Epilogue

Jack walked hand in hand with Elizabeth down to the beach, their three children chasing each other as they went. It was nearly sunset, and the sky was a beautiful orange colour.

'Jack, what if he hates me?'

'He won't hate you,' Jack reassured her. 'If he wants to blame someone, he can blame me. And if he does anything to hurt ye, he'll have me to answer to. I'm quite scary when I'm angry! And I've beaten him in a fight before too.'

'By cheating.'

'By using me initiative.'

'Daddy! Mummy!' yelled Toby, their youngest child at four years old. 'Quick! You'll miss it!' Neither of them had the heart to tell him that they'd seen the green flash before. He was too excited.

The family stood on the beach, huddled together watching the sun set. Jack lifted Toby up into his arms and Elizabeth held the other two children close to her. Just as the top of the sun disappeared over the horizon, as brilliant flash of green light shot up into the sky.

'Wow,' said Toby.

'Look there it is!' said Henry.

Jack looked across at Elizabeth and they exchanged a smile. They watched as the Flying Dutchman sailed closer, then a longboat was lowered into the water allowing Will to travel ashore alone. He rowed to the beach and stepped out of the longboat. Elizabeth ran over to him and pulled him into a hug, before breaking away from him and leading him over to Jack and their three children. Jack looked at his feet awkwardly.

'Jack,' said Will.

'Captain Turner.'

'And these must be your children,' said Will, gesturing to the three children who had gone unusually quiet, probably due to shyness.

'This is Rosie,' said Elizabeth, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. 'She's nearly nine. Henry's seven and Tobias is four. Children, this is your Uncle Will.'

Rosie smiled at him, Henry looked up at him in awe and Toby shyly buried his face in Jack's hair.

'You're not angry?' asked Jack. 'You don't even seem surprised.'

'When I found out Elizabeth was on the Pearl, I knew you'd either fall in love or end up killing each other,' said Will. 'And as I haven't had to take either of you to the next world on the Dutchman, I assumed it was the former. I will admit the children are a surprise. I didn't have you down as the fatherly type, Jack.'

'People change.'

'Uncle Will, is it true you have no heart?' asked Henry, suddenly. He had always been a bit blunt at asking questions.

'My heart isn't inside my body,' said Will.

'Shouldn't you be dead?' asked Rosie.

'I can't die,' answered Will. 'The only way to kill me is to stab my heart, but then the person who kills me has to take my place on the Flying Dutchman.'

'How come you became captain of the Flying Dutchman?' asked Henry.

'It's a long story,' said Will.

'Well tell us anyway,' he demanded.

'Tell us, what?' Elizabeth nagged him.

'Tell us, please.' Henry rolled his eyes.

They all sat down on the sand in a small circle to hear the story.

'Once upon a time, there was an honest and hard-working blacksmith who lived in the town of Port Royal in Jamaica,' said Will. 'In that town, there was a big house on the hill, and in that house lived the governor and his beautiful daughter. The blacksmith had fallen in love with the governor's daughter, but society would not allow them to be together.'

'Who's society?' asked Toby.

'It means that people would frown on them if they married,' explained Rosie.

'One day, there was a big event up at the fort, and during this event, a commodore proposed to the governor's daughter. But before she could answer, she fainted and fell into the sea below. Fortunately, there was a pirate down on the dock…'

'A pirate captain,' interjected Jack. 'Who might I add, was very handsome, witty and heroic.'

'Yeah, one of those,' said Will, dismissing Jack with a wave of his hand. 'The pirate saved the governor's daughter from drowning. But because he was a pirate and had committed many crimes in the past, he was arrested and sentenced to be hanged.'

'But that's just ridiculous!' argued Rosie. 'He saved the woman's life. That should cancel out any bad things he'd done.'

'One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness,' said Jack bitterly. 'That's what the commodore said.'

'So was he hung?' asked Henry.

'Well, he escaped,' said Will. 'He hid in the blacksmith's workshop and they had a swordfight. The two were evenly matched, until the pirate pulled out a pistol.'

'He's a pirate,' said Henry. 'He's allowed to cheat.'

'That's me boy,' said Jack, ruffling Henry's hair.

'Unfortunately, the pirate was knocked out by a drunkard and carted off to prison,' said Will.

'Knocked out by a drunkard?' laughed Elizabeth. 'Why was I not told this part of the story before?'

'You do the next bit, Lizzie,' said Jack, ignoring her comment.

'Okay,' she said. 'That night, the town was attacked by the Black Pearl.'

'That's Daddy's ship!' yelled Toby.

'It wasn't then,' said Jack. 'The stupid bastard stole it off me.'

'Jack, mind your language in front of the kids!' said Elizabeth.

'I already know the word bastard,' said Toby. 'Henry calls me it.'

'I do not!'

'Yes you do!'

