HAHAHAHAHA!! I DID IT!! I FINISHED BEFORE THE 18th!! I ACTUALLY MET ONE OF MY DEADLINES!! YESSS!!

Yepyep, this is the LAST chapter! A little short, only 3 1/2 pages on Word, but it needed to be added. I couldn't just end with that horrifying Chapter 15, could I?

And this brings me to the quote for this chapter (hmm, this may end up being a pattern in the next fic...):

"Love should end with hope. My husband, God rest him, told me something I'll never forget. 'Hope guides me. It is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight it will not be the last time I look upon you.'"
(Kate, A Knight's Tale)

Fitting, don'tcha think? (Extremely...) So yes, read on, enjoy... and know that this isn't the end. There is at least ONE more fic to go (possibly two, depending on whether they make a sequel after all and - if not - whether or not I come up with another story to tell). But don't hold your breath - I've no clue when my At World's End fic will get started; I haven't been able to see farther into the future than today. Just know that I -will- write it... one day. :3

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except Robin is (c) me. Erindi is (c) Angela-teh-Platypus, most of it's (c) Disney, and Aragorn's (c) JRR Tolkien.

Chapter Sixteen: Unexpected Hope

Unable to think of anywhere else to go, the crew at last found their way to Tia Dalma’s shack once more, not really knowing what it was that drew them there – perhaps they hoped for comfort, or for the strange mystic to tell them that it was all just a dream, that none of it was real. But they had found confirmation waiting for them in the swamps before they even reached her hovel; scores of natives stood watching them, candles in their hands and tears in many of their eyes as they mourned the passing of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Although upon their first visit to the mystic they had feared her, now there was no hesitation as they climbed the steps and through the door, finding seats and more candles within – candles which provided light to see by, but the warmth of which did not seem to reach them. Tia Dalma welcomed them in solemnly before disappearing into a back room, leaving the crew for the moment alone with their thoughts.

Will sat at one of the tables, tossing the dagger his father had given him repeatedly into the wood, as if needing something, anything, to do, no matter how trivial it was. Though he did mourn for Jack, he was thinking now of his father – and how he had let him down. The only ship that could’ve taken the Dutchman was gone; what chance did he have without it? I’m sorry, father. I made you a promise I don’t think I can keep.

His free hand grasped Elizabeth’s as she tried to comfort Robin, who sat on the other side of her. Elizabeth had run out of words, but she kept a hand on her adopted sister’s shoulder, hoping somehow it would help ease Robin’s grief.

Erindi stood just behind Robin, her hand on her friend’s other shoulder – but her eyes were on Aragorn, who stood alone in one of the darker corners of the room, his hood drawn up and his face hidden within the shadows. She could tell he wanted to be alone; it was the only thing that kept her from going to him. She knew he was in pain; though he had kept Robin safe as Jack had asked, she knew he felt guilty for leaving Jack behind, even if it had been Jack’s decision to remain on the ship. It’s not your fault, she thought at him, wishing for once he could actually read her mind. It was his choice to stay… She closed her eyes briefly, willing away the tears. Hadn’t she cried enough already? It’s not your fault.

Robin was silent, turning her wedding ring over and over in her hands, watching as the light of the candles reflected off of the metal, but she did not really see it. She was seeing Jack, the day he had married her. He had looked nervous, but he’d smiled when he caught sight of her – that wonderful little lopsided grin she’d always loved so much.

When she closed her eyes, she could still almost believe he was still there, waiting for her to open her eyes again and see him. Almost, but not quite.

Another memory, unbidden, flashed through her mind. The fight they’d had not more than a few days ago, though it felt like a lifetime had passed since then. She opened her eyes and looked at the ring in her hands. This ring was meant to be a promise, that I would never leave you, that you would never leave me. That we would do this together, no matter what. At the time she’d spoken those words to him she’d been so angry, so frightened, that she hadn’t really seen the look on his face, the way he’d been affected.

Now, in hindsight, she thought she could imagine how they must have hurt him. She swallowed. You broke your promise, she thought, and her eyes filled with tears she hadn’t thought she could still cry. You left me, and you’re never coming back. Not this time. She clutched the ring in her hand, tightly, feeling the reality of the hard silver band in her palm even as she struggled with the unreal idea that Jack was really gone.

A creaking door announced Tia Dalma’s return to the room, and a few looked up to see she had come back with a tray of hot drinks in her hand. “Against the cold, and the sorrow,” she murmured as she handed out the drinks. Aragorn was the first to be offered one, and the first to refuse, shaking his head silently when she held out the mug. “Don’t be blaming yourself for the inevitable,” she told him gently, thrusting the drink into his hands despite his refusal. “It was his choice, and it was right, and you did all you could to make it better.” Aragorn paused, considering her words, and at length nodded to her.

She crossed the room then, handing drinks out to the others, pausing again when she reached Robin. “It will help,” she said, when Robin glanced at the drinks skeptically. “It has healing powers which go much farther than skin deep. Drink.” She handed Robin a cup, and moved on to Will.

