14.
Elizabeth lowered her hands from her face in defeat, resting one atop Jack's hand. She was still crying uncontrollably, grief draining any remaining energy from her body. She longed to curl up into Jack's side and tuck her head into his neck once more until Will would no doubt pry her screaming from his form, an all too familiar scene. How the universe loved her wicked patterns.
"I'm not sure I can live through another death," Jack told her, light-hearted and with a smile. She smiled back. She had smiled back. Then let Jack die a second time.
Elizabeth ran the back of her arm across her face, her tears now tainting with anger at herself. Her gasping cries were too loud to her own ears, overwhelming and disorienting. Elizabeth's eyes darted around the longboat helplessly as guilt made her skin feel too tight, made the longboat feel too confining, nowhere to escape to until—
She fell silent, a shuddering gasp cut off in an instant at registering a weapon. There was a flintlock in the longboat. She missed this detail when coming to from drowning, focusing on Jack and Jack alone.
Jack. He was the reason Elizabeth felt excitement for life again. He taught her to live fully again, taught her that life was an endless adventure if you only allowed yourself it, shedding former expectations or priorities. She was her best self with him, and she liked to think he felt the same. Elizabeth wasn't sure she even wanted a life without Jack. The realization of this stole the breath from her lungs.
A chill ran down Elizabeth's spine at the human urge to press the barrel against the side of her head. It would be simple—a simple release from overwhelming guilt. She could be with Jack. But he died for her. Escaping from this life would only make matters more senseless, Elizabeth thought. But she wanted to be with him.
Elizabeth shook her head in attempt to clear her mind from her unhelpful thoughts and fell into Jack's chest once more.
"Wonderful show, girl."
Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder then started, turning fully at the sight of Esmeralda appearing to walk on water, the smoke beneath her feet nearly indistinguishable from the dark sea.
"See the ways of greed? Now you will have neither of them," Esmeralda said, her voice light and gleeful before making a sweeping gesture upwards to Will upon the Dutchman, still far off from the longboat, then down to Jack's lifeless form. Esmeralda looked upon Jack for a moment, shaking her head at the loss, then scanned her eyes over Elizabeth and sighed. "You'll be a lot less fun, but I suppose you'll do."
"For what?" Elizabeth asked. She hated how small her unsteady voice sounded. She hated that she was sure she looked as fearful as she felt.
Esmeralda evaded the question. "Jack had yet another nasty habit—carelessly trading his soul. It was sure to catch up to him someday."
Elizabeth shook her head, not understanding. "Why would he—?"
"To save you. Don't ask me why Jack would choose a girl so dull." Esmeralda rolled her eyes. "Jack died as he lived. Alone of heart."
Elizabeth turned back to face Jack. Esmeralda was wrong. Jack had known, hadn't he?
"A pathetic man and a pathetic woman on a pathetic excuse of a vessel…" Esmeralda narrated then laughed, taunting Elizabeth.
Jack had to know. Then again, if he had, Elizabeth reasoned, all enchantment from Esmeralda's staff would run dry, his heart no longer weighed down. He didn't know. Elizabeth clasped a hand over her mouth and shut her eyes as a new wave of tears threatened to wrack through her body.
"Making me all the stronger with your shared pain," Esmeralda finished, then hummed, satisfied with her work. "I believe a thanks is in order, dear. Yes, thank you for your indecisive nature, for saving all talks of love, or else it was the end for me. You had me there for a moment. But no, you're perfect. Gutless. You let life pass you by. You let love pass you by."
Elizabeth shook her head, her vision blurred by tears. Esmeralda's words sounded so true. She ended up on land again for that very reason, letting Gibbs draw a longboat for her and returning back to a life that was expected of her, obeying easily with a head lowered in submission. Elizabeth stepped into the longboat and felt every pull as she was lowered. She let the crew make the decision that she was at her end of piracy, learning all she could. But no, she had so much left to learn. With Jack.
"Quite smart of you, really. Love never lasts."
