True Love: Forever Reunited
Chapter 26: A New Day
A great cry of victory rose up from the crowd. The next thing Will knew, Elizabeth was in his arms, sobbing with relief and joy. Despite his physical pain, Will pulled her to him, hardly daring to believe it was over, hardly daring to believe the greatest threat to their future was dead.
"You were brilliant," said Will. "Absolutely brilliant."
No," answered Elizabeth, pulling away and shaking her head. "You were brilliant."
"But you finished him!" argued Will.
"No," replied Elizabeth, "You finished him. I just stopped him from taking you down with him."
"Anyway," said Will. "It's done. He's finished." He wiped the tears away from Elizabeth's face with his thumb, giving her a smile that shone like the morning sun.
Willy ran at his parents full throttle, and Will captured him in hug, lifting him from the ground.
"We did it Papa!" he said. "It's over!"
Will started to answer, but a bolt of pain shot through his body; the wounds were finally getting to him. He put Willy back on the ground, wincing.
"Will, are you all right?" asked Elizabeth, her hand resting gently on his shoulder. "You need a doctor. You've sustained more than enough injuries tonight."
Will nodded, far too tired to argue. Besides, the trip to Dr. Sullivan's office would give him an opportunity to see how Andrew was doing. That is, if he had managed to pull through; Will's stomach churned at the thought. If his best friend had lost his life due to this fiasco…he couldn't bear to think of it.
"Will, mate!" said Jack, who approached from behind, a huge grin on his face. "You did it! You've got a way with a blade, you do." He turned to Elizabeth, grin still intact. "That was a nice shot missy. Yours might even rival mine someday."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled good-naturedly at the pirate captain. Elizabeth and each took one of Will's arms to help him to the clinic, Willy walking ahead. Norrington followed behind, a relieved smile on his tired features. They walked towards the celebrating crowd, hoping to get through without too much trouble. Then something remarkable happened. At their approach, the rowdy crowd quieted. Men took off their hats in salute, and women waved their handkerchiefs. The Port Royal citizens, it seemed, had learned their lesson about judging pirates, for it was pirates who had saved them the consequences of their revolt. The EITC soldiers, at the defeat of their two highest in command, were bewildered, and many could be seen retreating. Once the group reached the end of the crowd, Mr. Riley stepped up.
"You and your friends have saved us all, Will," he said, his face lighting up. "Port Royal is free again."
Will nodded, glad of the citizen's thanks. He watched with tired eyes as EITC soldiers made for their ships, fleeing Port Royal with haste after seeing their fallen leader. But Will had to tell him; in all the chaos, Mr. Riley had not realized his son had been injured. "Sir, Andrew has been hurt…we… we don't know how he's faring."
Mr. Riley's cheerful face paled. "Andrew's been injured?" he asked. "How bad is it?"
"He had a fairly deep sword wound down his side," said Will, worry engulfing his stomach again. "But it probably looked worse than it actually is. Those kinds of wounds tend to appear that way."
Mr. Riley nodded in response, but said nothing, only following the rest toward the clinic. Will walked quickly, one hand in Elizabeth's the other in Willy's, anxious to know the fate of his friend. Amelia's face met them at the door, still pale, but a small smile graced her features. Andrew's voice could be heard whispering to Anna and Charles. Will dared to breath fully again; Andrew was, at least, alive.
"It's a much better prognosis than we originally thought," said Amelia. "An answered prayer, really. He'll have quite the scar, and he'll have to use a cane, but he's not paralyzed or gone from us, and for that, I'm thankful."
Elizabeth wrapped her friend in a comforting embrace while Willy ran to Charles and Anna, both of whom were anxious for news of the battle now they knew their father was okay. Will walked over to Andrew, who was lying in one of the beds Dr. Sullivan kept in the clinic, covered in bandages.
"Don't look so solemn Will," said Andrew. "As you can see, this isn't my funeral."
Will couldn't help but laugh. "It nearly well could have been," answered Will. "I was worried sick."
"I won't lie, it hurts like mad, but I'll live. I have to use a bloody cane though. Congratulations on defeating Clinton; we could hear the shouts from here. Do tell the details."
Will was about to regale his friend with the insane story, but before another word could be spoken, Dr. Sullivan called to him.
"William Turner, if you don't let me get to your multiple wounds right this moment, I'll do it by force!"
