PRELUDE: Everything that happened til the point our story begins (condensed)

Captain Jack Sparrow, of the Black Pearl, stood quietly next to Will and Elizabeth Turner. The three of them stared silently into the ocean. The wind blew their hair back. Jack inhaled the salty scent of the sea.

"Jack, this is something for you to remember us by. I think you needed a new one anyway." Will said. He pulled a sword out of a long narrow box and handed it to the pirate.

Jack picked it out of Will's hands and studied it from all angles. There was a small medallion hanging from the hilt. A skull and crossbones; Jack grinned and sheathed it.

"Savvy?" Will asked.

"Savvy, mate."

Elizabeth leaned forward and kissed the pirate on the cheek. "Go be free, you vile drunkard."

"Hold on, are you that excited to get me gone?" Jack shook his head. "I have'n even given you two a wedding gift!"

Jack pulled a ring off his finger and handed it to Will. "If you or any future Turner's should need help, go to Tortuga and go to the Black Mermaid. It's a little known pub near the back of the town. Show the ring to the bartender and she'll know what to do." Jack leapt from the wall of Port Royal.

"I'm going to miss him," Elizabeth murmured into Will's chest. Will smiled and slipped the ring onto his finger.

"Oh, I think we'll be seeing Cap'n Jack Sparrow again, I know we will."

Jack slammed the door to his cabin shut. He heard the gasps of his crew. He didn't care. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He stopped and stared at a cloth covered wall. He reached up and tore the cloth down.

The painting was magnificent. There was a mermaid and a merman, swimming in a ship graveyard. In between them was…Jack reached up and touched the small stone in the painting.

The Black Pearl. The namesake of his ship. It was what every pirate wanted to find. It was what Jack was going to find, even if he had to go to the ends of the Earth to find it.

His hand dropped and he touched the sword Will had given him. He looked back up at the painting.

"Savvy?"

Elizabeth gave a small scream. Will winced as she attempted to break his fingers. "Just push, Mrs. Turner, it'll be over soon," the nursemaid said.

And push she did. She took a deep breath and pushed.

The nursemaid grasped the baby's head and pulled at the same time. It was over. Will and Elizabeth Turner were parents.

"Here's your little girl, milady." The nursemaid handed the girl to Elizabeth and slipped from the room.

"Oh, Will, what shall we call her?"

Will tilted his head back and thought for a minute. "Morgan, Morgan Sparrow Turner."

Jack cursed silently as his hat was whipped from his head. Gibbs rushed up to him.

"Cap'n, what be going on?"

Jack didn't answer. An unnatural fog settled around the Black Pearl. The waves crashed against her hull. AnnaMaria ran to Jack.

"Cap'n Jack! This fog, it ain't right!"

Jack gave her a cold look and was about to call everyone back to stations, when everything stopped. The ship wasn't moving, the wind was gone, and the fog was dissipating.

"What in the name of hell?" Jack whispered. He couldn't hear the waves…

He walked to the bow of the Pearl and looked down. The water wasn't moving. It was like they had come to rest in a still mirror lake. Jack felt his breath come out quickly. This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all.

He was about to turn around when he heard the water ripple. He turned and looked. He gagged in shock. A woman was resting in the water, looking straight at him. She had thick, black hair and cold green eyes. She raised her hand.

He did the same, was she greeting him? She waved once, there was a flash of light, and the Black Pearl, along with her crew, disappeared from the sea.

FIVE YEARS LATER

Morgan sat at her father's feet. She was looking up at him with rapt interest.

"And he said, 'Gentlemen, will you always remember today as the day you almost caught-' and he fell from the edge."

"Then the crew of the Pearl took him back."

"That's right Morgan," Will grinned. "Why do I even tell you this story anymore, you know it by heart."

Morgan smiled, her honey brown hair falling over her eyes. "I like the story."

"I have something for you Morgan."

She looked up at him. "Really?"

"Really." He slipped the ring off his finger and handed it to Morgan. "Jack gave this to me, and said if any Turner gets into trouble, to go to Tortuga and go to the Black Mermaid, a little known pub, and show it to the bartender. I want you to have it."

Morgan smiled, and slipped it on her finger.