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"Land!"

"Dry land!"

The calls echoed throughout the ship. Will swept aside the charts in front of him. He paid no heed when they landed on the deck. They sighted land.

"What do ye wish to do, Capt'n?"

"Make for it, Bootstrap!" Will grinned from ear to ear.

"Aye." His father smiled in return.

"Full speed ahead!" Will called to the rest of the crew.

Will ran to the bowsprit and lept up, tangling his fingers in the jib lines for support.

And then he saw her.

Elizabeth.

She was there. The wind furled her hair back in ribbons that streamed from her face, pressed the folds of her dress against her like a lover seeking a way to disrobe her. His close his eyes, the image of her underneath him, her eyes filled with passion, still sharp and clear as it was that day. Ten years ago.

His eyes snapped open. She was here!

"Elizabeth!" He yelled, his voice caught by the wind and too far away for her to hear. He didn't care.

"Elizabeth!" He shouted again for the pure joy of it. And his heart lept.

His heart?

"She's been true to ye, lad." His father's voice interrupted. Will felt the thrumming in his chest.

"Yes!" He cried as he jumped from the bowspirt onto the deck. "YES!"

Will clasped his father by the arms and spun him around in a parody of a dance. The crew looked on in amazement. Will doubted they had ever seen him happy.

Bootstrap's smile faded quickly.

"Father?"

"The Dutchman must have a Captain," he said solemnly. "It was never meant to be you. Never you."

Will looked back at the shore, seeing for the first time the small figure that flanked Elizabeth's side.

A child?

"You will come with me." Will made his voice hard. The voice he used when giving orders.

"Aye, I will." Bootstrap unsheathed the dagger at his side and held it out to Will. "For this night."

Will stared at the dagger in his father's hand, then back at his wife and child.

"Why?" He studied his father. A man he only came to know these last ten years. He was as dear to him as Elizabeth now.
Will's eyes filled with tears. "Why must I always choose?"

Bill clasped his son's hand around the hilt of the knife.

"Cut out my heart. Place it in the chest."

"I can't!"

"You must. Quickly, now, boy!"

Will looked back at Elizabeth and the child. His child. His father's hand thrust.

"NO!"

His father's smile returned.

"Place the heart... in.. the chest..." Bootstrap Bill's eyes glazed over.