As you can tell, I'm having a hard time fitting in all of those girls, but they'll be back for the war! And Distressin' Damsel is going to be put on a temporary hiatus until I finish this one. I know where I'm going with this one, so I'm trying to finish it before (gag) school starts back. I have to say though, I'm very proud of this chapter.
You may want to bring out the tissues.
"...mate, if you choose to lock your heart away you'll lose it for certain..."
"Shiver me timbers." Came a teasing voice from behind him. Will dared not turn around, he just kept his hands firmly on the wheel, and his eyes watching the Pearl for directions. He heard a laugh as she came to stand on the other side of the wheel so that he had to look at her. "Will, I said I was sorry ages ago-"
"My father hasn't looked at me in two days, Lila." Will said, darting his hazel eyes down at her. Since EITC were seen on the other side of the cave sailing to London, the Pearl, Dutchman and Rose had to go the long way around that enmormous cave to kill time. She gave him a smile that scarily reminded him of Jack as she said, "Will, I'm sure that it's not-"
"Yes, I'm sure that it is." Will said with a slight groan as he pushed one of his dark ringlets back into his bandana. "I mean, what that really nes-"
"-I told you when I did it that it was." Lila said, putting her hands on the wheel so that she was looking Will in the eye and her hand were on his. "You know me. I haven't exactly mastered the art of thinking before I speak." He smiled at that one. He couldn't help it. Since the Sparrow Secret had come out and since his feelings for her was out in the open, she'd changed a lot.
And with that whole 'shiver your timbers' or whatever it was aside, Will couldn't say that he minded the change. "Well, love. Maybe that's an art you need to consider mastering in the near future..." Will said, looking back down at her causing her to smile. Or smile to hide her blush. Either one. "Now, Princess. If you don't mind, I do need my wheel back." She rolled her eyes and lifted her hands off of his.
"Take your wheel." She whispered as she leaned up and kissed him. He smiled against her lips as he wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping one on the wheel. His crew had become used to seeing them, so slowly, he got over the fact that they were kissing in public. Being Will, that took some time.
Had Elizabeth ever been this forward? No. Why was he even thinking about her. Lila could tel something was wrong, since after a minute, she pulled back to look at Will with a strange expression on her face as she asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No, Eli-" He froze. He was hoping that she hadn't heard him, but she did. She just looked down for a minute, and neither of them spoke. When he opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off and said, "I'm going to go see where we're 'sposed to make port, alright?" She didn't say it like a question though, it was more like a statement.
Before he could speak, even nod, she was already down the stairs. He grasped the wheel again and muttered, "Damn..." He closed his eyes momentarily...
"I'm just saying that you spend an awful lot of time with her." She turned to face him for the first time. Her green eyes were brighter than they probably should have been as she stared at him. "Li-"
"Will, just don't." She said, shaking her head. "Just don't...I'm leaving soon, we shouldn't be talking like this."
"Alright, so..." Grant said as he took Jack's compass and began walking around in circles. "It should point to it...aw, forget it-" He threw it back at Jack. And instead of Jack catching it, since he was talking to Lila, it bounced off and hit him in the back of his head. Ignoring Jack's cries of pain, Grant said, "We're going to split up. Whoever gets there faster-"
"-wins." Everyone turned to look at Jack who had apparently gotten over his head. Will glanced around. Grant, Boostrap, Jack, Lila and himself. He groaned, more than likely he was going to be put with-
"This bloody thing..." Jack mumbled as he shook the compass madly. Lila rolled her green eyes and took it from him. Will decided that either they were going to get into an argument, or something else was going to stall them again. So, he leaned up against the cave's wall and looked at them with a bored expression.
He sighed. Their fathers, for some reason, always liked to pair the three of them up. Lila watched the compass spin, and glanced up at Will. After she stared at him for a moment, she shoved the compass back at Jack and said, "Well, it didn't point to the weapons, that's for sure."
Jack eyed Will for a moment as Lila walked past them and said, "He may be hidin' them-"
"Jack, honestly." Will said, disgusted as he pushed himself off of the wall. It's amazing. Years ago, he'd never be paired up with the likes of him, and now...he rolled his eyes as he said,"Where to, Captain?"
