Pairing: Will and Bootstrap Bill Turner
Word Count: 233
Prompt: Wager
Die is Cast
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"I'll wager ten years."
"I'll match ten years."
"Agreed."
William Turner watched condemned men gamble their years of uncompromising servitude.
He stood along side the living-dead carbuncle of his father. The grim look that plagued his face told unspoken tales, ones that would require infinite amounts of pages to properly recite.
Long tresses of black hair tumbled down to his shoulder from under his black cap; a lone, coral starfish clung to his temple, lined with small shells and hints of seaweed – a blatant indication of life below the crest of the sea. He was visibly losing himself, bit-by-bit from his wager with the devil himself.
'Why he's a spittin' image of ol' Bootstrap Bill!'
'My son … he's my son…'
His father's words replayed countless times in his mind.
William Turner, son of Bootstrap Bill Turner, a pirate and a good man.
"Wondering how it's played?" his father inquired, looking down at the scene before him; his raspy breath propelled small droplets of saliva from his lips.
'I understand,' he thought. 'It's a cruel game – one that prides itself on deception and secrecy. It's a game that any man of sound mind and heart wouldn't dream of playing in his lifetime.'
Yet, there he stood, awaiting his turn to cast the die – forestall judgment, one hundred years before the mast. A wager – a price that any sailor would be willing to accept.