(OT: You are cracking me up with the angst love. Haha. Well, you shall enjoy the next few then or actually, several more since emotions will, of course, carry through AWE.

This one is only the first for the shack scenes. This walks you through the end of DMC, and I'll probably do one or maybe two more chapters concerning their stay at Tia's shack, so lots of broiling emotions. Will's motives and emotions definately will alter over the next couple chapters. Right now, he believe all is lost, but he will come to realize that there is always hope, if there is a cause left to fight for. I apologize that there is hardly anything new, but I'm not apt to write the shack scenes just yet. I need to really dig myself into that angst hole. I'm super excited to write about AWE though. I've been contemplating inbetween scenes for months. I was going to post them individually before this! Hmm... Lots of question marks in this one. Although, they feel all right to me. Sorry... carry on!)

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They slowly paddled through the waters as the night surrounded them, crickets creaking in their ears, and the gentle sound of someone crooning pulsating through the bayou.

"What is that?" Ragetti spoke, his voice quivering as he swiveled in the longboat. "Where is it coming from?"

"Someone is... singing." Will remarked as the throng surveyed the dim forest.

A few fireflies swirled in crooked-halos above their heads as Tia Dalma's shack came into view. They listened closer, and a woman in a patched decayed gown stood atop interweaved trees, her sweet voice broadcasting around the mourning men and the sullied woman. The crew soon realized that the lady was not singing in English; it was a foreign language to them all, but it resonated in their hearts that it concerned the deceased captain.

Tears clouded Elizabeth's eyes once again, and she swiped them quickly away when they were only a few yards from the shack. Abruptly, African American natives waded through the muddy river, grasping flaming candles and nodding to them solemnly. Pintel and Ragetti strode on the short stretch of docks first, and Gibbs and Cotton followed, leaving Will and Elizabeth alone in the boat for only a moment.

"Elizabeth?"

She trembled at the sound of his voice, but she had no where to run. She always ran when confrontation came around, but now she was obliged to stay seated until he was finished. The woman pirate stared at him. What did he need? What did he want from her?

"Do you..." He gazed at her blankly inquisitive eyes, unable to read her crossed body language or the expression across her lips. Will stood up in the longboat; he didn't want to know right now. Will did not want to know that his Elizabeth, his one love, had never loved him or was forced to love him when all else failed. He did not desire to hear her say that she could not love him. That it was not even a possibility... Grasping his coat, William corrected his previous (almost) inquiry. "You better watch your step." he said lightly, holding out his hand as his black boots touched the docks. The boots that she had once said she loved. Perhaps it was because it reminded her of Jack Sparrow... The real pirate... The desirable fascinating pirate.

She grasped his clammy hands, her eyes bulging with mourning and fresh tears. Maybe she could reveal her secret. Her filthy revolting secret... Perhaps he would understand. Then, she gazed at him, her fingers lingering against his and their eyes locked onto one another. No, Elizabeth decided, she couldn't bear to listen to him say that he could not live with a woman such as this. The disgusting pirate who would go great lengths to save her own skin. She unloosed her grip and stepped ahead of him, immediately scurrying to solitary seat and ignoring the voodoo woman's presence.

"So he has gone?" Tia Dalma inquired, although it was more of a statement. Will nodded as he draped his leather coat diagonally across the chair and plunked in it, disregarding the hopeful glimmer he had witnessed, only for a few seconds, in Elizabeth's eyes on the dock.

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The woman carried a tray of beaten leather mugs to the crew and approached Elizabeth, offering her a mug. Elizabeth glared at the burning flame and stared into Tia Dalma's glassy eyes.

"Against de cold..." she uttered softly. "And de sorrow."

Elizabeth grasped the cup and brought it to her lips, but then dropped it, listening to the deafening sound of the liquid swilling back and forth. Her mouth was no longer parched for something she could never possess, and the corners of her mind no longer yearned for a little taste.

