A Condemned Man
Sep. 13th, 2015 05:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katleeptTitle: A Condemned Man
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Character/Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
1_million_words: Sailing
Warning(s): Anti-Will/Elizabeth
Word Count: 593
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
His days are long and boring. His nights are even longer. He is alone always, although he's never truly by himself. In the light of day, he's often lost in a crowd, and he'd much rather be lost anywhere than be alone with the person who's waiting for him at night in a bed whose enormous mattress Will wishes nightly would swallow him so he will not have to endure his wife's advances.
He should have never married Elizabeth, but he is a man of his word. He should never have stayed in this port, but he is a man of his word. He is a man of his word, not a Pirate, but no matter how many times he reminds himself of those facts, or of the fact that the one person in all the seven seas with whom he truly wants to spend his days and nights is a lying cad, it does little no good. Nothing can change the facts.
But sometimes, on the sunnier days, the scent of the sea strikes Will's nose. He turns instinctively toward it, and Elizabeth's constant prattle is lost in the cry of the gulls and the slapping waves. He can hear bells chiming in the distance, hear the flap of sails and the call of a ship and a man's strong voice calling his name.
He can feel Jack. He can almost picture him by his side, one arm slung around his shoulders, as they sail into new adventures. But then Elizabeth tugs at his arm or some one else bumps into his side, and Will is reminded again that he is no Pirate. He's not brave or daring enough to answer the call of adventure.
He's a man of his word, but he's a coward, too. That's why he could never answer the call of Jack's heart to his. That's why to this day and to the day he dies, he will always be a condemned man, condemned by the wedding noose slipped around his neck not so much by the actual status of being a married man but rather because of the one lie he's told and continues to tell, "I love you."
He turns his face into the rising wind so no one will see of hear his soft cries. It's the one lie that will haunt him his whole life, and it wouldn't have been a lie if he'd only dared to say it to the one man for whom he truly felt that way. It wouldn't have been a lie if he'd told Jack. Jack might well have still sailed away without him, but maybe, Will thinks, maybe, had he told the truth that time, too, he might no longer be a condemned man. He might be a happy man, a man every bit as in love as he is now but who might be loved back, as he samples the spoils of the world as a Pirate and lays every night with the Captain of his heart guiding their future together.
But no, he lied, and now, he must pay the price. He must forever endure Elizabeth and Port Royal and never have the treasure for which he truly yearns, never have his beloved Jack. The bells, and the waves, and the seagulls call, but he doesn't hear that one voice he needs calling his name far away. He doesn't hear his Jack, and so he suffers on, heeding only the call of duty, his soul hung even as he smiles at his wife, a condemned man.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Character/Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:
1_million_words: SailingWarning(s): Anti-Will/Elizabeth
Word Count: 593
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
His days are long and boring. His nights are even longer. He is alone always, although he's never truly by himself. In the light of day, he's often lost in a crowd, and he'd much rather be lost anywhere than be alone with the person who's waiting for him at night in a bed whose enormous mattress Will wishes nightly would swallow him so he will not have to endure his wife's advances.
He should have never married Elizabeth, but he is a man of his word. He should never have stayed in this port, but he is a man of his word. He is a man of his word, not a Pirate, but no matter how many times he reminds himself of those facts, or of the fact that the one person in all the seven seas with whom he truly wants to spend his days and nights is a lying cad, it does little no good. Nothing can change the facts.
But sometimes, on the sunnier days, the scent of the sea strikes Will's nose. He turns instinctively toward it, and Elizabeth's constant prattle is lost in the cry of the gulls and the slapping waves. He can hear bells chiming in the distance, hear the flap of sails and the call of a ship and a man's strong voice calling his name.
He can feel Jack. He can almost picture him by his side, one arm slung around his shoulders, as they sail into new adventures. But then Elizabeth tugs at his arm or some one else bumps into his side, and Will is reminded again that he is no Pirate. He's not brave or daring enough to answer the call of adventure.
He's a man of his word, but he's a coward, too. That's why he could never answer the call of Jack's heart to his. That's why to this day and to the day he dies, he will always be a condemned man, condemned by the wedding noose slipped around his neck not so much by the actual status of being a married man but rather because of the one lie he's told and continues to tell, "I love you."
He turns his face into the rising wind so no one will see of hear his soft cries. It's the one lie that will haunt him his whole life, and it wouldn't have been a lie if he'd only dared to say it to the one man for whom he truly felt that way. It wouldn't have been a lie if he'd told Jack. Jack might well have still sailed away without him, but maybe, Will thinks, maybe, had he told the truth that time, too, he might no longer be a condemned man. He might be a happy man, a man every bit as in love as he is now but who might be loved back, as he samples the spoils of the world as a Pirate and lays every night with the Captain of his heart guiding their future together.
But no, he lied, and now, he must pay the price. He must forever endure Elizabeth and Port Royal and never have the treasure for which he truly yearns, never have his beloved Jack. The bells, and the waves, and the seagulls call, but he doesn't hear that one voice he needs calling his name far away. He doesn't hear his Jack, and so he suffers on, heeding only the call of duty, his soul hung even as he smiles at his wife, a condemned man.
The End
