Disclaimer: I don't own them; the characters belong to Disney, et al. No infringement is intended.

Love

Will pov -

He's loved her as long as he's known her, although always from afar.

He is the blacksmith, she the Governor's daughter. He's ever been mindful of their differing stations in life, and he'd been resigned that it would always remain so. But the risky venture to rescue Elizabeth changed him, and the probability of death by a hangman's noose frees him of the shackles of propriety and class. The tie on his tongue loosens, as he finally reveals all that is in his heart.

"I should have told you every day from the moment I met you ... I love you."

Elizabeth pov -

She doesn't remember a time when she didn't love him.

At first, it was friendship, albeit one that her father actively discouraged. Over the course of time, however, it became something so much more. But while she was willing to breach the barrier of class, he would never do so. She blesses the day that she was kidnapped. The diffident, mindful of his place blacksmith has at last given way to the pirate. When he boldly proclaims his love for her, it frees her to do the same.

"So this is where your heart truly lies then?"

"It is."

Hate

Will pov --

He had once proclaimed Jack a good man, one that was worth saving, even at the cost of his own life.

Now, Jack is dead, and he feels nothing but the sting of the pirate's betrayals.

He had once trusted Elizabeth with his heart, his life. Now, turning to gaze upon her devastated face, all he sees is the kiss. Betrayal's lash stings yet again.

He rhythmically sinks his knife into the table. Dark tendrils of hatred weave their way around his heart. He fights it, grimly wrestles it into submission.

What remains allows him to see to her happiness.

"If there was anything that could be done to bring him back ... Elizabeth ..."

Elizabeth pov --

She hates herself.

To save her own life, and the lives of Will and the others, she'd offered up a man to die.

"Pirate," Jack had taunted her, as she'd chained him to the mast.

She has finally achieved what she's desired. She's become what she's admired for so long. She is a pirate.

And she finds that she cannot live with it. She is drowning in guilt and remorse. When the opportunity presents itself, she eagerly agrees to a risky venture to undo what she's done.

Because it's the only way she'll be able to live with herself again.