Work Text:
Explosions rattled the houses lining the dingy streets of Talamathia, spraying glass shards and stone over the combatants spilling into the streets and alleyways.
“Will!” Elizabeth called out between parries, searching for her lover.
“Over here!” Will’s husky voice replied from behind an alleyway, clashing swords with his opponent.
Elizabeth raised her sword high and twirled around to face Will's alleyway, slashing through two more dirty pirates intent on gutting her.
Cut, slash, stab, parry. Elizabeth's and Will's swords sang in the air to the four-beat tune of death as they followed each other's voices. Although Will is a master swordsman, he was quickly becoming outmanned. His alleyway is tight with broken building overhangs blocking full range of motion as four more pirates step in front of him, two in the front with two at their flanks, eyeing their prize. Will holds his sword at the ready, eyes flitting between each of the four men, trying to calculate his next move.
Just as the two front men give a battle shout and charge forward, the two men on the flanks gurgle as swords are thrust into their abdomen. Although engaged in combat, Will spares a glace between blades to find Elizabeth emerging from behind the two dead men, yanking her swords out with adrenaline-fueled force. The pair lock eyes, clearly relieved at seeing each other whole and well, but during this moment of distraction, one of Will's attackers finds a lucky slice across his side as he cries out in pain.
Elizabeth lets out her own battle cry as she charges forward, ready to exact revenge on the pirates who dare harm her beloved. Soon, Will finds himself back-to-back with Elizabeth in the deadly game of bombs and sword fighting.
"Did you find the charts?" Will asks as he grits his teeth through the pain pulsating in his side. He knows that with every drop of blood falling onto the rocky ground, his endurance and strength fall with it.
“No, but I know where it is!" Elizabeth growls as she, in unison with Will, shoves their swords into their opponents, ending that stage of the fight, although the pair knows they are far from finished based on the continuing sounds of fighting and blasts coming from outside the alley.
"The governor's house!"
Just as they start running back out into the fray, the entire ground is rocked by a deafening blast where the alleyway intersects with the main road. The force of the explosion sends Will and Elizabeth flying backward as rubble sprays all around them. Will's vision whited out as he landed with a thud and a strangled shout of pain. Fiery sparks of pain laced down his already injured side as he tried to draw breath through his newly broken ribs.
“Will!” Elizabeth coughed amidst the smoke and rubble, struggling to stay standing.
Will opened his mouth in an attempt to respond but could only manage a pained wheeze from his battered body. Soon he felt hands gently gripping the sides of his face as he tried to focus his eyes on the blurry figure crouched beside him.
“Will, you must get up, it won’t take them long to find us here.” Elizabeth’s voice shook as she took in the sight of her battered husband and his pained breaths. “Will, please, you must stand!”
Slowly the blurred edges of Elizabeth’s face came into focus, “I’ll be alright, go, find the charts… I’ll catch up.” He managed to grind out.
Elizabeth looked at her husband for as long as she dared.
“You better.”
And she was gone.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will took a few more moments to try and regulate his breathing with moderate success before gritting his teeth, placing his hand against the wall of a crumbling building and tried to push his body into an upright position. Pained groans escaped his lips as his muscles trembled from the exertion, but somehow managed to get into his desired position. Head bowed and panting through the pain reverberating through his entire body, he braced both hands against the wall and heaved himself up to stand. Black spots danced across his vision as he nearly fell, if not for a slightly dislodged stone sticking out from the wall, giving him something to hold onto. Will simply stood there for a moment, swaying heavily as pained groans and gasps escaped past his lips before slowly stumbling toward the governor's house.
Keep moving. Forward. Forward. Left.
Another boom echoed throughout the streets as Will staggered into a wall from the reverberating impact of the blast, sucking in a pained breath while placing a hand against his bloodied side, trying to stay upright. The governor's house was just a few buildings away; he just needed to make it in there, find Elizabeth, and then he can pass out into a (hopefully) painless oblivion. Will sucked in a rattling breath, as deep as he dared to not disturb his ribs too much, and restarted his staggering journey forward. He doesn't remember unsheathing his sword, but somehow the hilt is in his hand, with the blade imbedded in some unfortunate pirate's flesh, clearing the path to the governor's house.
And then he sees Elizabeth.
The charts clutched in her hands.
And a sword at her throat.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And what do we have here? A darling here to steal my charts?" A man formerly adorned with a posh suit that had since been soiled by the blood of his enemies sneered.
