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rivendellroseI did a little writing today... nothing serious, just a few little things that I felt like I needed to do to "deal" with PotC3.
Title: 'When and Where'
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters: Will, Bootstrap Bill, Elizabeth, the crew of The Dutchman; mention of Barbossa and Jack.
Summary: Elizabeth and Will get a few things figured out.
SPOILERS! This fic includes spoilers for the end of the third movie!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, world, or concept, and I'm not making any money off this nor intending infringement. All rights remain in the hands of Disney and associated producers, writers, etc. I also apologize for making (potentially) undue fun of dear William. He asked for it. ;)
“Captain Turner? There’s a ship approaching...”
“Approaching us?” Will frowned. “You mean we’re approaching it, don’t you? A ship with souls that need to be ferried?”
“No, sir.” The crewman - Barrens, a new one, one of the souls who had joined the crew since long after Davy Jones’ death - lowered his spyglass with a slightly abashed look. “They’re approaching us. Flying a flag of truce. Looks like they’re signalling, too.”
“Signalling what, exactly?”
“I’m not sure, sir, but it looks like... ‘parlay.’ Just that one word, over and over.”
“You think it’s a trap?” Bill Turner leaned over the railing at his son’s side, squinting into the brilliant distance at the tall ship that moved steadily closer. “Someone planning to attack?”
“What colors are they flying, Mister Barrens?”
The crewman lifted his glass again and squinted a long moment, then pulled back, surprised. “Pirates! And black sails! it’s the Black Pearl it is, sir! The cursed ship that bodes no good - we’ve got to--” He took a breath, apparently remembering of a sudden that he was aboard no mortal ship. “That is... it would be no good sign to us if we weren’t who we are. And if you hadn’t...” The man trailed off, clearly remembering the stories he’d heard about his captain’s life prior to becoming captain of the Flying Dutchman. “But... why would a pirate ship be signaling us?”
Pirates. The Pearl. Of course. Will laughed. “Steady on, man. That’ll be an old friend of mine - Captain Jack Sparrow, I’m betting. Signal back, and turn so we can come aside their port.”
When the ship pulled aside them, however, it was not Jack who swung over their railings on one of the guide-ropes.
“Elizabeth? What are you... You can’t be here! You can’t...”
“Why can’t I?” Elizabeth - his wife, that word still fascinated and shocked him every time he thought it - set her hands on her hips, hair tangling in the wind under her old brown cap.
“The curse...”
“Applies only to you standing on dry ground, Will. It doesn’t say a thing about me standing on the Dutchman. I can go where I please.”
“But... the Pearl?”
She grinned. “I called in a few favors. Borrowed the Pearl from Barbossa while Jack is off in search of some mythical water of life or other, so I could come looking for you. I’m still the pirate king, you know. They can’t technically refuse me if I demand use of a ship and crew for a few weeks.”
“But--”
“You didn’t actually expect me to do nothing but sit around and wait for you for ten years, did you?”
“I...” He hadn’t, really, of course. He knew Elizabeth better than that. Knew that she was a pirate in her own right - probably a better pirate than he would ever be, and certainly more respected by the others. Gibbs, Barbossa, Jack... all of them looked to her in a way they’d never done with him. “I never thought--”
“Neither did I until just recently. We were so caught up in what the curse wouldn’t allow us to do, we didn’t think for a moment about what it allowed, by implication or by omission. But I was talking to Barbossa the other day--”
“Just talking with him, just like that?”
Another shrug. “We’ve gotten to be quite friendly, and with Jack away... In any case, he pointed out that Davy Jones used to step off onto other ships all the time, regardless of whether or not there were souls to be picked up, and that he even used that bucket to meet with us on the sandbar, with you and Beckett. And there’s no reason I can’t step onto the Dutchman...”
“Of course! There’s no reason we can’t see each other more often than once every ten years. It’s only every ten years that I can meet you on land!”
“Exactly. So if you don’t mind...”
He blinked, and followed her gaze around the deck to the watching crew. Beside him, Bill Turner smiled as brightly as the Caribbean sun.
“Maybe we could go to your cabin?” Elizabeth continued, leaning close and whispering almost directly into his ear. “I’ve told the crew of the Pearl to tie up to the Dutchman... they won’t expect me back for at least a few hours. It’s not much, but...”
“Anything is better than waiting.”
Hands clasped, they scampered off to the cabin.
* * *
Later, in the captain’s cabin of the Flying Dutchman:
“So... really, Elizabeth. What gave you the idea to do this? You can’t have just woken up one morning and realized...”
Elizabeth rolled onto her side, propping herself on one elbow, the heel of her hand pressed into her chin. “Not exactly, no. I wanted to talk to you about something. I wanted to tell you... I’m pregnant.”
