A/N: I started this story last year after DMC came out, but never finished it. After seeing AWE, I thought it deserved another try, so I reworked it a little, and came out with a finished product. It begins Pre-Black Pearl and ends Post-AWE. This is my first Pirates fic, so I hope you enjoy it!

"Aye there, Will Turner!" a girl called through the open part of the split door that led to the blacksmith's shop.

"Fair lady, what brings you to this wretched blacksmith?" Will Turner said, freeing his hands from the new sword he was polishing.

"You jest too much," Ellie Beckett said in response, a grin playing on her lips. She then ran through the doorway and across the large room, avoiding the equipment that cluttered the path. When she made it to where Will was sitting she looked down at him, her blonde hair hanging messily around her face. She had dirt smudged on her cheek that covered her freckly complexion.

Will reached up to brush the dirt away, but then cringed as his hand skimmed her skin. Ellie caught her reflection in the thin sword blade leaning against Will's knee and saw soot now mixed with the dirt.

"Sorry," Will laughed.

Ellie scrunched her nose at him. "S'all right," she said, and walked over to a large barrel filled with water and then dunked her face into it. When she emerged, she looked over to Will, her face dripping wet. "And you're calling this a lady?"

Will smiled at her. "You're always a lady in my heart."

"Like I said, you jest too much," Ellie replied, not returning the smile and looking at the ground rather than Will. But Ellie caught herself and forced a laugh. She turned around and grabbed a handful of her skirt, then wiped her face dry. Then she returned to where Will was sitting, plopping herself on the ground in a cross-legged position across from him.

"You're late today," Will said as Ellie situated herself.

"I was at the shipyard," Ellie explained. "There was talk, I couldn't miss it."

"Really? What sort of 'talk'?" Will asked, a look of mild amusement on his face.

"The fishermen. You should hear what they say," Ellie began. "They talk of a ghost ship, pirated by the undead. They say they can feel something heading this way, and a good bit of them think it's that ghost ship."

Will frowned. "You don't really believe that rubbish, do you?"

"'Course not," Ellie said with a small smile, but noticed that Will looked anything but happy. He had a distant look in his eyes, like he was worried, fearful even. "It's just a pirates' myth. Like that Kraken the sailors always go on about. Kraken my arse, right?"

"Right," Will said, but his voice still sounded odd.

Ellie immediately knew the error of her ways. She had breached upon a subject that Will didn't favor much, that of pirates and their myths. Ellie knew that Will's father had chosen piracy over raising his son. That was what made the two of them the same; neither had proper parents.

Ellie's mother was a prostitute. She wasn't proud of her mother's career of choice, and she was even less proud of being known as "the whore's daughter." Ellie's surname was that of her father's, but she knew not whom he was.

"That's a beautiful sword you've made, Will," Ellie said, trying to change the subject.

Will smiled at this. "Thank you! I've got to take it to the Swann estate for a man called Norrington who's just been made Commodore. I should probably be going now, actually."

"All right," Ellie responded. Will got up, and the two walked to the door together. "You remember what tomorrow is, right?"

Will looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "I do."

Ellie smiled sadly. "You're such a good man."

Will smiled back, and the two went their separate ways.

Ellie shuffled down the street, looking down at her feet. Tomorrow was Ellie's eighteenth birthday. It was also the deadline. The deadline her mother had given her about finding a husband or joining the "family business." It was one thing for her mother to sell her own body, but for her to sell her own daughter's as well? When Ellie's mother had set this ultimatum three years back, Ellie hadn't thought much of it. She would surely find a husband, any man to marry her to change her fate. But as the date quickly approached, she became more and more anxious.

That was when Will stepped up.

"Then I'll marry you," he had told her one day, almost one year ago on her seventeenth birthday. "You've got nothing to be frightened for."

Ellie smiled as she remembered this. He was almost two years older than she, and from the day she had met him eight years ago had always been nothing less than valiant and brave.

