Chapter 16: A Pirate in Port Royal Again
"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest! Yo-ho-ho and a Bottle o' rum!"
Will's feet flew over the sand as he ran at full speed towards the thrashing figure that tried to crawl up the beach away from the crashing waves. Strangely webbed hands clawed and desperately tried to find purchase on the wet particles as their owner struggled to crane their neck up, their head of fiery curls damp and clinging to their body like a wet mop.
"PEG!" Will called out as he fell to his knees beside the bedraggled selkie who had turned over onto her back.
His heart almost stopped as familiar blue-grey eyes stared at him from a freckled face half covered in wet red hair.
"William?" Peggy gasped, her voice raspy from the dried salt water as he hauled her up to cradle her in his arms.
"I'm here, Peg. I'm here. It's alright. I've got you." Will brushed her wet hair from her face, eyes wide with worry as he patted her down for injury.
She did not seem bruised or cut anywhere, but she did look exhausted, as if she had run two marathons in a row.
"God, what happened to you?"
"S-swam…storm," Peggy mumbled, a pale hand reaching to cup his cheek. "Had to…to find you."
"Is it Jack? Did you both get in trouble? Did something happen to the Pearl again?" Will's grip on her tightened as he stared at the horizon line, almost as if expecting to see said black pirate ship there. However, all he could see in the distance was a merchant ship with white sails sailing in the port's direction.
"Jack's…Jack's fine. He's gone off on another treasure hunt." Peggy's voice sounded surer now, and she seemed to be gathering more of her strength because she could pull herself up straighter in his arms.
"And he left you behind?" Will frowned in confusion, wincing as something silver glimmered around her neck. It was a silver necklace with an abalone shell locket pendant that sparkled in the rising sun's light.
"I…I told him to." Peggy grunted "I had to find you. I had to warn you." Her eyes widened as she seemed to remember something, and her face paled. With a surprising force, she gripped desperately at his coat collar. "Will, you've got to leave Port Royal NOW!"
"What, leave? But Peg-"
"They're coming for you, Will!"
"Who's coming?"
"The East India Company." Peggy shook his collar desperately. "They've got a warrant for yours and Elizabeth's arrest."
"A warrant? But Governor Swann got us both pardoned months ago-"
"The pardons were overturned!" she grunted as her feet desperately scrambled for purchase on the wet sand. "The director of the EITC had higher connections. They're on their way here to arrest you both right now!"
"Wait now? Hold on, how do you-" but Will froze as he looked at the horizon again. The Merchant ship he had seen from a distance was coming in closer. Now that he thought about it, it was somewhat more prominent and grander than most that sailed into the Port.
However, he had no time to observe more of the new arrivals as he felt Peggy sag in his arms, her strength dwindling despite her attempts to buck herself up.
"You're freezing." Her body shivered and shook even as Will quickly shed his blue overcoat and wrapped it tight around her shoulders. Then, he noticed the shredded and torn shift draped over her body—it was so ragged that it barely covered her naked body beneath. Through the sodden material, he could vaguely make out oddly shaped bruises around her ribs from where waves had struck her body hard. "That's it! We're going home. We can rest there!"
"But Will they're-"
"Peggy, please don't be stubborn. You can't do anything in this state," he grunted as he slid one arm beneath her legs while the other wrapped around her waist. "Let's go home and get you some clothes to start. Then we can figure out what to do from there."
With a little effort, he picked her up in his arms, planting a small peck atop the damp copper curls on her head before setting off on the path that led back into town near the tree line.
"Home?" Peggy frowned tiredly. "You're still at the forge?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
"I-I thought you and Elizabeth were married?"
"Not yet, we're not," Will mumbled as he quickened his pace and ducked into a shortcut through dense tropical foliage. It was a route he had used regularly throughout the past few months that kept him away from the prying gossiping eyes of his neighbours when he wanted some time alone. "We're supposed to be getting married today."
"Today?" Peggy's eyes widened, and then, to Will's surprise, she looked down at his shirt, her eyes bright and wet.
"I…I'm so sorry, Will. I…I seem to have the worst timing, don't I? Everything I touch is ruined."
"No. Don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault. You haven't ruined anything." Will's grip on her tightened as he felt his heart clench in his chest. How could she think that? "If anything, your warning might just give Governor Swann and me enough time to put everything on hold before it's too late. Hold on, there's a thought." He mused quietly. "Yes…I'll take you home, get you some clothes, then head straight to the Governor's house. Then we can tell him everything! The EITC will need a warrant to enter the property, and Governor Swann can bring Elizabeth back from the wedding while you rest."
"I don't know if gates will work with this lot," Peggy murmured, wincing as her body ached and throbbed. "They're a nasty bunch. I tried hiding out in Tortuga, and they still managed to take me captive."
"The EITC took you captive?!" Will's eyes widened in shock.
"One of their men got me after Jack left." Peggy mumbled, wrapping an arm around his neck to steady herself as they passed over some uneven terrain, "They have spies in every Port, apparently, even Tortuga. And they've been cracking down on piracy in the past few months. Luckily, Jack left before they could get to the Black Pearl, but the Painted Lady and the Bluebird have been near scuppered, and they've hung most of old McCavendish's crew in Nassau. Something big is going down, William. Whatever they want with you, me and Elizabeth is just the tip of the iceberg."
"And yet you managed to escape? How?"
"Selkie," Peggy grunted. "Also, the storm was a big help. They needed all hands on deck, so my guards were distracted, and everyone was so busy trying to make sure we did not sink that no one noticed me jump until it was too late."
"Of course, you jumped overboard." Will sighed in fond exasperation. "In the middle of a storm, no less. Y'know, I used to think Jack was the crazy one-"
"You're one to talk." Peggy pouted up at him, slapping his chest weakly. "You put a gun to your head to make a bargain with cursed pirates."
"You challenged the captain of said cursed pirates to a one-on-one duel despite knowing you could not beat him because of his invulnerability."
