Two years Prior

"WILL!" Elizabeth shouted. Her scream was piercing in the air, a banshees' shriek. They sat in the rowboat, too far away. Jack sat beside him, staring at the ship, which was disappearing into the depths of the sea quickly. Will stood up preparing to dive into the warm Caribbean water. He felt Jack's hand on his arm, grasping it, holding him back. Violently he shrugged Jack off and dove in.

'I'm coming. I'm coming. Hold on. Wait, please! Please! I need the chance to tell you…please… please don't let her die,' Will thought, surfacing quickly. He swam against the turbulent waters, the current extremely harsh against his vulnerable body. The warmth of the sea smacked up against him, his soaked clothes dragging him down. Here, the water was God, and could eat you up instantly.

His lungs burned with his effort. Will's muscles felt as if they were on fire, his mind completely focused on reaching the ship, which continued sinking at a rapid rate. Elizabeth was trapped on its deck. The calls of the others behind him were drowned out with the waves crashing around him. He heard snatches of what they shouted, but really paid no attention.

"DON'T! NO…POINT!" Jack's voice yelled to him. Will continued on, swimming as fast as his body would let him. Fatigue began to set in on him like a blanket. He slowed down, his muscles becoming heavy. There was no chance of gaining air into his burning lungs without stopping. Still, Will pushed on.

Suddenly, he was sucked into the current the sinking ship was creating. He stopped, unable to control where he was going now. He gasped and disappeared under the surface. The last sound he heard was her scream ringing out among the waves for one last time. Will tried to battle his way to the surface, but was dragged under every single time he tried to get closer to the surface of the water. His body gave out then, and he was pulled every which way. The current whipped him around like a rag doll. He was powerless in the mighty ocean.

He grimaced, feeling something heavy whack into his head. Probably refuse from the ship itself.

'I…can't…'

The entire world disappeared in a strange wave of blackness, her scream echoing in his brain.

2 Years Later

It wasn't exactly the most peaceful of places, but Tortuga offered some relief from the constant motion of the sea. He did not want to be on the ocean for the memories it held, but, at the same time, land wasn't as exciting to Will anymore. He wondered what everyone would do, now that they were on land, anyway.

Will was about to go off on his own before someone grabbing him stopped him in his tracks. He reached down to draw his sword.

"There'll be no need for that, son." Jack's voice sounded behind him. Will lowered his hand and turned around slowly. "Don't let it get you down much. There's nothing you coulda done."

"I know. I'm just…confused," he admitted. "I need to think." Jack nodded and the two of them walked through the tall wooden gates. The rest of the crew was already inside. Will was actually grateful for the noise of loud drunks and bar brawls to distract him from his thoughts. The smell of beer and ale and sweat was pungent here.

Will sniffed a little, suddenly craving the salt air again. Pirate was obviously in his blood. No matter how rough his recollections on the water were, he could not remain off its surfaces for long.

He fell behind Jack a bit, glancing around at all the action. Men wasted away through drink here. Fights randomly took place, sometimes for no reason at all. Women paraded around in fashions that would be considered raunchy in civilized society.

'But,' Will thought with some amusement, 'this isn't civilized society.' Thank heavens for that, in a time when he needed the disturbance. A distraction literally crashed right into Will as he become lost in thought. A drunken man was pushed into him, as another pushed him to start a fight. Instead of swinging at the one who pushed him, though, the man turned and swung at Will.

Will received the punch in the face and stumbled back. He was quick to yank out his sword, holding it ready. He was in no mood to fight, but if he had to, he would. Before the man could go after him again, he heard someone yell out, clearly.

"OI! YOU, THERE!" It was Jack, who was running forward, pushing through a few dirty civilians to get to Will and the male. "What're you doing?"

"This…idiot…ran into me," the man said. His words slurred horribly as he was so drunk.

"You were-"

"This fine gentleman would do no such thing," said Jack smoothly over Will. "He simply stumbled into your…drunken person."

"How dare you say I'm drunk when I most certainly am not!" The man prepared to swing, but Will pushed Jack out of the way before his fist landed. This time, Will was punched in the jaw, twice. He was going to go at Will again, but he kicked the man in the shins, making him fall. Will knew it wasn't fair, but trying to keep himself from being too beat up and keeping Jack from getting into too much trouble were his top priorities.

With that, Jack grabbed Will's arm and led him away quickly. When they were far enough away, Jack stopped walking. Will collapsed against the wall of a grimy building, mirroring nearly all the structures in Tortuga. He scowled, gently feeling his face.