"Well, Captain-" Jack hissed back at Will, "-follow the road I 'spose." Will was about to open his mouth in protest, but he followed his gaze and saw that their was a dirt path leading down thru the cave. He looked up at Jack, outraged, and said, "There's been a road this whole bloody time?"
"I 'spose, mate." Jack said as he smirked, pulling at his moustache. "But I don't ever look down there." He walked past Will at the same time Will was resisting an urge to smack his forhead. He followed the pair of them who were now arguing about something. Drowing them out, he turned back to his own thoughts. Why did he keep thinking about Elizabeth? He was in love with Lila now, but he still couldn't help but think about her at least once everytime time he kissed Lila. Like kissing Lila was an insult to Elizabeth's memory.
What was going on?
Hours later, as they still continued to walk down that path that probably led them to nowhere, Jack was feet in front of Lila and Will since he and Lila just had another argument. This one apparently had lasting affect on it. Will glanced down at Lila who hadn't spoken to him since his slip up before. Sighing, he said, "I didn't mean to do that."
"I'm not mad at you." Lila whispered in a expressionless voice. He couldn't tell her emotion from it, which unerved him. "It just hit me weird, I guess. I-" She stopped for a moment, falling in step with Will. She wasn't looking at him, or Jack who was getting farther away from them. "Why did you leave?" Will asked her a minute later. "It was me. I found out that much. But it was because of Elizabeth too wasn't it? Why didn't you ever tell me?" He looked down at her to see that she had that same look in her eye that she had the day she left Port Royal. She sighed as she said in a quiet voice, "It wasn't your burden to bear."
"What did you just say?" She looked up at him, taken back by her tone. He pushed up against the wall and said, "What did you just say?"
"Will, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?" She spat at him, trying to get free of the grasp he had on her. He froze as he looked down at her. When this distracted him for a minute, she pulled out of his grasp and said, "What the hell is wrong with you Will? If you didn't want this-"
"-I never said that."
"Well, you're sure as hell acting like it." She said, her voice cracking when she spoke those words. "Will, you know this. You've always been between me and Elizabeth. And you can't deny that." Her words pierced his "heart" at every word that she spoke. "It's always been that way. You could never decide between us. And somehow, I feel like I was just a...a backup. Wouldn't you feel that way?"
He let go of her completely so he could look into her eyes. When he didn't say anything, she continued, "Elizabeth's dead, so now you go to the second girl on your list. Do honestly want to be like Jack-"
"You were never a damn backup, Lila." Will spat at her, anger filling him up. "I never once-"
"But that's how I felt, Will!" She said, "That's how I felt. I saw the way you looked at her...it killed me. That's why I left-" Will fell silent, though anger was still filling inside him. He wasn't sure if it was towards her, or towards himself.
"Well, Lila. I didn't think it fair that you expected me to wait for you." Will said after another minute of silence.
Lila shook her head, allowing more tears to fall as she said, "Damn, Will. Can't you see? Do you not understand why I left? I left because I didn't want you to wait for me. I left so you'd be with Elizabeth." She took a step towards him, "This was never about me." She turned around from him to start back down the path, leaving him in his painful thoughts. She stopped momentarily, though not turning back as she said, "It wasn't your burden to bear-"
Now she faced him, "-but after all those years of crying for you, I think it's time for you to bear it as well."
He wanted to call after her. He wanted to keep her in his arms and tell her repeatedly that he loved her...but something was stopping him. And he didn't think it was Elizabeth. It was the words that Lila had just said to him. Were they true? Were they really? Sometimes the truth hurts more than a lie would. He sighed and continued up the path to see Jack was now only feet in front of him. He fell in step with his former enemy.
The two were quiet for a minute, before Lila disappeared around the corner. Will looked up at Jack when he said, "She said that she would wait for us at the end. " Jack said that in a weird voice. One Will had never heard him use before. After another thoughtful silence passed them, before Jack said, "Will, mate. If you keep lockin' your heart up like that, you'll lose it for certain." Jack turned to look down at Will as he said, "If you keep pushin' her away, you'll lose 'er for certain."
Will smiled as he asked, "Speaking from experience."