"Yeah, well, you were the one who sprung not one but two escape attempts for the very same pirate who got us mixed up with the cursed pirates in the first place."
"Well, you were the one who – Stay quiet!" he quickly shushed her. They had reached the edge of the vegetation and were right up to the edge of town. From what Peggy could guess, they were not too far from the Forge. So long as they suck through a few of the back streets, they'd be able to slip through the back door, provided Mister Brown was not there to spot them.
"Should be clear to go," Will murmured, ignoring the burn in his arms as he readjusted his grip on Peggy, who quickly pulled his coat above her head to hide her red curls, which had already begun to dry off and regain some of their fire.
Luckily for them, all they met along the way was a stray cat, for barely anyone, save the bakers on the main street, stirred as the dawn brightened from red to a gloomy grey as the rainclouds from the night before pulled in from the sea to strike down upon the land.
Not long before, Peggy found herself at a familiar front door, the first droplets of rain falling in a fine sheet over her and Will, who cursed as he almost slipped on that treacherous middle step.
"Do you think you can stand now?" He asked, and Peggy nodded tiredly.
"I think so. Put me down."
Will nodded, and after making sure she had a wall to lean against, he put her legs down and quickly opened the door.
It took all Peggy had not to weep at the familiar smell of the tiny apartment as Will dragged her up the stairs and into the living space. Mister Brown was nowhere to be seen, but he had been there earlier, as evidenced by a couple of freshly empty rum bottles on the floor by his chair.
"Here, sit. I'll fetch you some of your clothes," Will murmured as he sat her in her favourite chair by the smouldering hearth, onto which he threw a small fresh log to rejuvenate the flame.
"Breeches," Peggy muttered as he left to go into her room. "I need my breeches."
"Got it" Will nodded dutifully from the depths of her room. Peggy did not know whether she had the strength to peek inside. From the looks of things, hardly anything had changed. No, scratch that; it looked nearly the same as when she had left it six months ago, if perhaps a little messier in the sink. There was even her favourite shawl over the back of her favourite chair. Quickly, she shed Will's coat to wrap the familiar brown cloth around her shoulders, inhaling deeply.
For some reason, it smelled different. It had lost her usual scent of soap and lye. Instead, it reeked of warm musk and sweat. Very familiar sweat…and soot.
Will's scent. She realised with a jolt. Had he been using it to keep warm at night? If so, why was it on her chair?
But no…her heart sank as her eyes drifted to the table. This was no longer her chair. Now that she thought about it, this was technically no longer her home, and in a few hours, it would no longer be Will's home either. Peggy did not think Governor Swann would approve of his beloved daughter living in a hovel like this after being born to a life of fine silks and pearls.
Maybe I shouldn't have come here. She thought, tears springing to her eyes. If everything reminds me of a past I cannot return to…or a future I can never have.
But then she thought about her father, of Jack, of the EITC, and all those armed men headed towards them right now. No…she would never have been able to forgive herself if she had left Will in the lurch like this. Whatever heartbreak he had caused her, he was still her dearest friend.
Her fingers grazed something as she tried to rest her arms on the table, and she quickly looked down to see a book with a brown leather cover open, with a stick of graphite and a stick of chalk tucked into the nook between the pages.
Peggy recognised it at once as Will's journal. She had gifted it to him on his last birthday so that he could sketch down his ideas for his blacksmithing work in the forge. He sometimes used it to sketch if he was bored in the evenings.
Despite their rough upbringing, Will and Peggy shared a great love for art. Often, they loved sneaking a peek into other jewellers and craftsman's workshops to look at their work and their practice, and the few times artists and painters were in town to paint landscapes of the beauty of Port Royal, the two of them would often try and catch a peek of them at work. Peggy could hardly draw to save her life but appreciated it all the same. Will, however, had taken his talent and run with it.
He would never be one of the great masters, but he had enough talent to draw from life and make exciting designs for his craft. For him, sketching was not just a hobby but also an integral part of his job. As an apprentice blacksmith, it had been one of his dreams to become the master of his forge and sell work of his designs under his name.
Peggy smiled as she spotted a few pretty designs for jewellery and ornate sword hilts, with many notes scribbled in the blacksmith's familiar chicken-scratch handwriting. If ever he had the chance to make any of these, they would be beautiful works of art.
Then her eyes drifted to the other page where a portrait in graphite had taken up the entire blank space. It was…it was a portrait of her.
It was just of her head and shoulders, sitting at a three-quarter angle with a small smile and her hair over one shoulder in a plait. From what she could see of the little bit of shoulders he had drawn, she was not wearing anything, but that was only because Will had not bothered to draw them in. His focus had only been on her neck, face, and hair. He had even remembered to pencil in all her freckles in the right spots and added a dark patch behind her ear where her birthmark was. He had even included the small wild wisps of curls that escaped the plait.
It was an eerily good likeness of her, though Peggy felt he had embellished it a little and made it look a lot prettier than it should have been. What stumped her the most was the small scribble he had written in the corner of the page under the date, which, to her surprise, had only been yesterday.
My Peggy.
"I managed to find your old breeches." Will puffed as he exited her room and quickly pulled her up to stand. "I put them out on your bed, so get changed quick, and I'll see if I can find us a horse."
"A horse? Since when do you ride?" Peggy's eyes snapped away from the drawing of herself, cheeks slightly pink.
"E-Elizabeth has been teaching me." Will blushed, feeling his cheeks heat up with embarrassment as he realised what she was looking at. "I'm not too good, but I can get around town much faster. And I have been teaching her how to use a sword. Don't worry. I…I never let her use your practice sword! I know you don't like people touching your stuff." He added quickly, though his voice trailed off.
"…oh…right…well…that's uh…handy." Peggy mumbled as she got to her feet. "Oh…right here's your…your coat." She handed him his long blue velvet coat. "Th-thanks for letting me-"
"It's no problem." Will coughed as he gingerly reached out to take it. "I…I couldn't let you freeze to death."
