Sorry about the delay. University, it's a nightmare!

The Morning After

Elizabeth had spent the entire night shivering with fear beside Esther. They had heard gun fire and cheering below them, but luckily the pirates hadn't searched the entire household, and had left shortly before dawn.

Elizabeth crept from her hiding place when she saw light coming in through the gap between the door and floorboards.

Rain was pelting against the windows, and from the obscured view of the town below, Elizabeth could see that the pirates had left everything in Port Royal to ruin. From there she moved to investigate the destruction of her home.

"Where are you going?" Esther's voice demanded behind her.

"The Pirates have gone. I want to see what's happening downstairs." Elizabeth responded, before leaving the room, ignoring the older woman's requests for her to return.

In the hallway, Elizabeth could hear noise coming from everywhere. As she crept along to the staircase, she was shocked by what she saw.

In the entrance hall, everything was dust. The chandelier that offered a tremendous showpiece to the Swann family power and influence lay in ruins on the floor, surrounded by cracked tiles. The staircase from the middle landing down, was no longer a staircase, and prevented people from easily accessing the first and second stories of the house. Elizabeth was also horrified at the sight of blood, smeared across the floor tiles by the door, and splatter on some walls.

"Elizabeth." Elizabeth saw her father leave what had been the parlor, an exhausted expression across his face.

Somehow Elizabeth managed to reach the floor below her, and rush to her father, giving him a hug. "It's alright father. What's damaged can be repaired." Elizabeth tried to encourage her father to remove his pessimistic and negative thoughts.

"No. Not everything can be. The Fort lies in ruins; there are soldiers both injured and dead still lying in the town; the town's people won't leave their homes for fear of being killed, and the stench of death and blood still lies everywhere. And Georgia is lying in her bed in tears because Alistair Cassidy stood in the pirate's way." A dread filled Elizabeth, a fear of realizing how angry her sister would now be, and the fear that her beloved Will may have met with a similar fate.

"But father, we shall get though this." She stammered. "The pirates have left; from all the books I have read, pirates are like lightning strikes: they never attack the same place twice."

"That won't remove the fear in these people." Her father retorted angrily, pushing her away and walking away from her. "This is the second time in twenty years that this town has been attacked. It took years for Port Royal to recover last time. How long do you think it's going to take us to recover this time?"

Elizabeth wanted to talk to him, convince him that everything would be all right, but nothing came to mind. She watched as he stalked away, into another room, whilst some servants bought a ladder and placed it on the floor, leading up to the staircase.

"Some good that will do." Elizabeth sighed under her breath.

She turned as those same servants left the house, and Elizabeth, staring out the front door, watched as the rain poured down.

--ยง--

Will's head was pounding. A resounding ache was spreading from the back of his head, and moving everywhere, almost making him feel nauseous. As he sat up in the street, the rain beginning to get heavier, he initially thought he'd been transported to the legendary pirate island of Tortuga.

But seeing soldiers, in particular Commodore Norrington walking about and giving orders, he knew he was still in Port Royal.

It was at that point that he realized that the coolness against his chest was not the rain, but something metal. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the pirate medallion he had found.

The moment his eyes locked onto the haunted piece of gold he jumped to his feet, before grabbing his head out of pain, then began staggering in the direction of his home.

"William, thank heavens you're alright. Where have you been? Are you all right? William, Will! Speak to me!" His mother's voice bombarded him with questions the moment he opened the door.

Will, still cradling the back of his head, had no intention of stopping and speaking. "I'm okay, mother, but I'm in a hurry."

"In a hurry?" Her voice exclaimed, following him up the stairs. "This town gets ambushed by pirates, and you have been gone all night. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

As Will slammed his bedroom door, her voice, and her tireless questions disappeared. He headed straight for his desk, but the medallion he was looking for wasn't there. His eyes scoured his room, until he saw it, gold glinting at him from beneath the curtains. Picking the medallion and chain up from the floor, he held the two articles side by side, staring at them.

"Find it! Find that medallion!"

The voices of the pirates, he hadn't registered, but that one pirate, probably the leader, had bellowed that line repeatedly when Will first emerged in the town.

"They were looking for you." He whispered to himself.

"William, I demand you tell me what is going on!" Will jumped when he heard his mother's voice coming through his door. He stuffed the two medallions into his shirt, just as his mother barged into the room.

"Mother, will you please give me some privacy!" Will exclaimed at her entrance.

"William you are my son, and I do not care that you are twenty five years of age, but when our home is attacked by pirates, and you return home, the back of your head protruding, I just," she paused. "I just don't want you ending up like your father."

Will stared at his mother. "How could you possibly think that?" He asked her quietly.

Adelaide Turner sighed dejectedly, looking away from her eldest son. "I don't want to think that, and I do know you are nothing like your father, I just don't want, I don't want to lose you."

Will smiled weakly, walking over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "You won't."

She too smiled at him weakly. "Well, I don't care what your plans were for today; you're staying in bed until that lump goes down." As she spoke, she pushed Will towards the bed, forcing him to sit down and be cared for.