(no subject)
Title: Freedom
Author: ennyousai
Pairing: Will/Elizabeth, Elizabeth/OC
Rating: PG
Summary: Written for Prompt 91: Norrington and Will change places, but there is no lover waiting for him on shore.
Disclaimer: The mouse owns all.
Will supposed that there were advantages to being favored by Calypso, because when Norrington proposed that he take on the captainship of the Dutchman, the goddess was surprisingly amenable. It was a very tidy solution to everyone’s dilemma - Norrington was a naval man through and through and was well suited to command, while Will yearned to return to his wife and never belonged completely to the sea. The switch meant that Calypso retained an able captain, the dead would still be guided safely to the other side, and Will would be free to live his life with Elizabeth.
In retrospect he should have known that such a tempestuous deity would hardly release him from his duties out of compassions. She would release him because she saw the potential for her own amusement.
The second he stepped back on shore and felt his heart beating in his chest for the first time in seven years he could sense that something was amiss. During his time aboard the Dutchman his emotions had always been distant and faded, as if he were contemplating a painting of someone feeling anger or sorrow or regret instead of experiencing them himself. Now that his heart was a part of him again his emotions had an almost overwhelming potency, and he felt as if Davy Jones’ sword was thrusting deep into his chest all over again.
His time as captain had left him changed, and it was an easy enough matter for him to acquire a small sailboat and summon a wind to blow him toward Shipwreck Cove. His arrival caused a visible wave of trepidation to sweep through the pirates currently in port. It didn’t take long for him to discover why. King Swann had taken the Empress on a voyage to Singapore with her son and her lover in tow and wasn’t expected to return for at least another month.
Will absorbed this news with a perfectly calm expression, then asked evenly,
“Is she with Jack Sparrow?”
No, they said, her lover was from the crew of Sri Sumbhajee Angria, Lord of the Indian Ocean.
“And is the child his?”
They exchanged nervous glances before one of them hesitantly said that the child had been born some nine months after the great battle with the East India Trading Company. Will looked as though he’d been jabbed in the gut, and a sudden swell caused the moored ships to list dangerously to the side. The pirates exchanged nervous glances, but Will just returned to his sailboat and was gone with the morning tide.
It only took him one week to catch up with Elizabeth’s Chinese junk. He wondered how much of his speed was due to his lingering mastery over the wind and waves and how much was due to Calypso. A goddess who had once been betrayed and imprisoned by her lover would no doubt take a certain sadistic pleasure in watching new generations of lovers destroy each other. This was probably all a great joke to her, releasing him from servitude when she knew that there was no one waiting for him.
Tai Huang was the one who lowered the rope for him and greeted him when he climbed aboard. Will nodded to him in acknowledgement, but his eyes were fixed on a tall, graceful man with lively dark eyes and long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. He knew without needing to be told that this was Elizabeth’s lover, and sure enough when King Swann arrived on deck her eyes flicked over to him before she moved toward Will.
“Will.” Her voice was heavy with sadness and regret, but it was still so beautiful it made his chest ache to hear it.
“Elizabeth.” He bowed in recognition of her status as chief of the Pirate Lords. “I trust you’ve been well.”
“Oh, Will…” Her hands dropped to her belly and Will noticed that it was slightly swollen. When she saw him looking she dropped her hands to her sides and lifted her chin.
“We'll talk in my cabin. Alone.”
The main cabin of the Empress was ornate and luxurious, full of intricately carved cedar screens, embroidered silk cushions, and delicate porcelain vessels. Elizabeth urged him to sit and poured both of them sweet rice wine in beautiful white cups before taking her own seat opposite him. They each took a sip in silence, but Will couldn’t restrain himself for long.
“I thought I’d find you with Jack Sparrow.”
The words were out before he could even think about them and Elizabeth’s fingers tightened around her cup.
“Jack wasn’t what I needed. When I realized I was pregnant I knew that I would become two different people, a mother and the Pirate King. It wouldn’t be fair to the child to be nothing but King and captain, nor could I ignore my duties to the Brethren Court. I needed someone to act as my right hand and Jack’s too… temperamental.”
“And this man isn’t.”
“His name is Ahmed,” said Elizabeth softly, and Will felt a wave of bitterness rise up in his throat.
“And when did he stop being just your second and become your lover as well?”
Elizabeth’s eyes flashed angrily. “What would you have me do, Will? I’ve been alone for such a long time, and I wanted Matthew to have a father.”
Will turned away, remembering all the times when he was just a boy that he’d wished his own father was there beside him. Elizabeth saw the effect of her words and rested her hand lightly on his arm.
“It’s not that I stopped loving you, Will. It’s just that I was lonely, and I missed you so much. Then Ahmed came to the Cove and… ”
Her voice trailed off. Will sighed heavily and set his cup down on the table.
