A/N: All characters belong to Disney, no copyright infringement intended!
Please read and review. I would absolutely love to see what you think so far. I'm starting it just after Dead Man's Chest, so it will probably end up a bit AU from here on out. It'll be like my own little version of At World's End. ;) More chapters to come!
Betrayal was something Elizabeth Swann had never truly encountered until she'd been thrust into piracy. There was the minor betrayal of the upper class, of course; one young lady would share a secret with another and it would end up becoming common knowledge by the end of the evening. Real betrayal, however – cold-blooded betrayal – was something that was quite new to her. How easily she had become accustomed to it, how easily she had become the betrayer…
The events of that day still played in her head, on repeat. Until a few moments before the incident, Elizabeth had never intended to sentence the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow to his death. It wasn't even death, not really. It was a fate worse than death, an eternity in Davy Jones's locker, all alone and suffering.
The guilt that had overcome Elizabeth as she walked away from him, and as they rowed away in the longboat, was immense. It felt like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. It couldn't have been real. She couldn't have latched Jack to the mast of his ship, the very ship that was about to be dragged down by the Kraken. It was inhumane and so very much unlike Elizabeth Swann, the governor's daughter.
But she wasn't the same woman as the governor's daughter had been. She was Elizabeth Swann, the pirate. Even Jack had admitted so, almost proudly. Her days of innocence, of complete kindness and selflessness, had ended. She had to look after herself in this brutal world of piracy, and she had to consider the welfare of the rest of the crew. The Kraken had been after Jack and Jack alone. Leaving him there to satisfy his debt to Jones had been the only option. Surely he understood that. Surely they all would, should the rest of the crew find out.
Elizabeth had no intentions of telling any of them what she had done to their beloved captain. For a few moments, she wondered if she ought to at least share it with Will, whose cold demeanor made her wonder if he had witnessed the kiss she and Jack had shared just before she left him to die, but she thought better of it. If he knew what she had done, his love for her might waver. No, it was a secret that would remain between she and Jack. With Jack out of the picture, she needn't worry about anyone finding out the truth behind the events.
Despite her incredible guilt, Elizabeth was also relieved that Jack hadn't lived to tell the tale. She could deal with him telling them all that she had killed him, perhaps… at least she could come up with a decent excuse for that. It was the kiss she was more concerned about. He would never let her live it down. Jack would assume that it had meant something, that it was proof that she secretly wanted him and a life of freedom away from Will and what he had to offer. Had it meant something?
It was a thought that had plagued her for a while, even before that fateful day. She felt an attraction to Jack, there was no denying that. He had a way of getting under her skin like Will had never been able to. Deep down, Elizabeth felt that Jack understood her far better than Will ever could. Did that warrant taking action, though? Will loved her, and despite the fact that he was so focused on saving his father, he would always be there for her. Jack, on the other hand… well, Jack wasn't the relationship type. His philosophy was to bed a woman and move on before she woke up the next morning. She was much better off without him, and thankfully she would never have to revisit her feelings for him again. He was gone forever.
Or so she thought. Tia Dalma seemed to have other ideas when they reached her little shack in the bayou. The voodoo priestess had a way of recovering Jack Sparrow, to the rest of the crew's (except Will's) relief. And worse than that, she'd brought Hector Barbossa back to help them. It seemed ironic, considering his old hatred for Jack, but his assistance was accepted nonetheless. It was with a great deal of apprehension, then, that Elizabeth joined the rest of the crew in their journey to recover Jack from Davy Jones's locker.