"Annalise Swann."

Annalise's eyes almost popped out of her head as she whipped her head around to stare at Jack.

"What?" She gasped and he smirked at her.

"I know. Curious, isn't it?" He asked.

At once, Annalise's eyes narrowed. The surprise (and grudging pleasure) gave way to suspicion and Jack could almost see the cogs working in her mind, could almost see her putting together the pieces. He admired her for a moment: this was the woman he'd been bewitched by (he refused to call it love), a woman he had only seen glimpses of until this moment. But now she was free from the bounds of propriety and the fear of familial chains. Finally she was a flame ready to erupt into a burning star. All her uncertainty was gone and all that remained was the determination to spread her own wings and paint the world her colour.

And she was beautiful.

Meanwhile, around them, Jack's words had incited a minor riot as several pirate lords demanded he choose them instead, others protested, and generally people argued. As the noise levels rose, Jack finally asked loudly, "Am I to understand that you all will not be keeping to the Code, then?"

A sharp twang sounded as Teague broke a guitar string and the pirate captain glared from under the brim of his hat. At once, silence fell once more and the pirate lords once again lowered themselves into their seats.

"Very well." Mistress Ching spoke with restored poise. "What say you, Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?"

All eyes turned to Annalise. She cleared her throat but her voice was strong and her expression fierce as she laid down her orders.

"Prepare every vessel that floats. At dawn, we're at war."

At last, Sri Sumbhajee rose. And he spoke for the first time.

"And so, we shall go to war."

Annalise blinked rapidly at the man's exceedingly high-pitched voice. But she showed no other reaction as the pirates cheered before they started to crowd toward the exit as they began their preparations.

Jack grinned as he observed the proceedings and things finally started to tilt in his favour. He turned on his heel in satisfaction; only to pause in his tracks when he saw his father staring at him from under the brim of his wide hat.

"What?" Jack asked rather defensively, disliking the knowing glint in his father's weary eyes. "You've seen it all, done it all. You survived. That's the trick, isn't it? To survive."

Captain Teague shook his head, and he answered in a gravelly voice, "It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is living with yourself forever."

Jack's expression turned grim and more serious - as serious as Teague had ever seen his son be. The great Captain tilted his head as he contemplated his son, before he jerked his chin over Jack's shoulder and to the far side of the room.

"She seems very headstrong." Teague observed.

Jack glanced briefly back at the dark-haired woman who was currently conversing with her crew (her crew! It still boggled his mind) and he shrugged.

"I suppose." Jack answered with feigned nonchalance. But his father was not fooled in the slightest. Teague stared hard at his son, making Jack shift uncomfortably on his feet. He felt like he was six years old again and in trouble for taking his father's cutlass and accidentally stabbing it into the side of his mother's dresser.

"You hold onto her, Jackie." Teague said abruptly, surprising his son.

Jack looked back at his father, intending to protest, but he stopped when he saw the sorrow in his father's lined and weary face.

"Don't keep running and let someone special like her slip away." Teague advised his son. "You only get one life. Don't waste it alone."

At first, Jack opened his mouth to deny everything. But instead, he examined the gleam of something he'd rarely seen in his father's eyes. Regret. And something possessed Jack to instead ask, "How's mum?"

Teague wordlessly held up a shrunken head. Jack reared back in a mix of shock and disgust, before he forced a smile.

"She looks great!"

Annalise was stripping off the ceremonial wear Sao Feng had forced her into and about to dress into something more appropriate for the fight in the morning when someone knocked on her door. Glancing down at herself, Annalise shrugged. She was decent enough, she supposed. And if a pirate tried to get a look where they shouldn't, she had her pistol still holstered on her hip.

"Come in!"

The door swung open and Annalise was surprised at her visitor.

"Lizzie." Annalise greeted slowly.

Elizabeth glanced around Annalise's new captain's cabin, fidgeting with her sleeve as she remained in the doorway. Annalise watched her sister, admittedly at a loss as to what to say. It had been a long time since the sisters had been in the same room much less had an actual conversation. Finally, Elizabeth seemed to steel herself and she looked back at Annalise.

"May I come in?" She asked hesitantly.

Annalise nodded and Elizabeth stepped inside just enough to close the door behind her.

"Did you… need something?" Annalise asked awkwardly. Elizabeth took a deep breath.

"Yes. My sister."

Annalise's brows rose as Elizabeth continued in a rush like she needed to get the words out of her, "I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry, Lisa. I really am. And I… I'm sorry I left Jack. I know he's a good man, deep down, and I didn't make the choice to leave him to die lightly. But when it was you versus him, there just wasn't any other choice for me. I know it was wrong and it was wrong for me to lie, and I know it's hard for you to forgive me, but I don't want to go into tomorrow still fighting."

