Summary: "Just once she wanted to be free."  Elizabeth watches as her life is nearly eroded away by the sea.

Rated G.

AN: Yes, I know I should be working on Truth but is it my fault that this PotC bunny bit me in the backside?  Is it? 

...

The answer is yes but let's ignore that. Review please and do the conga all night.  Or, you know, you could just review and forget about the congaing part.  Your choice.

Also, this ficlet takes place before Elizabeth goes on the high seas with Will and Jack. 

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The waves rolled in, crashing against the jagged rocks that lined the shore with loud fury.  Slowly, bit-by-bit, the once sturdy rocks began to weather and break with the pounding of the never-ceasing waves, little by little falling into the sea and being carried away to the unknown.

Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Swann watched as the waves continued to batter the rocks, slowly wearing them down.  She was perched on the highest rock on the highest cliff, her small but commanding form being misted by the waves as they soared up the cliffside every few seconds.

The sky was a foreboding dark gray and the clouds were large and filled with water droplets, ready to pour at any moment, soaking everything, and making a mess of the ball that was planned for tonight.  Her father would want her home at this very moment, harbored away from the storm that was brewing, protected from the rain as it poured down upon the Earth.  Sitting here, on this much too dangerous cliffside, would surely send her father, Governor Swann, into fits, but Elizabeth didn't really care.  All her life he had sheltered her and once she wanted to get away, just once she wanted to have an adventure, just once she wanted to make her own decisions and go unprotected.  Just once she wanted to be free.

Elizabeth continued to watch the waves, even after the rain had begun to pour.  She sat there, alone, and thoroughly soaked, loving this small moment in her life where she was free and on her own, even if a bit of her was being eroded away at the same time, as always.  But this time that bit of her wasn't imbedded into the sand, still right next to the shore, as always. This time it was carried out to sea and ventured out into the unknown.