Birds of a Feather
The Curse of the Black Pearl
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Opportune Moment
Mentally and physically exhausted from the day, Philip had settled down on a rock to wait for Syrena's return. Idly he flipped through his father's bible and prayed about… well everything. Barbossa's death. Uncle Weatherby's safety. Syrena's grief. His newfound love for her. Understanding of the general situation. And a favorable resolution to the Will and Elizabeth mess.
That prayer he said quite loudly, earning a glare and sharp kick in the ribs from Will.
Philip just shot him a haughty look and loudly started reading out Proverbs 31:10-31, the speech about the Wife of a Noble Character.
"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."
Philip was honestly surprised he didn't get another kick in the ribs, but luckily he was saved by Will having gotten too caught up in Elizabeth to pay much more mind to Philip.
Will had been watching Elizabeth, trying to gather the courage to bring up the Norrington situation again. Elizabeth was standing across the cave, staring at a display of treasure, eyes unseeing as she struggled to process all that had happened since the morning she woke from the dream of meeting Will Turner.
Jack was haphazardly digging through the treasure, thinking himself King of the World now that Barbossa was dead and a mermaid wasn't going to tear out his throat for killing said dead man. As a testament of Jack's delusions of grandeur, he had managed to find a crown somewhere in the stash and was parading around with it on his head.
Will resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he saw Jack, but soon enough his attention was back on Elizabeth. The world seemed to be laughing at him as he remembered what Elizabeth had said only yesterday.
"I'll do anything to be with you, Will. I'll even pull a Beckett Incident if I have to."
Her words had seemed so lighthearted in that moment, but now… Would she pull a Beckett Incident to be with him? Could he even ask her to do something like that?
"What, are you crazy?" a voice that did not sound unlike Philip scolded Will in his mind. "You broke a pirate out of prison, stole a ship from the Navy, and rescued her from a pagan blood ritual, and you're not sure you can ask her to consider holding up the let's be together agreement? Unbelievable. I'm never getting that Turner with the middle name of Philip."
Ok, apparently his conscience was just the literal embodiment of Philip Swift in his head.
Will needed more friends.
Letting the words of his inner Philip Swift give him strength, Will took a deep breath and gathered his courage. He had spent so many years wanting nothing more than a happily ever after with Elizabeth Swann that now that the goal with within reach, he refused to let it go. He had to do it from himself. For Elizabeth. And for that future young man named Henry Philip Turner.
…Will and his mother had had a running joke that she shouldn't have named him after his father and just called him something like Henry. So in response, Will had started joking to his mother that his future son would be named Henry. After a while, Will genuinely started liking the name, and from then on always pictured naming his son Henry.
As for the Philip part, Will wouldn't have been surprised if Philip at some point had drawn up paperwork that he tricked Will into signing that legally obligated Will to give his firstborn son the middle name of Philip.
Will took a deep breath, and – picturing a boy that looked the perfect blend of himself and Elizabeth – Will approached the woman he would do anything to call his wife.
Elizabeth heard Will approach and turned to face him before he came to a stop. He tried to keep the smile on his face, but as Elizabeth looked to him with eyes of such guilt and love, Will felt his nerve dissipate instantly. How he wished he could just be a pirate and whisk her away from everything to a life of love and adventure and forget about everything.
But as Will felt the sword at his side and reminding him how he couldn't even claim craftsmanship of it, Will remembered coldly that that wasn't how the world worked.
For a while, he and Elizabeth stared at each other, exchanging small smiles and nods, neither quite sure what to say. Though both were well aware that Philip was staring at them, his inner monologue no doubt egging them on to do something like kiss. So Will was surprised when Elizabeth started to lean forward ever so slightly to do so.
CRASH!
Jack's tossing aside of treasure broke the mood instantly, three heads turning on instinct to the source of the noise. Elizabeth quickly lowered her head, having returned to reality, while Will stared at Jack like he couldn't believe the pirate's lack of tack, and Philip just muttered something under his breath of how Sparrow had to be kidding him.
"So…" Will sighed. "You and I still need to talk about this whole engagement thing."
Elizabeth shook her head, "I said it before, it was the only way to save you and Philip. Will, you would be dead right now if I didn't do it."
"And I appreciate that, but that doesn't answer what happens next. Are you really going to go through with it?"
It took her a very long time to answer. Elizabeth was aware of the three sets of eyes on her, but her head spun and her heart ached. The warring words of Will's declarations of love, the promise she made to James, and the warnings of her father pounded in her temple. She wanted so badly to just break it all off, choose Will, and live happily ever after, but it wasn't that simple.
