I Do
A/N: Once again I'm just drabbling with one of my favorite pairings of all time. Takes place at the end of At World's End.
Disclaimer: As always all rights go to Disney. I write for fun, not for profit.
.o.
To sum up the battle in one word? Madness. The other pirates and I were fighting Jone's unkillable mutated fish-men crew and Beckett's militia at the same time. The rain was pouring down on us, causing me to blink madly in an effort to be able to see my opponents properly.
The Pearl was being tossed back and forth sickeningly quickly, warring with itself as it tried to capsize as we rode the violent maelstrom. The deck was slick with blood, rain and seawater, and I was surrounded by screams of pain and gunshots, and the sound of dying men.
I fought harder than I ever had before, the thrill of battle coursing through my veins. Breathing became harder the longer I fought, and I coughed occasionally as I inhaled sea spray.
The sword in my right hand was the only solid presence at the moment, and I clung to it for dear life, carving a path through the enemies as I moved. I knew that if I was disarmed, I wouldn't stand a chance. These men were larger, stronger, and more highly trained than I, but I had the will to fight for freedom keeping me strong.
From time to time I would catch sight of other members of the Pearl's crew, and I could clearly hear Barbosa from up at the hull yelling insults at the enemies. My heart raced as I tried not to think of Will, yet thinking of nothing else.
I regretted deeply not making amends before now. I was too much of a coward to risk my heart so fully. And a small part of me was still rather mad at him for thinking I was in love with Jack of all people. How could he possibly think that I loved anyone but him?
Sure, Jack and I got along most of the time, when he wasn't trying to seduce me and I wasn't trying to kill him, but I wasn't entirely sure I even liked Jack Sparrow, let alone love him. I knew from the beginning that Jack's first and only love was the sea, and he looked out only for himself and his own interests. That was how we got here in the first place, yes?
I hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Will alone before the fighting started, and now I feared it was too late. What if I died? What if…. No, I can't even think it. Will must survive. The other option will not be allowed to come to pass. I lost my father not three weeks ago, and my mother when I was a girl, and if I lost my William I would have nothing worth fighting for.
I turned and stabbed one of the Jone's lot, when someone grabbed my arm. Heart leaping into my throat, I whirled around and braced myself to fight or die, when I came face to face with the familiar dark brown eyes of Will Turner.
He had a slightly desperate look in his beautiful eyes, and he was breathing just as hard as I was, but otherwise he seemed unaffected. Relief washed over me as I saw that he was unharmed. He looked me in the eyes and spoke clearly. "Elizabeth, will you marry me?"
My heart skipped a beat and my eyes widened as he once again asked me for his hand in marriage, albeit in an entirely different environment than the last time. While my heart rejoiced at the fact that he loved me, and he still wanted to marry me after everything we had been through, my mind screamed at me. He was bringing this up now?
Before I had a chance to respond, a man covered in gills and fish scales, sporting several gaping wounds, lunged for the two of us as Will stared me down. We move in unison, trapping the fish-man' sword between our own. "I don't think now's the best time!" I gasp out at him through my shock.
We twisted so that the fish-man was shoved backwards and he was down and out of the fight, however briefly, with a single powerful strike from Will's sword. Moving the two of us took down several more men, fishy and otherwise, before Will spoke again. "Now may be the only time!"
He fought his way over towards me and grabbed my arm once again, his calloused hands gripping my forearm tightly. "I love you." He said softly, barely audible over the roar of the fighting that surrounded us. Barely looking up he stabbed an East India Trading Company fighter through the chest, hardly taking his eyes of me as I kicked and then stabbed yet another filthy fish-man, this one looking like a squid was attached to his ugly deformed face.
"I've made my choice. What's yours?" Will asked calmly as a war raged around our still forms.
My mind raced as I thought of many things at once. Growing up I had always wanted the most grand, perfect white wedding with my father walking down the aisle. I knew that that was no longer a possibility. I was no longer the daydreaming naïve girl I had been then, and my father had departed the land of the living, making his own way to World's End.
Somehow, my battle-fighting state of mind conjured up a picture of myself holding Jack's compass in the palm of my hand. Distantly I heard a voice, one that sounded an awful lot like my dear mother, saying "What is it that you truly want, Elizabeth?"