“I wonder what on God’s green earth a pretty lady like you would want with my charts? Surely you haven’t heard of a particular legend?”
Elizabeth shot the governor’s lackeys a defiant glare and stayed silent.
The first lackey glanced at the man holding Elizabeth hostage, "I think if we took her back and had a little fun with 'er, she'll talk."
Hearing this exchange stirred up something feral in Will, granting him the extra strength to stop grasping the support beam he was hiding behind to stay upright. Just as the two men began chuckling and walking off, he made his move. Will gathered the last few remaining fledglings of strength and threw himself forward, his sword piercing the lackey improperly grasping his wife. Elizabeth, without turning around, knew who had dispatched one of her aggressors as she deftly stole the now-dead lackey's sword and quickly speared the other one. She whirled around to check on Will and let out a shocked gasp at her husband's condition. Will's face was haggard and drawn into thin lines from the pain encompassing his body. Blood continued to drip from his injured side and somewhere on his head, staining his formerly white shirt a dark red. He swayed heavily on his feet, body rounded in on itself in the vain attempt to protect his injured side and ribs. Will drew his eyes up to face Elizabeth and swayed forward, like he wanted to walk towards her, but his body could not obey anymore, and his legs buckled underneath him.
“Will!” Elizabeth worriedly exclaimed when she noticed him pitching forward, eyes rolling into the back of his head. His knees hit the floor as she quickly closed the distance between them. She grabbed his shoulders right before his head hit the ground, carefully lowering his shoulders onto her lap.
"Will, hey, hey, Will!" She gently tapped the sides of his face, eliciting a groan from the wounded man.
“That’s it Will, come on, open your eyes. You stay with me, Will, otherwise I’ll find Thanatos and kill you myself! We have the charts; we just need to get back to the ship. Come on.”
The sound of Elizabeth's voice slowly brought Will back from the edge of consciousness he was drifting off on, and he slowly cracked his eyes open. He sucked in another painful, wheezing breath as he braced a hand against the floor, preparing for the painful process of pushing himself up. Before he could continue, Elizabeth took off her overcoat and wrapped it tightly around Will's midsection, eliciting another pained groan.
"Okay, I'm going to help you up. Lean on me, come on, come on," Elizabeth says as she repositions her arms to loop one arm around Will's waist, helping him heave himself upward and trying to ignore the pained gasps and groans escaping his lips. Will leaned heavily against Elizabeth's shoulder, sagging forward but still upright as they began their awkward three-legged race back to their ship and crew. He tries to focus on Elizabeth's whispered words of encouragement – he can't fully make out what she's saying past the pain-induced buzzing in his head, but it gives him an anchor to grasp. Each step comes harder and slower than the last, and almost all of Will's weight rests against Elizabeth once they reach the now nearly empty streets. The few stragglers still engaged in combat are partially obscured by the smoke and crumbled buildings.
As Will and Elizabeth continue their agonizingly slow forward progress, Will's foot catches against a broken brick remnant, once again sending the man to his knees with a pained gasp.
“I… can’t.” He whispers, barely able to get the words out between rattling wheezes. Blood continues to leak out of the wound on his side, having long since stained Elizabeth’s makeshift bandage. Will’s entire body shakes from the effort of avoiding a total collapse, even though he took Elizabeth down in his descent, and her arms are still around him.
“Will!” Elizabeth nearly shrieks. “Will, please, we’re so close. Do you see the Pearl? She’s right there. Just a couple more yards.”
Will slowly raises his head, searching for the Pearl through blurry vision. He quickly closes his eyes and drops his head back down, taking Elizabeth's word for it. He tries to gather himself as Elizabeth continues talking to him. He can't understand what she's saying anymore, but he can hear the panic and worry evident in her voice. Knowing he's caused her such excessive worry hurts worse than any of his injuries. He uses this knowledge for fuel as he, in one last herculean feat of strength, says,
“I’m ready.”
With quick, shallow, wheezing breaths, Will managed to stumble back to his feet. Nearly all his weight leaned heavily into Elizabeth, and their sweat mingled with his blood. They stumbled two more yards toward their ship before Will's body finally gave out, collapsing in a heap onto the cobbled ground, Elizabeth being the only thing softening his fall and reducing further injury. Thankfully, Mr. Gibbs spotted them, noticing their haggard condition, and came running down to offer aid over the last yard. He and Elizabeth gently picked up Will's limp form and carried him onto the Pearl, shouting orders for the rest of the crew to prepare the medbay.