A/N: And here's chapter 2!

The meeting when Bill was forty three and Will eleven went well, and Will was told to keep it a secret. Will did not grab Davy's beard. The next time Davy met his grandson, it was at sea.

Actually, it was underwater.

The Dutchman had been on the surface when Davy felt the call of a soul in distress, willing to do anything to get out of its predicament.

He ordered a dive, and headed for the soul. He didn't understand how a mortal could survive at the depth his crew found the man tied to the cannon.

It didn't matter. One more soul for his crew, and he'd have time to learn how the man survived at the bottom of the ocean for long enough to cry out for help. His crew dragged the cannon with the man attached aboard. Davy smirked and headed over to meet the man who would become his next crewman. Davy froze for a moment, staring at the man tied to the cannon- his grandson. Bill couldn't be dead. Davy would have known.

Then his grandson moved weakly. Bill was alive, somehow. And he was the soul Davy had heard.

"Take us up!" Davy ordered. The man opened his eyes slowly, and Davy was only barely able to avoid gasping at the obvious pain in his grandson's eyes.

He knew that if it were any other man, he'd be far less worried, far less caring. But his grandson was different. "How soon to the surface?" Davy roared.

"One minute, Captain!" Wheelback called back.

Bill closed his eyes again. "Get those chains off him," Davy ordered hastily.

By the time they reached the surface, Bill was free, but he still didn't move. Even once they'd surfaced, and the water drained away, Bill lay still.

"Take him to my cabin. And bring me some rum," Davy ordered.

Bill didn't react as two of Davy's crew picked him up and carried him into the Captain's cabin. Davy followed, and directed them to put Bill on his bed.

"No one is to interrupt unless it's an emergency," Davy ordered. "And no diving."

Once he had a bottle of rum in hand, Davy leaned over the bed. Bill hadn't moved, but he appeared to be breathing. Davy let out a sigh of relief.

Clearly, Bill had been underwater for some time, and he'd not been protected enough from the pressures at the bottom of the ocean.

Davy carefully poured some of the rum into Bill's mouth. Bill sputtered and gagged but enough of it made it down his throat. He opened his eyes again, and this time when he looked at Davy, his eyes focused. "Grandfather?" he whispered.

"Aye, Bill," Davy said. "It's over."

Bill closed his eyes again, this time in apparent relief. "I'm not hallucinating again?"

"No, I heard your soul cry, Bill," Davy said. "You're not trapped any longer."

Bill reached out. "I'm safe?"

"Yes, of course," Davy said. He allowed Bill to grab his claw, recognizing that Bill needed to feel that this was real. "Bill, what happened? Did you manage to awaken some power that I didn't know you had, so that you survived at the bottom of the ocean?"

Bill laughed bitterly. "No. I'm cursed."

Davy blinked. "Cursed?"

Bill sat up slowly. "Aye, cursed." He frowned and tried to explain everything.

Davy listened to the story- a search for a hidden treasure, a mutiny, and how Bill had tried to atone for the mutiny- in mild disbelief. Eventually, he nodded. "I see. I'd known o' the Aztec treasure, though I wasn't sure if I believed the curse that was said to be on it. But yer survival shows me th' it's real."

Bill smiled thinly. He looked saner, more aware of the world around him. The near hour it had taken him to tell his story had clearly helped.

"Will you show me th' effects of the curse?"

Bill shuddered. "I can," he said, "but it will have to wait until night and moonlight."

"Fortunately, tonight is th' full moon."

"It's not pretty," Bill warned.

Davy laughed. "It can hardly be worse then I am."

Bill nodded and smiled reluctantly. His smile faded and he sighed. "Grandfather… I can't…"

"You need time to recover from your ordeal," Davy said.

"Aye," Bill replied. He hesitated and then continued. "An' I can't let Barbossa know I'm alive."

Davy narrowed his eyes. He understood instantly what Bill was trying to say. "No," he said. "Bill, I won't let ye throw away yer mortality."

Bill laughed bitterly. "I've already lost it," he said. "An' I insured that they couldn't break th' curse." He took a deep breath. "Grandfather, this way he won't find me. And if he can't find me, he can't torture me t' try t' find Will."

Davy scowled. "If ye're certain, then."

Bill swallowed but nodded. "I am."

"I can't treat ye any different, Bill. Ye'll not receive special treatment."

Bill nodded.

Davy squared his shoulders. "Then, William Turner, will ye serve?" he asked. Part of him hoped that his grandson would still say no.

"Aye, Captain Jones, I will."

"Welcome t' the crew," Davy said heavily. "I wish it hadn't come to this."

Bill smiled faintly. "Aye, Captain."

Will eyed the man currently holding him at sword point. "You're the one they're hunting. The pirate." Despite his words, his tone was not as condemning as it might have been.

The man looked closely at him. "You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?"

