Will flopped down on the deck and stared up at the sky, willing himself to feel better.

"Might I ask what's eatin you?" The captain squatted down beside him, picking at the deck with a knife.

Will sat up partway and leaned on his elbows. "As if you care."

"Care?" Barbossa looked a little surprised. "No of course not, but you be part of my crew now and I need ye at your best. If somethin's wrong…."

Will considered for a moment. There was, of course, no possibility whatsoever that talking to Barbossa could make him feel any better. But with Elizabeth freezing him out – not to mention betraying him with their dear friend Captain Jack Sparrow – Will was feeling extremely lonely. He lay back and watched the clouds again. "It's Elizabeth," he finally admitted.

"Ah, lady trouble." Barbossa chuckled. "A lady is rarely anything but. Your lady is uncommonly clever and quite pretty to boot though, so at least you can thank your stars for that."

"I could," Will snapped, "But she's hardly my ladyanymore. She said she might not even want to marry me!"

Barbossa had seen Elizabeth pacing the ship with a matching distraught expression on her face, and was sure that whether or not they knew it, these two children were destined for each other. "Did she now," he said noncommittally. He stuck the knife into the deck again.

"Yes, she did. She said she won't have me until I grow up." Will sat up and slapped his hand against the deck. "What does she want from me? She's angry because I said I could never hurt her. Because I love her."

"That is not why I am angry!" Elizabeth had sneaked up from behind and was suddenly towering over them, hands on her hips.

"Why don't you sit down," Barbossa advised easily, "And we'll sort it out. I can't have the two of you feudin with each other, after all. Come on, missie, have a seat."

Elizabeth crossed her legs and her arms. "He treats me like I'm a child, like I'm a thing that has to be protected," she began.

"But I love you!" Will insisted desperately. "What else can I do? I have to protect you because I would die if harm came to you!"

Barbossa kept his eyes lowered to the nick he was carving. "Sometimes it's necessary to harm a person you love. Sometimes that be the only way."

"Sometimes you have no choice," Elizabeth agreed, her voice suddenly choked with tears. "If you're strong, you do what you have to do. Even if…even if you hurt someone you care about. Not every choice is easy…"

Will watched her break down, understanding slowly. "You're talking about Jack," he realized. Elizabeth could only nod. "You're that broken up about leaving him." Will sat back. "Elizabeth, I wasn't going to mention what I saw, but-"

"What you saw?" She jerked her head up furiously.

"I saw you kiss him!" Will's face contorted. "I wanted to pretend I didn't. I didn't want to know what's happened between you. I would never have asked you."

"Kiss him?" Elizabeth echoed. Her voice dropped. "Will, I killed him."

Barbossa's knife clattered to the floor. "What was that?"

"I said I-" Elizabeth couldn't continue. Will tried to put his arm around her to comfort her, because she really was in obvious distress, but Barbossa shoved him out of the way and shook her.

"Say that again!"

"I said, I-hic – I killed him. I backed him up against the mast and clapped him in irons before he knew what was happening. I left Jack chained to the mast to die," she enunciated carefully.

"You told us all he elected to stay behind," Will accused.

Elizabeth shrugged and wiped her eyes. "I didn't want you all to go back for him." This was Will at his most judgmental, and it hurt, so she turned elsewhere for help. "It was the only way, Captain," she said. "I'd have given my life to save him, I would, but I won't die for no reason! If he'd stayed with us, we would have all been killed. Jack included."

Barbossa looked over at Will, calmer now that he had overcome the initial shock. "She has a point there, lad," he admitted. "Perhaps she did right."

"I could not have done that, not to a friend. Never." Will shook his head and scrambled to his feet.

Barbossa rose too. "Never may be sooner than you think," he warned. "We're sailin to the ends of the world, boy, and there'll be plenty of…oh, a happy word for it might be challenges…to season ye. We'll make a man of you yet."

"Wonderful," Will snapped, taking a step back. "So after I've betrayed and murdered a friend, you mean, maybe then I can finally persuade my most honorable fiancée to take me back."

Elizabeth ran off without a word and Barbossa laughed softly. "Maybe and maybe not. She's made some hard choices already, boy," he explained, sounding almost apologetic, "And she'll want to see that you can do the same. Now, go on and do something useful." He shooed Will away and then stared into the distance for a long while, planning.

TBC.