His breath stuttered slightly as his fingers accidentally brushed the back of her hand. Peggy gulped at the all-too-familiar touch of the rough callouses on his thumb as it unconsciously stroked her skin.
"I should…I should change," She mumbled, letting go of the garment and pulling her hands back. Yet even as she passed, she accidentally tripped over her feet and almost bumped into him.
"S-sorry!" Peggy faltered as she felt his hand grab her by the shoulder, steady her, and pull her back upright.
"No-don't I was in the way." He quickly dusted her off, his hand reaching up to tuck a curl behind her ear.
Peggy found her eyes drawn like a magnet to Will's gaze. There was the usual worry in those brown eyes, but something else in those depths she had never seen before. It seemed almost sad and yet at the same time so warm and…
And before she knew what the other thing was, he glanced down at his toes.
There was an awkward pause as they stood there, mouths opening and closing as they tried to find the right words.
But for some reason, the words got stuck in both their throats.
What is wrong with me? They thought as Will silently stepped aside to allow Peggy access to her old room.
Six months ago, they would have been so easily riffing on one another by now. Peggy would have teased him about how bad his sense of direction was and how bad he was with horses, and he would have countered by stating she was just jealous because he would now be faster than her at errands.
But now…now there was something in the air between them that was strangely charged, as if a field of static electricity lay between them.
I don't have time for this! Peggy sucked in a deep breath as she opened the door to her room and shut it quickly behind her, missing the stricken expression on the blacksmith's face as he watched her vanish from sight.
Her room was just the same as it had been on the day of Jack's execution. Her books were on her bedside table, stacked and ready to be read, though Will or someone had rearranged some of the titles to dust beneath them. Her bed was neatly made and had laid down upon it one of Will's old shirts and breeches he used to wear when he had been fifteen, which he had given to Peggy to wear whenever they decided to spar with one another in the forge. He had also laid out her boots, a fresh shift and one of her stays for her, much to her gratitude and confusion.
She looked around and found that her chest of clothes was open, and several garments had hastily moved around inside.
Had he been cleaning her clothes while she was away? Peggy blushed at the thought of Will touching her undergarments as she pulled on her stays over the fresh shift, relishing in their familiarity. Now that she thought about it, they were clean and smelled fresh of soap.
Did he hire someone to clean her clothes? Did one of their neighbours offer to do it for him? Will was a decent man who would not do anything vulgar to a woman's belongings, but Peggy could not imagine he would have had time to clean her things when he had a wedding to Elizabeth to be planning along with his work in the forge.
Yet how could he know where and how she kept all her clothes if he did not go through them? And why on earth would he keep her stuff clean in the first place when he did not know if she would ever come back?
But the biggest surprise came when she stepped out of the room, her fingers deftly tucking her now plaited hair under a shoddy hat, only to yelp as a pair of solid arms suddenly wrapped around her waist from behind.
"Will!" She blushed as she felt his hot breath by her ear.
"Sorry," Will mumbled, not sounding sorry at all. His chest against her back was burning like a furnace. "I just thought you might want this too."
She looked down at her waist as something tugged tight around it and blinked.
It was a blue sash with a white wave print, with one end slightly torn.
"This is…"
"The sash Jack got you when we first docked at Tortuga," Will murmured as he finished tying the knot, his hands resting around her stomach as he leaned his cheek against the side of her head.
"You…You kept it…you kept all of this all this time?"
"It felt wrong to throw it all away."
"But once you got married to Elizabeth-"
"I would have brought it all with me," Will murmured, nuzzling his nose into her hair. "I couldn't just throw it away. It would be like throwing you away. And I could never do that. Not to you of all people."
You already did. Peggy wanted to shout at him, but the words were stuck in her chest.
"You…" She gulped, trying to pull his grip from her waist. "You shouldn't say stuff like that. People might get the wrong idea-"
"What people?" Will's hold on her tightened as if afraid she would vanish from sight like a magician. "It's just us here-"
"I know, but if someone-"
"Who Peg? Who's going to see us in here?" Will rested his chin on her shoulder. "Besides, home hasn't been the same since you left. I've…I've missed you." he gave her a small peck on the side of her temple, much to her torn heart's dismay.
"And…and I've missed you too, Will." She shut her eyes as she felt his nose nuzzling against her hairline. "But this isn't…what you're doing right now is wrong."
"Why? It's just us. How is this any different to how we were before?"
"You're getting married, William." Peggy snapped, again trying to back away, but Will kept a tight grip on her, his brows knitted in confusion. "You're going to marry Elizabeth like you always wanted. What would she think if you hauled another woman's items into your marital home?"
"She would have understood." Will shrugged. "Besides, you're the only family I have. And she'll bring things her family left for her into our home; why shouldn't I bring some of mine into the mix."
"There's a difference between a few familial keepsakes and hauling the entire contents of another woman's room, Will," Peggy growled. "We're not blood relatives. No matter how much we care about one another, we're not related by blood. What would people think?"
"Do you honestly think that after all we've been through, I care about what a bunch of fussy, pampered, prissy aristocrats thought about me?" Will grunted, and Peggy groaned.
"Let me rephrase that: what would your wife think, William? Hmm? How would she feel giving up space in her new home for the belongings of another woman?"
"But you're not another woman. You're…you're Peggy. You're my Peggy. Elizabeth would understand once I have explained it to her," Will muttered stubbornly. "Besides, I've made plenty of sacrifices for her these past six months; I'm sure it won't kill her to put aside a little space in our new home for things that are important to me."
Peggy blinked in astonishment. Was it just her, or did Will sound slightly bitter?
Now that she had considered it, he seemed relaxed about the fact that he would not be making it to the wedding ceremony on time. The William Turner she had left behind six months ago would have been frantically twitchy and nervous about making Elizabeth wait for him and would have demanded to be at the wedding venue early just in case.
But this William Turner that held her…He seemed so calm and dismissive about it all.
Calm and weirdly stubborn? Well, he had always been stubborn, but this was different. He was being stubborn about the wrong thing!
