One More Taste of Freedom
01 prologue
Disclaimer
: I do not own PotC. The mouse does. Don't sue.Author's Note
: This is my first attempt at fanfiction, but I have seen the movie seventeen times in theatres, so hopefully that will give me a bit of insight. Praise is appreciated, as are suggestions, but flames are generally ignored. Oh yes, this is a Jack / Elizabeth pairing, since there aren't nearly enough stories of that nature. Hope you all enjoy.****************************************************************************************************
For as long as she could remember Elizabeth Swann had been obsessed with pirates. Perhaps it was because as the Governor's daughter she could think of no greater rebellion that becoming fascinated with the very people he spent most of his energy persecuting.
Rebellion was something she craved. A release from her guilded cage, an endless life of restrictive garments and parties where she put on a fake smile and was shown off like a doll. She was treated like a doll. Fragile and unimportant, her only use was to be pretty and please the important people around her. She wanted nothing more than freedom.
She had read once that most merchant sailors who turn pirate do so for that same freedom. From society and its rules. The rules that told they were worth nothing without title or money and a great deal of land. They turned pirate to escape these rules. To take money from the aristocracy that made the rules that bound them. And in a lot of cases, for love of the sea.
When she'd come to Port Royal her obsession had grown. In this city there was almost a daily battle between buccaneers and military. The pirates of the Caribbean were the most infamous. It was her school or piracy, the raids on the town, and sometimes she'd even slip away to talk to the captives in the jail at the fort. Outwardly though, she donned the attire and manner of a wealthy man's daughter. It was her duty. Her silent longing to be free only continued to grow with the unwanted advances of the then Captain Norrington, she could almost taste the forced marriage coming and wanted a way out.
Then Jack Sparrow came on the scene.
For whatever she had told her maids or father, she had never been scared of the pirate. For a very simple reason. He'd saved her. And from what she knew of the pirate's code, she knew that simple act spoke volumes of his character - pirates don't save damsels in distress. She didn't even feel fear when his gun was pressed to her head. She had tried in her own way to protect her rescuer from the gallows, and so if he had his own plans for escape she was happy to help, even if it wasn't the most conventional way. She had put on a good act, calling him despicable and acting offended when he used her first name. But as she watched his daring escape she couldn't help but smirk a bit at the mayhem around her.
That was the day the biggest adventure of her life began.
The adventure that what change everything she knew about pirates.
That had been almost exactly one year ago. And almost as soon as Jack had fallen off the battlement and swam back to his beloved Pearl, her life reverted back to just the way it always had been. Proper. And dreadfully dull.
The difference being that now she had someone to share her longings with. William turner, her fiancée though there was trouble in paradise, after being engaged for year she felt certain that they should already be married. Yet the blacksmith continued to stall. The only reason she could see was that he felt unworthy. She had heard the town gossips talking about how a simple blacksmith could never give her all the things she was used to. That he wasn't good enough for her. And Will, being the docile man he was, simply bowed his head and took their words to heart. They'd talked about it many times, but he always denied her accusations and gave another excuse for waiting.
So she sat in her room, watching the ships come into port and go back out again. She would close her eyes and will that she would be on one of them, sailing for adventure again. But when she'd open them again she was still there, in her mansion. Sometimes she'd even dare pray that the Pearl would return and Captain Jack would come swaggering back into her life. She and Will could know happiness then. When they weren't both bound by expectations.
Jack had written a few times. Never going into any detail about his location, of course, should her father or Norrington come across the letters. To be honest, Elizabeth was a bit shocked that the Captain would write. Sure, they had shared adventure last summer, but she was certain that he'd had more than his fair share of such things in his life and she and Will would in no way hold his favoritism but apparently she was wrong. Though she was puzzled. Jack had surely had many friends come and go from his life in all his years. What made this two special?
There are no heroes amongst thieves.