A/N: All right, so here's the big Epilogue. I'm satisfied with it, I hope you're satisfied with it...and I have some thanks to give out. First to RoyalPinkDogs who has diligently and faithfully read and edited all of these chapters from the beginning. She makes it easier for you to read, corrects my mistakes, and even provided a few suggestions when I had writer's block. Without her, I'd probably still be stuck at chapter 9, writer of a story full of grammatical/spelling errors:] So many thanks to her!
And without further adieu, to all the reviewers who ahve encouraged, critisized, and made me happy: RPattz Lover 101, Sammer-doodles, NikzFlikz91, JadeBlueAfterGlow, teepirategirl, Son of a Gun, CeeBlack, Sassy Sparrow, punkparty17, Wilty, Spedclass, Beccky, icyblaze, fuxfell, Depperanium, Susie, IAmMadlyInLoveWithJohnnyDepp, linalove, CullensROK4eva25, super-special-awesome-pirate, Anuk, KayleeG, my shankgi-la, Sophies-Welt, Jessi Cullen-Norrington, clementine-rose, Future Mrs. Sparrow, Reality, lovestruck1990, CrazeeMonkee, Marlin Lette, xXxTroubleKelpxXx, Crystalyna du Starrvan, Scullybones, LiasonFan2, Laine, Becca, amycakes, HotIceRed, and Cinder-Bella-4Eva.
That thanks is extended to all reviewers of this chapter and anyone who reads in the future; your views are always a pleasure!
~Tell them the fairytale gone bad.
Epilogue: Fairytale Gone Bad
She pulled her hat down over her forehead, covering her face in shadow a little more, as she nodded her head and took direction from the woman in front of her. Elizabeth followed the older woman's wizened finger to the edge of the port, houses down by the docks and the water's edge.
Nodding her thanks again, she turned her back and made her way out of the crowded and busy town, holding her boots in her hand, her toes sinking into the slightly wet mud and green down of the ground beneath her feet. She took cover in a bunch of overgrown palm trees, leaning against one of them, just far enough away not to call attention to herself.
William Turner had no idea he was being watched. He was outside of his little house, bent over what looked like kitchen chairs, tools in his hands, his sleeves rolled up to tanned and muscular shoulders. She could see his hair pulled back as usual; imagining the look of concentration on his sweaty face. Her brow furrowed as she watched him.
The noise from town was quieter here, a dull buzz; she could hear the tap of his hammer along with the men faraway at the docks. Her own ship was docked at the other side of the island, where the area was a bit more tolerant towards her kind. All the better; he didn't need to see their ship.
Above even that noise, a loud giggle echoed across the sloping ground in front of her, and a child ran out of the house behind Will, a little girl in a green dress with her hair tied up in a bow. She looked three or four, from Elizabeth's vantage point; the child wrapped herself around Will's leg and he lifted her up, kissing her on the forehead with a huge smile.
Elizabeth pressed her lips together, squinting a little to focus better. Her once-husband was standing up as a woman exited his house, shouting something, though her words couldn't be heard by Elizabeth. She looked relieved to see the little girl with Will, and reached for her. Will leaned bent forward and kissed the woman, transferring their child into her arms and stopping work for a short conversation.
As their talk ceased and the woman who must be his wife turned to go, so Elizabeth's surveillance ended. She touched the brim of her hat in an unseen salute to him and his family and turned without a glance back, a small smile quirking on her lips.
She had casually asked about him at every port in the past year and a half that she'd been with Jack and the Pearl. She'd gotten her quasi-happy ending, and she'd realized a need to see what he had made of himself since their humiliating debacle of a marriage now six years ago. She wanted to see if he'd gotten what he really deserved—and he had. Beautiful child, caring wife.
Everything she hadn't been and hadn't cared to give him. And from what the woman supplying the information told her, he was most successful in his trade. As she reached town, Elizabeth couldn't help but tip her hat back a bit and smile a little wider.
All of the weight of the past was gone. She was finally leaving this mess behind.
Their dreams had always been different. It was better; they were out of each other's lives and out of each other's minds now.
Elizabeth found her way to the outdoor shops that were half in town, half out. She perused the bunches of wild flowers and spices and exotically indigenous plants. She pinched cayenne between her thumb and forefinger and touched it to her tongue, smiling at the fiery taste. She kept her finger at her lips, leaning over to admire a lovely bunch of shockingly purple fresh orchids.
One of them was swept up before her eyes and disappeared, and standing up she blinked in the sudden sun and found herself presented with the very orchid she'd been admiring in a ridiculous mocking flourish. She laughed as she took it, tucking the stem into her bodice, a sort of tease.
Jack's resulting smirk and lifted eyebrow was as satisfying as ever. She quirked an eyebrow back at him and stepped back from the flowers, planting her hands on her hips as best she could with the boots held still in her fingers. Jack turned towards the display and traded coins with the vendor, speaking lightly after a moment.
"You find what you were looking for, Liz?" he asked, off-hand, like he was asking where he put his map of Asia. Just as non-chalantly, she replied:
"House by the waterfront. Pretty wife," she hesitated slightly, "little girl."
"Good for 'im," was Jack's final word on the matter, as he turned around and, surprisingly, presented her with the complete bouquet of orchids. She burst out laughing, real laughter, as she looked at the bunch in her hands, soothed by the perfume of their scent. He just raised a devilish eyebrow and when to tucking away the spices he'd needed into his coat.
By the shops and vendors, off to the side of the street, he met her eyes and reached out to touch the tattoo on her shoulder that the loose sleeve of her simple cotton dress bared, his thumb tracing over the delicate outline of a simple swan.
He turned, and headed beyond the shops to the edge of town, back out over the grassy expanses toward the back of the island, where the Pearl was docked, getting off the marked path and into the over growth, farther away from town. It was quieter out here, the farther they got from the cacophony of the port town. Here were cattle herds and farmers.
Jack Sparrow slung his arm around the woman next to him and pulled her forward, causing her to stumble and shoulder him roughly in the ribs. Grinning slyly, he bent his mouth to Elizabeth Swann's ear and brought into the light their next adventure.
"Ah, Lizzie, I've 'eard tell of a map—"
"A map, eh?"
"Don' interrupt. A map, aye. Leads to an often spoken of yet never visited and nigh un-findable place…"
"And what place would that be, Captain Sparrow?"
"'S called Agua de la Vida…Fountain of Youth—"
"You really want to live forever, Jack?"
"Hell, Lizzie, I just wanna find it before everyone else."
Elizabeth threw her head back in carefree laughter and smacked her hand against his chest, boots and all. His hand closed over her shoulder in a possessive grip and she smiled at the sails of the ship that rose beyond the hills.
Fairytale Gone Bad by Sunrise Avenue (the italicized line at the beginning is from this song)
Thank you all so very much, this is the end you know, so, farewell, Goodnight, and Goodluck:]
(You can still review!)