Revealed

All of the crew, including Tia Dalma, had swum into the floating ring except Elizabeth Swan, Hector Barbossa and Little Jack.
Elizabeth stared at the point, her insides shaking.
"Ladies first." Barbossa gestured.
"Age before beauty." She continued treading water.
He chuckled. “I’ll not be betraying you, not now anyways."
Once more he found the exact words to keep her off balance. She gritted her teeth. The man had a sadistic way of getting his jollies, yet he hadn’t caused her actual harm. She squinted against the sun as she studied the pirate's weathered face.
"The Locker is no place for betrayals."
Barbossa had brought them this far and kept his word. Past treachery weighed heavier than recent loyalty. “I don’t trust you.”
“Ye’d be a fool to, and that Miss Swan is one thing yer aren’t.” He bobbed beside her in the water as he spoke.
“Thank you,’” she replied uncertain of how to respond to such a usual compliment. The cramps in her legs tightened. She winced. A decision had to be made.
“I believe you won’t do anything that would propagate your chances of remaining trapped here.” She drew a deep breath. "So, we'll go together, savvy?"
Yellow teeth flashed in a cragged smile. "Spoken like a true pirate."
She grinned back. Maybe she’d been a buccaneer all along. She hadn’t changed; she simply dropped the phony façade forced upon her by society. Pondering, however, could wait.
"On the count of three." At Barbossa’s nod, she began the countdown. "One." Her heart pounded. "Two." She edged closer to the ring and drew a deep breath. "Three."
They pierced the ring at the same time.
A massive undertow grabbed hold of her and sucked her down. She screamed. Water filled her mouth. A current whipped her around and around as the invisible power dragged her to the ocean floor.
Salt stung her eyes too much to open. The soles of her feet touched he sandy bottom. But unlike before, they sank into the coarse silt.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. What was happening? She tugged each of her legs. Instead of breaking free, she sank further. The grains consumed her ankles, followed by her knees, and then her hips.
Oh God!
She was trapped. The pressure squeezing her lower body made movement impossible. She'd be buried alive.
Elizabeth clawed at the water for a hold of any kind. The downward pull continued. She's chosen wrong. She'd doomed them all. The sand reached her breasts. In another few seconds, her life would end.
Darkness closed over her head. All her mistakes hit her like grapeshot. The pain and regret peppered her mind and heart. Every lie she'd told. Each selfish act. Petty jealousy. All the times she'd snuck away and worried her father. Keeping the truth of what transpired on the Black Pearl from Will. Living the lie that nothing had changed between them. Tricking Jack and killing him.
The agony ripped through her. For one moment, she welcomed the peace of death. Jack's face, with his knowing kohl eyes and sad smile, the moment before she scrambled into the longboat flashed.
"Pirate." His final word echoed softly.
The single truth snapped her from despair. She was a pirate, and pirates did not welcome death, they fought the bastard’s scythe tooth and nail.
Muscles screamed. Her lungs burned. Air! She dug at the sand. The fire in her shoulders didn't matter. Sand filled her mouse and nose. She burrowed upwards, never stopping.
"Have to get out," she repeated over and over.
Finally as her strength faded, she broke through. Warm, dry air hit her fingers. The sensation registered when a strong hand grabbed hold and pulled her upwards. She pushed as best she could with her feet. When her head broke free, she collapsed on the ground.
Gasping she lay there as someone pulled the rest of her body free. She didn't care who aided her, or where they touched.
Choking sand lodged in her throat, she coughed and struggled for breath. Grit coated her tongue. She spit.
"Didn't think ye was gonna make it though." Barbossa stood over her.
She wiped the granules from her tearing eyes. "What was that?" she rasped.
"A journey through yer personal hell." He handed a flask to Little Jack. "All yer wrongs laid at once before ye. Enough to make a man want to die."
She nodded barely repressing a shudder.
Little Jack scampered down his master and held out the silver bottle.
