Elizabeth lost her grip upon the chest as she swung it at Jack, and it flew wildly right into the hands of Mr. Pintel. As soon as she had seen Jack fallen on the beach, Elizabeth was immediately sorry, and came to her senses, and she ran to his side, crying out, "Jack! Jack! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I panicked! Are you alright? Get up! Please! The longboat! Ohhh, you're bleeding..."
... Gibbs was also at his side, and Jack was already struggling to his feet, swaying wildly and cursing. He shook his head violently, blood streaming from his mouth. Finally clearing his vision, he yelled, "The chest!!! Give it t' me NOW!" And with that, Pintel and Ragetti scrambled forth as fast as they could, grabbing Jack and pushing him, and the chest, into the longboat.
They all gave the boat a mighty push out into the water, and Jack grabbed the oars and rowed as hard as he could. He kept shaking the stars from his vision and the odd hallucinations from his head desperately, droplets of blood flying, and the others on the beach were afraid that the captain's confused mind would claim him once again... it was proclaimed by Calypso that no one could be aboard the Pearl when William's heart would be restored to him with the exception his father, and Jack... the rest of the crew could only wait, with Elizabeth, and hope.
As Jack rowed desperately to the Pearl, Elizabeth collapsed onto her knees in the sand. She was shaking like a leaf, and finally, Mr. Gibbs gently put his arms under her and lifted her up. Mr. Pintel took the blanket that had been around the chest, gently admonishing Elizabeth and placing the blanket around her shoulders, "... now, now, Poppet... ye jus' got all upset, is all... now, now..." Elizabeth finally simply put her face into Mr. Gibbs' broad chest, and sobbed. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry...Will told me...poor Jack... I trust him... I just... oh, I hurt him... he was bleeding...I thought it would be Bootstrap..."
"Shhh, lass... shhhh...Bootstrap couldn't come an' take the chest th' way that he normally would, it don't work tha' way," Mr. Gibbs pulled her close and soothed her as if she were a small child. He remembered when she was just a wee lassie on the crossing that she had made to Port Royal from England all those years ago... he was a boatswain in the Navy at the time, and was serving on the Dauntless ... she was a winsome little thing, then, and he had taken great pleasure in telling her stories, even if he considered her frightful bad luck upon the ship for speaking so boldly of pirates. If he had only known, then, he thought.
"... listen, Miss Elizabeth, it will be alright... Jack is almost out o' sight, now, an' he will make it in time, jus' you watch... " Joshamee rocked Elizabeth, calming her, as the other crewmembers milled about, gathering firewood to build a signal bonfire. They knew just how much William, Elizabeth and Jack had all gone through, and how much more Jack, Bill and William still had to go through in the next hours, and they knew that a bonfire would be the only sure thing that would warm them... Jack was now out of sight... and they could only hope that he was alright, and that he had made it through the choppy waters to the Pearl, and to the miracle that would take place...
The sun was sinking lower and lower into the sky, and Elizabeth was so distraught that she swore that she could not watch... but she had to ... Silence had fallen upon the little group on the beach, with only the occasional squawk from Mr. Cotton's parrot. It seemed as though the sun had slowed down... creeping down so slowly as to stop completely... Elizabeth sat next to the fire, nervously biting her fingernails, and gazing at the sunset until she was almost blinded.
Then, solemnly, they all stood up and gathered together, side by side, eyes glued to the setting sun as it was almost dancing upon the edge of the sea with its rays, and the silhouette of the Black Pearl. They all collectively held their breath, not daring to make a sound. Even the parrot stared out to sea.
Suddenly, the sea began to roll, and the resulting waves began to crash against the rocks. Elizabeth was being held to her feet by Mr. Gibbs, as the waves began to roll up against their feet. There was a loud clap of thunder from above their heads, and suddenly the clouds began to turn slightly. As the winds blew fresh salt air across the expanse of water, there was suddenly the most beautiful sight...from the sky down to the masts of the Black Pearl...
Elizabeth cried out "WILL!" ... as they all witnessed a blinding, bright wonderful flash of green light that stretched from the heavens to the horizen... a soul had returned to earth...
