Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anything relating to "Pirates of the Caribbean". Do not give me credit for anything other than writing this story.

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the second Pirates movie, Dead Man's Chest. If you have not yet seen the movie and want to be surprised, turn back now.

Peas in a Pod

Elizabeth Swann had a bad streak. A bad streak of pure, unadulterated curiosity. She had to admit, she and Captain Jack Sparrow had that in common, and more. He understood her, understood her need for freedom and the lust for the unknown. He understood her in a way that no one, even Will, ever would.

She loved Will Turner, there was no denying that. He captured her heart that very moment they pulled him aboard from the waters all those years ago when she was first traveling to the Caribbean. Her fingertips caressed that gold pirate medallion around his neck, the curiosity driving her closer to him, and she was hooked. She would die for him, just as he almost died for her. And most importantly, she would kill for him.

It seemed now that she could check that last bit off her list.

Elizabeth wasn't proud of what she did. No, it felt a little bit more like shame. But she was in danger, and Will was in danger, and the only thoughts coherent in her very cluttered mind in that moment were:

What would Jack Sparrow do?

So, she kissed him. It was all for the sake of their lives, at first. Davy Jones was only after one thing and he wasn't going to stop until he got it. All he wanted was the Captain of the Black Pearl himself. And that's exactly what she gave him. She tricked Jack into kissing her, and in that very moment his defenses were down, she cuffed him to his own ship; the very ship he spent ten years searching for, and the same ship he was about to leave behind to be swallowed by the sea.

There was no stopping Davy Jones. Elizabeth knew Jack was damned to the endless, deep blue depths sooner or later, but she wasn't ready to allow Jack to choose everyone else's fate. She wasn't ready to die, not with her life just ready to begin. She had to make a very important choice in that moment and ask herself a most crucial question; where would Jack choose to dig his grave?

The Black Pearl, of course.

What would Jack do? Being the self absorbed, greedy man he was, he would choose to save himself and what he loved most. Jack had made his choice when he rowed back to the Pearl and saved them from The Kraken. And now Elizabeth had to choose to let him go, to save herself and her fiancé. And that's exactly what she did.

The more she repeated that very same reasoning to herself over and over again, the more the guilt ripped away at her body, at her sanity. Jack had saved them all and she had left him for death. Perhaps she and Jack were more connected than she had previously thought.

"Don't look so down, love. What, did someone piss in the rum?"

Elizabeth's head snapped up to see the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow, the sea behind him and a slight wind lofting through his tangled, dreadlocked hair; the man who had finally chose to do the right thing. And she failed him.

"You're dead," she said, exasperated. She should know. She killed him.

"Am I?" Jack replied, looking down at himself with those intense brown eyes, his hands animated as he patted his chest with jeweled fingers, trying to decipher what it was exactly that made her accuse him of this. And then he remembered; Davy Jones. The Pearl. The tentacles. "Ah, so I am."

She sobbed. Jack looked over to see the tears in her eyes, the dampness on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Jack, I-"

He sat down next to her on the stairs, just as they had not days before. "Don't cry over spilled milk, 'Lizabeth," he told her. "I'm here right now, am I not?"

She sniffed. "No, not really. This isn't real. This place isn't real," she emphasized with an open hand, signaling to their surroundings. They were on the Black Pearl, the very ship that she saw swallowed down into Davy Jones' locker two days ago.

Jack reached out, touching her leg with a sly, mischievous grin. "You're right, love. I'm a figment of your imagination. But in your imagination or not, I'm still here. You can still reach out and touch me."

Elizabeth stared back at him with big, sad eyes. "I had to do what I had to do."

The legendary pirate captain leaned over, his face close to hers. "Peas in a pod, darling," he said with an uplifting of his lips, holding out two fingers in example. His breath was rich and warm, tantalizing, despite Elizabeth's attempts to convince herself that he wasn't really there. "We have a lot in common. Curiosity, hunger. Greed."

"No," she replied instantly. "I'm not like you. I would never trade-"

"Ah," Jack replied, lifting a finger before her eyes. "But you did. You traded me to Davy Jones in order to save yourself and your fiancé. That's called greed, my darling. It seems not only Will Turner has become a pirate, but so have you."

"I didn't, I-" Elizabeth stuttered, unable to explain why she did what she did to him.

He shrugged. "You did what's right by you; can't ask anymore than that."

"We're coming to save you," she breathed. "We agreed to-"

"Sail to the end of the world," Jack completed with a chuckle. "Good luck with that, 'Lizabeth. Give my best to the whelp."

She had to fight herself from not reaching out and pulling him back to her. "You're leaving?" she cried.

"No," Jack told her, swaying in that drunken demeanor of his. "I'm not going anywhere, love. It's you who's leaving."

For a moment, he thought she was going to cry again. He was unprepared, however, when suddenly she reached out and grabbed him by the shirt, kissing him like she had that day in the sun, moments before she handcuffed him to his own ship, leaving him to his deadly fate.

"I'll see you soon," she breathed against his lips.

And then, Elizabeth woke with a jerk.

Fin.