Elizabeth Swann ne Turner woke up slowly, feeling rather disorientated. Will wasn't in bed, but that was nothing to worry about; if she had his shedule right, he would be downstairs making tea for the two of them right about now - he'd always been an early riser. She remembered having a dream ... and some of it she could remember but ... most of it escaped her. This was always extremly annoying, but this time she had a feeling that it had been a dream about something important ... about ...
"Oh dear God!" Elizabeth sat bolt upright in her bed, a look of horror on her face. "Oh God oh God oh GodoohGodohGOD!" The last ended on a plainative wail that was probably heard somewhere in Canada, if not France itself.
"What?!" There was a sound of thudding on the stairs, as of someone running up them very fast, and Will burst through the bedroom door, wild-eyed and sword drawn, ready to kill who- or whatever had threatened his Elizabeth. "What is it!? Elizabeth?" He saw her sitting on their bed, the sheets pulled up tightly to her chest, white-faced and shaking, and the sword fell to the ground with a clatter as he an over to her. "'Lizabeth, darling, what's wrong? What happened?"
With a strangled sob, Elizabeth flung herself at her husband and burried her face in his chest. For several minutes Will just stroked her back and murmured soothing nothings into her ear while the cat, who had somehow managed to insert his anxiously purring presence between the two of them, rubbed against her, soothing in his own, feline way. Then, when the cat's purr had faded to a constant, low rumble, when Elizabeth had stopped shaking and sobbing and just whispered some faint, indecipherable words over and over again, did he dare to ask again.
"Elizabeth, love, look at me." Gently, Will placed a hand under her chin, exerting no force, not making her tilt her chin up, just encouraging her to ... which she did. He smiled tenativeley into her eyes and cupped her jaw, noting with worry the tear-stained cheeks and swollen red eyes. "Now, what was that all about? You can tell me."
At that, Elizabeth's face crumpled, and Will feared she would start crying again, but she didn't. She just burried her face in his chest again and whispered "I'm scum. No, I'm worse than scum. I'm the scum on scum's boots. I don't deserve to see the light of day."
"Hey now," Will gently admonished while tangling a hand in her hair. "There's no call for that kind of talk. You're not scum, and you definitely deserve to live, no matter what anyone says. What happened to get you thinking like that, hmm?" He tilted his head down and looked into her eyes worridly. "Please tell me love."
"It's ... I ... I just ... I had ... I had a dream ... and ...and ..." every few words she had to pause, as if holding back yet more sobs.
"Yes? You had a dream and ...?" Will prompted when the latest pause had gone on for several minutes. Elizabeth took a deep, comosing breath and began again.
"I had a dream and I realized that ... that I had ... had ... I ... I forgot!" The last came out in a wail as she wrapped her arms around Will's neck and let her forehead resume its familiar place on his chest, with the back of her head brushing under his chin. "I forgot everything, Will, everything! And I promised! I promised Will! 'Never forget me', she said, and I promised but I forgot anyways! I can't even remember now exactly when I forgot, I just ... I just ... I ..." She dissolved into more sobbing, while Will worridley stroked her back again. This was not the normal, cool, composed Elizabeth he was familiar with - whoever or whatever she had forgotten must have been monumentally important to make her act like this.
"Who did you forget love?" He whispered to her, rubbing small circles on her back like he did to Sally, whenever the old smithy mule was frightened. Elizabeth probably wouldn't apprieciate the comparison, but what worked on one female might work on another so ... she didn't really need to know. Besides, it did seem to be helping, a little. "Who?"
Elizabeth opened her mouth, took several quick, sobbing breaths, and was finally able to say "My ... my sister, Will. My sister! I forgot her. I ... I ... forgot Kate!"