Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing to have some fun!

Author's note: I know very little about the British Monarchy at the time that this story takes place. Indeed, I find the timeframe itself (from the film) a bit confusing, so I've always believed it best to think of it as an alternate universe, parallel reality…that sort of thing. If you have something constructive to tell me about Lords and Ladies, I'm willing to hear it, but remember that in this story it's all the same as technobabble in a scifi story.

Beyond World's End

By Ecri

Chapter 11

The London skyline seemed grayer than usual as the light drizzle dampened both more than spirits. Few walked the cobbled streets and fewer still opened a shutter to view the dismal day. The occupant of the only carriage braving the elements had thoughts to match his surroundings, though his surroundings had not even begun to invade them. With a bellow and a knock upon the carriage roof, he urged the driver to hurry not caring how the man should take such urging.

The driver increased his speed almost imperceptibly unwilling to risk his horses on the slippery stones to satisfy the Lord he escorted. In moments, they reached their destination, and the driver halted the carriage, hopped down to the street, and held the door open.

He got nary a nod nor word of thanks from the preoccupied man, and the driver counted himself lucky that he was merely a hired driver and not in the man's full time employ. To be fair, the Lord's preoccupation was the cause of his perceived rudeness. He was generally believed to be one of the more civil members of London Society.

Removing his wet cloak and hat, he handed them off to the servant who'd approached for just that purpose and hurried through the impressive old building until he reached the anteroom he sought.

His calling card was handed to the appropriate people and in moments, he had the audience he sought.

"My Lord," he called in greeting as he entered to find a jovial looking gentleman seated behind an impressive old heirloom of a desk. The other man scratched away for a moment upon a piece of paper before looking up at his visitor.

"Ah, Jonathan! I'm so glad you could stop by so soon!"

The younger man shook his head impatiently. "I'm afraid this is no social call. I am hoping you would be willing to assist my family in a small matter."

The older man frowned. Whenever the young lord referred to "small matters" it was generally something of unspeakable importance to him.

"What is it, Jonathan?"

"My brother has written to me requesting a favor."

"James? I thought he'd moved to the Carribean and changed his name?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking. He joined the Navy and changed the spelling and pronunciation of his name so as not to trade on the fame of our father…"

The older man laughed. "And he now finds himself in a predicament that the youthful pride which made that decision could not have predicted!"

Jonathan, Lord Norinton nodded. "Yes, well, he has succeeded to the rank of Admiral for himself. He needs no help for his own sake. It's for a pair of friends of his who seem to have run afoul of Cutler Beckett…"

The older man's joviality turned to a scowl. "Don't mention the braggart to me, Jonathan! I'd rather hear nothing of him for the rest of my days!"

Jonathan smiled. "Even to hear that he is quite undone?"

Lord Marbury's eyes widened and his smile returned. "Do tell?"

"I'm afraid I have few details. The point my brother has tried to make is that a friend of his, his former fiancée if I have that right, and her current fiancé have been falsely—or at least hastily—accused of things…well, Jonathan goes on for several pages about nobility of character, and depth of loyalty.."

"Whoever are these friends?"

"Daughter of the Governor of Port Royal and her Blacksmith fiancé…"

"Well, for your youngest brother, Jonathan, let's see what we can do!"

**

Will Turner had recovered from most of his injuries. He believed the salt sea air and the Caribbean sun had hastened his recuperation, but the presence of his Elizabeth had done even more. They'd been aboard the Black Pearl for weeks now, healing and learning what had happened to each other when they'd been separated. Jack had expertly kept the ship away from any vessels other than Norrington's. The Admiral had promised his support in finding a way to pardon the couple, and had sailed off, presumably to find some way to keep his promise.

Before he had departed, Will had cornered the man. "I need to thank you."

Norrington looked nonplussed at the admission, but Will had persisted. "You've looked after Elizabeth when I could not. You kept her safe aboard Sao Feng's ship…"

Norrington had raised a hand. "You exaggerate my importance. Elizabeth can look after herself."

