[fic] potc - the husband of the king
May. 8th, 2009 01:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damalurbackupTalking with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arabian inspired me to dust off some of my old Will/Elizabeth fic and repost it. This is the very first PotC piece I wrote, right after I saw the third movie. I still like the concept, even if the execution is a bit, shall we say...melodramatic? ("Ocean & Thorns," I think, is probably a better story, and I *will* finish it someday, she says with determination). I like to think my writing's improved in the interim, too, but who knows.
I also like it when Will does his awesome being-awesome-with-a-sword thing. Just so you know.
TITLE: The Husband of the King
CHARACTERS: Will/Elizabeth, William Turner III
NOTES: Reposted frompapermoon42.
SUMMARY: Elizabeth's crew doesn't think much of their king's husband.
THE HUSBAND OF THE KING
After ten eternal years of ferrying souls, Will Turner is content to be known only as the husband of the pirate lord of Singapore. He picks up Chinese easily enough; after all, he has learned to communicate with the dead souls of a hundred nations. Beyond a few short expeditions with Jack or Hector, his day-to-day life consists of aiding his wife and caring for their son.
He knows that her crew laughs at him. Often they don’t even try to hide their scorn; they revile him nearly as much as they adore Elizabeth. They worship Wim, too; he is apparently untainted by his father’s cowardly blood. Will does not care. He has his wife and his son.
William Turner III—Wim—scowls whenever a pirate scoffs at his father. “My father is braver than you, and a better fighter too,” he yells, but the crew of the Empress writes his words off as the fanciful beliefs of a child. Elizabeth merely laughs whenever her crew jeers at her husband. One time she tells them that he was once captain of his own ship, and watches amusedly as they spin tales of how the husband of the pirate king was overthrown by mutiny.
“Does it bother you when they say things about you?” she asks him one night, as they lay curled in their bunk in the captain’s cabin.
He chuckles in response. “No, Elizabeth. I’m with you and Wim again, forever this time, and I didn’t loose the sea in the bargain. What need have I to be a leader of men?” She traces the long scar across his chest, then flattens her palm over his heart. His pulse is strong and steady, and she believes him.
Li Reed, Mistress Ching’s son, is Elizabeth’s first mate and perhaps the only one among her crew who suspects that there is more to Will Turner than meets the eye. He has heard tales from his mother about a ship crewed by the damned and captained by a man with no heart. Still, when the Empress is attacked by a trio of the British naval ships, the speed and deadliness of Will’s response shocks him.
The three ships come out of the mist one night and take them by surprise; even a captain as attuned to the sea as Elizabeth would be hard pressed to avoid them. They surround the Empress and board her. They do not tear into her with cannon fire, which means they are seeking to capture the ship, her crew, or her cargo intact.
Captain Turner is a whirling typhoon of swords and steel, and although five experienced sailors surround her she holds them at bay. They crew rallies to her, and for a moment they are winning, outnumbered three to one but taking no prisoners.
The turning point comes when a British officer, high ranking from the weight of his gold brocade, shouts from the prow of the ship. He is holding Wim with one hand, and although the twelve-year-old is an able fighter, he is not yet a match for a career soldier. Elizabeth stops fighting for one long minute to watch her son, and in that minute her opponents drag her down.
That is when Will Turner enters the scene. Li Reed and the rest of the men, pirate and sailor alike, can only watch in horror as he battles his way to his family. Reed had thought that Captain Turner was skilled with a blade, but this man is more than dangerous: he is a weapon. In one smooth motion he thrusts the sword in his left hand through a man’s throat, slashes the sword in his right hand across another man’s belly, and reverses his first blade to spear a third man through the groin. He does not pause, does not speak; he merely kills.
Within moments he is in front of his son’s captor, a trail of corpses marking his path to Wim. The boy has taken refuge behind his father, and the officer is perfectly and utterly still as Will’s sword caresses his throat.
“Do you fear death?” Will Turner asks, a merciless expression on his face that Reed cannot reconcile with the loving visage Will normally wears. There is a whisper among the Empress’s pirate crew as they realize exactly what ship Will once commanded.
“Yes,” the officer stutters. His eyes widen in hope.
“Too bad,” Will says, and stabs the man through the heart.
No jests are made about the husband of the pirate king after that.
arabian inspired me to dust off some of my old Will/Elizabeth fic and repost it. This is the very first PotC piece I wrote, right after I saw the third movie. I still like the concept, even if the execution is a bit, shall we say...melodramatic? ("Ocean & Thorns," I think, is probably a better story, and I *will* finish it someday, she says with determination). I like to think my writing's improved in the interim, too, but who knows.I also like it when Will does his awesome being-awesome-with-a-sword thing. Just so you know.
