A/N: Okay I am sooooo sorry for taking so long to update. I hope this chapter makes up for it. All thoughts an suggestion will be greatly appreciated. :)

Chapter Seven – Souls At Sea

Will walked through the deck passed the two bickering Captains and walked down the stairs below decks, looking around for his fiancée. Elizabeth hadn't spoken to anyone once they had reached the Black Pearl, just quietly slipped away while Will helped them cast off. Once he'd noticed she was missing he got away as soon as he could to find her. He looked around for her, noticing an alcove build buy a wall of crates in the back corner.

"Elizabeth?" Will called out,

"Will?" she called out, more than a little nervously.

"Are you alright?" He asked moving towards the end of the wall.

"I'm changing my clothes," she replied quickly, obviously hearing his footsteps.

Will immediately stopped and felt his throat tighten. There was only a wall of crates and barrels between them. But when he heard pirate talking on deck he suddenly realised how easily it could have someone else who'd walked in while she changed.

"Elizabeth," he scolded immediately. "How can you be undressed with all these…."

He was interrupted abruptly but a suddenly lurch of the ship, sending him flying into the cracks suddenly. Elizabeth shrieked as she hit the side of the boat with a loud thud. Noises of protests and arguments were heard from the deck and Will held onto a crate as the ship was righted to a stable position.

"Elizabeth," he called out loudly. "Are you alright?" He stopped at the edge of the wall, torn between making sure she wasn't hurt and worried that he'd see her naked.

There was a quiet moan of pain and instinct took over as he walked around the crates and saw her sitting on a makeshift cot, wrapped in a thin towel and holding her head in her left hand. Will walked over to her and sat next to her on the cot and cupped her face in his hands, running his hand over where her hand had been.

Their eyes met and Elizabeth didn't appear to be in great pain. He stroked her head and she gave him a small smile. "I'm fine," she said quietly, holding the towel to her chest. "I just hit the side of the boat." She looked in the direction of the stairs and added, "What happened?"

"I'm guessing a dispute between our Captains," Will answered irritably.

"Oh," she sat quietly, suddenly looking small.

Will moved his arm to her shoulder and upper arm. "It's not your fault," he said softly.

She looked at him. "It couldn't be more my fault." Her voice wobbled as she got emotion. "If it weren't for me none of us would be in this situation."

Will covered her mouth with his hand gently. "Elizabeth, we've found him, it's going to be alright now."

He wanted more than anything to make her feel better. So he kissed her, gently and slowly while cupping the back of her head. Elizabeth sighed and immediately melted into the kiss, putting her arms around his back and her hands on his shoulders. Without thinking, Will deepened the kiss, letting her pull him closer and slide his tongue into her mouth. Her moan only made him more desperate to be close to her and he slowly pushed her down onto the cot, groaning against her mouth as her hands went into his hair.

Elizabeth had moved her legs as he lied down so they were either side of his hips. He broke the kiss and kissed along her jaw, making his fiancée moan loudly and move her legs up so she could squeeze his body with her legs. Will gasped as she pushed his body into hers and gave her an open mouth kiss under her ear, sucking gently at her skin.

"Will," her voice was desperate and longing in her ear and he could no longer keep his hands on the cot either side of her head. The travelled slowly down the soft skin of her arms to her waist, rubbing the towel against her skin making her legs tighten against his body and she pushed her up body towards his. Will kissed down her neck and over her collarbone, her skin salty and amazing to taste. As his mouth moved down to the curve of her breast just pecking out the top of the towel Elizabeth's hands reached the bottom of his shirt and started pulling it up his back.

Like having a bucket of ice cold water over his head, the realisation of what they were doing came crashing down on Will and he nearly threw himself away from his beloved. Putting his hands back on the bed and pushing himself away, he closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. He looked down and saw her breathing heavily, her head thrown back and her body sprawled out in the same position he'd left her. She looked incredible.

"I'm sorry," Will apologised once he'd calmed himself down.

"That was amazing," Elizabeth replied breathlessly, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Please don't stop."

Will sighed and lent forward, giving her a short but loving kiss. He pulled away as Elizabeth tried to deepen it.

"I love you," he whispered against her lips.

"I love you too," she replied.

"Mr. Turner," Ragetti called out nervously from the stairs.

Will sighed and stood. "Coming," he called. He then smiled at Elizabeth, "You should get dressed," he said quietly so only she would hear. As he walked away, he didn't see Elizabeth collapse against the cot in frustration.

That night, Will stood with Elizabeth looking out at dark ocean; it appeared endless as he gazed into the distance looking a horizon. "I've doomed us all," Elizabeth said in a voice so quiet Will only barely heard her.

He put his arm around her and pulled her close to his side. "No you haven't," he reassured. "We will find a way out, Jack always does."