“Just tell me one thing. Do you love him?”
Elizabeth stared at him, her dark eyes shining with tears but unflinching in their honesty. Will realized how little time they’d actually had together - all those years of regarding each other from a socially proper distance, their separation after their first attempt at marriage, then their estrangement during the journey to World’s End. Their impulsive exchanging of vows in the middle of the maelstrom and their one day on the deserted island. How much time had they really had to be just Will and Elizabeth, together?
Very little. And as he acknowledged that fact, Will saw the path that he needed to take. In the past seven years Elizabeth had grown into her role as the Pirate King, protecting a vanishing way of life from extinction. Will might have pirate blood in his veins and had experienced the thrill of being on the open ocean, the wind and his back and endless possibilities in front of him, but he did not particularly care for pirates themselves. Their path was not his path. But it was Elizabeth’s, and he could not ask her to give that up.
Will took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
“All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.”
She smiled through her tears. “Thank you.”
They stood, and Will hesitated, not wanting to part like this but unsure what else there was left to say. Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder and said quickly,
“Would you like to see him? He’s asleep, but…”
It was hard to speak past the lump in his throat. “I’d like that very much.”
She led him to the back of the cabin, where an immense bed took up a small alcove. Curled up on top of the silken covers was a young boy, his short dark hair fanning a face calm in repose. Will reached forward and gently touched the boy’s cheek. He stirred slightly and murmured quietly in his sleep, but didn’t wake. Will looked up at Elizabeth and smiled.
“He’s beautiful.”
“Would you like me to wake him?”
Will shook his head. “No. It’s enough to have seen him.” He turned and took Elizabeth’s hand.
“Keep him safe, Elizabeth. You and Ahmed. I am glad to know that he’ll grow up with a father in his life, even if it isn’t me.” He let his eyes travel down to his belly. “The four of you will be a family.”
Elizabeth smiled a bit sadly, but a smile nonetheless. “Thank you.”
They returned to the deck. The crew worked smoothly around them, sensing that their king and this stranger did not want to be interrupted. Elizabeth glanced toward the horizon where the first stars were beginning to come out, and said softly,
“Would you like to stay on the Empress until we reach Singapore? It should be another two weeks or so, if my calculations are correct.”
Will shook his head. “I’ve seen what I need to see. Our paths separate here.”
Elizabeth nodded in acceptance and reached up to frame his face with her hands. “I'm sorry.”
He covered her hand with his own, and turned his head to press a kiss into her palm. “No apologies. I would not have us part at odds with one another.”
“No.” She smiled and walked with him to the ladder, leaning over the railing to look at him as he started to climb down into his small boat. “Where will you go now?”
“Wherever the wind and the water takes me.” He laughed, suddenly feeling free of the weight that had been resting on his chest ever since he’d left the Dutchman, perhaps freer than he’d been since his battle with Davy Jones so long ago. “Be happy, Elizabeth. All will be well.”
She leaned down and kissed him, a kiss that was equal parts passion and sorrow, absolution and farewell. When they pulled apart they were smiling. Will kept the memory of her smile with him as he released the rope that kept his boat tied to the Empress and called a wind to send him off toward the horizon.
* * *
He wasn’t particularly surprised when Calypso appeared to him the next morning just when the sun was rising in the east. Unlike every other time he had seen her she was not in the form of the mortal woman Tia Dalma, but looked more like the sea personified. Her hair flowed down her naked form like waves, shimmering green like the depths when they were struck by sunlight, her eyes as wild and unknowable as the power of the maelstrom. He had thought that he would be angry with her, but when he saw her he found that she was beyond such emotions. How could he be angry with the sea? It was a force of nature, and could not be changed, could not be anything other than tempestuous and uncaring of human concerns.
“So, William Turner,” she said, her voice sounding like raindrops falling on water. “Your lass is not as faithful as you had thought.”
Will shrugged. “Maybe if I had been able to stay with her things would have turned out differently. But she is a pirate, not a housewife. I would not have her be anything other than what she is.”
“Aaaaaahhh.” Calypso’s sigh was like a wave breaking gently against the shore. “You love her still, and you're a part of your heart will always be hers. But now that you are no longer tormented by the thought of her waiting for you on shore what will you do, William Turner?”
Will smiled at the goddess. “I believe that I’ve come to love you in spite of myself. I have no desire to live on land and ply my trade as a blacksmith, but I also have no desire to return to the Dutchman. All I really want is to be free to sail the sea and follow my own desires, bound to no one and nothing.”
Calypso smiled and slipped back into the water, her form melding seamlessly into the gray-green depths. Will felt his boat rock gently in her wake, and closed his eyes, tilting his head up toward the skies.
He had lost Elizabeth, but it didn’t hurt so much. He had his freedom, and a world of possibility. The future was his to claim.
