Ch. 1 - Robin's POV
I never understood Lizzie's fascination with pirates. I'd been her friend since the two of us could remember and her favorite thing to talk about was pirates. She would drag me to countless bookstores in Port Royal to read about them and beg her father to take her to pirate hangings. Though she would always turn away before they dropped. Governor Swann never understood why she wanted to go see them be hanged so badly if she never watched it actually happen, but I knew why. She only wanted to see pirates in the flesh.
I myself neither hated nor adored pirates. Though I went along with Lizzie's ridiculous whims, my parents as well as Lizzie's father hated them to the core, and I suppose I absorbed both that hate and Lizzie's love for the people. Although I felt nothing for pirates I immediately jumped at Lizzie's invitation to sail with her and her father along with the Royal Navy when we were young. I never got many chances to sail the seas but when I did I absolutely loved it. Of course, my family was to sail along behind us when we made the crossing to England, but Elizabeth wanted me to be with her once we got to Port Royal. I never got many chances to ride on a ship but when I did there was no one I would rather do it with than Lizzie. I loved the feeling of the sea air blowing through my hair and the slight bob of the ship on the waves. Lizzie was hoping to run into some pirates, but I only wanted to be on the sea.
Well... I guess you could say that was one of the reasons I wanted to go on the same ship as her. Lizzie promised me that Lieutenant Norrington would be aboard the Dauntless. Although I was only 13 years old I had acquired a bit of a crush on the Lieutenant and Lizzie knew of it. Even though the man was years older than me I couldn't help but childishly daydream about the life the Lieutenant and I could have together.
Yes, this voyage was a chance to get to see Lieutenant Norrington again, but I will never forget who we found out at sea that day. A pirate boy. A pirate boy who changed all our lives.
On said day, Lizzie and I stood, arm in arm, at the bow rail singing quietly. It was a pirate song Lizzie had learned and insisted upon teaching to me so we could sing it together.
"Drink up me hearties yo ho... We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot. Drink up me hearties yo ho... Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me... We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack. Drink u-" I felt a hand grab my shoulder and I gasped with Lizzie as we turned to a worried looking Gibbs.
"Quiet, you two! Cursed pirates sail these waters. You don't want to bring them down on us now, do you?"
I gasped again as I heard the strong voice of Lieutenant Norrington. "Mr. Gibbs. That will do." Gibbs turned around giving me and Lizzie view to the Lieutenant standing before us. My heart fluttered at how official and commanding the Lieutenant looked in his uniform. Standing next to him was Lizzie's father, Governor Swann.
Stepping to Lieutenant Norrington Gibbs told him, "They was singing about pirates. Bad luck to be singing about pirates, with us mired in this unnatural fog, mark my words."
"Consider them marked." I squeezed Lizzie's hand as Norrington turned his head away making him look regal and daring as he commanded Gibbs, "On your way."
"Aye, Lieutenant." Gibbs walked past Norrington as he muttered. "It's bad luck to have women on board, too... even miniature ones."
"I think it'd be rather exciting to meet a pirate." Elizabeth admitted. I nudged her side and gave her a wide-eyed look as she looked back at me, confused.
I looked up at the Lieutenant as he smiled. "Think again, Miss Swann." The Lieutenant stepped next to us and looked out over the railing. I studied his gloved hands that he held tightly behind his back. How I had the urge to reach up and grab one of them just to feel their warmth. "Vile and dissolute creatures the lot of them. I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves." The Lieutenant looked down at us with a smile. "A short drop and a sudden stop."
The Lieutenant turned fully to us and focused his attention on me. I heard Lizzie gasp about something while I held my breath. "And what do you think of pirates, Miss Asher?"
"I've nothing against them nor for them, Lieutenant." I answered, blushing at the squeak I could hear in my voice. It was Lizzie's turn to nudge my side and when I looked to her she had a knowing smile on her face.
"Shut it." I murmured to her as Governor Swann walked up to us.
"Lieutenant Norrington, I appreciate your fervor but I'm... I'm concerned about the effect this subject will have upon my daughter and her friend."
"My apologies, Governor Swann." Norrington walked away and I looked after him as Lizzie talked to her father.
"Actually, I find it all fascinating."
"Yes, that's what concerns me." Governor Swann told Lizzie and walked off.
Lizzie and I turned, still arm and arm, to look over the railing. "The Lieutenant talked to you." She teased. "He asked you what you thought of pirates!"
I nudged her side again and smiled despite my embarrassment. "Be quiet, he was only continuing the conversation at hand and trying to prove a point to you."
"And what point would that be?" Lizzie asked.
"That pirates are not something a twelve year old girl should be interested in. Especially the Governor's daughter!"
Lizzie rolled her eyes at me and again turned to the sea. "Rin... what's that?" She asked.
"What?" I asked and looked to where she was looking but I saw nothing.
"There. Right there." Lizzie pointed and I saw an umbrella floating in the water. I giggled at the thought of a woman in a beautiful dress and bonnet floating along inside the umbrella, stranded from a shipwreck.