Elizabeth looked up at her fiancée and replied, "You want me to feel better placing my faith in Jack?"

Their eyes met and they found themselves laughing. "I see your point," Will replied.

"But he has quite good luck really, for a pirate," he added.

"Can't say the same for his friends," Elizabeth added in a moment of shame. Everyone around Sparrow was doing it for their own purposes, not because they needed to save him.

"Well he doesn't exactly do the same for his friends," Will replied casually. He seemed to be at peace with everything for the moment, but Elizabeth knew that deep down he was plagued by thoughts regarding his father.

She felt another wave of guilt, somehow feeling responsible for that as well. She pressed her face into his chest and said nothing, not knowing what to say. He hugged her close.

"Look, they are coming in boats," Ragetti said from behind Will and they turned around and saw a series of people of lifeboats floating along the ocean. Elizabeth pulled away from Will to move to the side of the boat and get a better look. They looked alive, but there was something about the way the looked, not to mention where they were that made her think not.

Gibbs walked past her as he loaded his musket and Will stopped him. "They're not a threat to us, am I right?" He looked at Tia Dalma.

"We nothing but ghosts to them," Tia Dalma says calmly.

"It's best just let them be," Barbossa agreed and Elizabeth stared out at them, finding herself gazing into their faces.

After a moment, as the boats get closer, Elizabeth's sees her father sitting in one of the boats. Relief fills her as she smiles at him. "It's my father we've made it back." She raises her voice and called out to her father. "Father! Father over here!"

He doesn't seem to hear her but before she can call out again Jack calls her name softly. She looks back at him and sees sadness in her eye. "We're not back yet."

It takes Elizabeth a moment to realise what he means and it hits her like a blow to a stomach. She turns to her father floating alongside the boat and feels Will's arm go around her and take her hand. But it couldn't be too late, he was right there.

"Father!" she calls out loudly, pulling away from Will and move alongside the edge of the boat.

Governor Swann turned and looked at his daughter in surprise. "Elizabeth?" He paused and then asked, "Are you dead?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No."

"I think I am," he said, as though a little disorientated.

Elizabeth struggled to keep her voice steady. "No you can't be." She feels Will move once again to her side.

"There was this chest you see," Her father said, as though he was recalling his steps. "It's odd. At the time it seemed so important."

As was so close, he could just come back with them like Jack. "Come aboard," she called out.

He didn't seem to hear her. "And a heart. I learned that if you stab the heart, yours must take its place. And you will sail the seas for eternity." She kept walking up parallel to her father's boat as the rest of the crew seemed transfixed by what they were hearing. "The Dutchman must have a captain. Silly thing to die for."

No. No. He wasn't dead. "Cast a line," Elizabeth called out and looked back at her father. "Come back with us." He saw his boat still moving away and she ran to Marty, pulled the rope out of his hands and ran back to the side, throwing the rope over to her father's boat so he could come aboard. "Take the line." She called out.

He just looked up at her father and said emotionally, "I'm so proud of you Elizabeth."

Elizabeth cried out desperately, "Father, the line! Take the line!"

He let it slip off the boat and she ran to the front of the ship. "Father!" she nearly screamed and started climbing up the rope and over the side. "Please come with us!" Will grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down. "No!" she protested. "I won't leave you!" she called out painfully as she struggled against him but he was too strong and got her back on deck.

"I'll give you love to your mother shall I?" were her father's last words.

"Please, I won't let you go!" she cried as Will pulled her into his arms. He was gone, he was dead. Elizabeth started sobbing against her fiancée's chest as he held her.

"Is there a way?" she heard him ask.

"Him at peace," was the answer and she cried out against him.

"Come," he whispered gently in her hair and she let him lead her below decks, keeping her face pressed against him as she cried. It shouldn't have ended like this, she thought to herself as Will led her to the secluded corner she'd set up for herself. She could have saved him.

Rage suddenly coursed through her and she pulled away from Will and shoved him as hard as she could. The surprise and force behind it sent him stumbling back. "Why did you stop me?" she screamed at him. Will looked shocked but she was too angry. It hurt too much. "I could have same him," she yelled. "He could have come aboard but you had to stop me." She shoved him again.

"Elizabeth," he pleaded. "It was too late, your father had already died."

"No," she yelled angrily. "Don't say that!"

She started hitting her fist into his chest, letting out all her pain on him. He pulled her against him so she couldn't hit him anymore. She kept protesting, trying to hit him and yelling at him.

Will just let her till she was too tired and in too much pain. Elizabeth collapsed against him and sobbed. She was an orphan, her father was gone. He'd taken care of her and always put her first. He was dead because of her. She didn't know how long she'd sobbed for. Felt like days and she didn't even notice that Will had sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. Elizabeth cried and cried to the point of exhaustion and the last thing she remembered was Will running his hand through her hair.