"I… I don't know," Elizabeth confessed.
His eyes flinched shut like she had struck him, "You said that you loved me."
"I do love you," she bit. Elizabeth wrestled with that tempest in her chest as her eyes swelled with tears. "I've loved you from the day we met, but that doesn't mean we can be together."
"Don't do that. Don't you tell me not to say but, and then turn around and say it yourself."
"It's not that easy, Will."
"Why isn't it?" he shot. "Why can't we make it that easy? Why can't you just say that you've changed your mind about the marriage? What's Norrington honestly going to do, Elizabeth? We get on board, you break it off, and Norrington say oh, since you're not marrying me anymore I'm taking back the gift of rescuing Will and Philip and execute us."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm not the ridiculous one here. You've spent your life swearing that you weren't going to forced into a marriage to someone you don't love, and you're throwing that all away because I exchanged my life for your freedom?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes, not in shame but steely fury, "I made a choice; one you don't get to make for me. I gave James my word."
"And you gave me that same word," Will said coldly. "You said that you'd do anything to be with me. You said you'd pull a Beckett incident if you had to."
"Well, it turns out the Beckett Incident is a bit more complicated than I thought!" she snapped, finally losing temper with him.
Philip's head lifted at that, but Elizabeth waved him off with a familiar expression he knew meant we'll talk later.
Will just stared at her in stony silence. Elizabeth heaved a heavy breath and turned her head away. They just stood there in pain and silence as they thought the same thing.
This wasn't how it was supposed to end. They were supposed to have come out of this adventure off to live happily ever after with each other. Be together in the way they always dreamed, get married, have children, live happily ever after.
And yet, here they were ending on a different note: alive, in love, but forever cursed to be apart.
Even Jack and Philip didn't dare break that silence as the horrible finality rang out in the cave.
Thankfully, that was the moment Syrena returned to them, and instantly she could tell something was wrong.
"There is an odd tension in the air," Syrena frowned, looking around at the awkward gathering.
Elizabeth cleared her throat and took a step away from Will, "It's… It's complicated."
"Oh, no, it's apparently pretty uncomplicated," he said bitterly.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "We should return to the Dauntless."
"Of course," Will gave an all too obviously fake smile. "Your fiancé will be wanting to know you're safe."
"Yes, he will," her face was tight. Part of her was broken hearted and regretful, but the Swann part of her was stubborn and defiant. If Will wanted to be an ass about this, then she'd be one right back to him. "Come everyone. Let's get to the longboat and figure out what in the world we're going to tell James and my father."
Elizabeth strode off before Will could say another word. The confused Syrena opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Elizabeth grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off with her. She needed a friend to storm off with her to punctuate her point, and Syrena was better than nothing. The girls marched off with Syrena stumbling awkwardly on untrained legs, her desperate bewildered queries echoing off the cave walls.
Jack the Monkey screeched and raced to catch up to the girls. When he reached them, Syrena bent down and offered an arm out to him. As naturally as he had done with Barbossa, the monkey jumped up and climbed her arm before settling happily on her shoulder. Jack the Monkey didn't even hesitate to pass on the mantle as Master, and looked quite comfortable riding on Syrena.
As Will watched the girls storm off, he sighed heavily. Instantly his stomache was knotted up with regret over his impulsive actions. He was angry, but that wasn't what hurt the most. But how could Elizabeth know that, know what he had felt for her all these years, return those feelings, promise to pursue them… and just throw it all away?
Subtly was not even in Jack Sparrow's vocabulary as the clanking of gold and jewelry signalled his arrival. Will didn't even turn his head to look at Sparrow, too focused on the guilt over what he had said to Elizabeth in anger.
"If you were waiting for the opportune moment..." Jack gestured with a large golden cup, his other arm propping a small treasure chest on his hip. "That was it."
Will knew he had messed up when Jack Sparrow was schooling him on romance… and correct in his advice.
"Now if you'd be so kind, I'd be much obliged if you'd drop me off at my ship," Jack marched off after the girls – who by now had disappeared from sight – with that trademark Jack Sparrow swagger.
Will sighed, feeling more stupid than he had ever in his life. At least a small smile graced his lips when he heard Philip approaching. Will took comfort in knowing that his priestly best friend would surely offer him comfort, support, and some sagely advice on how to correct the situation.
He was met with a solid THUNK to the skull by Nathaniel Swift's bible.
"Philip!" Will scolded, rubbing the back of his head as his best friend just glared at him. "What was that for?"