"Robin, look!" Lizzie gasped and frantically patted my arm. I looked to where she was pointing and saw a boy lying on his back on a piece of wood.
"Look! A boy, there's a boy in the water!" Lizzie shouted to her father.
Everyone hurried to the railing and looked over to see the boy. "Man overboard!" Norrington yelled. "Man the ropes, fetch a hook. Haul him aboard." Lizzie and I watched as they pulled the boy to the Dauntless and picked him up from the wood and carried him aboard. "He's still breathing." Norrington confirmed once he examined the boy.
"Mary, mother of God." I heard Gibbs gasp in awe and I turned with Lizzie to see the remains of a burning ship.
It seemed I was right about the shipwreck part.
"What happened here?" Governor Swann asked.
"It's most likely the Powder Magazine. Merchant vessels run heavily armed." Norrington answered.
"A lot of good it did them. Everyone's thinking it, I'm just saying it. Pirates." Gibbs said.
Lizzie's father laughed. "There's no proof of that. It was probably an accident."
I walked with Lizzie over to the boy. He was an olive skinned boy with deep brown hair and dark eyelashes. He was still unconscious.
"Rouse the Captain immediately." I heard Norrington command. "Heave to and take in sail. Launch the boats."
"Lizzie, what are they doing?" I asked as we walked to her father.
"They're going to check the wreckage and see if there's anyone left." she answered.
"Elizabeth, I want you to accompany the boy. He'll be in your charge. Take care of him." Lizzie's father told her once we approached him. Lizzie nodded and pulled me along to where some of the crew had moved the boy.
Lizzie reached over him and stroked his hair. Suddenly the boy gasped and gripped Lizzie's arm.
"It's okay..." Lizzie gulped. "My name's Elizabeth Swann."
Panting the boy answered, "W-Will Turner."
"I'm watching over you, Will." Lizzie told the boy with a smile. Will's eyes fluttered and he slipped back into unconsciousness.
I noticed a medallion dangling from the pocket of Will's shirt and I pointed. "What's that?"
"Hm?" Lizzie asked and seeing the medallion she picked it up and pulled it from his pocket to reveal that it was a necklace. The medallion was gold and had a skull on it. "He's a pirate!" Lizzie said in awe.
"Has he said anything?" Lizzie and I gasped and whipped around to see Norrington and much of the crew watching us.
Lizzie held the medallion behind her back and answered, "His name's William Turner. That's all I found out."
"Take him below." Norrington commanded and walked away. Lizzie pulled me aside to let the crew take Will. She pulled me back to the bow rail so we could look at the medallion in private.
"Do you think that's real gold?" I asked as she held it up.
"Of course it's real gold. No pirate would carry around fake gold." She answered as if this were obvious.
"Lizzie..." I pointed ahead in astonishment.
Elizabeth lowered the medallion to see a ship with black sails sailing deeper into the fog. It had a pirate flag.
Will stayed mostly unconscious throughout the voyage. What little times he did rise Lizzie and I would feed him but we could only get one or two things in before he fell back asleep. Once we reached Port Royal again it was brought to Governor Swann's attention that something would have to be done about the boy. Mr. Brown, the town's blacksmith, volunteered to adopt him. Elizabeth tried countless times to steal away to go see William but was never successful. She would only ever get the chance to see him when William brought a new sword or other items Mr. Brown forged to the house.
Over the years Elizabeth's fascination with pirates slowly ebbed away until nothing was left but hatred, considering that no one around her shared her love for the people. Though I was ultimately happy about this I was also sad, because Elizabeth now had nothing exciting to talk about that could ignite that fire in her eyes the way talking about pirates did.
Also, over the years, although I tried my best to deny it, my crush, though rather love now, for Norrington only grew. And it burned with pain every time I saw his eyes linger a moment too long on Elizabeth at social gatherings and engagement parties. It was at these parties that I, now at the age of twenty one, would childishly imagine my own engagement party to the Lieutenant and how much more extravagant it would be.
Yes, Norrington's love for my best friend burned like fire but I always held onto that little beacon of hope as I knew, though Elizabeth never admitted it, that she was in love with William Turner. It was evident from the moment she stroked his wet hair upon the Dauntless that he had stolen her heart and he wasn't even conscious for it! I, myself, had dozens of suitors waiting and hoping to marry me, but every time the subject came up I would change it. I wanted to get married, yes, of course, but I only wanted to marry Norrington. In my eyes the Lieutenant was the perfect picture of what a Royal Navy officer, and man, could only ever hope to be.
Elizabeth's POV
My eyes flew open as my dream ended. I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't twelve years old and aboard the Dauntless with Robin but rather 20 and in my bedroom. I turned up the fire in the oil lamp on my bedside table and went to my dressing table. I pulled out the top drawer completely and it revealed the medallion. The same medallion that Robin and I found on Will that day when we were young. I thought to myself as I stood in front of my mirror and put the medallion on.
