The ship was small, yet it traveled faster than lightening. It was old and worn, yet at the same time beautiful and unforgettable. The trials of a thousand seas scarred its hull and told the stories of its many flights. A crew of five and a sinned captain lead its broken, tattered form through the deep, unforgiving waters of the ocean. They were on a quest for life. They did not know where they were headed, nor where they had come from, just where they wanted to be. So, they followed the current…the rudder was left untouched as soon as land disappeared against the horizon.

Sadness, fear, hatred, and anger were etched across the young man's face as he stared down at the waves smashing against the starboard side of the ship. He slid his jacket off of his shoulders, the marred flesh of his back shone brightly in the moonlight. The scars would fade away, but the memories of the torture on Davy Jones' ship would haunt him forever. He pulled the remained scraps of his shirt from his shoulders as the spray of the salt-water stung the open wounds on his back. He turned his back to the sea and let the water soak his back, absorbing all of the pain he could at an attempt to clean out the wounds that seemed not to heal. But, he welcomed this pain, for it was better than the feeling of a thousand knives lodged into his heart. He collapsed against the floor of the ship as the pain became to great for his legs to hold his tired body up. He heard footsteps on the floorboards from the opposite side of the ship. He sat up quickly, trying to hide his back against the side of the ship from the approaching figure. The footsteps stopped, right beside him. He looked up to see the one person he wished to never see again.

"Will." He did not answer her, he looked straight ahead as a piece of hair fell forward from the tie he had pulled it back with. She touched his shoulder; he jumped and scooted away slightly. He looked straight at her and breathed in deeply. His bare chest covered in water from the constant spray of the sea. She reached out again to his shoulder, his time he did not pull away. She turned him around and saw the damage that the whip had caused to his back. Her hand slid down the side of his arm then dangled at her side.

"Come, let me get you cleaned up." She began walking back to her cabin. She was the only one with a separate cabin due to the size of the ship and the fact that females weren't allowed to stay with the crew, even though she was a part of it. She grabbed a bottle of rum out of the cabinet then opened the makeshift linens closet to find a clean sheet that she could use as a bandage. He sat on the edge of her bed; she slid in behind him as she doused a washcloth with rum.

"This might sting a little." When the washcloth came in contact with his bare skin, he didn't make a sound, just took in a sharp breath.

"What do you think you saw." She continued cleaning out his wounds. "on the Pearl I mean."

"You know what I saw." His voice cracked and his jaw tightened.

"I know what you think you saw."

"What's the difference? You kissed him. I gave you my heart, and you gave him yours, that's what I saw."

"Turn around." He did as she ripped the sheet. "Why did you agree to find him then, if you thought I loved Jack?" She began to wrap it around his torso. He looked up and stared into her eyes.

"Because I love you. With all of my heart. Just because that wasn't returned doesn't not mean I didn't feel it. Making you happy is what kept me going. So, even if you weren't happy with me, you'd be happy, and that's all that really matters to me. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you are with them, it just means that you'd do anything to make them happy, even if it included saving the life of the man they wanted to be with."

"He didn't choose to go down with the ship."

"What?"

"Jack, I cuffed him to the mast. That's why I kissed him, I was the diversion. You see, I knew that the cracken wasn't after us, it was after Jack, and the only way that we could make that terror stop would be to let the cracken win. I condemned a man to death to save myself. It is true, I had feelings for Jack, the man had freedom, he had adventure, everything I wanted, almost everything. He was unstable and did anything to get his way. You see, I didn't want him, I wanted the life of a pirate, it is all passion and desire and breaking rules because you don't wish to follow them. It is a life, free from the bonds of society, free from the bonds of…well, life."

"Got another word for that, death."

"You wouldn't understand, Will. My life has been sheltered since I was a child I wasn't allowed to play with the other children or go swimming in the ocean, I had to sit at home and learn table manners and quilting."

"My mother, from what I can remember, which isn't much, was the same way as your father. She was very protective, and very religious, I guess she was trying to chase away all of the 'sins' of my father. Mother had to work, because there was hardly enough money for food, and when she would work, I would be assigned a list of chores to do during the hours that she was away, she would give me a list that she thought would take me the whole day. I would do all of the chores in the morning, all but one. Then, I would go into the forest by our village and stay there for hours just walking around, climbing trees, doing things that young boys would do. After I was done, I would return home, just before the sun touched the horizon, and start on my last chore. My mother would return shortly after I did, to find me steadily working. She never found out. She was a good woman, and I lied to her every day for the sake of adventure. That young boy died along with his mother over a decade ago."

"That young boy is still in you, I've seen him in your eyes, and I want to meet him face to face." She roughly ripped the extra off of the bandage and tucked it in front of his chest. Just before she finished, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against him.

"Say hello." He smashed his lips against hers in a searing kiss and then pulled away quickly, walking out of the room before she could react.

TBC