'Rosie calls me it!' yelled Henry defensively.

Rosie turned red. 'Dad uses it!'

'Get on with the story, love,' said Jack.

'Where was I? Oh yes, the Pearl. The crew kidnapped the governor's daughter because she owned a medallion that would lift a curse upon them.'

'What happened to the pirate?' asked Henry.

'The blacksmith helped him escape from prison and they commandeered a ship, picked up a crew in Tortuga and sailed after the Pearl to the Isla de Muerta,' said Jack.

'When they got there, the captain of the Pearl was about to lift the curse, by a blood payment from the governor's daughter,' said Elizabeth. 'But it didn't work. Unknown to them, she had stolen the medallion off the blacksmith when they were younger, so they actually needed his blood. The blacksmith rescued her, and they escaped, but the pirate was caught by the crew of the Pearl.'

'He's a rubbish pirate,' moaned Henry. 'He keeps getting caught.'

'Ah, but he keeps escaping, doesn't he?' said Jack. 'That's what makes him such a good pirate.'

'Soon the Pearl caught up with the Interceptor and they blew the ship apart, taking everyone on board hostage,' said Elizabeth. 'They kept the blacksmith, because they needed his blood, but they marooned the pirate and the governor's daughter on an island.'

'How did they escape?' asked Rosie.

'Sea turtles!' shouted Toby excitedly.

'No, mate,' said Jack. 'The governor's daughter made a huge fire and they were found by the navy. Then they sailed after the Pearl to rescue the blacksmith. After a huge fight in the cave, they lifted the curse and the pirate captain killed the captain of the Pearl. But unfortunately, his crew stole the ship off him before he could make himself captain, so he was arrested and sentenced to hang.'

Henry rolled his eyes. 'Did he die?'

'No, the blacksmith rescued him and he escaped back to the Pearl, as his crew had come to find him,' said Jack.

'Meanwhile, the blacksmith and the governor's daughter had realized that they loved each other and agreed to marry,' said Will.

'Is that the end?' asked Rosie.

'I thought this story was about Uncle Will and how he lost his heart,' said Henry.

'There's still more to come,' said Elizabeth. 'The marriage was stopped by Lord Beckett of the East India Trading Company.' Jack smiled as all three of his children simultaneously shuddered, as if on a cue. 'The governor's daughter was locked away, and the blacksmith was sent to find the captain. But the governor's daughter escaped from prison and found the pirate in Tortuga, only to find out her fiancé was in Davy Jones's crew.'

'So they went to search for Davy Jones's heart…' said Jack.

'His heart?' asked Henry.

'He was the Captain of the Dutchman before me,' said Will. 'His heart was in a chest like mine is.'

'They went to find the heart,' said Jack again. 'The blacksmith escaped the Dutchman and went to the island where it was buried too, and after a huge swordfight between the blacksmith, the commodore and the pirate captain, somehow, the commodore ended up with the heart, but nobody realized he did.'

'They went back to the Black Pearl, but Davy Jones was so angry that he set the Kraken on them,' said Will. 'They fought valiantly and held the beast off for quite some time.'

'Did they kill it?' asked Henry.

'No.'

'Did it kill them?' whispered Henry, hoping not.

'It killed most of the crew,' said Jack. 'I think there were about eight of them left, including the captain, the blacksmith and the governor's daughter.'

'So how did they escape if they didn't kill it?'

Jack looked nervously up at Will and Elizabeth. Will nodded for him to continue, but just as he was about to open his mouth, Elizabeth interrupted. 'They left the Pearl in a longboat to get to the nearest bit of land. But the pirate captain knew that the Kraken was only after him, so he bravely volunteered to stay behind.' Jack's eyes widened at this lie. 'He raised his sword and just straight into the creatures mouth, with a smile on his face because he was saving the lives of the people he cared about the most.'

'That's so brave,' said Rosie.

'That's so silly,' said Henry. 'Couldn't he have escaped with the rest of them?'

'Henry, darling,' said Elizabeth. 'That is what makes the difference between a normal pirate and a proper pirate. This captain was a proper pirate because behind all of his dishonesty, there was a good man.' Jack smiled at Elizabeth and she returned it.

'The East India Trading Company got the heart and used it to control Jones and the Dutchman,' continued Elizabeth. 'This was bad for everyone, so the blacksmith and the governor's daughter decided to travel to Davy Jones' locker to rescue the pirate and bring him back to the land of the living.'

'So he isn't dead?' asked Henry, and Toby cheered. 'That's so amazing, to come back from the dead.'

'They went to Shipwreck Cove to meet with the Brethren Court,' said Jack.

'Granddad!' exclaimed Toby.

