The Locker was torturous. Jack couldn't stop thinking about her. No, not Elizabeth Swann- Alice Raven. He could've sworn that she'd appeared before him at one point, just as if she were real. But then she'd faded. He'd heard accusations from her in his head. She was blaming him for being too slow to save her- that he'd deserved the two bullets that had nearly killed him. He couldn't believe it.

When his crew, Sao Feng's men, Barbossa, Will, and even Elizabeth had rescued him, he'd spent some time in his cabin, just...sulking. Part of him was glad they'd rescued him, another missed Alice's voice from inside his head, and the last part was furious with Elizabeth. Not that he could bring himself to do anything about the last part; the other two outweighed it.

After awhile, Jack had pushed it all behind him. He was alive again and that's all that mattered.

He had to face Jones and Beckett, stop their reign before it became unstoppable. So that's what he did- he went to Shipwreck Cove to meet up with the Brethren Court. Barbossa convinced them that releasing Calypso would actually work- which it didn't. Then he'd exchanged with Will, only to find himself in the Dutchman's brig. Then they fought. Jones was destroyed, Will became the new captain of the Flying Dutchman, and all was over.

Then Barbossa stole the Pearl again, leaving a mere dinghy for his rival. Jack, who'd stolen his charts, found himself sailing across the Caribbean- just roaming. He let the sea take him where it wished. And so it did.

He'd gotten caught in a storm and took shelter on an island, finding a small house for shelter. He discovered that this was where Will had left Elizabeth, who was two months pregnant with the whelp's child.

Jack stood in the doorway of the small home, blinking water from his eyes.

"Jack?" Elizabeth had seemed confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Takin' shelter from the storm, o'course." He'd responded. Then he added,"Ah, yes, Barbossa stole the Pearl again. Left me with a dinghy."

"You really need to watch your ship more closely." She sighed, moving aside. "Come in."

"Thank you." He huffed, dropping his pirate accent as he entered. "Don't really have anywhere to go, you know. Might try to stop by the Cove after the storm and check on Teague though."

"I stopped by last week." She told him. "He's doing fine."

"Oh. Good." He'd replied.

The storm lasted five days. They'd had a lot of time to talk.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth brought up on the third night, while they sat in silence after supper.

"You've no reason to be." Jack had replied. "I forgave you for killing me a long time ago."

"But I used your weakness against you." She seemed to want him to argue.

He raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "So?"

When dawn came on the sixth day, the horizon was pink with clearing clouds. The sky had been clear. Upon going down to the beach and inspecting the dinghy, he'd found it in good condition. Elizabeth watched him from up at her house. He gave her a nod in farewell, heaving the dinghy to the shoreline.

He heaved off.

Jack only came across Elizabeth once within the next twenty years. Her son had sent him a letter in a Tortuga bar that she was ill. He'd made good time there in his dinghy. Henry, a boy of seven years, had greeted him.

"You got my letter?" The boy asked. "You're Jack Sparrow?"

"Aye, that's me." He nodded. "Take me to your mother."

"She's asleep right now." Henry told him as he led him inside. "Has been since yesterday. I think she has a fever."

"That's not a good sign." Jack muttered to himself. Louder, he said,"Don't worry, lad. She's got me, she'll be fine."

Elizabeth was fine. It took a week for her to recover enough for Jack to leave. She'd been shocked to see him there and questioned him, seeming skeptical when he'd told her he'd been sent for. He'd merely smirked.

He didn't see Henry again for fourteen years, when he met him in the Saint Martin prison. The young man didn't remember him.

Jack, with the Black Pearl back, sailed and did as he'd always done- pillaged, plundered, didn't give a hoot (and fought off the Navy). But time was taking its toll, for he had a good sixty-two years on him now. He wondered if he should've drank from the Fountain of Youth after all.

They got caught up in a battle with two Navy ships, fending them off for a long enough time to get away. But he'd been injured- taken a grapeshot to his right shoulder. Fever set in, leaving him with days of restless sleep. Gibbs was always right by his side. It was three days later when the infection set in.

He knew that he wasn't going to make it.

"Gibbs…" He'd gasped in one of his good moments.

"Aye, sir?" The older man had asked softly.

"Send a letter to the Turners. Tell them we're comin'." Jack had ordered weakly. "Then set course for their island."

"But, Cap'n-" His lifelong friend protested.

"Please." He gasped out, feeling the fever pull at him. "I want...I want to see them one last time."

Gibbs nodded sadly. "Aye, Jack, I'll see to it."

"Thank you." He'd praised. "Ye'll make a fine captain for the Pearl, when I'm gone."

The next time he'd regained consciousness, he heard quiet, worried voices around him. He'd opened his eyes to bleary vision, but he recognized the people he saw immediately.

A slow smirk had spread across his face. His voice was just above a whisper. "Would ye look at who it is? Wasn't sure I'd still be around by the time we arrived."

"What happened?" Will had asked.

"I took a grapeshot to the shoulder, if I recall." Jack admitted. "Then came the fever...then the infection. There's only so much a man can do once he hits sixty-two."

"You're not really tha told, are you?" Henry'd questioned.

He'd laughed. "Henry, lad, I was already fifty-eight when ye met me in Saint Martin."

"Ye never would've died at a hangin', would ye, Jack?" Bootstrap knew.

"Never."

"There has to be something we can do!" Elizabeth had pleaded.

"It's already too late, love."

They'd talked, Jack had gradually grown weaker, and eventually he had to stop talking. They seemed to know what was coming. Henry ultimately left, probably to go break the news to Carina- she'd not come because she knew it was personal for the family. Elizabeth had forced herself to leave too, already sobbing.

Will and William Turner were both by Jack Sparrow's side when the life faded from his eyes; when his weak body gave in to what would be a painless afterlife; when he embraced the darkness.

A/N: I feel like half of it wasn't even related to the first chapter, but I like it.