A/N: For this chapter, reviewers responses are at the end cause I have too many people to thank to put it at the beginning, so don't worry-I didn't forget. As promised, this chapter is very, very interesting. What? You thought I was lying?

Chapter Eight-The Truth About Forever

I never said I'd lie in wait forever, if I died we'd be together. I can't always just forget her,
but she could try. At the end of the world-or the last thing I see...you are never coming home, never coming home. Could I? Should I? And all the things that you never ever told me-and all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me.-My Chemical Romance, The Ghost of You

The morning dawned bright and cool and soon the residents of Florence would be waking up and going about their daily chores, but everyone in the Moineau house hold were still sleeping. No one had managed to fall asleep before midnight and Elli and Adam had both just now fallen asleep. It was as if they were vampires, up all night and falling asleep at the first sign of light.

I was just now waking up when I noticed that my pillow was really hard. Why was that? I thought pillows were supposed to be soft. I reached out a hand and pressed down, trying to make it softer when my pillow stirred and shifted away from me. Pillows don't move either, you know. Slowly I opened my eyes and saw that I was laying next to Will with my head against his chest and one of my arms around him, I also noticed that one of his arms was around me as well. Well, that explained why my pillow was moving.

"It's too early." I muttered, carefully taking my arm away from around his waist and gently moving his arm off me. And it was, I had only slept for about three hours last night and I bet Elli and Adam slept for less. Speaking of which, I really hoped Elli was alright. She seemed so upset last night, but she wouldn't let anyone talk to her, not even me. I heard someone go in her room last night, but fell asleep before I could go out in the hall and see who it was.

I stretched and walked over to the wardrobe, pulling out my sea clothes--which the maids were kind enough to return after thoroughly washing them.I walked through another door which lead to a large bathroom and quickly changed in there, laying my shift over a chair once I walked back out into the main bedroom.I heard someone stirring in the room next to me and knew that it was Elli. I decided that I would give her a couple minutes to wake up before I barged in there and attacked her for not letting me talk to her last night. But we were going to talk today...I'm making sure of that.

Unfortunately, I can be very impatient sometimes and so waiting for about five minutes felt like waiting for five hours. After awhile I decided to stop being patient and walked out of the room and knocked on Elli's door. I spent another five minutes waiting for her to answer it, but she never did, so I opened the door slowly and peered in the room. Apparently she had went back to sleep. I sighed, opened the door wider and walked over to her bed.

"Elli." I hissed, shaking her gently. She opened one blue eye, saw that it was me and then rolled over on her other side."Elli." I hissed again, grabbing the blankets and jerking them off of her. She curled up in a little ball and I tossed the blankets on the floor so she couldn't grab them again. When I looked back at her,she was still pretending to be asleep, so I started poking her on the shoulder, knowing she would get irritated and 'wake up' soon.

"Stop it."She muttered and pushed my hand away.

"Fine." I said as I walkedover to the wide windows and opened the curtains, letting the bright sun shine in. Elli rolled over on her other side, trying to keep the sun away from her.

"No-close those." She groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.

"Well, if you would get up out of bed." I replied, coming to sit on the edge of her bed.

"Why do you want me to get up anyways?" She demanded, pulling the pillow off of her head and slowly sitting up.

"Cause I want to talk to you." I replied.

"Don't you think it's a little early?" She hissed.

"No, it's almost nine." I answered.

"Well, for some people-that's considered early." She muttered and flopped back in bed. "Wake me up at noon."

"No, you still haven't talked to me." I protested.

"Fine, fine." Elli grumbled, sitting up once more. "What do you want to talk about and it better be good missy."

"Alright then, what happened last night-at the ball?"I asked quickly. Elli glared at me and then groaned, flopping back into bed for the second time.

"Why did you have to bring that up? I thought it was just some horrible dream I had." She muttered.

"Well, what happened?"

"Do we have to talk about this?"

"I asked, didn't I?"

"Basically it was hell." She replied.

"Do elaborate." I coaxed her. She rolled her eyes and began-

"Adam and I were having a good time, talking, dancing and stuff- then, for no reason Jack cuts in saying he wants to dance with me. So after we talk a little, we start dancing...and it was...really nice...he was being nice to me and we were joking and getting along, and then...the dance ended and he left me with Adam, who showed me around the gardens out back That was nice too, but he was saying things like he 'had never met someone like me' and that 'I was different from everybody else' and then he kissed me. And, you saw the rest." She finished, not looking at me, but down at her hands.

