A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: Disney owns PotC.

For a few minutes we stood in traumatized silence.

I knelt down slowly and gingerly touched Will's shoulder.

"Will?"

"Elizabeth--" began Aryza.

I ignored her. "Will," I whispered, "why did you do that? Will, wake up! Will!"

I did not love him, but that did not mean I wanted him dead. And especially dead because of me.

Because of me.

Again. Someone was dead, because of me.

And this time, there was no way to fix it.

The tears soaked Will's shirt. The cries echoed around the cavern.

"Will! Wake up! Will, I'm sorry--"

All those things I had said, every heartbreak I had imposed on him, everything he had to bear to the very end--to his sacrifice of undying love.

For me. For my life. To kill Merlow, for my wellfare. My happiness. With Jack.

The twins constructed a gorgeous casket for him. We laid him inside, brought the casket with us back to the Pearl.

"He fulfilled the prophecy," said Emera quietly as Aryza closed the cavern doors, holding the parchment on which the prophecy had been recorded. "Or at least part of it."

It did not surprise me at all that there was more, but I did not want to know the rest of it.

We sailed straight to Tortuga in two days, found a place away from the city and had a funeral for him, where he lay as the noblest of pirates.

All the while, the Dauntless sat on the horizon.

"It's waiting for the end of the two weeks," I explained listlessly when we were back on the Pearl. "What happened to the Silver Wave and her crew?"

"Scattered," said Aryza. "According to the prophecy."

I moved away to the bow, where I stood watching the afternoon sunlight dancing on the sea, dancing on the endless wave upon wave of sparkling water. I listened to the gentle lap of the water on the wood, smelled the tangy air and felt the wind on my face. I could taste the salty spray that leapt into the air.

"Where do you want to go, darling?" said Jack's voice behind me.

"What does it matter?" I said dully. "We haven't got much time before the negotiated arrest."

"We'll have to lead them somewhere where we could escape and they couldn't," mused Jack. "Savvy?"

"As you wish," I said, keeping my voice flat.

"Is there something wrong between us, Lizzie?" said Jack.

"This is all your fault!" I shouted angrily, turning to face him.

"What?"

"You did it on purpose didn't you?" I demanded. "You told him to go to the cavern! You wanted him to die!"

"Elizabeth," said Jack calmly, "I assure you I had no idea what Mr. Turner was planning to do."

"Liar! You never liked him. You planned this from the beginning! Don't you even care? Don't you know what it feels like on me?!" I cried passionately, "Or do you not care about that either? Do you even love me at all? What if you were just pretending?!"

I had no tears left, just dry, racking sobs. I didn't know where all my emotions were coming from, where it was going, but I did not care.

"Lizzie," said Jack, genuinely shocked, "I love you! I wasn't pretending!"

"No!" I screamed helplessly, "I wasn't pretending!"

I ran below.

I hadn't had a tantrum like that since I was eight. Or was it a tantrum? Maybe it was true.

Maybe he was pretending.

The very thought haunted me. I lay in my bed with tortured thoughts. Jack was everything to me. He was my world--my joy, my light,m my freedom. And all I had. All that could matter.

And it wasn't even about Will's death now. What if he wasn't pretending and I just angered him?

I couldn't trust that he wasn't pretending. He wans't the most faithful person in the world. Or could I turst it? It had seemed so real... or was it just because I had wanted it? jHe was a pirate... but so was I.

And he was truly what I wanted most in the world. The compass would never lie. It had pointed to love, to happiness, to adventure, to freedom...

Freedom.

The power behind that one word. All the oppurtunities I saw through that window. How captivating it was, drawing me toward it; how I wanted to step through that door. I saw myself in the world beyond as I stood in the doorway--the world full of light and shimmering pictures. How carefree I looked in that world... It called to me, reached out with glittering hands to pull me in. I wanted to throw away protection and let the river carry me. I wanted to risk it all to step in, to go into that world!--dangerous and alluring, poisonous and fascinating. It was what I had always wanted. And I knew I wouldn't do it alone. I knew I had to have him by my side, even if he was already free, and I was not, held by bonds. And I knew, that even if it was his fault, I would still love him. I would always.

I would have abandoned everything and stepped into the other world, had there not been somethin missing.

I wanted to go in with Jack.