Chapter 3: The Shadow

"Jack?"

Leave me alone. That was horrible.

"Yes, I know. But it hasn't happened yet."

So what?

"I can't promise you can change everything, Jack, but if you decide to go back, there's a chance you can change some of it."

Can I save Will?

Silence.

Can I save Will or not? It's not right that he should die. I'd rather stay dead.

"You can try to alter some of those things. You can try keep Elizabeth from becoming Lady E, a vicious pirate who kills without conscience and destroys dozens of ships and hundreds of lives."

How? By killing her first?

"No, Jack. By forgiving her."

Forgiving-!

"Yes. If I send you back, you'll have to be a different kind of man."

I'm already a different kind of man.

"I mean, a man who puts the needs of others above his own."

I'm a pirate.

"You can be a pirate and a good man. Will thought so."

Jack scoffed. Bein' a good man's what got me here. Never should have gone back to that bloody ship.

"No, Jack, that's not true. You believe what Elizabeth did was cruel. Shameless. Heartless, even, given how you must feel about her. But she wouldn't have had to do it if you'd accepted your fate in the first place. It was you the Kraken was after. You endangered the lives of your friends by remaining with them all that time."

I never meant to hurt them. But I couldn't face that thing alone.

"And they might have helped you, had you been honest with them. But you let your fear cloud your judgment. You put them all in danger, and Elizabeth knew it. She was desperate."

Did she hate me?

Silence.

If you send me back, what do I do?

"First, you must find your friends."

And then?

"Then, you have to deal with Elizabeth."

You know, funny thing, but I'm rather afraid of her. Since she killed me in cold blood.

"Her blood wasn't entirely cold. You saw a shadow, then. In her eyes, when she chained you up. A shadow of the woman she'll become without you."

Lady E.

"Yes."

How do I stop her?

"That's up to you, Jack."

But I'm supposed to forgive her? Not kill her?

Silence.

"The choice is yours. Only remember this: beneath the shadow, lies a woman in pain. A young woman faced with hard choices. And underneath the cruelty you saw, the sneer as she closed those shackles, she's afraid of you, too."

Lovely. Sounds like it'll be a nice, happy reunion.

"You can be a good man, Jack Sparrow. Don't let the shadow win."

The voice faded, the last word echoing through his mind. Then it felt as though he were falling, falling, until he slowed gently and hit something soft. It was still dark, but he could move his fingers. Sand, he felt. He was face down, on a beach.