Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tension
Triton's Palace, Atlantis -
- First Morning of Triton's War-
Every muscle in Lila's body seemed to tense up when she saw Mercer walking up the stairs. For a moment, the only sound that could be heard as she, Will, Jack and Triton stood on the balcony was the faint sounds of cannons and gunshots in the distance and Mercer's boots clicking against the wet, hard stone steps. Once he reached the balcony, he twirled a sword in his hand and said, "Ah, Your Grace."
"Ah, Your Royal Evilness. Finally get out of hell, did we?" Lila shot at him, leaning against her sword that was pointing at the ground, just as Will had done earlier. Will glanced over at Jack and noticed, like himself, he had his hand over his sword's handle, waiting. Will glanced back up to see that Mercer was walking towards them still, not taking his gaze off of Lila.
"How the bloody hell did you survive?"
"Funny thing about releasing a goddess, love." Lila said, twirling her sword back into it's holder. "To release said goddess, you have to speak as if you were talking to a lover. And I'd rather spend an eternity in the Locker before you ever spoke to me like that." She smiled at him sweetly, shooting a glance back at Jack as if she knew he was thinking about saying something to do with the fact that the Locker was now Will's. Jack smirked back at her, keeping a hand over the hilt of his sword. Will took a step towards Lila. The golden lining on his blue jacket shimmered in the early morning light that was now somewhat visible through the smoke clouds that filled the air.
"I want my crown."
"Your crown? Curious. Last time I checked, it was still mine." Lila said, taking a step towards Mercer causing Will and Jack to both take a step with her. Mercer narrowed his cold, silver eyes at her and said, "What is it that you want, Your Majesty?"
"I want to regain my power and clear my family's name."
"Sparrow?"
"Naturally, darling." Lila replied, placing her hand over her sword once more, causing the sparrow tattoo on her wrist to become more visible. "And you of course want me dead. You want the crown all to yourself, and control the seas. But that's not all, you wanted to double cross your king, King James, and take over Atlantis as well with all of your bloody followers and minions from the king's navy. But the thing that I most want to know is why you want Saphira and Rupert so damn badly." Lila's smile turned into a full blown smirk that made Will glance back at Jack. Jack looked down at the ground, as Lila waited for Mercer's reply. When she didn't get one, she said, "Not speaking are we?"
"I want you to stand down." Lila turned to see Triton stepping out of the moonlight. His features were darkened as he stared off at the sea. "You don't rule over me."
"The Code states that I rule over everything, including Atlantis. Yes, you have control over Atlantis, but I'm still Queen of the Sea." Lila shot at him, as Mercer took a step towards the pair of them. For the first time, Triton's gaze met that of his former friend's daughter. How much she looked like her mother was hard to deny at that moment, and he knew that she was not going to stand down.
"The Code is a set of guidelines than actual rules-"
"-the Code applies to all that signed the in the first Brethren Court meeting. And you did that." Lila said, making Triton fall silent. "I will not stand down. You don't rule over me."
"Than it's war." Triton said, his voice gaining it's harsh tone once more. Mercer looked up at him, waiting for him to continue, but it was Lila that said, "So be it." And with that, she walked down the stone stairs, with Jack and Will in close pursuit. Triton glanced over at Mercer, his former assistant, who was now walking down the opposite stair well to the docks where his navy made port. As his admiral came to stand beside him, Triton looked at the now calm city of Atlantis, knowing that in a few short hours, the city would be far from being calm.
Will fell in step with Jack as they kept in close distance with Lila. Looking over at his best mate, he saw that the look on Jack Sparrow's face was unreadable. As if he knew Will was looking at him, though that was impossible since Jack's eyes were focused on the horizon, Jack said in a tone above a whisper, "You worried?"
"What about? The war?" Jack's eyes met Will's for the first time since they left port. Things had been tense around Will and Jack since Lila was around, scarily reminding Will of how it had been with Elizabeth until her death. Will didn't want that to happen again. Jack nodded at that statement, causing Will to reply, "I don't know."
"Shouldn't you, mate?" Jack asked him, focusing his kohl-lined, chocolate eyes back on the horizon. It was at times like these, Will had no idea what was going on inside Jack's mind. Will looked over at Jack and said, "What do you mean?"
Jack smirked, a chuckle escaping his lips as he said, "Lockin' it away, William, will get you nowhere. As I've told you before, but it would seem you're fallin' into it once more." Will followed his gaze to see that Jack was looking in Lila's direction. That same emotion that he felt earlier washed over him as he saw Jack do this. What was Jack getting at? Surely he didn't think that Will was locking his heart away again. Wait? Was he trying to make Will think this...maybe...no, that was years ago. Jack loved Saphira. Right? Of course.
"Mate, you think too much." Jack shot William a wink, before catching up with Lila and falling in step with her once more. Will glanced back at the palace, before closing his eyes momentarily, and following Jack and Lila back to where their ships made port.
- The Sun -
- Off the Coast of Atlantis, Preparing for Battle -
-Day One-
"This is bloody ridiculous, and I'm not the only one who thinks it."