Will smiled. "She can, but that does not lessen what you did for her. Even a Pirate King needs someone she can trust in her corner she can trust."

Norrington looked away. "I don't know how much she trusted me."

"At first, perhaps, but you cannot pretend that you were not a help to her."

"Do not imagine that you are the only man who loves Elizabeth." He looked Will Turner in the eye. "But of course, the best man won."

Will had not known what to say to such a comment. Norrington and he had never been friends. They were rivals for Elizabeth's affections. Norrington was logically perceived by society to be the smart match for a woman of Elizabeth's position. That he could stand there and look a blacksmith born of pirate blood in the eye and call him the better man was not something Will ever would have imagined. Will had smiled genuinely at the older man and held out his hand. Norrington shook it. All animosity that had ever existed between them had been expunged by their circumstances and their mutual respect.

Now thinking back on it, Will was still surprised by it all. He had never imagined Norrington would see him as anything more than a nuisance and an embarrassment.

After the Admiral's departure, Will had sought out Elizabeth. He was strong now, healed and recovered from his ordeal, and Elizabeth's objections that he needed rest would no longer keep them from discussing all that had happened between them. They needed to talk about all they had been through and all they might yet endure.

He had found her sitting on deck still clad in pants and pirate boots, her shirt not remotely revealing the lithe, feminine figure beneath. Yet still, she took his breath away.

"Elizabeth." He whispered her name, but she turned, startled as though it had been a shout.

"Will, what are you doing up?"

He laughed. "I am quite well, Elizabeth. There is no longer any reason we should not talk."

"What do you mean?" Her nervousness brought her to her feet and she attempted to step past him, but he caught her wrist and stepped closer to her.

"You know what I mean, Elizabeth. Why have you been avoiding this? Is it because…" he swallowed hard, almost unable to utter the words. "Would you prefer not to marry me?"

"What? NO! Will, how can you say such a thing? After all we've…"

"Tell me that's not the only reason you're going through with marrying me?" He spoke softly, but the plea in his voice cut through her protests like a knife through softened butter.

"No." She spoke more softly now, and was shaking her head. "Of course that's not why I want to marry you. I love you, Will? I have never dreamed of any life that did not include you."

He smiled and reached a hand out to touch her face.

"Oh, Will! I do love you! More than you can ever know!"

"I love you, too Elizabeth, but if we are doomed because of this…" he gestured to Cutler Beckett's brand upon his arm. "I cannot endanger your life with it!"

"We have not even begun to find ways around it, Will! James had some plan before he left. I recognized the look in his eyes. Do not discount him yet. Give him a chance." She reached a hand up and caught his as he drew it back from her face pressing it there…then turning to kiss his palm. "And if he fails, we will not be parted! I won't permit that. Nothing will stand between us being married, If we must, Norrington or Jack will marry us and we will stay aboard the Pearl…"

"As pirates!" Will fairly spat the word.

"I know how you feel about pirates, but surely you can consider Jack and the crew of the Pearl to be friends."

"I want to, Elizabeth, but....we would spend our lives running from the law. We would be hunted by every legitimate government in existence. And if we were ever caught we would be hung. Is that the life you'd share with our children?"

Elizabeth looked surprised. "Children?"

"Did you not want to have children?" Will tried to hide his own surprise.

"I…of course…"

"Elizabeth, Jack's jokes aside, you know I'm not a eunuch, don't you?"

Elizabeth laughed and kissed him in reply. "I suppose for the sake of the children…we'll have to get that pardon."

Will and Elizabeth had spent more and more time together as the days passed. They discussed everything, imparted all secrets they'd ever kept and learned more about each other than either could have imagined. Will treasured these days, and now, with Elizabeth by his side, he could not help but feel giddy over the possibilities. They were living in a sort of safe haven. They had not yet found Norrington again, so the weeks and months that passed were a sort of blissful limbo. They were not ignoring their problem, just unable to do anything about it at the moment. The longer the moment lasted with no ill news from Norrington, they longer they could pretend all was well. He reached for Elizabeth and kissed her noting how eagerly she returned the favor.

