Gaaah... It took me some time to write this chapter, like three days, when I only need three hours, but anyway...
I'm free from mock exams! ( until the next ones, that won't be "mock", but let's be positive, shall we?)
Chapter 7: For later use
Will had gotten away from being inspected and treated for cat claws marks by saying they hadn't gotten through the fabric of his pants. Of course, it had been a lie, but since the wounds were already closed, he couldn't really comply and let the doctor look. He had quickly retreated to some dark place below deck and scratched the blood away, before finaly getting to the splinter in his arm. For that, he had needed to cut open his arm and forage his flesh until he had found it, which had been very unpleasant. Even more so that the cut was healing as he searched.
He frankly hoped he wouldn't need to do that any time soon again.
The following days went smoothly.
When the lookout in the crow's nest called for Port Royal, Will the younger was able to read the simplest sentences, and his older self had started to teach him and Elizabeth some arithmetic, as soon as he had found out they were less likely to do anything adventurous, and so, dangerous, afterwards. The children weren't exactly happy about that, but he was always forgiven when he and and Gibbs started telling them stories about the seas.
As he watched the town grow bigger every minute, Will thought back on the lastest day of the journey, from sandbank to nanny. He couldn't say he had expected his life to turn out like that.
To be honest, when he had refused to go back on the Flying Dutchman the other day, he hadn't been expecting anything at all. His brain had simply been stuck on the thought that it was Elizabeth's grave he was sitting upon, it was where her body laid, it meant she was not there anymore, he wouldn't see her anymore, the only reason he had to go on in this dratted life/unlife/undeath/death/whatever-it-counted-as was gone. He had spent no more than a handful of days with his children, and the sixty-or-so years he had been married were equal to exactly seven days.
He hadn't been thinking.
He had known he wouldn't just get away with it, but he hadn't cared. And if he had known he would be here, in his own past, as a result, he might have done just the same.
True, it hurt to see Elizabeth and know it wasn't his Elizabeth, not yet, and not ever since she would, at best, be his younger self's, and not his. True, it hurt to see how damaged even the child Will was. True, it hurt to see the faces of people so long gone, some of which he had even mourned back then.
But on the other hand, Elizabeth wasn't dead yet, and she was happy. The young Will was getting better, and that faster than he had himself gotten in his timeline, because he was here to help, and no one could know the kid better than his older self. Maybe he'd manage to change the future a bit, and make it better for the two children.
As for the other people he had known, more or less yet more than less, namely, Gibbs and Norrington, Will was kind of happy to see their faces after so long.
Gibbs was a bit of a nuisance, though. The old sailor wasn't yet a pirate, but the future pirate was as bad as a sailor as when he'd be a proper pirate. That is, Gibbs was constantly sending him dark looks and insinuating things about how funny it was, that they had found him all alone on that cay, unarmed and well, alive. How peculiar it was, that strange things tended to occur around Wilhem Carter. How interesting it was, that the ship's cat kept away from him.
Actually, Gibbs and the cat were acting very much alike.
Only, Gibbs didn't try to claw him at the first occasion before running away in fright. And not only because Gibbs didn't have claws. The facts were, the old sailor had taken the habit, despite his glaring and muttering about the young man, to talk with the said young man about legends of the sea, as soon as he had found out hat Wilhem Carter was mighty knowledgeable on the topic.
The children seemed to enjoy when they talked about it.
Norrington was another story altogether.
Many times, since their first sparring, Will and the lieutenant had been faced with each other, and the blacksmith found he rather enjoyed it. At times, other Navy men tried their luck too after having seen their fights. Once, Captain Portwell himself had asked for a match. Soon it had become official that Will was the undisputed best swordman on board, closely followed by Norrington and two other soldiers. He always won, but of course, with decades of training, it was to be expected. Not that he had told anyone about that, of course, and anyway, even back when he had been alive, he had been one of the best, a natural, they said. Over the years, he had lost scarce one-on-one fights. These had happened when he had still been naive, and not used to Jack's cheating.
Sorry, "pirate", you know.
Anyway, the point was, Will was starting to enjoy the lieutenant's company.
Not that it worried him because James Norrington was a bad man, far from it.
But it worried him nonetheless, because in a way, they were both searching for each other when they had nothing to do, and while it might be to the Navy man's benefit, since he obviously wanted to know more about the strange blacksmith castaway that Will knew himself to be, it was dangerous for him. Norrington wanted to uncover his secrets, out of curiosity and dislike of being left in the shadows. Will wanted his secrets to remain just that, secret. So spending time with the very man who was trying to uncover them might not have been the brightest idea.
