saerie10: thx very much for reading and reviewing. About Chris – read and see :)

i.mpresario: thx very much for the review, however I must tell you that I don't hate Beckett. I just see his character as such. In fact, I like Beckett, really.

Princess-Maiden: somehow I think you don't much like Elizabeth… :D

Once again, thank you all who read and reviewed. I apologize if the story was ever confusing (oh yes I twisted the curse a little bit, so what). And I am also sorry I have to make this the final chapter (I am leaving from my homeland, the Czech Republic, for Scotland, where I will be living, studying and working for a year, and I don't have any idea if I will have time to write. But I have my next story planned, so I hope I will. If you are interested, keep and eye on the horizon for the one that will be named "Jack Sparrow: the Name, the Hat, the Tattoo&Beckett").

THX AGAIN

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Beckett's body crashed to the floor, dead, and blood was everywhere. Elizabeth averted her eyes and pressed herself into Will's arms and Will lead her away. The fight was over, the crew were clearing the mess and throwing the dead soldiers' bodies overboard.

Jack didn't care. He picked Chris up and carried her to his cabin, where he laid her carefully on his bed and sat beside her. Nothing else mattered now, not the Pearl, not his crew, not even Elizabeth. Only Chris. Jack sighed. He didn't know what to do to make her stay alive, she was a pitiful sight.

Chris looked around. Where was she? She didn't recognize the place. How could she? It was dark, pitch black. Still, there seemed to be nothing around. An empty space. She wanted to look at herself, maybe it will give me a clue. But she was unable to see anything, so dark it was. She touched her face and felt her nose was probably broken. She touched her hand with the other and felt scratches and cuts, but nothing hurt, like she was alright. She felt her body, her clothes were torn, but she was neither cold nor hot. Am I dead? She looked up again and straight ahead, there was a light, a small white light, like at the end of a tunnel. She turned around to see the same small light behind her. So a tunnel, then. Which way to go? She turned back and decided to go that way, since it was the way she was facing first. She took a few steps. No sound of her footsteps. She realized that there was also no sound of her breathing. The light didn't appear to be any closer. She started walking faster. The light was a little closer now, or did she just imagine it? She stopped and looked back. Yes, that light was definitely farther away now. She smiled a little and turned back to continue but stopped dead. Now there was a silhouette in the light. Still too far away to recognize. Should I continue or rather turn back? Chris decided to continue. The walking seemed like forever with the light and the silhouette not enlarging. She could run, to be there faster, but somehow she didn't think that to be a good idea. So she kept walking, and walking. Suddenly she thought she recognized the silhouette. Could it be…?

Jack had several buckets of water brought into his cabin and yelled at everyone who wanted to help him with Chris to go to hell. When this didn't help, dead threats did, a little later. The crew didn't argue after seeing what happened to Beckett.

The tri-corn hat, yes, of course. Chris grinned and broke into a run, no longer thinking it wasn't a good idea. Still no sound of her footsteps.

Jack started to wash away the blood from Chris's body and cleaning her wounds. He removed her once-blue-now-blood-red bandana from her head and found the P on her forehead the only thing that was a bit healed than it was last time he saw her. Jack very gently washed her face with a cloth and then proceeded to wash the dried blood out of her hair. It came off very slowly. The water in the bucket turned crimson very soon, as did the cloth. He chucked the cloth angrily to the other side of his cabin and took a new one and continued down Chris's body. The more dried blood he washed away, the more all the wounds and gashes became visible. All angrily red, some ragged at the edges and some started to bleed again, so he hurriedly scooped every at-least-a-bit clean cloth from around his cabin and proceeded to bandage these around the wounds as best he ever could, muttering curses.

Chris was running as fast as she could. Still, the light with Jack seemed to draw closer only very slowly. Her grin faded and her face contorted with rapidly growing anger, but she kept running, ever faster, if it was possible, because it was hard to judge speed when nothing moved around, only the light, the agonizingly shining light in front of her, that seemed to have decided to be unable to be reached.