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The cleanup around Port Royal took weeks, and although the rogue band of pirates had saved so many, there had still been fatalities, and it hurt Will to see all the damage the EITC had done to his home. It angered him to see children having witnessed the horrors Clinton had initiated. But there was hope for Port Royal's future. That wasn't to say the EITC would never return to the island, but Clinton was gone, and any trace of Beckett's lineage was nowhere to be found. The Turners, Jack, and all the others stayed at Mr. Riley's home during Port Royal's resurrection, and the citizens, though at first a little wary, came to befriend those who had saved them all from destruction.
About a month after the battle, Will was alone at the Riley's making sure nothing had been left behind while the others had gone to start loading the ships. The whole crew was to depart soon, and the Turners, along with Amelia, Andrew, and their children, and Jack for a time, were to return to the Turner's home on the island Elizabeth had inhabited in Will's absence. Norrington too, was coming along. He had expressed a wish to stay in Port Royal, but after having been declared dead for a decade, and then brought back to life by a sea goddess, he felt it best to keep a low profile. Jack and Ana planned to stay with Will and Elizabeth for a few weeks, and Will was sure Jack would attempt to drive him over the edge. There was a knock at the door, and Will ceased his final packing to answer it.
He pulled open the door to see Groves' smiling face, now fully recovered from his injury.
"Hello there," said Will, waving him inside. "I thought you were helping load the ships?"
"I was," answered Groves, taking a seat in the chair beside Will. "But I'm afraid I won't be setting sail with you…"
Will frowned, bewildered. "Why ever not?" he asked. "We thought you planned to."
"I did," said Groves. "But I've been asked by several important officials to take up the office of mayor, since the current one left with the Company. Port Royal is my home, and I want to do anything I can to help it recover. So I accepted."
"Well, congratulations!" exclaimed Will, rather surprised. "I can't say I was expecting that, but you certainly deserve it."
"Thank you Will," said Groves with a smile. "Thank you again for taking me on in my times of duress. Despite the circumstances I still enjoyed myself. And I will do my best to keep that wretched Company out of Port Royal. And you will always be welcome here."
"For the first time in 10 years there will a man as just as Governor Swann once was. I know you can help Port Royal recover from all the trouble it's experienced over the past decade."
"I do hope so," answered Groves. "What are you, Elizabeth, and Willy going to do now?"
"Go home," said Will with a contented sigh. "And wait for the baby to come. Then, God willing, we can settle into some sort of normalcy. But knowing us, I don't know how long that will last."
Groves grinned. "You might get bored," he warned with a chuckle. "But I hope too much trouble doesn't come your way."
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Just an hour or so after Groves came by, the Pearl and the Empress were ready to set sail, waving goodbye to the throng of Port Royal citizens who had gathered on the shore to bid them farewell. Will found it incredibly ironic that these citizens, who had once so feared the very word "pirate" were now sad to see such a lot of them go. Will stood at the wheel of the Empress, Elizabeth and Willy on either side of him.
"It's a strange sight isn't it?" asked Elizabeth, whose belly was growing bigger each day, her face glowing with the joy of pregnancy.
"The strangest I've ever seen," said Will. "But it's a nice change."
"I can't believe we made it through all of this," continued Elizabeth. "Again."
"Me either," said Will. "But here's to hoping we can settle down to a life of quiet domesticity…at least for a while."
Elizabeth laughed, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "We'll do our best, but I think adventure runs in our blood."
"Papa," said Willy, "I think Uncle Jack is trying to get your attention."
Will turned around to see Jack standing at the wheel of the Pearl, waving exuberantly.
"Ready to set sail, William?" he called, the bright sun glistening off his several gold teeth.
"Whenever you are Jack!"
With that, everyone gathered on both decks gave one last wave to the citizens of Port Royal, and set sail in the glistening aqua waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Finally, Will thought, and he glanced at his wife and son, he could seek the peace he had been searching for the moment he had set foot off the Flying Dutchman.
AN: Hi all! I could go on forever making excuses for the abhorrent amount of time it has been since I updated, but I'll spare you. Life if just incredibly busy, more than ever, and my fiction writing class took all my writing time. But finally, here you are. But do stay tuned for an epilogue, which will be posted much sooner than this chapter was. And then I'll catch up on updating other fics as well as reading them. Thank you for your patience!