Will blinked. It was a bit like the feeling he’d had when the sword had run through his stomach, and a bit again like the feeling when he’d woken up afterward, feeling as though his insides had been twisted around to make room for sea air and a little too much empty space. “Pregnant. We’re... us? Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“I’m... going to be a father?”
Her smile filled his eyes. “Yes, Will.”
It was a fortunate thing that the crew of the Dutchman was locked outside. It wouldn’t do for them to see their captain pass out from shock.
Title: 'In the Dark Watches'
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters: Norrington, with mention of most of the rest.
Summary: Introspection, for the most part - Norrington making his decision.
SPOILERS! This fic contains spoilers for the end of the third movie!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, world, or concept, and I'm not making any money off this nor intending infringement. All rights remain in the hands of Disney and associated producers, writers, etc. Pretty much pointless, but I felt a great need for it, nonetheless.
The world was not as it should have been. James Norrington was quite certain of that.
At the moment, it was the only thing of which he was certain.
Down in the bowels of the ship, the woman he loved was bound in the brig. She was held as a pirate and likely to be executed just as soon as Beckett had gotten what information he needed from her. Worse, there wasn’t even a convenient misunderstanding to blame it all on - after their interactions of the past months, no doubt could be left that Elizabeth Swann was indeed a friend of pirates and a criminal.
Once upon a time, he was quite sure that would have mattered to him. Life had been simple, all pirates were worthy only of hanging, and his pride on earth had been to serve the common good by bringing them to that fate. At some point in the past year, that had all gone terribly wrong.
It had started with Elizabeth, to be sure. And with her it would end.
The rapier rested lightly in his hand, cold metal warming to his skin as his mind bent and moulded itself to the choice he knew he would make from the moment he’d seen Elizabeth on that ship. It was a good sword - well-balanced and flexible, with an edge that had never once failed him. Strong, clever hands had forged it - hands that he had spent a year working not to imagine pressing into Elizabeth’s fine skin with their rough calluses.
If she could find happiness with William Turner, he had been willing to turn her over to the other man’s arms. No man should stand in the way of love. That didn’t mean he had to like it.
He had turned his back on them both to win back the life he’d lost in helping them, and had found it bitter. He had regained honor and freedom, been granted a rank higher even than the one he had lost, and returned to the calling that had fulfilled him in the past, and yet found that none of it contented him. Lord Beckett’s cold praise tasted of metal in his mouth, and now Elizabeth said that he had ordered her father’s death. Governor Swann had been a good man. He had done nothing to deserve death.
And Elizabeth? What did she deserve?
By the law that he had spent his life defending, she should die. She aided and abetted pirates, called herself a pirate and served on their ships. One look in her eyes, however, and the world turned itself inside out. Sky was sea, and the sea was hard as stone; right was wrong, and Elizabeth Swann could not be sent to the gallows. Not her. And not her foolish, devoted, beloved fiance. As much as he had wanted when he saw her again after his fall to believe that she cared as little now for her new man as she had for him, seeing them together, albeit briefly, had disabused him of that notion. Her love might burn a man’s soul like the very flames of hell, but once surely kindled, it seemed to be true. If she loved Jack Sparrow, she loved him in addition to Turner, not instead of him.
His own heart, too, was more true than he had expected and hoped. After relinquishing her to William Turner, he had steeled himself against the memory of Elizabeth, but the sight of her made as unerring and deadly a strike as he had seen her hand deal by the sword. He could not pretend not to love her. And he could not allow her to be held.
Her crew would have to be set free with her. There was a good chance that when Beckett discovered their absence, he would suspect that they could not have escaped on their own. And if he did suspect, then Norrington would at the very least lose his commission, most likely everything. Including his life.
James Norrington had always prided himself on being a man of simple morals. The law was the law, and good and evil were plain equations when worked from that perspective. Now that simplicity turned on a different hub, but still it remained as solid as ever. Elizabeth would have her freedom, and he would be redeemed in her eyes, for what little it was worth. It would change nothing between them. But still it would change all the remained to matter to him.
He sheathed his sword at his hip and took one last look around the cabin that he had been granted aboard Davy Jones’ ship. It was a cold, damp, disgusting place, anyway. He would not miss it.
Title: 'When and Where'
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters: Will, Bootstrap Bill, Elizabeth, the crew of The Dutchman; mention of Barbossa and Jack.
Summary: Elizabeth and Will get a few things figured out.
SPOILERS! This fic includes spoilers for the end of the third movie!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, world, or concept, and I'm not making any money off this nor intending infringement. All rights remain in the hands of Disney and associated producers, writers, etc. I also apologize for making (potentially) undue fun of dear William. He asked for it. ;)
“Captain Turner? There’s a ship approaching...”