"And now you're confused because you're caught in the middle. Adam is really nice and sweet, but you're just now starting to get along with Jack-so you don't know who to chose, because you have feelings for both of them." I said softly. Elli nodded.

"Yes, I'm caught in the middle." She agreed.

"Well, you better make a decision soon before they kill each other." I noted. "Oh, and I think Jack is planning for us to leave tomorrow."

"Whatཀ?" Elli shouted. "But that's too soonཀ I can't just chose one of them after thinking it over for just a dayཀ"

"The sooner the better." I tried to encourage her. It didn't work-Elli was too far gone for me to try and console her now.

"Jackཀ You bastardཀ How could he do this to meཀ? I'm either going to have to stay here with Adam or go with himཀ That's not giving me much of a choiceཀ He's trying to make up my mind for meཀ" She shouted.

"I don't really think..." I began, but Elli wouldn't hear of it.

"You should be glad I'm making it tomorrow morning instead of tonight, or this afternoon for that matter." Jack said from the doorway of Elli's room. Immediately she sprang of the bed and launched herself at him, curling her hands into fists and trying to punch whatever she could reach of him. Jack blocked all of her hits expertly and effortlessly–finally grabbing both her hands and holding them. "Elli...listen." He began, but she jerked one of her hands out of his grasp and slapped him hard across the face, so hard that you could hear it.

"You selfish bastardཀ" She hissed.

"What's going on?" Will demanded, coming into the room after hearing Elli's shouts.

"Oh, the usual-Elli trying to kill Jack." I replied casually, trying to make light of such a heavy situation.

"Why-what did he do now?" Will asked, looking at Elli and Jack.

"He's making us set sail tomorrow morningཀ" Elli cried, jerking her other hand out of Jack's grasp and stepping away from him completely.

"What? She should be grateful that I'm not making it today." Jack countered.

"Shut upཀ Just SHUT UPཀ" Elli shouted, tears forming in her bright blue eyes. I nimbly hopped off the bed and walked over to her, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. She didn't look at me, but reached out a hand and placed it over mine. Sometimes I knew that Elli just needed someone to be there--that you didn't have to say anything to comfort her, sometimes you just had to let her know that you were there.

"Jack. Why are you doing this to her?" I asked softly. "It's as if you don't want her to be happy. What if she wants to stay here?"

"Then she has a whole day and night to think it over. You know, I really think I'm being rather fair here." He said casually.

"I thought I told you to shut upཀ" Elli cried, wiping the few tears that had spilled onto her face away with the back of her hand.Jack looked at her, his eyes wide with shock. He hadn't realized that he had been driving Elli to the verge of tears-that's not what he intended at all.

"Elli...I'm..." He began, but before he could finish his sentence, Elli shook my hand off her shoulder and pointed a shaking finger at Jack.

"You...I don't want hear anymore from you, I just want you to stay the hell away from me." She muttered before stalking out of the room, pushing past him.Jack looked at Will and I as if to say-'Well, what was bothering her.' I said nothing to him either as I walked briskly out of the room.

xXx

Elli stormed down the grand staircasebringing her feet down harder with each step. It was almost nine thirty and already Jack had to go and ruin the rest of the day for her. Not that it would be much better, seeing as she would probably spend most of the day balancing her two options-say here in Italy with Adam and his family or return to the Pearl with Jack, Will and I.But right now, she couldn't think of those things, she could only think about how much Jack frustrated her and how she hated him right now more than she had hated anyone else in a long time.

Why did he insist on acting the way he did? He knew it upset Elli, he knew it made her frustrated, but it seemed as if he wasn't going to change, not for anyone. He was stubborn as well. I always teased Elli about how she needed to find herself a man who was just a stubborn as her--if not more so and Elli never believed that anyone could be as stubborn as her, but Jack prover her wrong, as he did with many things.

"Elli dear, are you alright?" A soft voice interrupted her musings. Elli looked around and found that she had made it to the bottom of the stairs and that Mrs. Moineau was looking at her with a concerned look on her delicate face.Elli wiped her eyes again and tried to smooth her hair down, knowing that it must look like she had stuck her fingers in an electrical socket.

"...yes...I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night." Elli said and pretended to stifle a yawn.

"Oh...do you know what all that yelling upstairs was about?" She asked Elli, her face still etched with worry.

"It was...Will and Ari...they were in a bit of an argument." She lied–feeling horrible about lying to Mrs. Moineau, but what else was she supposed to tell her? If the Moineaus received anymore bad news about Jack, they were most likely to disown him or die from grief. Elli deceived she like the first option better and was seriously considering telling the Moineaus that it was she and Jack who were arguing, but then again, she didn't want to trouble them more than they already were.

