Disclaimer: I looked in my stocking, and under the tree... I got lots of cool Pirates stuff, but they STILL really belong to Disney.
Author's note: As all of my regular readers know, Will is released from his curse early, with conditions, and he and Elizabeth are part of Jack's crew, in Pirate Cat's Universe. This one shot refers to the story that accomplishes this wonderful feat, "Calypso's Hand". I love my universe! Pirate Cat
۞
Surprisingly, Elizabeth Swann Turner rarely turned a nose up at the everyday tasks that it took to run a pirate ship at sea... she had taken to the pirate life upon the Black Pearl with her husband with open arms, and the only thing that she would decline doing was actually swabbing the decks. There were other crewmembers that would take on that tedious, backbreaking task, as Elizabeth was not averse to doing other things that the rest of the crew abhored. Varnishing was one of those tasks.
It was something that had no end, much like the swabbing of the deck, but it took her to all parts of the massive galleon, and she was always satisfied with the glossy smooth finish that it afforded, in spite of it being a job that needed redoing after only a few weeks of salt air, wind and sun. It was a smelly job, but it was satisfying... the dark walnut of the Black Pearl seemed to welcome Elizabeth's steady hand, and she would respect Captain Jack Sparrow's wishes that his beloved ship be kept in as pristine of condition as was possible. Granted, many crewmember thought that he was obsessive about it, but she was one of three aboard the ship that truly understood and accepted the odd man and his deep eccentricity, the others being Elizabeth's husband, first mate William Turner the Second, and Jack's loyal quartermaster, Joshamee Gibbs.
Upon this day, Elizabeth had lithely clambered down into one of the longboats, and was busily putting her paintbrush and bucket to good use after she had washed the surfaces down well with a scrub brush and another bucket that was full of water. She was completely undaunted by the fact that the longboat was lashed to the side of the ship, hanging securely by its davits. The sea was rushing underneath her, loudly, as the ship smoothly cut its way through the clear, blue waters... they had just outrun the escort of yet another ship that they had raided and sent to watery oblivion, and Jack Sparrow and Will were quite smug with the swag that was now hidden in the hold of the dark vessel.
As she sat upon one of the longboat's benches, Elizabeth became lost in thought, as she finally put down her brushes... such an unassuming craft such as this was essential to a sailing ship, and suddenly, she frowned. So unassuming... a longboat, such as this... as her memories came flooding back, Elizabeth sat still, as the water churned beneath her...
... it was dark that night, as she rowed herself toward Isla De Muerta, to the treasure cave where Will's life seemingly hung in the balance, uttering "Bloody pirates!" and taking matters into her own hands. They had borne witness to the artistry that was Jack Sparrow weaving his spell, and to the pirate blood awakening in her young blacksmith, as he read the pirate captain's mind... they pulled Hector Barbossa under Jack Sparrow's spell... but it was all for naught for Jack, as they rowed sadly back to the Dauntless..."I'm sorry, Jack", she had uttered rather lamely. His sad reply was, "... they done wot's right by them... can't expect more'n that..."
Jack had gambled and lost. Elizabeth and Will were rescued, and the Black Pearl's curse was broken, but his beloved ship was gone... so close, only to slip through his elegant fingers. The young couple unwillingly delivered their suddenly quiet and small looking new friend into the hands of the authorities, and toward the gallows... her own love, her own young pirate had already planned to contact the crew of the Black Pearl, and took matters into his own hands on the day that Jack was to be hung... but she did not know that this was going through Will's newly scheming head, as she watched Jack sit all alone at the bow... of a longboat, such as this...
Her thoughts turned to Isla Cruces, and the fighting over the heart of Davy Jones... Jack had knocked Will senseless with an oar to get the whelp out of the way and back to the Pearl with his lass, and as James Norrington had escaped with the chest, Jack had confidently ordered them all to pick up Will, and pile in... and they rowed back to the dark ship with what seemed to be a useless jar of dirt. The captain was already showing signs of a cracking mental state, when he was certain that they had something of value to negotiate with... "I've got a jar of dirt, and guess wot's inside it..." but Norrington had the heart... They had gone back to the ship, to what they thought was safety... in a longboat, such as this...
The Kraken attacked... and Elizabeth cringed when she remembered seeing Jack rowing back to Isla Cruces as the monster was taking on the pirate ship that seemingly was refusing to give up... Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut, as she recalled uttering the contemptuous words, "You coward!" Little did she know that Jack's judgment was not as astute as it had been, before... he was changed, but not by cowardice... he had the unreasonable and desperate thought that he could recover the heart... but loyalty to his crew, and his love for his ship made him turn back... in a longboat, such as this...
The Pearl was gone... Jack was dead, at her hand, like as if she had curled the Kraken's cold tentacles around him, herself... she had given him no choice with one click of the shackles... her mind was numb for her rash, terrible act to save herself and Will at the cost of Jack's life... her soul felt like a black hole, as Elizabeth finally realized what she had done... she had killed a man... their friend... and sorely wounded Will, the man that she loved, because he misunderstood her devious, childish method... she could no longer feel superior to Jack, or any other buccanneer, because of one word that thundered inside of her head... Jack's last word to her..."Pirate..." She had killed a man that was their friend, and who had come back to face the Beastie... now they were rowing up the river to Tia's shack, and to shelter ... all of the swamp people already knew, and were staring at them... and she felt that she was about to die, inside... she huddled to herself, and they all grieved, in a longboat, such as this...
