Do I Have To Cry For You?

Chapter Three

            The man stepped to the side to avoid a hammer that Elizabeth had hurled at him and swiftly snatched it up when it hit the ground. Elizabeth cursed silently to herself and quickly jumped backwards when the stranger attempted to slam the hammer down onto her shoulder. Her eyes roamed desperately around the Armory in search of something to hold the man off with when he lunged again and Elizabeth stumbled to the right to escape the blow. She turned on her heel to run in the opposite direction and snatched up another hammer along the way. She ran to the door and stopped with the object hidden behind her back and frowned at the man, who, in turn, was grinning madly.

            The man chuckled. "Giving up, lass?" Elizabeth purposely deepened her frown and the man's grin seemed to stretch from ear to ear as he started to walk towards her. Elizabeth stood her ground and didn't even flinch when the man's face was mere inches from her own. "Good choice." Her expression turned to one of anger and she grabbed the man's arm to keep him in place as she brought her right arm up and slammed the hammer down onto his head. The man's eyes seemed to cloud over before he fell lifelessly at Elizabeth's feet. The lass kicked him off of the stairs and away from the door and smiled in satisfaction when he stopped rolling and lay limply in the middle of the room. She ran down the stairs and snatched up his sword before making her way to where Will and another stranger were dueling.

She froze when she heard a child's ungodly cry.

            "A life for a life," a foreign voice said from behind her. Elizabeth locked her eyes on Will even though the blacksmith had his back to her and shut them tightly when something hit the ground with a harsh sob. "Not the life we want, but it will do." Elizabeth gradually opened her eyes. "It certainly will do… -For now. Boone." The man Will had been dueling immediately sheathed his sword and walked past Will and Elizabeth and to the man that was behind them. "Let's get back to the Pearl." Elizabeth turned around as soon as she heard the door slam shut and the strangers, well, the stranger and the man called Boone, fleeing from the scene. Her eyes locked on the little, tranquil body that was lying in blood.

            Elizabeth flinched when Will placed his hand on her shoulder. "I did that," she said softly.

            He gently squeezed her shoulder. "That man did that," Will corrected, "you did not." Elizabeth shifted her eyes from the dead little girl to the dead man that she had murdered only minutes earlier with a hammer. The hand that was resting on her shoulder momentarily tightened its grip before falling off and back to Wills' side. Elizabeth didn't look away from the man.

            "What?" Elizabeth asked. His eyes roamed over the little girl's motionless body and at the pool of blood that surrounded her. He slowly shook his head at the image and opened his mouth in disbelief before shutting it and narrowing his eyes in uncertainty.

"Let's get back to the Pearl."

Will was guessing that "the Pearl" was short for the Black Pearl.

A ship that was Captain Jack Sparrow's freedom, true love, home and life.

Captain Jack Sparrow was Will's friend and, in some ways and on some levels, brother.

"On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency and this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him?! He's a pirate!"

            "And a good man." Will stated softly as he sheathed his sword and started to the door. Elizabeth watched her husband with confused eyes before warily navigating her way around the murdered child and man and following him out of the door and out of the Armory. The intense smell of burning flesh and blood hit them head-on as Will's walking turned into running and soon both were racing towards the docks as if the devil himself was chasing them. Screams and shouts and guns biting people echoed in her ears as Elizabeth continued to chase after her husband. She raised her eyes from Will's form to peer into the distance and sighed with relief when she saw that they were nearing the docks.

Sure enough, just as the man had said, the Black Pearl was there.

            Not noticing that the blacksmith had stopped, Elizabeth rammed into the back of him and Will stumbled forward as Elizabeth struggled to regain her footing. He grabbed her arm to help steady her and she looked at him and Will nodded.

            "Something happened to Jack Sparrow." Elizabeth frowned at her husband's words. "Jack and his crew… -They wouldn't do this."

            "I know," she agreed. Pirate or not, Jack Sparrow was not a man to kill just for the sake of having crimson on silver, and both Elizabeth and Will knew this exceedingly well. Elizabeth suddenly frowned and looked at Will with frantic eyes. "Where are William and Jack?!"

"A life for a life. Not the life we wanted, but it will do. It certainly will do… -For now."

Will frowned at the words and at Elizabeth before turning on his heel and sprinting off down the left side of the docks.

Elizabeth followed.

* * *

            Bootstrap dodged the tilt of the man's sword before raising his own and lunging at him. Seth sidestepped and chuckled at his former captain. "You never could fight well." Seth effortlessly blocked another strike. "That's why I'm surprised that you lasted as captain for as long as you did." Bootstrap narrowed his eyes at the man.

            "You're nothing but a traitor, Seth."

            "Is that supposed to make me feel bad, William?" He lowered his sword in hilarity. "I had every right to betray you, I did."

            "Says who?"

            "Me," Seth retorted with a smug grin and Bootstrap frowned in fury as he lunged at him again. Seth parried the strike and swept the tilt of his sword down the length of Bootstrap's arm before the man could even have time to react. Bootstrap hastily switched hands and jumped at Seth and growled as the man dodged the strike. He tossed his sword up in the air and caught the blade and slammed the handle down onto the hand that was holding the sword. Seth's weapon immediately fell to the ground and Bootstrap snatched it up and held the tilt to the man's neck as he turned the other sword back around and held the tilt to his stomach.

