Chapter Four
Broken Promises

- The Queen's Palace, Neptuño -
- December 24, 1826 -

The palace was buzzing that morning with servants running back and forth up and down the stairs with food and decorations, preparing for the next night's ball. She sighed, tossing the ball plans, that were written on a piece of parchment, on to the ground, and sank down into her large golden throne that sat on the rested on the platform between the two staircases that made of the Grand Staircase in the ballroom. As tinsel and stars flew past her with a blur, she closed her emerald eyes and momentarily had a moment of peace. Momentarily, of course. But being Queen of the Seas, Lila Turner hardly ever had any peace.

She popped open her emerald eyes, and pushed herself off of the throne, and walked past the servants, down the corridors to her study that was at the end. She had noticed her husband's absence that morning. When she woke up, he wasn't beside her like he usually was since he tended to sleep in as late as he possibly could. Not that William needed sleep, being Dutchman Captain. It had just remained as a habit for him. She had thought that maybe he had gone downstairs early, but when he wasn't down there either, she just assumed that he was out on the seas faring souls. But still, he would have told her if it was his time to go out.

Sometimes she thought herself to be selfish. Elizabeth did have to wait for William for ten years before he could come on land again, while Calypso compromised and let Will go out for only weeks at a time, sometimes merely days at a time, or whenever he was needed. Thought Lila really wasn't complaining. After all the two of them had been through, leading up to them finally being together, it was safe to say that neither of them ever wanted to go though half of the things they had gone through in years before.

Lila sighed quietly to herself as she unlocked the large, golden-lined door with the sparrow emblem proudly on the front. She walked inside, closing the door behind her. As she walked past the fire that was still burning in the fireplace from the previous night, she bent down and picked up the piece of parchment that appeared to have been blown around. She glanced over at the window, to see that there were little wet spots on the sill, letting her know that the window had apparently blown open. She sat down in the throne styled chair that was behind her desk, and pushed that parchment aside, looking down at the one that was in front of her.

If Jack had really found the scabbard from the Sword of Cortés, Jack could truly be rendered unbeatable if he got his hands on the actual Sword. Somehow, that slightly unnerved Lila. Jack was already Pirate King, and she feared if he had too much power, well, things would have a greater possibility of going completely insane, rather than just a little insane. Because if there's one thing Lila knew, it was never to mess with Captain Jack Sparrow's ego.

She sighed, and glanced down at the letter that was in her hands. Her and Jack had uncovered it the previous summer in Spain, but she had never read it. She put down the parchment she had picked up from the floor, and began to read the water-stained letter.

December 20, 1712
Cortez,

I've told you a thousand times before, you are no longer safe there. Stone-Eyed Sam is after the sword and I know that the sword is still in your posession.
You've cursed the gold, mate, what's there left to do? Kill off the Aztecs? They'll worship your every move. They think you're a god.
With the scabbard, the sword and the Aztecs, you'll be rendedered unstoppable.

I'm writing to tell you I can no longer hold the scabbard for you. If I lose it, the kingdoms will scab over as the curse put by Calypso states.
And no, I don't owe my Neptune anything by protecting his kingdom, but I owe his daughter, my neice, quite alot.

Lila paused at that sentence. Her breath momentarily caught in her chest as she reread that sentence about ten times to try and put together that that was written. A maid or two had walked into the study and began cleaning up the wet spots that were no doubt due to the snow that had blown in the previous night. She smiled up at them, before turning back to the letter that was in her hands.

Stone-Eyed Sam wants the sword, and I think he'll try and find the scabbard as well. Which is why I'm sending it back to you.
My curse is setting in now that that heathen goddess has been bound. I think he resides in the Isla Esqueletica, wanting nothing more
thatn to rule over the small kingdom. I think he's with my sister continuing to burn the small city. He won't be able to rule unles the Sword is his.

I have to bid you fairwell for the time being. I'll try my best to meet you at the Isla in the coming weeks, but don't count on it.
I go where the Dutchman is called.

Signed,
Captain Davy Jones
The Flying Dutchman

Her uncle had been apart of this? He had no doubt been friends with Cortés,but hadn't Lila read somewhere where Cortés's power base in Mexico had deteriorated? Could Davy have possibly betrayed Cortés himself and took the Sword and scabbard for himself? That could possibly explain a few things. Though Lila had another feeling. Even though Davy had indeed been the heartless pirate that stabbed William all those years ago, and though she would never be able to forgive him for that, Lila had always known a different Davy.

And something inside of her was wanting the betrayl and even the stabbing of William to not be his fault, though she knew deep down that that was near to impossible.

She decided at that moment that she would just talk to Chantico herself. Chantico was the goddess of fire, and Lila was almost one hundred percent postitive, being the goddess of the seas, that she could contact Chantico, even if she had to have help from Calypso. Which also led to another thing Lila had to do. Talk to Calypso. She had apparently put the curse on the Sword of Cortés, she had to do something.

