A/N: I never was good at coming up with titles. If someone reads this and is suddenly struck by a magnificently clever title idea, please share it with me. I will, of course, credit you for it.
Summary: Jack reflects on the fate of Will Turner a week after the events of AWE. Spoilers, obviously.
Disclaimer: Disney owns Pirates of the Caribbean, not me. I just love the characters so much that I borrow them for daydreams and fanfiction.
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was supposed to marry the girl and live out the rest of his life being a nuisance to me on my ship. He might've been me first mate, even, since I knew Gibbs eventually wanted to settle in Tortuga and the other crewmembers are ill-suited for the job. But captain of the Flying Dutchman? That's a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone but myself. Ferrying the dead around, only one day ashore every ten years, that crusty-looking ship... The only good thing about it is the immortality. For me, that would be enough- I've seen enough of death to know it's not something I ever want to happen to me if I can help it. But for William? Immortality is a curse. His wife, now Pirate King Elizabeth, can never be with him for more than a day at a time. Even when she dies, he will only see her when he guides her soul on its last journey. After that, what will become of him? What will become of his heart? I've asked meself many a time, "Will Elizabeth take care of the poor boy's heart? Can she handle waiting that long for only one day of happiness?" I hope I'm wrong -I hope to God I'mwrong- but every time my answer has been "no". She's too wild. 'Harsh, changing, and untamable as the sea' were the words dear Tia Dalma used to describe another woman –herself, as we came to find later on- but they fit Elizabeth perfectly. Why Will Turner ever chose to love a woman like her has always been, and will always be, beyond me. If they were together, if he could've kept an eye on her, they might've had a chance of being truly happy. As it is, he'll be lucky not to end up like Davy Jones, and she'll be lucky not to get herself killed before these ten years are up.
And the lovers' miserable situation is partly my fault.
It's not often I admit guilt to much of anything, so don't get used to this, savvy? I've done more than me share to make William Turner's life more difficult, but until now he's always made it out all right in the end. True, it was I what planned on handing him over to be killed for a curse-breaking blood sacrifice; it was I who willingly condemned him to serve my sentence on the Flying Dutchman a year ago; and it was my battle with Davy Jones last week that lured him and his wife onto the Dutchman and into harm's way. I remember so vividly the look in both of their eyes as Jones delivered the mortal blow to the boy. Elizabeth's screams, Will's rattling gasps, Davy Jones' terrible laughter... it all comes unbidden to my memory at the most inconvenient of times, particularly when I'm drifting to sleep aboard me small boat. If I hadn't given up my chance at immortality and used Will's hand to stab the heart instead of my own, he wouldn't have survived. Now that I consider, though, it might've been best if I had simply let him die. It would have been far less painful for them in the long run.
...Not that I care, of course. Why would I? Captain Jack Sparrow needs no one; certainly not a wild woman and a pup what's still wet behind the ears. I care nothing for them, and I owe them nothing. Nothing at all.
It's just... no matter how much I try, I can't rid myself of the strangely guilty feeling plaguing me. It wasn't supposed to happen this way...
It may seem a little out of character, but given the stricken look on Jack's face when Will was stabbed, as well as the enormous sacrifice he made in giving Will the heart, it seems that Jack is rather fond of him. And while he seems to like Elizabeth well enough, his distrust is obvious. This is my first PotC fanfic, so please be sure to review!