After ten long years of waiting, our one day of payoff, where we might receive answers or at the very least reconnect with our lost husbands, fathers, friends…was gone. We were all crestfallen at this news, but immediately demanded more details of my mother. She only shook her head firmly, murmuring, "Anna, Henry, would you please excuse us? I wish to speak with Elizabeth alone."

"No," Henry insisted plainly. "No more secrecy. We will be here together. We wish to hear what happened. All of us."

Mother stood straighter and raised an eyebrow, appalled by Henry's rebelliousness. "There are things I do not want my daughter to hear. You will not tell me what I can and cannot do."

"Rose," Elizabeth said, laying a hand on her back. "For once, I side with Henry. Now more than ever, we must all be united in what little knowledge has been made clear to us, no matter how much hurt it may cause."

To convince her further, Henry led the way to his room, revealing to her all he had compiled just as he had with Elizabeth and me but a few hours previous. This was enough to persuade her, and the four of us sat together in the parlor as she began the story of all that she had found remaining of the Flying Dutchman.


Rose, upon reaching the ocean, used her powers to transport herself through the sea and straight to the resting place of the Dutchman, which was exactly where she had left it from years past, still fortified by the current. She had been here before, and at the time couldn't figure how to best the current and gain entry. So impassioned by the failure of Return Day was she, however, that she used all the force in her body to force the current backwards until it broke entirely, allowing her entrance to the vessel. She swam to the deck, then took a moment to gauge her surroundings. This was the ship she knew alright, but it appeared utterly deserted and was coated in thick layers of algae and barnacles. Rose wasn't here to reunite with the ship, however. She was here to converse with her Captain and her husband. Using every ounce of her focus and while raising her arms upwards, she churned the waves around the ship so that they furled and hoisted the vessel upwards until it broke the waves.

She gasped as the oxygen hit her lungs and ocean water poured over the sides of the ship. Dripping wet, Rose cried out in the empty darkness, "It is I! Rose Hexfury! Come about!"

All was silent until she caught a glimpse of a humanoid figure hovering nearby her, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was alone, covered from head to toe in barnacles, his face unrecognizable.

"Sir?" she asked him, drawing closer. "Where's the Captain? Will Turner?"

The figure just stared at her, unmoving, then finally shook his head and grunted, motioning with his head for her to look behind her. She turned her head, gazing towards the forecastle deck where Will stepped out between the shadows. His once handsome features were now completely disguised beneath a thick layer of sea life, but Rose could still hear his voice and knew at once that this was her Captain. "Rose?" he asked. He then breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that it was indeed her. "Have you found a way to free us? Is that why you've come?"

Rose swallowed her apprehension and cheerfully replied, "No. I've come to take you ashore."

He began to shake his head. "No…"

"Come now, there's no time to lose!" she countered. "Your wife and son wait for you ashore, and your one day is already waning!"

"Rose," he said, shaking his head. "You know as well as I do that that's not possible. Not looking like…this."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "So…you can go free…you just won't."

Will sighed, stepping closer to her. "It's not that simple," he said, with his voice lowered. Clearly, he was hiding something.

"So tell me, then!" she cried. "Let me help you!" She gazed around the rest of the ship. Suddenly, she asked in concern, "Where's the rest of the crew?"

Will averted his gaze. "I set all who wished to leave free," he muttered. "Including my father."

Rose's heart dropped into her stomach. There was nothing left of the crew. Worse yet, Bootstrap was gone. It was right of Will to do so, and she instantly knew his reasoning; Bootstrap had already gone through this cursed existence once, and Will wasn't about to have him undergo it again when he could otherwise have eternal peace. That didn't stop the hurt caused by his absence.

Rose then grew panicked. "What of James?" she asked. Will looked up at her, uncertain of what to respond with. Rose's heart beat faster. "Will? Where is he?" His gaze then rose above her head to the lone figure that she had originally approached, who was standing only a single pace away from her. Rose turned and followed his gaze, her expression falling in horror when she realized that she hadn't even recognized her own husband.

James turned away at once upon seeing Rose so taken aback, unable to take her reaction. He fled towards the helm, but Rose raced after him, planting herself firmly in his path. "James!" she cried out, throwing her arms around him and whispering, "I'm so sorry."

He moved his hand to caress the back of her head, but upon catching a glimpse of his green, crusted skin, he recoiled, pulling back away from her. Coldly, he said to her, "Why did you come? I told you to stay away from here. If you don't have a way to free us, then you must go."

Rose's eyes flared in fury. "You have a daughter on shore who waits for you. Why didn't you come?"