And he welcomed it.
Author: ennyousai
Pairing: Will/Elizabeth, Elizabeth/OC
Rating: PG
Summary: Written for Prompt 91: Norrington and Will change places, but there is no lover waiting for him on shore.
Disclaimer: The mouse owns all.
Will supposed that there were advantages to being favored by Calypso, because when Norrington proposed that he take on the captainship of the Dutchman, the goddess was surprisingly amenable. It was a very tidy solution to everyone’s dilemma - Norrington was a naval man through and through and was well suited to command, while Will yearned to return to his wife and never belonged completely to the sea. The switch meant that Calypso retained an able captain, the dead would still be guided safely to the other side, and Will would be free to live his life with Elizabeth.
In retrospect he should have known that such a tempestuous deity would hardly release him from his duties out of compassions. She would release him because she saw the potential for her own amusement.
The second he stepped back on shore and felt his heart beating in his chest for the first time in seven years he could sense that something was amiss. During his time aboard the Dutchman his emotions had always been distant and faded, as if he were contemplating a painting of someone feeling anger or sorrow or regret instead of experiencing them himself. Now that his heart was a part of him again his emotions had an almost overwhelming potency, and he felt as if Davy Jones’ sword was thrusting deep into his chest all over again.
His time as captain had left him changed, and it was an easy enough matter for him to acquire a small sailboat and summon a wind to blow him toward Shipwreck Cove. His arrival caused a visible wave of trepidation to sweep through the pirates currently in port. It didn’t take long for him to discover why. King Swann had taken the Empress on a voyage to Singapore with her son and her lover in tow and wasn’t expected to return for at least another month.
Will absorbed this news with a perfectly calm expression, then asked evenly,
“Is she with Jack Sparrow?”
No, they said, her lover was from the crew of Sri Sumbhajee Angria, Lord of the Indian Ocean.
“And is the child his?”
They exchanged nervous glances before one of them hesitantly said that the child had been born some nine months after the great battle with the East India Trading Company. Will looked as though he’d been jabbed in the gut, and a sudden swell caused the moored ships to list dangerously to the side. The pirates exchanged nervous glances, but Will just returned to his sailboat and was gone with the morning tide.
It only took him one week to catch up with Elizabeth’s Chinese junk. He wondered how much of his speed was due to his lingering mastery over the wind and waves and how much was due to Calypso. A goddess who had once been betrayed and imprisoned by her lover would no doubt take a certain sadistic pleasure in watching new generations of lovers destroy each other. This was probably all a great joke to her, releasing him from servitude when she knew that there was no one waiting for him.
Tai Huang was the one who lowered the rope for him and greeted him when he climbed aboard. Will nodded to him in acknowledgement, but his eyes were fixed on a tall, graceful man with lively dark eyes and long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. He knew without needing to be told that this was Elizabeth’s lover, and sure enough when King Swann arrived on deck her eyes flicked over to him before she moved toward Will.
“Will.” Her voice was heavy with sadness and regret, but it was still so beautiful it made his chest ache to hear it.
“Elizabeth.” He bowed in recognition of her status as chief of the Pirate Lords. “I trust you’ve been well.”
“Oh, Will…” Her hands dropped to her belly and Will noticed that it was slightly swollen. When she saw him looking she dropped her hands to her sides and lifted her chin.
“We'll talk in my cabin. Alone.”
The main cabin of the Empress was ornate and luxurious, full of intricately carved cedar screens, embroidered silk cushions, and delicate porcelain vessels. Elizabeth urged him to sit and poured both of them sweet rice wine in beautiful white cups before taking her own seat opposite him. They each took a sip in silence, but Will couldn’t restrain himself for long.
“I thought I’d find you with Jack Sparrow.”
The words were out before he could even think about them and Elizabeth’s fingers tightened around her cup.
“Jack wasn’t what I needed. When I realized I was pregnant I knew that I would become two different people, a mother and the Pirate King. It wouldn’t be fair to the child to be nothing but King and captain, nor could I ignore my duties to the Brethren Court. I needed someone to act as my right hand and Jack’s too… temperamental.”
“And this man isn’t.”
“His name is Ahmed,” said Elizabeth softly, and Will felt a wave of bitterness rise up in his throat.
“And when did he stop being just your second and become your lover as well?”
Elizabeth’s eyes flashed angrily. “What would you have me do, Will? I’ve been alone for such a long time, and I wanted Matthew to have a father.”
Will turned away, remembering all the times when he was just a boy that he’d wished his own father was there beside him. Elizabeth saw the effect of her words and rested her hand lightly on his arm.
“It’s not that I stopped loving you, Will. It’s just that I was lonely, and I missed you so much. Then Ahmed came to the Cove and… ”
Her voice trailed off. Will sighed heavily and set his cup down on the table.
