My excuse for a lame fic? I felt inspired. -shrugs-

Pirates? Mine? No way.

"James..." she moves closer to him, backing him up against the railing. If he moved backwards any further, he'd tip backwards into the unforgiving ocean. Deep and mysterious. Unfathomable. Known by only few.

Much like him.

If he fell back any further, he would fall within himself. Fall deeper. Sink lower.

If that was possible.

"Elizabeth..." he murmurs, looking down at her, her dirtied face ever so slightly lit in the moonlight, "...you have Will."

She licks her lips and moves against his chest. "Will's not here, James."

James. His name rolls off her tongue like a wave, crashing into his mind like a thousand painful stabs.

They stand there, breathing quietly, gazing silently at each other, their minds wrought with memories. Bittersweet and harsh for James.

Regretful for Elizabeth.

"Will's not here." Elizabeth repeats, placing a hand on his hip. He shivers, swallowing and breathing heavily.

"I don't care," James says, regretting it soon after. "You belong to him. You always have. I never accepted it. I never will. But you're his."

"But he isn't here, James," she whispers, her mouth tauntingly close to his own. "Only you."

"You're not mine." He says plainly, his heartbeat quickening slightly.

She breathes into his ear. "I can be."

He almost collapses. He breathes heavily, breathless, his chest rising and falling against hers. He can feel her heartbeat next to his, the quickening pace of them both.

"No." He answers the unspoken question. "You're not mine."

"I'm not Will's either," she says quietly, and James almost falls backwards as she threw all her weight down on him, her shoulders shaking as the sobs escape her body. He watches her against his chest, feels her tears soaking through the fabric.

"No," he says again, refusing to embrace her, against every instinct and temptation in his body. "You belong to Will. We were never meant to be." His voice falters, but Elizabeth takes no notice. She wraps her arms around James, gentle but strong, a stubborn act. So like her.

James closes his eyes. He does not return her embrace. He remains still.

Keeping her hands firmly around his waist, she looks up at him. "Trying to be honorable?"

James snaps his eyes open. "Perhaps."

"Honorable, but look at you," she says huffily, but not letting go of him. She moves her finger in a circle on his back, slowly, seductively. "No honor in this man before me."

He stares down at Elizabeth. "Stop."

She has stopped crying now. "But I belong to nobody, James. I'm alone." She splays her hands across his back, tightening her grip on him, feels him shift slightly. "Unless you take me."

James sighs. "I can't. You're not mine."

"But James, I can be, don't you see?" she pleads desperately, gazing up at him, her eyes insistent.

"I see it clearly. I refuse."

"You don't love me?" Elizabeth pierces his entire soul with the question, rips him apart, shatters his heart from mind.

He does not answer. He does not want to. They both know the answer.

"James," she says, burying her face in his chest. He shivers. "I am no-one's. I can be yours. Do you not love me anymore?"

He stops completely. He is torn betwixt two sides.

Honor. Or betrayal.

But love... Which side was love?

She presses against him, harder now, nearly suffocating, but not quite. She is mesmerizing. Taunting. Tempting.

He cannot hold back much longer.

"Yours, James," she whispers into his chest.

His arms tighten around her shoulders. He can feel her smile.

"Yours."

"Mine," he repeats quietly. Honor? Or betrayal? It could be both.

He kisses her forehead. She looks up. Her nose touches his.

Neither knows who moved first.

Elizabeth sighs against his lips, seeking refuge from the frightening woe he called life. He throws himself into the kiss, running hands through her hair. He moans against her, no speck of regret flickering in his mind, her eyes his only vision. It was the moment in his life he had been waiting for; the only grain of hope in his miserable life. As his harsh lips wrap around her more delicate ones, all he knows is that he never wants to move away, never wants to part, never wants to be anywhere else-

Honor. He forces her away from him.

"You are not mine."

He pulls away and leaves her there, standing against the railing, left to weep and watch the sea, the darkened horizon, the mystery of a world now shattered in James' eyes.