Disclaimer: Everything recognizable © Disney. Everything else is mine.

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long; I'm hope I didn't disappoint. Next one should be a bit easier to pump out, as soon as I find the riddle I wrote when I first started this story. Yes! Finally, we are going to get to that riddle... next chapter. Also, for next chapter, Jack is back--but at what price? And last, but not least, I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing. It means a lot to me.

Enjoy!

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Devil's Riddle

Chapter Seven: To the Day You Die

By: MJ

"Oh… Oh, God… I swear I am never going to drink again," Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she heard the sound of Will retching. She opened them when he stopped, only to see her beloved sitting at Jack's desk, his head in between his legs, and a pail at his feet. She sighed, with a small, knowing smile, before she climbed out of bed and walked towards him. Her hands went straight to his long curls, and she gently held them back with one hand, and rubbed his back with the other. He continued to be sick into the pail as she held back his hair and rubbed his back. He looked up at her when he was done, wiping his mouth with the back of his hands. "Another role re… reversal?" He had gagged halfway through the sentence, but his stomach was empty. She smiled.

"I'd kiss you, but--"

"At this moment, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd rather kiss Ja—Ragetti," Will saved himself from her shocked look when he turned and was sick again.

"William!"

"Don't… don't shout." Will said, sitting up. He placed a hand on his head. She really hadn't heard him, as he was talking so softly, but he repeatedd himself as she opened her mouth to admonish him again. "Just… keep it at a whisper until… until this blasted headache goes away."

"Fi—fine," she whispered, bending down to his level. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you?" He asked, looking at her carefully. She had said her last sentence a bit too eagerly for his liking, and he showed his uneasiness with the subject from the dread that was dripping from his voice. He gagged again, and she sighed, looking at her feet briefly. She looked back up at him.

"It's not about wanting to… it's more or less about whether or not we need to," Elizabeth said slowly and carefully, watching his eyes for any sign of, well, anything. He closed them, resting his head in a hand briefly before he opened them.

"Well…" he said, looking pointedly at her, "I am certainly not the one that needs to talk about you… well… kissing Jack." The last two words were more forced than the others, and she felt as if he had physically slapped her. He had closed his eyes as he said them, and opened them again and looked at her. "So… must we discuss it?"

"…I…yes. Per… perhaps we should."

"When you're ready," he leaned back, placing the pail in his lap just in case.

"Well, Will, you can't hold--"

"Shh… whisper, please…" He winced as she began to raise her voice again. She offered him an apologetic smile and an 'I told you so' expression.

"…You… you can't hold anything against me, William—please, you just… you just can't," Elizabeth stressed. Will stroked her cheek lovingly with his index finger, his free hand still holding onto his head. "…I… Ever… Well, you see," she began to panic; where was she supposed to start? How much should she reveal?

"If you can't trust me, Elizabeth, than who could you trust? …If we're going… going…" he gagged again, "if we're going to get… married, we have to be completely and totally honest with each other."

"Fine." Elizabeth bit her lip, wondering where she should start. "Remember… remember what I told you… about the island?"

"When you and Jack were marooned?" Will asked, and Elizabeth nodded, continuing.

"When we were on the island, I told you that Jack had made advances towards me, but I… I was able to persuade him to drink instead," when Will nodded slightly, having only remembered bits in pieces, she continued, "…He was just… just so bold. I-I have never seen someone ever treat a woman like that--save the trips to Tortuga. All my life I grew up in a society of-of people with their heads up their arses using money to barter a bride. Intercourse was… was never discussed, yet-yet here was this man, sitting on a beach with me—a governor's daughter, of all things! —Talking to me about freedom and life. Wrapping his arms around my shoulders, and whispering things like how good I looked in my ear." She looked away, her cheeks burning. Will was clenching his fist around the arm of the chair, and was staring at the empty rum bottle on the table. He knew that she really never held her status over anyone unless it was an extreme case, and Jack Sparrow was the most extreme of them all. He understood that she was only stressing her social status to prove just how out of line Jack was, but it also made Will feel inferior as well, even though she wasn't doing it on purpose. "…He even… tried to take advantage of me, and although tempted, I refused. I refused because I knew… I knew that I loved you." She said the words slowly, and Will hopelessly wondered if she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying.