Why was he being so obstinate? Could he not see how strange this would look to other people? How odd it would look to Elizabeth, to whom he had declared his love in front of everyone so boldly?!
She did not know whether to be angry at his acting so clingy when he had tossed her aside or blush at his endearing and affectionate tone.
"My Peggy." He had called a selfish child with his favourite toy. He'd never called her that before, nor had he ever been this possessive; just what had happened to him in these last few months to make him this attentive towards her and so dismissive of his future wife?
Unbidden, a tiny snide voice in her mind could not help but sneer with victory at the idea of her belongings in Will and Elizabeth's new home. Even when the devil took Peggy, she would always be there, haunting Elizabeth like a ghost, reminding the noblewoman of her importance in Will's life and the mark she would leave on it till his dying day. A mark even perfect, Elizabeth would never be able to erase.
No! I can't think like that! She shook herself off. That was so wretched and so vindictive. Where had that awful thought come from?
"Peggy? Peg, what's wrong?"
She felt so torn as Will reached to cup her cheek in his hand, his thumb stroking her cheek as he leaned in to try and meet her eye. He was so close she could almost taste his breath on her lips.
This…wasn't right. She was supposed to vanish into thin air, and that would be that. She would have just been a memory for him to tell his children and grandchildren—their crazy aunt Peggy, who sailed into the sunset to be a pirate.
But here she was, in their home after six months, and he had kept it all the same? And he was treating her so tenderly as if no time had passed. As if it were just them in their house as it always had been, them together, with no pirates and no EITC to-
"Shit! The EITC!" She cursed, leaping away from Will. "Will we need to move? Now! NOW!" she shouted, and Will blinked as he seemed to snap back to reality.
"R-right!" he spluttered, shaking himself off. "Right! Of course, come on!"
He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her down the stairs and back outside, tugging the door shut before darting into the forge.
"Will!" she hissed.
"You need a sword!" Will grunted as he rushed to one of the sword racks. He tossed a blade at her, which she sheathed in her sash, just as he took his own and strode towards the back door.
Yet even as they opened the back door, they heard the distant shouts of men and the marching of many boots.
"Quickly!" Will pushed her out the back door, shutting it behind them as they heard a distant banging and a shout for Will to open his door in the name of the King.
"Talk about timing!" Peggy puffed as a heavy downpour from above suddenly drenched them.
"This way!" Will dragged her along the alleyway, ducking and hunching for cover behind a few crates as they heard several booted feet pass their hiding spot. Yet even as they ducked under the threshold of a nearby doorway, a gust of wind blew suddenly in their faces, blowing Peggy's hat from her head and right back into the main street behind them, where it hit the booted foot of an officer.
Peggy cursed as she heard the man's distant shout ring through the alleyway behind them, alerting his fellow officers.
"Come on!" Will's grip on her hand tightened as they flew around a corner and then another, Peggy stumbling and tripping on the wet road as a shot rang behind them.
Luckily, it missed them both, but it was enough to spook Will, whose desperate strides became too long for Peggy to keep up with.
With a cry, she slipped and slid on the cobblestones, landing painfully on her knees as her hand detached from Will's.
"Peg!" Will darted back to pull her up to stand, only to slip, and his foot slid across the smooth patch on the ground.
With a groan, he found himself half draped over Peggy, who was struggling to push herself to her feet as many feet thundered behind them.
"There they are! Surround them!"
Will swore loudly, grabbing Peggy desperately under the arms and hoisting her back to her feet only to reel back as a musket on the end of a rifle suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Peggy gasped as she gripped for purchase on Will's coat. Within moments of their spill onto the floor, they had been surrounded by red-coated officers, all of whom were pointing their guns at them, ready to strike.
"Ahh, Mister Turner. There you are! We have been looking all over for you." A voice called, and Peggy scowled as a handsome, fair-haired man with light green eyes and a dark green coat stepped out of an alleyway with two pairs of iron cuffs. "We called upon you at your residence, but you were nowhere to be found. I'm so glad we caught up with you before you could get far. My employer is most interested in meeting you."
"I am afraid your employer will have to wait his turn. As you probably know, I have important matters to deal with, mister…?" Will clipped, pushing Peggy behind him to shield her from the view of the man.
"Sloane. Ronan Sloane." Sloane smirked. "And yes, I know you are supposed to be on your way over to complete your nuptials. Please accept my congratulations to you and your lovely fiancé, as belated as they may be, and please also accept my humblest apologies. I have been burdened with the unfortunate task of apprehending you and your lovely friend behind you. Hello again, Miss Margaret." He waved to Peggy, who seethed as his eyes twinkled in her direction, "I am glad to see you alive and well after your unfortunate little spill overboard last night. You gave us all quite the fright."
"Good, that was the point." Peggy snapped, ignoring Will's look of confusion between her and Sloane, who chuckled and sighed as he handed the two pairs of iron cuffs to an officer each.
"Ahh, dear me. While I am growing rather fond of your feistiness, Miss Margaret, I recommend not fighting back this time, if only for the sake of your friends. You cannot help their cause if you are accidentally hurt in a scuffle."
Will blanched at the threat, nostrils flaring, but Peggy quickly gripped his hand in hers tight.
"Don't let him ruffle you." She hissed. "He enjoys getting a rise out of people."
Will's scowl fell to a disgruntled grimace as he looked back at Sloane.
Something about him seemed off. Will was not quite sure he could pinpoint the exact cause of his discomfort. Was it his eyes? Or the genuinely concerned way he spoke to Peggy? Whatever it was, it made Will's stomach churn and his gut bristle.
It eerily reminded him of whenever he used to look at Barbossa or the cursed crew of the Pearl—that strange feeling of something otherworldly or not quite human sat deep in his gut.
Whatever it was, Will did not have time to process it any further as two men stepped forward to put both him and Peggy in cuffs.
At first, he wanted to struggle, but feeling Peggy's hand in his again was enough to keep him grounded. No. She was right. They were outgunned and outmanned. If they resisted arrest, it would only worsen the case against them when facing their judgement and probably get Peggy hurt, and she barely had much strength left to stand as it was.
