He looked out over the beautiful waves that were before his ship, and he felt more emotion and peace than he had felt in years. The sun had set, and the sky was filled with twinkling stars and a full moon... it had been years since he had actually guided a ship through the waters, and he had forgotten just what a feeling of exhiliration and freedom that it could bring. He felt the salty wind in his face, as his hands caressed the wheel's smooth handles with respect. She was a fine ship, with a fine mission. In due time, he might be able to pass the captaincy on to another, but for now, he was content.
"Orders, Captain?" Bootstrap Bill Turner had appeared at his side, the wind blowing his long hair all about his face. Amazing, how much young Turner looked like his father, except for the blue eyes, James thought. Bootstrap Bill Turner was a good man. He had not been in his right mind when he had fatally injured James, and James was now thinking that he should thank his first mate for opening his eyes to a different world... indeed, the world that he had been living in was worse than the world that he had been introduced to upon his death. James held no grudge.
"No orders for this evening, Mr. Turner," came the reply in James' deep, rich voice, not sad, but merely thoughtful. He'd had much time to think about things since Bill's departure with his son and Jack Sparrow, to the Black Pearl. The crew of the Dutchman considered William to be their friend and leader, and were happy for him, but terribly sad to see the driven young man leave the Flying Dutchman, simply because they would miss him... they certainly could not say the same of his predecessor. It was not made easier by knowing that he would be back, once and again... they would miss him, his kindness and his dedication. William had to leave in haste, as once James had accepted the position offered to him, William would begin to deteriorate until his heart was restored to him. There was not much time for emotion...
James looked down at the sword that was strapped to his side, and thought about all that this beautiful instrument of battle had seen. It was made by the very hands of the man that he was succeeding, in a blacksmith's shop in Port Royal, Jamaica in what seemed like an eternity ago... maybe it was an eternity ago. This very sword had fallen into the hands of the cold Cutler Beckett. James had run Davy Jones through with it, as James had laid, dying, upon the small deck just off of what was now his own cabin. Funny, he certainly did not feel as though he were dead, now...he felt very much alive. The sword had been the very sword that took the mortal life of William Turner the Second, who had carried it in his immortality until he ceremoniously presented it back to James upon leaving the Flying Dutchman. If this sword could talk...
James came out of his thoughts, as Bill lit his pipe. He turned to his first mate and asked, "How is your son, really, Mr. Turner? Is he going to be alright?"
"Aye, Captain, right as rain. My son is a tough one, an' Jack Sparrow an' I must have done a fair job with 'is heart. He is already up an' about, him an' his missus."
James eyes clouded over. Elizabeth. He had loved her so much, but he knew that he'd never had a chance. Somehow, that did not seem as important to him, now. He thought to himself that Elizabeth had so much spirit, so much fire, and so much love for William Turner the Second that a marriage between her and himself would have been a disaster. They were nothing alike... he had represented all that she was now escaping from. He smiled, wryly.
"Strange, is it not, Mr. Turner, that in death I am attempting to accomplish what I never did in life... I am undertaking a fine mission, to carry on the exemplary work of your son, with ambition and honor, and not bowing to the orders and wishes of someone with dishonor in mind..." James mused. "I only wish that I'd married... my mother wanted grandchildren so much, and even though my brothers married and had families, I was married to the Royal Navy and as her favorite, I am afraid that I was a disappointment to her."
Bill looked at James in shock, and almost disgust. "How could you ever be a disappointment t' her, sir? You are a fine officer an' a fine sailor. You are an honorable man. Just because you loved Elizabeth Swann, but did not win her hand does not constitute disappointment... it means that you are capable of love for others, but are fair an' decent, even if you don't always win your heart's desire. Your mother should never have been disappointed."
James pondered this, as Bill's eyes smiled over the smoke from his pipe. "By th' by, Captain Norrington, Jack Sparrow told us tha' there is a little mermaid that is interested in ye..."
James stared at him in utter disbelief. "Jack Sparrow told you...? A mermaid??? Oh, please! There are no such things as mermaids, and..." he stopped himself, and looked around at the ship that he never thought existed until just recently, then reddened in embarassment. He cleared his throat, and looked at his first mate out of the corner of his eye.
Bill looked up at the stars, matter of factly, " Remember... most o' th' legends o' the sea are founded in fact... yer sailin' on of 'em. Now, about th' young mermaid... ye do cut a fine figure in your new uniform, if I may be so bold t' say it, Captain. It may be yer old uniform of th' Navy, but the new colors suit ye...is it any wonder that a mer-lassie would find ye attractive?"
James looked down at his new uniform, and adjusted his hat. He had a uniform that was now black with silver braid, with shiny black boots, and a black tricorn trimmed with fine gray feathers. He smiled; he thought he looked rather smart, at that, especially without the powdered wig. He had no clue as to where it came from, only that it was laid out upon the bunk of his cabin when William Turner had left it for the last time... he knew not where it came from at all. It was a beautiful uniform, and James decided not to question. James cleared his throat, again, and his green eyes twinkled a bit.
