Author's Note: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean nor any of the characters. I only own the plot to the story and few characters which are my own.
Summary: World War 1 Slow Burn Au. Will Turner returns home to England after four horror filled years on the Western Front. Trying to peace back together his broken life. A chance at a new life comes in the form of a job on a country estate in Surrey.
AN Reviews and Feedback are greatly appreciated.
Chapter 5
Swanson, Surrey England
July 1919
I joined Henry for lunch with my sister in law Carina, Henry's foster parents Joe and Edith. Along with Joe's brother Reverend Albert Swift, his wife Harriet and their son Phillip and his new bride Syrena.
"Where'd did you go after we where separated" Henry asked.
"Sussex. I was sent to live with a blacksmith Joe Brown and wife Sarah. I lived with them till was eighteen. Joe was killed after he kicked in the head by a horse. Sarah died days after he did.
I buried the both them before I enlisted. I was assigned to the Second Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment" I answered as Edith began to clear around the lunch dishes.
"When did your regiment arrive in France"
"August of 1914"I answered rolling my self a cigarette.
"Your where one of the original then. The British Expedition Force" Phillip questioned.
"Saw the first bloodied months of the war. The amount of lads we lost in those early must of war compared nothing to what we lost at the Somme. The first day in particular." I shook my head.
"Passandendale was no walk in the park ever" Phillip and Henry shared a look.
Suddenly I was back in Belgium that muddy hell hole a battlefield. The rain pissing down, endless shelling. The barking of the Lewis and Vickers Gun. Artillery exploding left and right.
Men from my Battalion drop like flies left and right. The wounded and dying crying out for their mothers, god or the stretcher bearers.
"Will you alright" Henry noticed my far away look.
"Sorry I was lost in my own thought for a second" I came back to the present.
"Passandendale" Phillip guessed.
"You where wounded" I asked noticing his hand hovering over his stomach.
"Belly full of shrapnel I was lucky. I made it home and recovered not like some of the other lads. I don't know what was worse the Somme or Passandendale"
"Either one was. Shooting one of your own is worse" I still thought about Charlie Bellingham must days.
"You shot one of your men Will" Henry asked surprise.
"Didn't have a choice in the matter. He was court marital for desertion and cowardice. Charlie Bellingham. He was around your age Henry. Eighteen scared out his mind. His best mate was killed when we went over the top that first of the Somme.
He ran off unarmed. We all though he was dead till they found him alive hiding on a farm several miles from the front."I answered.
Swann Estate Swanson, Surrey England
August 1919
July slipped into August. Before anyone knew it was mid August. I'd settled into life here in Swanson. My job here at the Estate was going well. I had found my family now that Henry and I had reunited.
I spent most Sunday with Henry and Carina. And my niece or nephew when they where born in six and half months.
It was a slow day. I was tinkering with my motorcycle I'd won in a card game at the Red Lion the week before. I felt sorry for the poor bastard taking his brand new motorcycle off his hands. But a bet was a bet.
I and rest of the Estate staff where trying not to over hear the screaming match between the Lord Swann and his Lady wife. It was hard not to, the volume of the shouting matching going on inside.
"That a Blackburne Motorcycle." I looked up to the youngest of Lord Swann's sons approaching me.
"It is" I answered turning my attention back to my motorcycle.
"Where you get the scars on your face" The younger of the two questioned.
"The War" I answered simply. Not wanting to discuss anything to do with the war, what I had witnessed and what I had to do to survive.
"You kill many of those bastards"
"Andrew Sam. Leave Mr Turner alone that is hardly an approtiate question to ask someone" Miss Swann stepped.
"Alright" Both boys Andrew and Samuel left me and Miss Swann alone as they ran off to the stables.
"I'm sorry about them. Their to curious for their own good. They where only young when my brothers and cousins went off to war"
"It's fine" I answer tighten a bolt.
"Mr Turner may I ask a question."
"Depends on the question Miss" I answer.
"What really like over there in France and Belgium. Thomas and James never really speak of it. They are hunted by what they saw and did over there. More then once I have heard my brother yelling in his sleep"
"To be honest Miss Swann. If you really knew the truth of what we had to do and endure of over there you wouldn't want to know. In simple terms it was hell on earth. It was brutal war.
The worst of it was waiting in the trenches before we go over the top. Then you hoped and prayed you made alive across no man's land walking through a hail of bullet and artillery fire.
By some twist of fate you survived for the next 'war wining battle' some idiotic General thought up.
Winter time was the worst when it rained for days on end. Or worse it was snowing. Then there where rats. Some where the size of bloody dogs. And there the stench of the dead bodies rotting in no man's land.
Some men endure and other they just cracked under the pressure. It wasn't a nice war, then again no war is. The nightmare I suppose are our punishment for taking the life of another man, the horrors we witnessed and what we did over there."I explained.
Miss Swann was perhaps stunned into silence by what I had said what it had really been like on the Western Front.
"Thank you for your honesty Mr Turner."
