Forever Beloved

Hi everyone!!! First of all, I want to thank you for all the sweet reviews. They give me wings!

I'm terribly sorry for the delay in updating... I blame Real Life and a major writer's block for that. But no worries mates, here is part II for all of you! Next update is comming within just a couple of days. If you review, that is :P

As for „An Eye for an Eye, A Kiss for a Kiss „ I'm almost done with chapter 12. I'm going to post it shortly after part III of „Forever Beloved”.

ENJOY! :)

"Forever Beloved " Part II
 
 
Was she dreaming? Was Will trying to say that  he came back for good? Elizabeth felt her knees buckle, regretting that her comfortable leather padded armchair wasn't around. She was forced  to rest on the damp sand, for her legs suddenly refused to carry her weight.
 
„Jack, would you bring some drinks for all of us, please?”  She thought it would be better to talk in private and spare her son the details.

„Aye mum! I'm on me way, right away!” yelled  the boy and disappeared in the bushes.
 
"Elizabeth..."  Will spoke softly, not even noticing how troubled she was. "I asked you a question." He sat close to her on the ground and pulled up his knee-high brown stockings. They were not tight enough, and William needed to adjust them all too often.
 
„No, I haven't heard about it," she replied without raising her eyes from the golden sand she was sifting through her long fingers. "May I learn who told you the great news?” she tried to sound confident and calm, but as soon as the words left her mouth she realized that she failed all the way.

„Yesterday, Calypso surprised me greatly, announcing that my one day ashore has come and asking what  my decision would be. I had to choose between coming back to the world of mortals by giving up my captain's title and... staying on the Dutchman, just like the destiny wanted it, and visiting you once in ten years.”

„Oh...”

"You see Elizabeth, I won't hide that I'm afraid of your reaction, but I must tell you something of great importance.”
 
William sighed   before speaking „Aboard the Dutchman I discovered my true calling, and even though my father proposed to take over the job and set me free, I chose to sail the seven seas forever. I feel that as the immortal captain I'm where I've always belonged, and these last ten years were the best time of my life. I'm not coming back, Elizabeth...”

The young woman sitting beside him couldn't believe her ears. „...the best time of my life.” Her heart ached at his words. Did he just say that the  precious time they had spent together, those years of dedication and friendship, the bond they had shared right from childhood  fade in comparison to fishing out dead men and transporting them to the Locker? Her mouth was agape and her warm coffee brown eyes wide-open as if she had just seen a ghost. She seemed to have difficulties breathing for several moments, making William frown in concern when he  noticed her discomfort.

„Are you alright, Elizabeth?”

„Yes, I'm perfectly fine... I just...”

„I know it's a shock to you, but I hope you will understand that I need to follow my calling; finding helpless souls lost at sea, leading them to   light...”

She nodded with a small smile. Being forced to do the job on the Dutchman was one thing. But voluntarily choosing such a ghastly life?

„And in my free time, I train my crew in sword fighting.” Will continued,  desperately trying  to improve the tense atmosphere.

„Three hours a day?” she chuckled recalling their long lessons.

„Oh, so you remember!” his faced brightened up. „We also do knitting! I thought everyone on board should know how to knit and now every crew member possesses several pairs of elegant, self made stockings in all shades of brown. Just like my own. How do you like them?”
 
She answered him with a smile. If he so deeply believed that his awful oversize stockings were elegant, she would not be the one to destroy his illusion.
 
„No hard feelings? I will be visiting you every ten years, of course...” he said and adjusted his stockings once again.

„If this is your destiny, I'm not going to stop you Will. How could I ? I want you to be happy!” Elizabeth smiled and hugged him the way one hugs a friend. His hand gently brushed her cheek when his eyes met hers and she shuddered in response to his touch.

„I think we should make a fire. The breeze is turning pretty cold.”

„That's a good idea.” he answered.William was searching  for dry firewood, unaware that Elizabeth did not tremble from cold. She felt uncomfortable in his arms, and did not wish  his fingers to touch  her face. Even his presence itself was somehow disturbing, especially now that her son was not around.


„I'm back!” The resonant voice of young Jack could be heard in the distance, a moment  before he emerged from the thicket. Elizabeth exhaled, relieved. "How good to see him back" she thought. She felt so awkward when she was left alone with William.

”So, here's rum for mummy,” he handed her a thin silver hip flask. „That's juice for me, and that's something special for you!” smiled the boy presenting William a full bottle of best quality dark rum.

„My son,” he cleared his throat, blushing a little bit. „I actually do not drink rum.” said Will, taking Jack's little bottle with orange juice instead and returning the alcohol into the hands of the surprised lad.

„Is that so? Now, that's interesting. Me, I can't drink it yet, but once I grow up I will be sippin' rum just like-” in that moment Jackie paused after getting an icy look from his mother.

„ ...like all ballsy sailors do! ” he finished with a sincere smile.
 
Hearing this, William choked while drinking and his loud cough echoed around. He was oversensitive when it came to everything that was even remotely related to a certain, unique question Jack Sparrow had asked him a long time ago, during their first duel...
Noticing his mother's eyes glaring daggers at him  Jack announced briefly: "Me thinks, I'd better go and play! " And he was gone. 
 
Elizabeth kept slapping Will's back until his coughing ceased. She sat down  beside him with a sigh, making sure to keep a safe distance between them and for a while both of them concentrated on catching their breaths. The moment of silence was getting unpleasantly long and Elizabeth decided to break it.
 
„How are you doing as captain? It's not an easy job and I recall that you had no experience when taking the post.”

