What have we done

We've got scars from battles nobody won.

Madelyn's POV

I awoke with a start. If it'd been a dream that had startled me, I couldn't remember it. I sat up quickly and found that I was alone in Jack's cabin. I stretched and rubbed my face. Luckily he'd left a lantern burning for me. I rose from the bed and shuffled through the room to obtain my discarded clothing.

Once I was decent, I left the cabin, eyes searching for Jack but alas he was no where to be seen. The deck was mostly empty, except for Mr. Gibbs at the helm, who lifted his bottle of rum to me in salute. I smiled and gave him a small wave back before venturing to port side. There was a quarter moon out, hanging low in the sky, clouds lazily rolling across it. I took in a deep breath of the salty air as I peered out at the calm ocean waters.

I was shaken from my peaceful moment when I heard a thud coming from the bow of the ship. I crept silently towards the sound, sinking low as I peered over the edge to find a most peculiar sight. I found Will tying a corpse to a barrel. I blinked several times as I took in the sight. The boy had gone daft and I immediately regret my part in helping him escape. I sucked in a startled breath as I heard Jack's voice and ducked lower.

"You escaped the brig even quicker than I expected," he called out. I saw him then, standing on the bowsprit, how he got over there without Will noticing was beyond me. Will aimed his knife at Jack, but Jack just smiled.

"William, do you notice anything? Rather, do you notice something that is not there to be noticed?" Jack asked him as he shimmied his way down the bowsprit. Will seemed to look about for a moment before arriving at a conclusion.

"You haven't raised an alarm," he said, slowly lowering his weapon.

"Odd, isn't it? Not as odd as this," Jack said, motioning towards the dead man strapped to the barrel, "Come up with this all your lonesome did you?"

"I said to myself, think like Jack," Will quipped, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Jack scoffed.

"And this is what you've arrived at?" Jack said with mock disdain, "Lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove so as to gain his trust, accomplish your own ends? It's like you don't know me at all, mate." I swallowed thickly. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I found myself unable to move. Had Jack made his own bargain with Beckett? After everything he'd done to us? To me? I closed my eyes briefly. Jack technically didn't know everything Beckett had done to me, which was my own fault since I hadn't told him. I couldn't be angry at him if he didn't know. I could be angry at him for not telling me though if he'd made some kind of deal.

"How does your dearly beloved feel about this plan?" Jack asked, drawing my attention back to them. Will didn't respond, his head hanging lower.

"Ah, you've not seen fit to trust her with it," Jack taunted as he stepped closer to Will, who let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm losing her, Jack," Will began, "Every step I take for my father is a step away from Elizabeth."

"Mate, if you choose to lock your heart away you'll lose her for certain," Jack warned, stepping away from him to lean against the ship's hull. He seemed suddenly sullen.

"And what is it you propose I do?" Will countered.

"Avoid the choice all together, change the facts," Jack began, "Let someone else dispatch Jones." Will gave a smirk.

"Been talking to Madelyn have you?" Will asked mischievously, to which I thunked myself in the forehead with my palm. Boy couldn't keep his bloody mouth shut.

"Not about these particular musings, why?" Jack snapped, turning towards Will with suspicion.

"Oh, um, no reason," Will bumbled. Smooth, I thought as I pressed my fingers to my temples and rubbed them, trying to will away my growing headache.

"On the way to the Locker, we befriended one another. She'd mentioned possibly my father taking Jones' place himself," Will then blurted, seeing Jack's obvious skepticism.

"Oh, well, yes, I suppose Bootstrap would be a good candidate," Jack replied, but his tone implied he had meant someone else. My brow furrowed. Who could he have meant? Will's expression mirrored my own, but Jack abruptly changed the subject.

"And just how friendly, would ye say ye were?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes. Bugger. I could see Will's face going flush even in the darkness. Double Bugger.

"We, just, uh, talked," Will mumbled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Your tone is very convincing, lad," Jack said sarcastically as he took another step in Will's direction, his mistrust and anger bubbling.

"Fine, we shared a kiss, but that was all," Will blurted. "I guess you could say we're even since you kissed Elizabeth," he continued as he held up his hands defensively, and took a step back. Jack gave a low growl and muttered a few choice words.

"She kissed me, mate," Jack countered, "To death I might add." Will gave an exasperated sigh.

"It's in the past, it doesn't matter now. Who had you meant, Jack? What is it you came over hear to tell me?" Will asked him, trying to steer back to the original subject matter. Jack was completely silent, simply giving Will a level look.

"You'd meant yourself?" Will accused in surprise. My chest tightened and mouth went dry. He couldn't.

"I slip aboard the Dutchman, find the heart, stab the beating thing, your father goes free from his debt. You're free to be with your charming murderess," Jack explained roughly, his temper obviously fouled. How could he consider such a thing? After all our time apart, could he truly through me aside so easily?

"And you're willing to cut out your heart and bind yourself to the Dutchman? Forever?" Will asked skeptically. My hands roughly grasped the wood of the ship, digging roughly into my skin. Tears threatened my eyes, but I couldn't decide if they were from anger or hurt, or both.

"No, mate. I'm free forever. Free to sail the seas beyond the edges of the map, free from death itself," Jack told him.

