Enigma
Summary: Jack's thoughts on Elizabeth. Jack POV. One-shot. J/E
Rating: K
Author's Note: I wrote this on a whim one night when I was thinking about Jack and Elizabeth. It may seem a bit random and pointless, but I was feeling particularly inspired and poetic, so I had to get this off my chest.
Disclaimer: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio own the sentences that I stole from both CotBP and DMC. Disney owns the rest.
Enigma
By Astrid R.
"Elizabeth, you never cease to confuse me."
You will always be a mystery to me. The way you move with both an elegant grace and a frightening fortitude, the look of your hands as they fumble with the cold steel of a pistol, the way your soft eyes burn with a foreign fire. You are a conundrum. You are a treasure that refuses to be owned, a storm that refuses to be tamed.
Why should your fiancé, a mere man, think that he can tame you? He desperately tries to rein you in; I see it. He strives to quench the flame in your heart and your eyes. You don't know how it pains me to watch the fire flickering and fading. One day, you will no longer be the woman I once knew. You will be a wife, and a mother. You will be living the life expected of you.
Will you be satisfied with that? Will you be happy?
The Elizabeth Swann I know is different. She is fierce and brave. She can hold her own among men. She is intimidating and dauntless. She is remarkably and uniquely beautiful, but she is not simply a prize to be won. She is a swan that must be allowed to fly free. She is a treasure that should be cared for, loved, and treated with the utmost respect.
"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate."
You were not born for the life you lead, Elizabeth. You were destined for more than you are becoming. You need freedom. It is your heart's breath and blood; the very life that pulses through your veins. I know because it is the same life that is in mine. Without it, you will wither like the wallflower that you are expected to be. Without it, the life you thrive on will be choked out of you. You care for your fiancé, but he cannot give you what you need. He cannot give you what will make you truly happy.
I believe that I can.
"You're a smart man, Jack... but I don't entirely trust you."
I can share my freedom with you, if you will only partake in it. Freedom, or lack thereof, is a matter of life and death. Will you choose life, or will you let yourself die in bondage?
You were never entirely trusting of me, but will you trust me now?