“It’s a shame,” she told him, setting his cup down on the table in front of him and casting a glance at his dagger. “I know you’re thinkin that, with the Pearl, you coulda captured the Devil and set free your father’s soul.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Will replied grimly. “The Pearl’s gone… along with its captain.” Robin flinched.

“Aye,” said Gibbs, turning for the first time from looking out through the door to face the others. “And already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all, right to the end... But I guess that honest streak finally won out.” He glanced down at Robin, and held up his glass in a toast. “To Jack Sparrow!”

“Never another like Captain Jack,” Ragetti added, raising his own mug.

“He was a gentleman of fortune, he was,” Pintel agreed, joining the toast.

“And a good man.” Aragorn, too, toasted to Jack.

The others raised their glasses as well, and some looked to Robin to add something more, but she was beyond words. Tears stood in her eyes still, but an odd ghost of a smile played about her lips. If Jack could see us now, toasting him and everything… She shook her head, and joined the others in drinking once more from her glass.

“If it was within my power to do so, I would bring him back,” Aragorn said quietly, his first words since they’d begun their journey hence. He looked at Robin with earnest regret and sympathy in his eyes, and she nodded gratefully to him.

Tia Dalma, however, seemed excited by his words. “Would you?” she demanded, a strange and almost eerie light suddenly glinting in her eyes. She turned to the others. “What would you do, hmm? What would any of you be willing to do? Would you sail to the ends of the earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack, and him precious Pearl?”

There was a moment of silence, lasting barely the beat of a heart before an answer was given, softly but in a tone that said she was dead certain. “Yes,” Robin whispered. “Of course.”

“Aye,” decided Gibbs.

Pintel and Ragetti agreed as well. “Aye.”

Erindi and Aragorn glanced at each other, and nodded to Tia Dalma.

“Yes,” Elizabeth murmured.

Will squeezed her hand. “Aye.”

Even Cotton’s parrot put in his two cents, making perfect sense for the first time that any of them could remember. “Aye!”

Tia Dalma smiled. “All right,” she said, apparently delighted with their responses. “But if you're going to brave the weird and haunted shores at world's end... then you will need a Captain who knows those waters.”

The others shared puzzled looks as she turned to face the stairs at the back of the room. Who was she referring to?

An ominous thudding of boots on wood foreshadowed the arrival of the feet that soon appeared at the top of the stairs. Something, though what it was they did not know, told Tia Dalma’s visitors that something very, very odd was about to happen… They got to their feet, even Robin, and watched as the newcomer slowly descended the steps.

They heard the familiar quiet chattering of a monkey. Robin frowned.

“So tell me,” the man said, ducking his large hat under the low ceiling as he tipped his weathered face up to grin at them. “What’s become of my ship?”

Robin gasped.

Still smiling widely, Barbossa took a bite out of the green apple he’d carried with him down the steps, relishing the taste – the first thing he’d felt since the cold grip of death had taken him.

“What are you doing here?!” Robin cried, drawing her sword. If not for the Aztec gold, this man would have killed Jack himself, long ago.

The old captain looked unimpressed, rolling his eyes even as Aragorn and Will grabbed her arms to keep her from charging at Barbossa. “Put that away, before ya hurt yerself,” he admonished her, taking another bite of his apple. “T’won’t do you any good – you need me.”

Robin stilled herself then, curiosity and confusion overcoming her temporary lapse of judgment and anger. “Why… how…” She looked at Tia Dalma. “You did this?”

The mystic shot an unfathomable look at Barbossa before answering. “Yes. And he speaks truly – if you want your husband back, then you had better accept his help.”

Robin lowered her sword then, stunned. “If I want him back…? You mean… there’s still… there’s a way…”

Tia Dalma nodded. “A dangerous way, but a way nonetheless.” She looked at Aragorn meaningfully. “Few have ever come back from such a journey. Are you willing to risk your chances of returning back to the place from which you came?”

Erindi’s eyes flew to Aragorn’s. She’s offering to send you home, to Middle-Earth, right now. You might not get another chance. Take it! She wanted to go with him, but she didn’t want to be the reason he stayed, if he never got another chance like this.

“I spoke honestly when I said I would bring him back if I could,” Aragorn answered slowly. Erindi sighed, wondering how she’d thought even for a moment he would answer otherwise. “I will not leave now, even if it means I never shall.”

“Thank you,” Robin said to him. He nodded, avoiding Erindi’s eyes. Robin looked then at Barbossa, sheathing her sword hesitantly as Will and Aragorn finally released her. Everything seemed so surreal; it was hard to believe this was happening. One minute Jack was there, the next he was gone… and now they were telling her she could have him back again? Anything, no matter how distasteful, was worth it if it could save him. “You’re going to help us find Jack?”

He rolled his eyes as if to say “Yes, yes, we’ve been through this already,” and nodded. “Aye, I’ll help ya bring the blaggard back.”

She wondered why he would agree to do such a thing… Well, he does owe Tia Dalma a lot for bringing him back. Perhaps this was his way of repaying the debt. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, steadying herself. “Then… I suppose it’s good to have you back… Captain Barbossa.” She paused. “Just… try not to get us killed.”

Barbossa laughed.