Tia Dalma glided to William's side after offering the rest of the crew drinks and placed a mug before him. She knelt down, her eyes twitching to the man's blade that repeatedly thudded into the table. "It's a shame." she noted, somehow aware of Mr. Turner's predicament. "I know you're t'inking dat wit the Pearl, you coulda captured the devil and set free your fadder's soul."

"Doesn't matter now." He glanced to the ceiling with a slight shake of his head. His world was collapsing piece by piece. Where would he go after this? After setting Elizabeth free, would he spend the rest of his days just watching over her and wondering what it would have been like if he had rescued his father and wed Miss Swann? "The Pearl's gone," he added with a light bitter singe. "Along with its captain." Tia Dalma rose as Gibbs re-entered the shack, his footsteps clomping.

"Aye. And the world already seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all right to the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out." He hoisted his empty mug to the air and announced, "To Jack Sparrow!" It was not a snide or bitter remark, that Jack had tricked them all, but it was more joyous of what his life brought.

Ragetti joined the toast, lifting his own cup and speaking in a feeble voice. "Never another like Captain Jack."

Pintel's face twitched in agitation that he and his comrade were once again without a vessel, but at least Jack had caused at least a little affluence to their lives. "He was a gentlemen of fortune, he was!"

Elizabeth listened to these true, sentimental comments. What was she to say? That he was a pirate, just like her. That she loathed that she had once felt a fluttering in her heart from a mere attraction to him: That it was she who murdered the captain to save them? That she was willing to suffer for her horrid sins? The woman barely lifted her mug as she cried soundly, "He was a good man." They all guzzled the contents, but Elizabeth rubbed the container, unable to drink. How was she to drink to something she caused? To something that might have been prevented? Was it the only way? She had thought... at that moment that it was the only way to save them, but perhaps something could have been done...

Will sipped, set the mug down, and then cast his gaze on his once lovely girl. Her hair cascaded in her tear and ash-smudged face, but she was so beautiful to him. He could not wait any longer. He could not wait to see if she owned up to her emotions. Unintentionally making his voice solidly loud he began to ask, "If there was anything that could be done to bring him back..." He paused when Elizabeth's head did not rise. "Elizabeth." He caught her eyes, but they were directed to Tia Dalma when she interjected.

"Would you do it? Hmmm?" She swiveled to Elizabeth and then to the crew. "What would you? Hmmm? What would any of you be willing to do? Hmmm? Would you sail to the ends of de eart', and beyond, to fetch back witty Jack and 'im precious Pearl?

Gibbs voice immediately proclaimed his answer behind the former couple. "Aye."

Pintel and Ragetti agreed, one after the other. Cotton's macaw also voiced the pirate reply, his squawk screeching in Elizabeth's ears. There was silence. Will was observing her, waiting to answer. Would she do it? Would she do anything to bring him back, to save him so that she could ardently love him?

Her voice quivered as she nodded. She almost murmured, "Aye," but her heart could not settle in the phrase. She was branded for that curt reply, but now, she must step from that trademark and absolve her sins that singed Will and Jack. "Yes."

So, Elizabeth assured his mind. If she would do anything to rescue him... He was fully aware true love knew no bounds. It could stretch for miles and years... He thought it was in his grasp, but alas, it had slipped by without him knowing it. "Aye," Will whispered, glancing away from the two women. The greased woman was no longer his Elizabeth. She was another's. She was Jack's once and for all. Now, he could rescue the Pearl, and Jack, and stab the beating heart of Davy Jones' and at least regain a relationship with his father.

"All right..." Tia Dalma's black lips parted to grin wickedly. "But if you're going to brave de weird and haunted shores, at world's end, den you will need a captain who knows dose waters" She gestured, and the clacking of boots vibrated along the staircase. The crew rose one by one, and Elizabeth slid to the front, gripping the handle of her sloshing mug. Her eyes widened as a scraggily beard came into view, a monkey on his shoulder and his wiry hand clutching an apple.

"So tell me," the aged pirate asked, "What's become of my ship?" He chuckled and chomped his teeth into the vibrant green apple and juice dribbled down his chin.