Disclaimer: I own nothing, obviously. Disney owns everything, obviously.
A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! I hope y'all can stay patient with me as I work out the rusty bits.
Chapter 1
18 months ago...
Father Raul walked the silent steps to the cathedral, taking the same path he'd taken for so many years. Reaching the doors, he slipped inside, the moon providing its faint light through the thick windows. His torch cast its own light against the church walls, leading him towards the doors that would take him to his destination.
Father Raul was chosen by God many years ago to fulfill this task, a divine duty that sought to protect all the souls of mankind. Since he was a boy he guarded the sacred room, buried deep beneath the ancient cathedral and known to few. Never once did he look inside this room, and though he had spent his whole life protecting these two ancient doors, he still never gave a single thought to what was inside.
But that would change tonight.
For tonight, as Father Raul walked down the creaking steps, watching wood slowly turn to stone then dirt as he descended, he came upon a sight he had never seen before: the doors were open. Eyes wide, he approached this unfathomable situation, his breath short and heart beating faster and faster with every step. This was unthinkable! No one living besides himself knew of this location, and those who did know would never try to cross into that room, for fear of God striking them down where they stood.
Crossing himself, Father Raul was now before the doors, one wide open, and peered inside for the first time in his life. There was no one inside the room, but there in the middle stood a great pedestal of black stone that shone in the torch's light. The stale air stuck in his throat as one foot stepped inside, the other eventually following. He soon noticed a single piece of paper laying on the pedestal, a letter, addressed to... him!
Father Raul quickly grabbed the letter, astonished to see his name in clear, black ink written across the top. With his free hand he ripped it open, forgetting for a moment where he was. There was a single sentence written on the page, and what it said threw a wave of confusion into the elderly monk.
"My Dear Sir,
Remember this as the day that you almost caught -
Captain Jack Sparrow!"
2 months after that...
"The Fountain of Youth?"
"Aye."
"The Fountain of Youth?"
"Aye."
"Jack," she sighed, "you can't be serious."
"I am more often then not, love, though you people always seem surprised."
She rolled her eyes, but a slight smile began to grow at the corner of her lips. "Haven't you tried to find the Fountain of Youth before?"
Smirking, he leaned across her kitchen table. "Been keeping track of my travels, love?"
"Your failures, actually, and that one in particular one reached me three years ago," she retorted, smile widening to see his face grow indignant.
"Adventures do not require success, my liege, your Will could account for that," he said. "And besides, those charts of Sao Fang's were full of meaningless poppycock, lead no one anywhere but to trouble and death's shores, both of which I'd rather avoid right now."
"But you believe you have the correct charts now?" she asked, unable to keep the doubt from her voice.
"Lizzie, do you sincerely think that I would show up here, unannounced and uninvited, so close to your and young William's joyous reunion, without having acquired the correct map?"
Looking at him, she raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Jack. I think you would."
He scoffed and pulled out a tightly wound piece of paper. "Well, this time I didn't." And with that, he rolled out an extensive map, detailing the southern coast of Florida, a path lined out in red ink. At the top was a sentence, the letters fluid and beautiful, though it took Elizabeth a moment to read it.
1. You must right a wrong at the top of the world
"What does that mean?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Haven't the faintest clue, love, though I know of someone who might, although they'll be undoubtedly unhappy and unwilling to help us decipher such a code."
Elizabeth's head shot up. "Us?"
His smile quickly became sheepish. "Ah yes, hadn't I mention my proposal?"
Eyes narrowing, Elizabeth stood up and put her fists on her hips. "Jack-"
"Before you start on your tirade and refusal to join me, love," he interrupted, "let me remind you of this." He slowly stood up and looked her right in the eye. Sweeping his hands to the horizon outside her window, he said "Every ten years, a single day, Lizzie. One day out of four, five if you're lucky, before your life runs out and Turner continues on, eventually and inevitably forgetting about those few hours on this shore out of the millions of hours his immortal life will put him through."
She looked away from him and moved towards the horizon he pointed to. She felt the truth of his words ringing through her ears, pounding softly away to the rhythm of a beating heart that lay under her bed. She was already sick of feeling sorry for herself these past nine years, and damn Jack Sparrow for putting her deepest fears into words.
Walking around the table, he stood close to her, too close, his breath brushing against her hair. "But if you're immortal as he, Elizabeth, think of the possibilities then." His hand came to rest on her shoulder, heating her skin through the thin fabric of her dress. "With one sip from a single fountain, there's endless adventures, Lizzie, endless hours with him. You'd become the only constant in his life, the only thing that draws him back to this shore, and keeps his hands from turning into tentacles and his hair into kelp." Glancing up at him she glared at that last bit, though his face stayed solemn. "What say you, Lizzie?"
She sighed, leaning away from him and brushing off his hand. She had one more year before she fulfilled her duty to Will, one more year trapped in this small Tortugan household, her nearby child's grave tying her to land and keeping her from the sea. She had refused Jack's offers of adventure before, many times, in fact, always claiming a mourning heart and a guilt she could never quite place. He never gave up, though, and now he stood in front of her offering her the closest thing to a happy ending that she could have ever hoped for.
Looking back at the map, she asked "You're certain this map is accurate?"
His fingers crossing his heart, he swore "On me father's life, love. I stole it from a group of Spanish monks that have been guarding this piece of paper for hundreds of years." He frowned. "It was quite easy, actually. Perhaps I've dressed as a clergyman one too many times. There's no more challenge in stealing from the church anymore."
She laughed, missing the way his eyes lit up at the sound. Smiling once again, she said "I must be back here in a year, Jack."
"Of course love, or have you not heard that the Pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean?"
Turning away from him, she replied "I had not, Captain Sparrow. I had only heard it was the fastest in the world." She walked out of the kitchen then, towards her own room.
"Am I right then," he called after her, "in guessing that her royal highness has acquiesced to the acquirement of La Agua de Vida?"
His only response was a closed door and the sound of packing.
They'll actually be doing something next time!