Three days can feel like forever. When waiting for something you really look forward to, or for a boring chore to be over, time passes ever so slowly. The seconds stretch out before you in an endless procession. But when they are all you have left to live, three days are nothing.

Elizabeth felt bad for wanting time to go faster when every hour brought her friend's death nearer. But how could she not? She had waited for Will so long, liked him since they were children, seeing him grow from a pretty boy into a handsome man. When he finally confessed his feelings for her it had still taken ages until they could be married, with so many obstacles coming in their way.

And then he had died, just after their chaotic wedding, and become bound to the Flying Dutchman, caught in the same curse that had eventually killed Davy Jones. It was not right.

Now, for the first time in months, she felt hope for the future. With Calypso's gift she would get her husband back.

Before they sailed away, Elizabeth had half-heartedly tried talking Rose out of giving up the Pearl Box, but they both knew she only did it to be polite – of course she did not want Rose to keep it. She had her baby to consider now, and no matter how much she liked Rose she loved Will more. And just as expected, the girl had refused.

Elizabeth gave Rose a guilty glance. Soon she would be gone and never again smile sweetly and call her Liz. Why did she have to choose between her new friend and Will?

A thought struck her. Would Rose be sailing with the Flying Dutchman instead of him? Calypso had been vague, stating it must have a captain but failing to specify who. If so, Elizabeth might be able to see her friend again every ten years. The thought did not make her feel any less guilty.

Rose sat with Hector's head in her lap, leaning her back against the mast with closed eyes while scratching the pig's sturdy neck. The wind ruffled her copper curls, and in contrast with her pale skin her lips looked crimson. She was beautiful, inside and out.

Death was unfair. So horribly unfair, always picking the best ones. Will, her father... and long ago, her mother.

Rose seemed unusually demure and Elizabeth suspected it had also to do with the separation from Jack Sparrow – for some obscure reason the girl had taken a liking to the pirate. That problem, at least, had solved itself with him sailing away with the Black Pearl. He was not good for her, much too old and much too bad.

Still... there had been moments she herself had felt Jack's charisma. She could well understand that Rose had fallen for it, young as she was.

Elizabeth checked the compass and adjusted the Barnacle's course a few degrees. She did not really know where she was heading, just that it was away from the island where they had summoned Calypso. Perhaps she ought to ask Rose? Let her decide what she wanted to do with her last days in life. Like a condemned criminal before his hanging.

"Where would you like to go, Rose? And how would you spend the time left? Pick whatever you want and me and Gibbs will make it happen if we can. Right?" She turned to the sailor who sat cross legged on the deck, mending a rift in his shirt from the fight with Jack.

"Aye. Anything."

"Do you have rollercoasters in this time?" Rose's voice was small and sad.

"Roller-what?"

"Never mind. Let's go to Tortuga. That inn we stayed in? I want to drink cheap beer. But first I want to ride a horse – like a man, mind you, with the legs on either side."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

They spent the afternoon horseback riding in the countryside and having a picnic by the sea. Both Elizabeth and Rose used men's saddles, and even tried jumping over obstacles on their way back. Gibbs tried too, but after he had fallen off his gelding twice he decided he was more fond of walking.

In other circumstances Elizabeth would have enjoyed the outing immensely, but now there was a bitter aftertaste to everything. She just could not dispel the awful sense of finality.

Afterwards at the inn, Rose drank like there was no tomorrow. There would be a tomorrow, but only three more for her.

"Come, Liz, let's dance!"

Elizabeth found herself dragged up to an open space between the tables, where Rose hooked her arm as she had done that time before in what felt like another life. Just like then, they began to spin, around and around.

"Come Josephine, in my flying machine!" sang Rose. "Going up she goes, up she goes..." She had a horrible singing voice which did not improve with large amounts of beer, especially since the musicians in the corner played an entirely different tune.

"What's a flying machine?" yelled Elizabeth over the din.

"What it sounds like. You can fly in it."

"Fly?" Elizabeth laughed. Rose must be very drunk to talk such nonsense.

"Yes, where I come from, we don't need roads! But I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

In the morning of the third day, Calypso and her daughter returned. They came walking along the street outside the inn, looking for all the world like a normal woman and her child. The goddess still wore the heart-shaped diamond around her neck, but it looked different, smoother and softer. More like a living organ than a sharply cut rock.

Rose was ready. She had kept herself alone all the previous day, spending it at a desolate beach some way outside the town just thinking. Now she meekly went out to the sea goddess, carrying the Pearl Box in her hands, with Gibbs, Elizabeth and Hector following suit.

Elizabeth also carried a box, the ornate chest that contained her husband's living heart. Soon it would be back in his body where it belonged, and she had trouble keeping her excitement at bay. If ever there was a bittersweet moment, this was it.

"What is your choice?" asked Calypso.

"I choose to give the box to Will Turner."

"Then come with me." Calypso's voice was soft and her dark eyes kind.

Leaving the busy town behind, they walked to the harbor and out on the jetty where the Barnacle was moored. Calypso let out a shrill, nonhuman sound, like a whistle. Almost instantly a couple of slender dolphins appeared, jumping playfully and responding with similar whistles and a series of clicks.

Calypso clicked back, sounding as if she had a conversation with them, and then they dived and were gone.

"She told them to fetch the Flying Dutchman," translated Calypso's daughter, who had slid her hand into Rose's. They looked cute together, like sisters. Their hair had almost the same auburn hue, but where Rose's skin was alabaster the younger girl's was a dark bronze.

A movement out in the bay drew her attention. The Dutchman surfaced in a burst of waves and foam, and behind the wheel, tall and proud, stood her beautiful man. Elizabeth's heart nearly burst with love just at the sight of him.

Calypso and Otohime swam to the ship in the form of sea turtles while the rest of them rowed out in Gibbs' dinghy. Will came to meet Elizabeth at the railing, pulling her up from the rope ladder and into a hard hug. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, filling her nostrils with the tangy scent of sea water and musk.

"What's happening?" he murmured against her hair. "Why did Calypso summon us and why is Rose still here? Didn't it work with the Heart of the Ocean?"

"Calypso has a box... it's a long story, but it will set you free."

"Free?" He took a step back so he could meet her gaze, his dark eyes full of doubt.

She only nodded, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. She realized she was crying. She never cried, she must be getting soft by all this.

Rose held out her cupped hands to Will, the Pearl Box glittering between them. With a pang of remorse, Elizabeth noted how much her friend's fingers trembled.

Will gingerly took it, examining the beautifully crafted object with curiosity.

"If you open the lid, you will be released," Calypso said. "You will no longer be trapped outside time, meaning you will begin to age, and in time, die as all mortals do."

"That's all I have to do? Just open it?" He sounded confused.

"Yes. But know that when you do, another's heart has to be cut out to replace yours in the chest. The Dutchman must have a captain."

Rose winced visibly and her face went white as a sheet. Elizabeth took a step closer in case she would faint and wrapped her arms around her. She felt sick knowing what she would have to endure.

"Whose heart?" Will also looked shaken.

"Mine."

A/N:

Who said that...? Hit me with your guesses!

Btw, I'm a sucker for quote theft... sorry Marty and Doc, but I stole some of your lines. :)

Thanks a lot to all of you who commented, voted and of course read this story so far! ♡♡♡

Image Credits:

Screenshot from the Titanic.