"Months went by, and I was back at home with an overbearing father and a wedding to plan," she said, sitting down. She leaned against the desk, her legs sticking out straight. She stared right in front of her, but she could feel his piercing brown eyes burning holes into her skull as she continued on cautiously, "…And we never really… really kissed the way that we had kissed that day at the fort." She said, closing her eyes before looking at him. Hurt was evident in his face, and she bit her lip. "…I missed that. I missed how bold and adventurous you were. How you could kiss me like that without a care in the world if the entire human race was standing there watching. You… you became exactly what I hated—you started being careful of what you said and how you said it. You couldn't even hold my hand in public for the first few months—and it… it really bothered me. I began to miss the forwardness—the boldness of how you used to be. And although you got better—you would hold my hand and kiss my cheek, and we'd even kiss a bit more… passionately whenever I would visit you in the smithy." She smiled, not noticing how more and more upset he was getting. All Will could keep thinking about was—if he hadn't been that way, her father would've broken the engagement… If he had been the way that she wanted him, they would have never been able to get married. Didn't she see that--? Didn't she understand that he had done it for her--?

"But… as the months past, I longed for that feeling of… sensuality that occurred on that island with Jack and me; the feeling I felt when you kissed me on that fort. I felt so… beautiful—do you understand what I mean? …I liked the attention, I suppose. I liked the way I was being treated—like… someone of interest, in a completely nonsocial way." She stopped to look at him, but immediately looked away from his burning eyes, that were staring at her so… betrayed. She bit her lip. "Nothing… again—sigh," she figured it useless.

"Elizabeth, I--"

"Let me finish, Will, please…" She begged. "…When… when it came down to our wedding day and you didn't show, I wanted to pull my hair out. The guests left; it began to rain, and I couldn't even care. I just wanted to know why I was further being provoked to do something I didn't want to do," she didn't go into detail, and Will wondered if she truly wanted to marry him at that moment. "Then… then you finally came---in chains!" she let out a quiet sob, but Will made no moves to hold her in his arms and comfort her. "And Beckett was there—just standing there, with a smug smile on his face while he told us how we were going to die because of something we believed in.

"I just wanted you to hold me in your arms and tell me everything was going to be all right. To kiss me like there was no tomorrow, and just… just remind me that if we were to die that it was because we did something right, and they were the ones doing wrong. I wanted to hear you say it because it didn't sound that well in my head, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth when I said it aloud.

"But you didn't. The next day you were sent to Beckett, with only that one lonely night together in separate cells," she sighed, looking down at her hands, "and after that you left me breathless after you told me you had to leave to find Jack… Bloody rotten Jack.

"Everything else was a bit of a blur. One moment you're about to kiss me, and the next my father is whisking me away to England—telling me how I am to be a society woman, even in this dire situation. How even if you did return, both of us were to die. That he could save me and not you, so instead I should go marry off to some nice family in England while he still had his influence and power in London; the selfish jerk," she said the last part quietly and under her breath, but Will still caught it. A smile crossed his face for a moment before he frowned again when she continued—

"So there I was again, alone in the world off to Tortuga in hopes of finding you… The wind was in my hair and the sea surrounded me, and I was happy again. I was able to take control of the situation and manipulate the crew into sailing into Tortuga. From there, I found Jack…

"He picked up right where he left off—didn't waste any breath, just straight away with the compliments… 'Those clothes don't flatter you at all, it should be a dress or nothing—I happen to have no dress in my closet'," she repeated with a remarkable resemblance to Jack's voice. Will cringed, "As much as I wanted to find you—to tell you that I loved you and that if we were to face the noose, we should at least face it together—but here I was enjoying Sparrow's attention… I liked the way he treated me like… someone worthy of affection, you know? I can't explain it… I just liked it. I… I had a lust for his attention, not so much him. Perhaps I just needed to be touched and told that I was loved without exactly the words 'I love you'," she sighed, "I mean… I don't know. I wanted what Jack was giving me, and I didn't care that it was Jack who gave it to me—I just wanted that… I lusted over the attention, never Jack—Remember that, Will, please. The attention, not Jack.

"He would… he would try to kiss me, he would make moves on me—advances, if you will, and I was so in love with the attention, I didn't realize exactly how far I was going until… until James said something. I felt like such a scarlet woman—I was ashamed, yet I still longed for more. I tried… I tried so hard to just focus on getting you back.

"When you came back and held me in your arms and kissed me the way you did, Jack was the farthest thing from my mind. Finally, I had the bold, insanely… passionate Will that I had lost to the thought that society could pull us apart. Finally I had what I needed… or so I thought.

"Jack still… attempted to sway me to break the vows of engagement, if you will, and although I had all the attention I wanted and needed, I still needed more… I still… lusted towards the attention Jack gave me….

