Here it is everyone! I don't like it all that much, but I've worked it and reworked and reworked it and nothing can be done. I give up, so here you go. Oh, and who do you reckon would win a fight between Belle and Lizzie? I LOBE you all!

nineteennitytwo: Erm, both. :S

SaveroftheSun: You have been updating a lot, my little update monkey! But not A Long Road Taken! Bad Update Monkey! Bad! I tried to review, but it went all spammy. I hope my last one worked!

bmdrose: Yup, indeedy!

callieandjack: Tis Lizzie's own fault really. She shouldn't be such a Universal Spam!

ValueMyHeart: Yup, she is and Belle's gonna hate her for it!

Fairy Skull: 'The monkey has been let out of the cage' I liked that expression!

Nelle07: She's like a ragey thing on rage tablets!

keiraliz: Bing bang bong indeedy! Fanfic's been weird on me too! IT'S A CONSPIRACY!! ARG! Anyway... I'm not sure if hearing it from Liz would have made it all that much better tbh!

Pirate-on-fleet-street: Hector! lol! He doesn't really look like a Hector! Sorry! I hope this was quick enough! (Don't eat me!)

klutzygal12: You and Belle can start a club!


Elizabeth?

Why was he looking at Elizabeth? I stared at her. I saw the guilt etched into her features and then I knew. I knew, but I couldn't believe it. She had killed Jack.

How?

Why?

Why would she do that? Why would she?

"Oh," Jack sounded amused. "She hasn't told you? Well, you'll have lots to talk about while you're here then."

She glanced nervously at me. Our eyes met and something inside me snapped. My shock was immediately replaced by a blinding rage. It snapped so loudly I was sure everyone on the beach heard it. Seeing as a few of them took a step back, they probably did. Elizabeth tried to say something, but I couldn't hear it over the snarl that had suddenly erupted from the back of my throat.

"HOW COULD YOU?!!" someone was shouting at her. They sounded almost hysterical. It took me a minute to realize it was me. Good, I was glad I was. I should be. She blinked and took a step backwards. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?! YOU KILLED HIM?!? YOU LET ME BLAME EVERYONE ELSE, YOU LET ME BLAME MYSELF? AND IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG?!!!! ALL THIS TIME YOU'VE BEEN LYING!!! YOU BITCH!!!" I had reached her in a few short strides. My fist came into contact with her jaw. I was surprised with myself, but I wasn't sorry. In fact I was glad to see my other fist was raised and clenched. Hot, angry tears were spilling down my face and I was shaking uncontrollably. Someone caught my arm and I felt an arm slide around my waist. As I was pulled backwards Jack's voice tickled my ear.

"Alright, love," he said. "It's alright, darlin', you're coming with me."

I turned to look at him and I forgot I was angry. I forgot everything except him for those few seconds where he smiled at me. Then he looked away and I remembered. He started counting down the crew deciding who could and couldn't come. I was too busy seething with rage and counting the number of ways I could make Elizabeth pay for what she'd done. I'd gotten to seventeen by the time Jack had gotten to Tia Huang and his men.

"Who are you?" Jack asked, noticing them for the first time.

"Tia Huang," said Tia Huang. "And theses are my men."

Jack nodded, "And where do your allegiances lie?"

"With the highest bidder."

"I have a ship," Jack offered. Tia Huang smiled.

"That makes you the highest bidder."

"Good man," Jack nodded. Tia Huang and his men splashed through the waves towards the Pearl with Jack's crew. I didn't even try to hide my smile at Elizabeth being left behind. I was sorry to see Will among those being left and I wouldn't have minded Pintel or Ragetti joining us, but beggars can't be choosers. Jack let go of me, purposefully ignored the rejected crew members and pulled out his compass. He stared down at it. I glanced at Barbossa who was looking strangely smug given his situation. Jack sighed crossly, with a odd look on his face and snapped the compass shut.

"Not working," he mumbled and the reason behind Barbossa's smug expression became all too clear.

"Where ye goin' Jack?" he asked, waving the Charts under his nose. I heard Jack curse under his breath. He sighed, knowing he had no choice but to let them aboard. They knew it too. As the others began to walk away Jack turned to me.

There was a long moment where we just stared at each other. 'He's here,' I kept telling myself, 'this is real. He really is back.' It seemed so hard to believe that it was actually him standing before me and not another dream. He took a step towards me and I suddenly dissolved into tears. He looked a bit alarmed and took another step towards me.

"That bad to have me back, eh?" he chuckled. I shook my head.

"No…" I was crying so hard it was difficult to speak. It was ridiculous that I should be this teary now that he was here. I wasn't upset, my tears were happy ones… if tears can be happy… which I'd pretty sure that normal people's can't. I was just so happy to see him! There was so much I wanted to say. There was one thing I wanted to say more than anything else, but as I looked into his eyes and got that sense of falling I just knew that I never could. "I'm sorry…"

I settled for the second hardest thing to talk about instead. This confused him, "What for?"

Where did I start? "Before you… died… I said some… things I-I didn't mean and…. I know you didn't…"

He reached out and put a finger lightly on my lips. I stopped talking at once. Not because he had his finger on my lip, I'm pretty certain that I could have talked if I wanted to, but I didn't want to. I didn't trust myself enough to open my mouth. His other hand reached out and gently wiped a tear away from my cheek. I closed my eyes at his touch. It was real. He was real. I could feel his hand as it gently slid from my cheek to my neck. He lifted his finger from my lips and put his hand on the small of my back. He pulled me towards him. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging the warmth and solidity of his body tightly to mine. I rested my chin on his shoulder.

He was real.

He was here.