James motioned towards his face. "Do I honestly need to explain it to you? I would rather her never see me at all than see me like this."

He turned on his heel to leave her, but froze in his path upon hearing her shout, "She doesn't remember you, James." He slowly turned and looked back at her, face twisted in pain. She continued, "Anna…doesn't remember a thing about you. Is that how you want it to be?"

He took a moment, and audibly winced as the word finally escaped his lips; "Yes."

Rose's eyes filled with furious tears. "Yet you do nothing. NOTHING!" she cried out to Will. Both of them, the last two remaining crew members aboard the Dutchman, exchanged a concerned glance and tried to quiet her. Rose cared not, however. "I, the heir to Calypso and the most powerful force of the sea could do anything, and yet you send me away with nothing but vague riddles to base our research on! Why? Answer me!"

Suddenly, the ship quivered, and strange noises, like voices being carried by a winter's breeze seemed to surround them entirely. Will and James all grew deathly still as they waited for something else to happen.

"What is that?" Rose whispered to her husband. "James, who's doing this to you? Please!"

"It's too dangerous for you to be here, Rose," Will said, marching to where they stood. "You know how much it pains me not to be ashore, but I can't." His eyes glinted in sorrow as he said demurely, "We're the only two left now, James and I. We can't leave. Give my love to Elizabeth, to Henry, but if you have nothing for us, I'm afraid it's time for you to depart."

Rose shook her head. "I'm immortal, I'll be fine."

"That's precisely why you must go," James said, his voice tense and fraught with worry. "Stay off the seas. Keep them all off the seas."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

His expression contorted once more as he caressed her cheek with his fingertips. "You are more beautiful than I ever remembered," he murmured sadly.

This felt like a goodbye, and Rose was not about to give up so soon. "James," she said firmly, taking his hand in hers, "If you would just tell me what's happening! We can fight this if I only could know."

"If we tell you, then it will be too late for you," he replied cryptically.

A horrible cracking sound rang out. So strong was this noise, Rose was convinced the ship was about to split in two. James and Will exchanged a knowing glance, silently communicating between them. James gave a slight, hesitant nod and turned to his wife once more. "Go now," he ordered, turning away.

She grabbed hold of his algae-covered coat and pulled him back to her. "I broke the current that kept you isolated! I raised the ship from the depths, all on my own. I could free you both now if you would but help me!"

His demeanor instantly changed as he leaned towards her, face hardened and voice cruel. "What help have you been so far?" he roared. Rose's eyes went wide and her heart seemed to stop entirely at this turn. James tightened his jaw. "You've had the better part of a decade to help us, yet you've let us both become this," he spat, motioning to his face.

"I didn't 'let' you," she cried. "I've been working without end to get you back!"

"Then why am I as I am?" he retorted. He grew closer to her, whispering darkly, "You've failed us. You've failed me. So go."

By now Rose was shaking, her mind racing. "You're…you're only saying this to hurt me," she stammered, attempting to tell herself this more than she was telling him. "You're only trying to get me to leave."

James exchanged another glance with Will upon feeling another shudder of the ship, then continued, "You think so?" He pried his wedding band off of his finger, which was now tarnished and ruined from the seawater. "Here," he said, placing it into her hand, "Clearly you've enjoyed your freedom thus far, take it all."

"What is this? What are you doing?" she asked, her voice raised in panic.

"Setting you free," he remarked cruelly. "Consider your ties to me and this vessel null. Find someone else. Shouldn't be hard for you, for I know how changeable your heart can be."

"James," Rose murmured, now in tears as she reaching her hand out to comfort his pain.

He swatted her hand away. "Find another man to be a father to Anna." He then moved to turn, but not before Rose insistently stated, "James, she is our daughter…who loves and misses you."

Mother interrupted the story here. She had been crying throughout her telling of it, but at this point, she paused, gazing up at me. "Anna," she whispered. "I'm begging you—please leave the room. I don't want you to listen to any more of this."

"I do," I said firmly. "What happened?"

Placing her head in her hands, she wiped her cheeks, then stammered through what my Father replied to her comment about me with; He turned back to her, and said cruelly, "Just as she has forgotten me, so soon shall I. Go."

Rose then watched as he trudged away from her as she stood there, alone and utterly eviscerated by his words, clutching his ring. The ship rocked precariously once more, and as James disappeared into the shadows, Will turned one last time to Rose, eyes sorrowful as he implored, "I'm so sorry Rose, but please you must depart!"

"Will, I-" she stammered.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes sorrowful. "Tell the others to give up this chase. If you haven't found anything to free us by now, you never will."