"Thank you." Sloane sighed in relief as the locks on the selkie and the blacksmith's cuffs were secured snugly around their wrists. "I did not want to resort to violence. Especially not in front of a lady-"
"Bullshit! You had no trouble using it before in Tortuga." Peggy snorted under her breath.
"That was my associate, my dear. Not me. And I assure you he was punished most heavily for his crimes." Sloane tutted as he reached forward to take her gently by the arm. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, we have a carriage waiting for you both, and I don't know about you two, but I really would like not to catch my death from the cold."
"Not so fast, Sloane!" a man called, and Peggy stiffened as the scarred face of Mercer stepped out from the shadows, dressed in a dour ensemble of plain black. "Lord Beckett has changed his orders. You are to oversee preparations for his lodgings at the Company Headquarters. I will bring Mister Turner and Lady Margaret to him in your stead."
"And take all the credit for it, I don't doubt." Sloane rolled his eyes at his older colleague, who sneered.
"Oh, don't worry. I will mention your enthusiasm and contribution to today's events."
"Sure you will. Sure."
Peggy found herself smirking as she was led into the nearby carriage, standing in wait for Will and her. It was the first time since she had met Sloane that he had ever looked truly peeved.
Indeed, his gaze after her was a strange mix of worry and disdain for Mercer, who smiled unsettlingly wide as he shut the door in the younger man's face.
"Lady Margaret?" Will whispered at Peggy, who sighed.
"Don't ask."
Elizabeth stared at the assembly of noblemen and women huddled under cover of the church's awning, all whispering and muttering in frantic confusion as many soldiers and officers pushed them back.
What was going on? First, this disastrous storm had rolled in and ruined all the wedding preparations, and soldiers had all but swept through Port Royal, disturbing the peace. To top it all off, William had not shown up at their wedding venue. He was supposed to be there early to greet guests, but no, her father, the Governor, had been forced to intervene on their behalf.
And now, here was the navy storming in, ruining all their carefully laid plans and arrangements without a care in the world for the destruction left behind in their wake.
"What is the meaning of this?!" she barked as she hitched up her drenched wedding dress of golden silk and stormed up the steps, only to gasp as the soldiers parted to form a path for her.
In their midst, led by armed redcoats on either side, was William, dressed in his blue coat and gold silk vest. His hat was askew, and his face was stony as he looked down at the manacles on his hands.
"Will!" She dashed up to him, grabbing his hands. "Why is this happening?"
"I-I don't know." Will's face relaxed upon seeing her. "You look beautiful."
Despite the dire circumstances, Elizabeth blushed and smiled at the compliment. She had been up since the crack of dawn getting dressed by her lady's maid and until the downpour, everything from the flowered veil in her hair and the brooch on her waist, was polished and perfect. Elizabeth had never felt more beautiful and happy in her life, and yet…yet that moment of happiness had been taken away so rudely.
"I-It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding." She mumbled sadly.
Will opened his mouth to answer, only to pause as a voice snarled behind him.
"Stop it! I can walk for myself!"
Elizabeth gasped, her eyes bulging out of her sockets, as another figure, also in chains, was pushed roughly to stand by Will's side. It was a woman with a freckled face and grey-blue eyes wearing oversized men's clothes with a blue sash around her waist. Her long, damp red curls were tied in a thick plait over her shoulder.
"Peggy?!" Elizabeth stared at her old friend in shock. What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be sailing the oceans with Jack? She had been branded a pirate, so what was she doing in Port Royal where she could have been hung? Was that why Will was in chains? Had he been secretly harbouring her despite knowing of her status?
But no, that couldn't be right, Elizabeth thought wildly. Will would have told her if Peggy had come back. Though he was doing much better these days, it was clear that he missed the young Selkie woman. If she had returned to town earlier, he would never have been able to shut up about it.
Then again, Elizabeth always told herself she had to understand his grief. Peggy was the only real family Will had, almost like a sister. Elizabeth had never had siblings; her mother had died before she could give her father another child, so she knew she would never understand the pain of one's family leaving her like how Peggy had done. She and Will had lived together and grew up together; it stood to reason he would miss her terribly and worry for her safety now she was living the dangerous life of a pirate. Still, the way he moped around and brooded when he thought no one else was watching...
"Hey Lizzy." Peggy smiled tiredly at her old friend, grey-blue eyes softening as she looked the drenched bride-to-be up and down. "I'm so sorry about all this. I would have dressed better to attend, but these fine fellows would not have given me the time."
"What happened? What are you doing here? Where is…you know who?" Elizabeth mumbled the last few words, glancing back over her shoulder to where she could see the ocean view.
"Oh, him? He's fine." Peggy rolled her eyes, growling as a very young officer tried to pull her back roughly. "Oy! Don't you know it's rude to touch a lady without her consent?!"
The young man backed off, shrinking in on himself as Peggy and Will both shot him a nasty glower.
"Jokes aside, Lizzy, I'm truly sorry about all this. I tried to get here earlier to warn you, but-"
"Warn us? About what?"
Peggy opened her mouth to explain, only to fall silent as a dark figure began stalking towards them from the side to stand with his back towards them.
It was a short man, barely taller than Peggy, with a white powdered wig and a bicorn hat. He wore a cloak to protect his dark brown coat and vest from the rain, his clothes so primly tailored to his shape, making him look regal despite his shorter stature. He looked out over the ruined wedding venue as rain lashed down from above, framing him in an almost sinister light.
Elizabeth looked back at Peggy, whose face had turned the colour of chalk upon seeing the man.
Just what was going on here?
"Make way! Let me through!" Another voice yelled, and Peggy clapped her mouth shut as Governor Swann blustered with indignance through the crowd of confused guests and grim officers.
"How dare you!" he scoffed as a pair of pikes barred him from seeing his daughter. "Stand down, your men at once. Do you hear me?!" He called to the man in the black cloak, who turned around on his heel to allow an officer to remove it from his shoulders.
