A/N: Okay, I know it may sound weird at first, but I have decided to skip the next 2 days. Nothing exciting or important happens. So….enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: The usual.

Put me to sleep, evil angel

Open your wings, evil angel

Fly over me, evil angel

Why can't I breathe, evil angel?

It was the final day. Soon Hel's demons would come and try to drag him down. But strangely, Jack didn't feel nervous. Instead, all he felt was a kind of numb acceptance of the facts. He stood by the rail and watched the calm, yet unnerving gray sea flow by. A bitter wind played with the beads in his hair.

Davy Jones had taken over the steering and navigation of the Black Pearl. The crew had gotten used to him. Or at least somewhat. He could still scare them all witless if he pleased, but the initial hilarity had worn off. Now he settled for watching them all with one bloodshot eye.

"How much longer?" Jack said tonelessly.

"Half a day. Maybe more," Jones replied coldly.

"Why can't we go full speed ahead? We'd be there much more quicker."

"I've told you. We can't disturb the water too badly."

Jack sighed and looked back out at the darkening water. "That's it, then. The sun's setting. What happens now?"

"They come for you when your defenses are lowest: when you sleep. They drag your soul back to Hel," Jones said. "And if you don't sleep…they come for your entire body. Their greatest strength is their mental attack. They can make you feel something that you don't really feel."

"So I let them take me. That's brilliant."

"No. You'll see."

"Helpful, that. Encouraging, too. That was never your strong point, was it?"

That made Jones smirk unpleasantly. "It depends."

"On what kind of encouragement is required, you mean? True. The same goes here."

"Oh, aye. Goes for all of us, I suppose, eh, Sparrow? Depends on the situation."

"I'll drink to that," Jack agreed, and he did just that.

"I'd follow your lead if I could," Jones said. Jack didn't say anything. He stood stock still, staring out at something only he could see. His knees were about to buckle. A small, black demon, invisible to all but Jack, sat of the pirate's shoulder and chattered into his ear.

"Your time is up," it giggled maliciously. "Come quietly, now, and it'll be less painful for both of us."

"JACK SPARROW!"

There was a stinging sensation on Jack's cheek. "Ouch! What?" he said. "Did you just slap me? It has a familiar sting."

"Aye, that I did, and with pleasure," Jones bit viciously. "Come on, be more willful than that. Even you aren't that weak." He went back to the wheel.

Jack rubbed his cheek reproachfully. "That was one of them? No kidding?"

"No, it was my pet sea urchin. Think about it. No more of that."

"That the best she has?"

"Oh, no. She has far worse than that. That was a minor one."

"Oh, hell. What?" Elizabeth had come up the stairs.

"Can we have another lesson?" she asked.

"Might as well, seeing as there's nothing else to do," Jack said reluctantly. He unsheathed his cutlass and went for his old trick, but Elizabeth was ready this time, and she blocked it.

Jack glanced back at Jones to make sure he wasn't listening. "This doesn't make any difference, you know," he said. "None at all."

"None?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch," Jack confirmed.

"Had a look at your compass lately? Or is it 'broken' again?"

"Oh, my compass works fine."

"And what does it point to?"

"None of your bloody business where my compass points. That's for me to know and you to not find out."

"Something tells me it is my business."

"No, it bloody well is not. It doesn't point to you, that's for sure. It points…somewhere else."

"Really."

"Really."

"You don't sound sure."

"You're right. I'm not sure. I'm completely and un-sway-ably positive."

"You sound scared."

Elizabeth's sword went spinning off across the deck. She didn't go to pick it up. "I sound scared," Jack said. Scared? He was anything but scared right about now, no matter what he sounded like; he was downright furious, and his voice shook with it. "Scared of what?"

"I don't know. Just scared," Elizabeth said.

Jack moved closer to her. "Let me tell you a few things. Number one, I am incredibly angry with you right now, and you have no weapon. Number two, I am exactly the opposite of 'scared'. And number three, the only things keeping me from giving you a few scars to remember your favorite pirate by are a few shredded strings of self-restraint and witnesses. Savvy? Now," he said dangerously. "Go get your sword and stop talking."

"You wouldn't do anything to me anyway," Elizabeth said bravely. Jack stepped so close that Elizabeth could feel his coat on her leg and his breath on her face.

"Would you like to place a bet on that?"

And right then, Elizabeth found the anger in his eyes and backed off slightly. She would have bet that he would have hurt her if there hadn't been people around. "But would you forgive me?" She knew it was foolish, but she had to hear it from him. The answer surprised her.

