Death Shan't Part Us
A/N: First off, I would like to say thank you to all the wonderful reviews I received for the first enstallment of this fic! Just as a warning, I want to say that this is not going to be a very long fan-fiction. I have decided that already. Most likely, it will be no longer than six (maybe seven) chapters. Anyway, thank you to all my lovely reviewers!
Also, to Brittany, I could not send this chapter for you to beta because for some odd reason my email account would not let me sign in. I assure you, however, that I will be sending the third chapter to you and thank you for your kind offer. I will most likely be sending you another one-shot fic that I'm about to go type up that will also be angst filled. Most likely it will be borderline drabble. Anyway, on with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pirates. End of story.
Chapter Two: Suffering
Suffering. The state or experience of one that suffers; a cause of distress; hardship. To suffer is to feel pain, to experience loss, to bear with the unpleasant. To suffer is to be human. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann never learned what it was truly like to suffer until that day. Until the day that their lives were turned upside down in one solitary moment. A moment they would never forget, until their dying day.
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Elizabeth was fighting off foreign men from the ship known as the Empress, wondering how exactly she gets herself into these situations. It seemed as if she would never be rid of the madness. In a way, all the madness had begun with Will, she reflected to herself as she tried to fight off two foreign men. She was introduced to piracy because she took the medallion that had been around Will's neck. Because of that, Pintel and Ragetti came after her. Because she was in love with Will, she gave them his name as her own thereby divulging into the art of piracy even further. Everything had begun with that adventure. Had Elizabeth not met William Turner the second, she would never have been met with piracy in real life. Yet, if she had never met Will, her life would be completely different. Most likely, she would be married to some disgusting rich man. If she had never met Will, she would not know what it was truly like to love someone.
Elizabeth knew that she had made problems for them that were quite possibly beyond repair. But she had hope. It was a slim hope, but it was hope nonetheless. She was happy to have this hope, because she knew all to well that losing hope was a very dangerous thing to lose. She had hope, because of how Will had held her after she discovered that her father had died. He had held her close, as he had done so many times before. He had held her and rubbed her back and stroked her hair, trying to offer her some comfort. Little did he know, he had offered the best comfort in the entire world. The young man knew not of it, but he had comforted her for more than just knowledge of her father's death. He had comforted her for all the things that she needed to grieve that she did not do so until that point. He comforted her for killing and kissing Jack, for making things so difficult between them, for not being able to find the strength to tell him what she had done. He had helped her so much, and he had simply allowed her the luxury of crying into his shoulder. This small, seemingly insignificant fact led Elizabeth to truly believe that Will still loved her, a fact that she had found herself doubting quite recently.
The young woman knew that Will cared for her, but she had been doubting whether or not a man as good as he could love her after the terrible things she had done. She had betrayed him. She had killed a man. She had lied to him. Yet, he had held her and comforted her in her time of need. He had been there for her when she needed him most. He had been there, and Elizabeth found herself falling even more in love with him for this. She was falling even more in love with him because of how much she knew he was suffering because of her. He was suffering, yet he still was there for her.
Elizabeth could think no further, however, because the battle was dying down. She looked around, wondering why everyone would suddenly cease fighting. Then she saw why. Will was standing in front of Sao Feng, his sword poised at the Pirate Lord's throat. She could feel herself smile slightly, amazed once again at Will's swordsmanship ability. She had seen him out of the corner of her eye earlier; he had not been fighting the Pirate Lord of Singapore, yet he had been searching for an opening even as he fought off his opponents. Elizabeth saw in horror as a Singaporean behind Will, it looked as if it might be Tai Huang, raise a pistol and begin to point it towards Will. Vaguely, she heard Will's voice say something but she was rushing forward, yelling his name, putting herself between her love and his would-be assassin. She had only one thought in her mind, and that was that she needed to get Will out of danger. She would not be able to live with herself if Will died. She would not be able to live, knowing that she had never told him how much she loved him and how sorry she was. Suddenly, pain racked her entire being as she felt the bullet rip through the skin on her back and exiting her body slowly from her chest.
She felt her knees weaken as she saw Will's face, his eyes wide in horror. He caught her as she fell and he lowered both of them to the ground. She could see that tears were forming in his eyes as he whispered her name and cupped her cheek in his hand. Hazily, she thought about how much she loved the feel of his hands there. She desperately tried to speak, wanting to convey her love for him before it was too late. Her throat would not obey. She could not speak. She couldn't even say his name. Oh, how she wanted to say his name. Random thoughts rushed through her brain as she gazed into Will's suffering, chocolate-colored eyes. She could not even grasp a single one of them; the only thing in her mind was the need to speak to him. Rain began to fall, caressing her skin, and Will began to whisper to her. He told her that she would be all right, that she would be okay. She knew that it was not true. She knew that he also knew it was untrue. Realizing that she would never be able to speak, she used the last remnants of her weakening strength to lift her hand and let her fingertips gently trace is cheek and the line of his jaw. She could feel herself fading, and closed her eyes, succumbing to the inevitable. She fell into darkness; hearing Will whisper her name in that breathy way that he always spoke her name, as if it were a prayer. The last thought that entered her mind was that she loved Will and was sorry that she was leaving him alone, a fate that she would never want.
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To say Elizabeth was surprised when she opened her eyes was probably the largest understatement that the young woman would ever encounter. If she had not already been dead, she was sure that she would die of shock. After hearing Will whisper her name desperately and she fell into the darkness of death, she opened her eyes to be greeted by the image of her love sobbing over... her body. She was standing in front of him, just in front of her murderer and was more confused than she had ever been in her entire life. She looked around, and was met with many images. The crew of the Pearl all had shocked looks on their faces and tears in their eyes. The foreign pirates all seemed to be in awe. Had they never heard of love before? Could they not understand her actions? She pushed this all from her mind, however, when she realized that no one could see her. She was a phantom, an apparition. She was nothing more than a spirit.
"Will." she whispered, kneeling in front of him, watching as he buried his face into her neck and hair. Her body's neck and hair. She tried to touch him, but drew back when she realized she could not feel him. She was nothing more than a spirit, and thought vaguely if she was doomed to suffer this way for all eternity. She already knew that this would be a curse. It was killing her, to see Will broken and suffering and being able to do nothing to help him. She was dead, but not gone. And Elizabeth could not do anything to subdue the crushing feeling in her chest that she would be doomed to watch others live their lives, unable to do the same.
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Suffering. The state or experience of one that suffers; a cause of distress; hardship. To suffer is to feel pain, to experience loss, to bear with the unpleasant. To suffer is to be human. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann learned the true meaning of what it is like to suffer the day that the young woman left the world of the living, only to be returned as a specter, not knowing the reason or purpose of being granted with this curse.
