So, so, so, so, so, so, so, soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry it took forever to put up. Just between school and all that jazz (plus a slight case of writer's block) it hasn't been as easy as it was over the summer. Ah, well. Here it is.

Part Ten. Zodiac's Burden

Rhiannon broke out of his embrace suddenly. She turned away from him, staring intensely at the wispy ships that were beginning to fade, trying to pretend that Will didn't stand just behind her. She rubbed her fore arms to try and generate warmth, but couldn't quite seem to keep the chill off her. She could feel Will gently touch her shoulder, it made her shudder as if she had been insulted.

"Rhiannon…? Did you hear what I said…?"

"Yes," she murmured as if in a daze. "I was wondering if you did."

"Rhiannon, what are you talking about?"

"You love Elizabeth…"

Will turned Rhiannon around to face him, looking back into her eyes. "I…"

"Do you know what you want, Will?"

"Yes."

"Then you're a liar."

"I want you…" he replied earnestly, reaching out for her hand, but she pulled away. He watched her, confused. "Rhiannon… what's wrong?"

"You don't know what you want!" she cried in a frustrated tone. "You're … you're not over Elizabeth yet, that's it!"

He only shook his head solemnly. "I'm sorry but that's not it," he murmured coming closer than he already was. "I didn't see it all this time because of Elizabeth and I'm sorry for it… But I want to start over again…" He leaned in to kiss her, but she drew away.

"Will… I'm not going to let you use me because Elizabeth hurt you!" Rhiannon said, trying to keep from shouting.

He reached out for her hand and grasped it firmly. He softly kissed her lips, but she wouldn't kiss him back. "I don't want to hurt you…. I couldn't hurt you."

From what she could tell, Will sounded sincere. But she had had a crush on him ever since she was little, and now that her dreams were coming true, she could only think about herself. She was afraid of being used. Maybe she was just being cautious, it was very probable she was being selfish. It was impossible for the young woman to sort out her feelings at that exact moment, not with Will's presence intoxicating her.

"I… think I should be by myself for a while," she whispered softly, then walked away before Will had time to protest. Rhiannon stalked below deck, bowing her head so as to avoid having contact with anyone. She moved to the bowels of the ship where she assumed she'd be alone.

"Hey! What're you doing down here!"

At the sound of another voice, Rhiannon missed a step and fell the rest of the way down into the pitch dark. She looked around in the dark for the voice and sighed as a familiar figure stepped into the very dim light that was let in by the stairway.

"I'm sorry," Rhiannon murmured, getting to her feet. "I didn't mean to intrude."

Joan watched her get up and shook her head. "No, it's alright… But you didn't answer my question. What are you doing down here?"

"Oh, I just needed a place to think," she replied, trying to come out from under Joan's gaze, but it wasn't easy.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the other woman asked.

Rhiannon half-laughed at the suggestion, but then realized that she had been serious. It was a novel situation. Joan, who was normally so cold, wanted to talk with her. As if she was concerned. "Um, that's alright."

Joan shifted her feet uncomfortably. "Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you…"

"What about…?" Rhiannon questioned cautiously.

"About… well… it's about Jack."

"What about Jack…?"

"Well… I've been feeling… different lately…" Joan started slowly, she sounded sickening in her own ears, but couldn't quite find any other words.

"How?"

The Vampire groaned. This girl was asking too many questions and not giving her any answers. Joan ran a frustrated hand through her golden hair that had long since come loose of its braid. "I don't know… I guess I … care."

Rhiannon smiled vaguely. "You… um… care for Jack?"

"Yes. Are you happy now?!" Joan snapped sharply.

"Yes. I mean… No.. I mean.. uh…" Rhiannon flailed over her words hopelessly. "So what is it…? Are you afraid he won't … care for you as well?"

"Something like that…" she murmured softly. "Actually… yes… I suppose that is it." Joan sighed, feeling her defenses plummet downwards with every word she spoke to the other woman.

"Well, Jack may be a pirate, but he's not your average pirate… Did you ever think of talking to him face to face about it? You know, tell him what you're feeling." she offered.

(~*~)

"For the love of God, never tell her how you're really feeling!"

Jack stared at Will, his mouth slightly open. "I don't know that that fixes my problem…"

"They say they want to know how you feel… but when you tell them… they shut you down!" Will slumped forward onto the railing, twisting the neck of a bottle between his fingers.

"Will, I really need your help. Sure, I've been with women before… but… this time it's different. And I just don't see why… Hey! Is that my rum!?"

Will threw his head back, drinking profusely from the rum bottle. He looked back at the Captain, slightly cross eyed. "Well who's else would it be?"

"Will… I've … never seen you like this…" Jack murmured, watching as the other man took another deep drink, then reeled where he was standing. "To tell you the truth, drunk Will is far more entertaining than sober Will."

"All these years… I had totally forgotten about her… I didn't realize how much I … uh… what's the word…?"