"For being more stubborn, closed-minded, and ridiculous than Jonah waiting outside of the gates of Nineveh," Philip scolded right back, finding himself in that moment to sound quite like his father in a peeved mood. "What, are you and Elizabeth to turn on each other like Isaac and Rebekah siding with their quarreling sons? You act as if she's a Jael who has driven a tent stake through your temple while you slept."
"Ok, enough! I get it; you're mad. You only drop biblical references that heavily when your emotions are strong. I made a mistake, but you don't need to hit me."
"I do when you're being that stupid."
"Remind me, aren't you supposed to try to be without sin?"
"We're all supposed to try to be without sin, but only Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior will be perfect enough to succeed."
"Yes, but I think he still wants you to try not to do things like hitting your best friend upside the head with an actual bible, much less your murdered father's bible that for some reason still has his bloodstains on it?"
"My father's body was never recovered. This is the most I will ever have of his body coming home. Don't you take this from me."
"Well, this conversation took an uncomfortably morbid twist."
"Philip?" Syrena's voice rang out.
"Coming, Dear!" he called back.
Will lifted his eyebrow, "Dear?"
"I just…" Philip sighed heavily. "I don't know anymore."
"You've known her two days."
"Yeah, well you've loved Elizabeth since you first saw her. Fight me, Turner."
"OI! PHILIAM!" Jack yelled. "HURRY IT UP! WE DON'T HAVE ALL NIGHT! DON'T THINK WE WON'T LEAVE YOU TWO BEHIND!"
"We're not going to leave them behind, Jack," Elizabeth's voice came.
"You underestimate my power of persuasion," Jack answered.
Will and Philip exchanged a warily look.
"Let's go to them before he tries to persuade the girls and they murder him for it," Will said.
"Agreed."
And they raced off together.
The boys arrived to see Elizabeth, Syrena, and Jack the Monkey hard at work to make a longboat ready while Jack the Human picked through even more treasure. He rambled on, making notes about what he would come back for, how many loads it would take to clear the place out, what values he would get for it, and where he'd barter it off.
Philip turned quite red when he heard Jack mutter about how Eveline – the prostitute they had met in Tortuga – would like a certain necklace. He fought the urge to smack Will with his father's bible again when he heard the chuckle behind him.
"So, how are we going to go about this?" Philip asked. "Should we all just go in the same longboat or break off into two?"
"I think one ought to do the trick," Jack answered. "I still don't trust Norrington not to have his men shoot at me, so I'd like to be surrounded by you three to dissuade him from trying. We'll just row over to the Pearl, drop me off, then the four of you can return to bloody Norrington and happily ever after or whatever you want. Course, Turner, you're pretty good with a blade. If wanted to come with-"
"Never going to happen."
"Can't say I didn't try," Jack winked. He then noticed that Elizabeth and Syrena had frozen in spot, still holding their ropes and hunched over the longboats. "Oi! Lizzie and the Selkie. Why are you suddenly doing your best impression of a statue?"
Syrena glared at him, "I'm not a Selkie! Do I look like a seal to you?"
Jack opened his mouth.
"Don't answer that," Will cut them off. "He's not wrong though. You two look nervous."
"Yeah," Elizabeth slowly rose to her feet, "here's the thing, Jack. The Black Pearl? She's gone."
His face turned the shade of a sheet of paper, "You… It… Spawn of Barbossa, what do you do?"
"I didn't do anything," Syrena stood up. "It was Elizabeth who wouldn't listen to me."
"Excuse me? Who was the one-"
"Stop it! Stop it!" Philip cried out. "Don't turn on each other! That's exactly what he wants!"
Jack grinned at them, "Yeah, that's exactly what I was going for. Not out with it? Where's my ship?"
"Your crew took it," Elizabeth said. "Syrena and I broke them out of the brig and took care of the pirates guarding them – which reminds me, I'm supposed to tell you boys that Syrena's not allowed to sing without supervision."
Will and Philip scowled. Syrena just smiled.
"And then we tried to rally them to come save you all and they to my absolute confusion and astonishment refused and instead just stole the ship!"
"Astonishment?" Syrena shot. "I literally told you four times that would happen. But no. Don't listen to the Mermaid. No one ever listens to the Mermaid!"
Jack stared at her, "You have issues."
"What was your first clue?" Syrena retorted. "I'm no more pleased than you about this. That ship had my tank and all of my possession, and they took the Pearl and left us all behind."
"Why does this keep happening to me?" Jack sighed. He looked to Will, "You know, this never used to happen when your mother ran things for me!"
Will didn't even want to ask follow-up questions.
"So what do we do with Jack then?" Philip asked. "Do we leave him here and hope for the best?"
Syrena shook her head, "There's very little provisions here. You won't be able to survive long living here."
