She knew the moment she saw the Captain.

As her heart crumbled into pieces and her mind broke itself apart in its grief, she knew.

Her Gaberial was gone.

He’d gone down fighting, they said. He’d died honorably.

He’d died for her.

That’s what she was stuck on. He’d never have left if she hadn’t been cursed. He’d never have tried to kill the man who cursed her if she’d not known him at all.

Why hadn’t she been content to love him at a distance like she did everyone else? Why had she held so tightly to his actions and what they spoke to her? Why had she allowed herself to love and be loved so deeply and so quickly? She would never know. She would never understand.

And she might not ever again.

Her Captain held her as she sobbed and screamed, holding together the fragmented pieces of her existence.

Hollow. That was how she felt. Like the things that made her who she was were torn out of her body, leaving her a hollow shell of the person she once was. Her mother must have felt like this, right? When the man she loved turned out to be a monster? She’d have to ask. She felt a gentle kiss against her forehead and looked up at the man she’d adopted as her father. Captain Sparrowhand...the man who had shown her love and kindness and acceptance...who she’d met on accident during a drunken meander to the docks one night. Her own heartache was reflected in his eyes but unlike him, she didn’t know if she had the strength to move on...to grow and to learn and to lead as he did. She wasn’t sure she’d even survive to tomorrow.

“It hurts...”

She whispers, desperately trying and failing to find the words to articulate how she felt. He lifted her chin and looked her in the eye.

“It does...and it always will. But you’re strong. And you have your crew...your family. We won’t let you fall.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees his shrouded body, said shroud stained with his blood and the void tainted blood of the enemy he had given his life to destroy.

She goes still as her hazel eyes take in her husband at rest. At peace. He had been so vibrant in life...so full of energy and love. It was gone now, given up so that she could be free. She looks between his body and her friends and slowly approaches, kneeling reverently at his head. She kisses the top of his head and takes off her rings. The emerald that spoke of his love for her and the diamond that represented their union both came to rest on the hilt of his trident, which he’d loved and cherished as his weapon his whole life. She took a deep breath and reached under the shroud for his hand, removing his wedding ring and putting it on her finger slowly.

“I’ll be with you, love...”

She says, tears running down her face.

“Until the end.”

Her body shakes with silent sobs for a moment, but eventually she steels herself, finding the will to rise. Her eyes flashed blue, and her hands cackled with magic. His storm was hers now.

That would have to be enough.