"I see, well I hope they work things out." Mrs. Moineau said softly.

"I hope so too." Elli muttered in agreement, ignoring the thought that crossed her mind–

It was she and Jack who should be trying to work things out.

xXx

All through breakfast, everyone was 'as silent as the grave.' It was like being in a cemetery–heck, Adam and I were pale enough to pass as corpses. Speaking of which, Adam looked paler than his normal fairness this morning and the dark purple ring around his eye stood out abnormally. His eye was still a beautiful amber color, but it was dull and morbid with no light in it. It was as if he really was a corpse, sitting there staring at his plate of untouched food.

No one had touched most of their food, even the Moineaus. They knew something was wrong, but they were polite and so they did not ask us any questions. Thank God, because I don't know how much more Adam, Elli and Jack could take right now.

Elli excused herself from the table and made her way out to the gardens–the only place where she felt like she wasn't going to be suffocated–or go insane, because she knew if she was in the same house as Jack and Adam, she was going to go insane.

Despite the fact that she didn't want to think about Jack anytime soon, she found herself remembering the first time she met him, the first time she had came to this world. She never thought all of this would happen, she never thought she would regret it or that she would ever see Jack again after we left.

Elli sighed and closed her eyes and found that if she listened closely, the wind sounded like the ocean waves.

Elli plummeted out of the clear blue sky, feeling the cold wind whip about her. She looked below her and saw the sparkling ocean below her. In the middle of this ocean, a tiny little boat sailed along. From Elli's bird's eye view, it looked like the boat had a hole in it. Elli came nearer and nearer to the boat and then panicked as she realized that she was heading straight for the pathetic thing.

Elli began hoping that there weren't many people on the boat.

The infamous Captain Jack Sparrow sighed as he gazed about the quickly sinking boat. He had borrowed it from Anna Maria, a good friend of his, but a vicious pirate. She was sure to keel haul him if she ever found out what happened to the boat he 'borrowed' from her.

He dismally glanced at an old wooden bucket, grabbed it and proceeded to bail the water out of the boat. It was no use, the boat was sinking faster than he could bail. Jack threw down the bucket and as soon as he did, a young woman crashed through the boat and into the water. Jack stared at the hole she had made stupidly, as if he didn't believe his own eyes.

Which he didn't, how could someone come falling out of a blue sky? Jack looked up and thought he saw a faint golden circle of light, but he paid no heed to it. He crept towards the edge of the boat and peered into the water. Where had the girl gone? As if answering his question, Elli broke through the surface of the water and latched onto a side of the boat.

"Help me up." She gasped, glaring up at Jack who was now staring at her stupidly. So he wasn't imagining things, a girl really had crashed through his boat. Well, Anna's boat. Thereཀ That was the excuse he could give her, some girl fell out of the sky and crashed her boatཀ "Helloཀ" Elli snapped. Jack blinked, startled out of his random thought train and offered her his hand, which she gladly took and he pulled her up into the boat.

"Who are you?" He asked. Elli sat down and crossed her arms over her wet shirt, hoping Jack wouldn't notice, but he did and smiled a little.

"My name is Elli and you are?" Elli asked, not smiling back.

"Me? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow luv." He replied. Elli rolled her eyes.

"Don't call me luv." She commanded.

"Where are you headed, more importantly-where did you come from?" Jack asked, ignoring her comment.

"Somewhere far away." Elli replied. "And I'm looking for my friend Ari."

"Vague aren't we and where is your friend?" Jack asked.

"I wish I knew. Where are you headed Jack?" She asked in reply.

"It's Captain-savvy?" Jack replied, once again ignoring her. Elli found herself greatly frustrated by this man and she barely knew him.

"Right, right. Now answer me Captain, where are you headed?" Elli asked again. If Jack made her repeat herself for the third time she would smack him so hard that you could see the mark.

"I'm headed to Port Royal." Jack replied and continued to bail water out of the ship. "Maybe your friend is there."

"I hope she is." Elli muttered that last part to herself. We had come to this world together, at the exact same time and yet she didn't know where I was. But sometimes the portal purposely drops us at certain places. Elli really didn't want to spend most of her time looking for me. "Your boat has a hole in it." Elli suddenly pointed out, just to be annoying.

Jack stopped his work and glared up at her.

"I know that, luv." He replied. Elli stood up in the boat as did Jack.

