Disclaimer: Still haven't found a way to become the head of Disney. So, POTC still isn't mine.
A/N: Okay, I thought I'd write the next chapter as quick as possible, since I really left you all hanging at a sad spot last time. Hope you don't mind!
All at once a bright light flooded the room and Ana was no longer laying in her husband's study. Instead, she was on a beach. There was something eerily unnatural about this beach. She could not hear any signs of civilization, nor any gulls calling to one another in the sky. She brought her hand away from her wound, to find that her dress was free of blood and that she no longer felt any pain.
She turned around in a circle. There was not another person for miles, and the palm lined beach seemed to stretch out all the way to the horizon. She shook her head and closed her eyes. However, when she opened them she was still standing on the beach.
Ana almost laughed. This was not what she had expected heaven, or hell for that matter, to look like.
"That's because you're not in heaven or hell."
Spinning around, Ana sought the voice. Her jaw dropped as she came face to face with her brother, Findley. He was sitting on a log and smiling up at her. His midshipman's uniform was cleaner than Ana had ever seen it and his unruly blonde hair was fluttering around his face. He had the same tender blue eyes as Prescott. He looked as though he had not aged at all since he . . . died.
"That's because I haven't," he said.
Ana could feel tears starting to well up in her eyes. She had only been twelve when Findley was killed. He was fifteen and a midshipman on the HMS Jupiter. Prescott, five years his senior, was the second lieutenant on the same ship. Findley died in his older brother's arms after a battle when a piece of the mast splintered after being hit by a cannonball. He was buried at sea and when Prescott returned, he gave her the silver cross that she had given Findley. She had given one to each of her brothers, saying that it would protect them and bring them luck.
"Yes, Annie, I remember. Must we dwell on that?"
"How do you know what I'm thinking?"
"Ah, she speaks at last," Findley rose to his feet and clapped his hands.
He may still look fifteen, but his voice sounded older somehow.
"Of course it does. I'm still your big brother," he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "let's see. I'd be what? 25, now?"
Ana nodded, as she tried to remind herself to breathe. "You said that I'm not in heaven."
"That's right."
"Or hell?"
Findley laughed, "nope."
Ana gestured at their surroundings. "Then, where am I?"
Her brother leaned in close, "you're in your house bleeding to death."
Ana gazed into her brother's eyes and could see her own body lying on the floor in the study. "I am?"
"Yeah."
"Is this purgatory?"
Findley shook his head, "no, ma'am."
"Then, what is it?"
"A second chance."
"What?"
"Annie, I know that madman didn't cut off your ears. You heard me."
Ana brought both hands to her head. She rubbed her temples in an effort to explain what was happening to her. She could not fathom how she was lying in the study and standing on the beach talking to her brother, who had been dead for almost ten years.
"It's not gonna make any sense, no matter what you do."
"Stop that, Fin."
Laughing, Findley spread his hands out defensively.
Ana's eyes narrowed, "Are you real?"
He reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders, "I'm real, Annie." His hands were warm and soft, and his blue eyes conveyed all of the kindness that he had always held in his heart.
Against her will, Ana broke down and pulled her brother into a firm embrace. She buried her face in his soft hair and breathed in his scent. He had always smelled like soap, made from rose petals, that her mother used to make them bathe with.
"Come on, Annie, that's embarrassing."
Pulling back, Ana laughed heartily. "Sorry, but you do."
Findley smiled sadly and Ana stopped laughing. His eyes had suddenly turned serious. "I'm sorry, Annie, but you can't stay here."
She swallowed. Ever since she had cried herself to sleep the night that she found out her brother had died, all she wanted in the world was to see him again. She wanted to say that she loved him and how proud she was of him. Now, he stood right in front of her, and she still had not said any of those things.
"You don't have to. I always knew that you loved me."
"Can't I stay with you?"
Her brother raised his eyebrow. "You could, but we both know that you don't really want to."
"Anamaria!?"
She heard a voice that did not belong to her brother.
"I have to go back," she whispered bowing her head.
"Wake up, Anamaria."
"You'll be fine, Annie," Findley assured her.
"Come on. Don't do this."
"I miss you, Fin," she said softly.
"I know."
"Please, wake up."
Ana felt something wet on her face. She wiped her cheek with her hand and saw a dark liquid on her fingers. "What's that?"
Findley nudged her chin with his hand, so that she was looking into his blue eyes. "Someone is crying for you."
"God, let her be okay."
Findley smiled broadly, "sorry, sis. Now, he's going over my head."
All at once, Ana felt herself falling. The bright sunlit beach disappeared, and she was surrounded by darkness. She felt warmth against her chest and something was tickling her face. A pain like she had never felt was exploding from her stomach and coursing through her entire body. She tried to open her eyes, but the darkness was tugging on her heavy lids.
"I'm sorry, Anamaria. I'm so sorry."
The air was musky and smelled of salt and the spiced liquid that she had used to clean Sparrow's wound. Again she struggled to open her eyes. This time they fluttered open weakly.
A man was holding her tightly against his body. She could feel pressure against the wound on her stomach and his skin against her face.
She smiled in spite of the pain. "Jack?"
I hope that ending was a bit less cruel than the last one! Don't leave without letting me know what you think.