“Approaching us?” Will frowned. “You mean we’re approaching it, don’t you? A ship with souls that need to be ferried?”
“No, sir.” The crewman - Barrens, a new one, one of the souls who had joined the crew since long after Davy Jones’ death - lowered his spyglass with a slightly abashed look. “They’re approaching us. Flying a flag of truce. Looks like they’re signalling, too.”
“Signalling what, exactly?”
“I’m not sure, sir, but it looks like... ‘parlay.’ Just that one word, over and over.”
“You think it’s a trap?” Bill Turner leaned over the railing at his son’s side, squinting into the brilliant distance at the tall ship that moved steadily closer. “Someone planning to attack?”
“What colors are they flying, Mister Barrens?”
The crewman lifted his glass again and squinted a long moment, then pulled back, surprised. “Pirates! And black sails! it’s the Black Pearl it is, sir! The cursed ship that bodes no good - we’ve got to--” He took a breath, apparently remembering of a sudden that he was aboard no mortal ship. “That is... it would be no good sign to us if we weren’t who we are. And if you hadn’t...” The man trailed off, clearly remembering the stories he’d heard about his captain’s life prior to becoming captain of the Flying Dutchman. “But... why would a pirate ship be signaling us?”
Pirates. The Pearl. Of course. Will laughed. “Steady on, man. That’ll be an old friend of mine - Captain Jack Sparrow, I’m betting. Signal back, and turn so we can come aside their port.”
When the ship pulled aside them, however, it was not Jack who swung over their railings on one of the guide-ropes.
“Elizabeth? What are you... You can’t be here! You can’t...”
“Why can’t I?” Elizabeth - his wife, that word still fascinated and shocked him every time he thought it - set her hands on her hips, hair tangling in the wind under her old brown cap.
“The curse...”
“Applies only to you standing on dry ground, Will. It doesn’t say a thing about me standing on the Dutchman. I can go where I please.”
“But... the Pearl?”
She grinned. “I called in a few favors. Borrowed the Pearl from Barbossa while Jack is off in search of some mythical water of life or other, so I could come looking for you. I’m still the pirate king, you know. They can’t technically refuse me if I demand use of a ship and crew for a few weeks.”
“But--”
“You didn’t actually expect me to do nothing but sit around and wait for you for ten years, did you?”
“I...” He hadn’t, really, of course. He knew Elizabeth better than that. Knew that she was a pirate in her own right - probably a better pirate than he would ever be, and certainly more respected by the others. Gibbs, Barbossa, Jack... all of them looked to her in a way they’d never done with him. “I never thought--”
“Neither did I until just recently. We were so caught up in what the curse wouldn’t allow us to do, we didn’t think for a moment about what it allowed, by implication or by omission. But I was talking to Barbossa the other day--”
“Just talking with him, just like that?”
Another shrug. “We’ve gotten to be quite friendly, and with Jack away... In any case, he pointed out that Davy Jones used to step off onto other ships all the time, regardless of whether or not there were souls to be picked up, and that he even used that bucket to meet with us on the sandbar, with you and Beckett. And there’s no reason I can’t step onto the Dutchman...”
“Of course! There’s no reason we can’t see each other more often than once every ten years. It’s only every ten years that I can meet you on land!”
“Exactly. So if you don’t mind...”
He blinked, and followed her gaze around the deck to the watching crew. Beside him, Bill Turner smiled as brightly as the Caribbean sun.
“Maybe we could go to your cabin?” Elizabeth continued, leaning close and whispering almost directly into his ear. “I’ve told the crew of the Pearl to tie up to the Dutchman... they won’t expect me back for at least a few hours. It’s not much, but...”
“Anything is better than waiting.”
Hands clasped, they scampered off to the cabin.
* * *
Later, in the captain’s cabin of the Flying Dutchman:
“So... really, Elizabeth. What gave you the idea to do this? You can’t have just woken up one morning and realized...”
Elizabeth rolled onto her side, propping herself on one elbow, the heel of her hand pressed into her chin. “Not exactly, no. I wanted to talk to you about something. I wanted to tell you... I’m pregnant.”
Will blinked. It was a bit like the feeling he’d had when the sword had run through his stomach, and a bit again like the feeling when he’d woken up afterward, feeling as though his insides had been twisted around to make room for sea air and a little too much empty space. “Pregnant. We’re... us? Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“I’m... going to be a father?”
Her smile filled his eyes. “Yes, Will.”
It was a fortunate thing that the crew of the Dutchman was locked outside. It wouldn’t do for them to see their captain pass out from shock.
Title: 'In the Dark Watches'
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters: Norrington, with mention of most of the rest.
Summary: Introspection, for the most part - Norrington making his decision.
