A Crashed Wedding

"Weddings are happy occasions according to the bride, and nothing must go wrong. God help any man who contradicts her, you'll never see them again." Uttered by a recently married man whose rowdy best man had disappeared the night before the wedding.

Elizabeth looked out to sea; the wind blew her tattered veil causing it to billow around her, her hair whipped into her face. She sat there at the edge of the cliff her bouquet resting in her lap, her hands limp her eyes vacant as she looked out at the receding storm, moving out to sea. Tables lay smashed and in pieces around her, ribbons and flowers blew with the wind, petals covered the earth, appearing like a carpet of nature. Despite all this Elizabeth sat there, looking out to sea, at the receding storm, she did not move her eyes from the horizon, maybe if she had dared to look around her the tears would have begun to fall, but as yet she had not dared, so she stayed in that stationary position, wishing almost believing that if she did not move, if she did not see, it would have all been a fanciful dream, a nightmare she could wake from.

Elizabeth was in shock, she did not know what to think, what to do with her self. Others around her had begun to move hours ago, those that had been stranded. Many were dazed and confused, many were bruised, the latest fashions from Paris torn and hanging, Elizabeth did not notice this, any of it, all she could see was that cloud, that ship and man that had destroyed everything. Something began to stir in her as she thought of it, a slight flicker a fire just about to begin. It was anger and a strong desire for revenge, but it was only in its early stages, right now all Elizabeth could do was gaze and feel numb. The wind blew, the silence was complete, and then the marching boots sounded. Elizabeth turned her head slowly to see what was coming, her veil swirling around her a response to the wind. The men marched forward all completely military, backs ram rod straight, Elizabeth expected to see Norrington in the front, expected to finally see a face she recognized someone she could at least confide in, someone who could help her to make sense of it all. The marching men stopped behind her, Norrington wasn't among them, and the leading man certainly was not him, instead it was Beckett, that vile man which Elizabeth had almost begun to despise, as one despises a cockroach. Elizabeth turned away, away from the men and that smug look; she turned to the sea, and continued to gaze at the rolling waves and distant horizon.

"Miss Swann, I thought I'd find you here," he said his tones were pompous and self congratulatory.

Elizabeth said nothing, yes she had come back here after the storm had left, she had come back here because she did not know where else to go. She had not been able to find Jack, she had not been able to find her father or Norrington or anyone she knew, and most importantly she had not been able to find Will. She had assumed that the only place to go, the most logical place that people would return to…that Will would return to if he was alright… would be to where it had begun. Feelings began to stir in her and she felt like she had just woken, she wanted to tell Beckett that there was no need for his smugness, even a babe could have found her using this logic, she held her tongue though, maybe if she said nothing he would leave her to gather her scattered senses.

"No doubt you are looking for Mr Turner, the blacksmith," he said, Elizabeth's head turned sharply to face him, she saw his smug look, his mouth curl with the knowledge of the power he held. Elizabeth tried to compose herself, tried not to give away the conflicting emotions inside, the immense relief she felt, and the increasing doubt that had begun to grow as the man stood there, he wanted something from her she was sure of that, if of nothing else.

"You must be commended Mr Beckett," Elizabeth said coolly, gazing back to the sea, she purposefully ignored his title. She was quite sure that Beckett was filled with self importance that meant nothing, despite her doubts. "You have managed to make two correct observations in one evening."

Beckett gave out a small clipped laugh, which ended quickly, "All in a days work my lady," he said, his voice rather dry. He stepped forward, now he stood next to the sitting Elizabeth, she did not let her gaze stray.

"Tell me what do you see?" he suddenly asked. Elizabeth tried to hide her surprise at the question.

"I see water," she answered carefully now glancing up at him, trying to assess his motive.

He glanced down at her, and then gazed back at the sea, his expression unreadable, "No, behind that Miss Swann. You see I believe that a whole person's character, their true character can be told by what they view when they cast their gaze upon this vast expanse we dub the sea."

Elizabeth resisted the urge to snort at this flowery use of language, or make some expression which was un-lady like; but instead she continued to listen to Beckett, still searching for the point of this topic.

