Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own PotC. But a girl can dream, can't she?
A/N: I'm angry at myself for succumbing to the urge to write a post-DMC Sparrabeth fic, but, after seeing the movie multiple times and coming up with a title I liked, I just had to do it. (Just like the rest of you; don't judge me.) ;)
Birds of a Feather
"Pirate." he said, and the pride in his voice was unmistakable. She backed away shaking her head. No, no, I'm not a pirate!
"Where's Jack?" Will asked and the tremor in his words let her know: he had seen everything.
"He elected to stay behind to give us a chance." she lied hollowly. What had she done?
They were all staring at her, incredulously. The longboat rocked as the Kraken drew near to the ship.
"Go!" she practically screamed, already feeling hot tears burning her eyes. As they rowed away, she stared at the ship in horror as the giant sea monster crushed it like a toothpick. Silent tears were running down her cheeks, but she didn't care. There was suddenly something much worse about what she had just done.
Elizabeth jerked awake; she was in her hammock on the Devil's Revenge, Barbossa's ship. It was a dream. The same dream that had haunted her sleep since the Black Pearl had sunk, taking her Captain to the depths with her. Nightmares of sparrows and commodores, swans and blacksmiths and voodoo and betrayal plagued her even when she was awake. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand it.
In a vain attempt to get back to sleep, Elizabeth turned on her side. This only sent the hammock swinging wildly. She shifted again and cursed loudly when the stupid thing dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor. This wasn't working.
Resigned to the fact that she wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon, Elizabeth went up to the deck. She gazed out at the star-reflecting water and felt a little more peaceful. Jack had been right; a ship was Freedom.
Jack. He had been all she thought about, night and day, since that bloody kiss. She had hardly eaten and barely slept. She knew that Will was worried about her, but she couldn't seem to snap out of it. Maybe it would've been easier if it hadn't been for that idiotic compass.
She pulled out the compass and opened the lid. The needle quivered and pointed east, no, south. When it started spinning crazily, searching for something that wasn't there, Elizabeth snapped it shut. Stupid, broken compass. Worthless, really. But she couldn't bear to part with it--it reminded her of Jack.
Elizabeth started to pace. That kiss had haunted her the past fortnight. But why? It was supposed to be a distraction, completely meaningless. It was more than that to her, though. She could still taste his lips on hers; a sweet mix of rum and sea-salt. That kiss was too passionate to be just a distraction.
Stop it, stop it, stop it! She mentally screamed at herself. You can't have fallen in love with Jack Sparrow! ...Captain Jack Sparrow! You're an engaged woman! So just stop thinking about him and--
Sudden footsteps startled her and she spun around, her hand automatically going to where her cutlass would be, had she not left it below deck.
But it was just Will. He looked at her curiously, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Lizzy? What're you doing?"
Elizabeth bit her lip at the nickname; only Jack had ever called her Lizzy. "I couldn't sleep." she answered honestly, swallowing the lump in her throat at yet another reminder of Captain Jack Sparrow.
"Oh." Will came and stood next to her, but stayed silent, staring out at the sea. She studied him; his eyes had dark circles under them and the eyes themselves were melancholy and sad. He looked almost as bad as her. Had she done this to him? Remorse washed over her; she wished he hadn't seen, but she could not feel sorry for what she had done. Will cleared his throat and finally spoke up.
"When I was young, I always wanted to go out to sea." he told her, without looking at her. "I wanted to see the ocean from up close. But my mother never wanted me to; she was afraid of pirates. From a very young age I was raised to hate pirates."
Elizabeth listened quietly, watching the silvery water lap at the sides of the ship.
"When I finally did get to go, we were attacked by pirates." he continued. She nodded, remembering. "For me, the sea was never about the pirates, it was about the experience." He turned to her. "For you, it always was about the pirates, wasn't it? We're different in that."
"Yes, well, we both ended up pirates." Elizabeth answered, a slight bitterness to her voice. She wanted to steer the conversation away from what she was certain it was about to come to. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going--"
"You love him, don't you?" interrupted Will. She froze. "You're in love with Jack."
"Will, I--"
"Please, Elizabeth, just tell me the truth." he pleaded, gently cupping her chin in his hand and raising her face to his. She looked him in the eye.
"What good would it do?" she asked. "It would only hurt someone and it wouldn't help anything."
"I'm asking you this," Will said. "As your best friend since we were ten. You shouldn't marry me if you love someone else."
She didn't answer, but already the tears had started to come.
"Please?" he pressed.
She nodded, with a small sob.
"Okay." he said, trying to mask the pain in his voice. "Then you need to tell him that when we get him back."
Elizabeth looked up at him then. He was smiling, but she could she sadness hidden deep in his eyes. He kissed her forehead and started to walk away. "Will, I'm sorry." she said, wiping the tears from her face. William Turner truly was a good man.
He shook his head and grinned ruefully. "Don't be. Deep down, I think I knew he'd won you back when we first met him." he shrugged. "I still love you, 'Lizabeth."
"I love you too." she murmured as he vanished below deck once more.
"Look, it's the Pearl!" came an excited shout from the crow's nest.
Elizabeth Swann jumped to her feet and practically ran to the side of the ship. There it was, the Black Pearl, floating off to the right, surrounded by mist. As they came closer, it seemed that the ship was deserted. But, when they dropped anchor as close as they could get, Elizabeth could just see the shape of a man through the mist, leaning casually against the mainmast. It was Jack.
Elizabeth was the first one into the longboat. The rest of Jack's crew joined her. Barbossa and his crew weighed anchor and sailed away. Thankfully, Barbossa was going to leave Jack, and the Pearl alone. He had come to be rather fond of the Revenge after all.
The crew cautiously boarded the ship, not entirely sure how their Captain would react to them. Jack merely grinned, showing his golden teeth and greeted them all:
"Well, it's certainly nice to see human beings that aren't on the inside of a sea-monster!" Jack said, matter-of-factly.
In a matter of minutes, the ship was sailing once more. Elizabeth moved warily towards the quarterdeck--where Jack was standing. She didn't think he noticed her until he spun around suddenly to face her.
"Lizzy, long time no see!"
"Hello Jack." she said politely, sinking into her etiquette-based background for protection.
He raised an eyebrow. "No need for all the formalities." he said. Elizabeth just looked at him, completely at a loss for what to say.
"I'm sorry." she blurted. "I didn't want to chain you to the mast, but I didn't see any other way and I felt terrible for it and--"
"Whoa, slow down, Lizzy!" he said, startled at the outburst. "I'm not mad at ye!"
"Your aren't?" she said surprised.
"I told you before; I respect a person who's willing to do whatever it takes…" He was suddenly much closer. "But what about the boy?" He pulled away from her and looked at Will.
"He knows, he said he didn't want me to marry him if I loved someone else."
"Ah," said Jack, feigning curiosity. "And who might that be?"
"A ridiculously mad pirate." she answered, smirking. "Who seems to be a lot like me…"
Elizabeth kissed Jack again, and this time, there was no ulterior motive, just the passion of two pirates in love. She pulled away and smiled at Jack.
"He told me we were peas in a pod."
"Birds of a feather, luv, birds of a feather." Jack grinned and pulled her close again.
A/N: I know, I know, just R&R, no flames!