"Call me luv one more time or I'll-" Elli began.

"Or you'll what?" Jack cut her off, smirking. He liked to see Elli frustrated for some reason, it was entertaining.

"I was getting to that until you interrupted me. Maybe I should just swim to Port Royal." Elli suggested, her voice rising.

"Maybe you should, luv." Jack agreed and pushed her overboard.

That was where it all started for her and Jack and as Elli knew that would be one of the things she would remember for a long time, whether she wanted to or not, honestly–how can you forget something like that?

And unfortunately for Elli, that first memory of Jack triggered another one, one that she had been trying to forget for some time now...

Suddenly Jack came and sat beside her, interrupting her thoughts. Elli sat up and looked over at Elizabeth who had fallen asleep.

"What are you doing over here?" Elli demanded.

"I came to see if you were alright, you looked really troubled about something." Jack murmured. Elli felt a pang of guilt in her heart. Jack had just came over to see if she was alright and she was being rude to him.

"Well thank you." She muttered, a large part of her still bitter, even if Jack was being kind to her.

"Why are you so bitter towards me?" Jack snapped. "I try my best to be nice to you, but you still end up being bitter towards me and biting my head off about the stupidest things." Elli glared at him, but then realized that Jack was right, she was too bitter towards him.

"I guess...I do owe you." Elli said softly. Jack looked at her surprised as Elli moved closer towards him. She laid a hand on his shoulder and another on the back of his head. "This is just because you didn't let me drown, understand?" Jack nodded slowly and Elli closed her eyes, pressing her lips against Jack's. Jack's eyes widened and Elli felt him grow stiff and she knew that he was surprised. She didn't pull away though and soon Jack got over his shock and kissed her back, but as soon as he did, Elli pulled away.

"Again, that was just because you didn't let me drown." She whispered and walked off to think about what she just did.

Elli smiled to herself as she thought of how surprised Jack had been and how she had shocked herself. It seemed while Elli was here, in this world-she did a lot of things that shocked her. But that was one of the things Elli loved the most about traveling to other world–you get to meet new people and go on new adventurers that are far more exciting than the adventures of your life at home.

But now Elli turned her thoughts to more serious questions. What was she going to now? Did she want to stay here or set sail with us in the morning. Feeling as if these questions were too heavy for her, Elli sat down on a bench and absently stroked the soft petals of a deep red rose.

If she stayed here with Adam-what would her life be like? Would each day be the same as the next? Would she be confined within this house, not allowed to go outside because it was not proper for a lady? And if she stayed here-would she even find love with Adam? And if she did, how long would it last?

But if she went with us–every day would be a new adventure. Some days it might be boring, but it's never really boring when you're surrounded by your friends and good company. On a pirate ship, or any ship for that matter–you were free. No one judged you or expected anything from you, only that you uphold the articles and do the jobs you're assigned.

Suddenly, Elli heard a twig snap and turned her head to face whoever was out here. She frowned when she saw who it was and it was Jack of course.

"Yes?" She asked, trying her best to keep the hostility out of her voice, but not succeeding.

"I need to talk to you." Jack replied, slowly walking towards her.

"About?" She inquired.

"About things that have happened here...last night, specifically." Jack answered. Elli groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Why does everyone keep wanting to talk about thatཀ? First Adam, then Ari and now youཀ" Elli exclaimed.

"Wait...you already talked to Adam?" Jack demanded, trying to keep his temper from flaring up again. It seemed all it did was cause him problems.

"Yes, he apologized for kissing me and that was it." She replied simply.

"He apologized?" Jack questioned her.

"Yes, because he said he knew that you must really care about me in order to have gotten upset over something like that." She said.

"Well, why shouldn't I get upset-he kissed youཀ"

"And why do you careཀ?" Elli demanded, getting to her feet and staring Jack straight in the eyes. "Why do you care if he kisses me? More importantly–why did you beat him up over something as stupid as a kiss?"

"It's not stupidཀ" Jack protested, feeling hurt. If she only knew the truth...

"Oh really, then what is it?" Elli asked, her arms now folded over her chest.

"It's not stupid." Jack repeated. "And Adam was right about one thing Elli..." Here Jack trailed off, losing his nerve. He cringed a little at the thought of how Elli was going to react to this, but he decided he was going to have to tell her anyways-hopefully she would understand things then.

"Well?" Elli asked. Jack too a deep breath and looked her in the eyes.

"Elli, Adam was right–I do care about you...a lot...in fact, I love you." He said, his voice just above a whisper.