Elizabeth should have run to Jack on the Black Pearl—thrown her arms around his neck and held tighter when his body would instinctively start from shock at the repressed passion revealing itself all at once. She should have told Jack more than "Thank you." She should have whispered into his neck that she loved him then, that her pull to him grew stronger every shared moment since their time spent together on that island, since their first meeting. But no, she allowed herself to live by what felt like predetermined choices, following an imagined fate instead of creating a life from her own decisions, her own desires.
"Love isn't real."
That, Elizabeth was certain was a lie. She had loved Jack, and she had loved Will. Both unwavering, both entirely different. Love was real, but love could change. She didn't want to accept it at first, but this was the truth. Sometimes love was slow to reveal itself, but now that she knew it, in all its messiness, in all its undeniable grandness, she couldn't give up so easily.
Elizabeth gripped the flintlock, trying to steady her quivering hands as she pulled the weapon in close to her chest, concealing it from Esmeralda's sight. Jack was always the good shot. He proved this on countless occasions—from killing Barbossa, to delaying the attack of the kraken, to retrieving the key to the chest containing Davy Jones's heart, and so many more times, she was sure. But for her, it felt like a risk. She must trust herself to not hesitate as she did when Jack came back to the Pearl to save them all. She must trust herself to believe in herself. If she accidentally shot Esmeralda, she would die soon after from the cursed tablet if Esmeralda's words were true. With a shuddering breath, Elizabeth realized she already made peace with that, hadn't she? It was a life with Jack for her, or no life at all.
"I know it's difficult, not believing in yourself for so long, so long," Esmeralda said. "But I can help you, Elizabeth."
This was the side of Esmeralda that captivated Jack, Elizabeth thought. The side that slowly coaxed Jack into loving her. Esmeralda's voice changed—gentle and near-maternal. The same voice that tore what was left of Elizabeth apart beforehand now offered itself as the only solution, the only comfort. Elizabeth could imagine Jack, younger and enchanted by her, loving her easily and carelessly, the way one does in their youth, especially to replace the love of absent parents. Elizabeth reached at her waist, her fingertips brushing against Will's heart. She knew what it was to love easily and carelessly.
"You need something to believe in since you can't believe in yourself," Esmeralda continued, her voice inviting. "Believe in me."
There was a humanness in Esmeralda revealed to Elizabeth when stripped down to her voice that she missed when looking at her. When looking upon her decorated form, all performative sureness and self-importance, it was easy to lose the woman beneath, this trick not unlike the one Elizabeth initially believed from Jack before growing to know him more, peeling back the layers. As horrible as Esmeralda was, painting herself out to be an object of worship, this very quality was a sign of someone who at her root, at her most honest core, longed for love. But using the lives of others as stepping-stones was no way to get the desired praise.
Elizabeth tightened her hold on the gun. She had to be sure of the shot more than anything in her life. After losing Jack, she was surer of him than anything. Elizabeth chased him to the ends of the earth before. She would do anything it took to get him back again.
"I can make this right," Esmeralda whispered, so close now.
"And what of you, Lizzie? What is left for you to right?" Jack asked her on their shared humble vessel.
Elizabeth would make matters right, entirely on her own this time around.
Elizabeth felt Esmeralda stroke her hair and turned, shoving her back. She raised the flintlock and aimed, her eyes locking onto the staff. Esmeralda hardened to her previous dark state and she let out a scream at the threat, at someone disobeying her. Esmeralda's staff glowed brilliant lavender with unreleased magic that came forth all at once, jarring the longboat forward. Sure to not waste a moment, Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, made certain of her shot, then pulled the trigger. She gasped, both hands drawing to her mouth, causing the flintlock to clatter loudly against the boards of the longboat. Elizabeth watched the black magic smoke from the splintering staff. Esmeralda was left with no magic to levitate on and fell back into the whirlpool, swallowed up into the last of her magic, her ambition her own undoing.
Elizabeth shifted her focus back to Jack, reaching hastily for his compass at his waist. She opened it, smiling through a new round of tears as it landed on him, confirming her decision, what she already was sure of. Even so, it was nice to see it so undeniably. Now, she just needed to know he felt the same.
"It's you," she whispered, placing the instrument into his hands.