"Could he just take what provisions there are and escape with a longboat?" Philip suggested. "You know, like you and I were going to do?"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but Syrena just patted her arm not to ask.
"No, Norrington will surely go after him," Will said. "And if we come out without Jack, Norrington will send soldiers to come get him."
"We could say he died," Syrena suggested.
Will shook his head, "Norrington would demand to see the body as proof. Especially after this whole undead thing."
"Oh right," Elizabeth remembered. "That's a thing we're going to have to explain to Father."
"In all fairness, you did try to warn them," Syrena reminded.
"You're right. Thank you." She stared at Syrena for a minute, "You know, I think I'm starting to like you."
"Starting? Didn't we have a bonding splash fight?"
The men all looked hungry at the thought.
"Girls having a splash fight?" Jack moaned. "Why was I fighting Barbossa when I could have been watching that?"
Philip glared at Jack, "I will hit you with my bible."
"So, what are we going to do?" Syrena asked. "What happens if you take Sparrow to the Dauntless?"
"Same thing that happens to the rest of the pirates," Elizabeth answered. "He'll be arrested and hung for piracy."
"Among many other crimes," Jack interjected. "If I'm going into the noose, it'll be for all of my masterpieces. Piracy, smuggling, murder, arson, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England."
"You did what?" Philip exclaimed. "How dare you! Do you have any idea how hard I've been working to become a deacon, and you just played pretend?"
"Oh, what do you know?" Jack waved off. "You're just a postulant."
Philip's face began to redden with rage.
"Deep breaths, Philip," Will patted him on the back. "Deep breaths."
"Wait," Syrena up her hand. Her face was scrunched up like he was trying to do complex math problems in her mind. "What do you mean the rest of the pirates? You don't mean all of my crew."
Elizabeth frowned, "Yes. Anyone who is still alive would be arrested and executed."
"But not everyone! Right, Philip?" she asked in a panic. "Not everyone."
Jack muttered, "Someone want to tell her the definition of all of my crew?"
Philip's eyes met hers and in an instant he understood, "I'll speak to my uncle about Ragetti and Pintel."
"Oh, of course," Elizabeth whispered. "I didn't even think about that. Don't worry, Syrena. I've seen the way they are with you. Philip and I will speak to my father about them."
"Thank you," Syrena whispered, but her heart pounded in terror. She had already lost Barbossa; she couldn't lose them too.
"I'm sorry," Will interjected. "Who are Ragetti and Pintel?"
"The short bald one and the one with the eye," Philip gestured at his own eye to illustrate.
"Wait," Will frowned at Elizabeth. "Weren't those the pair who kidnapped you?"
"Technically I asked for parlay and they abided, so I went willingly," Elizabeth answered. "It was Barbossa ordering us to set off that was the actual kidnapping."
"Syrena, I promise," Philip stepped forward and took her hands in his, "Elizabeth and I will speak to my uncle and try to figure something out."
"Thank you," she smiled. Then her eyes moved to the side, smile slipping a little as she thought about something. "Philip, what do you mean you and Elizabeth?"
"Well, we both have seen evidence of their kindness to you, so I thought both of us would be best to speak-"
"But you're not going to see your uncle."
"What?" Philip startled, "Why wouldn't I see my uncle? I'll see him when we return to the Dauntless, and I'll see him many times as he lectures me the whole way home to Port Royal."
All joy sapped from her face.
"You're going back to Port Royal?" she asked in a fearful but stony tone.
Philip blinked, "Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I? What's going on? What's wrong?"
She just stared at him, "I'm not going to Port Royal."
He dropped her hand. In a heartbeat, what Philip thought had been the situation was flipped completely upside down.
"I… I don't understand," his head struggled to make sense of it. "Why don't you want to go to Port Royal anymore?"
"Anymore?" Syrena repeated in surprise. "I never intended to go there in the first place. I thought our plan was you and I taking a longboat and escaping out into the world."
"Well, yeah, that was the plan before we had the Dauntless to come take us home. Now we have an easy way to get to Port Royal."
"I don't want to go to Port Royal!" Syrena snapped. "Philip, I have spent the last ten years in a cage dreaming of exploring the world after the curse was broken. Why on Earth would I want to go to some small, boring British colony in the middle of nowhere Jamaica, that has no decent military defenses, and the most interesting thing in town is the local blacksmith."
Philip just stared at her in stunned silence. He had not expected this in the slightest. All he had thought about was going home and getting Syrena to safety. It never even crossed his mind that those might be separate goals.
And as the pair stared at each other in stubborn, surprised silence, the audience just stood there uncomfortably, forced to watch.