"Rupert, what are you suggesting we do?" Will asked, pushing himself off of the wall from which he had been leaning on. Saphira, who was sitting on the other side of Jack, glanced over at Lila who was staring at the chest without even blinking. Saphie was about to say something, when Will's voice cut her off, "Honestly. The man was about to bloody pull his gun out and shoot Lila-"
"-I highly doubt that-"
"-Reginald-" Jack said, coming to stand behind Will. "Look, mate. When you've got two major navy group things teamin' up against your navy group thing and you can't go 'round not agreein' to blow their bloody heads off." Jack glanced up and Will who was staring at him with an expression reserved for only one of Jack's ridiculous statements. Jack shrugged, causing Will to turn back to Rupert and say, "I'm not entirely sure as to what Jack just said, but I'm sure it was something. Oh was it something." Will rolled his eyes, propping his leg up on the chair, and staring out the window.
"We lost over 50 men last year in Neptune's War. We're not strong enough." Rupert countered, causing Saphira and Ana to look up at him. Will sighed, taking his leg off of the chair, and walking towards him, "Lila gave the command and I trust her order." Will looked over at Lila who still hadn't taken her eyes off of the chest with Will's beating heart inside. She absent-mindedly took the key that hung around her neck, and held it.
"Li?"
"Hmm?"
"You alright, darling?" Lila, for the first time in what seemed like hours, tore her eyes off of the chest and looked up at Will. She smiled and said, "Of course, querido." Jack glanced over at Will who shook his head and said, "Alright, everyone out."
" 'Cept me, mate? Right?" Jack asked Will with a mock pout. Will blinked at Jack with an unreadable expression and said, "Especially you, Jack. Everyone out." He managed to shove Rupert, Ana, Saphira and finally Jack out of the cabin. Will shut the door behind them, and glanced over at Lila to see that she was still staring at the chest. For a brief moment, the only sound that could be heard was the faint beating of Will's heart.
"Lila." Will started. He stopped for a moment, running a hand through his curls, before taking a step towards her and saying, "I don't know why thing's have been...tense with us. But..." Why was Will finding it hard to talk to Lila? He never had. Even when he was married to Elizabeth, and supposedly hated Lila. He always found it easier to talk to her. And now, he couldn't bring himself to talk to her. "What's wrong with us?"
She tore her eyes off of the chest, and looked into Will's eyes. They were sparkling probably more than they should have been at that moment. "Us?" She repeated, searching Will's face for some sort of hint as to where he was getting at. Will closed his eyes and leaned against the door. "Will, there's nothing wrong with us."
"Well it seems like it." Will countered, looking at Lila. "I can't talk to you without you making some sort of remark back at me. Everything's just been...tense with us, Lila." Lila stood up and said, "Tense? Nothing's tense-"
"-see? You're doing it! You won't let me talk, and assume you know what I'm feeling-"
"-Will, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?"
"I've seen the way you look at him, Lila." She paused. She literally froze dead in her tracks. She closed her eyes when she heard Will's heart beating loudly in the corner of the room. Will couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze as he said, "You can't deny it." His heart continued to pound in the corner of the room.
"What are you saying?"
"I don't know." Will made a move to walk out, but Lila grabbed him in a grip of iron. She moved so that he was pushed against the wall, and leaned up so that her face was mere inches away from his as she said, "I am not Elizabeth. So kindly stop treating me like I am."
"You're starting to act like her...around him." Will had never seen that look of rage before in Lila's eyes. Sure, he knew that she didn't like Elizabeth. On the verge of hating her, as it seemed, but he had never in his life seen that rage come into her eyes, not directed at him. And he was postive he never wanted to see it again.
"Don't you ever compare to that wench again, William." Lila hissed up at him. Lila's emerald eyed gaze was so intense, Will dropped his own. He settled for closing his eyes. "I did nothing wrong-"
"-you left me, Lila-"
"-I left you because I loved you, Will. I left you because I saw the way you looked at her-"
"-Lila, I bloody loved you and you know it. I did nothing but tell you that that whole year we were together! I asked you to marry me for goodness sakes, but did you? No. Do you know why?" He turned his gaze to meet hers as he said, "You left before you could!"
Tears were forming in Lila's eyes as she turned away from him. Will glanced down at the floor as anger flooded through him. Why was he doubting Lila loved him? More importantly, why was he doubting that he loved Lila? "I did nothing but wait for you, Will. You didn't wait for me." A tear rolled down her cheek as she unhooked the key from he neck, "It belonged to her before it did me. It should have stayed that way." She handed him the key, and walked out of the cabin. Will stared down at it in shock, before walking out of the cabin.
He was shocked to realize that it had started raining. He clutched the key and yelled, "Lila!" But she didn't turn around. He cursed under his breath, and stared down at the key. Saphie walked up behind him and said quietly, "I couldn't help but hear...Will? Are you alright?"
"It didn't belong to Elizabeth first." Will turned around to look down at Saphie. He sighed and said, "Even when I was married to Elizabeth it belonged to Lila." Saphie knew that that was breaking Will's heart to admit that. Lila didn't know the conversations she had with Will during the time he was with Elizabeth and how he felt guilty that he was married to her.
"Will, she's just under alot of pressure, is all. She loves you."
Will watched her go on board the Pearl and say something to Jack. Jack looked down at her with a worried look on his face, before pulling her into his arms. Will clutched the key in his hand, before saying, "At times...its hard to tell."
"Will." But it was too late. Will had already gone over to the Dutchman. Saphira sighed, and glanced back over at the Pearl as the rain continued to fall. She sighed, and watched as Lila's men loaded the guns, preparing for the battle that lay ahead.