"When the Kraken was there… when he was about to kill us all, I realized—he wasn't after the Pearl… He was after Jack, and for the rest of us to live, we needed… to lose Jack," this was when it got hard for her, as she was about to cry. She hadn't told anyone this, but she needed to get it off of her chest. "I… I seemed to be the only one to realize this—besides Jack of course. So… So when I was about to leave, I got really close, very flirtatious and promiscuous…. He seemed to enjoy it, so I leaned in and I kissed him. I kissed bloody Jack Sparrow. Captain Jack bloody Sparrow…

"I did it for two reasons… One, to slake that lust that I held for Jack; and the other was so… so that I could-so that I…" She stopped, and Will (who by now was holding his head in his hands, refusing to look at her) looked up. He saw that she was crying—that she felt bad for what she did, and he sighed.

"Come on, Lizzy…"

"You're going to hate me for saying this, but… I chained Jack to the mast. He didn't elect to stay behind… I forced him to do it."

The silence was killing her; her shoulders shook as she fought to hold back the tears threatening to escape. Her hands held her head steady as she stared at the ground before her, wondering what Will was going to say to her. She heard him sigh, grunt, and shift positions. She felt his presence suddenly beside her on the ground, and she was finally able to break down as he pulled her in his arms and held her.

She gripped his shirt tightly, her arms flung around his neck firmly, her head buried in the crook of his neck. She cried, finally freeing herself of that overwhelming guilt of Jack's death as he held her. He still had said nothing, had not said a word since her revelation, not even a simple, "It's going to be okay."

Nothing.

She pulled away suddenly, embarrassed. She wiped her tears off of his neck as she did anything to avoid his eyes. They would truly tell her what she was dreading to hear. They would either be full of love, or full of hatred, and she was too scared of a broken heart to look into them. It wasn't until Will grabbed her hands in his did she meet his eye.

Nothing.

His eyes remained blank, and his mouth opened and shut, at a loss for something to say. He wanted to tell her what he knew she needed to hear, but his heart couldn't formulate the words together. He opened his mouth.

Nothing.

She looked as though she wanted to cry, but he pulled her into a kiss before the tears could even form in the corners of her cinnamon eyes. His lips caressed hers so gently before he pulled away, and simply held her in his arms, that she didn't even realize she had been kissed until he kissed the top of her head gently.

She relaxed in his grasp, and her breathing became much more normal.

"Say something," she whispered after a few more moments of silence. She looked up at him, and there was still nothing in his eyes.

He seemed to be contemplating what to say, until, "There's… there's nothing I can say, Elizabeth." He started quietly, his eyes closing for a second as he thought some more, "There are many other factors in this situation that you know nothing of, and I do not expect you to understand them once you know of them," he opened his eyes. He looked at her, "Whatever I do… I do for you. Please, to the day that you die, remember that."

"I will," she said, slightly frightened with the power and determination his voice held as he spoke.

"To the day you die, remember that everything I do is for you."

They stayed like that until Gibbs pounded on the door, announcing dinner. They joined the rambunctious crew in the galley for a bit of hardtack and stew, eating quietly and to themselves in a corner; Will was avoiding Elizabeth's eyes (which were constantly on him). Ana Maria and Gibbs ate with them, trying to make small talk.

"We'll have reached Spanish Florida in about an hour—it was spotted at dawn this morn," Ana Maria reported to Will, who shrugged. "…Why are we going there again?"

"Prophecy," Will muttered, hitting his hardtack against the table, trying to break off a piece to eat.

"What?"

"We need… to get something there so that Will can bring Jack back." Elizabeth said just as quietly as will, sipping her stew.

"Aye, I figured that, but what?" Gibbs asked, looking back at Will.

"Did some reading," Will said, finally dunking the hard, cracker-like loaf into his piping-hot stew, "while I was… recovering—Jack has everything and anything in there. There's a specific tree native to Spanish Florida called the cypress tree. Hades… The devil… is partial to it. It's roots… look like knees."

"Knees?"

"They're knotted—like… like the knees of an older person." Will explained.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

So Gibbs and Ana Maria had succeeded in distracting Will from the troubles of his relationship with Elizabeth long enough for him to talk of what he had to do. In reality, it didn't help that much, as he could only reminisce of that horrible dream, but he wasn't thinking of how Elizabeth had not only betrayed his trust by kissing Jack—but that she was the true reason as to why he had to kill either himself or her to bring Jack back.