They had planned and schemed... it was Will, and not Barbossa, who lead what remained of Jack's crew to commandeer a small ship that was seaworthy enough to take them to Singapore to obtain the charts to find Jack in the world of the dead, at Tia's instruction... "Leave it to me... I learned to commandeer a ship from the best," was Will's only terse comment, as he had demanded to be the one to lead. They had rowed all the way to a port on the far side of the island, and took the small ship by night... Elizabeth would never forget Will's cold determination... and seeing the pirate blood boil to the surface of his personality, as he tried to convince himself that he only wanted the Pearl, and not its captain... this was not true, but one would not know it as they rowed all night in silence... in a longboat, such as this...
They found Jack in the Locker... daft and mad with the heat, the loneliness, the utter fact that his body was not living and his mind was hammered into tiny bits... he had come ashore from the mighty Black Pearl with fire in his eyes, as he growled at Gibbs about the lack of discipline aboard his vessel, only to have his anger dissipate in front of them as he confronted each one of them... his thoughts and words were in scattered puzzles ...Jack had come ashore an angry man, only to row back out to the Pearl as a confused and dazed man, uncertain what was real and what was not, not knowing where he had been, and who were his friends, and who were not... but he had faith that he would find out that his first suspicions about friendship and loyalty would not be so wrong, after all... he had thought about it, and watched Will and Elizabeth watching him... a being who had been a friend, but was now a nonliving spectre soon to be restored to life... he had watched them, with a mad gleam in his eye and with the smallest inkling of a smile... in a longboat, such as this...
On the sea of death that Jack still inhabited, Elizabeth saw her beloved father leave her... "I'll give your love to your mother..."... her father left her behind, and went beyond to another world... in a longboat, such as this...
Elizabeth finally remembered the calm after the victory in the Battle of the Maelstrom... Joshamee Gibbs waved his hand, and said, "Your chariot awaits, your highness... the oars are inside..." Elizabeth felt tears burn in her eyes, as the captain of the Black Pearl was graciously sending her to her waiting husband upon the island, who was soon to leave with his own ghost ship... what might have been a very sad wedding night was tempered by how much she loved Will, and by the restored faith in their friend... yes, she loved that scamp, Jack, too, when she climbed in and found not only oars, but blankets, two goblets, and a bottle of wine with a note in Jack's ornate handwriting that read, "For the wedding night of Mr. and Mrs. William Turner the Second... enjoy, before Hector Barbossa realizes his bottle of wine is missing. Respectfully, Capt. J. S." Thanks to the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, the Pirate King felt warmth of love wash over her as she rowed to the Captain of the Flying Dutchman... her husband... in a longboat, such as this...
Months later, she had been told to pack her seabag, and wait with the Dead Man's Chest... Will was miraculously being released from the Dutchman, but with conditions... her nerves were frayed, and she had panicked when it was revealed that Calypso had chosen Jack to be the one to bear the chest out to the Pearl, where Will waited with his father to have his heart restored... he was dying, and Jack had to hurry... she had panicked, and had tried to take the chest with his heart, her promise, her very life itself, to him... but it was Jack's appointed duty... she had resisted, and had swung the chest at the pirate captain in desperation, nearly knocking him into the waves, and knocking out two teeth, but the crew had gotten the chest away from her, and he had rowed out to save his best friend's life and reunite those who had fought so hard to be together... he had been injured and was bleeding, but he steadfastly put his own heart and soul into the oars, all alone, and he had made it in time...in a longboat, such as this...
Wiping her eyes, Elizabeth shook herself from her thoughts... she looked around at the startlingly blue sky and the whitecapped waves, as they rushed by her and underneath her... she reached over and touched the hull of the mighty Black Pearl with her hand, and then ran that same hand over the wooden bench that she was sitting upon... she took a deep breath, and closed her eyes for only a moment.
Many new memories had been made... she smiled, as she thought of new friends, and the pirate life that she, Will and Jack were all born to lead aboard the ship that they crewed... her smile turned into a grin as thought of how she and Will would watch Jack reveling in flamboyant, cheeky glory, tweaking the sensibilities of the Royal Navy, the aristocracy, the affluent, and anyone else that he mischieviously cared to stick his tongue out at by plundering their holds, setting their indignant crews adrift, and sinking their ships ... taking what they could, and giving nothing back... Elizabeth and Will had found out that there was a certain new nobility and honour in their lives, by living them to the fullest under their captain's command... a man who had helped to keep them together, and upon whose ship they lived in snug comfort.
As she silently and lovingly varnished the hull of the small craft that surrounded her, she was quietly thankful, that a daft, skinny pirate captain and a naive, idealistic young blacksmith had joined forces to rescue her from evil in what seemed an eternity ago... and that a pirate captain simply wanted his ship back... for it was to change all of their lives for the better...
They had hidden under an overturned hull, then had stealthily crept into the waters of history... "This is either madness, or genius..."... in a longboat... such as this...
۞