**

There was a ship on he horizon. It moved swiftly and smoothly through the blue-green waters, its sails stark white against the bright sky.

Captain Jack Sparrow kept it in his line of sight, ready to run away or straight at it as the situation dictated. He noted the hushed whispers of the crew as they tried to guess what he was going to do, and he suppressed a half smile. They'd never guess when he himself could not.

He would gladly take the ship if it proved the weaker of the two vessels, but he had vowed to keep Will and Elizabeth safe, and that he would do. It was as the other ship pulled even with the Pearl that a rumble in the water identified another vessel approaching, but from a different direction. In a moment, the Flying Dutchman bobbed upon the waves having risen from the depths at the same instant that the Endeavor drew near.

Jack hailed both ships, noting Norrington standing there looking almost cheerful…for Norrington anyway.

It took little time for the Admiral to make his way to the Pearl. He'd kept his boarding party minimal…just himself…and for that, Jack was grateful. He wasn't exactly comfortable consorting with the British Navy and likely never would be.

"I have news." Norrington announced.

"Then, by all means, let's get to it," Jack replied, gesturing for the Admiral to follow him.

**

Will and Elizabeth held fast to each other each lost in kisses, laughter, and whispered words when the sound of a throat clearing brought them up short and they both turned wide eyes toward the door.

There stood Captain Jack Sparrow, smirking at the couple. "I see. Not a eunuch after all." He swaggered into the cabin, Norrington on his heels, the Admiral suppressing a smile of his own at Will and Elizabeth's discomfiture. The pair righted themselves, tugging self-consciously at clothing to straighten imaginary rumples.

"Norrington has news." Sparrow declared, and all eyes fell on the Admiral.

"Yes, well, I have sent off letters about your situation, and have gotten a reply. The short of it is you're pardoned. My family has managed to come through for us.

Elizabeth clasped Will's hand staring at Norrington. "That's wonderful! Are you sure they're legitimate?"

"Oh, yes. All is in order."

"Will! We're free!"

Will stared at Norrington. "And what of this?" He held up his arm, revealing a bandage, though all knew what it hid. "Are we truly free?" He turned to Sparrow. "Jack…you have to burn it…cut it, something!"

"No!" Elizabeth squeezed Will's hand in both of hers. "Will, you can't! The Admiral agrees that even the mutilation of the mark does not insure our freedom…"

"If I cut out the scar tissue…"

"No," Elizabeth whispered, her eyes imploring James Norrington to bring the pair to their senses.

Norrington spoke. "Perhaps it's the most expedient means of dealing with it, Elizabeth."

"But if it won't guarantee anything, why put Will through it?"

Jack stepped closer to the tearful Pirate King. "Because it does somewhat improve his odds of slipping through life unhassled and unharried. Thereby increasing your odds of doing the same. It's the only solution, love." He stepped back again, and his hand covered his pocket, patting it protectively. "Besides, I think I will be able to do more about this that we'd thought."

**

Will had felt pain in varying degrees all his life. Before he had mastered the blacksmith craft, he had had his share of burns. After being abducted by pirates and the undead, he'd suffered his share of beatings, whippings, and other atrocities. The pain he suffered now as Jack cut out the scar tissue on his arm somehow surpassed all these pains, and yet, it did not come close to the pain he'd felt when Elizabeth had first been abducted by Barbossa, nor the pain he'd felt when he'd left her in a Port Royal prison as he'd set out to search for Jack Sparrow. For her, he could endure this and more.

He had insisted that Elizabeth not be present. He could not bear both the pain and the fear in her eyes. He now thought perhaps that was selfish of him, and he should have permitted her to stay.

His father, Norrington, and Jack were present. Norrington held fast to his shoulders, keeping him steady no matter how bad the pain became. His father held the unmarked arm and sat upon his legs to keep him from involuntarily kicking out and perhaps distracting Jack from his task/

Jack wielded his knife with skill and it being the enchanted knife of a God gave everyone hope that all would be well. Jack had begun by mumbling a few words, and eventually, Will realized they were a prayer or plea of some sort. When Jack had finished, he'd wrapped the arm again, and told Will not to remove the bandage himself. Jack would do that when the time was right.