But Will couldn't resist. He was always asking for more, he wasn't sure why, but it was the case. Maybe it was because Norrington was the only one from his old life who wasn't totally painful to look at. His younger self was only a child, and well, he was himself. Elizabeth had been his wife, and was a child too. Gibbs had been something of a friend.
Norrington had been someone Will had known just like that, in passing, because they lived in the same town, and had some shared history, but nothing more. When he looked at the green-eyed man, Will didn't feel that heartbreaking twist in his chest. No joyful memories were coming back to him, when he met the lieutenant's eyes. And yet, Norrington was an anchor to a past that wouldn't be a second time.
Now that there wasn't Elizabeth between them, and no visible age difference, Will was getting to know James Norrington for who he really was. And maybe it had to do with him being a bit younger than the first time, but the Navy man was also easier to get along with. He was a bit stiff, sure. But unless he was talking about pirates, there wasn't the same underlying disdain in his stiffness, that would come to be a few years later.
Will sighed, and looked at Port Royal, that was always nearer, always bigger to his eyes.
That city was the end of this journey, and as much as he wanted to, he didn't know how he could be of any help to his other self once they'd be ashore. Hell, to be frank, he knew that the best would be for him to disappear completely. He couldn't wait for Will the younger to grow up and end up with the exact same face he had, and that when himself wouldn't be aging a day. It wasn't wise.
Yet he couldn't just abandon the boy to the fate he knew he would have.
He simply couldn't do that.
"Thinking about what come next, Mr. Carter?"
Will didn't turn around to look at Norington, but there was no mistaking this voice.
"You have no idea, lieutenant."
"Try me."
Will stayed silent for a few minutes, but finally relented.
"The only future there is for Will out there is if he find a master to teach him some craftsmanship. But even like that, what will he do? He has no money, no family. He's searching for his father, but his father is nowhere to be found, and he will stare at the sea, waiting for the right merchant ship to come, and for his father to be on her, but the sea will never grant him his wish, because his father wasn't the man he believes him to be. William will wait, and nothing will ever come to pass. He will grow up doing his master's hard work, because that will be the only way for him to get anything to eat and a place to sleep. And I can't do anything to help him escape this life."
Standing just behind Carter, James was listening, and all he heard was that the blacksmith wasn't even thinking about himself, but about the kid they had rescued from the Eleanor's Jewel. The future he was thinking about was the life of this child, and not his own.
Somehow, the lieutenant had the disturbing impression it was because Wilhem Carter didn't care about his own future, as if he had none. As if there was nothing to worry about, because time would go on, and Carter would simply stare at it from aside.
It was easier not to talk about it, so the lieutenant talked about something else.
"You like him a lot, don't you?"
Carter turned to look at James, frowning in confusion.
"William Turner."
"Oh. Yes, I do."
There was something in the blacksmith's voice, but James wasn't sure what it was. It sounded off, in a way, as if that was yet another secret of Wilhem Carter.
"When I look at you two, it's strange, you know? As if you were his older brother or something, and I really don't know what to make of it. How comes he trusts you like that? The only other one aboard he opened to is Miss Elizabeth, and they're the same age, so it's normal, I guess. But William is still afraid of everyone else. Even Gibbs, though he bears with the sailor's strangeness because you or Miss Elizabeth are there with him every times."
Will barely noticed how Norrington had called his younger self William, and not "the young Turner" as he had done when he had been his younger self. He didn't notice, but his brain registered the fact, for later use, maybe, that the lieutenant had apparently taken a liking to the other him.
Because he barely noticed it, on the other hand, Will didn't get to wonder why this was happening, and how his sole presence aboard the Dauntless could have led the lieutenant James Norrington to care about the orphan William Turner.
It wasn't so surprising, to be truthful.
"Wilhem" and William were the same person, only with a different story, or more accurately, a respectively longer and shorter story. William hadn't yet lived all that would change him into Will. If Will had anything to say on the matter, he wouldn't live half of it. But in the end, they were both William Turner.
If James Norrington had started to like "Wilhem Carter", he could only do as such with "Carter"'s past-self. And the truth was that James Norrington was slowly growing concerned with "Wilhem Carter", the living enigma he had sworn to himself that he would decipher one day or another.
And Will cared for his other self, so Norrington was starting to do the very same thing, even if he wasn't yet aware of it.
"If I can be the family he will never have again, even for a short time, I think I should do it that way. I don't have a family, and William don't have one either. I don't have to worry about my future, because it can't get worse than it is already, but Will don't have one at all. And everyone deserves a future."
James said nothing about Carter not having a future. He was certain this wasn't true, that the man still had many years to enjoy. But he didn't want to tell him that he'd certainly find love again, one day or another, not when the love he had married had died and left him.