TITLE: The Husband of the King
CHARACTERS: Will/Elizabeth, William Turner III
NOTES: Reposted from
papermoon42.SUMMARY: Elizabeth's crew doesn't think much of their king's husband.
THE HUSBAND OF THE KING
After ten eternal years of ferrying souls, Will Turner is content to be known only as the husband of the pirate lord of Singapore. He picks up Chinese easily enough; after all, he has learned to communicate with the dead souls of a hundred nations. Beyond a few short expeditions with Jack or Hector, his day-to-day life consists of aiding his wife and caring for their son.
He knows that her crew laughs at him. Often they don’t even try to hide their scorn; they revile him nearly as much as they adore Elizabeth. They worship Wim, too; he is apparently untainted by his father’s cowardly blood. Will does not care. He has his wife and his son.
William Turner III—Wim—scowls whenever a pirate scoffs at his father. “My father is braver than you, and a better fighter too,” he yells, but the crew of the Empress writes his words off as the fanciful beliefs of a child. Elizabeth merely laughs whenever her crew jeers at her husband. One time she tells them that he was once captain of his own ship, and watches amusedly as they spin tales of how the husband of the pirate king was overthrown by mutiny.
“Does it bother you when they say things about you?” she asks him one night, as they lay curled in their bunk in the captain’s cabin.
He chuckles in response. “No, Elizabeth. I’m with you and Wim again, forever this time, and I didn’t loose the sea in the bargain. What need have I to be a leader of men?” She traces the long scar across his chest, then flattens her palm over his heart. His pulse is strong and steady, and she believes him.
Li Reed, Mistress Ching’s son, is Elizabeth’s first mate and perhaps the only one among her crew who suspects that there is more to Will Turner than meets the eye. He has heard tales from his mother about a ship crewed by the damned and captained by a man with no heart. Still, when the Empress is attacked by a trio of the British naval ships, the speed and deadliness of Will’s response shocks him.
The three ships come out of the mist one night and take them by surprise; even a captain as attuned to the sea as Elizabeth would be hard pressed to avoid them. They surround the Empress and board her. They do not tear into her with cannon fire, which means they are seeking to capture the ship, her crew, or her cargo intact.
Captain Turner is a whirling typhoon of swords and steel, and although five experienced sailors surround her she holds them at bay. They crew rallies to her, and for a moment they are winning, outnumbered three to one but taking no prisoners.
The turning point comes when a British officer, high ranking from the weight of his gold brocade, shouts from the prow of the ship. He is holding Wim with one hand, and although the twelve-year-old is an able fighter, he is not yet a match for a career soldier. Elizabeth stops fighting for one long minute to watch her son, and in that minute her opponents drag her down.
That is when Will Turner enters the scene. Li Reed and the rest of the men, pirate and sailor alike, can only watch in horror as he battles his way to his family. Reed had thought that Captain Turner was skilled with a blade, but this man is more than dangerous: he is a weapon. In one smooth motion he thrusts the sword in his left hand through a man’s throat, slashes the sword in his right hand across another man’s belly, and reverses his first blade to spear a third man through the groin. He does not pause, does not speak; he merely kills.
Within moments he is in front of his son’s captor, a trail of corpses marking his path to Wim. The boy has taken refuge behind his father, and the officer is perfectly and utterly still as Will’s sword caresses his throat.
“Do you fear death?” Will Turner asks, a merciless expression on his face that Reed cannot reconcile with the loving visage Will normally wears. There is a whisper among the Empress’s pirate crew as they realize exactly what ship Will once commanded.
“Yes,” the officer stutters. His eyes widen in hope.
“Too bad,” Will says, and stabs the man through the heart.
No jests are made about the husband of the pirate king after that.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 06:19 am (UTC)I love your description of Will battling ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 06:55 am (UTC)Will/Elizabeth is a pair I should pay more attention to. This fic proves it.
The execution was great. I can tell this is past work, but that doesn't mean a bad thing.
[Now, does this fall in the trilogy canon? I haven't watched the movie in a while. Not that non-canon would change my opinion, I'm just curious.]
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 04:23 pm (UTC)I like how this is setup. Makes the ending, with Will being kickass like he is and shutting everyone up, a sweet (as in: win) finish. Love it.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-31 12:32 am (UTC)