-Jade Stellar- Neither could I, thanks to your review :), oh, and: yeah, you do have to love it.
-Esmerelda Black- It was picturing Will as a pirate captain that began this story in the first place. It was too hard to ignore. But, *sniffles* you may not like my portrayal of Will as a pirate captain *sniffle*. Oh well, that's life :).
-Pyrokitsune- I'm continuing, it didn't end there.
-Em- I don't like it as much when they go at it right away so I especially avoided doing that in 'Changing'. As for the future, I probably won't be able to resist it, so they will jump in the sack soon. Not too soon if I can restrain myself.
-Grey Elven-Eyes- Thanks, about the Norrington accepting Jack, well it just happened because as I wrote it I began to see that Norrington would have changed, maybe mellowed a bit from being with Elizabeth and having an incoming daughter et cetera.
-Gwendellen Snape- PLEASE READ THIS, I read your bio and you mentioned you dislike slash, I hope you realise that this story is going to be slash, I did mention that in the summary. Just a warning, I hate flames and would be disappointed to find one in my mail sometime soon. Thanks.
-Pookie11- I love your Singapore idea, but sadly, or not so sadly :), Jack is a pirate, I can't imagine him staying in one place too long, so yes, Jack did go to Singapore, but only occasionally, and the rest of the time he was at sea. (sorry to burst any bubbles, after all, I love bubbles!)About him not knowing about the marriage: I thought about it and I came to the conclusion that it's actually pretty unlikely that he would know about the marriage when he hadn't come back to Port Royale, they aren't world famous after all, just my opinion. Leigh is a lovely little figment of my over-active imagination.
Also thanks to anyone else who reviewed.
Disclaimer: Pirates of the Caribbean is not mine. None of the characters are mine et cetera.
Changing
Chapter 2
The sea breeze blew through his hair, his small smile demonstrated his contentment, if not his happiness. He shook the feeling off. The Shadow let his gaze sweep upon the deck of his ship, his eyes laughing as he saw the name of his ship once again, the story of her name coming to mind. The man he'd ordered to paint the name couldn't spell to save his life and ironically met an untimely demise. When he'd told him 'Freedom Whisper' would be her name, the man had been too stupid or too intimidated to ask how it was spelled. He'd begun freedom with only one 'e'. Unfortunately, he was run through before finishing. The ship was left with the word 'Fred' on the side, it brought a smile to the faces of all the crew when they saw it, and the Shadow had obviously found some source of amusement within the name, so the ship was christened 'Fred'. Although the name wasn't exactly... frightening, it was strangely fitting for the atmosphere onboard.
The Shadow's past was little thought about and never talked about. All his crew knew is that he'd appeared 5 years ago and was handy with a sword. They knew that because the Shadow didn't stand for slackers or traitors. He'd been through enough men to man three boats and knew what it meant to take a life.
There wasn't much else anyone could say about him, no one could really claim they were close enough to know anything more. They could turn to the first mate, but he was tight lipped when questions were asked. They could turn to the Shadow himself, but all feared the kind of farewell the Shadow had given a man who had forgotten to tell the captain there was a rope frayed down to a thread on the sails. The captain wasn't very happy.
All of this didn't make the Shadow a bad man, although he was a pirate and all pirates had a certain lack of morals, it just made him a tough commander to live under. There wasn't much worse on a pirate ship than a lazy crew and the Shadow definitely wouldn't stand for that. He'd made his blunders early in his career. He'd actually been run through and survived. Just.
In the beginning, there were mutineers and people who thought he was too strict in his code. His code had been narrowed down soon enough after the Shadow learned the ropes, you could kill anyone because no one really missed a pirate when they were dead, you could do anything you liked as long as you didn't get dead. That was all you needed to know.
Because if anyone dared to delve into the Shadows past, they would find that he was once a man who had so many morals he was being ripped apart by them. They would find a man who had loved and lost, they would find a man called William Turner. William Turner who lived on Port Royal, had an adventure with the well known pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, got engaged to a lass who slept with another man, and missed the pirate captain so strongly he'd left Port Royale with nothing left behind him.
That man wasn't well remembered now, according to many he no longer lived. But he did, he'd just changed. Grown up a little. Learned a little more. Gotten a little wiser.
The only things that really mattered, in the end, were power and passion. Power over things, people and places; passion about things, people and places. The same thing really, but different enough.
The Shadow had power and passion. The Shadow had more than enough of both. So, that may have been what led him to return to the Caribbean. It was home. Simple and true, it was his home. But what he would find there was beyond him. Did he hope to find his past? He knew his past, it was nothing worth talking about. Did he hope to find his future? He wasn't going to find that here. It was to be found elsewhere, on vast, never-ending seas and sails billowing with wind. It was to be found in freedom. Although, he couldn't deny that he was somewhat curious as to how Elizabeth had ended up. No doubt happy. She could find happiness anywhere, and if she found it in Norrington, so be it.
Then there was Jack. No, he didn't want to touch on that subject. It wasn't territory he was willing to explore. It was the buried part of his mind that he stayed well away from. For it was where his forbidden desires lurked. Why forbidden? Because they would be unwelcomed advances. Very unwelcome. Then again, it was Jack... He was awfully... flamboyant to say the least. But he shook his head and pushed the thought down. It was a ridiculous thought, anyhow. The Shadow took a deep breath and looked ahead to the sea. It was beautiful. Free and tumultuous and unpredictable. Like Jack? The Shadow grimaced and turned away from the sea. Where were these thoughts coming? Just sailing into the Caribbean had brought back old memories. Good memories, of adventure and friendship. And an ever-present desire for something more
He indulged in the fantasy. Yes, he had wished for something more. Much more. He sighed.
"Capt'n, Port Royal is close, are yer gahn in?" His first mate asked. Dervis was always a good first mate. Loyal and skilled to boot.
"Tomorrow, Dervis, keep us out of sight."
"Yes, sir."
Tomorrow. Tomorrow sounded good. Was he hoping to see Jack there? No, he wasn't. He wouldn't let himself hope. He didn't want to see Jack anyway. He had to find a way to escape the thoughts that were dogging him and seeing Jack wouldn't be helpful.
He could barely see the Port in the distance. It was a shame he really couldn't think of it as his home any longer. He was a pirate, a captain. Fred was his home. He smiled and shook his head. Fred.