"Man, this is more awkward than watching the two of you fight," Jack said.
Will and Elizabeth just glared at him.
"Syrena, I don't understand," Philip said. "Yes, Port Royal isn't the most exciting place in the world but… but I thought you wanted to be with me."
"I do," she didn't hesitate to answer. "That's why I thought you would come with me."
"I can't. I have so much left back in Port Royal. My ordination exams are coming up, I've got plans for my first mission, I've got family, I've got friends, I have a life."
"And I need to find mine. But I know my life isn't in Port Royal."
"It could be," he took her hands in his again. "You could have a life there. A wonderful life! An adventurous life! …A life with me."
Syrena winced, "Philip, I… I do want that."
"Then come with me."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can! I'll just tell them-"
"Tell them what?" she shot. "What do you tell them? Who am I? How do you explain me?"
"I… I don't know," he admitted. "But I'll figure it out."
Syrena shook her head, "There's nothing to figure out. I can't go to Port Royal."
"Yes, you-"
"I am a mermaid!" she roared. "They will kill me. Do you not understand that?"
His eyes slipped shut as the words washed over him, "I understand, but if they never find out-"
"You can't hide me forever! You can't hide what I am!"
"Yes, I can!" Philip begged. "You just have to have some faith."
Syrena simply said, "But I don't."
And silence hung over them. After all the obstacles they had encountered, neither had expected this to be what stopped them, what got between them… what could possibly tear them apart.
Syrena took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Philip, come with me. We'll go and find some adventure. You don't have to be officially ordained. You can preach to whomever we met. Just… come with me. Don't let me go."
Philip let go of one hand and pushed back a lock of her hair behind her ear. His hand stayed there, and his green eyes that she so loved, drank her in, committing every detail of her visage to his memory. He etched the image of Syrena Barbossa into diamond-hard rock in his mind. He wouldn't let himself forget this moment… this woman he loved.
"I'll never let you go," Philip whispered. "But I can't go with you."
Syrena released his hand, "And I can't go with you."
"Then where does that leave us?"
"…I think this is where this story ends."
Philip could feel his heart snap in two. No, he had waited so long for this, for someone to make his feel the way she did, and now… now he had to say goodbye?
He opened his mouth, willing his brain to think of something – anything – to stop this, fix this, and keep his beloved Syrena in his life.
"What? No! Come on! You can't walk away now!" exclaimed not Philip, but rather Elizabeth.
Every eye turned on her in utter shock, but none looked more surprised at this development than Elizabeth herself.
"I, um…" she awkwardly cleared her throat. "I have no idea when I became this invested in my cousin's relationship with a mermaid. I think the whole mess of my own love life and my complicated feelings about you losing your pseudo-father figure has made me project a few things."
Will nodded, but dare not say a word about how he had had the exact same thought. He was not about to reclaim the title of one who makes inappropriate outbursts because my love life didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.
Philip turned his attention back to Syrena, "I guess you're right. This is the part where you and I walk away from each other."
Inside of him, he willed her and begged her to say something that would stop this separation, keep her in his arms.
But his heart fell when he heard her words.
Syrena sighed, "Then perhaps I should return this to you."
Philip's throat was dry and wordless as Syrena took his father's cross from her neck and pressed it into the palm of his hand. But he didn't look to the cross – he barely felt the weight of it in his grasp – instead, his eyes just stared into those big hazel eyes that had haunted him since he was thirteen. Those eyes that his heart pounded in fear at the thought of never seeing again.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she did too at the same moment. They both stopped when they saw the other about to speak, and they laughed as they tried to urge each other to speak first before settling on dismissing both of their thoughts.
Syrena gave a bittersweet – but definitely favoring the sweet – sigh. She lifted her hand, hesitated for a second, lowering, but decided her course and pressed the flat of her palm to his breast.
"Thank you, Philip," she said softly. "For everything you have done for me. I've been lucky to have you around these past two days."
"No, it's I who's been blessed," Philip replied. "I've never met anyone quite like you before, and I don't think I ever will again."
Syrena shrugged, "People can surprise you."
"Yes, they can."
They just stared at each other in a sad but somehow comforting silence. There was no urgency in their movements, no desperation to keep the other from leaving. Somehow their hearts knew there was hope; they knew this would not be their last moonlit night.
"The winds will bring you back to me," Syrena said, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. "It brought you to me twice before, it will do so again."
"If I have to search for a century, I will find you," Philip vowed.
She chuckled, "I'm not that hard to find. If you ever need to find me, find Tia Dalma and she will tell you where I am."
Jack shuddered at the name, and Elizabeth smacked his arm, hissing at him not to dare interrupt the moment.