The time was not right for a full week, Jack changed the bandages often, but would let no one see his handiwork. Exactly one week from the time he'd carved out the burn, he revealed the arm to Elizabeth, Will, Bootstrap and Norrington.

Will marveled at the smooth skin. There was a slight bump, a raised line, but it looked nothing like he'd imagined.

"How did you do that?"

Jack smiled. "I'm Ca…

"Captain Jack Sparrow!" They'd all said it together ignoring Jack's indignation that they'd ruined his joke.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed as she stared intently at the kohl-rimmed eyes. "What you've done is impossible, Jack Sparrow." She crossed her arms and walked toward the man. "How could you possibly have done that? And those prayers you were saying while you did it…what was that, Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Jack returned her stare for a millisecond, but then began to speak quickly as though the more syllables he could utter in a single breath the more his words would be believed. "I don't know what you're going on about. I did what had to be done. It was best…" as he continued to speak, his words conveying little actual meaning, he sashayed about the cabin, putting the bandages away, slipping things into drawers, moving items seemingly at random from one spot to another. When finally he stopped, a grin firmly in place, he found the others standing still and staring at him.

He exhaled in defeat and flopped himself down in his chair. "All right." He whispered. "I'll tell you, shall I?" He gestured with a wildly flailing wrist to his surroundings, but it was only the words that followed that told his audience his gesture was meant to encompass more than just the contents of the cabin. "It's all a lie. Hardly surprising my life should be a lie…but I'm not what I seem to be."

A puzzled look crossed his face and he looked up at each of them. "What do I seem to be?"

"A drunk," said Elizabeth.

"A Pirate," said Norrington and Bootstrap together.

"A good man," Will insisted.

Jack smiled. For Will to admit that after all they'd been through was more of a shock than he cared to admit. Somewhere in all of this backstabbing, Will had found a way to accept that a person could be both a Pirate and a Good Man. How much further could he press the younger man's incredulity?

"Ah, well, you're all right, but you're all wrong, aren't you?" He sighed once and stood. "I'm all of that, yet none of it. I'm what some might call a minor deity. My father is Nemesis, God of Vengeance. My mother is Alecto, one of the Erinnyes." He saw only Norrington and Elizabeth understood him. "Ah, the powers of a formal education!" He sat upon the desk. Crossed his arms, and all trace of instability, in mental and physical, disappeared. "All you need to know is the lineage lends itself to insanity and extreme behavior. My parents are predisposed to be unforgiving. When I angered them, they banished me. Made me a bit crazy, and left me to fend for myself. Poseidon took a liking to me so made sure I had a love of the sea so I'd be near enough for him to keep an eye on me. Sent those sea turtles to help me out more than once…"

"Sea turtles…you said you hitched a ride with rum runners!" Elizabeth's indignation and confusion warred to make sense of the senseless.

"I said a lot of things, love. Truth is, some of it was truer than I knew. I didn't have all the pieces until Poseidon found me in the Locker." He gestured to the knife with the symbol for immortality that had belonged to the God of the Sea. "He left that behind for me knowing it could help Will. Poseidon claimed my parents regretted their banishment. They'd helped him with defeating Beckett. Made him a bit more bonkers than he was. Made him slip up." He shrugged. "Truth is, I like my life. I'd bargained with Poseidon in the Locker. He would make sure the Black Pearl was mine and mine alone. I would return with him for a time and explain things to mum and dad." He smiled and winked a familiar glint in his eye that matched the glint in his gold teeth.

Elizabeth nodded. "You didn't intend to keep that part of the bargain."

Jack's smile broadened. "Pirate."

"Won't they come for you?" Will asked.

"Maybe…one day. When they have nothing better to do."

So…now…" Elizabeth began.

Jack clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously. "Now…we plan a wedding, Love…and we head for that horizon."

The End