Chapter Three- To the Sea!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN POTC.
Chapter Three
William Turner lay in bed, the calm scent of seawater and ocean sprays wafting towards the direction of his nostrils. Right here, in the Caribbean, where his life began. He couldn't be living a happier life, with Elizabeth now as his bride. They were married, and he was thankful that fate had brought them together. She was everything that mattered; nearly all there was in his world. If he hadn't come searching for his father, if he hadn't trusted his instinct to know that his father was somewhere in the Caribbean, he wouldn't have boarded the merchant ship, and he wouldn't have been floating in the water to be rescued by Elizabeth.
Since that foggy day, when everything was bleak and confusing, there was a light shining, and that was Elizabeth; the paradise at the end of his odyssey. Since the day he saw her face, he just knew. True, he was too young to love at the time. It was more than puppy love, however. It was a love that would endure right till the time William reached manhood at the age of 20. His father was dead, but he had a new family now. His mother and father were dead, but at least he had Elizabeth, and their children to come. He was the man of the house now, protecting Elizabeth and his family.
The Caribbean was a place for beginnings and full of discovery. A new place to live. He turned his head to check on Elizabeth. She was sound asleep, her head on top of his chest. He enveloped her closer to him with his strong, blacksmith hands, inhaling her with all of his might so that he could feel that sensation of being in love once more. This was what he always wanted, needed.
Yet the thick, salty smell of the ocean evoked another sensation inside him, intrigued him. William couldn't understand. Why did he have a yearning for the sea, when everything he had ever asked for was in his arms at this moment? He told himself he had spent too much time with Jack, one of the few entities who had the evidence to his father's existence. Jack Sparrow, the most ferocious pirate of the Spanish Main and the East India Company, the legend who had survived three living days of hell marooned on an island by himself with only bottles of rum for company. Old Jack Sparrow, Will's eventual friend.
Captain Jack Sparrow, mind you.
William had come face to face with the inevitable truth: he was a pirate. Pirate blood ran in his veins as his father's had, his father, whom William had admired and venerated. Yes, so that was it. The sea was calling to the spirit of the pirate that was within him, the spirit that William possessed. Will sighed, closed his eyes at last, and went to sleep.
Will squinted, trying to make out the name of the ship that made its way into the Caribbean harbor. Grand sails she had, and the captain was aboard, one leg kneeled and one leg standing up…
Jack!
"Jack!" Will cried, a grin spreading across his handsome face.
Jack Sparrow, fresh from his new adventure at sea, waved indifferently and saluted his hat in Will's honor. The raggedy pirate hopped off the dock and rushed into his lad's arms.
"Aye, William lad! You'll always remember this as the day yer Captain Jack Sparrow returned! I'm tellin' ye, me ship is a real beauty now, ain't it?"
"Yes, she sure is. Where have you been? Elizabeth and I are married now, as you know. We have daughter, too. Her name is Jacqueline. Call her Jackie."
"Jacqueline's a fine, pretty name of sorts." He turned to Elizabeth, and said, "How you been, Ms. Swann?"
"We just had to name her after you." Elizabeth smiled.
"Aww, Will. You shouldn't have! You see, what do you say we go to Tortuga to have a little bottle o' rum, then we sailing off again to freedom, eh?"
William's smile faded. "Er, Jack, I can't. Not with Elizabeth and the baby, I couldn't leave her to tend to Jackie all by herself. It's a changing time for all of us, and I couldn't. At least not now."
"Awww, mate. Don't worry yerself to death about that. It'll be a little, miniature adventure, eh? You'll be back by supper."
Elizabeth nodded in approval.
"Go ahead, Will. I'm not stopping you. But be sure to be back by nightfall, and no later, young man."
"I promise. Take good care of Jackie." Will bent to kiss his daughter and his wife, then went with Jack, who beckoned him aboard the Black Pearl. Just like old times.
Moments later the ship was sailing, headed toward the rocky caverns of the Caribbean. A mini adventure.
"At this rate, we'll be traveling full speed with the wind in our sails!" Jack cawed, and smiled gallantly because he felt like the King of the World on the sea. Freedom was calling, or rather, the sea was calling. Pirates only heard it, and only pirates would follow the wind in the sails forever afterward, and answer the call.
CAPRE DIEM EVER AFTER
Note: What did you think? Too cliffhanger? Too short? You can imagine your own sequels but this will be the end of The Wind in our Sails!