“Just tell me one thing. Do you love him?”
Elizabeth stared at him, her dark eyes shining with tears but unflinching in their honesty. Will realized how little time they’d actually had together - all those years of regarding each other from a socially proper distance, their separation after their first attempt at marriage, then their estrangement during the journey to World’s End. Their impulsive exchanging of vows in the middle of the maelstrom and their one day on the deserted island. How much time had they really had to be just Will and Elizabeth, together?
Very little. And as he acknowledged that fact, Will saw the path that he needed to take. In the past seven years Elizabeth had grown into her role as the Pirate King, protecting a vanishing way of life from extinction. Will might have pirate blood in his veins and had experienced the thrill of being on the open ocean, the wind and his back and endless possibilities in front of him, but he did not particularly care for pirates themselves. Their path was not his path. But it was Elizabeth’s, and he could not ask her to give that up.
Will took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
“All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.”
She smiled through her tears. “Thank you.”
They stood, and Will hesitated, not wanting to part like this but unsure what else there was left to say. Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder and said quickly,
“Would you like to see him? He’s asleep, but…”
It was hard to speak past the lump in his throat. “I’d like that very much.”
She led him to the back of the cabin, where an immense bed took up a small alcove. Curled up on top of the silken covers was a young boy, his short dark hair fanning a face calm in repose. Will reached forward and gently touched the boy’s cheek. He stirred slightly and murmured quietly in his sleep, but didn’t wake. Will looked up at Elizabeth and smiled.
“He’s beautiful.”
“Would you like me to wake him?”
Will shook his head. “No. It’s enough to have seen him.” He turned and took Elizabeth’s hand.
“Keep him safe, Elizabeth. You and Ahmed. I am glad to know that he’ll grow up with a father in his life, even if it isn’t me.” He let his eyes travel down to his belly. “The four of you will be a family.”
Elizabeth smiled a bit sadly, but a smile nonetheless. “Thank you.”
They returned to the deck. The crew worked smoothly around them, sensing that their king and this stranger did not want to be interrupted. Elizabeth glanced toward the horizon where the first stars were beginning to come out, and said softly,
“Would you like to stay on the Empress until we reach Singapore? It should be another two weeks or so, if my calculations are correct.”
Will shook his head. “I’ve seen what I need to see. Our paths separate here.”
Elizabeth nodded in acceptance and reached up to frame his face with her hands. “I'm sorry.”
He covered her hand with his own, and turned his head to press a kiss into her palm. “No apologies. I would not have us part at odds with one another.”
“No.” She smiled and walked with him to the ladder, leaning over the railing to look at him as he started to climb down into his small boat. “Where will you go now?”
“Wherever the wind and the water takes me.” He laughed, suddenly feeling free of the weight that had been resting on his chest ever since he’d left the Dutchman, perhaps freer than he’d been since his battle with Davy Jones so long ago. “Be happy, Elizabeth. All will be well.”
She leaned down and kissed him, a kiss that was equal parts passion and sorrow, absolution and farewell. When they pulled apart they were smiling. Will kept the memory of her smile with him as he released the rope that kept his boat tied to the Empress and called a wind to send him off toward the horizon.
* * *
He wasn’t particularly surprised when Calypso appeared to him the next morning just when the sun was rising in the east. Unlike every other time he had seen her she was not in the form of the mortal woman Tia Dalma, but looked more like the sea personified. Her hair flowed down her naked form like waves, shimmering green like the depths when they were struck by sunlight, her eyes as wild and unknowable as the power of the maelstrom. He had thought that he would be angry with her, but when he saw her he found that she was beyond such emotions. How could he be angry with the sea? It was a force of nature, and could not be changed, could not be anything other than tempestuous and uncaring of human concerns.
“So, William Turner,” she said, her voice sounding like raindrops falling on water. “Your lass is not as faithful as you had thought.”
Will shrugged. “Maybe if I had been able to stay with her things would have turned out differently. But she is a pirate, not a housewife. I would not have her be anything other than what she is.”
“Aaaaaahhh.” Calypso’s sigh was like a wave breaking gently against the shore. “You love her still, and you're a part of your heart will always be hers. But now that you are no longer tormented by the thought of her waiting for you on shore what will you do, William Turner?”
Will smiled at the goddess. “I believe that I’ve come to love you in spite of myself. I have no desire to live on land and ply my trade as a blacksmith, but I also have no desire to return to the Dutchman. All I really want is to be free to sail the sea and follow my own desires, bound to no one and nothing.”
Calypso smiled and slipped back into the water, her form melding seamlessly into the gray-green depths. Will felt his boat rock gently in her wake, and closed his eyes, tilting his head up toward the skies.
He had lost Elizabeth, but it didn’t hurt so much. He had his freedom, and a world of possibility. The future was his to claim.
And he welcomed it.