Elizabeth was tired, alone, cold and scared. Not scared for herself, though, but for her daughter and for the man who had so bravely helped her and Willow: Bill Turner.
The pirate was currently in the cell next to her, eyes closed and body relaxed. Elizabeth supposed he was asleep, but somehow, in the back of her mind, she disputed that. Bill was not a man who would let death come without a fight; Elizabeth still didn't know how he escaped the waters of Davy Jones' Locker.
She opened her mouth to ask him this, but he beat her to it. "Yar gonna ask me 'ow I escaped the Locker, aren't ya?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, that was what I was going to ask."
Bill grinned, eyes still closed, and began to speak. "When Barbossa, the elder one mind ya, left Jack on that island, I couldn't take that lightly. Jack was me friend, and it didn't seem right to do that to him. I went to talk to Barbossa, which seems daft to me now, and the next thing I know, I'm lying on the bottom of the Locker, me legs severed at the ankles."
Elizabeth shivered. "Your legs were severed?"
He shot her a wry grin. "Yeah, but I got them back. You see, when Barbossa attached those cannons to me, he didn't realize that I was still cursed, having sent the coin to me son and all. So when I hit the bottom of ol' Davy Jones' Locker, I was still alive. I had ten years to find me legs and get out."
"Fi-find your legs?" she whispered, finding the subject of finding one's legs more than a tad disturbing.
"Sorry if it frightens ya lassie, but ya did ask to hear me story."
"That's true." she conceded. "Then what happened?" her curious nature overcoming her feelings of discontent.
Her ex-husband's father sighed. "Not much. It took me a while, but I found them, swam to shore, got a ride to Tortuga, and sailed around on a few pirate ships. I tried to find out what happened to me son, but everyone told me that the ship he was on had been attacked by the Black Pearl. I didn't think that I'd ever find him until I met you, and yar beautiful little daughter." He smiled at her, a genuine smile of warmth, and for a moment, Elizabeth was comforted.
But that momentary comfort was obliterated as she thought of her poor, defenseless daughter, lost in the sea. Tears sprang to her eyes once more, and she cried for her Willow.
Bill turned to her, and touched her shoulder through the bars of the cell. "There, there, lassie. We'll find her, don't you worry. Why, I bet that yar father has the entire naval fleet out looking for you two. No doubt one of them picked her up."
Elizabeth tried to smile, but it came out half-hearted at best. She knew that Bill was only trying to cheer her up, but it hurt too much to even talk about Willow. She decided to change the subject, and try to take her mind away from her fear for her daughter.
"And what about you?" she asked, "Don't you want to know about your son?"
The older man looked surprised that Elizabeth was even willing to talk right then, but quickly replaced that surprise with a big grin.
"Tell me everything ya can."
And she did. She told him about how her and Will had met, how she had cared for him afterwards. How Will was a blacksmith by trade, but a pirate by nature and how he and her had come to fall in love in the midst of pirates and a curse.
Surprisingly, though, Elizabeth also found herself telling him of how they had come to be separated, and that Will did not know his daughter, did not even know that he had a daughter.
Bill listened with unbridled curiosity, wanting to hear and know everything about the soon he had not seen in almost twenty years. When his daughter-in-law finished, he sat back against the wall of his cell and tried to soak up everything he had just heard.
It was silent for a long moment, save for their breathing and the creaking of the ship as it cut through the water. Bill turned to her after a while and stated:
"You should tell him."
"Pardon me?" Elizabeth said, not quite understanding what the pirate meant.
"You should tell Will that he has a daughter." the older man elaborated, "It would pain him to know that he had a daughter all these years and that he never once got to see her."
Elizabeth hung her head low, trying in vain to hide her tears from the man. "I know, I know. But she's gone now!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking with sorrow.
"She's gone." Elizabeth whispered once more.
And with that, Elizabeth Swann slumped against the hard wall of her cell and fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of her lost daughter and her lost love...
*Well, I don't know if this chapter is any good, but hopefully it is! Sorry I wasn't able to update at my aunt's!!!!! I was REALLY busy!!!!!
Anywho, here is Chapter Eight, and for all of you who don't know, I have written a companion piece to this story, entitled 'The Sea'. Check it out if y'all want.
That's all for now, and see you in the next chapter!!!!
~Aria*
