Shackles
Characters: Governor Swann, Elizabeth, Jack and Will
Rating: PG-13
Spoiler(s): Through AWE
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: I don't own them; the characters belong to Disney, etal. No infringement is intended.
Governor Swann POV
He thinks he should be elated.
Elizabeth is going to marry the man that he's chosen for her. Out of all her suitors, and there were many, Commodore Norrington was the one he'd wanted for her.
He doesn't look too closely as to the whys and wherefores of her betrothal, resolutely ignoring the knowledge that his daughter offered herself in marriage in exchange for saving young Will Turner's life.
James is a fine man, he tells himself. Honorable, young, handsome.
She will live comfortably, and have the protection of Norrington's position in society. He will treat her well, make her a good husband.
So why does he feel as if she's shackled herself to a regrettable fate? Why does she look like she's barely breathing?
Elizabeth POV
The snap of the shackles locking into place will reverberate forever in her memory, and her dreams, she thinks.
She relives the moment over and over in her head, twisting it all around, looking at it anew from every angle. But she still doesn't know what she'd do differently.
She remembers a line from an old sermon, that it is better that one should die than all should perish.
She doesn't know if that's true.
She'd weighed the balances ... Jack alone, or Jack and them all.
Shuddering at the memory of the kraken's tentacle dragging her to her death, she'd made the choice.
And the shackles of a terrible guilt snapped closed around her own soul as well.
Jack POV
The irony is not lost to him.
Will Turner now has what he himself had wanted so badly. He'll sail the seas forever, able to go beyond the edge of the map, free from death itself.
Seeing him lying on the deck of the Dutchman, impaled by Jones' blade, a distraught Elizabeth hovering over him like some guardian angel whose wings had been clipped, he'd hesitated, and then moved to Will's side to help him stab the heart.
He'd saved the boy from death ... and in doing so, shackled him to eternal indentured servitude to Calypso and destiny, only able to see his wife once every ten years.
He wonders, now, if he'd done the right thing. And he wonders what shackles he, himself, has escaped.
Rating: PG-13
Spoiler(s): Through AWE
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: I don't own them; the characters belong to Disney, etal. No infringement is intended.
Governor Swann POV
He thinks he should be elated.
Elizabeth is going to marry the man that he's chosen for her. Out of all her suitors, and there were many, Commodore Norrington was the one he'd wanted for her.
He doesn't look too closely as to the whys and wherefores of her betrothal, resolutely ignoring the knowledge that his daughter offered herself in marriage in exchange for saving young Will Turner's life.
James is a fine man, he tells himself. Honorable, young, handsome.
She will live comfortably, and have the protection of Norrington's position in society. He will treat her well, make her a good husband.
So why does he feel as if she's shackled herself to a regrettable fate? Why does she look like she's barely breathing?
Elizabeth POV
The snap of the shackles locking into place will reverberate forever in her memory, and her dreams, she thinks.
She relives the moment over and over in her head, twisting it all around, looking at it anew from every angle. But she still doesn't know what she'd do differently.
She remembers a line from an old sermon, that it is better that one should die than all should perish.
She doesn't know if that's true.
She'd weighed the balances ... Jack alone, or Jack and them all.
Shuddering at the memory of the kraken's tentacle dragging her to her death, she'd made the choice.
And the shackles of a terrible guilt snapped closed around her own soul as well.
Jack POV
The irony is not lost to him.
Will Turner now has what he himself had wanted so badly. He'll sail the seas forever, able to go beyond the edge of the map, free from death itself.
Seeing him lying on the deck of the Dutchman, impaled by Jones' blade, a distraught Elizabeth hovering over him like some guardian angel whose wings had been clipped, he'd hesitated, and then moved to Will's side to help him stab the heart.
He'd saved the boy from death ... and in doing so, shackled him to eternal indentured servitude to Calypso and destiny, only able to see his wife once every ten years.
He wonders, now, if he'd done the right thing. And he wonders what shackles he, himself, has escaped.