The Consequence of a Promise

Yep, me and DataKenobi05 got to work on another story this time, a slight AU but hopefully just as enjoyable as our other story, which by the way where have all the reviewers gone? (looks around)

Disclaimer: God we wished we owned it...as for me I'll sail to World's End to find Captain Jack, but have to settle waiting for May 25th and going in a handmade Pirate costume to show my love...

It was a sweltering day in Port Royal. So sweltering the day was even the fish beneath the turquoise waves seemed uncomfortable. People desperately tried to keep from going outside and not caring if their nosey neighbors saw them threw open their windows and doors with careless abandon.

Yet Elizabeth Swann was terrible cold and numb despite her room being lit with a fire and her thick black mourning dress smothering her small form.

Her father was dead, he had died only week ago, yet, people attend the service and then went on back to their daily lives.

She had been in her room, neither eating nor sleeping but crying non-stop, the only change was her tears were now silent leaving only wet tracks running down her freckled cheeks. However, not all of her tears were for her father but a few were for her self.

Three days before her father was laid to rest in the small cemetery of Port Royal a man by the name of Cutler Beckett had come to her home; or soon to be the Beckett estate as Lord Beckett had commented on.

He had told her that they would be married in a fortnight and that she was indeed lucky for no man would want a twig of a girl anyway.

He was a decent looking man with the same fancy wigs and clothes that all men of upper society wore, but what set him apart from most was two things, the ever knowing smirk of superiority and his dark brown eyes that only reveled coldness and cruelty and saw nothing but distain for the world around him. He was articulate, smart, arrogant, and mean and above all he was a ruthless man.

One night at dinner he had made jokes at her expense but in such a way that the servants enjoyed them but Elizabeth saw through the ruse indeed. When he saw the pirate book her father had bought for her from one of his business trips he had tossed it into the fire for her not laughing at his demented jokes. She no longer had the tales of Captain Kidd and Captain Sparrow to keep her company.

"Miss Swann?" a voice questioned from her closed balcony doors. Elizabeth jumped up from her bed and threw opened the large French doors and threw herself into the surprised arms of her only true friend and her crush William Turner.

"Will, he really is never coming back." Elizabeth sobbed a little and William awkwardly placed his firm arms around her. He always wanted to hold her but the circumstances were not what he expected.

A bird call sounded off in the distance making Will jump slightly and he let her go. "Come Miss Swann, let's get you inside."

Elizabeth wiped her eyes and gave a small smile. "Will, how many times have I told you to call me Elizabeth?" She asked walking with Will inside her room while he gave a conspicuous look around the room feeling so out of place.

The room was decorated with a huge fully oak bed bed, gorgeous antique furniture, exquisite paintings of pirate ships and sea battles (which were very out of place in Will's mind) and all sorts of knick-knacks and expensive looking leather bound books. He could only feel shame for in his nightly dreams he wanted nothing more then to have Elizabeth live the way she was accustomed but with him...it would never happen.

"I am getting married and I hate him so much Will." Elizabeth whispered as she and Will took a seat on her bed. "I rather be dead then live my life with him, I want more then this."

Will had no idea how to answer her, nothing would make him happier then whisking Elizabeth away where they could live together as man and wife, but he had no standing, no fortune, absolutely nothing worthy to offer her. Looking around her grand room which was at least ten times the size of his small hut behind the blacksmith shop only reinforced the worthlessness he felt.

"Will?" Elizabeth questioned and Will turned to her, trying had not to blush as she placed her delicate hand on his sooty calloused ones. "I am the one going to be married to an ass and you look more troubled then me."

"Miss Swann some one might hear you!" Will whispered harshly and Elizabeth only giggled a bit once again wiping the tears from her eyes.

"And please don't call me Miss Swann." Will was about to protest but all sense and reason left him when Elizabeth placed her delicate hands on either side of his face and kissed him. He shut his eyes knowing that she should not be doing this; that he should not be doing this, but enjoying the moment none the less.

She pulled back after a moment searching his eyes for something she could not fathom. "Will let's run away together." Elizabeth said her hands now holding his. Will's mouth dropped in response, opening and closing like a fish before he spoke.

"You cannot mean that Elizabeth where would you go?" Will asked horrified at the idea that Elizabeth would want to run from the life she had even though she was soon to be married.

"Where ever we want to go will go." She answered a bit snappish. "I don't want to be here with Beckett and be his servant in marriage unequal to him in everyway, Will, I want...I want more then that, can't you understand?" Elizabeth had never sounded so pathetic in her life but it did not matter she knew she wanted more then the life of a broken paradise bird in a gilded cage.

"Elizabeth..." Before Will could protest she covered his mouth with her and gently nibbled on his bottom lip begging him for entrance. She had heard the maids talk about this and other stuff like they were doing now and she had also caught several of the servants in what they thought were hidden locations to see how a kiss should be.

Will quickly pulled away from her as he felt her tongue enter his mouth not because of the act but because at the sudden knocking at the door.

"Miss Swann dinner is ready." Estelle calls from the door. And Elizabeth answers back.

"I'll be down in a moment." By the time Elizabeth turned Will was out the balcony window and all ready running down the street. The moment was over and Elizabeth placed her hand to her lips savoring the taste of Will and began to cry again.

