The days that followed Angelica and Blackbeard's ambush were long and fruitless. Rose felt completely devoid of energy as a result of being bound to the voodoo doll. The world seemed to match her cheerless disposition as the days wore on with tempest-like rain.
Rose once again opened her doors to passersby, but there was nary a customer due to the weather. Elizabeth helped Rose clean up the storeroom and restore it to how it once was, but there was a general air of unsettledness; Blackbeard had invaded their safe haven, had threatened Henry, now was after Jack, attacked Rose, and was intent on returning to threaten Will's heart as well. Perhaps the worst part about all of this was that both of these women, who had always been keen to go out and solve their own problems for themselves, were utterly helpless to stop him. They knew not where his ship had gone, nor where he was going. Rose felt too poor to leave, and Elizabeth couldn't leave, not with her family in such danger now.
A week or more had passed. Rare was it that the rain let up, but when it did, never more than a hour, some customer would surface, usually a local seeking additional care for a previous condition. Rose helped them graciously, but still did not feel right. Her body was still sore and ached every time she moved.
One day a violent pang hit her directly in the forehead. She screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground, clutching her head with her hands. Elizabeth rushed to her side. "Rose?"
It felt as though someone had set her head on fire. She could hardly believe that she still had hair, but she was completely unscathed on the surface. Then, as quickly as it began, it subsided. Rose looked up at Elizabeth, breathless, mouth agape.
"What is it?" she asked, helping her stand.
Rose stared at her in terror. "That was the doll. Blackbeard is using it."
"You can feel it?"
"It's my blood," Rose gagged. "Oh my lord..."
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, helping her back into her chair.
Rose was incoherent. "That was...after she left...oh no..."
"What, Rose?"
She swallowed, realizing exactly what the problem was. Angelica had walked out in fury midway through the lecture Tia taught the girls about the black magic of voodoo when they were younger. In order for the doll to be potent, it needed to resemble the person in question, and contain an item directly related to the victim. Blood was the strongest. If blood was pressed into the cloth in the place where the blood was drawn from, the doll could be used at any range. However, and this was where Angelica left, if blood was used, blood from the same wound had to continuously replenish the doll in order for it to retain its power.
Angelica had made the doll to resemble Jack, and wanted limitless power over him. As he constantly relocated from place to place, she had no way of knowing where he was. Rose was far easier to locate. She made the cut into Rose's cheek, and in turn made the wound on the doll. Jack now had had a scar identical to Rose's on his cheek, a small X, and both he and Rose were controlled by any injury Angelica inflicted on the doll.
What Angelica didn't know was that the blood in the doll needed to be replenished, and it could only be done with Rose's blood alone. She also didn't know that when a doll with blood loses potency, its source is directly affected, and if it cannot be replenished, the source becomes drained entirely.
This only meant one thing.
"Elizabeth," Rose said, voice quivering, "I'm dying."
Jack was in much graver danger than they had initially anticipated. Rose knew this because she felt everything Angelica or Blackbeard did with the doll. Elizabeth stayed in the tavern, helping the patrons as best as she could, while Rose laid still on her bed, afraid to move, afraid to walk, afraid to do anything. Seldom times she would attempt to go on living normally, but each time she did, the pain grew worse and worse. Every bone felt brittle, every movement as though she were trying to run against the tide.
Elizabeth had given Rose some remedies she had taught her, and Rose took them just to please her, knowing full well they were useless. Rose was going to die, and she was going to die at the hands of Angelica and Blackbeard.
There were bad days when Rose was bedridden because the attacks continued. These were sporadic and unexpected, and they were awful. It was commonly restricted to once a day, but she never knew when to expect them. Once she felt as though her leg had been pierced by a rusted blade, and another time that her chest was being crushed. The good news was that it wasn't Jack's blood directly. He and Rose only had half of their blood shared via Teague. So everything she felt was minimized by half for him.
The last day she felt anything, it began with weightlessness. The doll must have been thrown, for it felt as though the room had been pulled from underneath her like a rug. Rose started screaming. Elizabeth dropped what she was doing and ran into the room.
Rose's body jerked when the doll made impact with something hard and thrashing. Water. Her screaming ceased and she sat up.
"What happened?" Elizabeth cried.
Rose's eyes started to fill with tears. "They lost the doll. It fell into the ocean." She looked up at her, letting them fall. "It fell into the ocean," she repeated.
This meant only one thing. The doll was lost. Rose cried tears of relief for the fact that Jack would be safe. But she cried for fear as well. There was absolutely no hope in Angelica returning for Rose's blood to recover its power, thus elongating her suffering.
Elizabeth sat beside her on the bed as Rose whispered, "I have nearly perished so many times. Some out of my control, some almost by my own hand. But I suppose I never really believed I would die. Because I have never been this scared."
She hugged her when the tears began to fall harder. There was nothing to do. Nothing to say. They had won, and there was nothing to be done...but live out those final, painful days.
Some time had passed, and Rose could tell the doll was still at sea, for she felt constantly dizzy and cold. So cold. She began to feel as Elizabeth had said she felt after Will's death; knowing her situation had made her numb to it. Elizabeth had taken Henry to stay with the Davis family for awhile so that Elizabeth could attend fully to her friend. Rose, who was slowly losing the ability to walk, was forced to move permanently to one of the cots in the storeroom, and Elizabeth took her nearby hammock to keep an eye on her. One night, Elizabeth briefly stirred from sleep to see Rose staring off into the distance.