Elizabeth framed Jack's hands with her own, willing her actions of ridding Esmeralda of the staff, ridding Jack of his lost love, paired with a true confession to work. An ultimate act of betrayal righted by an ultimate act of trust. Dying for someone with the belief only their concealed love would act as a saving grace is quite trusting, she reasoned.
Elizabeth felt the pendant grow hot against her neck and glanced down, noticing the pendant lit with a glow of white light. Jack's ring which rested against the compass had a dim glow of its own as well, a hopeful sign.
"I love you," Elizabeth whispered then she pressed her forehead against Jack's, blinking her eyes to a close at the confession.
Elizabeth blinked her eyes open at the pull of her necklace. She lowered her hands onto the floor of the sloop on either side of Jack, looking down at him. Jack's thumb smoothed over the pendant, the hanging teardrop resting at the dip in Elizabeth's collarbone. He drew Elizabeth forward by the chain then claimed his whispered name from her lips.
The kiss was gentle at first then, registering his life, grew fervent as Elizabeth pressed her weight against him, her arms finding his neck naturally and trying to pull him as close as she could. Jack deepened the kiss even further, as if possible, and it seemed like Elizabeth restored his life back into himself with every kiss. Jack's hand formed a fist around the chain which begged her closer with desperation, revealing a kind of unwillingness to ever let her go now. The jewelry was scalding hot against Elizabeth's skin then soothed with the beginning of rainfall.
"It worked," Elizabeth whispered. "It worked," she repeated, as if to convince herself, tearful once more.
Then her tears turned into disbelieving laughter—the kind of laughter one can only emit when completely overjoyed, uncaring if another good event will ever happen again because at least this one did. This one matter turned out right and, well, a life with Jack was the only matter in the world she cared about now.
It was a cleansing rain, the fragrance sweet. Elizabeth leaned her head back and sighed, grateful. She raised her palms to the sky, letting the rain bless her love lines and life lines. If she extended her arms in that very moment, she was sure she would fly.
"Swann." Jack's voice called her back into the moment. His hands brushed wet hair from her face in a rush to see her better. Elizabeth looked back down to smile at Jack, still somewhat tearful, although these tears held new meaning. "You didn't choose noble and true," Jack murmured, his eyebrows drawn together.
"Oh, Jack," Elizabeth whispered, shaking her head. "But don't you see? I did. I chose you." She nestled in close to his chest. "'It's a remarkable thing, seeing someone the way they are instead of as we hope them to be,'" she echoed his words from earlier, her eyes not leaving his as she spoke her next words. "You are noble and true, Jack, like it or not. You wouldn't have risked your life for me on countless occasions if you weren't. I knew your heart all along."
"Perhaps the only one who did."
"Furthermore, I chose what I really want. Who I really want."
The corners of Jack's mouth pulled up in a closed-mouth smile. He drew the death passport from around his neck and thumbed over the scroll. "This worked too."
"What did you see?"
"I wanted to see you one last time," he said, the tenderness in his voice prompting Elizabeth to wipe at her tears. "I saw you shoot the staff. I was there with you, the whole time."
Jack smoothed the back of his hand along the side of Elizabeth's face, a wide and honest smile coloring his features. Elizabeth's chest grew warm, sensing the unspoken, "That's my girl."
"Never took you as one to be a good shot, Swann," he said instead.
"Well, I learn from the best."
Elizabeth's heart felt tight, feeling entirely too much in a short amount of time, and the look of pure adoration Jack wore in that moment didn't help one bit. She sighed when Jack's hand rested at her jaw, angling her face up for another kiss. Elizabeth blinked up to Jack with half-lidded eyes and a half-formed smile when they both pulled away. She wasn't sure she would ever get used to that.
"By the way, Lizzie," Jack murmured against her lips. "I love you too, you know." He raised his eyebrows at her gaping expression. "What? You saw men turn to skeletons underneath the moonlight, a half-man half-mollusk, and me brought back to life—twice might I add—and you're speechless at me loving you?"
"You have to admit, Jack Sparrow loving anyone besides himself is the most unbelievable out of the four."
