Part five, everyone! Thanks for all the awesome reviews! Hey, tell me what you think. Should I write another Pirates fic or should I stick with Lord of the Rings? And either way, tell me what you think I should write about!
A man well into his seventies tossed and turned fitfully in his light sleep. It was a habit, to sleep only what was necessary and nothing more, and most of the time less. His mind had carried the weight of anguish and pain for many years, and in his sleep, his mind forgot what had become truth and what was forgotten into the past. He sat up, quickly awakening and panted.
The woman beside him sat up, roused by her lover's movement. "What is it?"
"Nothing. Merely a dream." He waved it off, running a hand through his silver hair. "I am aging, and it is not doing my mind well." He cracked a smile.
"Will." She reprimanded him. "What was it?"
"I dreamt I was on the Pearl, sailing away from Port Royal, and James was still alive and you were happy with him." Will rubbed his eyes, groaning as he leaned against the headboard.
"I was never happy with him." Elizabeth rubbed his back. "But now… now I am happy, and you can be too. You are always so caught up in yourself." She said, leaning her cheek against his shoulder.
"I am sorry, Elizabeth." He whispered. "I sometimes forget that this is reality, and not some cruel dream that I am forced to suffer through once more. I feel as if I shall awake and I will be alone again."
She took his hand and sighed. "You are awake, Will, and we're together." She kissed his cheek. "You can have a few more moments of pretending, but then stop. Loving each other is what we do best now."
"I realize now I never answered your question, the one you asked me after James had died." Will remembered with a wry smile.
"Well?" Her eyebrow arched in a true Elizabeth fashion.
"I do." He kissed her lightly on her lips. "I really do."
He watched Elizabeth fall back to sleep with a smile on her face and he looked around the darkened room. The weight of his years lifted from his soul and his shoulders, and he felt twenty years old again. Fifty years of pain was gone and he felt a strange feeling wash over him. It was peace, and it eased him into the first true sleep since the last night he spent on Jack Sparrow's ship.
Somewhere in the distance, in the bay, an ageless pirate stood aboard his beloved ship. He was a captain, in the way he stood to the ridiculous feather perched in his hat. He looked down at his compass and grinned. The moonlight glinted off of his golden teeth as he faced the sunrise. The light illuminated his curiously dark eyes and for a moment, his grin softened into a true smile, but his true nature returned as he pocketed his compass and ran a hand over the dark wood.
"Bring me that horizon."