Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to POTC, obviously.
A/n: This is a sequel/companion thing to my In A Moment about Will and Elisabeth. Though it should be pretty clear, pretty quick, this one is about James Norrington.
In a moment, the proposal went very wrong.
He thought she was nervous or too hot. Looking back, he should have noticed her obvious discomfort was more than nerves, and he should have been paying attention. He should have caught her when she fainted. He'd been scared himself, too nervous and too hot in his ceremonial clothes to realize what was happening. He was scared to admit how hard he had fallen in love with her over the past few months. He was scared to propose, terrified of her reaction, of receiving her rejection. Then when she fell, he was scared for her life. Scared not only because of the dangerous rocks and water below, but because whoever had dove in after her was not part of the guard. There was a full minute when he stopped breathing before he flew into action.
In a moment, his town was ravaged and burned and all eyes looked to him.
The pirates attacked Port Royal and burned, took and killed as they went. He was left to pick up the pieces, to try and repair Port Royal and to try and push aside his feelings for her. They'd taken her, but his duty was and would always be to his country, to the other officers, to Port Royal. He could not take after her. The blacksmith did.
In a moment, he had to make a critical decision that changed their course forever.
He managed to rescue her, having found her on a tiny island with a certain pirate – thank heaven she was resourceful and determined. Though he wanted nothing more than to return home, jail (and hang!) that filthy pirate, marry her and put the whole ordeal behind them, she would not have it. She needed to rescue the blacksmith. She even agreed to marry him if he agreed to rescue her dear blacksmith. So he used the pirate to find the pirate lair. As they sailed on to find the blacksmith, as he fought a terrible battle with cursed pirates, as he risked so many things only for her desires to be returned, he should have realized: she was never his. Though he would have willingly given her his whole heart in an instant, she only had eyes for the blacksmith. In the end, he let that certain pirate go free, he let the blacksmith have her, and he faded. He regretted it every single day since.
In a moment, his life was flushed down the drain.
He became obsessed. He poured all his energy, all his time, all his money, all his resources into finding that pirate. The pirate who had started it all, who had wrecked it all. He wanted so desperately to put an end to that pirate and so end his own misery. He was convinced he could somehow make things right again if only he could remedy that one mistake and hang that pirate. That was why he ignored the warnings from his crew about the impending storm. He was getting close and he refused to lose his chance at a better life. So he sailed through it, he fought it and he lost. He lost terribly.
In a moment, things finally seemed to fall into place.
It was almost too good to be true. The heart in the chest, the pardon from Beckett, and a way to seem heroic when all he was doing was achieving his own ends and getting his life back. He was no longer some pathetic, bitter, miserable, drunk ex-soldier stinking up a corner of a pub in Tortuga. He had no allegiance to anyone – least of all her, not after she broke his heart. He would never side with the blacksmith or the pirate and he didn't regret stealing the heart and rushing it into the waiting hands of Beckett. It was his ticket to his former honor, his former life and after all the misery he was not for one second about to let it slip by.
In a moment, he wishes he could start over.
It was nothing like he thought it would be. He was an Admiral now, sure. But he might as well have been the lowest ranking soldier for all the good it did him. Beckett still ordered him around like a common slave, made him do his dirty work, clean up after his messes. Besides that, so many of the things Beckett was doing, he did not agree with. His conscious began to get to him, to force him to constantly dwell on the mistakes he'd made, the path that had brought him to this point. He was stuck in a place he never wanted to be yet worked so hard to get to. He and the Governor were in the same boat on this one: they were trapped by their past actions with little hope of escape.
In a moment, he chooses a side once and for all.
When he sees her as the captain of a captured oriental pirate ship, extreme shock doesn't begin to cover it. Her coldness towards him is well deserved after the way he stole the heart, but it hurts nonetheless. He knows he has never stopped loving her. As she is locked up with her crew in the dingy and molding brig below deck, he wants to make it right. He needs to make it right. He knows he cannot erase his past sins but he can finally see which side of this stupid war he wants to succeed. He's been fighting on the wrong side for too long and he finally has the courage and desire to make a change, even a small one. So he unlocks her cell and provides a way for her and her crew to escape.
In a moment, it becomes his last stand.
A member of the Dutchman's crew discovers the escape at exactly the wrong moment and sounds the alarm. He is not worried for himself but for her. He kisses her one last time so she knows how he has always felt. He wants to go with her but knows in an instant that he will never get the chance. The rope is cut, they are away and then the sword is plunged right through his heart.
In a moment…
A moment was all it took before he was gone, knowing he'd finally done something right.
-end-
A/n: Thanks for reading! Reviews are like oxygen. :D