And I knew exactly where that needle would be pointing.
My mind cleared and rational thought came rushing back in along with the din of the battle and the crashing of the high waves against the wooden side of the Pearl. My voice came out smooth and confident, much like it had during my little speech to the men earlier. "Barbosa!" I yelled loudly.
The look on Will's face was completely priceless, and I surely would have laughed had the situation not been so dire. I looked up at the older pirate fighting beside the main mast. "Marry us!" I pleaded, hoping he could hear me.
It was Will's turn to be astonished as he realized what I was saying. A wide smile spread across his face despite the bloodshed happening not two feet from us in any direction. His dark chocolate brown eyes that never failed to make me melt shown with delight as we waited for an answer.
The grizzled old pirate slashed at a soldier before turning to yell at us with an exasperated tone in his voice. "I'm a little busy at the moment!" He practically snarled as he fought off four men at once.
Still smiling like a child in a candy shop, Will swung me around and stabbed a soldier through the chest, letting go of my arm and engaging a few fish-men while I fought at his back. Slamming the head of one of Beckett's men into the side of the ship's railing, he looked up at the Captain and yelled, voice strained with anger and pleading. "Barbosa, NOW!"
I fought a few men in the time it took for the man to answer. "Fine then!" He growled as he impaled three fish-men at the same time using one of their own swords. Shoving them away, he climbed on top of the upper-deck railing and placed a hand over his chest. Will wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Dearly beloved we be gathered here today," he twisted to the side and kicked an urchin like fish-man across the face, "to nail yer gizzards to the mast ye poxy cur!"
Will groaned in disbelief but I just snorted and we fought side-by-side. We backed up against the mast and he laced his fingers through mine over our blood-covered swords. "Elizabeth Swann, do you take me to be your husband?"
A thousand times over again. "I do!" I cried, eyes filling with tears of joy.
"Great!" He said relieved. I almost wanted to hit him. Did he honestly think I was going to say no?
I opened my mouth to ask him the same question, when we were both forced to duck as two fish-men attempted to behead us. We darted back out to the middle of the deck, slashing and hacking at the men. I grabbed his hand behind me and spared him a swift look. "Will Turner, do you take me," slash, parry, strike, stab, "to be your wife?" I ducked as Will's sword whistled over my head, splitting open a soldier. "In sickness and in health," Will wrapped an arm around my waist, and I blocked one sword as he used his to stab the same man, "with health being the less likely?" The last word came out somewhat forced as I kicked away the fish-man impaled upon Will's sword.
He turned me in his arms and looked at me, eyes shining with love. "I do." His voice rang out with complete honesty causing me to smile softly up at him.
Stepping back into the conversation, Barbosa spoke up while blocking two swords at the same time. "As captain I now pronounce you-" Both Will and I gutted two men at the same time over each other's shoulder. "You may kiss-" He broke off, using his pistol to shoot a man through the forehead, cackling insanely.
Will dipped me, bringing his lips close to mine. Before they could touch and we could complete the ceremony, a soldier, even scrawnier than Ragetti, made to stab Will in the back. We were forced to let go of each other and fight. I snarled viciously as I killed the man that would dare try and stab my William. Not today pal.
Barbosa glanced over at us. "You may kiss-" He was choked off as a man grabbed him and he turned and plunged his sword into the soldier's side. "Just kiss!"
I stared deeply into Will's eyes for half a moment before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards me. Needing no further prompting, Will crushed his lips to mine, one hand coming up to rest lightly around my neck.
As I got lost in the feeling with my husband's lips against my own, everything but the beautiful man in front of me faded away. I was transported back to our first kiss, just a few meters away from the gallows, and the wonder of a new experience.
My heart fluttered in my chest as I memorized once more the warmth of Will's lips, and the slight taste of rum that came along with it. It had been entirely too long since I had kissed him.
And there, as everything went to hell around us, and death closed in from every corner, I had never felt so alive. This was my destiny.
.o.
Due to my excessive Will/Elizabeth feels, I just had to write this. This scene in the movie is probably my favorite of the series. Please, if you would be so kind, leave me a review. Cheers! -HF