"Well, if you ever find yourself nearby Port Royal, don't hesitate to come see me," Philip smiled.
"I won't hesitate. I can't stay, but I will visit you," Syrena lowered her head, finding it increasingly harder every second to will herself to walk away from this man. "I promise you."
She felt a soft touch under her chin, and her eyes flicked up at Philip. They met those green eyes again, but then his drifted down to her lips. Syrena let him slowly lift her chin, her own eyes lingering on his own lips. She tried not to shudder as his hand trailed from her chin along her jaw to stroke her cheek. His thumb danced soft circles around her cheek and her mind became consumed with wondering how his lips would taste.
Philip bent down his head to kiss her.
"No," she put a hand on his chest to stop him. Syrena looked down, hating herself for doing it but knowing she had to. "No, Philip, we can't."
"Why? Why not?" he fought every urge in his body to just grab her and pull her lips to his. "Please, I have to."
She just shook her head, "No. It's a good thing that we have never kissed."
"But why?"
Had Syrena been a human, her eyes would have swelled with tears, "Because if I kiss you… I won't be able to walk away."
Philip heaved a heavy sigh, dropped his hand from her face, and took a step back to let her go. He hated this with every fibre of his being, but he knew he would have to accept this.
Syrena took a deep breath and said, "Goodbye Philip Swift. Until we meet again."
And she turned and walked away from him.
Philip just watched her. He watched the girl – nay, the mermaid – he knew would be the love of his life walk away from him. And with every step she took from him, he could feel his heart go with her.
This was the way it had to be, he told himself. He was a missionary and she was a mermaid. It would never work. It was a love that spanned across worlds, but those were too distant, too impossible.
How could two days have changed his heart so deeply? How could someone have become to precious to him so quickly? How could he have learned to feel this deeply? It was like he had never breathed before, but now that he knew love his lungs were open and he could feel air anew. Like his eyes were close and now his world was filled with colour.
He loved her, he knew that, and that's why he had to let her walk away.
Philip heard a sniffle and glanced back. It astounded him that Elizabeth of all people was weeping. Elizabeth who had hated the one she called The Mermaid only a few hours ago, and now her eyes begged Philip not to let Syrena go. But her eyes weren't the only wet ones; Will too looked at the scene with heartache for his best friend.
He knew that it wasn't just a sympathy for their friend: it was the intimate sorrow of knowing exactly what he was going through and wishing it didn't have to be so. But indeed, there they were the mirror of Will and Elizabeth.
And all Philip could do was watch Syrena walk away from him.
"Why did you do it, Dad?" Philip asked his father as a young child. "You knew that Grandfather was basically a servant of Satan - Mum's words, not mine - and what Mum's fiancé was like. I mean, I'm happy I exist and Mum's like the best woman in the world, but I don't get it. You could have done so much in England if you just walked away from her. Why did you choose Mum over everything?"
"Because it was love," Nathaniel had answered, not a shred of hesitation or regret, though he still kept a sharp eye on Philip's deriding of his grandfather. "Love is the most precious gift God has ever given the world. It was his love for us that sent him to die on the cross. Love is nothing to sneer at, My Son. It's the one thing in the world worth fighting and dying for. Someday you'll find love – real love, true love – and you'll understand. Not understand love itself for no man can truly understand it, but you'll understand how it can completely change you. How your life suddenly finds new focus, new purpose. And if you do find that love, Philip, never let it walk away."
"What if I have to? What if I can't be with that person? What if it's impossible?"
"True love that is given and received in kind is never impossible. You fight for it, Philip. You tear down any wall that society puts up between you and her. People may frown on it, but their opinion does not matter. Love is a matter between you, your spouse, and God alone. Anyone else is irrelevant. And if someone says no, you can't be together you just look them in the eye and say watch me."
And in that moment, Philip knew his heart.
"Syrena!"
She frowned and turned as she heard Philip marching towards her. Syrena went to ask him what was going on, but he pulled him into his arms and kissed her.
Instinctively her body froze up in surprise, ready to push him off, but she didn't. Her knees felt wobbly – and not because she wasn't used to having knees – and her hands pulled him in as tightly as he held her to savor the touch and taste of Philip Swift. His lips on hers: dry, a little cracked, and obviously unpracticed. The scruff of his ragged facial hair scratching against her skin. His body hot against hers, his chest heaving and heart pounding. He wanted to become one flesh with her and beneath his body she melted.
"See," Jack said, "that's what you two should be doing right now. Go on. Check your egos and get on with it. Don't mind me watching."
Elizabeth slapped him.