Her eyes searched Annalise's beseechingly, her fear evident. They couldn't guarantee anything when morning came and Annalise knew Elizabeth was right: there was every chance they would die. But knowing one thing with one's head was different from feeling in one's heart. And it was hard to let go of the resentment that had built against her sister, especially as of late. But Annalise couldn't forget James's face in those last moments before they'd said goodbye forever. Against all odds, he had betrayed all he'd stood for; what he had once betrayed them all for. And he'd done it because they were family. Because it was worth more to fall side by side than go one more day standing on opposite sides.

"No."

Elizabeth's face crumpled as the word escaped Annalise's tight throat. But hope quickly returned to the blonde's face as Annalise continued more strongly.

"It's not hard to forgive you, not anymore. And I… I agree. I'd rather not go into tomorrow fighting you. I'd rather we went fighting side by side."

Elizabeth smiled, small and faint but still a smile.

"I'd like that." Elizabeth murmured. She hesitantly reached out toward Annalise. Annalise went into Elizabeth's embrace as willingly as Elizabeth went into her twin's, and Annalise sighed as she felt her sister's familiar touch once more.

"I missed you, Lizzie."

"And I missed you, Lisa." Elizabeth replied, burying her head into her sister's shoulder. "No matter what happens tomorrow, what our future brings, or even what happens to Will and Jack, we'll always have each other from now on… won't we?"

The uncertainty returned to her voice near the end, but Annalise dispelled the last of her doubts as she answered in a strong voice.

"We will."

Annalise lay in her bed for as long as she possibly could before she finally gave up and got up, unable to pretend she could fall asleep any longer. James's face haunted her and the image of his fallen body seemed permanently branded in her mind. And constantly in the background, her father's last words to her seemed to echo in her head like a broken record.

"A pirate… you called him a good man. I hope you were right, my darling."

Sighing, Annalise exited her cabin. She needed some fresh air and hopefully she could cool her head. It was still dark and too early for anyone else to be moving just yet. But as Annalise moved to the railings of her ship, she spotted movement along the pier. Raising her brows, Annalise moved along her deck.

"What are you doing, Jack?" She called, stepping down the plank and toward the pier.

Jack spun around from where he'd been standing at the edge of the pier, staring out into the distance.

"Anna-lise!" Jack caught himself and quickly schooled his features. "I am simply admiring the sea, your Kingship."

"Don't call me that." Annalise muttered as she turned to also stare out at the ocean beyond the cove they were tucked inside. Jack observed her for a moment, his eyes taking in the tanned face and bright blue eyes that remained unchanged despite the weariness that now rested in them.

"What are you thinking about, lass?" Jack asked curiously, hoping she'd turn those eyes to him once again and at the same time wishing she wouldn't. He wasn't sure if he was more pleased or disappointed when she kept her eyes on the water as she answered.

"I was thinking about Davy Jones."

Jack made a face but he was surprised as Annalise continued quietly, "I wonder what would have happened to him if he hadn't fallen in love with Calypso. He was once a man like anyone else. Then he fell for a love so intense, it pained him to the extent that he would cut out his own heart rather than feel again. And now, he's a powerful monster who can't die and is feared by everyone, but he's also alone forever. What if he had never fallen in love? Would he have been happier?"

Somehow, Jack had the feeling Annalise wasn't talking about Jones anymore. Still, he feigned ignorance and disinterest as he answered with his usual swagger, "I wouldn't know, love, not being a man of love meself."

At that, Annalise did turn. And Jack realized he'd been more disappointed before now that he found himself staring right into those blue eyes that reminded him of the sea: calm and fierce; deep and endless; dangerous and thrilling.

"I think you're more a man of love than you think, Jack."

The spell over him broke and Jack pretended to scoff, but Annalise just continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"You're in love with the sea, a ship you literally made a deal with the devil to raise, the most vile drink in the world, a compass that doesn't point North, and you have an unusual fetish for your hat."

Jack opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish, unable to argue.

"I don't love my compass… it's just very useful." He muttered at last.

Annalise snorted in a very unladylike manner. It should not have attracted Jack to her even more.

"Of course." Annalise mocked before she turned to look at the sea again. Her next words were so quiet Jack almost missed them; but it was too quiet around them for him not to hear her as clearly as if she had said them loudly in his ear.

"And you love your own life. Enough that you fear dying above all else."

"Why do you think that?" Jack queried.

Annalise kept her eyes on the sea as she answered.

"That's why you picked me to be king of the pirates, isn't it? So I'd help you get to Davy Jones's heart."

Jack paused, surveying Annalise seriously. As usual, she saw right to the heart of the matter.

"Isn't that natural? Don't you fear dying, lass?"

"I fear losing the people I love." Annalise answered without missing a beat, turning to look at him again with eyes that were suddenly as tempestuous as the blackest Caribbean thunderstorm.

"You might not understand that, but the thought of living alone without them terrifies me more than anything else. Yet, I'm also learning that I can't stop that. All I can do is cherish the time I have with them and live honouring their memory until the day, hopefully, we are reunited."

