-Present Day-
-The Flying Ductchman-

Neptune's War
The Eve Before The War

"People come into your life and people leave it...
...you just have to trust that life has a road mapped out for you."

Rain was falling steadily that night. It was silent, but sometimes a roll of thunder would be heard overhead, or an occasional gunshot or cannon ringing off in the distance as pirates everywhere prepared for what the next day would bring.

If there was one, of course.

Neptune had declared war once more. News was spreading rapidly around the Caribbean islands that the war was on again. And this time, they knew that it wasn't going to be called off again. It was now that people had to choose sides on this now three sided war. Are you with Neptune? Are you with the pirates? Or are you with the EITC. That was something that had to be decided that night as three ships sailed off the coast of Port Royal.

The two captains sat in the dining room of the Dutchman. Sitting at one end was an ageless captain. A captain who had cheated death many times, failing once, but somehow always managed to come out on top. With the help of a certain fountain of course.

Sitting across from him was an immortal captain. A curse was broken until he went back to the Dutchman after the death of his wife and child. Forever immortal and forever young, he was no longer bound to the Dutchman, but somehow, he knew he always would be.

Will was watching Jack with some amusement as the thunder crashed again. Jack was taking his rum bottle and moving it around in little circles, watching the liquid swash around in it as he did so. Jack smirked slightly, before bringing the rum bottle to his lips. After he swallowed the enormous gulp of rum, he turned to Will and said, "I have to say-" He paused for a thoughtful moment, before finishing,
"-this is by far worse than the fightin'."

Will glanced up at Jack to see him taking another drink. Lifting his bottle to his own lips, he asked, "What is?"

"This." Jack said, as if Will should have known. "The waitin'." Will nodded in agreement. Not knowing what was going on out there was killing Jack as much as it was Will. And that was saying something. The only captain out of all of them that was keeping a leveled head was Grant, but even he had his moments. "I gotta tell ya somethin', Turner. If it was'n for Lila, I proba'ly wouldn't be 'ere righ' now."

Will sighed. He could tell from Jack's words that he was getting drunk. Though Will knew that this probably wasn't the best time in the world to get drunk, he didn't object. Simply, because Jack wouldn't have listened to him anyway. Nodding his head in agreement as he leaned back on the back two legs of his chair, he said in a quiter tone of voice, "Truth be told, I probably wouldn't be either, Jack."

"Funny 'ow that works, isn't it?" Jack asked with a slight smirk. When Will didn't respond, Jack took that as a sign to keep on talking. "A girl that makes us do the very thin' tha' we don't want to do." Jack raised his bottle back to his lips and took a big drink. Will groaned and asked, "Jack, do you honestly think it wise to get drunk now?"

"Wha'? Gettin' drunk a 'fore a war, ay? Of course I do." Jack said with a snort, "Bloody good way to go into it, if ye ask me, mate." His eyes weren't focused on Will, but behind him as if someone was standing behind Will. This unnerved Will slightly, but he let no sign show that it did. Jack's chocolate eyes turned back to Will's hazel ones as he smirked at him even more.

"What?" Jack shook his head. "Jack, what?"

"Nothin', mate." Jack said with a smile as Will came back on all four of the chair's legs. "I just know what you want to ask me, is all." Will took this as his only opprotunity to ask this question. So, he did, "Did you two really-?"

Jack's grin grew as he rested his boots on the table, crossing them. Turning his intense eyes back on the young captain, he said with a smile, "Mate, I'm not goin' to answer a anythin' that has somethin' to do with nothin' at all. And that somethin' has a lot of anythin' to do with nothin' excecpt for the nothin' that it has somethin' to do with." Will rolled his eyes at Jack's completely confusing statement. Though Jack was smiling at it, pleased nonetheless. "She's a somethin', though, Will."

Getting over the shock that Jack actually called him Will instead of Turner, William, Mate or (cringe) eunuch, Will smiled over at the smirking face of his former rival as he asked, teasingly, "I'm guessing she's the something that has a lot to do with the anything that I'm not supposed to know of?"

Jack clicked his tongue, before smiling and saying, "Catch on fast, don't ye, William?" Will smiled to himself before Jack turned back to his bottle of rum. When Jack noticed Will was still watching him, Jack wrinkled his nose, teasingly, and said to him, "Mate, I'm extremely flattered, but I told you a'fore. My only love is the sea."

Will opened his mouth to speak, but caught himself. He smirked at Jack, who was now watching him closely with a scared expression as if he was going to whip out his sword and knock his head off. "Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"You know how Jones always said that he was the sea?"

Jack thought for a moment, before saying, "Aye, I do recall that."

"And if you think about it, I sort of am the...new Jones in a way, if you think about of course." Jack looked over at Will, confused at where he was getting at, but nodded in agreement as he thought about what Will had just said to him. Smirking, Will leaned over on the table and said, "So, do you think it wise to be going around saying your only love is the sea?"

Jack sat there, utterely confused, but then it hit him as hard as he thought Will was going to hit him a minute ago with his sword. He narroed his black eyes, and was about to say something, when Will said, "I'm extremely flattered, of course, Jack." Will said with a slight smile, "But I've told you before. As it were, I'm in love with the princess. So sorry-"

"-Turner, you forget your-" But Jack never got a chance to finish what he was going to say, because at that moment, a knock came from outside the door. "Will?" Came Gwen's voice a minute later, "Can I come in?"

