Title: The path less chosen

Author: Rayenath Rating: G Summary: There is more than one path your life can take. what path is there for Will and Elizabeth now? Disclaimer: Erm, these are no more my characters than Orlando Bloom is my husband (though I wouldn't object to wither being true) However, the plot is MINE MINE MINE! Got it? MINE! Thank-you. Enjoy!

**A/N** This story is sort of AU-y. What would have happened if the ending had been different? Will *is* a pirate after all ^_^ **A/N**

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"So. this is the path you choose then?"

The governor, Elizabeth's father, held the duo's eyes in a stern gaze.

The two had been friends since the day they met, allies, companions. It was startling for an older man such as he to look at them now and see two grown people standing before him. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, the same two children that had stood on deck and watched that ship ablaze so long ago, the ship young Will was rescued from. Will.A simple blacksmith's boy.

Not simple at all really, he mused to himself, not at all! Both of them had more than proved their worth in their most recent ventures. Both of them had had more bravery and courage to them than all the Brittish fleet combined. Why, William was no more a simpleton, than a pirate was pretty! That is to say, not at all.

"Not quite." Startled, the pondering old man looked up at the face of his daughter and saw mischief in her eyes. what on earth could she have meant by that queer remark?

The young couple glanced at each other for but a fraction of a second, Will's eyes questioning hers. A small squeeze was passed from her hand to his, and the smile he returned to her was one of understanding. Of what exactly passed between them the governor had not the foggiest!

"Why, whatever can you-?" He never got to finish his question, a was cut off by a splash in the waters below.

They had moved as one person, whirling around quickly and stepping up to the wall. In one deft movement Elizabeth had tore off her cumbersome dress- minus the corset of course, she had sworn never to wear one again- and leapt from the wall into the waters below, causing the splash that the Governor heard now. The noise had more than answered his question.

"What the devil!?!" A few of the men lingering in the archway that lead to the main square rushed back to the edge and prepared to dive in after them into the rocky waters of the Caribbean below.

"No!" The governor held them back with an outstretched arm. "Leave them be. They.Well. They know what they are doing." A bittersweet sort of smile crept its way into the old mans face and lingered there for a moment, as he watched the two young people swim earnestly after Jack Sparrow. He harrumphed quietly to himself. *Captain* Jack Sparrow. It was his ship that they were rapidly approaching after all.

He watched only long enough to see that Will and Elizabeth were pulled safely on deck then turned away, something that could have been a tear glistening from his eye. He paused for a moment and looked back to the wall that they had just moments ago been standing next to. It would be so easy just to- no. He couldn't. He cut himself off mid-thought.

He straightened. His shoulders rid themselves of their slouched state and his walk, as he continued, held an almost *bouncing* quality.

* "Yo-ho, Yo-ho, A pirates life for me."*

The jolly little tune whistled merrily from his elderly lips and was carried by the winds over the harbor on that clear summer day. A day as clear as his mind was. There would be no worry in the governor's heart, there would be no doubt in his elderly mind.

They knew what they were doing indeed.

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**A/N**So did you like it? I might write more. it may even turn into an epic. or it may not ^_^;;; depends on how lazy I am. Well- reviews are welcome either way! Toodles! **A/N**

As always, Raye.