Disclaimer: All characters and dialogue belong to Disney.
A/N: Another drabble, this one as Jack and Elizabeth are carried off the wreck of the Dutchman. One-sided J/E.
Maelstrom
By: Sinnamon Spider
"No! NO!"
Elizabeth's words echoed in the midst of the carnage around them, each one stabbing another knife into Jack's heart. He watched as she pressed her hands to Will's face, watched as the man's eyes slipped closed and he went limp in Elizabeth's arms.
So wrapped up in watching her heart break, he barely noticed the slimy crew of the Dutchman gimping towards them, chanting their weird mantra. Bootstrap – or what was once Bootstrap, Jack reasoned – was in the lead, his knife clutched tightly in his barnacled hand as he bore down on his son.
"I won't leave you!" Elizabeth cried, clinging to Will, who lay slack on the deck of the Dutchman. Jack took one last look at his friend's face before reaching out to pull the woman he loved away from the man she loved.
"No! Don't!" She struggled in his grasp as he dragged her away from Will's body and the approaching crew. He hooked his arms around her as she fought him, embracing her just as much as hauling her away. He grabbed the ropes in both hands, waiting until she had wrapped her arms around his neck before firing his pistol at the crank.
They flew high into the air, away from the sinking wreck, the torn bit of sail billowing in the fierce wind. He followed her gaze down, watching the Dutchman disappear, and she buried her face in his chest as the last of the ship was pulled into the abyss.
He knew he had done the right thing, but oh, how he wished he could have chosen otherwise. And even though Elizabeth clung to him tightly, how he wished it could have been him sinking into the maelstrom.