Author's Note: watched PotC today with the writer commentary.  Extremely fascinating stuff, from a writer's standpoint.  I was enthralled.  I also laughed out loud when they said that the 'dust' in the bag that Jack sprays on Will to end their fight was really coco powder, and one of them commented, "Chocolate covered Will . . . think about that."  It was really funny. 

But other parts inspired me to write about this little scene.  I've got another 15 or so of this planned, I know what lines I want to use, it's just a matter of finding the right angles to tell the story from, and I finally found the one that was right for this piece.  So enjoy this quick little look into Will's mind.

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What is right, and what is wrong.  These are not new concepts.  They are taught to every schoolboy and every young girl in pinafores before they can stretch their wings.  Why?  Because what would happen should those wings stretch too far?  Unpredictability . . . unreliability . . . lawlessness . . . change.  Society fears change, and tells others that they should fear it as well, even if that does mean doing what is lawful instead of what is right at times.  If it wasn't right, it wouldn't be a law.

   I didn't like it, but I believed it.  Society is not always so kind to parentless waifs, and while my story may have had at least a 'proper' ending, I'm not sure I would have necessarily called it a happy one.  But who needs happiness when you have moral propriety and a spotless reputation, even if your conscience may be less than clean? 

   Just days ago, my world was starkly black and white.  I knew my place, I knew my station.  It wasn't something to fight against – it was the way things were and always would be.  You take the cards life deals you and do the best you can.  But I forget – playing cards is not necessarily respectable.

   Neither is piracy.

   What is lawful is not always right, and what is unlawful is not always wrong.

   Days ago I was ready to kill Jack Sparrow after I found him in my smithy.  Black and white.  He was a pirate, he had threatened Elizabeth . . . what else did I need to turn him over to the Commodore if my blade didn't sheathe itself in his chest first?  But even then, I did what was right, even if I didn't necessarily do what was smart.  Jack ignored the rules of conduct, I did not, and even though I beat with the sword, he still outsmarted me.  It stung, and I appreciated the fact that it was a lesson in how unscrupulous men fought, but I didn't take it to heart.  Then the pirates came and took Elizabeth and I discovered the only way to do what was right – the only way to get her back as quickly as possible – was to join forces with a pirate.

   I did, and found several things I didn't like at all.  First of all, Jack wasn't necessarily 'bad' once you got to know him.  Unscrupulous and untrustworthy?  Yes.  Did he murder the crew of the Dauntless in cold blood?  No.  Had he intended to trade my life for the Black Pearl?  Yes.  In the end, did he leave me to die?  No.  I didn't like the contradictions.

   I also discovered freedom outside society, and I discovered it felt good.  And unwelcome epiphany, but one worth pondering after I returned to Port Royal and my hammers and tongs.

  And lastly, I found out who my father had truly been.  I wonder if he'd ever been a merchant sailor, or if he'd lied to Mother, or if she had been the one lying to me.  Had my father been 'a good man' who had found he had no other choice than to turn to piracy to support his wife and child?  And if he was a good man, and I considered myself to be a good man, did that mean that piracy also loomed on my horizon?  It seemed a ridiculous thing to ask myself while in a cave with cursed treasure in a chest beneath me and a knife to my neck.

   "Because I was afraid that you were a pirate.  That would have been awful."

   "It wasn't your blood they needed.  It was my father's blood . . . my blood . . . the blood of a pirate."

   That had been the moment when I knew I was losing Elizabeth.  If my being a pirate then had been awful, then in what light would she see my actions when we returned to Port Royal?

   Then there'd been the fight, and the Interceptor's destruction, and Elizabeth and Jack had been marooned again. . . .  Sitting alone in a cell while Jack's entire crew occupied the other, I wondered.  I wondered about my blood and if this had all been fated, Jack Sparrow's interference notwithstanding.  Those thoughts were interrupted by the tale of how my father had actually died – he'd died because he'd refused to made do with a guilty conscience.  Mutiny was wrong, and while he might not have actively taken part in the mutiny against Jack, he hadn't fought against it . . . until he sent the medallion to me.

   "Good man."  The phrase that Jack had uttered was repeated by Gibbs, and only confirmed by what facts I now had.

   So, now after all that I've seen and learned in the past days, I sit in a rowboat with the woman I love (who is engaged to another) and the pirate who helped save us both (who is now condemned to death for offering it. 

   "They done what's right by them.  Can't expect more than that."

   The words, world-weary and spoken without bitterness spoke to me, even as it awoke a side I'd long denied.

   The call of my blood.  The voice of a pirate who stood up for another.  The voice of my father, a man who refused to turn on a friend, pirate or not.  If his blood runs in my veins, then surely so does the integrity to stand up for a man who in the act of ending a curse and saving the entire crew of the Dauntless, gave up his own opportunity to save his own life.

   They did what was right by them.

   Can I do what is right by me?  What's right by Jack?

   "Good man.  Good pirate. . . ."

   I don't know what I can achieve, but I know I must try. 

   My conscience will be clear.

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Ok, that was it.  I had a hard time keeping this one under 1,000 words, but I managed.  Just thought at least one of you might be interested to know that this entire vignette was inspired by a single look on Will's face.  Right after Jack says,  "They done what's right by them.  Can't expect more than that," there's a look on Will's face that made it seem like the words meant something to him, and the rest is history.  So, there we good.  Review and let me know what you think.