"Maybe." Jack's answer surprised him. He looked up into his face as Jack said, "What's holdin' you back, Will? She's gone. And no matter how much you love her, that's not goin' to bring 'er back, and you know that. She didn't fear death, Will. She didn't." Will closed his eyes as he remembered the day the spirit of his wife appeared on his ship and said that she wasn't afraid of death. If he wasn't immortal, he would have died at that moment.
"I know."
"Then, what's stoppin' you?" Will sighed as the two men turned the corner Lila had turned down moments before. Jack stopped rather quickly, making Will look up at him. "Jack? Jack, what's-" He turned to see that they were at the end of the cave. His grandfather's weapons were hanging all over the walls. And no-
"Lila." They both whispered at the same time. Jack ran to the end of the cave and started moving rocks and weapons. When he felt Will behind him, he said, "Our grandfather brought us back here when we were younger...we didn't use the entrance we were forced to use." But before Will could ask him what he was doing, he saw an open door. Jack motioned for Will to follow him as he said, "Somethin' made her leave..."
"...or someone." Will said as they continued to run down the dark path. Once they saw the light, Jack pushed open the door and led them out on to a small deck. They stood there for a minute in shock as they looked out to the horizon and saw hundreds of ships sailing towards the cave. "This really is it." Jack whispered as if almost to himself.
"Jack." Will said, looking at the other end of the deck. Lila was standing with her back to them, looking out at the sea. Jack and Will stared at her for a minute, before Will realized something. "LILA!" He took off running down the deck just in time to catch her. Jack wasn't far behind, with a look of fear on his ageless face.
"Bloody 'ell-" Jack whispered when he looked down at Lila, bloody stained on the front of her white shirt. All the color was drained out of his face when another gun shot rang out. Jack, breathing heavy, said in a cracking voice, "We need to get 'er out of here-" Will nodded and scooped the lifeless Lila up into his arms, and carried her back into the cave.
Once they were inside, Jack reached for her wrist. Will watched him in horror, knowing what he was trying to find. Something Will was too scared to do. Before Will could ask him, Jack nodded and said in that same voice, "She's alive...barely..." Will honestly thought that Jack was going to break down right there in the middle of the cave. But he didn't.
It was at that time that Will realized how human Captain Jack Sparrow actually was. Here as he was holding the dying body of Jack's cousin, and Jack was doing absolutley everything in his power to keep from losing it. Once they made it outside the other end of the cave, they ran into their fathers who were running up to them.
"They've found us-" Grant started, but stopped when he saw the look on Jack's face. "Jack, wha-" He looked to see Will coming out of the cave, blood all over his shirt. But that's when Grant realized that it wasn't Will's blood. It was- "Lila!" He ran over to Will, Bootstrap close behind him. Will couldn't say anything, he was surprised he was even still standing considering he felt like collapsing then and there.
"Will, get her back on the Dutchman." Bootstrap said, in a far away tone of voice. He turned his colorless face up to Will and said, "Do it." Will nodded and began walking back to the Dutchman.
"Men, prepare her for battle!" Will cried as he emerged on the ship. Everyone froze when they saw who Will was carrying. Will groaned and said, "Do as I commanded!" They nodded and began getting out cannons and guns and swords...everything. Will carried Lila's body down to the Captain's quarters and laid her down on his bed.
"Will-" She said, almost in a gasp. He felt a tear roll down his cheek as she cried, "Will-"
"Shhh, darling." He said, giving her a kiss on her forhead. "I'm right here. I'm not leaving you, alright? I'll promise you that if you promise me one thing, ok?" She nodded, her eyes slightly closing as he said, "You've got to promise me that you won't leave me." When she didn't answer, he said, "Lila, please."
"I promise."
"Stay awake, alright?" He said, taking her hands in his own. The door opened, and he instantly recognized the voice of James Norrington. James, instead of dying, had gone to the locker after Bootstrap killed him all those years ago. Being Will's locker now, Will brought him out of the locker, and allowed him to work on his ship since he had saved Elizabeth's life. "Captain-"
"James, do me a favor." Will was shocked at how different his voice sounded. "Go down below deck and bring me up the bandages, alright?" James stared at Will for a moment before saying, "Of course."