Will raised an eyebrow, "That slap?"
"Deserved it," Jack admitted.
When Philip finally pulled apart from Syrena, she couldn't stop smiling. She also had quite the struggle to catch her breath as she fought with herself not to pull him in once more and suffocate herself on those wonderful lips.
Syrena panted, "Philip-"
"I'm coming with you," he declared.
"What?"
"What?" Elizabeth exclaimed.
Everyone stared at her.
"Oh sure, I'm the problem here," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
Will patted her shoulder and gave her a look she understood to mean to just let Philip and Syrena talk for a minute.
"Worse comes to worse, I'll tie him up and throw him in the longboat if he tries to leave us behind again," Will promised.
Elizabeth was fine to let them continue.
"Philip," Syrena said, "you can't."
"Yes, I can and I will," he replied. "I'm coming with you wherever you go next."
"No, you have a life back in Port Royal: dreams, goals, plans, family, friends. A fully rounded life that matters to you."
"And you matter to me too. Syrena… I love you."
She was silent, the urge of tears of joy in her eyes and a smile she couldn't wipe from her lips. Three words so simple, and yet the way he said it – the way he meant it – it was the most honest and profound thing she had ever heard.
"Philip…" she bowed her head against his neck. "I love you."
Philip's arms wrapped around her and he held her tight. Syrena relaxed in his embrace – her own arms linking around his neck – and just enjoyed that honest and pure feeling of love.
Will, Elizabeth, and Jack the Monkey watched the scene with teary smiles. Will gave a loud sniff, just so happy to at last see the happiness of love for his best friend. Elizabeth handed him the old handkerchief that wouldn't burn, and he grabbed it and blew his nose on it without a glance down. When Jack Sparrow rolled his eyes – having just about hit his limit of this mushy nonsense – he yelped as he felt a monkey bite his legs. Knowing that the Mermaid was otherwise occupied and thus he wasn't within mauling range, he aimed a good kick at his namesake, but missed.
"I love you," Philip whispered and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. "I love you, Syrena, and I'm not letting this go."
"But we're from completely different worlds," Syrena objected, but absolutely refused to entertain the thought of letting her arms release him. "Your people will kill me."
"Then we'll go somewhere where they won't. We'll make this work, Syrena. I promise. As it was said in the Bible: But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God."
Everyone stared at the soon to be ordained minister for one particular line.
"Your God, my God?" Syrena raised an eyebrow teasingly.
"Ok, maybe not that last part," Philip quickly said.
But she wouldn't let it go, "No, you said you'd switch to my god. So, you'll trade in Yahweh for Calypso?"
"How do you even know that's the name of the Christian God? I know for a fact that even Elizabeth doesn't know that, and she grew up around three missionaries."
Will frowned at Elizabeth about how certain Philip sounded.
"We were doing some practice questions for his certification tests," Elizabeth explained. "Apparently I'm a terrible partner to help him practice that, and he's now looking for another partner he can practice with who isn't Pastor Thomas."
"I am not racing to pick up that gauntlet," Will replied.
Syrena shook her head and toyed with Philip's collar, "As I told you before, Philip, I may not be the most aware culturally, but Barbossa educated me quite finely. I read every book we could get our hands on, and unsurprisingly most ships we attack were English, French, Spanish, Dutch, or Portuguese. There are quite a lot of Catholics, Protestants, Puritans, Lutherans, and whatever other factions your religion on those ships, as well as a lot of Jewish and Islamic sailors. Most of the time, if there was a book to be found aboard those ships, it was a Christian Bible, a Hebrew Bible, or a Quran. Since the choices of books were slim, I've read the Bible quite a lot. Don't agree with a lot of it by any means – I mean there's literally a whole verse about how if you offer a slave freedom and they refuse, you have to pierce their ear for some reason – but I've read the Bible cover to cover at least three times. I even own a Hebrew Bible in Hebrew and I have a Christian Bible written in the original Greek. Not to mention while Mermaids can speak any language they want, I've learned to read seven languages including Greek and Hebrew. I can talk the Bible as much as you want."
Philip stared at Syrena like the Heavens had just parted to shine a golden light down upon her while a chorus of angels played trumpets, cherubs threw rose petals down upon her, and the Lord himself sitting on a golden throne gave Philip his nod of approval for Syrena.
"You can read seven languages?" Elizabeth asked in amazement.
"English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Catalan," Syrena listed off. "I'm currently working on Latin and Portuguese."
She felt eyes just staring at her.