I noticed Lord Swann's eldest son Thomas approaching us. "I best get back to work. Good day Miss Swann" I took my leave. Wheeling my motorcycle away.
"What was all that about" Thomas questioned.
"What was what about" Elizabeth turned to her older brother.
"You and Turner"
"Nothing we where merely talking is all" Elizabeth answered.
Swann Estate Swanson, Surrey England
September 1919
The Summer of 1919 came to a less then memorable end. Lord Swann had asked me to help with the building for the Memorial in Swanson in memory to those from the town that gone off to war but had never returned.
I was doing this plus my regular work. As well getting ready for planting a winter crop of Wheat.
The heat of the forge was making pretty much unbearable to work with a shirt on. I took off my shirt. On top of that it was abnormally warm day for early September.
Elizabeth was going towards the stables. It was abnormally warm day for early September. Perhaps a ride down to the river was in order.
The rhythmic sound of a hammer hammering a piece of very hot metal was coming from the blacksmith forge. The door to the forge was open no doubt to let the hot air out of the forge.
Through the open forge door. Elizabeth got an eye full of a shirtless William Turner. He's tanned skin was covered in sweat. He looked like a Greek god. His back and well most his body was tattooed with scars.
For some reason Elizabeth could not look away her eyes where transfixed on William bare chest and upper body as he worked. His muscles flexed as he worked. Her mouth went dry as she watched him work.
Elizabeth felt something stir inside her at the sight before here. As quickly as those wicked thoughts came Elizabeth pushed them inside. It was ridicules. She and William had spoken a dozen times at most in the two months since he had started working here at her family's estate.
I paused briefly in my work having a drink of water from my canteen. I saw something moving in the corner of my eye glancing over my shoulder.
I saw Lord Swann's only daughter Elizabeth scurrying off to the stables. She was blushing and looked rather flustered perhaps it was just the weather. I gave no more thought about it as I went back to work.
The Red Lion Pub, Swanson Surrey England
September 1919
Henry and myself where standing at the bar in the Red Lion. It was pretty busy for a Saturday night. Joe was run off his feet even with Henry helping behind the bar. Serving drinks.
I was standing with Angus and Giles sharing pint and talking. Something or someone caught my attention. The worst soldier I had the displeasure of serving with. I would have though the bastard still be locked up.
Arthur O'Neil. He'd been nothing but trouble after joining the Battalion. He'd been Court Marshalled for striking a superior officer. I'd been the one he'd hit. As I out ranked him as a Sargent Major and he just a private still counted I suppose.
"When they start letting Krauts in here" O'Neil started in on Anton and Hans von Zimmerman that worked at the Estate.
"We're just as English as you" Anton stood up to his full height.
"Oh yeah why don't fuck off back to where you come from" O'Neil sneered.
"You hard of hearing you Irish prick. We where born here. Just because our parents where German what's that got to do with it. We bleed the same as you. What did you do in the war" Hans stood up this time.
"What a free ride home was it" O'Neil wasn't letting up. I set aside my pint. Making my way through the patrons.
"Why don't you fuck off O'Neil" I stepped in.
"Well, well if it isn't Sargent Major Turner. Still a kraut lover are we."
Constable Brandon Thornton was on patrol with Sargent Frederick Johnson. Thornton had only joined the Police Station in Swanson that morning. Sargent Johnson was showing the new Constable around Swanson while being on the look out for trouble.
"It is a fairly quite town Constable. The only trouble we have is on a Saturday when the pub is open later then most nights. Joe the publican normally keep a tight lid on any trouble. But sometimes it can more then he can handle on his own" Sargent Johnson explained as they walked their beat.
A comfortable silence fell between the pair as they walked.
"We'll just drop into the Lion to make sure every one is behaving themselves" Sargent Johnson and Constable Thornton made their way into the bar of the Red Lion.
"Everything alright here Gentlemen" Sargent Johnson asked a few of men in the bar where staring one another down.
"Everything fine Sargent. Mr O'Neil there was just leaving. Perhaps you and the Constable would like escort to him out of here" Joe asked.
"Certainly come along Mr O'Neil" O'Neil and I shared a glare at one another as he escorted out of the Red Lion.
Swanson, Surrey England
September 1919
Mrs Victoria Thornton was talking with Reverend Albert Swift's wife and daughter in law Syrena when someone from her past. Victoria never thought she'd see again. Her former fiance William Turner.
The last time they had seen one another had been just before Will sailed for France after war was declared in August of 1914. It was only days later that she meet Brandon.
Brandon and her had been friends before anything romantic happened between them. A few month after Will had gone to France. Victoria discovered some shocking news.
Brandon had offered to help by marrying her. Even though the child was not his. But that of her finance fighting in France. It broke her heart writing that letter to Will saying it was over. That she had found someone else rather then the truth.
Amelia was born the following May. She had been scared out her whits young and unmarried with child out of wedlock with a finance off fighting with a very good chance that he may not return.