"I know." She replied evenly. Jack looked at her in surprise.

"You know? Well, how long have you known?" He demanded, feeling really put out.

"Since last night when Adam and I talked." She said simply. Well, that was good–at least he didn't feel terribly stupid about her finding this out beforehand.

"Well, aren't you going to say somethingཀ?" He asked, his voice soft again. In truth, he was afraid of her answer.

"I don't know what to say."

"Um...'I love you too'-would be nice." Jack suggested, shrugging his shoulders. A small, sad smile flickered over Elli's lips before disappearing.

"But...I don't know if I love you, Jack." She replied, her voice so soft that he barely heard it.

A/N: 'dodges flying projectiles.' I know, I know–cliffhangers, but I couldn't resist, my dears. Haha, I told you it would be interesting. Now review or Elli and Jack will never end up togetherཀ Neverཀ Bwahahahahaཀ 'Coughs' Um...please?

Thanks to my reviewersཀཀ

Evil Duckie of the Black Lagoon-I rock? Wootཀ 'dances' I feel special nowཀ Lolཀ I'm glad you like the angst. I thought I overdid it, but I guess not. XD. Jack is sexy I suppose, but I love Will. Is it that obvious? Elli does need to get her head checked...Thanks for reviewingཀ By the way, I love your pen nameཀ

Incubus2074-Thank you for your kind reviews, as always. XD. Yep...Elli finally realized it. Took her long enough, didn't it? Lol. Yea, Jack was the good son when he was younger. Some how, I do find it believable, but that's just me. Ha, I figured you got it from the band. I love Incubus too. Thanks for reviewingཀ

TriGemini-Once again, I can never get over how thorough your reviews are. Being stuck in the middle is a horrible situation. I'm glad you grasped the gravity of it all and of how much Jack hates Adam and why. I don't see him holding a grudge either, but as you said-Adam is a different situation entirely. Oh yes, the next chapter will be very interesting. Thanks for reviewingཀ

The Future Mrs. Jack Sparrow- Yea, I figured it was about time for me to use a flashback. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much. To hear that from someone makes me feel really accomplished and stuff. You know how it is. Yes, congratulations on making over 300 reviewsཀ XD I'm still trying to make 100. Lol. Thanks for reviewingཀ

The White Masque-Is your pen name some how related to 'Phantom of the Opera?' I think of that whenever I see it and I know you like that musical.(so do Iཀ) Thank you for such a kind review. XD I never thought that I had such a good grasp of Jack's feelings, somehow he seems out of character to me, but thank you anywaysཀ Yes, flashbacks are fun and handy. Lol. Thanks for reviewingཀ

Jinxeh-Yea, little kids can be adorable. Especially little Jack. You know who's really adorable? That kid from the 'Sixth Sense' and 'AI' Heck yesཀ Or little Will. (cuddles) Hee hee. Anyways-Elli is a very complicated person, but she's worth getting to know and be friends with. XD. You...what...? Lol-I've learned not to ask by now, cherie. Yea, I just started 'Kurt and the Shadowed Soul.' You definitely don't have a problem with angst. Woot for updatingཀ And long chaptersཀ Thanks for reviewingཀ

Blossomlite-Thanksཀ You're also one of my super nice reviewersཀ XD

Katweenathesmiley-Elli is silly, she should SO go for Jackཀ But that's just me too. Thanksཀ

Siriusly Sirius Lily Black-Yea, I put my poor characters through a lot. Thanks for reviewingཀ

Elli-Hey, you're finally reviewingཀ Lol. Yes, I really am laughing out loud. It is so late at night. I need some sleep, don't I? Eh-I don't think people hate you, they just misunderstand you. I think I'm the only one who understands you...but then again...maybe not. XD. Yea, you never said you loved Adam or Jack...cause you're somewheres in the middle. Oh well...you'll get it together soon, cher. Wow...it's too late for French...I'm going to bed. Lol. Love you too and thanks for reviewingཀཀ By the way-it was grammatically correct from what I can tell.

WolvenRose08-Yes, I try to make this story as different from the other POTC stories as I can-because I think there are too many stories with OC characters almost instantly fall in love with the two, sexy main characters. That's why I ended the first one in the way I did. Not just cause I'm evil. Speaking of which, you better get used to cliffhangers cause I use them a lot. Lol. I'll try and not use so many in the future. Thanks for reviewingཀ

Mouse10-Hopefully I answered all your questions in this chapter. Thanks for reviewingཀ