"When you are part of a crew of cursed pirates who spend six years searching for a single piece of treasure (not to mention the preceding four years searching for the other 881) because you can't enjoy doing anything until the curse is broken, and you yourself are a mermaid trying to hide the fact you have legs so you spend a huge amount of time locked away in a cabin… You have a lot of free time to kill."
Not one expression of amazement changed.
"So…" Philip said when the silence clung a bit too long, "where were we vis-à-vis that whole me coming with you situation?"
"Right. You're not doing it."
"Syrena, I'm not letting you go. I know that God brought me to you for a reason. I've tried to live properly and predictable my life, but it's when I've taken a chance, broken a rule, befriended someone dearly that I shouldn't have that's made my life so much better."
Philip glanced over at Will to punctuate his point, but Jack definitely thought Philip meant him instead and preened at the alleged compliment.
Syrena just smiled at the sight.
Philip took a deep breath, "Syrena, listen to me. I love my friends, my family, my life. But I know in my heart and soul that the path forward is an adventure I never imagined… and I know that you're going to be right there with me."
"Philip, I-"
"Do you love me?"
She smiled, "Yes."
He looked in her eyes, "Then wherever you go next, I'm at your side. Just tell me where to go next."
And Syrena didn't say anything for a long time; she just looked into the eyes of the man she so loved. The one she wouldn't let go.
But her stomach knotted in guilt at the thought of him going with her. This man with such a grand and well-deserved future ahead of him would throw it all away just for her.
Syrena looked to Elizabeth; faced the family she would tear Philip from. The people who had loved and cared for and shaped him into that man since his birth. Syrena looked into the eyes of the woman the law called Philip his cousin, but his heart called his sister. The woman who had hated Syrena for simply doing what she could in a terrible situation. And now here Syrena looked to her and eyes begged permission to do that most horrible thing: to take Philip away from her.
And Elizabeth nodded.
In that moment, Syrena knew what she had to do.
"You will go to Port Royal," Syrena's voice was steady and certain.
Philip shook his head, "No! I'm not letting you go!"
"Philip!" she snapped. He frowned at her, so Syrena took a deep breath to gather herself and resumed that steady voice. "Philip, you will go to the Dauntless, reunite with your uncle, and return to your home in Port Royal… And you will do it with me at your side."
"What?" he frowned.
Elizabeth's eyes went wide, "What?"
"What?" Will chuckled in disbelief.
"You heard me," Syrena smirked at them all. "Philip, you are not going out into the wide world with me. I'm coming home to Port Royal with you."
"Are you certain?" Philip shook his head, mind whirling with the repercussions, but the smile would have to be surgically removed from his face. "I mean, if people find out what you are-"
"We'll figure it out," Syrena promised. "I know it's complicated and positively absurd, but we'll figure it all out. All I know is that I can't let you go, nor can I ask you to leave behind what you already have. Your life isn't perfect, but it's the kind of life people dream about. Security, position, family, friendship, love. I want to share in it, not take you from it."
"Ok, now you sound a little like you're just after my money," Philip teased.
"Well, I am a pirate captain's daughter," she teased right back. "I go where the gold is."
He laughed heartily. Syrena smiled and resting her head against his chest. Philip held her tight and for the first time in a long time knew that he had gone just where God wanted him too.
"So are you sure about this?" Philip asked. "This isn't going to be easy."
"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life," Syrena quoted Psalm 143:8.
"Yeah, okay, I'm never letting you go."
So Syrena laughed, and he kissed her once more. And the group gathered couldn't help but watch the scene in joy.
"Oh," Elizabeth sighed, "…What on earth is my father going to say about all of this?"
"I have no idea," Will chuckled. "But I greatly look forward to finding out."
"It is a pretty sight, isn't it?" Jack grinned widely. "And it's all thanks to me."
Elizabeth and Will just stared at him like he was insane… which wasn't exactly untrue.
"See, Young William." Jack propped his elbow up on Will's shoulder, "Now that's what I call going for the opportune moment."
Will shook his head and looked over to Elizabeth. There was a light in her eyes that was mirrored in his own. Elizabeth gave him a small nod, and the pair turned back to the missionary and the mermaid. Despite everything – all the sorrow that was to come and all the pain that they had endured – Will and Elizabeth couldn't help but smile as they watched Philip Swift hold his one true love.
And as Philip relished the feeling of his arms locked around Syrena's body and her head buried in the crook of his neck, his lifted his eyes to Heaven and thanked God for bringing him to that girl with a tail.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7
A/N: Guys! I can't believe it. Only one more chapter of COTBP movie scenes! …I mean, granted we still have about six chapters dealing with what happens to our quartet between leaving Isla de Muerta and Jack's almost execution until we get to that last chapter, but still it's so exciting!