„For some time I indeed had some  issues, especially when it came to underwater navigation. Instead of appearing in New Orleans we would emerge in Singapore. One day we were heading to London but after the flash of green crossed the sky, we appeared at the coast of Madagascar. I used to make some minor mistakes but thanks to my father I eventually overcame the problems. Still it took long months to regain crew's respect after all the series of ...unfortunate events.”

„What happened?” she asked worriedly.

„To name just a few things, I navigated the ship straight onto a reef and needless the say the crew was furious...”

„But that could happen to anybody, even to an experienced sailor!”

„Technically yes. But the point is that my mates were aware of the danger and warned me not to go in that direction, some of them insolently refusing to carry out my commands. I decided to show them who was in charge and led the Dutchman straight onto a giantic reef...” He hid his face in his hands with a sigh. ”I had no choice but to ask Calypso for help. I never felt that ashamed in my entire life, Elizabeth...”

Recalling her son's yesterday's   assumptions concerning Will, Elizabeth found it very hard to suppress a giggle. How could he possibly know about Will's blatant navigational mistakes and poor captain's skills? He practically saw   through him!

„I'm sorry to hear that. But that's just one single incident so I would not care so much if I were you.”

„If  it was the only one, I also wouldn't. The other time I was preparing my dinner in the galley and accidentally caused fire.Without a moment of hesitation I grabbed a bottle that was left on the table nearby and poured the liquid straight into the flames.”

„You doused the fire, so what's the problem?”

„The problem is that the bottle contained rum... I guess you can figure the rest.”

This time it was too much to bear. Elizabeth chuckled before losing control and bursting into laughter. Will blushed in reaction to her sudden outburst.

„I'm so sorry, Will, but that's just.... too funny!" his face was now almost wine red.  "Oh, take it easy, Will. At least you had some adventures.You will have enough stories to tell your grandchildren. Try to look at it that way.”
 
He shook his head. No, these were not the things about which he could boast with pride, and he swore to himself that nobody apart from Elizabeth would  ever hear them. Especially not his grandchildren.

„My mates found it by far less funny. They were frequently letting me know what they thought of my „adventures”. For them I was, let me quote: „Pain in the ass”. Especially after that memorable hurricane when we needed to drop canvas in haste. I was shouting commands, beating my brain to use the complicated nautical terms as it befits the captain, in the end mixing everything up.The ship entered the eye of the hurricane with a braced foreyard and on full canvas. We lost two masts as a consequence, the impetuous wind braking them like matches. I feared a mutiny after that accident, but my father comforted me that it would never happen. They could not maroon me or kill me. After all, the only way to get rid of me and become the new captain was to find my heart, and thank God they did not have a clue where it was hidden. All they could do was to fume over spending their whole time on countless repairs and rebuildings of the Dutchman , because of my "brainless actions" as they articulated it.”

„Oh... But that's past, I understand. Your father taught you more about navigation and everything is alright now. Isn't it?”

„To some extent yes... He was trying to help me, but the underwater navigation is so difficult and complicated... all those nautical terms... In the end we agreed that I would be telling my dad what I want to do and he would do the rest."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"If, for instance, I need to get to Kingston, I only need to  tell him that , and he navigates the ship to that place. Or if I want the canvas to drop, I only need to tell him that and he shouts out all the complicated commands for me. It's so much better now. No more accidents, no more angry crew. All the crewmen are my friends now. Although, it still bugs them when I take part in sea fights.”
 
„You do???”  It was not his task after all...

„They all prefer to wait passively for battles to end on their own, and  they don't approve me interferring any slaughter. Why  can't they  understand that I do not practice three hours a day for nothing? To my disappointment, even my own father does not actually approve of that. He would hiss under his breath „What a cropper, again!” every time I decide to help in a battle. Can you imagine that?”
 
She could. William was always reaching for his sword too eagerly...
 
"How about Sparrow? I haven't had an occasion to meet him over the past decade.That's quite unusual considering all the dangers involved in the life of a pirate." 
 
„I've heard from Jack."  she admitted.  "No casualties for last ten years as you just said. The story has already reached the status of a legend, becoming most common object of fierce debates in every dock and tavern.” she smiled. „Needless to add that queues of buccaneers line up to the Pearl wherever it makes port. There's no scallywag who wouldn't dream of joining Jack's lucky bunch."
 
"He can be picky now. Good for him." Will smiled. He recalled the group of random, mad sailors Jack was once forced to accept as his crew, before setting off  to Isla de Muerta.
 
"His fortunes weren't so good at first. Jack lost his ship to Barbossa just days after you boarded the Dutchman.”
 
„Another mutiny?”
 
„Hector betrayed Jack and Gibbs and left them behind in Tortuga before sailing away with the rest of the traitors on a quest to the Fountain of Youth. Unfortunately, Hector wasn't aware that Jack had tricked him by stealing the middle part of the map. With that precious scrap in his hand, Jack set off in a tiny dinghy that his mutinous crew had generously left for him.”

„Sparrow was also searching for the Fountain?”

„Yes, and that's where he assumed that he was heading. But finicky that his compass was, it led him to a rather unexpected location. An island with no single spring, where he found--”

„A treasure?!” chuckled Will cutting her off.

"Yes...a treasure." she replied absentmindedly. Her voice was now soft, sounding like a caress. For a brief moment William could swear to see a blush spread across her cheeks. And that flash in her eye... Or was it just the bonfire and its magical glow playing tricks on him?


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TBC... 
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