James Norrington helped get Elizabeth onboard. He looked at Elizabeth, who was in a pitiful state. Her eyes were red from bawling, and various cuts, dirt, and bruises littered her arms, face, and chest. In the back of his mind, James Norrington knew that he still loved her dearly, but doubted she returned the feelings. He knew the laws well. And there was only one law that would ultimately prevent her death. Norrington knew that Beckett would not be happy, and that blasted Turner if he survived the blast, of his intentions.

"Elizabeth Swann. You have been convicted of treason, pillaging, pirating, and general lack of respect for the crown," he stated.

"I understand. But what is your point Commodore?"

Norrington sighed. "The sentence is… is death. Death by hanging."

"I am willing to face the consequences of my actions," Elizabeth replied. She noticed that Will had said a similar thing so many years before… right before their first kiss.

"But Elizabeth... Surely you do not wish to die!" Elizabeth nodded in agreement that she did not wish to perish. "Well… there is a law…"

"And what does that law say?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"Elizabeth, will you marry me?"

"Excuse me?!"

"The law states that a person convicted of crimes against the crown will be exonerated, if… they marry someone of high stature… meaning someone… someone like me."

Elizabeth paused. She had no idea of what to say. She knew that she shouldn't die, for the fear of… well, she just did not know. "I… I…" she began. Norrington encouraged her to go on. "I… I don't know what to say! I guess… that… I…have decided to… I am inclined to acquiesce to your request." She tried to wipe the look of sorrow and disgust of what she had just said, for she knew she was betraying Will, again. Norrington gave a whoop of joy and rushed toward Elizabeth to pull her into a tight embrace. Elizabeth tried to push away, but to no avail. She thought of Will, and how Will had hugged her, and kissed her, with such tenderness and compassion, and realized her life would never be the same, and it most definitely would not.

A/N: Well that's the end of chapter one! Only a lot more to go! And if you wouldn't mind hitting the review button, down there, to the bottom left of your computer screen. Please tell me what you thought of the first chapter!