I'll never forget that day... The day I met William Turner. I'll never know what it was about him that drew me to him. Perhaps it was the same thing that drew Rin to Norrington. Hm... Robin Asher and Lieutenant Norrington. They would be lovely together. The Lord knows that she's absolutely crazy about him. Though what she sees in him I haven't the faintest. I only wish that what James saw in me he would see in Rin. Ever since she met him when she was 9 and I was 8 Rin had a crush on the Lieutenant. She liked to pretend that she didn't feel that way now but I knew that her love had only grown stronger for him. I also knew how much it hurt her whenever James would court me.
Suddenly I heard a booming knock on my door, snapping me from my thoughts.
"Elizabeth?" It was my father! If he saw the medallion and got it out of me that I found it on Will he will have Will hanged! I jumped up in my haste to grab my dressing gown and knocked over a chair. "Are you all right?" I heard my father ask. I pulled the dressing gown on and hid the medallion inside my nightgown. "Are you decent?" Came my fathers voice again.
"Yes-yes!" I called out.
My father opened my bedroom door, and in came two of the maids with him.
"Ah, still abed at this hour? It's a beautiful day!"
Estrella pulled the curtains of my window back to reveal Port Royal. I closed my eyes in surprise at the sudden burning brightness of the day.
"I have a gift for you." My father announced and opened up a box the maid had been carrying.
I gasped and picked the dress that lay inside up and out of the box. "Oh, it's beautiful!"
"Isn't it?" My father asked.
"May I inquire as to the occasion?"
"Does a father need an occasion to dote upon his daughter?" My father asked. I thought for a second and took the dress behind the dressing area of my room with Estrella and the other maid following me. "Actually, I, um... I had hoped you might wear it to the ceremony today."
"Ceremony?" I asked from behind the screen.
"Captain Norrington's promotion ceremony."
Remembering that there was a ceremony at all I peeked my head around the screen to look at my father. "I knew it."
"Commodore Norrington..." My father sounded uncomfortable. "He's about to become... a fine gentleman, don't you think?"
Yes, Commodore Norrington is a fine man but a man that I am not in love with but rather Rin! I wanted to shout at my father but I knew I couldn't tell him this. Rin had sworn me to secrecy when we were young that I never tell anyone, so instead I kept quiet.
"He fancies you, you know." Again I wanted to scream at my father but I kept mum. "Elizabeth? How's it coming?"
"It's difficult to say..." I admitted to my father as Estrella began cinching up the laces on my corset.
"I'm told it's the latest fashion in London."
I held my breath as Estrella cinched up the laces tighter. "Well, women in London must've learned not to breathe."
Estrella finally finished lacing up the corset and I took a breath, causing the corset to tighten all around me, nearly breaking my ribs under the pressure. I winced as the Butler came and called my father away. Estrella and the other maid let themselves out and I was left alone to finish getting ready.
As I stood in front of my mirror and set the little hat I was to wear on my head I thought again.
Robin never liked to admit it. Never wanted to get in the way once it became evident that James fancied me. So, she just put on a smile and pretended to be happy for me. I knew her better than she thought. I'd known her since we were babes! We spent nearly every available moment together and I noticed at parties how she would always try and scrape up a bit more time to dance with the Commodore as she could get before he came and stole me away from whomever I'd been with.
Satisfied with the way I looked I made my way to the landing above the foyer. I stopped in surprise when I saw Will.
"Ah, Elizabeth, you look absolutely stunning."
I ignored my father and only looked at William as I came down the stairs. "Will! So good to see you!" I stood in front of him as I admitted, "I had a dream about you last night."
"About me?"
"Elizabeth, is it entirely proper for you to-?"
I ignored my father again and continued. "About the day we met. Do you remember?"
"How could I forget, Miss Swann?" I rolled my eyes. Will was always one for formalities when I only wanted things to be casual between us.
"Will, how many times must I ask you to call me 'Elizabeth'?"
"At least once more, Miss Swann, as always." Will answered.
"There, see. At least the boy has a sense of propriety. Now, we really must be going." My father took a case from the table to the side of us and handed it to one of the servants.
Obviously Will still didn't want to be casual so... "Good day, Mr. Turner." I straightened my back, gathered up my skirts, and followed my father out of our front door.
I got into the carriage waiting to take us to the ceremony after my father himself got in. Not able to help myself, as the carriage began striding away, I stuck my head out to look at Will as he still stood at the front door of our mansion.
I sat back as my father began talking. "I do hope you demonstrate a little more decorum in front of Commodore Norrington. After all, it's only through his efforts that Port Royal has become at all civilized, hm?"
Annoyed at my father and his accusation that I was being improper I asked, "I trust that we will still be getting Robin to come to the ceremony as well?"
"Honestly, I do not understand why you prefer Robin to ride over with us! It's not as if her family won't be attending the ceremony as well!"
I rolled my eyes and looked away from my father. We continued the ride in silence until we arrived at the Asher mansion.
Okay, so first chapter, obviously not too far into Robin's point of view but it'll pick up in the next chapter I promise so please keep reading!