Beckett glanced down at her again, "Do you know what I see in the water Miss Swann," he did not wait for a reply, much to Elizabeth's intense annoyance, but turned back to gazing at the sea and continued. "I see power, whoever can control the sea Miss Swann, who ever can control the oceans power, will be the most supreme force in our world. To control the sea Miss Swann is to control our world itself, to destroy vile things such as pirates and vagabonds, and to start a cultured society of knowledge and dignity. It all begins with the sea."

There was silence as Elizabeth absorbed this sentiment, silence as Beckett reveled in the strong dream he had, a dream he was so certain would create a new world, one very different to the world as they currently knew it.

"What do you see now Miss Swann?" he finally asked again, forcing his thoughts back to the current matter, the new world would just have to wait for a little while longer. Elizabeth rose, grimacing at the sensation her stiff muscles brought. She tried to maintain some dignity, turning to Beckett, settling her dress and brushing aside a few loose strands of hair.

"I would like to see my fiancé Mr Beckett," she said after she had composed herself appropriately. She held her head high and purposefully ignored his title again, she saw the flash of displeasure in his eyes this time, and it brought her much pleasure. "And I doubt sitting here and having a conversation about what I see or don't see in the 'vast expanse we dub the sea' is going to draw me any closer to finding him."

Lord Beckett turned his body now to face her, an unpleased grimace, his weak attempt at a smile, upon his face this time.

"Yes I suppose you would want to be taken to him," Beckett said, dropping all pretense of ignorance as to the whereabouts of Will, not that it would have mattered if he kept it, from the second comment he had made Elizabeth had known that he was quite aware of where Will was.

"There's no need to take me anywhere Mr. Beckett," Elizabeth said, now the one to feel slightly smug, "I can follow your directions to him on my own two feet just as easily as I can follow you, with no need of a personal guard."

"Now there I think you are quite mistaken Miss Swann," Beckett said, the smirk returned to his face again, that knowing look, "You see, some places I doubt they allow young ladies to enter unattended, even Governor's daughters."

"Oh, and where may these such places be?" Elizabeth asked, raising her eyebrows in derision at the tone he addressed her with, like she was some small child.

"Port Royal prison as one," he said, his lips curled at Elizabeth's shocked look.

I'm sorry it's so short, it's a sort of teaser, I have a big report and lots of homework so just bear with me and the longer chapter shall be posted recounting all the events of the wedding.

I just realized that I wrote reception in the last chapter, After reading tons of spoilers(if you have any please tell me, I go phsycho over them, I know I'm a bit weird). Anyway after reading them and seeing the cool new trailer which so rocks lol, I've decided to put in the wedding. Just bear with me and the beginning of this chapter shall come, I hope this tides you over till then Lol :p.

Willliz- Thanks again for the long review : ), I was so happy all day, my friends kinda got freaked cause I was smiling so much lol. I love long reviews (lol), and I'm so happy that you like the story. I love Jack's character as I said I'm a sucker for him, I think the cool thing about Jacks character is that half the time he doesn't know where he's going or what he's doing, but he makes things up as he goes along, and uses other people to get what he wants. I heard somewhere on the DVD the director saying that if you think about it, Jack isn't a really a very good pirate, he falls off cliffs, gets slapped, loses his ship, gets marooned twice by the same crew….you know. I thought about it and I saw it was true, so I tried to make Jack's character more of an inspiration seizer, Jack plays more on luck and guessing then anything else, he can read other characters and their reactions really well, so he usually guesses the right course.

I don't think Norrington is evil at all, but I think he's misunderstood, I mean he let Elizabeth go when he could have just forced her to marry him, and he gave Jack a head start. He's just a character who's very restrained and follows the rules a little too much, but I heard that in DMC he shakes that off a bit, I don't want to give too much away (unless you want me to cause I'm dying to share some spoilers lol I wasn't sure how people would like the previous chapter because I changed the writing style a bit, I like to play around with it, so I wasn't sure if it was a bit long winded. I benefited heaps from your review, now I know I'm on the right track with all the characters and I haven't gone way off the map lol, and that someone's enjoying this fic hopefully as much as I am writing it, thanks and please keep them coming. : )