True to Ana Maria's word, they reached the island within the hour. Will stood at the bow, his father's knife gripped tightly in his hand. He turned around as he heard someone climbing up the steps onto the front deck. "Listen, Elizabeth, I--"

"Do I look like yer dear Lizzie now, boy?" Tia Dalma questioned, smirking at Will. Her black teeth made him cringe and he turned back around.

"After I…" Will said after a pause. "I get the root—how long of a distance is it to World's End?"

"We're dere," she said as they felt the ship shudder as the anchor dropped.

"We're at Spanish Florida—how is this world's end?"

"'ave ye not 'eard of Christopher Columbus, an' 'ow dey all d'ought de world was flat?" Tia Dalma was a large source of information; Will sighed.

"Who hasn't?"

"Dey d'ought he was gon' to go off da edge of de map—an' he did, but he didn't know dis… Ye are cuttin' off de root of a special cypress tree, William, an' dat in itself is our ticket to da underworld."

"How?"

"Ye steal somefink ou' o' yer neighbor's yard, ye go t' jail. Ye cut a root off of Hades's tree, an' ye go t'hell. Come, now, let's be goin', aye?"

Will watched her leave for a moment, bewildered at the thought of having so little time to think everything over. "Now or never," he whispered to himself, watching, as Elizabeth got into a long boat—happy. She was smiling and laughing to something Ana Maria had told her. So innocent and ignorant—what was he to do?

They rowed to shore to be greeted with the anxious Spaniards. "¿Qué quieres?" One finally asked; the crew turned immediately to Ana Maria, who seemed slightly insulted at the insinuation.

"Queremos visitar con familia. No estamos permaneciendo aquí."

"¿Viven en esto pueblo?"

"No. Viven en el bosque." She pointed towards the woods behind the men who had stopped them at the docks. They turned and looked. "¿Cuánto cuestan?"She pointed back to the ship. They smiled.

"Tres shillings."

She looked at Barbossa, who was still staring blankly at her. "Dios mios. Mi equipo es muy estúpido. ¿Dónde podemos comer?" She said, talking directly to the man now, her face showing her annoyance.

She had handed them the money at this point, and they smiled. "En el bosque." They walked away from their group to another ship that was getting ready to take off again. Ana Maria sighed.

"Let's go."

Will led the way again as they walked into the marshy everglades. He was following Tia Dalma's directions very carefully; searching for the cypress tree with the largest roots. It was also the tallest of the trees.

"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked nervously from behind Will.

"We need to get something… It will take us to World's End…"

"How" she huffed, as her last step brought the murky, muddy water to her knee, drenching her breeches, and making the inside of her boots wet "are we going to find something here that will take us there?"

"Just… trust me, all right?" Will snapped, slightly annoyed by the insinuation.

Elizabeth said nothing, but the numbness inside of her grew as she realized that what she had told him had not brought them closer, but had driven them further apart. She wondered whether or not she should say something—anything to get him to understand—but before she could even open her mouth to say a quick, "I'm sorry", Will had stopped.

"This one, Dalma?" He called to the back of the line, which had grown since their journey on Isle del Diablo. Norrington was behind Elizabeth, and Gibbs and Ana Maria followed behind Barbossa and Tia Dalma, carrying a large, heavy axe.

The island woman sized it up, and then closed her eyes. She opened them again. "Aye. Dis be da tree."

"Will, I--" Elizabeth whispered, reaching out to grab his shoulder, but he wasn't paying attention; his eyes were distant, as if he was a thousand miles away from her at that moment. Ana Maria had brought him the axe, and he tightened it in his hands.

"Does it matter which one, Dalma?" He asked, looking at the many, ugly roots. Elizabeth tried again.

"Will—please!"

"No, boy, just cut a ni' sized one—so it'll look goo' fer da cer'mony," Tia said, slightly bored.

"Will, can we talk a bit before you do this?"

"Ye ha' all mornin' t'talk," Barbossa growled, "so shut yer mouth an' let the boy do wut he needs!"

Elizabeth bit her lip as Will stared at her, slightly confused, but he said nothing. Instead, he turned and began hacking away at the largest root. About five or so blows later, the root broke free, and he picked it up, turning to stare at Tia Dalma with a sort of 'now what?' expression on his face.

