Barbossa had taken out with his few crewmen, anxious to test the legs of his new vessel, and equally anxious to put as much distance as he could between himself, Jack Sparrow, William Turner and Captain Jonathan Teague. There was no ship that was worth tangling with the likes of them together, and Hector felt that he had the better end of the bargain, even if it meant that he would have to adhere to "guidelines" that he held to be folly... for now, he cackled.

He would still plan to lie in wait for the ruby shipments out of Madagascar, but needed to recruit more crew in the pirate friendly ports of the western coast of Africa. Barbossa knew that he would cross paths with Jack Sparrow again, someday, but Hector truly hoped that it was not soon, and definitely not in league with Sparrow's powerful colleagues. He would, for now, enjoy the beauty of his new ship and the power that gave him... if he could only overcome the feelings, as that fool Sparrow had taken pains to point out, of being... watched. "Bilgewater," Barbossa thought to himself... as he nervously turned around at a noise, only to see nothing there. "...bilgewater...I'm becoming as mental as Jack Sparrow..."

But as he observed Jack the Monkey staring nervously at the carved figurehead of Calypso, with her shining ebony eyes, from his perch on the bowsprit, Hector would never be too sure...

Evening was falling off of the coast of Madagascar, and the Pearl and the Dutchman would both remain anchored for the night. Jack and Bill convinced William to sit and watch the sea with them...Jack and Bill watched William in the fading rays of the sinking sun... the crew of the Black Pearl was still making merry after their victory over the treacherous Barbossa, joined by the crewmembers of the Flying Dutchman. Comraderie was running high upon this evening. It was a marvelous bit of pirate trickery by Mr. Cotton and his parrot to find a way to contact and secure aid from Captain Turner, and he was getting gloriously snockered with the drinks that were coming at him from all of his mates. Even once the noise settled down, and Bill and William sat with a mentally exhausted Jack Sparrow on the deck outside of his cabin, Jack could not help but notice that William was brooding a bit. Jack, even in his tired state, knew what the problem was.

In planning to raise the Endeavor and take the Black Pearl back as Jack's ship.. Jack's home... William's mind was directed toward something other than his own fate, for a while. He was able to put aside his duties to help his friend, as he had worked so diligently in the months that he had been the ferryman of souls to rectify the horrible backlog of those still waiting for assistance. Problems had been dealt with, quotas had been filled, directions had been given, log books updated, new crew members had been recruited from the ranks of the souls who qualified, and existing crewmembers had been dismissed as to whatever their wishes had been, once their old oath to the Dutchman had been lifted.

William had dealt with so much, and had learned it all on his own, with help from his father. He had become the finest Captain that the Dutchman had ever known... he had become obsessed with his duties. It kept his mind off of missing and loving Elizabeth so much. Now that they were sitting on the deck of the Pearl, his mind returned... to her. Now that the evening was settling over them in velvety darkness, William became quiet and brooding. His mind went back over the one, lone letter that he had received from her... the letter that had given him new strength and new resolve to make right the wrongdoing of Hector Barbossa.

William sipped his rum and laid his head back against the outside wall of Jack's cabin, and it all came back to him, and he rubbed his chest where his heart should have been...

My love, my dearest Will!

I miss you so much. I love you so much. At first I thought I would not make it through another day, but then the day would pass and I would face another one... each day that passes is one day closer to feeling your arms around me. My love, my darling, I can hardly wait to feel your fingers running through my hair. I can hardly to taste your kisses.

I laugh at myself to think that we were about to go through with the most absurdly ostentatious wedding in the history of Port Royal, and perhaps we have Cutler Beckett to thank for interrupting it. We have grown so much, Will, and even though we were married by Hector Barbossa, we are still married, and I am so gloriously happy to be your wife! Please tell Jack that I wished it was him that had pronounced us husband and wife, as it would have held more meaning to us, now, and he would have added more flourish to it, even if Barbossa did a fine job, considering the circumstances at the time! It is not important how or where we were married, it is important that we are married... just as if it were in the largest church in the world!

