Lord Knows I Can't Change
Chapter Seven
"He was a good man, Will, with a good heart… -If you don't believe nothin' else I have said, at least believe that."
The churning water danced onto the shore with abundant elegance, pulling back with her bits and pieces of sand and whatever else her long blue fingers touched, adding to her show more acts.
"Ole' Bootstrap Bill… we knew him. Never sat well with Bootstrap what we did to Jack Sparrow, the mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the code, that's why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed… and remain cursed."
The awakening sun splashed an assorted variety of reds, oranges and bright yellows onto the performing ocean, acting as her spotlight as she continued to pound into the shore, winning more and more actors and actresses for her infinite career. A warm gentle breeze blew across his face and he shut his eyes against it; remembering what that warm gentle breeze had once carried. Cargo so precious, missed by so many…-It wasn't fair that the breeze had forsaken it, had let that cargo just simply fade away. He opened his eyes slowly, staring out over the ocean, trying his hardest to ignore the warm breeze that was still pulling at his hair, and, in doing so, pulling at his heart.
"The last we saw of ole' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of Davy Jones' Locker."
Past tense… -Why, when anyone spoke of his father, did they always have to use past tense?!
Because he's dead, Will told himself forlornly. The young blacksmith dropped his unsteady eyes from the sea to the railing of the balcony, silently cursing himself for being so unbelievably weak. He had shared his feelings with Jack, and the pirate captain had shared his with him, so neither man had a reason nor a need to continue on with their grief, to continue to miss Bootstrap.
But both still very much did.
His eyes met with the ocean once more; a flash of anger briefly highlighting them. He was locking eyes with his fathers' murderer and could do nothing to get back at her, could commit no sort of revenge. Bootstrap hadn't drowned, he couldn't have drowned, he had simply been crushed to death due to the perilous water pressure from being so far down for so long. The constant strain had crushed him, much like he and Elizabeth had killed those three skeletal pirates two years earlier.
The sea had killed him. His home and his life had been his death.
"Will?" A soft voice called him from behind.
"Yes?"
"What on Earth are you doing up this early?" Elizabeth stood beside her fiancée and peered over at him, curiosity shining in her eyes as her brow scrunched up in concern.
Will didn't look away from the sea. "I don't know," he answered truthfully, really not sure as to why he was up. "Where's Jack? Still asleep?" He saw Elizabeth nodding from the corner of his eye and laughed softly. "That man has interesting sleeping positions." Elizabeth didn't say anything and Will looked over, vaguely baffled as to why she was suddenly so silent and staring at the sea just as attentively as he had been. "Elizabeth? Are you alright?"
She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just watching the sunrise."
"It's indeed a beautiful sight," he smiled, taking her hand in his own. Elizabeth returned the gesture, watching in complete awe as the sun crept leisurely upwards, casting beautiful golden rays across the ocean for as far as the eye could see.
The two fell into a comfortable silence, one staring at the sky while the other at the sea.
Will broke it a few seconds later. "Jack's leaving the day after tomorrow." Elizabeth abruptly heard the pain in his voice that he was trying to cover up and glanced up at him, frowning. He noted the frown. "What?" She just merely sighed.
"Will, we both know what's wrong. Don't give me 'what'." Will blinked at her, genuinely confused by her sudden change of mood.
"Elizabeth, what are you talking abo-"
"Your father," she interrupted. "Your father, you miss him. That's what's wrong, that's why you're up." His eyes wandered back to the sea and he said nothing. She sighed, hating, for once, that she was right. "I'm sorry if I seem harsh, Will." He shook his head.
"You don't."
"Didn't talking to Jack help?"
"Not really, and I'm sure him talking to me didn't help him all that much either." Elizabeth pulled him into a bear hug, apologizing profusely in his ear for not being able to say anything or to do anything that would make it better, make it easier. She could do nothing but watch the love of her life suffer, and she hated that with a passion so thick that it frightened her.
"Really, it's alright…" He trailed off and pulled away, sighing and looking down at his and Elizabeth's bare feet. "Just, I mean…-He was down there for ten years, Elizabeth, and even if they did throw him overboard very far from shore and into exceptionally deep water, he'd still be able to someday find his way out… -Find land… -Somewhere." Elizabeth scrutinized his expression, confusion shining in her eyes.
"So what are you saying, Will?"
Will looked her in the eye. "He couldn't have died." Elizabeth wondered if his words were indeed the truth, or just a useless attempt to keep from losing hope. "He found land somewhere, Elizabeth, I know he did." Will paused. "My father is alive." She dropped her eyes from his when she discovered the optimistic glint that was sprinkled with a heart wrenching sting far too painful to look at any longer. Elizabeth didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise, to even start to try to explain how difficult it was to get around underwater; she couldn't cut that last thread of hope. "I'll find him." Her head snapped up immediately and she studied the determined look that covered Will's handsome face. His eyes deceived him, his eyes weren't determined, they were far from.
They were crying in agony.
Pure agony.
What else could she say? "I know you will, Will." Elizabeth whispered, dropping her eyes once more, noting with a silent cry that Will had once again turned back to the sea and was staring at it in obvious deep thought.
"Now that's interesting." Will jumped back around as Elizabeth's head snapped up, both staring at the pirate captain. It was obvious that he hadn't been out of bed long, being that his kohl was semi smudged and his clothes were still crumpled. "Not even married yet and already you're lyin' to him, love. Tsk, tsk." He shook his head teasingly and grinned at the young couple.
Will watched as Jack walked towards the balcony and leaned against the railing. He rose an eyebrow at his friend. "Weren't you asleep?"