"I don't know yet."

"Could you be persuaded to reveal your answer?"

"I don't have one. And I couldn't be persuaded if I did. Leave it."

"You know what? I don't think I will. I'll have to keep asking until I get an answer."

"You would if you had the slightest inkling how angry I am right now."

"But you do know, don't you?"

Jack's fist clenched. "I don't know," he snarled. "I don't bloody know. I might not ever bloody know. Drop it."

"You might not ever know?" Elizabeth sounded slightly disappointed.

"I told you to drop it. Consider your lesson over." Jack let his cutlass slide back into its sheath and left to go watch the water again. He stopped and closed his eyes. A second wave of pain washed over his brain. He felt a strong inclination to lay down on the deck and go to sleep.

It would be so nice. Go on. Why not?

Because I'm not tired, he told himself firmly. That's why.

But it's the middle of the night. You must be tired, the voice wheedled.

I was under the impression that the sun had only just set, Jack countered.

Ah, but it feels like the middle of the night, doesn't it?

No, it doesn't. Leave me alone.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just enjoying the peace," Jack said pointedly.

"Oh."

Pause.

"Look…"

"…at the water," Jack said.

"No, not that, I mean…look, I'm sorry."

"I don't care."

"I am."

"I still don't care in the slightest."

"Can't you just-?"

"No, I can't. Leave me alone."

"No. Not until you say you forgive me. Because I'll never forgive myself until you do."

"You'll be standing here for quite a long time, then."

"You're such a moron."

"Not helping."

Elizabeth slapped him.

"Not helping either."

She took out her cutlass and held it at his throat. "Now I'm getting angry. You're such a pig-headed, rum-soaked-"

"-pirate? I know. Don't force me to hurt you." Jack calmly grasped the blade, yanked it out of Elizabeth's hand, and slid it back into its sheath.

"Oh, you're so-" she started angrily.

"-dashing? Charming? Witty? Anything else?"

"Yes. The fact that you're not fit to captain this or any other ship or lick dirt from Davy Jones's boots."

"I'm hurt." Jack laughed bitterly. "But I've been called worse."

"Oh, really? By whom? I'd like to take a few lessons."

"My father, strangely enough. He won't be able to give you lessons because he's dead. How about murderous, ungrateful, weak little urchin that should be thrown to the sharks?" Elizabeth was silent. Jack leaned his elbows on the rail and watched the horrible roiling water glitter orange-gray in the sunset.

"Jack, look at the sky," Elizabeth said quietly. He did so, tearing himself away from the terrible foreboding the water gave him. "That's what my mother told me to do before she died. Whenever I was angry, she would say, 'Look at the sky. Isn't it beautiful? It calms me down. Try it.' And I would. And then I would calm down."

Jack gazed out at the horizon where the sky was a mix of pink, red, and orange, splashed across the clouds like a watercolor palette had been overturned, seeped into the blue and made itself soft. Gold outlined the ragged clouds, which had a light lavender creeping into them. The mountains had a soft orange glow around them and a stroke of yellow barely visible above. Jack's eyes drank in each new detail ravenously, forever searching for more. He watched for several hours, and never noticed when Elizabeth left, with a secret smile on her face, to check on Will. He only wanted to stay there forever and watch the lavender and gold of the clouds fade, the yellow spot disappear, the orange mountains turn dark, and the colors above recede to a deep navy blue, and then black with shining white stars that twinkled at him in a friendly, unworried way. Even when Elizabeth came out and stood by him again he didn't move. The twinkling movements of the stars entranced him, and his brain only barely registered her presence.

When the moon peeked over the mountains, she put her hand on his shoulder. "We're here," she whispered.

"Good," Jack said softly. He moved away from her touch and made his way up to the helm. "Here being where?" he asked Jones.

"Here being World's End," Jones answered. Jack looked back out over the water, familiar to him and yet still as stranger.

"So what now?" he questioned.

"Drop anchor and wait for tomorrow. She's weaker during the day."

"You 'eard 'im! Let go the anchor!" Jack turned back to Jones. "And 'ow am I supposed to sleep?"

"That's your problem," Jones said dismissively.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

A/N: Well, there you have it. You were probably hoping for a bit more action on the last day, right? Well…not yet. Lots more next chapter. Btw, does anyone have any tips on writing Davy Jones? I'm not that great at dialogue with him. As usual, leave me some love…and I am writing a sequel.