"Just tell me—"

But he just kept talking over the top of her. "I will try to free James if I can, but he refuses. This is my burden to bear, and his as well if he so chooses." He shook his head and gave a defeated sigh. "This is not the life we would have chosen for our families. It's enough to know you're safe."

The winds began to howl and the waves churned. Just then, the waves broke over the deck. As they began to submerge them, the last thing Rose heard Will say was, "Forget about us. We want it that way."

Soon after, the waters carried Rose away, separating her from her captain and her husband…or what had once been her husband. She used her powers, what little she could muster up, to keep her stationary below the waves until she watched the Dutchman sink lower…and lower…and lower…back to its prison on the ocean floor.


Rose moved the water to take her back to Shipwreck, then made the long, tedious journey back to the lighthouse. She could have easily transformed right to the place where Elizabeth, Henry and I waited for her inside, but instead took her time in coming back.

"That's why it took me so long to arrive," she explained to us. "I needed time alone with my thoughts."

Henry and I exchanged a worried glance from across the room, both sharing the same troubled thoughts. Just as she has forgotten me, so soon shall I. That's the extent of what my father said about me. Just as I had considered him a stranger, he too had decided that I was the same to him.

"I don't understand any of this," Elizabeth said softly. "This is so unlike James."

My mother replied, "It understand it plainly. Any man I've loved is changed by the curse that binds them. I lose them forever."

We were all silent for a time, staring at nothing, and wondering the single question that Henry finally uttered aloud; "So what do we do now?"

Mother sighed. "I don't know. Will's right—if we don't have answers now, we might never will."

Henry sat forward in his seat. "Do you forget all of the elements of the supernatural you've both encountered in your lives? I don't doubt that something can be done to reverse all of this. I believe the answer could be the tri-"

Elizabeth and I cut him off with a shared glare. Now was not the time for him to push his own agenda.

"Ten years, Henry," Mother said softly. "Ten years and I've tried everything; Books, chants, spells, curses, powers, charms, attacks, prayers… And without knowing a damn thing about their situation after all this time, what else can any of us do except repeat what we've already gone through?"

"We can leave the island. Spread out, go anywhere. Clearly, this place isn't helping us one bit. There's an entire world of answers out there! Why can't we seek them out?"

"Do remind me how two mothers who run an entire island by themselves all while trying to rescue their husbands, one of which cannot leave the island because she must protect her husband's heart at all times, have the time to go exploring for clues. I'll wait."

"Send someone else then. I'm not a child anymore. Send me to find people who can help us, like Jack—"

Elizabeth turned to him. "Did you not hear Rose? James told her that everyone must stay off the seas."

Henry was unconvinced. "That was just a tactic to keep her safe. Father tried the same on me when I went aboard. Norrington didn't mean it. I don't think he meant a single word of it."

"Then explain to me why I am presently holding his ring," Mother snapped, tossing the chain down on the parlor table which now carried her locket and the once treasured token of my father's love for her. Together, they clanged with a hard thud when it made contact with the wood, which made me wince.

"Mother, you can't honestly be considering listening to them," I tried hopefully. "You always told me that whenever Father ordered you into something, you would usually always do the opposite. If he told you to flee, you'd run headlong into battle. If he told you to stay behind, you'd go. Why would that change now?"

"Because in those days, it was only my life that was at risk, and I cannot be harmed." She sat up, leaning towards me to look into my eyes earnestly. "When I became a mother, my life became devoted to you. And even before then, I pledged to Will to keep Elizabeth and Henry safe." She then turned to address all three of us, rapt at her words. "I think…I think it might be time to honor that promise."

"Rose…" Elizabeth began.

But Mother was having none of it. "You didn't see the look of disappointment on Will's face when I told him we had nothing!" she cried, her voice tight with emotion. "You didn't see how horrible the growth on them is. I didn't recognize my own husband!" She took a breath, calming herself down before stating, "I do not intend on giving up. I will spend an eternity until I find a way to break their curse if that's what it takes…but they're right. The living must come first. So…we continue our work, together, and we follow their wishes and stay off the seas. We don't know what is out there that could come for us."

When no form of a response came from any of us, Mother turned to Elizabeth. "Am I making the wrong call?"

She considered a moment, slowly blinking her exhausted, puffy eyes. "No," she finally said.

"Mother!" Henry cried incredulously.

"We are your sole guardians," Elizabeth began, placing her hand atop her son's. "We have a duty to you above all else. I love them more than you could possibly know, but can't you see this is for your own good to not fight their wishes any longer?"

