The Dutchman soon after returned back to Shipwreck's shores. Rose and Elizabeth exited Will's sealed quarters, and chatted idly on deck. It wasn't until Rose saw Shipwreck in the distance that Rose finally understood how Will felt; She was never going to return to her life on Shipwreck. Her world was entirely different now. She wouldn't see and work alongside Elizabeth every day, nor would she likely ever again. So, she was desperate to keep talking, knowing full well that their time was drawing to a close.
Will stayed behind for a time, and when he finally did emerge, he had a piece of parchment in his hand. He politely waited until a break in the women's conversation to hand the parchment to Elizabeth.
"What's this?" she asked.
"I know he can't read yet," Will said, "But give it to Henry when you feel the time is right. It explains…" His voice trailed off, and he gulped back emotion as he tried again, "It explains everything I need to tell him. I hope it will tell him everything he needs to hear, at least for five more years."
Elizabeth held the letter to her chest and smiled sadly. "Will, he already loves you more than you could possibly imagine. I don't know why you torment yourself in fearing that he'll ever resent you."
Rose chuckled. "I can attest to that," she added. "I wouldn't be surprised if he one day sets out to find a way to free you himself." She laid a finger on her chin pensively. "Much like…someone else I know…" she said with a wry grin, clearly alluding to Will's own attempts to free Bootstrap years ago.
"That day might come sooner rather than later, knowing Henry," Elizabeth snorted.
Will smiled a bittersweet smile. "No, tell him to stay put," he said quietly. "I'll be with him soon enough." He then wrapped Elizabeth in his embrace, as they once again said a painful goodbye. Elizabeth was then moved to move down the rigging of the ship back into the dinghy, which had remained anchored in the Shipwreck harbor where they had left it. She looked up at Rose before descending, face twisted in pain. "Goodbye, Rose," she murmured. "I leave in the capable care of my husband."
Rose's own heart felt like it was breaking. "I am so sorry, Elizabeth."
"What on Earth for?"
Rose shook her head. "I promised that you wouldn't be alone while you waited for Will. I promised Will I would keep you and Henry safe. I'm afraid I can't deliver on either."
"No, Rose," Elizabeth insisted. "First, what happened to you was inescapable. Second, I'm not alone. You owe me nothing. You never did."
Will stood at Rose's side, leaned over the rail and kissed Elizabeth one final time, their hands lingering to grab hold of one another for as long as they could as Elizabeth descended until finally only their fingertips were touching. Then, she was gone.
Rose felt the Dutchman begin to move, but still she looked to Elizabeth. "You make sure that boy stays sweet, will you?" she called out.
"Of course!" Elizabeth replied.
"And you'll tell my father about what became of me?" she cried again. "And Jack, if you see him?"
"I shall!" she cried back.
Good, Rose thought. Though it pained her that Teague and Jack would find out that way, it was the only option. "Take care, Elizabeth!" she called one final time.
Elizabeth shouted something back, but they had moved far enough apart that neither she nor Will could make it out.
After a time, Will turned his gaze on Rose. "Are you ready?"
She shook her head. "I'm not sure," she said distantly. "This all happened so fast; One moment I'm alive, the next I'm dying, the next I'm…Calypso? Or…and extension of Calypso? And I'm…not going back to Shipwreck. Perhaps ever." The words sounded so much scarier once she spoke them aloud.
Will just nodded in understanding. "Believe me," he said softly, "I feel what you're feeling every day. I have for over five years now, and I will for an eternity." He took a deep breath, "But, that actually wasn't what I meant. I mean, are you ready to go below?"
Rose's eyes went wide in excitement. She had seen the Flying Dutchman disappear and reappear from the ocean depths when traveling between Earth and the Locker, but never had she imagined what it was like to actually make the trip. She nodded happily.
"PREPARE TO GO BELOW, MEN!" Will bellowed to his crew, prompting a hearty, "Aye, aye!" from his men. He then turned to Rose. "As soon as you hear me say that, stop whatever you're doing and find the nearest sturdy place. Plant your feet like so," he said, sinking his weight back into his heels. Rose followed, grabbing on with both hands to the railing to her righthand side.