Ellie loved Will. She had loved him since she had first met him, but as much as she knew he cared for her, he did not love her as she loved him. Will was in love with Governor Swann's daughter, Elizabeth. Ellie had never seen a man so sick in love with someone as Will was with Elizabeth. She had tried, Lord knows she had tried, to talk some sense into that boy about his position in society in comparison to Elizabeth's, but nothing seemed to work. Ellie knew Will would do anything for Elizabeth; if he could just get near enough to her, he would give her the entire world.

Will's love for Elizabeth made Ellie frightfully jealous sometimes, but it also made her sad. Tomorrow, Will would ask for Ellie's hand in marriage, completely dashing all hopes to ever be with Elizabeth. Ellie knew this tore Will up inside, and she would often fight with herself if it were the best thing to do. She had brought it up once to him, but he would have nothing of it. He would marry her; he would not allow her to be sold to the streets.

Ellie kept wandering the streets, as she often did when she wasn't with Will at the blacksmith's. She stopped occasionally, having a conversation with a woman she knew or having a fetch with a stray dog. She loved spending time at the docks, though. The water fascinated her, as did the pirate's tales that were so prevalent there.

It was at the docks, where she sat alone a few hours later, when it all began. Dark clouds had rolled in from the ocean, but they were unusual sorts of dark cloud. The sailors were talking again.

"Aye, she be comin'!" one said.

"Yeh best git yerself 'nside, lassie," another said, turning to Ellie.

Ellie took heed of this warning and left the docks. She went instead to the room her mother rented above a bar in a seedier section of Port Royal. Her mother wasn't there, predictably and thankfully. She sighed, hoping that Will was aware of the coming storm, and hoping he was safe back at the blacksmith's. Feeling tired, Ellie decided to take a nap.

Ellie was awoken by the sound of screams coming from outside her window. The room was illuminated by a fiery glow, and she jumped out of bed to look out the window. Down below, rioting pirates were terrorizing the streets, breaking windows and pillaging whatever they could. Fires were blazing, people were screaming, and there were gunshots firing off in the distance. Suddenly scared for her own life, Ellie pulled the shutters closed and ran to the door, which she locked. Her heart was beating fast, and the noise from the streets wasn't making her feel any better.

She made use of the space between the bed and the bureau, and huddled between the two. She brought her knees up to her chin, and buried her face into them. A tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't even know where her mother was or if she was safe. All she wished was that she was with Will, and she prayed that he was safe as well.

It was morning by the time the terror had stopped. Ellie had fallen asleep sometime throughout the night. She opened the window and looked down to the streets below. They were smoky and many people were mulling about. The first thing Ellie wanted to do was to find Will.

She hurried out of the flat and into the streets, where she found herself almost in a sprint to the blacksmith's. She arrived there in a hurry and somewhat out of breath.

"Will?" she called. "Will? Are you there?"

There was no answer. Her stomach dropped. What if something happened to him?

Trying not to panic, she dashed back out into the streets and looked for someone who might be able to help her.

"Mrs. Malstrom!" she said, running up to an open window, where a woman had just peeked out her head.

"Good morning, Ellie! It's good that you're safe after that horror last night. Never been so scared in my life," Mrs. Malstrom replied.

"Have you seen Will Turner?" Ellie asked her, not even bothering to ask what had actually happened last night.

"I have not, but I've heard that he's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" Ellie asked, her body temperature rising several degrees.

"To save Elizabeth Swann is what I've heard. Those awful pirates captured her last night. He went off to rescue her with a delinquent pirate, Jack Sparrow."

Ellie backed away several inches from the window. "Thank you, Mrs. Malstrom."

Her face was burning and she thought she might be sick. Gone. He was gone. A hot tear ran down her cheek. She had never felt so alone in her life.

Ellie couldn't think of anything else to do but run. She ran away from home, from the life her mother would undoubtedly force upon her the next time she saw her. She didn't know where she would go, but it would not be anywhere near Port Royal.

Ellie turned and watched as a group of women surrounded a man who had just entered the bar. A pirate, no doubt. Ellie smiled to herself and wondered if she should go over there and show them how a real woman worked.