"And what does Madelyn think of this plan?" Will then asked him. Jack went silent, his fists bunching at his sides.

"Ah, you've not seen fit to trust her with it," Will mirrored Jack's earlier statement back to him.

"Death has a curious way of reshuffling one's priorities," Jack said somberly. I'd heard enough. I pushed back my pain and let my anger simmer. I slowly crept away from the bow as silently as I could.

Jack's POV

Why hadn't she told me about Will? Bloody woman. Bloody Will. His face was becoming more and more loathsome the more we bantered. I'd had enough. I pulled my compass from my waist and tossed it to the bastard.

"What's this for?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"Think like me, it'll come to you," I told him with a glare before I slugged him in the nose. Shocked, he stumbled back and fell over the bow of the Pearl into the ocean. I shoved his barrel, complete with carcass, into the water after him, to which he climbed onto.

"My regards to Davy Jones!" I called out to him before stomping back to the deck. My brain was reeling. I was more wound up than I had been when I'd first come on deck to clear my thoughts. I recalled the day before, Madelyn returning from below decks and had to wonder now if she'd visited the whelp. She'd likely helped him escape.

I practically kicked open the door to my cabin, expecting to find her still sleeping in my bed, but instead found her sitting in the large chair behind my desk looking over the swirling charts. I stalked into the cabin, slamming the door shut behind me but she didn't look up from the maps. I opened my mouth to speak, though I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say first.

"It would seem you were right, Jack, we have changed," she interrupted. My jaw snapped shut and I blinked at her.

"Neither of us are very trustworthy these days," she whispered as she turned another dial on the map before her, refusing to make eye contact with me. Dammit. She'd been eavesdropping.

"You didn't tell me about Will," I stated more calmly then I'd planned. Her hands left the map to settle in her lap as she finally looked up, piercing me with her gaze.

"I don't seem to recall you telling me about your kiss with Elizabeth either," she countered with a light smirk. I opened my mouth and closed it again. Damn.

"Firstly, you said you didn't want to know," I said, blinking back my anger, "And second, it happened before we were together again."

"As did my kiss with Will," she replied.

"Was it?" I asked, glaring down at her. She furrowed her brow and blinked up at me.

"Did you release him from the brig?" I asked stepping closer to tower over her seated position, though she didn't seem at all intimidated. She smiled actually as she shook her head.

"No," she started, "But I may have given him a clue as to how he might escape." My fists tightened. I grabbed her shoulders roughly, bringing her to stand as my anger ripped through me. I saw it then, a glimmer of fear in her eyes, but she quickly blinked it back, her face becoming guarded again.

"Did you kiss him then too?" I growled, my anger searing. She shook from my grip, anger finally showing on her own face.

"No, Jack, I didn't. I haven't spent the last fourteen years trying to find you, risked my own life, to be with you, so that I could throw it away on some boy I just met," she spat. My anger evaporated at that. And my resolve to kill Jones myself did as well. She'd given up everything to be right here, right here in front of me, and how had I repaid her? With mistrust and secrets. I realized I'd been waiting for her to do to me what everyone did to me. I'd been waiting for her to betray me, so I could justify betraying her.

"But not that any of it matters to you!" she bellowed, "Since you plan to throw me aside. Ten years, Jack! After all this time apart, to finally be together again, and you'll leave me for another ten years without a second thought!" Tears slid down her pale cheeks. I reached out for her but she slapped my hand away and took a step back.

"No, don't you dare. Don't ask me to be there waiting for you ten years from now. I won't do it. I won't waste another moment of my life on a man who doesn't love me as I love him," she spat, and she might as well have shoved a dagger into my heart.

I took a large step forward and grabbed her by the wrists, pulling her towards me as she struggled to break free.

"No, Jack, no!" she stammered through tears as she tried to squirm from my grasp.

"I'm sorry, Maddy," I whispered, but she continued fighting and prying.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated and she stopped struggling, collapsing her head against my chest as her tears continued to pour. I released her wrists and wrapped my arms around her completely.

"I won't do it," I said as I softly stroked her hair, but she hadn't heard me through her sobs. I pulled her face from my chest, cupping her jaw with both hands to get her attention. She sniffled and tried to pull her face away from me, but I held her tightly.

"I won't do it, I won't stab the heart," I told her, but she gave me a skeptical look, "I'm sorry, Maddy, I shouldn't have even considered it, but I won't do it." She bit her lip, her eyes starring into mine to find the lie. I slid my hands down to her shoulders.

"I promise, Maddy. No more secrets, not between us, I promise," I soothed as her expression lightened, and she nodded softly.

"And no more shit about Will," she scolded me, "It happened once, it won't happen again. Don't be a jealous oaf." I smiled as I leaned my forehead to rest against her.

"Well, I can't promise not to be a jealous oaf," I joked, making her smile again. I pulled her tightly against me once more, closing my eyes to enjoy the feel of her in my arms and the scent of her hair.

When I opened my eyes again, I caught sight of the maps on the desk behind her and something triggered my attention. I released her slowly as I stepped closer to better read what it said.

"Aqua de Vida," I whispered before glancing back to see my darling Madelyn grinning.

We can start over, better,

Both of us know, if we just let the broken pieces go.