It'd be true, but it wouldn't be any less difficult to believe.
There were many things in life that were true, and yet difficult to accept. That was why trying to comfort someone with words was so difficult. You could always know something to be true, to be reasonable, you could know you didn't have to feel this way, so miserable, so pathetic, it didn't mean you weren't feeling that way.
"You plan to stay in Port Royal for a bit, then?"
Carter smiled.
There was something sad, something hurting in this smile, but it was a smile. It wasn't a simple smile, triggered by a short moment of joy, as when they were sparring, and it wasn't a very joyful smile, but James could tell it was a honest smile. The only one who had gotten something like that from the blacksmith, so far, was the boy Turner.
And even if this was most likely because the conversation was about the child, James still felt grateful for that smile, that little bit of confidence, that was directed to him, for once.
He didn't know why he was feeling this way. It was odd. It was as if they were becoming friends.
Even if that didn't make any sense.
Wilhem Carter was a man he had nothing in common with. James wasn't nobility, far from it, but he was from a well-off family nonetheless. His father was an admiral in the Royal Navy, and had been so for already eighteen years. He would soon retire, James knew that, but the name Norrington had some influence back in London. Carter was a blacksmith with no family, and no name for himself.
Which was quite odd, given the quality of his work, if the sword at the man's hip was anything to go by. Coming from Britain with that kind of skills and not having any name?
But it was only one of the strange things about Wilhem Carter, and James had decided he would accept it. For now.
"I don't have a future, lieutenant, because I have no need for such a thing. I will just walk my way into life, no matter what I choose to do. William is young, and even if he has no name, no money and no family, he can still create them. He has the time for it to happen. I will stay in Port Royal for a few month, then I'm afraid I'll have to move and search for a place to establish myself. There are enough blacksmiths here. But as long as I will be in town, I'll make sure that Will get the better deal out of everything that happens to him."
Will had started playing with his wedding ring, again. He did that a lot.
"My future is worthless, and I will gladly give it away for the sake of William Turner."
He had only whispered the last sentence, and surely hoped Norrington hadn't heard it.
The lieutenant said nothing after that, and just walked away.
The Dauntless came into the port. Soldiers from the fort came to welcome them, as well as the now-replaced governor of the island. The old man gladly handed over his office to governor Swann, and Will the younger sadly looked in silence as Elizabeth was being led away, to a society he wasn't part of. His older self watched sadly, remembering how in the following years, the two children would only catch glimpses of each other, always reminded of those days aboard the Dauntless, never forgetting that in the end, no matter how poor or rich they were, no matter their names and ancestries, they were only humans. And as such, they had known each other, and had seen they weren't different in the slightest.
Will refrained himself from snorting. It would have been suspiscious.
But he knew that his plea to the captain and lieutenant to keep Will away from the sea would certainly prove to be futile. They couldn't and wouldn't try to control his younger self's life. Even if they did, William would certainly not let them do so.
Because the sea was William Turner's freedom, no matter which William Turner was concerned. It was his freedom, because despite the pirate attack, despite the fact that his father had left for the sea, it was on the sea that Will and Elizabeth had met, and shared a few days of liberty, away from the shackles of society, away from what could not be between an orphan such as William Turner and a governor's daughter such as Elizabeth Swann.
Because the sea was William Turner's prison, no matter which William Turner was concerned. Even while keeping away from it, the thought of it would plague him.
Will hadn't been particularly drawn to the sea, when the Black Pearl had raided Port Royal, when he had been eighteen years old. It had never called to him as it did to Jack Sparrow. But it had always ensured he would come back to it, no matter the time spent ashore, no matter his wishes.
Will watched, and decided he had to pay a visit to one mister Brown before someone else did it, to talk about his younger self's future.
On his way to the forge, though, he stopped to a commotion across the street.
Two red coats were trying to get a shabby looking man to follow them, and one lieutenant James Norrington was just behind them, trying to get himself to be obeyed, for once.
Will blinked, and searched his memory for the incident. Of course, his younger self was at this very moment at the fort, telling everything that had happened to the Jewel once again to some officials he only remembered about because one had had a nasty-looking wart under his left eye. Will hadn't witnessed the incident.
But the face of the man wasn't an unknown one.
The man, who was looking very pirate-like, wasn't complying with the soldiers' orders.
And it came back to him.
This was a pirate, sure enough. And he would get away in the following seconds. The Navy would catch him again, and have him hanged in a few days. Will the younger would see the hanging, hence the known face. But he wouldn't be caught before...
Will turned around, and saw the young woman that had been stabbed in his other life.