Henry pulled his hand from beneath hers and stood up defensively. He motioned to me as he said, "Can't you see that it's for our own good that we have our fathers with us? That we see see you both happy and content? I don't know what 'childhood,' you think you're trying to preserve, because it's not worth preserving as it currently stands." With that, he stormed out of our presence to his room, slamming his door behind him once he arrived.

Elizabeth took a deep inhale, her eyes staring at nothing in particular. "He won't be reasoned with. That boy is too headstrong for his own good," she admitted in defeat. Then, shifting her thoughts, she commented, "It's a small blessing, but I am grateful that Will and James have each other. They're both martyrs, willing to go through hell if it means saving someone else. They're in good company."

Mother snorted. "A blessing? Those two? It's a wonder they haven't driven one another mad yet after all these years." I gave a small smile, grateful that she was able to see even the slightest bit of humor in our horrible situation. Then, looking to me, she said, "Anna? What…how are you feeling? About all of this?"

If I were to answer her question honestly, it would have taken an entire day. I felt afraid. I felt uncertain. I felt helpless, powerless, furious, frustrated, and isolated. I felt as though I was mourning two men I couldn't even remember, even though they could never die. But despite it all, I simply answered, "I…want to keep fighting," I said. "I don't care whatever Father said about me. We have to keep fighting." Both Elizabeth and Mother nodded solemnly at this, but they offered no reassurances to me that this was the proper course of action. So, after a time, I tried, "What are we going to do now?"

Mother, her eyes red and face pale, only shook her head slightly, keeping her gaze cast downwards. "I know not," she finally murmured. "We…we'll assess in the morning. That's all we can do."

Elizabeth then stood, helping Mother to her feet. "It's far too late for you both to walk back to the fortress. I won't allow it. Rose, I'll have you stay with me in my room. Anna, ask Henry to stop sulking and make you up a place to sleep out here. I'll-"

"It's fine," I said. "I can manage on my own."

Together, they left without another word. We were all too downhearted for any hopeful farewells. They blew out many of the lamps within the room, leaving me but one that I brought over to the parlor table, sitting in the place where my mother had been. Gingerly, I picked up the locket and ring that my mother had tossed aside. I clicked the face of the locket open, listening to the haunting tune that played through the dark, silent, grim night.

Cruel and cold like winds on the sea,
Till the day he returns to me,
Ten long years we'll wait to go by,
Our love will never die.

Elizabeth had fashioned those words to fit the tune long before I was born. They were of course signifying not only Jones and Calypso, but also her and Will. Now they suited my parents. But it had been ten years already, and Father's ring, which I then clasped in my palm, emphasized that love perhaps could die. My mother, the living form of Calypso, had let my father down, and he had become a creature from the depths of the sea, cold from years of heartbreak and disappointment.

In many ways, history had repeated itself, and they were no better off than Jones and Calypso were.

I sat, unable to sleep and ruminating in my thoughts for a time until the lamp finally burned out. Now in the dark, I could hear only the sound of my own breath.

In…out. In…out. …Creeeeeaaakkkk…

I started when I heard =the floorboards towards the hallway creak with the pressure of someone's weight atop them. Given Will and Father's warnings about unknown dangers this evening, I was so alarmed that I leapt atop the furniture and cried out in fear, "WHO GOES THERE?"

"SHUT UP!" a hoarse whisper spat at me. The source of the noise then fully appeared in the room, his face lit by a single lamp of his own that he was carrying. "Do you want to wake the entire island? I didn't know you were out here, or else I would have gone out the back door!" Henry informed me.

I clutched my chest. "Fool," I hissed. "You nearly scared me to death."

"Clearly not my intention," he halfway apologized. "Let me pass."

I narrowed my eyes. "Where are you going at this hour?"

Henry blinked, contemplating whether or not to tell me. Finally, he said, "Away."

"Away? Where?"

"Anywhere," he said. "Anywhere at all is better than spinning our wheels here. So, I'm taking the dinghy, and will go wherever the wind takes me until I find answers of my own." He then raised an eyebrow warningly at me as he went to pass, stating, "Don't try to stop me."

My heart raced at this. This was incredibly reckless. We had been repeatedly warned to stay off the sea, we were but children, and neither of us had any sailing experience whatsoever. But in a way…it was also smart. If our mothers weren't going to let us go, we had to take charge on our own. I no longer wanted my Father back for my sake. His relationship with me was practically nonexistent at that moment. I needed him back for my Mother. It was time for the children of the Flying Dutchman to take matters into their own hands.

"Wait!" I cried, tossing the chain with the ring and the locket on it over my head and around my neck as I raced to catch up with Henry. "I'm going with you."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You…want to help me?"

I grinned. "It's my father's fate too. And I'm not about to let you have all the fun."