There were a couple of moments of silence that passed between the two men. "Love?" Jack offered after a while.

"Thatstheword!" the young blacksmith cried, as he collapsed into Jack's shoulder. Jack's eyes went wide from shock as he lowered his friend to the ground. Will hadn't bothered to fall back from the pirate's shoulder, and was now giggling quite merrily as rum sloshed onto his hand. Suddenly he gasped as he looked up at Jack. "You have very pretty eyes!"

"Ah, bloody hell!" Jack exclaimed, disgusted, as he pulled away from Will and letting him hit the deck, causing more rum to hit the deck. The Captain flinched at the sight of more of his precious rum going to an awful waste. He half considered licking it up off the deck, but then he'd get splinters in his tongue, he didn't much like that idea. "I really need your help, Will! I don't know what I should do about her!"

Will was still giggling quite happily. "Or do you just want to do her?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" Jack snarled defensively. Though in truth, Will hadn't been entirely wrong. But he didn't want Will to know that. "Are you gonna help me or not?"

"Da, da, da, da, da, daaa… And really bad eggs," Will sighed, singing softly to the floorboards of the main deck.

"You're no good to me drunk," Jack muttered, completely exasperated. He half turned to leave Will to serenading the deck, then remembered something. "I'll be taking my rum back, savvy?"

"Yo, ho, ho, ho, a pirates life for me!"

"I'll just assume that's a yes," Jack grumbled, as he snatched the rum bottle away from Will and took a drink himself. He grinned, his golden teeth glinting in the moonlight. "Ah, rum, my old friend. You'll help me sort out my problems… Of course you will!"

(~*~)

Rhiannon stepped onto the main deck. Her conversation with Joan had made her come to some more comforting conclusions. If this woman was knowingly willing to put her heart to someone as… unpredictable as Jack, surely Rhiannon could risk the heart ache for Will. Heart ache like no one's ever known… she thought ruefully. The wind picked up and blew against Rhiannon's skin. That wind had been unusually cold for a Caribbean night. And why was the main deck so quiet?

"Rhiannon…"

The young woman's heart skipped a beat. It was the same eerie voice she had heard earlier. "I'm hearing things," she murmured to herself as she walked briskly to the bough, hoping to clear her head. "I'm just hearing things," she repeated.

"Rhiannon, stop lying to yourself."

She let out a short yelp as she looked up to see a man she had never seen before standing in front of her. He smiled. His smile seemed far too friendly for comfort. "Who are you?" she demanded, but her voice sounded strained in her ears.

"I just want to stop you from going along with this…"

"Along with what?" she demanded, feeling a little more confident.

"Alright, Rhiannon, I won't lie to you. You seem like a perfectly nice girl, and I just don't want to see your life ripped by the seams."

She remained silent for quite a while. There was something about this man… the eerie way in which his voice rippled in her ears, and the way his clothing and hair appeared completely unmoved by even the slightest wind, while Rhiannon's own hair and clothing rippled at the slightest breeze.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" she inquired cautiously, her hand going slowly to her pistol.

"That'll do you no good," the man rippled softly, his dark eyes watching her emotionlessly. "My name is Neil Zodiac. No doubt the name is familiar to you."

Rhiannon felt a shiver run down her spine and the hairs prickle on the back of your neck. "I… I don't believe it."

"First mistake, missy," he said, holding up a long, skeletal finger. "Never disbelieve your own eyes. It'll get you killed."

"If you're really… what are you doing here?" she asked breathlessly.

"In life, I was a pirate. I did a lot of awful things. I stole a lot of things. But when I started picking of grave robbers near the coast of Egypt… Big mistake. Everything in Egypt has a damned curse or something on it. You might want to tell your friend Mr. Sparrow to turn the Pearl around…"

"What… what's so bad?" Rhiannon breathed, still disbelieving.

"If you use any of the Egyptian gold, and it doesn't matter for what, it'll always find a way to work against you."

"But…"

"Laying even one finger any of the gold could be catastrophic! Rhiannon… I wasn't a good man in life, I wasn't even a half-decent man. But I'm hoping that I can set my wrongs right in the afterlife and maybe I won't have to spend eternity in limbo…" He paused as if to take a deep breath to look at her. "Do you understand? You have to d this." She nodded. "Good. Don't mess this up."

"Rhiannon?"

She whipped around suddenly to see Will coming up on the bough. He was swaying dangerously on his feet which made Rhiannon reach the only conclusion she could: Will had tried to sort things out with the help of Jack. She looked around to question Zodiac further, but she found that he had disappeared. Sighing, she turned back to Will.

"Rhiannon… that's you right?" Will muttered, his eyes half open.

"Aye Will, it's me."

The young man smiled wrapping his arms around his old friend and resting his head on her shoulder tiredly. "Ah, Rhiannon… what a fool I was not to know how I felt… You were just gone for so long… But… I see it now…"

Rhiannon just sighed and shook her head. "First you were confused, Will. Now you're just drunk."