SPOILERS! This fic contains spoilers for the end of the third movie!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, world, or concept, and I'm not making any money off this nor intending infringement. All rights remain in the hands of Disney and associated producers, writers, etc. Pretty much pointless, but I felt a great need for it, nonetheless.
The world was not as it should have been. James Norrington was quite certain of that.
At the moment, it was the only thing of which he was certain.
Down in the bowels of the ship, the woman he loved was bound in the brig. She was held as a pirate and likely to be executed just as soon as Beckett had gotten what information he needed from her. Worse, there wasn’t even a convenient misunderstanding to blame it all on - after their interactions of the past months, no doubt could be left that Elizabeth Swann was indeed a friend of pirates and a criminal.
Once upon a time, he was quite sure that would have mattered to him. Life had been simple, all pirates were worthy only of hanging, and his pride on earth had been to serve the common good by bringing them to that fate. At some point in the past year, that had all gone terribly wrong.
It had started with Elizabeth, to be sure. And with her it would end.
The rapier rested lightly in his hand, cold metal warming to his skin as his mind bent and moulded itself to the choice he knew he would make from the moment he’d seen Elizabeth on that ship. It was a good sword - well-balanced and flexible, with an edge that had never once failed him. Strong, clever hands had forged it - hands that he had spent a year working not to imagine pressing into Elizabeth’s fine skin with their rough calluses.
If she could find happiness with William Turner, he had been willing to turn her over to the other man’s arms. No man should stand in the way of love. That didn’t mean he had to like it.
He had turned his back on them both to win back the life he’d lost in helping them, and had found it bitter. He had regained honor and freedom, been granted a rank higher even than the one he had lost, and returned to the calling that had fulfilled him in the past, and yet found that none of it contented him. Lord Beckett’s cold praise tasted of metal in his mouth, and now Elizabeth said that he had ordered her father’s death. Governor Swann had been a good man. He had done nothing to deserve death.
And Elizabeth? What did she deserve?
By the law that he had spent his life defending, she should die. She aided and abetted pirates, called herself a pirate and served on their ships. One look in her eyes, however, and the world turned itself inside out. Sky was sea, and the sea was hard as stone; right was wrong, and Elizabeth Swann could not be sent to the gallows. Not her. And not her foolish, devoted, beloved fiance. As much as he had wanted when he saw her again after his fall to believe that she cared as little now for her new man as she had for him, seeing them together, albeit briefly, had disabused him of that notion. Her love might burn a man’s soul like the very flames of hell, but once surely kindled, it seemed to be true. If she loved Jack Sparrow, she loved him in addition to Turner, not instead of him.
His own heart, too, was more true than he had expected and hoped. After relinquishing her to William Turner, he had steeled himself against the memory of Elizabeth, but the sight of her made as unerring and deadly a strike as he had seen her hand deal by the sword. He could not pretend not to love her. And he could not allow her to be held.
Her crew would have to be set free with her. There was a good chance that when Beckett discovered their absence, he would suspect that they could not have escaped on their own. And if he did suspect, then Norrington would at the very least lose his commission, most likely everything. Including his life.
James Norrington had always prided himself on being a man of simple morals. The law was the law, and good and evil were plain equations when worked from that perspective. Now that simplicity turned on a different hub, but still it remained as solid as ever. Elizabeth would have her freedom, and he would be redeemed in her eyes, for what little it was worth. It would change nothing between them. But still it would change all the remained to matter to him.
He sheathed his sword at his hip and took one last look around the cabin that he had been granted aboard Davy Jones’ ship. It was a cold, damp, disgusting place, anyway. He would not miss it.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 05:23 am (UTC)I am totally in favor of writing and posting "fixits" as further adventures of the crew. And not just because I need emotional support for my post-movie Norrington/Will/Elizabeth idea. I also want to see Pirate King Elizabeth's awesome adventures.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 03:55 am (UTC)I need emotional support for my post-movie Norrington/Will/Elizabeth idea.
...How much support? What do you need in order for this to happen? Because, seriously, that'd be awesome. Miserable for the boys, but... eeeee. And I want to see the adventures of Pirate King Elizabeth, too!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 05:11 am (UTC)I actually put up a poll on the story. ;) And yeah, I'm working on it. Just knowing that someone else out there is interested in reading it helps a lot.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 05:15 am (UTC)Ooo, must check out this poll thing. I must've missed it somehow. And yes! Very much interested. I can't wait to see what you do with it.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 06:03 am (UTC)#2 was just beautiful and very right. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 12:31 am (UTC)And #2 is just so bittersweet and right.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 04:00 am (UTC)I'm especially glad you liked #2 - I felt a little silly and self-indulgent writing it, but I really felt like I needed to do it. Poor guy never caught a break.