Jack stared back at her silently as she stood before him with a strength and grace he had rarely witnessed since that first journey he'd shared with her. She really had changed, he thought to himself. Since their reunion, both in Tortuga and then in the Locker, Annalise had been conflicted and grown uncertain as life tried and tossed her like a buoy in a storm. But now… Now she looked as she had the last time he had seen her when they had both been free from burdens if only for that moment.

"Keep a weather eye on the horizon, Captain Sparrow." Annalise had murmured as they broke apart from their kiss atop the battlements of Port Royale, her words ghosting over his lips. "One day… I'll be sailing there."

And now, here she was… doing that and so much more. An unusual pride swelled in his heart, yet at the same time that Jack's gaze dimmed as yet again he found himself conflicted. It should be easy.

If he stabbed the heart, Jack could sail the seas for all eternity, afraid of no one and nothing. And that was what he wanted, what he'd always wanted…

Jack's eyes caught the faint flash of sunlight hitting metal and he glanced down to see a familiar chain just visible on Annalise's neck before it disappeared beneath the collar of her shirt. Jack faltered.

He knew what he wanted… Right?

By sunrise, their small army of ships was in position in the middle of the ocean, floating in perfect formation. Tai Huang was at the helm of the Empress for Annalise, who stood with the familiar crew of the Pearl at the head of the formation. Elizabeth stood beside her twin while Barbossa and Jack flanked the pair as they all waited in tense silence.

Marty saw the approaching Dutchman first and he shouted from his place on the lookout post, "The enemy is here! Let's take her!"

Answering shouts and cries rose from all the pirate ships around them. But Annalise frowned as she saw a large shadow behind the Dutchman that was just becoming visible through the morning fog. And then her lips parted in shock as the shadow solidified into the entire Royal Navy fleet. At the head, she recognized Beckett's ship by its flag, following closely behind the Dutchman.

All around her, the cheers died down as the realization dawned on everyone that they were hopelessly outnumbered. They were doomed. And then, as one, all heads slowly turned to look directly at the pirate responsible for this.

"Parlay?" Jack smiled weakly.

"Advise your Brethren: you can fight and all of you will die or you can not fight, in which case only most of you will die."

Beckett laid down his final offer.

Annalise scoffed and she levelled a hard glare at the man who had killed her father.

"We will fight. And you will die. For what you did to my sister, my friends, my father, and all others like them."

Annalise turned and strode swiftly away from Beckett without so much as a glance toward Davy Jones or a look back at Jack. Their negotiations had gone about as well as it could, although Annalise didn't doubt that Jack had planned for that. Just as she didn't doubt that everything leading up to this moment had been part of Jack's plan to get closer to Davy Jones's chest. Which was why she'd handed him over to Davy Jones quite easily.

Although, getting Will back was an added bonus. Yes, she was still furious with her friend for all his underhand scheming which was part of the reason Beckett had been able to find Shipwreck Cove in the first place. But considering where his motivation lay and that Annalise suspected Jack was the grand mastermind behind Beckett's ability to track them down, and really just the fact that she had much bigger problems to worry about, Annalise was happy to have a fighter like Will back on their side. If he was good for nothing else, he would be good for that.

Will, to his credit, appeared to be just as happy to be back on their side as he walked alongside Annalise and Elizabeth back toward the pirate ships.

"King?" He queried quietly as he glanced at Annalise, referring to how she'd put Barbossa in his place when he'd tried to protest her proposal to swap Will for Jack.

"Of the Brethren Court." Annalise explained.

"Courtesy of Jack." Elizabeth added meaningfully.

Will's brows shot up and he nodded to himself thoughtfully. "Maybe he really does know what he's doing."

It was just a hop, skip and jump to get back onboard the Pearl; but Annalise stopped dead when she saw what was waiting for them back on the ship.

"What is going on here?" Annalise demanded as she watched Pintel and Ragetti lead a tightly bound Tia Dalma onto the deck. Will and Elizabeth had joined her on deck by this point, and when they saw what was going on, they quickly sided with the brunette.

"Barbossa, you can't release her." Will protested.

"We have to give Jack a chance." Elizabeth added, but Barbossa cut her off as he whirled around to face the trio without any of his usual light-heartedness.

"I'm afraid I can't acquiesce to that request." He mocked before he fixed his hard gaze on Annalise. "Too long, my fate hasn't been in me own hands."

He grasped the dark pendant hanging from Annalise's neck while she finally saw the real reason Barbossa had swiped off Jack's piece of eight that the pirate had always worn braided in his hair before Jack was taken by Beckett. It appeared that Jack was the only pirate lord whose piece of eight really was an actual silver coin. Too bad the realization had come too late.

"No longer." Barbossa hissed, tugging sharply on the pendant Annalise had inherited from Sao Feng.

The necklace quickly gave away and fell into Barbossa's hand at the same time that his finger accidentally caught on the other chain around Annalise's neck and tugged it free. Barbossa glanced briefly at iron sparrow pendant that now swung against Annalise's heart, free from where it had been tucked inside her shirt, before he turned away. And Annalise just watched him with equally hard eyes as the pirate took her figurative piece of eight.