"So... Bill..." he said, turning the wheel a bit, and looking at his first mate, "... how does one go about having a meaningful and polite conversation.. with a mermaid, I wonder?"
Bill grinned at his captain, puffed on his pipe, and the two of them smiled as the Flying Dutchman prepared to submerge to the depths. They would get along just fine. And James was a bit startled as he thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a beautiful woman's face smiling at him from the nighttime waves, then the flash of a lovely iridescent green and blue fish's tail...mermaids, indeed...
...William lovingly stroked his wife's sleeping face as it was pressed against his cheek. Her golden wedding ring caught the soft light of the small lantern that was still lit in their own cabin upon the Black Pearl, a little lantern that was suspended from the ceiling rafter, softly rocking to and fro with the motion of the ship as she cut through the waters. They were finally on their way to the marketplaces of Singapore, and it had been decided that they would then chart a course back around the world to the Caribbean. It would be a very long voyage, but it mattered not to any of them. The dark times were finally behind them.
It was a warm night, and the breezes were fine; the cabin door was open just slightly, and William could smell the sea. He breathed it in deeply, delighting in the way that the heart within his chest beat more strongly with the salt air filling his lungs. Elizabeth stirred slightly, then cuddled herself even closer into her husband's warm arms. She was sleeping like as if she had not slept at all in the months that they had been parted. She was the lovely picture of contentment.
He noted, with a chuckle, that she was much more content than she had been earlier, when he forced her witness just what it was like to pull what was left of a damaged tooth from a pirate captain's jaw, much to Jack's loud protestations. One tooth had been completely knocked out during the struggle for the chest, and the damaged one was too far gone to try to save with a gold crown. It was imperitive to pull it, as an abscessed tooth could be fatal.
William felt that perhaps Elizabeth would feel more empathy for Jack and his pain if she was the one to hold Jack down in a chair while the tooth was extracted, and once she heard the sickening "pop" and saw the roots of poor Jack's tooth in Mr. Gibb's pliers, she burst into tears and hugged the sick and irritable captain for a full twenty minutes, finally putting him to bed for a good part of the afternoon until it stopped bleeding. She felt terrible until Jack reassured her that she was only being faithful to her promise to guard William's heart... he just didn't duck quickly enough to avoid being hit nearly all the way back to Madagascar by that faithfulness.
William could not sleep, and he carefully got up from their shared bunk, and softly went out upon the main deck, his hand over his bandaged chest. He nodded at Mr. Murtogg and Mr. Mulroy, who were finishing up their duties and turning in for the night. He looked up at the helm... and at the slender, silhouetted figure at the wheel. The ends of the figure's bandana were flying in the wind, and he swayed gracefully with the motion of the ship as she sailed forward in the moonlight. He seemed to be talking to himself.
William finally understood this man. He looked back at the past, when he had bound himself to the constrictions of society, to believing that good and bad were simply that, and that pirates were bad. Then this man, this pirate, stumbled into all of their lives, and changed them forever. William now knew that Captain Jack Sparrow had been right all along about what made good men, and he was one of them. The best of them. They'd had differences, only to find that they were so very much alike... William, Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow were so very much alike, that the Turners could not imagine their lives without the captain in it... they were all peas in a pod...
William and Elizabeth had not told Jack yet, but they really did not wish to settle back in the Caribbean... a visit would be nice, but they did not wish to live there, now, with so many memories of those things and people that they had lost. They were now known pirates, and would always be looking over their shoulders. They wished to stay upon the sea...they had no desire to leave the Pearl, nor could they leave the man that had proved to them beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was their best friend. He also needed them, although he had never said it... and never would... but they knew it. He knew that he was... different.. .than when they had first met... he needed them very much... if they decided to leave, he would no doubt try to change their minds, but would not stop them...but they had no desire to leave.
William felt the wind in his own hair, and he understood why Jack Sparrow loved freedom above everything else. William had been imprisoned; he had lost his freedom in the worst way that a man could ... he had lost his love and his heart. But like Jack Sparrow, who had seen many horrors and had experienced death, William had never lost his humanity. William looked up at the stars, at the homemade pirate flag flying from a lower part of the mast, then looked back up at the slight man upon the quarterdeck, long hair blowing wildly and tricorn hat perched crookedly upon his head. The figure paused for a moment to gingerly rub a swollen jaw, and then took a very careful swallow of rum from the bottle that was inside of his coat. Even in the darkness, the pair shared a smile and a nod. William and Elizabeth Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow had all experienced terrible loneliness, but now, William swore to himself, none of them would ever be alone again... they had proven to each other where their hearts and souls truly lie... they would always have each other...their home was the sea... and the sea, itself, was immortal...
To be continued..the final chapter.. .the GRAND FINALE... is up next...