As the maids exited the study, Lila put down the letter, still in deep thought. She closed her emerald eyes momentarily, before opening them once more, and staring down at the parchment that had blown on the floor. She sighed, and unfolded it, staring down at it. It appeared to be yet another letter. She leaned back on the chair, and scanned over it. She leaned forward and stared at it more intently when she realized that this was one of the letters that had been in the dead man's chest before it was Will's.

It was from Davy to Calypso written just a day after Davy's letter to Cortés.

Decemeber 21, 1712

My dearest Calypso,

How can you say that you me me and only me when this is my fate. I'm heartless, I promised my heart to you and only you, and yet you
leave me like this. I did nothing but wait for you, Calypso. I kept my promise and wanted to see you when my years were up, and it was finally
our change to be together, but were you there? No.

HOw I watched the horizon hoping that you were coming towards me. Do you not realize how much pain you have cuased me?
I'm a cursed man now, Calypso. I'll never be free. You know the curse, the curse is yours. Ten years at sea, a day at land.
Steep prise to be paid for what has been done, and here I thought it just depended on the one day.

Lila's heart pounded against her chest as she read this. Tears were filling her eyes, since it was killing her how she could almost picture Will saying this. She wiped her eyes, and attempte to blink away her tears so that she could finish reading the letter.

You know how the curse works. I promised my heart to you, and even though you are now gone from me, I cannot promise it to another.
I'm cursed in that way too, Calypso. I will always be bound to you no matter what I do. I'm always always yours.
"As I sail away from you, pain sets in and sees me through, pain and storms will come soon for me. But I shall never die."

Yours Forever.
Captain Davy Jones
The Flying Dutchman

She slammed the letter down on her desk as tears rolled down her cheeks. She had always known how much pain she had cuased William, but hearing Davy speak in almost the same way that she would expect Will to be thinking, since he would never tell it to her, it killed her.

" 'Ow's my princess?" She heard a familar voice call out from behind the closed study doors. Had this been under any other circumstances, Lila would have smiled at that. But not now, she was too deep in thought to process anything other than what she had just read. What had it been that Davy had said? That since he promised his heart to Calypso, he could never promise it to another? Had Will not promised his own heart to Elizabeth? Was Will's heart really hers? Of course it was. Lila had his heart long before Elizabeth...right?

But maybe it was that fact that made Lila break down in the study and cry. Cry over the fact, that after all these years, everything she had done to William came crashing down on her.

Will smiled as he made his way down the stairs. After his talk with Calypso that morning, he came away assured that though he had promised his heart to Elizabeth, Calypso would surely know that Lila had his heart long before. Will didn't know the irony of the situation in knowing that Lila was crying over the same exact thing in the study just down the hall.

"Uncle Jackie!!" Annie squealed as she got up from the piano bench, since she was taking her lessons, willingly, unlike Lila who never wanted to take them. She ran over to him. Jack smiled, taking off his coat, and brushing the snow out of his dreadlocked hair, before picking Annie up and twirling her around.

Jack kissed her cheek and said, " 'Ow are you, darlin'?" Annie smiled up at him with a smile that scarily reminded him of her mother. She laughed and said, "Good!"

"Good." Jack said to her, winking at her. She put her head on his shoulder when Will made it to the last step. Saphira walked out from behind Jack, handing her coat to one of the servants. After she thanked him, she smiled at Will, and walked up and hugged him. Will put his arms around her and said, "How are you?"

In the last three months they hadn't seen each other, at lot had happened. Saphira smiled up at him and said, "I'm fine. Getting used to everything at Atlantis. It's weird." Will smiled as he leaned against the wall, completely knowing the feeling. Marrying a princess, now Queen, and turning from a blacksmith, to a pirate now to a prince. He looked at her for a moment, lost in the coversation he had had with Calypso that morning. Saphira recognized this look, as one he usually got when he was thinking about Lila. She leaned against the railing, and looked up at him as she asked, "Lila problems?"

"Not exactly." Will said, with a smile. "I just feel...guilty sometimes." His eyes drifted off to where Jack was with Annie. He had said something to her that made her burst into a fit of laughter. She was laughing so hard, her face was purple, and Will was surprised she could still breath. Saphira looked at him for a moment, before asking, "How so, darling?"

"I loved Elizabeth...but when I promised her my heart....it still belonged to Lila." Saphie smiled at that statement. Will had always loved Lila, but she understood where Will was coming from. That was exactly the reason that Lila didn't marry Jack. While she did love Jack, she always loved Will.

"Darling, Lila knows that you love her. Elizabeth knew..." Saphie trailed off at seeing Will's expression. He knew Lila knows he loves her, but as for Elizabeth? The last few years was questionable. And that was what was killing Will. He should have went after Lila. He should have never let her go. He should have...