Jack peeled off Chris's torn and ragged clothes, slowly and carefully, because it was stuck to her skin by dried blood in places. He cleaned all the wounds on her body and found his spare clothes and put them very carefully back on Chris, lifting her body only slightly, in case she had internal injuries.

Chris was out of breath when she finally reached the silhouette in the light and realized it was really Jack. He looked down at her and grinned. His gold teeth caught the light for a while, but then Jack turned around and started to go away. Chris was baffled. What the hell…? She opened her mouth to call after him to come back, but no sound came out. Chris broke into a desperate run once again.

Jack was almost finished. The last thing he did was to take off Chris's boots. Then he sat back on the bed beside her. She still looked bad, but much better nonetheless. She was in clean clothes, the most severe cuts bandaged and the rest at least cleaned. Her broken leg was positioned as it should be, and Jack also managed to do a splint using the only drawer he had, smashing it into pieces. He tried to do the same with Chris's broken right hand fingers, which proved to be much more difficult, but Jack tried. Her skin was still very pale, which made the cuts look even bloodier. Jack felt for her pulse. Still there. Still very feeble, but still there.

When Chris caught up with Jack, she stepped right in his way. When screaming didn't work, what will? Jack smiled and outstretched his hand for Chris to take. She looked up into his inviting eyes, smiled and took his left hand into her right. The moment they touched, Chris's hand was grasped very tightly and she felt the bones in her fingers being crushed by that force and the light, that blinding white light turned crimson. She looked at her hand, unable to wrench herself from the connection. Then she looked back up to see why was Jack doing this to her. Beckett grinned evilly down at her instead. No, she started screaming, but again, there was no sound. So she started desperately to wriggle her hand free, but the more she tried, the more she could feel her bones being crushed. Beckett was still wearing that complacent grin and the crimson light made him look truly evil. And now, he started to drag her towards the light. There was only deafening silence. I am dead, this is hell. Chris forced her eyes to close.

Jack removed a lock of her hair from her face, where it got stuck because it was still wet. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. He wanted to hell her how much he missed her all these years.

"Chris…" But words just didn't come.

Chris's eyes flew wide open. Her hand was still being crushed by Beckett and he still continued to drag her forward, but she thought she heard Jack's voice calling her name. She definitely did. She must have. She turned around and expected to see him, but nobody was there. Even the white light from the other end of the tunnel was only a little dot, threatening to disappear at any moment. She called Jack's name, still no sound. The pain made her turn back to Beckett and try freeing herself again.

Jack just couldn't say it. It was all his fault. Only his. Unable to find the words, he at least took Chris's unbroken hand into his, hoping it would say everything he could not.

After a while she turned back one last time, only this time Jack was there, his hand outstretched, inviting her to take it, just within her reach. Chris closed her eyes, hoping this time Jack was really Jack and took his hand and grabbed it hard, wishing the pain in her other hand stopped. And it did. Chris's eyes flew wide open in surprise.

Jack felt as if Chris just squeezed his hand in which he was holding hers. Unbelievingly, thinking he wishfully imagined it, he turned his head to look at her. And her eyes flew wide open, and she drew a ragged breath.

It was about two months later, when Chris was no more in danger of dying, in fact, she was healing just fine, that Will and Elizabeth expressed their wish to leave the Pearl and live together on land. Will chose Tortuga, because Elizabeth didn't want to go back to Port Royal, and this way, they will be able to meet Jack when he makes port there, at least from time to time. Jack also agreed to marry them; being a captain of a ship, he could, in fact, perform a marriage. Norrington chose to go too, even though Jack tried to persuade him, just for fun.

When they arrived in Tortuga and Will, Elizabeth and Norrington were rowed ashore, and rum was rowed aboard, the Pearl set sails again.

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thx thx thx for staying with me, and let me know what you think about the end, pls :)