Will suppressed a grin. "I make a point of avoiding familiarity with pirates." And it was true. There was only one pirate he was familiar with- if that man was a pirate. Will still wasn't sure.

"Ah. Well, it'd be a shame to put a black mark on your record. So if you'll excuse me…"

Will grabbed the nearest sword. He was not going to let the man who had threatened Eliza- Miss Swann escape.

The man stopped and swung around. "You think this wise, boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?"

"Pirate or no, you threatened Miss Swann," Will said.

"Only a little," the pirate said as he slid his sword against Will's. Then he attacked.

Will tried not to grin. He loved to swordfight, but this man had attacked Eliza- Miss Swann. Will tried to ignore the man's chatter, but he did pause, slightly puzzled, when the man sheathed his sword and headed for the door.

It only took a moment for Will to realize that the man had maneuvered things so that he could escape.

Will threw his sword and embedded it in the wall, effectively locking the door. The pirate tried to pull the sword out before turning back to Will. "That is a wonderful trick!" the pirate exclaimed. "Except once again you are between me and my way out. And this time you have no weapon."

Will pulled the uncompleted sword out of the forge and brought it up. Inwardly, the blacksmith winced. This was going to ruin the sword, but there was nothing else for it.

The fight continued, neither of them gaining the upper hand. Eventually, Will found himself staring down the barrel of the pirate's pistol. "You cheated," Will accused.

"Pirate!"

"A good pirate doesn't need to cheat," Will countered.

The man blinked. "Now that's familiar…" he mused. He frowned. "Move away."

"No!"

Someone began pounding on the door. The man cocked his gun. "Please move."

"No," Will said. "I cannot just step aside and let you escape."

The man sighed. "This shot was not meant for you," he said.

A bottle broke over his head and he collapsed. In that moment, the marines managed to break down the door. The soldiers surrounded the man, and Norrington entered. "Excellent work, Mr. Brown. You've assisted in the capture of a dangerous fugitive."

Will barely refrained from rolling his eyes when Mr. Brown replied. "Just doing my civic duty, sir."

The Commodore looked down at the pirate. "I trust you will always remember this as the day that Captain Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away."

Will watched as the unconscious pirate was dragged away. The man had been familiar. The name Commodore Norrington had given him was even more familiar.

Will sighed and went to get cleaned up. He was fairly certain that his father had mentioned a Jack Sparrow before. Will just couldn't remember when- or why.

They had gotten away with the Interceptor. Now, Will sat, sharpening his sword while Jack moved around the ship. They'd quickly realized that while Will could follow directions and was able to help sail the ship if Jack told him what needed to be done, he had no training as a sailor and wouldn't be able to tell if something had gone wrong.

"When I was a lad living in England, my mother raised me by herself," Will said. "After she died, I came out here, looking for my father."

Jack made a noncommittal sound and headed for the wheel. Will stood up and followed him. "My father, Bill Turner? At the jail, it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter. I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew my father."

Jack sighed. "I knew him. Probably one the few who knew him as William Turner. Everyone else just called him Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill."

"Bootstrap," Will repeated quietly. That name was familiar, too.

"Good man. Good pirate. I swear you look just like him."

Will nodded slowly. It was something he'd long suspected, though his father hadn't confirmed it when he'd asked.

He'd been eleven when he'd asked, and shortly thereafter, his father had left for the Caribbean. Will had never gotten a chance to ask again.

Jack turned to him. "Now that was not the reaction I'd expected."

Will frowned. "Did you expect me to protest?"

"You seem t' have a dim view of pirates, boy; for all that you're willing to work with one."

Will nodded. "Be the only survivor of a pirate attack when you're thirteen and see how you feel about pirates," he suggested. "But I suspected that Father was a pirate. He never told me, though."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

Jack eyed him. "If you're certain."

"I am," Will said.

It was two months after Davy went ashore again (which he spent with Calypso, since no one knew where Calliope or Will were) when the Aztec curse was broken.

Davy allowed Bill time to grieve, for they were fairly certain that the breaking of the curse meant that Barbossa had found and killed Will, but when his grandson began to sink into a depression that would allow the ship to overtake his mind, Davy secretly dragged Bill into the Captain's cabin and got him roaring drunk.

After Bill sobered up, Davy treated him to a lecture about keeping his mind intact. Davy didn't particularly care what happened to most of his crewmen, they'd known what they were getting into when they joined the crew, but he was not going to let his grandson just dissolve into the ship.

The next day, Davy sent Bill out to give Jack Sparrow the Black Spot. Bill returned, much cheered. Bill told Davy that Will had survived and was apparently safe enough.

Ok, now we can get to the main part of the story. (Yes, it did take 13 pages of story to tell you all just what all the differences between this universe and the movies are.)

So, chapter 3 will start in at the DMC timeline. Expect a lot of changes, folks.

And of course, as always, I couldn't have done without the wonderful beta work by arquenniel. Thank you, my dear!