Suddenly, in the middle of the swamp, a whirlpool began to form. Slowly, at first, with a slight gurgling noise, but soon it was growing larger and larger. A swift, cool wind began blowing around them, the trees swaying as it picked up speed. Upon instinct, Elizabeth came closer to Will, who pulled her into him without thinking. His knuckles had turned white as he grasped the branch tighter and tighter. Tia Dalma began laughing, and James looked as though he was about to vomit. Ana Maria and Gibbs were simply staring, and Gibbs was muttering a quick prayer. Barbossa was simply staring, as it got bigger.

A pulling sensation began tugging at Will and Elizabeth's knees, and suddenly, they were flying into the black hole that had formed in the middle of the swamp. Elizabeth was screaming, and Will remained distant in the eyes, but was holding onto Elizabeth for dear life.

They fell, onto something rock hard, with fog surrounding them, and a lump formed in Will's throat. Moments later, came everyone else, falling beside them in sporadic intervals, all holding the same confused look on their features. That is, except for Tia Dalma, who looked excited.

"Will, what's going on?" Elizabeth asked, turning to look at him.

"You, there!" A voice suddenly shouted, and the group turned to see a demon staring at them wildly. "Who here is going to be performing the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?" Elizabeth asked, looking to Will, who looked both frightened and determined at the same time.

"I am."

"Ah," a deeper voice, coming from a higher place. "William Turner—have you decided?"

He withdrew a deep breath and nodded. "Yes—I have."

"Step forward."

"Will, stop!" Elizabeth said, suddenly understanding. The prophecy was ringing clearly in her mind.

Eyes of road,

Knees of the trees,

Come to the Devil's head—

Where blood will be met,

Tears shall be shed,

And only one shall return from the dead.

Will was going to sacrifice himself for Jack, and she couldn't let that happen. She was the one who had put Jack in this situation, and she wasn't about to let Will do this to himself because of her. She wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"Step forward!" The deep voice bellowed. Will took a step forward, and then—

"Elizabeth, no!" Will said, watching her slowly as Elizabeth took a step forward as well. He looked at her painfully, and she looked at him sympathetically.

"It's okay, Will, do what you have to do," she whispered, smiling bravely. "I trust you."

He looked forward, more frightened now, than determined, as the demon gestured towards the stone steps. He began to walk, and heard Elizabeth's timid footsteps behind him, and a bit of muttering from the crew, especially from James, Ana Maria, and Gibbs.

"What's going on?"

"What does Will have to do?"

"Why's Elizabeth going with him?"

They began to trudge up the steps, the voices getting smaller until they disappeared completely. He looked at her, and stopped, although a force seemed to keep pulling him towards the top. "Elizabeth, they can't make me… Please, go back down—I can't do this—not to you."

"Will… I know… and I understand. I can't let you do this; this was my choice and my mistake—I should be the one to pay the price."
"Elizabeth… I would have to do it…" she flinched suddenly, her eyes flashing in fear all of a sudden. "Please, Lizzie, don't make me… Just… Just, please… I refuse!" He tripped from the force, and got back up and kept walking. "They can't make me… they just can't…" He muttered over and over. She bit her lip, afraid for both of their lives.

"Jack isn't this important," the fog was clearing up, and Will was getting desperate.

"Jack is everything, Will—without Jack, there would be no us." He knew she was going to say that, but it still made him sick to his stomach. The fog was even clearer; he could see the platform.

"There could've been—there would've been; Elizabeth, please…"

"William Turner!" Hades bellowed, grinning maniacally. Will swallowed the lump forming with one last look at Elizabeth. The dagger was gleaming on the alter, and he shivered, tightening his grip on the tree root. "Have you made your decision?"

"Yes…" He said quietly.

"I can't hear you!"
"Yes! Can we move along with this?"

"Will…"

"Step forward!" Hades bellowed, and Will stepped forward. As did Elizabeth.

"Will."

"Whenever you're ready!" Hades grinned, leaning back. "Think long and hard about who you want to bring back. Spill the blood over the branch, and it shall be done…" He laughed, "A life for a life, the prophecy speaks!"

"Will!"

He looked up at Elizabeth, "Everything I do, I do it for you."

He raised the dagger.

Elizabeth barely had enough time to scream.

♥

Spanish Translations:

¿Qué quieres? What do you want?

Queremos visitar con familia. No estamos permaneciendo aquí. We want to visit with our family. We're not going to be staying here.

¿Viven en esto pueblo? They live in this town?

No. Viven en el bosque. No. They live in the forest.

¿Cuánto cuestan? How much does it cost?

Tres shillings. Three shillings.

Dios mios. Mi equipo es muy estúpido. ¿Dónde podemos comer? My God. My crew is very stupid. Where can we eat?

En el bosque. In the forest.