in which the pirates of the carribean invite you to join them on the high seas.
"there is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold."
XREADER
2017 - 2020
Elizabeth had taken to staring out at the ocean on long summer days like this, days where the sun would glisten against the Caribbean sea and she would remember her days at sea, her days as a pirate. Days long gone and far too few. She had to put that all behind her now.
"Do you miss them?" Commodore James Norrington came to stand next to her and placing his hands on the stone railing, he left the space he knew she liked between his and hers.
"Everyday," Elizabeth said. It had been just over four months since she witnessed the hanging of Jack Sparrow and William Turner for piracy after breaking the curse that brought them all together, "I keep on expecting for them to be right around the corner, waiting for me to take their hand."
Her father offered Elizabeth a deal that had sounded perfect had it been done months before; marry James and live the life predetermined for her. She had said yes to avoid being hung herself and after Will left she doubted she would ever love again. So being married to James, a man who had loved her even when she did not love him, seemed like a good option.
She never really looked at James, until that day, the day James said a few simple words, "Seems like we both are hanging on to our dreams."
Elizabeth turned to her husband with astonishment, he only looked away.
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"I'm sorry," Elizabeth felt guilty for the first time, "I assumed you wanted..."
"To marry you, there was one time I did yes but that was a long time ago Elizabeth, times change. You know that the most." James answered and he leaned his whole body against the stone railing, any further and he would have fallen down to sea.
"Tell me about them." Elizabeth asked.
"My words would never do them justice." James hadn't talked about you aloud since he was forced to say goodbye before his wedding, he had thought about you everyday yet never uttered your name or allowed his thoughts to wonder too much.
"Try, for me. Were they smart, loving?" Elizabeth didn't really want to know, if she knew about you the weight of your potential happiness would always be on her shoulders, but she needed to know.
"Every lover is that," James had to be careful with himself, there was a part of him that was afraid he would begin to cry and that once that began he would never stop, "I do not wish to talk about them."
Elizabeth did not want to press but her care for James ran deep, there were secrets in a marriage that were worth keeping and those that made even unloving pairs better suited to one another.
"I wish to help the man that sleeps next to me each night because there will always be a rift between us but we both need to understand how big it is."
Elizabeth tentatively removed Jame's hat placing it under her arm and torso, she then removed his white wig. She stripped him of his Commodore title leaving him standing as just James, the James that you had loved with all your heart for only the briefest yet most wonderful of times.
James ran his fingers through his short cropped hair, "They were happiness, pure and sweet happiness. Much more then I deserved, much more than I ever could have wished for,"
His bit his lip to stop it from shaking anymore but when Elizabeth didn't reply he carried on, "They're gone now and maybe that is for the best."
"It's hard to always think like that." Elizabeth answered and she thought to William and you, both gone instead of receiving a happy ending.
Elizabeth Norrington hugged her husband tightly, sharing their pain and taking their heartache. Although they would never be united in the way a marriage should unite two people, they would understand each others pain and help them to keep their memory alive.
"I'm sorry that I cannot love you with my whole heart right now."
"I'm never going to expect your whole heart, I think a portion should always belong to them. It's our job to love their memory because it is what they deserve."
James kissed the top of Elizabeth's head and whispered your name to her, she recognised it and hugged James all the harder.
"I'm so sorry James," She replied, "I truly am."
a/n
not dark just SAD
basically don't make me write romance after watching 'call me by your name' especially about James because if I was in the 1730s he would be my lover. but i would most likely be a peasant girl so that rocks.