Jack sneered. "Voices carry, lad." Will nodded apologetically and Jack dismissed the matter with a quick movement of his hand before resting it on the railing again. "So, I overheard your conversation about ole' Bootstrap Bill." Elizabeth frowned at the captain, one eyebrow raised in apparent irritation.
"Eavesdropping is a bad habit, Jack."
Jack merely smirked, gold teeth coming into view as he said, "And so is one talking loud enough that one wakes people up." Will chuckled quietly and Elizabeth shook her head, leaning against the wall to the left of the two men. "Now, as I was saying…" He trailed off, reaching his arms up and stretching. They came back down with a loud yawn and Will and Elizabeth found themselves rolling their eyes in amusement. "I overheard your conversati-"
"Why did you say I was lying to Will?" Elizabeth interrupted. "I'm not lying to him, Jack." She narrowed her eyes at him, as if daring him to say something negative. Jack held up his hands in defeat.
"Calm down, m'lady," he smiled, making hand gestures as he continued. "If ye let me continue, I'll tell ye what I meant. Savvy?"
"Savvy." She muttered, slightly annoyed. Jack clapped his hands together and bowed.
"Now, anyway, I overheard your conversation about Bootstrap, and I have to say that Will," he looked at the younger man, "is correct." Jack watched as Will's eyes widened in reasonable shock and held his hand up before the lad could start the one hundred question game. "If I'm right, then he was rescued in the same way I was when I was marooned."
A sly grin crept onto Elizabeth's lips. "You mean by roping together sea turtles, Jack?"
"You mean by roping together sea turtles, Jack?" The pirate mimicked her, smiling in satisfaction at her disgruntled face. He shook his head at his friend and turned his attention back to Will, who was eagerly, yet patiently, waiting for Jack to tell him more. "I was on that island for three days, remember? -And on the third day was when the rum runners, who," his hand pointed at Elizabeth, "need to kill her for burning their bloody rum, rescued me." Jack lowered his hands and Will nodded, anxious for more. He needed to know more about his father. "Now, I was sort of out of it when they took me onto their ship because for one, I was very much drunk, two I had had too much sun and heat and three, I was really rather irritated at Barbossa and the crew, so I don't remember much of what they said, of what they told me. But I do remember one thing." Will stood beside Jack and leaned against the railing as well. "They told me that they had rescued someone else from another island they knew of that was similar to the one I was on. Now, I didn't believe in the Aztec Gold curse then obviously, being that I was going after the bloody thing, and I didn't know that Barbossa had thrown your dad overboard, so I didn't really give it much thought. But after Gibbs told me about what they had done to William, and actually seeing the curse with me own eyes two years ago, I know its true, and I know Bootstrap is alive because they came after you because you had the coin, and you got the coin because Bootstrap took it from the chest and sent it to you, probably as some sort of revenge against the crew or something." Jack grinned. "Bootstrap was cursed, he couldn't die, and he didn't die. The rum runners saved him; he was the man that they were talking about. Will, your father is alive."
Will blinked.
"But, if you knew all of this information, why were you so depressed about him being dead?" Will asked.
"Because I didn't put all of the pieces together until I heard what you two were saying," he answered, Will nodding. He continued. "For the past twelve years I've done nothing but try to push everything that has anything to do with that whole incident out of my mind and out of my life, so I never really gave it thought until just now." Will lowered his eyes, trying to let everything sink in. His head was literally spinning from all of the new information, from the realization that his father was alive.
His father was alive.
Alive.
Will smiled.
"Do you know where he is?" Elizabeth spoke up suddenly, directing the question for Will to Jack, knowing that he was feeling more than a little overwhelmed at the moment.
"No, I don't, but we could certainly find him, it'd be easy…" Jack trailed off and looked at Will, as did Elizabeth. The blacksmith felt the eyes burning on his back and he raised his head, looking from Elizabeth to Jack, his face that of a bemused child.
"What?..."
"I'm leavin' day after tomorrow, lad, why don't you and your rum burner over here come with me and the crew? We can hunt down your father." Sensing Will's anxiety, Elizabeth pushed herself up from the wall and strolled over to him and started to rub his back with her hand.
"We should, Will, I mean… -It's your father." Will just continued to look down. Everything had been thrown at him so fast!
He shook his head, looking at Jack. "How do you even know where to start, Jack?"
Jack smiled. "I know some rum runners that your bloody friend Norrington missed and two of them are from the ship that saved first your father and then me, so all we'd have to do is sail to their Port, track them down and go from there. All fairly simple." He noticed Will's distraught face and placed a hand on his shoulder, understanding highlighting his dark eyes. "I know this is all so very overwhelming for you, lad, and so I'll give you time to think. Just let me know by tomorrow evening, savvy?" Will just stared at Jack.
"I don't need time to think, Jack… -I want to do it, I want to find him." Jack grinned and stood up.
"Oh good!" He clapped his hands together. "I shall throw on me coat and then go track down Anamaria and let her know that you'll be comin' with us." Will and Elizabeth watched as the pirate captain turned on his heel and walked out, neither one saying anything.
The silence told enough… -The expression on Will's face told enough.
Come the day after tomorrow, after twenty long years, he'd finally meet his father.
Will smiled.
To Be Continued…
AN: I apologize for the length of this chapter; it wasn't originally intended to be this long. Oh well. That's how stories go I guess. A big thanks to all that have read & reviewed, or just read; ya'll rock!! Oh, and with chapter six, there was a major typo that I didn't discover until earlier today, and I wanted to point it out…
Bootstrap couldn't be killed by one man alone. (Bootstrap should be Barbossa. I am so sorry that I did not catch this sooner, but please know that Bootstrap was the wrong name, it is Barbossa!)
Um, that's about all. Chapter eight (which I am very much looking forward to writing) will be up ASAP! Damn school. Mleh.
Please review on your way out. :)