"READY? DOWN!" cried Will. Suddenly, the ship quivered and began to sink smoothly down into the waves. Rose watched as the waves rose quicker and quicker as they sank beneath the tide. She then instinctively took a deep breath as the ocean spilled over onto the deck and above her head, though after a moment, she quickly realized that this was unnecessary—she was undead. There was no need to fear running out of air when air was no longer necessary to live. Rose's eyes were wide open, watching the sea life around her as the ship sank lower and lower, passing fish, reefs, and remnants of the many shipwrecks that had given the island its name. Rose looked around at the other men, who were calmly positioned, completely used to this journey. She then glanced behind her at Will, who only smiled at her reassuringly as if to say, "Just a moment more."
Then, after a moment, the ship shuddered once more, and the green flash surrounded them all. They ship was then jettisoned upwards, exploding back into the Locker at full force, bobbing precariously from the impact. Rose and the crew were soaking wet, which was something she was definitely going to have to get used to, but the journey left all the others completely unfazed. In fact, Will was already off on business.
"Men, report," he ordered. All the men on deck instantly gathered around him, as did Rose. "Where were we last?"
"By my charts," said a thin, bearded man who had introduced himself to Rose as Coats, "We left off just south of Swann Cove."
"Good," Will said. "Let's make our way back. Keep charting. Who's on the next scouting party?"
A few men raised their hands, to which Bootstrap and Will exchanged a confused glance.
"Come now, gents," Bootstrap said. "I know more than that are coming with me. Ye weren't that drunk when I gave the command, were ya?"
A few more straggling hands went up, and Bootstrap nodded. "That's better," he said. He then turned to Will. "I'll lead them ashore, then?"
"Aye, very good," he replied. "Back to your stations, prepare to make sail!" The men then scurried, leaving Rose wondering what to do next. Will turned to her immediately after, however, and asked, "Care to have a tour?"
"Gladly!" she replied, following him. "Will?" she asked.
"Mm?"
"'Swann Cove?'"
He smiled. "I'll admit I'm not very clever at naming things."
"I don't understand," she said. "Naming what now?"
Will turned, motioning out across the open sea, where an innumerable amount of islands and land masses peppered the horizon. "All of this," he explained, "Are islands in the Locker where Jones's seemingly endless supply of enemies have been imprisoned after their deaths. Coats was a cartographer in his living days. He's helping me map it. None of us still quite comprehend the bounds of the Locker, but we're trying. So far we've been able to chart over a hundred islands. We come across a new one, my father will lead a search party ashore, and will discover who, if anyone, Jones imprisoned there. He'll assess if he be worthy of the punishment, and if he finds him reformed or innocent, bring him back here to the ship, where I will either free him or offer him servitude."
Rose shook her head in disbelief. "And how many men have you encountered on this islands so far?"
Will looked at her, face somber. "Over three hundred."
"My god," she exclaimed. "Jones certainly had enemies, didn't he?"
"Too many," Will said. "Most of them innocent. I'm trying my utmost to undo the damage he's caused, but some are have been alone for far too long and are too far gone in the mind to do much else. I free their souls and hope they find their way again."
Will then took her below deck, showing her the vessel's immense cargo hold and brig first, which was chocked full of crates and barrels. "Rum and cargo," Will explained, stating that every time they arrived on earth to the scene of a recent shipwreck to ferry the souls onward, they would loot the vessel's goods and keep them below deck. Countless goods and valuables were down here, and Will gave Rose permission to peruse them at her leisure. Then he took her to the gun decks and crew's quarters. These decks were now all sealed with tar to prevent water damage in between voyages to and from Earth and were all protected by heavy iron doors. The Dutchman was the largest ship Rose had ever been on, and knew it was going to take awhile to get accustomed to her new home. She was then brought into the corridor where Will's quarters were and where two more doors were located, one on either side of the entry way. These were officer's rooms, though, Will explained, his only officer was his father, Bootstrap. The other room, positioned on the starboard side of the vessel, was empty and had been cleared out under express orders from Will as soon as Rose was aboard.
"No, I couldn't," Rose protested. "Really, I don't deserve preferential treatment-"
"Please, I insist," Will said simply. "I don't want you alone below deck with those rogues. You're much safer here." Rose was confused; If she was dead, what harm could possibly come to her? And the way he emphasized the word, "safer…"
She didn't have time to ponder this too much, though, for Will opened the door to her new cabin, which was more spacious than Rose anticipated, and then gave her free reign to make it her own from the items in the cargo hold. Her eyes lit up at this. "Aye, Captain Turner," she said with a grin.
Rose completed her quarters to her liking within a few days. She had both a hammock and a crate bed with cushions, depending upon if poor weather plagued the ship. Tapestries and silks that were clearly collected from many different countries around the world adorned her walls, and she even found a few bottles and knick knacks to fasten to her ceiling with rope and nails. Inside, it felt like home, but as soon as she stepped foot outside, Rose was reminded of just how different her world was.