Will finally snapped out of it. He reached up and started taking off her shirt. Her breath hitched as she let out another groan, "Will-
"Darling-" He said as he allowed her to squeeze his hand. "-I know it hurts. Believe me, I know-"
"Captain?" James walked over to Will and handed him the bandages. He nodded and walked out, leaving thm alone again. Will turned back down to Lila, a form that he barely recognized as her, and said, "Darling, listen to me. I know it'll hurt, but you've got to let me-" She squeezed his hand again, probably because another pain shot thru her. It was killing him to see her like this. If she died, he'd blame himself. Had he not argued with her, she would have stayed with him. He could have protected her. He couldn't die...he could have saved her.
It was his fault.
And he would never forgive himself.
She nodded after the pain had stopped briefly, and let him remove the shirt. He lowered himself so he could whisper in her ear, "This'll hurt, but I have to do it-" She closed her eyes tight as he opened the bottle of medicine Calypso had given him years ago. He poured it on the wound, and surprisingly, she didn't protest or anything. He realized why when he looked up, "Lila, stay awake."
She forced her eyes back open as he started wrapping it up. He glanced back up, and said, "Darling, please-"
"Will, I can't."
"You're going to." He said, as he continued to wrap it. "Stay awake for me." She was honestly struggling to keep her eyes open. Will was getting more worried with every second, so he said, "Remember at Governor Swann's ball and I didn't want to kiss you." He glanced up and smiled when he saw a faint, but genuine, smile appear across her white but still pretty face.
"Yes." She said, in a weak voice as she smiled, "You said that it was because you'd been..." She was about to close her eyes, but stopped herself as she continued, "...you'd been sick. But I knew why...you didn't think yourself worthy."
Even though she could literally be dying at that moment, Will smiled because she sounded like her sarcastic self when she said that. He tried to pull her shirt back on, but she shook her head and winced. So, he settled for pulling her under the bed's blankets and tucking her in before laying down beside her. He kissed her forhead and said, "I didn't think I was. And I still don't."
"After the way I treated you back there..." She opened her eyes to look at him. He smiled when he saw that they were that same piercing, gorgeous emerald green that they had always been. "...how can you still say that?" He carefully put an arm around her, and let her lay a little on him as he said, "Because that was my doing."
She apparently thought it best not to argue with him then as another pain shot thru her. She winced as Will took her hand again, just in case. "You know, Li-" He started after she calmed back down. He stroked her warm cheek as he continued, "-that proposal I gave you all those years ago, you know it's still there if you want it."
"You're..." She winced again, before saying, "...asking me to marry you?"
"Being captain, I could command you to marry me." He smiled when another smile spread across her face. Her eyes momentarily closed again, before she popped them back open and said, "And as your fiancee, I'll say I except it." He smiled as he briefly brushed his lips against hers.
"You can go to sleep." Will said when her eyes closed, "You just have to promise me that you'll come back to me."
Her eyes closed as she allowed them to, and said, "Will, I could never leave you...even...if I tried." He smiled again as he got off of the bed, and kissed her again before whispered, "I love you, Lila." He wasn't sure, but as he turned out the light, he could have sworn that he heard her say, "As I do you."
A few hours later as Will looked at the maps as he sat at the table near the window, the door opened up. He knew it was Jack, because he was the only person that never knocked before he entered. "Neptune's declared that the war be postponed." That made Will look up at Jack who was shutting the door behind him. "The bullet that hit Lila was apparently a stray bullet from a battle that Neptune was fighting off the coast. Somehow he got word that Lila was shot, and postponed the war. It won't last though." He drifted off as he walked over to Lila's sleeping form. He stared at her for a minute, as Will said, "She woke up again about an hour ago. She's still hurting a lot though."
Jack's face changed to one of hurt as he leaned down and kissed Lila on the forhead. He turned to look at Will and came to stand behind him as he said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Mate, don't you need to-"
He glanced over at the chest with his beating heart in it, and said, "No, Jack. She promised me that she wouldn't leave me-" He turned up to look at Jack's face as he said, "-and I'm not going to leave her. Not again."
"...mate, if you choose to lock your heart away you'll lose it for certain..."