...the sun had set, and now the most painful waiting took place. What had happened? As the little group gathered around the bonfire, no words were said. Elizabeth was breathing hard, knotting and unknotting the edge of the blanket in her hands... leaning against an ever strong Mr. Gibbs, accepting a pat on the shoulder or the hands by Ragetti and the silent Mr. Cotton. Finally, a voice broke through the darkness, and the longboat came into the firelight. As they all looked up, they all broke into smiles, as the grinning face of Bootstrap Bill Turner came into view. "Ahoy! Ahoy, crew of th' Black Pearl!"
Elizabeth got to her feet and slowly walked through the sand in wonder... Bill got out of the longboat and slowly approached her, letting her take it all in... "Bootstrap...?" she whispered.
He smiled at her, gently..."Aye... daughter-in-law..." he took up her hands in his, and said softly, "... your husband is waitin' t' see ya..." And as she collapsed into Bill's arms, a mighty "HUZZAH!" rose from Jack's jubilant crew... Jack had made it with the chest... and William was alive...
Elizabeth threw off the blanket and ran to each crewmember, "... Mr. Cotton! Marty!"... her laughter rang like little bells, and she embraced them... she dashed to Pintel and Ragetti, who were still shouting and dancing, and she cut a caper with them in the sand...Elizabeth then ran to Mr. Gibbs, threw her arms around his beefy neck and exclaimed, "Joshamee! Oh thank you!" and kissed him, twice! She then stopped, caught her breath, and looked out to the lights of the Black Pearl, and breathed, "Jack... oh, Jack... thank you... thank you...I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
... and then... without even thinking of her sea bag, she ran to the longboat, and started to push off without Bill... he laughed, grabbed the seabag that was tossed to him by little Marty, and yelled, "We'll be back for ye in the mornin', gents... we are havin' a Turner family reunion t'night." And with that, he tossed over a keg of rum for the crew, compliments of Captains Sparrow and Turner, and pushed the longboat off of the sand, and into the darkness...
...a bone weary Jack sat next to William's bunk, arms and shoulders numb from rowing, finally dressed in clean clothing, his bandana was soaked in sweat. He had stripped down to only his breeches during the process that it took to restore William's heart. It did, in fact, require the need of William's dagger, and once the heart was in place, it suddenly became a very bloody process. The room had lit up with a blinding green light, and the whole ship had rocked with the clap of thunder, and suddenly, the long gash that had been cut into the young man's chest closed itself off without the benefit of stitches. The wound still bled, however, and needed to be bound up with tight bandages around William's chest and over one shoulder, but he was alive... and mortal... and sleeping peacefully...
Jack could not stop staring at him. Once or twice he placed his hand over the bandage, and felt the heart beating stronger than any heart had any right to. He felt William's forehead and his face, and they were warm to the touch. William had been completely conscious until the heart was actually in place, and he had then understandably gone under. It was just as well...
Jack looked over at the open, empty chest, sitting on the table, the key in the lock. It had changed drastically in appearance... or he thought it had... he could not always remember things, these days, he thought, vaguely. He did not remember it being as beautiful as it was, now... in fact, it had been downright ugly, but then... he could be wrong. He took another pull from the bottle of rum in his thin hand, and burning, throbbing pain made his other hand shoot up to his own face. He winced... the pain was like a knife. Elizabeth had taken quite a swing at him, to the lass' credit, and had completely and bloodily knocked out one tooth... he had spat it out right into the China Sea... he thought that another one might be chipped... and it hurt ... but it was all in the back of his mouth, and it was a small sacrifice to make... he looked over at William, and then reached over and patted the lad's arm...
As he heard the longboat bump against the side of the Pearl, he sighed heavily, and prepared to slip out of the cabin and into the deep, dark shadows that only the Pearl could possess... he would make himself scarce, blending into the darkness as naturally as if he were a part of the ship, so that the closest thing to a family that he had ever known could finally be alone, together... without him. Deep down in his own emotional Locker, a voice whispered that he did not belong there when the Turners were finally brought together...
He took another pull of rum to quiet his own heart and to rid his mouth of the taste of blood, took one more look at William, and prepared to slip out onto the main deck to find a place to stay out of the way...
To be continued...