Jack's mouth pulled to the side and he shook his head at her then drew her forward again, unable to help himself, and for that Elizabeth was more than glad. Elizabeth opened the kiss and leaned into him, gripping his shirtfront. She threaded her fingers through his hair and felt his in hers. She exhaled a sound of encouragement when his hands found her waist, pushing her forward and she relented easily. Elizabeth climbed onto Jack's lap and framed his face with her hands, so grateful he, her someone to share life lines with, was alive. She conveyed her utter elation at the thought of forever with him through every kiss, every sigh until—
"You two have something you'd like to tell me?"
Jack and Elizabeth both looked to Will hanging off the shroud of The Flying Dutchman. Elizabeth was speechless, that part of the ordeal momentarily forgotten—the Will-shaped part. She turned to Jack who offered Will a half-hearted apologetic grin then cleared his throat before setting his brow in a serious expression.
"In my defense, this all started with a plan to save you. Honest."
Will raised an eyebrow, disbelieving. Elizabeth swept wet hair from her eyes and adjusted her shirtfront, trying to appear collected. Although, that was a lost cause as she was sure her face was flushed, mouth notably rosy from kissing Jack with such feeling, and her shirt wet, clinging to her body just like Jack was clung to her moments before.
"If you're willing to let us follow you back to shore," Elizabeth started, looking to Will carefully, "I think we would all benefit from a talk," she offered, knowing they couldn't board the Dutchman, not part of the crew, and that Will would have to stay a distance away at sea. But she wanted to speak with him, share some parting words. Somewhat of an explanation at least. After all, they set out on this journey because of him.
Will looked upon Elizabeth with tenderness and she knew what answer would follow.
.
"… But I couldn't find the blasted fountain, so I chose to find Lizzie instead. I told her of the pendant and ring and we thought up a plan to rescue you. Somehow along the way she weaseled out several moments of spilling my guts to her, so I shared that Esmeralda was supposed to be your bait but she made it Elizabeth instead—and we couldn't have Lizzie dying on us, could we? So it was Lizzie and I that did tradesies after which she professed her undying love for me and—Well, you saw the last bit."
The rain had passed on and Jack and Elizabeth were cross-legged on the shoreline facing Will who remained in the longboat, unable to step foot on land. Will blinked at Jack, letting the words of the recounted journey wash over him.
"There's only one part I couldn't follow," Will said with a thoughtful expression on his face, breaking the silence. "If you actually intended... The riddle says 'truly linked.' Jack, we aren't—"
"Don't flatter yourself, William." Jack shook his head, offering a little smile before nodding towards Elizabeth who sat ashore next to him. "I'd say we are linked, in a way. A certain someone between us, aye?"
Elizabeth clasped Jack's hand before resting their linked hands on the sand. Elizabeth then looked to Will.
The three of them were together once again—sun, moon, and earth. It was impossible for the moon to truly love the earth, always too far away, Elizabeth reasoned. It was better this way. And who better to guide the lost souls of the sea than the earth? Grounded. Level. Reliable.
Jack's thumb smoothed over the back of Elizabeth's hand, and she looked to him, a warmth in her chest at the silent support. She was grateful Will and Jack were behaving sensibly so far, especially considering their propensity to be at each other's throats. She was grateful Jack carried the conversation to begin with at her pleading look, letting her collect her thoughts.
"I wager that is true," Will admitted quietly, his voice distant, carrying the realization that this was the end of that soul-tie, the break in the love line.
Elizabeth pulled her hand from Jack's and then he rose and left with one last weighted look, giving her a moment with her former husband. Elizabeth reached to her waist and opened the burlap sack, emptying the contents into her palm. Sand fell through her opened fingertips, revealing Will's beating heart. She took a moment to wordlessly thank it, that which got her through many a cold, dark night. But there were moments made for change, moments made for goodbyes if she were to ever lead the life she longed for.
Elizabeth stood then stepped towards Will to place his heart in his hand. Elizabeth let him stare at his heart, still beating for her, silently for a moment then closing his hands fully around it—a clear return to its owner.
"I kept it safe for as long as I could," Elizabeth told Will, her eyes downcast.