She stretched. "Everything alright?"
"Yes," said Rose simply.
It was unlike Rose to be this curt, and Elizabeth knew it. "Rose?" she asked. "What's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"
Rose gave a half smile. "I don't know what 'alright' feels like anymore. I can't sleep, can't eat...it feels like I am constantly in motion."
"Of course you would," said Elizabeth. "That doll is still floating out there somewhere."
They sat quietly for a moment, until Rose quietly said, "I've been thinking...about the Cove." She looked up at Elizabeth. "I need to start making plans for the future. About what will happen after all of this."
"Don't think about that," Elizabeth interrupted, deflecting the subject.
"No, I must," Rose demanded. "There will be nothing here tying you to this place anymore, what with you having to care for Henry on your own... so I cannot ask you to stay—"
"Out of the question," Elizabeth said. "Will's heart is here. This is where Will knows to find me if he ever is in danger. If he returns and I'm not here, well, we might run into the same scenario that occurred with Calypso and Jones. He'll think I've left. Plus his heart will be left unprotected."
"But Blackbeard said he would return," Rose said, her eyes filling with tears. "You both need to flee. At least for a few years. You can return once Will comes back for his day ashore in a few years—"
"But what if something goes awry?" Elizabeth protested. She shook her head, "No, I can't risk it. It would kill Will to not have me and Henry here when he returns, and it would be even worse to have the curse start to transform his crew back into creatures of the sea." She laid a hand over one of Rose's. "I am the Pirate King, Rose. I can rally the town to fight off any danger. We've done it before, we can do it again!"
Rose was unconvinced and still conflicted, but she knew it was no use fighting against Elizabeth's will. Soon, their conversation drifted, and Elizabeth fell back asleep. As Rose grew evermore tired, she gently opened up Calypso's locket once more. Its tune sounded suddenly sounded lonesome and haunting in the room, and Rose felt her eyes grow heavier...and heavier...slowly swaying to the rhythm of the tides...
A week later, Rose became too weak to stand. She drifted in and out of sleep for the next few days, none of them very memorable, but one time she clearly recalled wakening to Elizabeth sitting at her side, tears in her eyes.
"Eliz...liz..." Rose tried to say, but it was as though her lips were sewn shut.
She hushed her gently, and placed her hand tenderly on her forehead. She took a shallow breath as she said, "Don't try to speak."
Rose knew that her time on Earth was coming to an end. There were so many things Rose wanted to say. Needed to say. She was fading fast...there wasn't much time.
"Henry!" Elizabeth called gently, looking over her shoulder. Elizabeth had brought him back to the fortress, and Rose struggled to crane her neck to see him.
He appeared in view, eyes large and worried. "Rose?" he asked uncertainly.
It took every ounce of her effort and concentration, but she slowly slid her hand towards him and opened her palm. Henry took her hand and grasped it tightly. She wanted to say a proper farewell to the lad, but she couldn't form the words, as hard as she tried.
"Henry," Elizabeth murmured to her son, wiping away tears as they fell from her eyes. "Rose is very sick. She hasn't got much time left with us, so I've brought you here to say goodbye."
"No!" he protested, throwing his arms around Rose's torso. "Don't leave, Rose. You can't go away!"
Elizabeth gently lifted him off of her, and turned his quivering chin towards her. "It's alright, my sweet. She won't suffer anymore. And do you know who's going to make sure that she makes it to the other side?"
"Who?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Your father! He's going to ensure that she's safe and comfortable."
Henry nodded, though he was still crying. He looked to Rose once more and said, wiping his tears away with his sleeve, "Goodbye, Rose. My father will take good care of you, I promise."
Rose felt her heart break at this, and though she struggled, she managed to utter the word, "Brave."
Elizabeth then lifted Henry up in her arms and carried him off upstairs. Some time passed, and when Elizabeth returned Henry was no longer with them. She must have put him down to sleep before returning. She sat once again by her side. Now alone, Elizabeth's tears began to fall anew. "Oh Rose," she whispered. "I can't...I can't lose you too. This is all so terribly unfair."
It wasn't but a little over a dozen years ago that Rose hated everything about this woman. To her, in every way she was dangerous. For Will, she proved a burden. For Jack, she meant betrayal and death. And for James, she meant heartbreak and manipulation. It wasn't until Rose actually took the time to get to know her that she discovered that every choice she made was either made without any option otherwise, or with the heaviest of hearts. They were both alone. They were family to one another amongst themselves. They had to keep each other alive. And together, they did exactly that.
Rose was barely coherent, but she knew she had to give her limited diction one last try to make sure her final requests were carried out.
"Jack," she managed to whisper. "Teague… Tell."
Elizabeth nodded. "Of course I'll tell them what happened."
It pained Rose that her brother and father would one day return to the Cove to find Rose forever gone. What a horrible way to find out. But she knew it would at least be easier with Elizabeth carrying the news.
Rose finally formed the last two words she would utter: "Stay. King."
Elizabeth began to sob at this. "Yes, yes of course I will."
A smile would have to suffice for a response. Rose had no more energy for that moment. Elizabeth's face grew darker and darker...until it was consumed entirely in night.
That was her last memory.