            Bootstrap grinned at him. "Who did you say couldn't fight well?" Seth smiled as Bootstrap's eyes widened briefly before the man fell to the ground completely unconscious.

            "You." The two men laughed and Seth rose his eyes to them.

            "Good job, Jaden." The man nodded and Seth looked back down at Bootstrap. "I'll see you later, Captain Turner." He ushered for Boone and Jaden and the two men hurriedly followed their captain back to the Pearl.

* * *

            "You're leaving." His hands immediately dropped the articles of clothing that he had been trying to fit inside of the bag that would go with him. "You weren't supposed to be leaving for two days, William." His eyes unconsciously wandered the length of the worn bag before reaching for the clothing once more. The younger woman crossed her arms heatedly at the silence that her husband made no effort to break. "William?" She called once more, her voice holding anger, and William could not blame her for it. He would be angry, too.

            He wordlessly stuffed another shirt inside of the bag, not even bothering to fold it like he had previous ones. "I was going to leave a note." His tone was low and nonchalant, as if the fact that he was going to leave behind words was enough to make his sudden running-off alright. Wren frowned as she watched him stuff in another shirt.

            "A note?" She repeated in an incredulous tone. "You were going to leave behind a note?!" William said nothing as he pulled the strings at the top of the bag together before tying them tightly into a knot, mindful to leave one loop big enough so that he could carry the bag on his shoulder if needed. His right hand reached for his coat but was instantly stopped when Wren snatched it up. William sighed as he turned to look at his wife.

            "Wren," he called softly, "give me my coat so that I can leave."

            "You were going to walk out on me, William, weren't you?" He reached for his coat and Wren effectively pulled it closer to her. He sighed as his hand dropped back down at his side. "Leaving a note is walking out, William!" She was close to tears now. "How could you? Could you not stand me for two more days? Were you afraid that the child would be born before you could get away? Is that it?" She yanked the coat behind her back when William once again grabbed at it. Her eyes noiselessly wandered over her husband's. "You bastard."

            "Wren-"

            "I agreed to you leaving because I understood you needed space, yet you can't even wait two more days?!" William said nothing. What could he say? Wren had every right to hate him. Hell, even he hated him. Walking out on his pregnant wife… -Who wouldn't hate him? The sea's call was just too great a call and temptation to ignore for another two days. It would have killed him had he had to.

            "Wren, please, just let me explain…" He pleaded with his wife, his low, nonchalant tone long gone, dead as soon as the tears started falling from his wife's eyes. He was the cause of them.

            "More excuses? More lies?" She yelled. "It's bad enough you're lying to your child, William, making him think of you as a merchant sailor when you're a damned pirate!" William allowed his eyes to wander her trembling form, pausing briefly on the bulge to her stomach, before forcefully breaking them away and snatching the bag that lay on their bed. He threw the bigger of the two loops over his right shoulder and turned wordlessly away from Wren and towards the door. He rested his hand on the handle and stopped briefly to see if Wren would protest. Nothing. William blinked back his tears as he pushed the door open and silently walked out, permanently leaving his wife and his life behind him. Wren covered her face with William's coat and barely heard the door clicking shut as she finally set her tears free.

William's walking turned into sprinting and his sprinting turned into jogging and soon he was running from his home to the docks.

He tightly shut his eyes as he unconsciously quickened his pace and would have run off of the docks entirely if it not had been for the hand that flew out and grabbed his shoulder.

            "Easy there, mate. Pearl's not leavin' ye."

            "No," he slowly opened his eyes, "she's not." The other man nodded with a proud smile at the mention of his ship. "Seth?" He turned back around to meet William's gaze once more, frowning when he finally noticed the remnants of tears.

            "William, what's wro-"

            "Thanks." Seth watched in confusion as William hurriedly boarded the Pearl. He was below decks not even five seconds later.

* * *

            "William! You're alright!" His eyes roamed around his surroundings warily; finally figuring that they were still at the docks. He hesitantly rose a hand to his head and winced when his fingers brushed over the bruise that was granted by whatever it was that he had been knocked out with. "What happened?" Elizabeth asked as she and Will gently helped to ease the man into a sitting position. Bootstrap blinked hazily and narrowed his eyes at the dried blood that literally saturated his arm.

The wound still stung.

Bootstrap blinked once more.

            "They took Jack." His voice was trembling. Will and Elizabeth frowned. "Seth and… and… -Somebody, they took Jack. I tried to get him back but they knocked me out… or, something... -I don't, I don't remember… -They just… -Seth took Jack." Every wound still stung! Blood was everywhere! He felt it! Didn't Elizabeth and Will see it?! Bootstrap slowly shook his head and rose his eyes up from his bloody arm, frowning at their confused expressions and concerned eyes.

            "Who is Seth?" Will questioned softly and Bootstrap's gaze immediately fell back down to his arm.

            "Seth is..." He trailed off and licked his lips. "We have to save Jack… -Both of them. Jack Sparrow and Jack Turner." Bootstrap slowly shook his head and returned his eyes back to Elizabeth and Will. "Seth is… -We have to save Jack Sparrow and Jack Turner."

To Be Continued…

AN: 1/13/04 I rewrote parts of this chapter, and even started the flashback early. Three and four will not be combined as previously thought, but four will be rewritten. I'll work on 4 and get it up and then I'll work on 7 and have it up ASAP. Thanks for your patience.