"Everything alright?" Jack asked, with unusual tenderness. Will spat on to the floor, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth in a vile flavoring. He coughed, a tooth landing on the dirt floor in a small pat of crimson.

"It's alright. I'll live." Will gingerly touched his own swollen cheek and winced. "Ahhh…"

"Doesn't look alright, mate." Jack stepped closer to Will and suddenly stopped, his hand in midair. His mouth opened a bit and he looked to his right. Will glanced at Jack's hand, wishing it would reach its destination so badly his chest hurt. "You hear that?" The roar of angry drunks was becoming increasingly louder. It sounded like they were coming in this direction. "Oh, bugger. Let's go. Now!"

Jack grabbed Will's arm and began to run in the direction opposite the crowd of drunks.

"Jack, where are we going?" Will gasped.

"That remains to be seen!" Jack shouted, running faster now as he realized the group was right behind them. The shouting of what seemed to be the man's friends filled Will's ears to the point where everything else was blocked out. He ran with Jack, nearly tripping over a bin that was in the way. Jack split off to the right and ran up a set of stairs leading to the back door of a rather vacant looking inn. Will half fell up the stairs. He watched with a mix of apprehension and curiosity as Jack held up both of his hands, slowly putting his arms up in the air as if he were being arrested.

"Jack," Will said cautiously, reaching for his sword.

"Shh, man. Just wait," replied Jack calmly, continuing to hold up both hands. Still, nothing from him. Will pulled his sword from its sheathe.

"Jack…" Still, the man paid no attention. Jack turned and lifted himself up onto the ledge of the balcony they were on. Will stayed in place, still worrying because he knew what would happen if Jack fell backwards…

" 'ey!" Jack yelled. None of them stopped. Although it wasn't a huge problem, because half of the men were falling over each other in their drunken stupors anyway.

" 'ey!" No reaction, just more stumbling. " 'EY!" shouted Jack, as loudly as he could. Finally, they all shut up.

Jack cleared his throat. "Your pursuit of us is rather pointless, mates. You see, you're simply wasting valuable time for swallowing as much rum as you possibly can by coming after us poor, worthless vagabonds. So if you just go your way, then we'll go ours and everything will go back to being normal. You do what you do best…drink. And we'll do what we do best…RUN!"

Jack jumped from the ledge and pushed Will to the left, where the door to the inn was. Before he knew it, he was shoved up against the wood of the door itself, trying to open it. Jack reached over, grabbed the knob and pushed it open easily, still behind Will. Will tried to catch his breath, adrenaline coursing through his system quickly. The duo stumbled into the inn. They both fell flat on to the floor, simultaneously.

"Ah, bugger," grumbled Jack.

"What's going on here?" a voice commanded sharply. It was a stern voice, a woman's voice sounding of extreme authority. They both looked up at her from the floor.

"Very sorry, ma'am, very sorry indeed. We were just outrunning a bunch of extremely angry drunks, you see, and we just happened to-"

"I don't care if you were outrunning a group of flying monkeys! Take whatever you were doing to your room." Will felt his cheeks grow hot instantly at the mention.

"We were just going to acquire one, miss," replied Jack in his most charming voice. He stood quickly, whipping four shillings seemingly out of nowhere. "Two for me, two for the boy. Savvy?" Jack held the money out to the woman, whose eyes were still shooting fire at them. She glanced down at his open palm to see if he was going to cheat her. Sure enough, there sat four coins; two each.

"Last two doors on the left," she said, scooping up the money. "Down the hall."

"Thank you, kind miss." Jack turned on his heel and began to stride away, Will only just following as he was still in pain, physical, mental and emotional.

The hall was dimly lit with lanterns on the blank, wooden walls. It was also very short, thankfully. They reached the rooms in a few steps. Jack opened the door to the first room, but let Will inside.

Will collapsed on the bed against the wall in the corner of the room with a groan. Somehow, for only being hit in the face, his entire body ached. Jack was standing in the door, watching. Will turned his head to look at his companion and smile sadly.

"You'll be okay?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. I think."

'Don't go,' Will thought tiredly. He watched as Jack nodded curtly and left the room, closing the door behind him. Will closed his eyes, not caring how grungy he felt, how hurt he was. He only replayed the memories of years passed in his head, and the memory of two seconds ago, when Jack had nearly touched him.

Electricity had sparked between that hand and his cheek. …If only he could feel Jack's skin against his. He sighed and rolled over.

If only…