I felt terrible for Jack once I read in your letter that he had lost the Black Pearl to Barbossa, again. Deep in our hearts, we always knew that Captain Barbossa was not to be trusted in most respects, but he did prove to be a fine warrior. I wish that I were there to take up my sword and help Jack get the Black Pearl back... I almost consider the Pearl my home, more than anyplace, since my father's murder at the order of Cutler Beckett... and I would be happy to live on the Pearl, forever, if you were there with me, my love. I would sail to the ends of the earth and sky with you! You said that Jack was having a worse time of things. Is he still talking to himself and seeing things that aren't there? The poor dear. Please tell him hello for me, as well as your father. Please give my love to both of them.

My dearest Will, I must close, and find a bottle to place this letter into. My hands are shaking so right now, that I can barely hold my quill. I am going to send this to you as quickly as my feet can carry me back to the sea... from there I plan to hunt all over the village and in the marketplace for every bottle that I can put my hands on! I know that there must be hundreds of them! I will send a letter to you in each and every one of them.

I hope that this finds its way to you... there will be many more... millions more, if I had any say about it. As you always tell me, my darling, I will keep a weather eye on the horizen. I will hold your letter close to my heart as I sleep tonight... I shall kiss it goodnight, and will wish it were you. I am so happy to have your letter in my hands...it was in your hands, at one time... I love you so very, very much. I miss you so very, very much.

Your Elizabeth

William smiled at the thought of Elizabeth taking up her sword for Jack and the Black Pearl; she would have been proud that swords had not been drawn... Jack never liked to fight if another way could be found to achieve a goal. He and Jack were becoming more alike, every day, he thought, idly.

William then sadly touched the long braid in his hair which was tied off with the royal blue ribbon that had tied the one and only letter that he had received, and he finally understood just why Jack Sparrow tied trinkets into his hair. Jack may never tell the truth about each one, if asked, but William now knew just how important small things, such as this tiny token of life and love, could be...

Morning came, and it was nearly time for each ship to be on it's way. The Pearl had not had time to fall into disrepair under Barbossa's hand, and the crew had done their level best to take good care of her... they'd had faith that their true captain would find them and be at the helm, again. There was no need to lay in for repairs; the dark ship was ready to sail. The time was growing nigh to depart... but no one was in any hurry to say goodbye.

Jack, William and Bill were chatting on the main deck of the Dutchman. Jack had gathered his little flag from The Sparrow's Revenge. He no longer had any use for the small wooden dinghy, but was sorry to leave her scuttled on the beach. He wanted to keep the homemade flag as a memento of his experience... he had a tendancy to do things like that, but he stated, with truth, that he certainly could not tie the flag into his hair... he would keep it and fly it temporarily when the need arose, as Barbossa had callously dumped Jack's colours into the Atlantic and had every intention of raising his own colours in its stead.

"Right nice little ship she was," he said of the Sparrow's Revenge, sadly, as he folded his flag and tucked it under his arm. "She served her purpose, an' even helped us get me Pearl back. I feel bad..." He scowled, however, at the thought of the oars that laid in the bottom of the tiny dinghy, and rubbed his forehead. William smiled at the memory of pulling Jack out of the storm tossed little boat, knocked out cold from a hard crack to the head by one of those very oars.

He never told Jack how amusing he had looked... once they had determined that his injury was not serious... the thought of poor Jack laying flat on his back in the bottom of the boat, feet straight up over the edge, hands still gripping the oar that was laying right across his face where it had knocked him out made William chuckle to himself. It was a wonder it hadn't broken Jack's nose, and might have, had Jack's hat not broken its progress... the hat was knocked sideways, but at least Jack's nose had been spared.

They were simply standing there, taking in the fine morning aboard the beautiful ghost ship, when Bill happened to look down, and said, "What th'..." William and Jack also looked down, and beheld... the beautiful and delicate little snow white crab, making its way slowly and daintily up over the edge of the railing and across the deck, as it had before, like a wee little white ghost... with yet another rolled up message in its tiny claws... a rolled up message, tied with a tiny strand of seaweed. It made its way slowly, ever so slowly, to the toes of Jack's leather boots, and then stopped. It looked up with its tiny, shiny little black eyes, then softly placed the message at Jack's feet.

Jack's heart leaped in his chest... he recognized the parchment that it was written upon, and knew that this, finally, was what he had been waiting for...

He slowly, ever so slowly, bent down and carefully, almost reverently, picked up the parchment, and then turned his deep, dark eyes up to William's. He held his silence for only a heartbeat, then said, "William... I require the use of your cabin... to read this... alone..."