Thank you for all the reviews! They made me update today:) (Even though I should be writing a term paper right now... / And I guess I will have to do that anyway:( ...as soon as I press this "add a chapter" button:)

Disclaimer: Disney owns POTC.

Chapter 14

It was dark and quiet. Terrifyingly quiet. As if the world has ended. The silence was almost piercing. Elizabeth opened her eyes, but she could not see anything. She waited a few moments for her eyes to get used to darkness, so she could at least see some shadows of things, but, oddly, she still could not see anything, not even her own hand, when she lifted it close to her face. She sat motionlessly, listening. She did not know, whether she was alone, or not, and, most importantly, she did not know where she was.

The last thing she remembered, was the storm, the tormented sea she could see through a small window in the cabin. The cabin from which she could not escape, because somebody had locked the door. Somebody. It was not difficult to guess who could that be.

She tried to think about Jack. Jack. Somehow, the fear she felt was ceasing when she began repeating his name in her head. Jack. Jack. Jack. She wanted him to be here with her right now, she wished he was here, but simultaneously she was paradoxically glad that he was not, because it meant that he was safe.

She was worrying about her father. If anything should happen to him, it will be her fault. She felt that somehow she failed him. Not because she loved Jack, not because she decided to give her life to him, to lay it in his hands, to give up the past, to give up the present, and the future – the future that her father intended for her. But because she failed to explain it all to him. Her explanations did not reach him. She could not make him understand what she felt. She wished he could understand it. Someday.

Elizabeth was afraid to move, or speak. She was afraid of this engulfing darkness, which seemed to be strangely alive. Alive? She did not know why this word came to her mind. What she meant, was that this darkness was not simply caused by the lack of light, but it has been created almost deliberately, it was designed for a reason, and it had some meaning.

She was quite sure she was not on the ship anymore. What could have happened to the ship? And the storm... Exactly the same, as before. It was the same kind of a sudden tempest that attacked the ship on which she was earlier with Jack. But then, it did eventually calm down; unlike this time. Now it was different. Why?

Why the world always had something in store for her? She was so happy, she did not want anything more than this one man, who loved her, whom she loved, who miraculously asked her to marry him...

She did not even notice when she started crying. She just could not stop the tears, thinking about him, thinking that she could not be with him right now. That she has lost him, like too many times before. But now, at least, it was not her fault.

Then it occurred to her, that he must have seen what happened to the ship, as he was waiting for her, watching carefully, surely wondering why she did not show up. He will do something. He will find her... wherever she is.

Suddenly, a ray of light appeared, and it grew larger, and larger, almost blinding her, but she managed to notice, that it came from the door, which she of course could not see before. The door opened slowly, and she saw a shadow of the person who opened the door. She narrowed her eyes, which hurt from the sudden brightness, and looked away, accidentally noticing somebody lying on the floor not far away from her. He was unconscious and looked familiar. She recognized Will.

Quite astonished to see him, she failed to acknowledge who opened the door. She just heard somebody shutting the door again, but the room was not dark anymore. The person who opened the door left a small lantern, and a pitcher of water by the door.

She looked at Will hesitantly. She knew she should wake him up, but she did not really feel like doing it. Once he gains consciousness, she will have to speak with him, and look at him, and she did not want to after what he had done, what he had said.

She was aware of the fact, that in a way it was probably (at least partly) her fault. But it did not matter all that much after all. Because if he had not locked the door... She would have been right now on land; with Jack. Jack. Jack.

She brushed the tears away from her face, and carefully stood up. The room was completely empty, and rather small, with dark walls, and a dark, high ceiling. No windows.

Elizabeth walked around, examining every detail, but there was really not much to examine. She sighed and sat down on the floor again. Will was lying motionlessly as before. Strangely, it did not even cross her mind to check, whether he was alive, but somehow she was sure he was.

But she did not want Will; she wanted Jack.

Jack. Jack. Jack...

"Jack!", shouted Gibbs, trying to catch up with his captain, who walked as fast as ever, rushing forward, hardly paying any attention to anything, except the path leading through the gloomy forest filled with a strange kind of unpleasantly cool mist. "Jack! Remember it's me... who knows... the way", he observed timidly, trying to catch his breath.

"There is no time for complaints", said Jack, frowning.

"Who's complaining? I just...", he waived his hand dismissively, deciding to change the topic. "Alright. So ye're saying that he was the first captain of the Black Pearl?"

"Aye."

"And it was some kind of a spell, that brought the Pearl back to him after a hundred years, I understand", said Gibbs in an attempt to organize everything that Jack had told him so far.

"Aye."

"But he's also taken, for a different reason the ship on which ye got here, aye? And it is what he usually does, he takes a ship, kidnaps some people from it, and then makes the rest of the people voluntarily give up the ship to him, in exchange for the hostages", Gibbs seemed to be almost fascinated by the story, although he was not dramatically convinced whether it made a lot of sense.

"Aye", Jack wrinkled his eyebrows at the word "hostages".

"But the hostages... do not come back?..."

Jack suddenly stopped, and turned around.

"Do we really need to discuss it in detail right now?", he asked with irritation.

Gibbs looked at him baffled. He has rarely seen Jack in such a mood. It was obvious that he was not fond of losing the Pearl all the time (probably not a good statement to be stated aloud...), and he must have been worrying about the fate of the crew as well, but somehow it just seemed not to be enough for triggering such frustration. Because it was frustration, this expression in his eyes that was so unlike him. Something more was wrong. But what could it be?

"What is it, Jack?", he decided to ask, still being quite under the influence of the drinks he had, and therefore having much more courage to ask blunt questions.

"Nothing", replied Jack mechanically, and continued walking.

"Jack", insisted Gibbs, running after him.

Jack rolled his eyes, and looked at Gibbs peevishly.

"Elizabeth was on that ship, alright?", he said impatiently.

"Elizabeth?", repeated Gibbs confusedly. "So they eventually decided to go sailing with us?", he asked carelessly, but suddenly fell quiet, as he noticed a particularly hard look that Jack gave him.

"I said Elizabeth."

"Aye", nodded Gibbs, trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with his question. "And what would she be doing there?", he asked hesitantly.

"Marrying me", shouted Jack over his shoulder.

"Aye!", exclaimed Gibbs cheerfully, but then, hit by the actual meaning of what he heard, he stopped short, and stared at Jack, who was quickly making his way through the forest, almost disappearing from view.