"Of course." Will said as Jack still angrily stared at him as if he wished nothing more than to kill him. Gwen and Anya appeared in the room when the door was open. Gwen smiled at Will, but when she saw the look on Jack's face, her smile quicky faded. "What's wrong with him?" She asked, quietly as she glanced over at Will.

"Oh, just ignore him." Will said to her, smiling. "What is it that you need to tell me?"

"Lila's asking for you." Anya said, not taking her eyes off of the angry Jack who was still staring at Will with that murderous expression. But somehow, the sound of Lila's name had a calming affect on Jack who glanced up at the two girls and asked, "How is she?"

"Better." Gwen replied with a smile before Anya cut in, "A little cranky though."

"I believe I'd be a bit cranky too if my father's army just shot me." Jack replied, dryly, ignoring the glare that Will just shot him. Turning back to the girls he smiled and said, "Thanks, girls." When he reached the door, he whirled back around and motioned for the girls to meet him at the door. When they did, he said, "Make sure that you keep an eye on Jackie, over there. He's had a bit too much-"

"Again?" Anya said with a sigh as she looked over at Jack who was now fluffing Norrington's wig. All three of them were staring at him, before Gwen said, "We need to get rid of that."

"I thought Lila threw it overboard."

Will made a disgusted face as he watched Jack place the wig on his head, and said, "I thought she did too. Well, thank you anyway, girls." He smiled down at the two of them, before making his way down the small hallway to his quarters. When he got to the door, he knocked on it softly and said, "Darling-"

"Come in." He opened the door to see her sitting by the window, staring out off it. He sighed as he walked in, lighting a candle in the corner, and said, "Lila, darling. Do you think you should be-" He was cut off when she turned around and smiled at him. That distraced him momentarily as he stared at her. She looked like her normal self now. Not that girl that seemed to be on death's door step just a few weeks ago. He smiled himself as he walked over to her and carefully wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her a moment later when he saw the distant look on her face. She didn't answer him for a minute. She only stared out at the moon. But she eventually said with a sigh, "This is madness. This whole thing." He looked down at her to see that she was rubbing the amethsyt again, "I mean, it already happened when we were kids-"

"-that was over a hundred years ago, Li. People have changed-"

"They haven't changed themselves, Will. This damned world has just changed them." She said, still not looking up at him, though she leaned more into him. He rested his head on hers as he thought about her statement, but he never had a chance to reply because she said, "Who do you think's going to win this? Honestly?"

"I don't know, love. I wish I did." He said, quietly. "Why? You're not doubting yourself, are you?"

"Part of me wants us to lose this." She said, in an even quieter voice than Will had just used. "I mean, I don't think I'm ready. Or ever will be for that matter. I'm not made for this, Will. I'll make a horrible que-"

"Don't say that." He said, shaking his head. "You heard your mother when we left you at the docks that day. She believed in you, Li." He was silent for a minute, before he said, "They all do. They're helping us, aren't they? And I do too." She looked up at him for the first time when he said that. He smiled and pushed back one of her curls as he said, "You'll make a fine queen, Li. Don't think differently."

"You're just saying that."

"I could say that I was just saying that to make you feel better." He said, smiling. "But it'd be a lie. It's the truth. You will be an amazing queen, Li. We'll win this-"

"-that's what I'm afraid of." She sighed as she rested her head against Will's chest. "It's a complicated emotion. I don't want my father to get hurt, but at the same time, I don't want this bloody crown. I'm not-"

"Lila."

"What?" She asked him in a bored voice. "I'm not-" She didn't know what she was about to say. Nor could she recall what she was going to say a minute later, because Will leaned down and kissed her softly. When he pulled back, momentarily, he smiled down at her and rested his forhead on hers as he said, "Don't doubt yourself. You'll get thru this. You'll become queen, and I'll be by your side the whole time."

She smiled up at him and asked, "Do you promise?"

"I keep my promises, darling. Because if you recall, I promised to marry you and I intend to do just that." She smiled at that, remembering thier last night together for seven years. "Unlike you though, Princess. I never saw his heart-"

"-liar. You saw it-"

"-ah, yes. I did, darling. But you're not the one who showed it to me, are you?" She laughed as he pulled her closer to him and allowed her to lay against him once more. He kissed the top of her head, and soon the room fell silent. He saw why a moment later, because she had fallen asleep. Smiling, he carefully scooped her up into his arms, carried her to his bed, and gently laid her down. He smiled down at her sleeping form as the Jewel of the Sea glistened in the moonligh. He closed his eyes, remembering the day her mother gave that to her. When he opened his eyes, and looked down at her, he realized that what everyone had always said was true. She did look just like her mother. Smililng, he laid down beside her and wrapped his arm around her.

His mother had always told him that people came into your lives for a reason. Will and Lila's destinies seemed to always be on different paths. They were once connected, then broken. Then they were entwined, only to be broken again. Now, it seemed that they were connected once more. And Will had already told himself that he was going to keep it that way for as long as he possibly could.

But this time, he had a strong feeling that the two of them were on the same path once again.

"People come into your life and people leave it...
...you just have to trust that life has a road mapped out for you."