Pirate King
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean.
For a long time after the Flying Dutchman disappeared in its flash of green, Elizabeth stood on the shore, staring out at the horizon. After a while, she sat down, holding the chest on her lap, putting her arms around it, resting her head on it, listening to the steady heartbeat. If she closed her eyes, and used her imagination, she could almost pretend it was Will, not a cold metal chest. But then she got to thinking about the bloody, gory body organ inside, and suddenly she just wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
She carried the chest farther up the beach, away from the waterline, set it down, and starting walking down the beach. It was dark now, and it was slightly difficult to make out the shape of the Black Pearl just beyond the curve of the shoreline, riding at anchor a couple of miles offshore. Why didn't they leave already? Why were they still here? She needed them to be gone, so she could forget about what she could never have.
She turned and started walking back toward where she'd left the chest. She stood and stared at it for a few minutes. Was this what her life was to be reduced to now? Watching over this chest, and waiting for Will to come back to her, ten long years from now? She wasn't the type to sit around waiting for things to happen. She had a new life to begin.
She gathered up all the components of her stately Chinese pirate regalia. Once more fully dressed in attire fit for the Pirate King, she put the chest into the longboat, got in herself and set off along the shoreline.
Gibbs had told her that a quarter mile east, she would come to a small river, that led to the interior of the island, where she would find Shipwreck Cove. It was one of several secret entrances, too small for a ship, but just right for a smaller vessel, like her longboat. The interior entrance was, of course, guarded, but she would be let in. She was the King, after all.
Then what? What did a Pirate King do? She wasn't sure. She supposed she was about to find out.
Author's Note: If you read this and enjoyed it at all, please let me know.