"Hey," Will said softly, waiting for Elizabeth to look up at him. "That is all I could ever ask," he said, a smile in his voice. "I enjoyed our picnics. And walks. And I think one time you even took me to… an orchestra? I sensed the vibrations of all the instruments."
"You felt all those things?" Elizabeth's voice caught. Their outings had meant as much to him as they had to her, kept them afloat respectively in the lowest of moments following their separation. She still considered him her dear friend. That's what he really was all along, she realized.
"Of course, because they were with you."
Elizabeth looked away for a moment then scooped sand back into the burlap sack. She offered the bag to Will. He placed the heart inside once again, hiding it away, and his fingertips brushed Elizabeth's as she poured more sand atop the heart. She let Will be the one to draw the strings to a close.
Will fashioned the bag to his belt then met Elizabeth's eyes again before glancing over to Jack who was making a show of adjusting the sails of the sloop to appear preoccupied with something. He shook his head some at the sight.
"You deserve to share your life with someone. Fully. Someone who can truly be at your side. Someone who challenges you. For the better," Will finished. His eyebrows drew together in disbelief, but he was smiling, then started laughing even through his next words. "Although, I'll admit, Elizabeth, I never saw this one coming."
"We all did, except you, bloody stupid Will," Jack countered loudly, a teasing nature in his voice as he walked towards the former pair. Jack leaned an elbow against Elizabeth's shoulder then pulled a thoughtful face. "So, if you sensed everything with Elizabeth, did you ever…?"
Elizabeth felt a smile pull at her lips. Of course Jack was eavesdropping.
"Yes, I had my suspicions, Jack," Will answered. "But I trust you'll keep Elizabeth's heart well," he continued, sounding somewhat like a near-warning, "leading with tenderness and care."
"Of course." Jack nodded then leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, "Well, save for those midnight occasions when the last thing a woman wants is tenderness—"
"Couldn't stop while you were ahead." Will shook his head at Jack. "What was that you said back at Port Royal? Something about Elizabeth not being an easy ticket, not having to be in love with a woman to—"
Jack hummed, making a cutting motion in front of his throat and narrowing his eyes at Will before shuffling back to wrap an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. Jack smiled weakly at Elizabeth when she turned to him, her brow wrinkling with a frown, catching enough to put the pieces together.
"The heart lying to itself early on in our reunion, Darling," Jack supplied as explanation before turning to Will to stick his tongue out like a child.
Will stood on the longboat then grabbed an oar, resting it across his shoulders.
"Ship's calling to me," he said softly, gesturing towards the Dutchman. "She can sense I'm away. Best not chance it." Will looked to Elizabeth then Jack, his eyes shining with understanding. He glanced away for a moment, squaring his jaw. Will cleared his throat and returned his gaze back to the two, 'truly linked' entirely on their own. "I wish you the best adventure."
"From a man as great as you? Well then, we are sure to have it," Elizabeth answered, nodding surely.
Will mirrored the nod in reply and with that, rowed back to the Dutchman and climbed the shroud. Elizabeth leaned into Jack, her hand resting against his chest. They watched in shared silence as Will sailed into the horizon. Elizabeth exhaled, a finality to the breath as a green light flashed.
She turned, looking up to Jack as her other hand drew up his chest. Elizabeth leaned into his arms fully, hiding her face in his neck. It was a necessary goodbye, but a goodbye no less.
Jack pressed a kiss into her hair after a stretch of time and Elizabeth stepped back to take a good look at the man she would spend the rest of her life with. She was ready for new beginnings. She waited for these days with Jack since she was a little girl, wishing on the moon.
"Alright, Swann, there's only one thing left to do." He tipped Elizabeth's chin up and she looked to him expectantly. "Get roaring drunk," Jack finished, his voice full of mirth.
Elizabeth let out a shrill scream when picked up from the ground so suddenly and that scream became laughter when Jack turned in a circle. She leaned her head back and extended her arms, filling her lungs with as much of the sea breeze at once as she could. Elizabeth felt lighter than she had not only in the past year but in the entirety of her life in Jack's arms.
This, she decided, was living.
