"In the name of God, William Turner, I can't take my eyes off you for ten minutes before you go do something rash and life-threatening!"
William Turner only laughed. "I apologize for worrying you, Ophelia—but I am here now, and that is what matters. How have you been the past couple of months? Hopefully you have been well, seeing as Mr. Brown only drinks and sleeps these days."
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. As worried as she had been about her greatest friend the past five months, she was even more relieved to find him in front of her now. He had disappeared one night when a bunch of cursed pirates from the Black Pearl had opened fire on the town. They had taken Elizabeth Swann, the governor's daughter, captive, and of course Will simply had to go after her and nearly get himself killed in the process.
"I've been bored," she responded banteringly. As she spoke, she grabbed a blanket and draped it around Will's shoulders. He had returned late at night in the middle of a rainstorm, and had given Elizabeth his jacket to keep her dry. Therefore, Ophelia felt it her responsibility to make sure Will would be alright.
"Bored?" asked Will.
"Yes, bored," confirmed Ophelia, striking up a fire in the fireplace. "You're mad if you think Mr. Brown would've practiced swordplay with me. I've had to practice all by myself!"
At this, a smirk formed on Will's face. "If that's the case, we have a lot of practice to do."
Choosing to ignore Ophelia's protests, he stood up and grabbed two swords. He handed one hilt first to Ophelia; the other he extended her direction. "Are you ready? One—two—"
"Will, you need to rest," she retorted, but it didn't look like Will would be having any of it.
"Three!"
Right when Will said that, he lunged toward her. Ophelia yelped and quickly parried; despite her surprise and despite not having her mentor and friend around for the past five months, she was pleased to see that she was holding her own against him rather well.
"Ha!" exclaimed Ophelia, leaping back to avoid Will's sword. "Is this all you can do? I would've thought that your journey improved your skill!"
Will glared at her as if she'd just issued a personal insult. "You will regret saying that, Ophie!"
She merely laughed and danced out of his reach.
For a while more, with Will assessing her performance the way he always did, they sparred. It went on for a while until at last he got the best of her and disarmed her. At the end of it, Ophelia was pleased to notice that Will seemed winded.
"Very good!" he exclaimed. "Very good… you have been practicing!"
"Three hours a day," she grinned, "just like you."
Will grinned, his dark eyes gleaming with something that Ophelia hoped was pride. "That's good to hear," he replied, nodding.
"How much did you have to fight during your journey?"
Now he laughed and shook his head. "More than perhaps you'd like to hear."
"Oh, but it'd be a most wonderful tale, I'm sure," she giggled, feeding the fire to keep it burning. She gently guided him toward the fire and sat him down on a barrel in front of it. "Tell me about it."
She was answered with a curt laugh. "Anything for you, Ophie. It was a long journey with Captain Jack… we hijacked a ship from the navy and found a cursed pirate ship from there. Have you ever heard of those old curses? The ones about pirate gold?"
Ophelia blinked. "I don't believe I have. What was the curse?"
"The gold was cursed… if anyone touched or spent the gold of the Aztecs, they would never die."
"That hardly sounds like a terrible curse," frowned Ophelia. "Wouldn't most people want to live forever?"
Will shrugged. "That was their thinking. But after many long years, they lost their sense of taste or feel. They could not enjoy life as they once had… and in the moonlight, they would waste away to skeletons. They were undead—they could not be killed."
"And you fought them?" she whispered in horrification.
He offered her a hesitant smile. "Not alone. But yes…"
There was a silence for a while as Ophelia processed this information. She loved Will immensely—he was the most important person in her life. She had fallen in love with him years ago, and had been his friend for even longer. She had been worried about him for so long… but he was back, and safe, and home.
He'd promised to come back to her—and he did.
"Well," she began, sighing slowly, "the next time you go off to fight cursed pirates, be sure to take me with you. I could've sworn that you promised we'd do everything together?" This last was said with a knowing smirk, one that Will did not miss.
He laughed and placed an arm around her shoulder. "Of course we will," he promised. "But everything was chaotic when I left. Now, though—if it comforts you, I reiterate my promise that we shall do everything together."
Ophelia smiled, indeed comforted. She remembered the first time he had told her they'd always be together… the first time they met.
She had been twelve, and was starving on the streets. She was rummaging through a trash can in the back alley by the bakery when a young voice asked, "What are you doing?"
