Since my collaborative fic with DPSG1 is depressing me beyond words (ahh, the lack of reviews), I decided to write a fic to match. Hopefully you'll like it!
I'm a complete failure.
The thought brushed a tendril across his mind as he saw the gleam of the sword. It raced toward his heart like a shaft of twilight, barreling its way past the bits of suspended dust. Suddenly, as if the light had broken past time and space and through to another dimension, everything stopped. He couldn't even blink an eye, but the thoughts inside him swarmed to the surface.
Admiral Norrington was realizing moments before his death that he had failed. In every notable aspect, really. The idea of it alone nearly stopped his heart before the blade did, but feelings of self-worthlessness continued to torture him, driving him mad.
He had wanted to be an admiral worth remembering. An admiral with morals and a state of mind no one dared shake, yet he was to end his life as a pirate, a scallywag even, who gambled away his honor like expendable tokens. He had been manipulated and used as a common tool. He wanted to shout the accusation of worthlessness away. How keen the pain is when the person you wanted to be was in fact someone else! And to betray that someone else, no, the entire Royal Navy!
If that wasn't enough, he had failed horribly in the area of love. Will Turner was a stud next to him, a lowly, powdered-wigged man who doted on the impossible dream. A pirate had a better chance than he did in capturing the mind of Elizabeth Swann. She was like a friend who cast him away as an expected possession. His devotion to her was always present and therefore, easily expendable and ignored. It was also much too convenient, and human nature rejected convenience of any sort. Which explained her attraction to the lowly blacksmith.
And now he had failed in protecting his own life, the only thing of value he possessed. He knew that the sword was no dull blade, and if it were, the henchman would stab all the harder. Can a man fail in protecting himself? He definitely could if his name was Norrington.
Then from the ocean rose a shriek that tore through his reverie. His name was shouted, the sound lifting his heart. From the veil of his mind lifted the picture of Elizabeth, her dark hair as wet as her eyes, her lashes dripping with salt water. For the briefest moment, he believed there might have been a connection between them, wrought by a single syllable. He had never known his name could be a form of intimacy. And if Turner wasn't such a dunce as he looked, she would remain safe.
When his mind finally accepted this, the sword flew forward. But Norrington, failed admiral, lover, protector, smiled.
Perhaps he had to fail so another could win.
A little short, yes, but I have piano to play soon Please review! It's always nice to give a fic and receive input back. Thanks!