Rose walked barefoot through the sand to where Elizabeth sat, staring out at the horizon where the sun had set, taking Will and the Dutchman with it. The sky was still dark blue, as the sun had just risen behind the island's large face, and its beams hadn't yet traversed the wide expanse of the sky.
She approached her, noticing that the chest containing Will's beating heart sat by her side. Suddenly, Rose felt very aware of her uncertainty in how to address her; Elizabeth? Miss Swann? Mrs. Turner? Your majesty?
"Captain Turner?" she finally settled upon.
Elizabeth's gaze remained fixed upon the horizon as she said softly, "Not anymore. I let Tai Huang captain the Empress. He was deserving of it in the first place. And I can't captain a ship anymore." She broke her gaze with the skyline and placed a hand over the chest. "I've got other duties now."
Rose couldn't gauge Elizabeth's emotions while standing over her shoulder, so she took a seat on the sand next to her on the side opposite where the chest sat. Gently, she asked, "What would you like to do now?"
"I'm not entirely sure."
"You can stay here for the night if you would prefer, or we could go back to Shipwreck Cove. Because of my father's status, I have plenty of access to its resources, and because of who you are, it's practically your palace."
Still not making eye contact with Rose, Elizabeth postulated aloud, "Is one still a Pirate King once the founding principle of the Brethren Court has disappeared into the sea and the war has been won?"
"It doesn't change the fact that you were still elected."
Elizabeth scoffed, "By one vote. And it was your brother's and it was ultimately for his own reasons."
"Fine, then," Rose continued to counter her with optimism. "It doesn't change the fact that thousands of pirates followed you willingly into a battle that you led when all hope was gone. I was there, I saw it myself!"
This made Elizabeth finally look over at Rose, and she gave a slight smile at the memory of what that power felt like. Rose continued, "The war has not been won. Our kind will continue to be hunted by those in power. We need a leader with the diplomacy the opponent has, and it's you, Elizabeth."
Now Elizabeth's smirk had fully spread across her face. Quietly, she said, "Our kind. So I am fully a pirate then, am I?"
"Listen," Rose mused, "I never imagined I would say this in such good spirits, but killing my brother is no easy feat for anyone, let alone a proper lady of the Crown. You're a pirate through and through."
Elizabeth looked back down at the sand in front of her, lost once again in thought. Rose waited a few moments for a response, but when none came, she gently prodded her with, "So what's it going to be? What is it you want to do now?"
"I think…" she began, her voice trailing off. She took a deep breath and began again, "I think I need a drink."
The two women exploded in much-needed laughter that perhaps was fueled even more by the tumultuous and emotionally horrendous past few days, weeks, and months they had both experienced. They had both loved and lost, were pushed to their limits, were deceived and did some deceiving of their own, and risked everything for the good of their shared, "kind." Rose never thought she'd find this fellowship in a woman she began instantly hating, but she was so happy that she had.
"Alright," she said, placing her hands on her knees and sitting up straighter. "What's say we find a place to bury that chest for the night until we can find a safer, more permanent place, and then we make our way to the tavern at the town?"
Elizabeth furrowed her brow, though still she grinned. "Although that sounds delightful, surely you have somewhere else to be. Why aren't you with Jack?"
Rose felt nostalgia well up inside of her at this question. Indeed, if she was given another chance to sail the seas now free from terror with her half-brother, as was the plan so many years ago, why wasn't she currently with him as he sailed for celebration in Tortuga? "Because I have a very pressing matter to attend to here," she finally answered.
"Oh?"
"Aye."
"And how long do you expect you'll stay?"
"As long as you need me to."
Elizabeth's face fell at this. "Oh no, please. I don't wish for anyone's lives to change just for my sake just because…this happened. The only people this should ever affect are Will and myself."
Rose interrupted her protests. "If you don't want me here, by all means, I will make myself scarce. But I could not stand there, sailing away on the Black Pearl or the Misty Lady, knowing that the bride of my friend would be entirely alone on a foreign island."
At the word "alone," Rose could see Elizabeth get visibly emotional, though still she managed to protest Rose's decision. "But you still have a family, Rose. Surely—"
"My father and brother both have ships. They can come to see me any time they wish."
Elizabeth's breathing had increased in pace. "I…I truly don't know what to say."
"Say if you want my help, because if not, I don't want to intrude."
"No," Elizabeth answered quickly, so quickly in fact that Rose barely had finished her thought before she replied. "I would very much appreciate your help and your company. I just…I can't believe you're being so kind to me."
Rose smiled a bittersweet smile as she found herself reciting words she had spoken only a few weeks previous to someone else she had been willing to alter her life for: "I think we can find joy by being heroes in this world of villainy." She took a deep breath, swallowing her residual embarrassment and still fresh wounds from her time with James. She continued, "What you have to face is unfathomable, and I don't want to see you face it alone."
This caused Elizabeth to burst into tears, mostly of joy, but also of previously bottled-up stress, rage, and sorrow. "I don't want to face it alone," she cried.
Rose was quick to pull her into an embrace, and there they sat together for a time. When it finally broke, Elizabeth said with a grateful grin through her tears, "I don't know how to possibly thank you!"
Rose took her hands and looked earnestly at her. "Promise me that you shall remain the Pirate King we still need. If Will can manage the dead, you can manage the living."
"So I shall," Elizabeth vowed. "But what of you, Rose? What future is there for you here?
Rose hadn't considered her own future beyond that of helping Elizabeth mourn and rebuild her life. But a shimmer of light off of Calypso's locket that now hung around her neck gave her an idea…and that idea sparked a wildfire that raged inside every part of her being.
"The world's best healer has been freed, thereby leaving that legacy to her apprentice," Rose finally replied. "I will manage the ailing."