"Governor Swann, it's been too long." He drawled.
Will frowned at the sight of the man. He had been expecting a very severe-looking creature with a forbidding countenance. Instead, he only saw a clean-shaven, cold-faced man with a slight, smug smirk. But his eyes…his eyes were strangely familiar…both grey blue like cloudy skies -
"Cutler Beckett?" Governor Swann frowned in confusion at the man.
"It's Lord now, actually." Lord Cutler Beckett smiled with cold pleasantry and nodded to the two officers to raise their pikes and allow him through.
"Lord or not, you have no reason and no authority to arrest this man or this woman-" Governor Swann faltered as he caught sight of Peggy's face. "Peggy Blake?! What-How? What on Earth are you doing here?"
"An excellent question, Governor." Beckett's eyes hardened like swords upon Peggy's face, and Will wondered as she looked down at her toes like a scolded child. "One, my dear Margaret, will only be too happy to answer, I am sure."
"Peggy, what is he talking about?" Will looked at Peggy wildly. "Peg? Look at me. What's going on?"
Yet even as she looked up at him, Will froze.
Her eyes…her grey-blue eyes that had haunted his dreams and waking moments every day for the past six months? How could he have not seen it…
"No…no, it can't be…" Will turned back to Beckett with dawning horror. No…this man could not be her…he just couldn't…
Yet the longer he looked, the more he seemed to see. It was not so apparent at first, especially with the vivid, bright tones of Peggy's hair and the pallid, freckle-free complexion of the man. Still, their sneers of disdain for one another were nearly identical, down to how their hands flexed by their sides and ground their teeth behind pursed lips.
It almost made Will ill seeing it up close like this. He could only imagine how heartbroken Peggy must have been at the discovery.
"Well, Margaret, I'm waiting for an answer." Beckett clipped tersely after a tense pause.
"What can I say, Father? I was so excited to share the news I just had to rush ahead and tell my dear friends of your early wedding present." Peggy sneered at her father, who bristled at her sarcastic tone.
"Father?!" Elizabeth and Governor Swann stared in shock as many people around them, wedding guests and navy officers alike, bristled anxiously on their feet at the revelation.
Will could see that though the rest of his face seemed calm, the man had a small ticking vein by his left temple, not too dissimilar from the one Peggy often got when trying to hold back her temper. However, unlike the red-haired selkie, Beckett had far better control of his emotions as he sucked in a deep soothing breath and slipped the professional mask back over his face.
"I'll deal with your impudence later." He muttered, clicking his fingers, "As for Mister Turner's arrest, Governor Wann, I think you'll find I have valid reason and authority to make such an arrest. Mister Mercer." He called, and Will stiffened as the scarred face of Mister Mercer suddenly slunk out from the shadows by Peggy's elbow, a leather dossier in his arms.
He opened it for his Lord, who took a sheet of paper from the top of the neat pile and handed it to the Governor.
"The warrant for the arrest of one William Turner."
Governor Swann took the paper tremblingly and frowned in confusion as he read its contents.
"This…This warrant is for Elizabeth Swann."
"Is it? That's annoying, my mistake." Beckett smirked, not sounding even remotely sorry as he waved his hand dismissively at the young noblewoman. "Arrest her too."
"On what charges?!" Elizabeth demanded as two men came up behind her to roughly pull her away from Will's side before either he or her father could stop them.
But Beckett did not seem to care enough for their distress as he pulled out another sheet of paper, reading it carefully to avoid making another 'mistake'.
"Ah, and here's the one for William Turner." He handed it to the Governor to take as if he were some glorified secretary before holding up another third sheet of paper. "And I have another one for a Mister James Norrington. Is he present?"
Peggy sighed in relief. Thank God she had asked Annamaria to take Norrington in that night. Who knew what Becket would have done to him if Sloane had found him?
"What are the charges?!" Elizabeth demanded as two men roughly handcuffed her, but her father cut across her.
"Commodore Norrington resigned his commission some months ago."
"That wasn't the answer to the question I asked." Beckett clipped.
"Lord Beckett!" Will snapped angrily. "In the category of questions not answered-"
"We are under the jurisdiction of the kings' governor of Port Royal, and you will tell us what we are charged with." Elizabeth finished with all the regalness and fury of a tiger, which, when coupled with Peggy's icy glower, was almost enough to make half the men around them shrivel like wilted leaves.
"The charge," Governor Swann swallowed down the tremor of dismay in his voice as he read the charges from the warrants, "-Is conspiring to set free a man convicted of crimes against the Crown and Empire and condemned to death, for which the…the…"
"For which the punishment, regrettably, is also death." Beckett finished with a smirk as he leaned into Will's personal bubble. "Perhaps you remember a certain pirate named Jack Sparrow-"
"Captain!" Will, Elizabeth and Peggy all snapped in unison, much to the dismay of the Governor.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth said fiercely, remembering how those kohl-lined brown eyes had twinkled mischievously at her all those months ago. Try as hard as she might; forgetting that man in a hurry was difficult.
"Captain Jack Sparrow." Beckett sneered with derisive delight. "Yes, I thought you might."
His eyes drifted back to Peggy, her lips curling so that her father and Will could see the hint of a fang in her snarl.
"There's that beastly temper again." Beckett sighed in annoyance under his breath, glancing at Mercer, who had a hand on his hip where he kept his knife sheathed at the ready. "Mister Mercer, please escort my daughter back to my lodgings and settle her in her new rooms. As for Mister Turner and Miss Swann, take them to the cells. Separate cells as far as possible." He added as Will's nostrils flared angrily at him. "It would hardly be appropriate for an unwed man and woman to share a room before their nuptials, would it?"
"No sir, it would not." Mercer agreed as he slithered up to Peggy's side and carefully took her by the arm. "If you would like to follow me, Lady Margaret."
"And what makes you think I want to go anywhere with you, you reptile?"
"You will do as you're told, Margaret!" Beckett clipped, "Your actions have embarrassed me enough for one day."