Ophelia leapt back, startled. She didn't think anyone would want to chase her if she were rooting through a trash can. Wasn't that where people put things they didn't want?
Sheepishly, she hid the apple core she'd found behind her back and glanced upon the person who'd caught her. It was a young boy, not much older than her.
"Well?" asked the boy, his dark eyes curious. His hair was tied back, and there were grimy stains on his clothes.
Ophelia sighed and held out the apple core, but she was silent.
The boy moved forward and stared at it. Then he glanced at her gaunt figure and pale face. "Are you trying to get something to eat?"
She nodded, ashamed to admit it.
But the boy didn't look disgusted. If anything, he looked sad. But he put aside that sadness and smiled at her—it was the first act of kindness Ophelia had received in a long, long time.
"I have some money. I've been saving up for a little," said the boy, extending his hand to show her it was true. Ophelia could see the glints of gold and silver in his palm. "Maybe we could both get something to eat. I'm hungry, too."
She blinked again and stared at him. Why would he help her?
"Why?" she asked.
He shrugged. "We're both hungry. And you won't get anything with that strategy."
"I… have nothing to give back to you," she confessed, shuffling her feet.
"You can be my friend."
Ophelia's gaze shot back up to the boy standing in front of her. She had never thought that someone not on the streets could ever offer her an invitation of friendship, much less a single act of kindness such as this. She worried that perhaps the boy might change his mind later on, and was terrified of accepting.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Ophelia. You?"
"Will."
She nodded and tried to smile, but Ophelia was afraid it was more like a grimace. Just then, her stomach rumbled—embarrassed, she glanced down at the ground. But when she looked back up, Will was grinning.
"Come on, then," he said. "Let's go get some lunch. It can be you and me, together."
This almost seemed too much to hope for. "Together? As… friends?"
"Sure!" Will seemed no less than delighted by her speaking the word, as if her merely acknowledging it was enough to give him hope. "We can be friends. We can do everything together."
Delighted, Ophelia finally allowed herself to smile. She'd never had a real friend before. "Everything?" she asked.
"Everything," he confirmed, nodding. He held out a hand—and Ophelia shook it. "Now let's get some lunch."
"Together," Ophelia murmured.
The word felt sweet in her mouth; sweeter than any food or relief could be.
Ophelia was suddenly brought out of her thoughts by Will's voice. "What are you thinking about? You have that look."
Knowing that she was caught red-handed, Ophelia smiled sheepishly. "I was just thinking about the first day we met. It seems so long ago, and yet… like yesterday."
Will grinned at her and tightened his grip around her shoulder. "I understand. It was a very fortunate day for us both."
"Perhaps more for me than you," she laughed, but Will would have none of it. He waved off her comment and simply sat, staring at the fire for a minute… Ophelia noticed that it was now he who was drifting off into his own thoughts.
Right when she was about to ask what he was thinking about, Will sighed and blurted out, "Ophelia, I must ask if I can tell you something off topic?"
He sounded anxious, for some reason. Ophelia withheld her frown. He didn't need to feel nervous about telling her anything. They were best friends, after all. What exactly was he going to say? She hoped he would not bring up a desire to become a pirate—how much he would have changed if that were the case. The last she had seen him, he was fighting a pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow. Ironically, the two had teamed up to bring Elizabeth back to Port Royal.
A smirk threatened to come over her lips when she remembered she had bashed said Captain Jack Sparrow on the back with a stool. That had been fun.
She was not conscious of replying, "Yes, of course. You know you can tell me anything."
Will smiled again; that was another thing Ophelia had missed. He always seemed to reserve a specific sort of smile for her, and he wore it now when he sighed, "I know I can, do not worry. Anyway… I know this seems sudden, and hardly anyone knows… but I just wanted to tell you—Elizabeth and I are going to be married in the spring."
Ophelia blinked. "Married?"
"Yes—her father has approved it already, when we returned just a few hours ago. Being my best friend, I value your opinion. What do you think?"
Seeing the hopeful look on Will's face, Ophelia swallowed back the burning in her throat and blinked the tears out of her eyes. She would never dream of withholding his happiness. Seeing the hope and joy in his eyes as he said Elizabeth's name, Ophelia knew she could never tell him her true feelings.
And so she replied, "Oh, Will, I think—I think that's wonderful."