....but didn't everything fall into place? He wouldn't have been immortal, where as Lila would have. He wouldn't be standing on this step right now, ruling beside the girl that he loves with a gorgeous daughter. Everything somehow fell into place for all of them.

But that still didn't make Will not live in regret and guilt sometimes. Those ghosts would always haunt him, as they always did Lila. Saphira smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around him again, and saying, "Will, all that matters now is that she loves you." Will smiled at her, and nodded, knowing that Lila did. But somehow that wasn't comforting him.

"Hey, mate." Jack said, with his usual slur and swagger as he came to stand beside them, with Annie still in his arms. "Mate, you look bloody awful." Jack smirked when Annie started laughing again. Will rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway.

Time had changed many things, but that was one thing that would never change. Because he knew, in three hundred years from now, Captain Jack
Sparrow would still be the same.

Jack looked up at Will for a moment, then up to the large golden star that a few palace workers were hanging in the middle of the ball room. Looking back at Will, with a weird expression on his face, Jack asked, "Where's Lila?"

"Where is Lila? I looked for her, but Neptune said he hadn't see her all morning." Saphie said, looking at Will.

"I know where she's at. I'll be right back." He nodded at Saphira and Jack, before exiting the room. He sighed and walked down the stairs, knowing exactly where Lila was. She had been taking this whole Queen thing a little too seriously. I mean, serious though the job was, Lila was too stressed out. And Will knew that that couldn't be good for her.

Once he got to the doors, Will knocked and asked, "Lila?" When no one
answered, he put his hand on the knob and said, "Lila, darling? Li, it's me." He heard the door unlock. Will paused for a moment, before pushing the door open. When he saw her, his face fell.

"Darling, what on earth?" He walked over to her, and took her into his arms as she cried. He kissed the top of her head and said, "Li, what's wrong?" She shook her head, and kept crying. Will didn't know what to do. Lila never cried, or when she did, she tried to hide it. That was the thing about her, and would go for most of the Sparrow family, they never liked showing their emotions. But now, it seemed that Lila really didn't care.

"Li..." Will pulled back, and looked down into Lila's tear-stained face. He sighed as he took one of his hands, and wiped some away as they left small smudges of kohl behind. It seemed like Lila was having trouble meeting Will's gaze for some reason, and that bothered him. "Lila...look at me." She shook her head, picking a spot on the floor to look at instead. "Li, look at me!" He took his hands on her face, and gently pulled it up so that her piercing emerald eyes met Will's two mesmorizing dark pools. "Love, you can tell me."

"I did this to you."

"Li, love. What are you talking about?" But when she looked up at him, he instantly recognized that look. She didn't have to tell him what was wrong, he knew. He knew without even asking her.

"I did it to you." She put her hand to the key when she said that. Will's heart broke. His figurative heart, since the real thing was beating in the corner just a few feet away. His heart began pounding in the metal chest in the corner when Lila said that. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as Will closed his eyes and rested his head on hers.

"Lila, you didn't. Don't ever say that." Will whispered as he rested his head on her so that his breath was hot against her neck. "Lila, you didn't do this to me. It had to happen."

"-no, Will-"

"Lila, listen to me!" Will said in a rather loud voice, causing Lila to stop momentarily and stare up at him. Will never raised his voice with her which was why it took her completely off guard. When he realized what he had done, his features relaxed. He cupped the side of her face with one of his hands and said, "Darling, you didn't do this to me, alright? You didn't."

She nodded, not because she believed what he said, but because she simply didn't want to argue with him anymore. Will leaned down and kissed her, before pulling her back in his arms. She wasn't crying anymore, by the time she laid her head back on Will's chest, and melted into his embrace like she always did. She closed her emerald eyes, as a tear rolled down her cheek, wishing she could take back so many things.

As Will held on to Lila, his eyes fell down to the now tear-stained letter that was lying on the ground. It was dropped with tears, letting William know that that was the cause of his wife's crying. Keeping a strong arm around Lila, he reached beside her and grabbed the letter. One sentence in Davy's letter made him cringe.

I promised my heart to you, and even though you are now gone from me...

Will had promised it to Elizabeth. He had given his heart to her, lying and saying to her that it had always belonged to her when in truth, it laid with the goddess that had broken his heart by leaving him, for what he thought would be forever. And now, he held her crying in his arms, as she wanted so desperatley to take everything back. She was broken now just as he was the day she left.

I cannot promise it to another.

What if his heart was always stuck with Elizabeth? Always bound to her? Could Lila never truly be the holder of Will's heart even though she had captured it over a century ago?

How I watched the horizon, hoping that I'd see you coming towards me.
Do you not realize how much pain you have caused me. I'm a cursed man now....