"Only one day? Shame, I was hoping it would last for a week at least. Clearly, I must put more effort into my endeavours."
"Mister Mercer!" Beckett snapped, and for the first time, Will saw the calm mask slip ever so slightly even as his daughter was dragged off by his clerk.
Why did she have to be so reckless?
And what the hell did someone like Beckett want with Jack Sparrow?
Jack, what have you done?
The night was dark and dreary. The fog was thick and gloomy.
Screams of pain and death echoed over the calm ocean like ghosts on the breeze as many large wooden coffins bobbed along in its deep waters.
On one of these sorry vessels for the dead, a large fat crow decided to perch, its beak thudding on the wood as it greedily searched for more dead carrion meat to feast upon.
KAAAAW! KAAW!
Thump-thump-thump!
Kaaw-Kaaww!
Thump-thump!
BOOM!
There was the flash of something hot and fiery, the screech of a bird and the smattering of feathers.
But Jack Sparrow did not care as he carefully poked the muzzle of his pistol like a periscope out of the lid of his morbid vessel before bursting through the wood with a few hard pushes.
The flimsy lid broke apart so quickly that he was amazed the rest of the coffin had not leaked and filled with water upon being tossed into the ocean.
But somehow, miraculously, he was still floating and sitting on something mightily uncomfortable.
Jack grimaced and quickly dusted off his hat before reaching below his backside to pull out…a bony foot.
"Sorry, mate." He grimaced in disgust at the limb even as he lowered it into the water and began paddling his makeshift coffin canoe.
"Mind if we make a little side trip? No. I didn't think so."
Now, where are you, my lovely lady? Ah…there you are. He sighed tiredly as he caught sight of a silhouette of a black ship with black sails illuminated by the light of the full moon above amidst the fog.
Despite its narrowness, Jack's skeletal foot was not too bad a paddle, and it did not take him long to reach the Black Pearl, where he was greeted by the familiar sight of Gibbs reaching out towards him.
Jack handed his first mate the bony leg while he ascended back to his ship, taking a moment to relish in the feel of the familiar wooden boards beneath his booted feet.
Ahh…now he was home.
"Not quite according to plan." Gibbs grimaced at the limb he had been given.
"Complications arose, ensued and were overcome." Jack nodded in silent thanks to Cotton, who had quickly draped his long dark coat over his shoulders to warm him before sauntering off to check his beloved ship.
Hmm, she seems fine enough. No damage from that storm, then, ey? He mused, barely noticing Gibbs trotting behind him until he was right by his side.
"You got what you went in for then?" Gibbs asked excitedly.
"Mmm-hmm!" Jack nodded, pulling out a wad of rolled-up cloth from the red and white sash around his waist. It had nearly cost him his arm and leg to get hold of it and double that to keep holding onto it, but he had got it, and that was enough for him.
However, it was not enough for his crew, who had all come around the mast with folded arms and expectant scowls as they looked at the 'treasure' in his ringed hands.
Ah…oh dear. Peggy had said they would be like this, didn't she?
Silly girl. How can she be so bright about this lot but stupid about the whelp?
He mused as Gibbs coughed and said as politely as he could manage without letting his desperation show:
"Captain, I think the crew, meanin' me as well, were expectin' somethin' a bit more…shiny. What with the Isla de Muerta goin' pear-shaped, reclaimed by the sea with the treasure."
"And the Royal Navy chasin' us all around the Caribbean an' the Atlantic." One of the crew members, a dark man with a head scarf called Advik, grunted.
"And the Hurricane," Marty added, and there were many 'Aye's' of agreement from the rest of the crew.
"An' where's Peggy got to?" Dewey folded his arms. "She left us at Tortuga, but ye didn't say where she was goin'. Didn't even get to say goodbye." There were many nods again and many dismal expressions as the men looked out at the dark open sea.
"Peggy had her own business to attend to with Captain Labelle, but she is comin' back when she's done, right captain?" Gibbs looked at Jack, who nodded silently. "Right. But all in all, it seems some time since we did a speck of honest pirating."
"…shiny?" Jack quirked a brow at his first mate.
"Aye, shiny."
"Is that how you're all feeling? That perhaps dear old Jack is not serving your best interests as captain?" The crew gave each other uncomfortable looks, but no one said anything.
"Sqwwaaak! Walk the plank!" Cotton's parrot Paulie suddenly screeched from the old pirate's shoulder only to get his owner's hand over his beak as Jack whipped out his pistol to point in its face.
"What did the bird say?!" Jack snarled. That parrot was an annoying little titch. Unfortunately, he was also very useful to the crew. Without him, Cotton could not communicate, and he also made a pretty good watchdog for passing ships.
"Do not blame the bird," Advik said sternly, his eyes drifting to the wad of cloth in Jack's hand. "Show us what is on that piece of cloth there-aahhh!"
He leapt back as something skeletal and hairy with a long, prehensile tail suddenly jumped down from high above and screeched in their faces.
Curses! Jack had forgotten about that damned stupid monkey (who, by courtesy of Barbossa's vindictive version of paying homage, was also called Jack). He had thought he had left him behind to sink with the Isla de Meurta, but somehow, on the day after Peggy had left Jack at Tortuga, it had found its way back to the Pearl.
No one knew how or where it had come from or how it was still undead. Had it swallowed one of those cursed pieces of gold? Whatever the cause of its undead condition, Jack did not want to know, nor did he care. Jack the Monkey was a menace, one he, Jack the Sparrow, would do everything he could to destroy or get rid of.
Jack yelped in surprise as the damn thing swiped the cloth from his hand, his pistol whipping out to shoot the unholy, undead primate only to have the gunpowder spark, but no bullet came out.
Damn! He must have used up all his shots.
Quickly, he reached for Dewey's gun from his belt and fired at the undead primate, who dropped the cloth with a screech before disappearing up into the ship's rigging.
"You know that don't do no good." Gibbs groaned.
"It does me," Jack grunted. Well, at least the monkey was useful for one thing: target practice.