It wasn't that the men were unkind. In fact, many would stop to idly chat with her when she would appear on deck during the daytime. But these conversations were void of real meaning, and Rose found herself feeling restless. She wanted to contribute, so one day she approached Will.
"Captain," she asked earnestly. "What may I do?"
Will narrowed his eyes. "For what?" he asked.
"For the Dutchman," she replied. "I wish to help on deck. Or perhaps even go ashore with Bootstrap's scouting party."
He shook his head. "No, that's quite alright," he said. "My father's got more than enough hands for the job."
Rose tensed her jaw. "Alright, then. What about on deck?"
"No, I think we're covered."
She was incredulous. "But, Will—I mean, Captain, you've sailed with me before. You know what I can do! And if Calypso says that I am as powerful as I say I am…"
Will carried a pained expression on his face, yet smiled warmly, putting a hand on her back. "Rose, you've been working so hard for so long, why don't you rest for awhile? I will be sure to let you know if we can use your help. In the meantime, however, continue to get your feel of the ship. It takes awhile to get used to these things."
Rose couldn't comprehend Will's resistance to her helping. She didn't know about Calypso's dark prophecy—she had told Will not to alert her of the danger she was in. All Rose knew was that so far, she was useless aboard, and Will was unwilling to give her any task of value.
So for another three days, she waited. The homesickness grew and grew, until finally it got overwhelming. She stood on the quarter deck, looking over the water and staring at her hands. Calypso had said that she could control the seas…but how? She extended her hand over the water below, but felt nothing. Frustrated, she merely closed her eyes and tried to breathe away the anxiety that was building up inside of her.
She felt a presence appear beside her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was Will. He had clearly noticed her unhappiness, and was coming to check in with her.
"Trying out the powers, I see?" he asked.
She sighed. "I still have much to learn about them, apparently," she muttered.
"That will all come in time," Will said. "You have many years to figure it out." Then, after a time of silence, he added quietly, "I'm here to redeem a conversation that was promised to me. There's 'reason to smile again,' methinks."
Rose tried her best to attempt a congenial appearance, saying forcibly, "I suppose."
They were silent for a moment or two, and then he lowered his voice and said, "Still getting used to it all?"
Rose choked back tears that were brimming up in her eyes. Breathing heavily to try to keep composed, she said, "It's so… unbearably hard… to… let go…" When she couldn't stand it any longer, she let the tears she had been holding back fall. She felt so helpless and so small in that moment, and couldn't bring herself to look at Will, though she knew he was staring at her pensively.
He took a deep breath. "I know. You have family that you are close to. You feel...utterly powerless to protect them because you're a world away most of the time. Believe me, I understand." She knew he was right. And perhaps he knew this better than anyone. He had to suffer missing his son growing up. He took a deep breath and smiled again.
"And that," he continued, "Brings me to why I'm here."
Rose turned to him, intrigued.
His eyes lit up. "There's reason to smile again," he repeated.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Rose, do you know how I know when someone's in danger at sea?" She shook her head. "It's this sense that comes over me," he continued. "It's part of being the Captain of this ship. I know who and where and just how to get there." He gave her a sidelong glance. "I'm getting one of those feelings now. There's a fellow and his friend that I sense are in trouble out on the open sea. I'm indebted to him." He then gave a wry grin. "Care to go on your first mission?"
Rose was eager for change, any change, so she instantly agreed. Before she quite knew what was happening, the ship left the Locker and exploded back onto Earth. Instantly from the geography, Rose could tell they were in the Caribbean, though the by the looks of it, they appeared to be further North than she was typically used to.
"Man overboard!" one of the crew cried out from the crow's nest.
The crew rushed to the port side of the ship, looking down towards two individuals on a makeshift raft waving for their lives. Before long, Will was handed Rose a telescope for a better view. She took it, then about fell over when she saw who was floating on the open sea.
Her eyes instantly filled with tears as she looked to her captain. "Will!" she exclaimed.
He beamed. "Reason to smile again?" he asked.
"Most assuredly!"
The men sailed close by the raft and threw a line down the inhabitants, who struggled aboard carrying a large bag of clinking glass bottles. One man Rose recognized came up first, but Rose was more intrigued by the second. As soon as he was safely aboard, Rose ran and threw her arms around her brother.