"Wet yer whistle, Missy, I'm bettin' ye need it right as now." Barbossa smiled.
Arms shaking, she took the container from the beast's tiny hands. After two tries she unscrewed the lid and took a giant swallow. Rum scorched over her tongue. She’d prefer fresh water, but her nanny said to her as a child, ‘beggars can’t be choosers.’ Coughing, she swallowed the liquid and the grit. "Thank you both."
Little Jack gave a mock tip of a hat.
She couldn’t help laugh. Maybe the minion wasn't so bad after all. She pushed herself to her feet. "Where are we and where is everyone else?"
An unclouded sun beat down from a perfect blue sky. Dunes bordered all four directions. She squinted against the white glare.
A faint shout caught her ear. “Wait.” She strained against the silence. More voices came from beyond the ridge ahead. She glanced towards Barabossa. “Did you hear that?”
He nodded along with Little Jack once more seated upon the shoulder of his blue coat. “I’ll suppose we should have a look.”
They trudged up the hill.
Cramps in her lower legs slowed her steps. Sweat dripped down her forehead and sealing her shirt to her skin by the time she reached the top.
She froze on the summit. Before her stood a scene from one of her pilfered books of pyrates. A vivid turquoise sea, on the most serene of cove beaches, lay before them. In stark contrast to water sat the dark beauty of the Black Pearl. Once more the symbol of freedom was perfect and whole.
But the very best, and that which took the small measure of breath she had left away, was the sight of Captain Jack Sparrow standing tall on the rail, one hand gripping the rigging and the other on his hip. More than ever he looked every bit the fierce, confident pirate she had read about and knew.
She’d done it.
Tears pricked the back of her eyes. She had lost him, and now, she had found him.
"Elizabeth."
Will’s voice rose over the wash of waves over the beachfront. "We're coming," She called and along with Barbossa and Little Jack hurried down the dune toward the rest of the crew.
"What took you so long?"
Her fiancé’s eyes narrowed, combined with his stern mouth he didn’t appear the least happy to see her. Fear coiled tight in her the pit of her stomach.
"Everyone arrived long before you."
The hardness in his tone ended any doubt to his disposition. Wind whipped her loose strands of hair about her face. "Barbossa and I went through last." She considered his behavior as she tucked the flyaway strands into her braid.
Why was Will questioning her like a child? He was not her father, not her husband. But after they married he’d have right by law to question her comings and goings, right down to her every action.
Her chest seized trapping the air inside her lungs as well as out. Oh God! Pressing a hand to her ribs, her gaze swung to The Black Pearl. The dark sails, means to go anywhere and do anything, stood above an endless turquoise sea.
The stranglehold eased. For this moment she was free, that was all that mattered. "Come on, let's go get Jack." She smiled at Will.
Will didn’t move.
“What?” She frowned.
"Tia Dalma said, each man journey's through the compass is one through his own hell.” He tilted his head and eyed her critically. “The more wrong he's done the longer the journey."
Elizabeth didn't know what to say. He hadn’t asked a question; therefore, she had no response to offer.
"If true, what would lengthen your course here?"
What was he really asking? Did he know how she’d tricked Jack? But how? She lulled the questions.
"I--I really can't say as I have no way of comparing my journey to anyone else's" A true enough answer, though vague. Pirate. The word echoed through her thoughts.
"What could you have done?" He pressed harder.
"She waited for me, boy," Barbossa snarled.
Elizabeth jumped, she forgotten the man stood beside them.
"Now, stow yer flapping gums or see ye don't have any."
Menace filled the crust pirate’s stare and Will wisely backed off. “Thank you," she mouthed.
With a smirk, he and Little Jack strolled down the white sand and towards The Black Pearl.
Hot rays beat down on her from the sun as the two men walked off separately. Barbossa had jumped to her defense while Will attacked her with petty jealousies. Was everything backwards here?