There was a pause as Marty rushed forward to pick up the cloth from the floor before Jack the monkey could strike again.
"It's…a key?" the short pirate frowned at the crude picture of a key etched into the fabric with dark ink.
A ring with two prongs tipped with jagged teeth.
It was ugly, almost archaic, and the old dried bloodstains on the fabric it was drawn on did not ease the crew's concerns about it at all.
"No! Much more better!" Jack grinned as he darted forward to take back his prize. "It is a drawing of a key."
There was silence as the crew of the Black Pearl stared at Jack, their faces blank and expectant, as if the joke's punchline had just fallen flat.
Philistines. Pegsy would've understood in a flash.
Jack grumbled in his head and sucked in a deep breath to steady himself.
"Gentlemen, what does a key do?"
"Keys…unlock things?" Advik ventured a guess, glancing at his fellow pirates for a clue and getting nothing.
"And whatever this key unlocks inside, there's somethin' valuable." Gibbs's eyes brightened as understanding dawned him "So we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks."
"No!" Jack grinned, much to the bewilderment of everyone once more "If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?"
"So…we're goin' after this key!" Gibbs grinned.
"You're not making any sense at all." Jack shook his head, and Gibbs's face fell as everyone once more frowned and was puzzled over their captain's confusing language. "Any more questions?!"
"So…do we have a heading?" Marty dared ask.
"Ah, a heading!" Jack quickly pulled out his compass and looked at the needle, oddly spinning around a lot more than usual. "Set sail in a…uh…general…" The crew followed the direction of his finger as it swerved this way and that in the air as if trying to follow a fly before settling in jerky fashion to the south.
"In that way direction! I think," the captain added in a mumble that only Gibbs and Marty heard due to how close they were standing.
"Captain?" Gibbs asked, concerned, only to get waved off dismissively.
"Come on, snap to and make sail. You know how this works. Go on. Oy-oy! Oy!" Jack swatted away his men to cut a path through them to his cabin.
Yet even as he closed the door behind him, Gibbs could have sworn he had seen a very confused and desperate look on the Captain's face as he looked down at the strange compass in his hand again.
This was not normal. Jack might sometimes bumble and have funny turns, but he was never this distracted. And the compass had never acted up like this before.
"You heard the captain! Set sail due south!" Gibbs barked, straightening up and heading over to stand by the ship's port railing.
Marty followed him closely, doing his best to copy his relaxed attitude, but Gibbs could see the worried crease in the shorter man's brow as he joined him at the railing.
"Have you noticed lately, the captain seems to be acting a bit strange…er. And this was before Peggy left." He added before Gibbs could comment.
"Aye. Even she noticed it before I did." Gibbs admitted softly so that only Marty could hear, "Settin' sail without knowin' his own heading. Somethin's got Jack vexed, and mark my words, what bodes ill for Jack Sparrow bodes ill for us all."
The captain's cabin was dark and cold.
Thunder rumbled outside as yet another storm rolled over the ocean, the flashes of lightning illuminating the pipes of the giant oceanic organ that grew into the very hull of the ship.
The Devil of the Deep sat at the seat of the pipe organ, panting as he raised his tentacles and hands from the instrument's keys.
Soon, he mused to himself in his head. Soon, it would be time to collect on two of his debts.
Two fools who dared think they could pull the wool over his eyes were finally going to find their reckoning by his hand.
It was palpable, exciting. It was not often he had to deal with such disobedience and defiance. Though he liked to run a tight ship, the Devil did like to play with his food.
It was one of the decades of service to the mast worth it.
He glanced over his shoulder at a small chest of dark wood decorated in seashells in a small corner of the room. As promised, he had kept its contents safe and never touched them, not even to look, and boy, had he been tempted to look. Who wouldn't be?
That treasure was more valuable than any coin of gold or jewel of the sea. None like it could be found any more. It was the last of its kind, just like its true owner. But she'd never have it—not until the day she finished her sentence, and that was many days away.
One of the tentacles on his face reached in to look at a thin cord on which a couple of keys were attached. One was the key to the small seashell chest, made from silver forged in the bottom of the sea. The grip was shaped like a clam seashell, and the pin at the end was shaped like a trident. The three prongs of the key fit into the three holes in the front of the chest.
The other key was old and rusted and made of iron. It had a circular ring at the top with two thin prongs ending in gnarled teeth at the end. No one knew where it had come from or who had made it or the thing it unlocked. It was ancient and old even when the Devil had first acquired it. But looks were deceiving, and this key was more powerful than most of the mystical trinkets he had collected over the years in his travels.
The Devil tucked the two keys away as he looked up at the stained glass behind the pipe organ keys. A beautiful woman's face stared at him from within the glass pattern, her eyes flashing with a tempest of fury, yet her mouth was smiling and serene.
She nurtured and yet destroyed, was possessive but fickle, violent yet sweet, changing yet ever strong, and always interfering.
The Devil sighed as his hands rose to the keys of his pipe organ. If he had a heart, it would have ached at the sight of her face, for it reminded him too much of her.
But he didn't.
So instead, he played, his fingers and tentacles caressing each key with such force that the sound almost bellowed from the pipes above, filling the space and beyond with such music that not even the ocean's roar could drown him.
But she would never drown him.
No.
Not when she loved him so.
Not when he had bound her so she could never truly leave him.
She was his. And yet, even now, she sought to interfere with his plans.
But she would not.
The Devil of the Deep would make sure of that.
TADAA! Finally, here we are! The filler chapters are over, and we're at the beginning of Dead Man's Chest!
So yeah, Peggy and Will have reunited, and they and Elizabeth have all been captured by Beckett. Jack's started his chase for the chest, and the "Devil" is counting down the days until he collects on his debts.
To quote Kronk from Emperor's New Groove: "Oh yeah, it's all coming together."
As usual, let me know if you guys enjoyed via fave, follow or review (or all three at once *wink-wink nudge-nudge)
Looking forward to writing more soon.
Thanks
FuzzyBeta