Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean, this would be in it. Unfortunately, this is not in it. Therefore, I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean.
In Dreams
Chapter 1: Tired
He was so tired. No, not just tired. Exhausted. Bone-weary, ready-to-drop exhausted. Will Turner was no stranger to hard work and long hours, but never, in all his years as a blacksmith, could he remember ever being so tired. On the Dutchman, the work was just never done; there were always more souls to ferry.
Over the course of the year that Will had spent on the ship so far, he had mastered the skill of the catnap: he could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and wake up just as quickly, whether he had been out for an hour or only a minute. But sometimes it just wasn't enough. He needed sleep. Real sleep. An entire night of unbroken, peaceful, honest-to-goodness sleep. And he needed it now.
"Will? Are you all right?"
He could hear the voice, knew it was his father's, but he couldn't bring himself to answer. He knew he was standing on the Dutchman, but he was so lightheaded he couldn't even feel the deck under his feet. The ocean below was all he could see, the never-ending waves filling his vision, blurred and spinning dizzily before his eyes.
"Can you hear me, kid?"
His father's voice sounded strangely far away…
"Will!" Bill reached his son just in time to catch him as he swayed blearily, nearly collapsed.
Will blinked rapidly until his father's face swam into focus, glad that he was still steadying him, not trusting himself to remain standing on his own.
"You need sleep, kiddo."
Will shook his head, immediately regretting the action as waves of dizziness crashed over him.
"I can't."
"You can, and you will," Bill said bluntly. "Calypso will just have to accept the fact that she won't have a captain for much longer if you keep this up."
"But…"
"Don't even try it, kid." He gave Will a light shove in the direction of his cabin. "Go."
As much as he pretended to be annoyed, Will was honestly relieved as he stumbled into the cabin, letting the doors fall shut behind him, and collapsed onto his barely-used bed, relaxing with a quiet sigh.
Seconds later, he was fast asleep.
He was in a small, dimly lit room. It wasn't his cabin; he couldn't recall ever seeing it before. The first detail he was able to make out as his eyes adjusted was a bed with a woman sleeping on it. It was Elizabeth.
Breathing heavily, eyes bright with unshed tears, Will knelt next to the bed, drinking in the sight of her beautiful face, the face he missed more than anything else. He wanted so badly to wake her up so he could talk to her, hold her, kiss her, but he had a strange feeling that he wouldn't be able to wake her, even if he tried.
Gradually, he found that his gaze was being drawn to something back in the shadows on the opposite side on the bed. He was thoroughly shocked to realize that it was a cradle.
Well, that's chapter one of my first multi-chapter fic. Chapter two is going to be super cute, but you only get it if you review!