That night after dinner and the slap she had received from Lord Beckett for commenting that Captain Jack Sparrow was indeed a smart man after all he had escaped from seven of the East India Trading Company agents, Elizabeth sat in her room holding a book on her lap. She was no longer crying but she was now in deep thought. She opened the book to the center and moved a bit closer to the candle for more light and reread a single sentence. Captain Kidd was said to often reside in the sea port town of Tortuga. Tortuga is known as a notorious Pirate port...

Tortuga.

Elizabeth now knew what she had to do but before she could do anything she had to see William one last time. Elizabeth packed a few belonging in a rucksack as well as some items that could be sold for a profit and the money she had saved when her father had given some to her. Once done she took one last look around her childhood room. She made sure she had her mother and father's wedding bands securely fastened around her neck on a piece of leather string and then in her dress began her decent down the balcony.

It was a very far walk from the St Paul district of Port Royal to the smithy, and Elizabeth was glad to have the cover of darkness protect her. She knew in the soon-to-be-here future she would be relying on it more.

Will's home was a tiny shack located behind the smithy. A single window and a small cot with a chair was that was inside besides his three changes of clothes. She quietly opened the door and went in sitting on the bed startling him awake.

"It's all right Will, just me." She said softly.

"Miss Swann what are you doing here? This is most improper..." Elizabeth put her index finger to William's mouth making halt his rebuke.

"William, listen to me, tonight please just call me Elizabeth." Elizabeth then kisses him not giving Will to think about his actions at all, they pull away when air becomes an issue.

"Elizabeth this is wrong." Will utters after a moment; she looked like an angel hovering above him and Will was at a lost for words.

"William, please, do not deny me what should be my wedding night." And Elizabeth pushes the half sitting Tuner back in bed.

Elizabeth felt her courage fade at his lack of resistance. His own arms came to hold her closer to his chest almost tight enough to bruise. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it wasn't. Elizabeth didn't have enough time to think about the rewards or consequences of her actions as she made up her mind and started kissing her life long friend with a passion so intense it burned; no matter how short her life had been so far she knew one thing that regardless of the outcome she would never regret this and that thought allowed her to enjoy the inexperience of William Tuner's mouth and work roughed hands on her body and lips. She was in unfamiliar territory and it scared, yet excited her.

William started kissing back with more enthusiasm as the tension started building up and it was harder and harder to stop what was already set in motion. He ran his fingers through her soft, feather like hair, pulling her head closer to his, and her body. He knew this was wrong as she was a proper lady and was soon to be married but the soft moans that emanated from her and the heat of her small frame ignited something in him were reason and propriety were nothing but forgotten memories. He care for her deeply loved her and knew he could never deny her anything she asked for and at that moment what she wanted was him and nothing else.

Soon the resistance left them both and they began to strip the other of their clothing. Will was tender and gentle, knowing that Elizabeth would want it this way, to remember it and not have it be some caught up in the moment incident that would leave both in shame and heartache and he never wanted her to forget him after she married Beckett and would be sure all his actions on that night would leave a lasting impression on both of them.

Elizabeth moaned under him and ran her fingernails over his chest. He inhaled sharply and took the opportunity to kiss and nip at her neck something he had never seen but only knew by instinct.

Elizabeth smiled into William's neck, this is what she had been waiting for and she knew it was no mistake. If she would have married Beckett this night her body would belong to him, to someone who didn't deserve her. At least she knew Will would be gracious and kind, loving even and he did not just love her body but who she was even if he did not agree with all her decisions.

He was losing all sense of self control as he finished undressing her. She was beautiful and radiant in the fading candlelight as she lay back in his bunk her tawny hair fanned around her. Her sweat-licked skin was glowing and he bent down to kiss her pink face as he entered her for the first time. She tensed, she had expected the pain and even reveled in it as it showed her that she was living, doing what she wanted not what others thought she needed, but with his soothing words she soon relaxed into his embrace and they both fell into a steady rhythm that had been around since the dawn of time.

Only one candle was still burning when she felt his breathing become steady. When he had moved from her he cradled her in his arms as though she might break, Will was breathing deeply the scent of her hair, cherishing this moment, having felt complete happiness that he had what he always wanted. Soon he could not resist the call of sleep and closed his eyes enjoying the fell of his one love in his arms.

Elizabeth could not sleep her body was still hummed with energy and excitement but a longing and sadness of what she had to do. Looking into his face Elizabeth sighed and carefully pulled herself from William's safe embrace and stood from the bed, her naked body a shadow on the wall. She sat on a solitary chair next to a desk and found a paper and quill and started to write.

My Dearest William,

I want to start by saying I love you. The world is too big for me to stay in one place. There's too much to do, too much to see. I want it all.

However, someday I want to stand beside you as your wife. That is why I left my father's wedding band behind. It is not simply something to remember me by, it is for you. Someday we will say 'I do' to each other and we will be together always. I love you William Turner, with all the love a woman can give.

Elizabeth Swann

Elizabeth folded the note and left her father's wedding ring on the letter she had just pinned. She then with very quite movements put on one of Williams spare outfits and left him a few coins to replace them twice over. She then took up the small rucksack of the belonging she hand and took one last look of the sleeping William Tuner and without letting her tears fall left his shack and fled to the docks ready to start a new life yet anxiously awaiting the day to be back with William Tuner.