Chapter 10

"The nerve of that man. Thinking he can control me life? Not now, not ever!" Jewel grumbled to herself. She stomped up to the bow where Pintel and Ragetti were. She climbed up on the bowsprit and sat back. She looked back at the two pirates, who were staring back a her.

"What are you both looking at?" she asked. They both flinched and looked away from her, fishing poles down. Jewel crossed her arms, staring ahead toward the sky.

He's not my master. Nobody is my master. I'm my own master, I decide what I should do. She thought, He may be my father, but I'm getting tired of him being so protective of me. She sighed, starting to calm down a little bit, I just wish he'd let me live my own life, or at least have some semblance of my own life. Ragetti gasping pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" she asked. The men were looking down at the water. Jewel's eyes traveled below her. Pale white bodies floated in the water, drifting past the ship and back to the Locker. Jewel balanced herself and walked along the bowsprit to a rope, which secured one of the sails.

"Eerie, that's downright macabre." Pintel said

"Wonder what would happen if you dropped a cannonball on one of 'em?" Ragetti asked. The two smirked at each other and chuckled as they scampered away. Jewel rolled her eyes.

It feels like everybody on board has something wrong with them. she thought. She looked back down at the bodies. There were so many of them in varying sizes and clothes. Tia Dalma walked to the bow and was surprised at them all.

"Aye, it doesn't seem right." Jewel said looking back at her.

"Yes Sparrow, dis is not right at all!" Tia said, shaking her head. Soft laughter approached them. Pintel and Ragetti returned each holding their own cannonball. Tia and Jewel glared at them, Jewel shaking their head, and they dropped their cannonballs, letting them roll away.

"Be disrespectful, it would." Pintel said, bowing his head

"Good men." Jewel nodded. Tias gaze returned to the floating bodies. The two men carefully walked up to her side.

"Dey should be in de care of Davy Jones." Tia said, "That was the duty him was charged with by the goddess Calypso. To ferry them who dies at sea to de other side. And every ten years he could come ashore to be with she who love him, truly. But the man has become a monster."

"Pff, I'll say." Jewel muttered

"So he wasn't always... Tentacly?" Ragetti asked, wriggling his fingers under his chin for emphasis.

"No, him was a man... Once." Tia replied with a smile, gently caressing her necklace. Jewel looked at the bodies that were coming, and put a hand over her mouth to hide her gasp.

"Now it's boats coming." Ragetti said. Jewel climbed down the bowsprit and looked over the railing. Like the floaters, there were people of every shape and kind in the small boats. Jewel followed with her eyes one boat with two little girls in little frilly dresses.

"There are children younger than me." she said, shaking her head. With the helm tied off, the whole crew gathered at the railings to see the souls in the boats as they passed.

"Did Jones do all of this?" Jewel asked Tia

"Not of his own free will." Tia said, shaking her head slightly.

"Beckett." Jewel simply said. Tia made no response. Gibbs grabbed a musket and began to load it, but Will stopped him, grabbing the muzzle.

"They're not a threat to us. Am I right?" Will asked, looking to Tia.

"We are nothing but ghosts to them." she replied

"Is best just let them be." Barbossa agreed. Jewel watched the boats drifting by. She ran to the other side of the ship when she thought she saw a familiar face. No, it was somebody else. She let out the breath she was holding.

"It's my father, we've made it back. Father here, look here!" Elizabeth announced. Jewel looked back at Elizabeth, everybody crowded around her. Jewel shook he head slightly, walking to the railing.

"Elizabeth, we're not back." Jack told her. Then she saw him. Governor Swann in his refinery in one of the boats.

"Oh no." Jewel said softly. Will reached out a hand to Elizabeth, who made no reaction to Jack's words.

"Father!" she yelled, successfully getting the man in the boat's attention.

"Elizabeth,." he said, "Are you dead?"

"No, no." Elizabeth said, shaking her head.

"I think I am." He replied

"No, you can't be!" Elizabeth yelled, on the verge of tears.

"There was this chest, you see. And a heart. At the time it seemed so important." Governor Swann said

"Come aboard!" Elizabeth shouted, banging her hands on the railing.

"I learned that if you stab the heart, yours must take its place. Sail the seas for eternity. The Dutchman must always have a captain. Silly thing to die for." he said

"He knew too much," Jewel said, shaking her head.

"Someone cast a line!" Elizabeth ordered. Marty turned to retrieve a coil of rope. He was pulling it all together when Elizabeth took it from him, running back to the rail.

"A touch of destiny." Tia said to Will, nobody else hearing those words. Elizabeth threw the rope to her father, holding onto the other end of it.

"Take the line!" she commanded him.

"Elizabeth, I'm so proud of you." he said with a smile

"Father, the line, take the line!" Elizabeth begged him, tears streaming down her face. The end of the line slid out of the Governor's boat and into the water, Governor Swann making no effort to grab it or do anything at all. Elizabeth ran screaming toward the stern to stay with her father as much as she could.

"Elizabeth!" Jewel yelled

"She must not leave the ship!" Tia said. Everybody rushed to the woman. She held onto the rigging, climbing up to stand on the railing.

"Father, come back with us! I won't leave you!" she cried out

"If you jump, I swear I'll shoot you!" Jewel screamed pulling her pistols out and aiming them at Elizabeth. The woman looked back at her before Will grabbed onto her and pulled her back on deck.

"Elizabeth." Will said

"I'll give your love to your mother, shall I?" came Governor Swann's final words as his boat drifted into the black behind them. Will held Elizabeth as she sobbed against his chest. He looked at Tia Dalma.

"Is there a way?" he asked. Tia shook her head.

"Him at peace." she said. Jewel put her guns back in her belt and rubbed at her eyes. She stood tall and walked over to Elizabeth. She wanted to say something, she knew what to ay, but she turned on her heel and went below to her cabin, climbing into her hammock and having a restless night of sleep.