She didn't know how long it had been since the day that had brought her to Tortuga; she had lost track of time ages ago. Though she ran from home, she couldn't run from fate. The career that she had tried so hard to escape had followed her. It wasn't as bad as she had originally thought it would be. She had nice clothes and made good money. Of course, it wasn't the most respectful career, but in Tortuga, no one was very respectful as it was.

Ellie looked again as the women squealed with delight. She decided to relocate and see what all the fuss was about.

"And who might we have here?" the man asked, inching one of the girls out of the way as Ellie approached. Ellie smirked at him.

"Giselle, I believe I just saw Mr. Conrad over there by the counter. He's looking for you," Ellie said coyly to one of the blonde girls.

Giselle looked to the man, then back to Ellie. "Is he?"

"He is."

Giselle looked torn for a moment, but then said, "Excuse me," and left the spot.

Now Ellie had a clear view of the man. He was indeed a pirate. He had long, dark hair and a braided beard that Ellie twirled around her finger as she got nearer to him. He smelled of rum and the sea.

"Why don't you come with me?" Ellie whispered in his ear brazenly.

Ellie led the pirate up to a room above the bar and locked the door behind them.

"You know, love," the pirate said once they were alone, "I've been at sea a very long time, and haven't had the touch of a woman."

"I'm sure," Ellie said with a smile.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"Elle," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck. She then proceeded to kiss him hard on the mouth. She loved pirates. They exhilarated her, with their wild, careless air.

He pulled his shirt off over his head, and Ellie noticed the variety of tattoos on his arm. "What's that one?" she asked, pointing to a bird on his forearm.

"That, my dear, is a sparrow. My namesake."

"Sparrow? Is that your name?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow," he replied, smiling at her.

At this she jumped off of him, her eyes narrowed like a hawk. "You!" she snarled.

Jack looked at her oddly. "Have we met in the past? Whatever I did then I'm sorry. If you're going to slap me, I probably deserve it."

"You took him from me," Ellie whispered, looking him square in the eye.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

"Will Turner. You took him away from me."

"Ah, you know William! And what is this 'taking him away from you' of which you speak?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"He went with you to rescue Elizabeth Swann. I haven't seen him since that day. He was supposed to marry me. I loved him. I'm sure he and Elizabeth are happily married now."

Jack smiled, revealing several of his golden teeth. "Well you know, love, you don't know the whole story. Elizabeth is probably about as happy as you are at this moment."

"And why might that be? I can't see how anybody would not be happy with Will Turner. He's a great man. He would have died for Elizabeth," Ellie said, shaking her head.

"Which is exactly what he did," Jack replied.

Ellie felt her knees buckle. "He's—he's dead?" The air seemed to have been cut off from her lungs.

"Not exactly. But he can only step on land once every ten years to see her," Jack explained. Obviously noticing the flabbergasted look on Ellie's face he added, "It's a very long and complicated story. But you would be unhappy too if you could only see your beloved once every ten years."

"Obviously," Ellie said scathingly, " seeing as I haven't seen him in, oh, I don't even know how long, and don't believe I'll ever see him again."

Ellie was quiet for a moment, thinking about Will. So he had gone through great lengths all for Elizabeth. She wished he could have loved her like he loved Elizabeth. Ellie felt her heart soften some.

"Did you see him, by any chance, before he, er, died?" she asked.

"He didn't really die, he just cut out his heart—"

Ellie interjected, "What, exactly?"

"Never you mind; it's a very long and complicated story. I saw him after the whole incident, and yes, he was happy. Happy to even only see her once before leaving her for ten years. I don't believe I ever saw him happier, William. But then, he is a very strange boy."

"Good. As long as he's happy."

"Well then, if nothing is going to happen here, I should be going," Jack said, after a few moments of silence.

"Right," Ellie replied, leading him to the door.

"I'm sorry about Will," he added, and then smiled one last time.

"I forgive you," Ellie said.

As long as Will was happy, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, then Ellie could finally be happy, too.