'Yes, Tobes, Granddad was there,' said Jack, pulling his youngest son onto his lap and ruffling his messy black curls playfully. Toby was the spitting image of his father, thick dark hair, deep brown eyes that turned almost black when he was angry and a tanned face with a cheeky smile. He liked to dress like Jack too, often wearing a little leather tricorn hat and his own wooden sword which Jack had carved himself as a gift on Toby's fourth birthday. Jack tended to spoil Toby more than his other two children, for he'd also bought him a long coat not too dissimilar from Jack's own.

'When they got to the meeting, they had to decide what to do about the Company,' said Elizabeth. 'The Pirate Lords argued and eventually, a vote for the King was called. Every pirate voted for themselves, except for one. The captain of the Pearl voted for the governor's daughter and so she was made King.'

'Mum's the King now,' said Rosie softly.

'She decided that they would go to war the next day against the Dutchman and the Company, so they did,' said Elizabeth. 'It started to rain heavily and the Pearl and the Dutchman headed out into a huge maelstrom to fight.'

'What's a maelstrom?' Toby asked Jack.

'It's a huge storm out at sea where a huge swirling hole appears in the water,' he explained. 'It's very dangerous.'

'The captain was fighting with Davy Jones on the Dutchman to get the heart so he could kill Jones,' said Will, continuing the story from where Elizabeth left off. 'Meanwhile, on the Pearl, the blacksmith and the governor's daughter got married in the middle of the battle.'

'They married while fighting?' asked Henry.

'Yep,' said Will. 'Fighting monsters and the Company.' Henry screwed his face up as if trying to decide which one of those two was worse.

'But then they swung over to the Dutchman to help the captain stab the heart and defeat Davy Jones,' said Jack. 'And Davy Jones stabbed the blacksmith.' Rosie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. 'He was dying, and the captain faced a difficult choice. He could stab the heart himself and live forever, or he could help the blacksmith to stab the heart and remain mortal.'

'He was a good man, so he ran over to the blacksmith and helped him plunge a sword into the heart,' said Elizabeth. 'Jones was defeated, but the blacksmith was still dying. The Dutchman was sinking too, so the captain and the governor's daughter escaped back to the Pearl and watched the ship sink.'

'The Company was bearing down on them, and it looked like they had no hope, but the Dutchman resurfaced with the blacksmith as its new captain,' said Will, and Rosie sighed with relief. 'Together, the Pearl and the Dutchman destroyed the Company's flagship and killed Beckett, winning the battle.'

All three children cheered and smiled.

'The captain of the Pearl remained on his ship with his loyal crew,' said Elizabeth. 'The blacksmith and the governor's daughter went to land and spent one day together, before the blacksmith had to go out on the Dutchman to ferry souls for ten years. But he promised to return to the same place ten years later. This very beach, in fact. And that's the end of the story.'

'It's a good story,' said Henry. 'But why did you tell it to us? Who were these people? Do we know them?'

'Of course we know them, silly,' sighed Rosie, rolling her eyes at her younger brother.

'Well, who are they?' challenged Henry.

'Do you know Rosie?' asked Elizabeth.

'The blacksmith is Uncle Will,' she explained. 'He's the captain of the Dutchman and he killed Davy Jones. That's why his heart is in a chest. The governor's daughter is Mum. She's the King of the Brethren Court. And the pirate captain is Dad, because he's captain of the Black Pearl.'

'Well done, Rosie,' said Elizabeth, smiling at her daughter.

'No, that can't be right,' said Henry. 'Because Mum married Dad, not Uncle Will.'

'Your mum did marry me,' said Will. 'Right in the middle of the battle. But it wasn't fair for me to expect her to wait ten years for me, so she married your dad afterwards.'

'But if Dad was the pirate captain, that means that he was eaten by the Kraken,' said Henry, screwing up his face in concentration.

'Indeed I was,' said Jack.

'Wow!' yelled Henry. 'Amazing! You have to tell me all about it!'

'Maybe another time,' smiled Jack. 'Right now, you should be going to bed. It's late.'

They settled the three children down on blankets on the beach, and they soon fell asleep.

'Are you sure you're okay with me and Jack?' Elizabeth asked Will. 'You aren't angry at us?'

'Of course not,' he replied. 'I'm very happy for you.'

'Really?'

'Yes,' smiled Will, putting his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder and she leaned her head on his shoulder. 'The children are all lovely. Though just think, next time I come, they'll all be teenagers. Think of the trouble they'll be causing!'

'Oh God!' groaned Jack. 'Don't remind me!'

Will and Elizabeth just laughed.

So here we are. The end. Thanks for sticking with me all of this way. I know it's been long, but I really hope you enjoyed it. If you could do one last thing and drop me a review, just telling me what you think of the final thing, what you like, improvements for future stories etc, I would really appreciate it! Also, I've had a couple of requests already for a sequel, which if it happened would probably follow the kids when they're teenagers. Would anybody be interested in this, or is it not worth bothering with?

Thank you so so much for all your support! :) 3