Sparrow's Bargain
Summary: A different take on AWE. How would the story differ if there had been a different Pirate King? If Beckett couldn't make a deal with Jack and instead tried to hang him? If Norrington objected when he saw his true face and survived instead of dying on the FD? If more enemies were thrown into the fray? Read to find out! Sparrington
The news had reached him as the Flying Dutchman was destroying a few more pirate ships that seemed to be making haste towards some unknown location. Lord Cutler Beckett had made it clear that they are to interrogate every pirate that survives the initial attack but, for the first time since he had joined His Majesty's Royal Navy, Admiral James Norrington could not make the pirates divulge any form of information about this 'Pirate Brethren Court' or the 'Nine Pieces of Eight' Lord Beckett was interested in, even in exchange for their lives. He had been in the middle of interrogating a small Frenchman when Devy Jones, equal measures satisfied and furious, entered the brig to tell him that he was to escort Norrington to a port in the Atlantic where one Captain Jack Sparrow was to be hanged when he arrives to see it.
Norrington had been left to watch after the retreating Captain's back as mixed emotions warred in him. No, he should not be having any mixed emotions regarding Sparrow. None at all. He should not be feeling guilty for taking Jones' heart from the desperate man and leaving him to Jones and the Kraken to meet his fate. He should not have mourned at the news from Lieutenant Groves that reached Port Royal regarding Sparrow's death - dragged to Davy Jones' Locker with his beloved Black Pearl by the Kraken he had been so desperately running from. He should not have felt lonely when he looked out at the horizon, when the sun was setting or rising above the waters, hoping to have all the rumors proven wrong by seeing a black ship with black sails appearing in the distance. He should not have felt relieved when he heard Sparrow was somehow alive again or happy that the man's ship had escaped death with him. He should not have felt dread when the news of his hanging finally registered and just after he had miraculously been returned from the dead. He should not have felt indignant on the pirate's behalf when an official report made it to him, stating that the Pearl had once more made off without her Captain, in that damned Barbossa's command no less, after she escaped from the Endeavor. He should not have been excited to see Sparrow again, nor should he have been eager to hear his voice uttering those stupid phrases of his. Nor should he have felt sickened when he realized he was expected to watch the man die.
Much had changed in the time Sparrow had been dead and one of them was that Norrington no longer held the Royal Navy or the East India Trading Company in as high a regard as he used to. He had lost much of his respect for both after he had resigned from his position of Commodore and had instead settled in Tortuga until he had ran into Jack Sparrow again, but he hadn't realized that until he was back in his stuffy uniform and wig. The stories that circulated the pirate port had opened his eyes to a lot of things regarding the Navy and EITC, but he had not been able to truly see that until he returned to his duty and found the restrictions of his uniform - both metaphorical and literal - unbearable. Brandy no longer tasted right. He found land did nothing to soothe his unease when surrounded by naval officers. He could only fall asleep and truly sleep on a rocking ship. He had to bite back dozens of curses a day. He balked when he saw pirates being hanged - there were children climbing up to the gallows, for God's sake! He found himself wondering why the thought of scrubbing a black deck suddenly felt better than commanding a fleet did. He was jumpier than usual. He no longer sneered at the whores lining the docks they stopped at, instead just nodding to them respectively. Had it not been for that one nice whore in Tortuga, he would have died the first night there, long before Sparrow had came in search for a crew. He had a new respect for those women.
But, most of all, he had realized just how corrupted the Navy and the Company actually were. He had never really paid it much heed, but it had now come to his notice that pirates didn't get a trial at all. They didn't get a chance to plead their case. How had he not noticed that before? He knew Jack Sparrow personally and that man could talk a bullet out of killing him. Jack would have never walked even within five feet of the gallows had he been allowed to plead his case. Women and children who had unknowingly associated with pirates were killed mercilessly. He had stopped two Navy officers just three days ago from indulging themselves with an unwilling woman pirate they captured from one of the ships they had sunk. Smugglers were treated no better than murderers and rapists. There were more desertions from the British Royal Navy than any other marine forces in the Caribbean. Jones was a slave to Beckett himself.
Needless to say, spending time with pirates had allowed James Norrington to see the truth and he found himself sickened.
Learning that Jack Sparrow was to be hanged made him even more sick.
He had ordered Jones to make haste so they could arrive before Beckett. That would give him time to come to a decision about what he will do once he is forced to watch Sparrow step up to the gallows for the second time. He didn't even really pay much attention as his men shouted in panic when the Dutchman sped up. Jones was not allowed to submerge with so many of normal people on the ship but the Flying Dutchman was a magical ship and it took them only three days to arrive in the port that the hanging was to take place. Recalling a certain black ship with black sails and a joyful Captain at her steering wheel, he wondered why he felt smug on Sparrow's behalf that the Black Pearl would have made it in a day less than this supposedly magic ship.
Beckett arrived the next day with the Endeavor.
While the preparations for the gallows were being made, Norrington took Groves to the side, leading him to a pub on one of the poorer streets of the small harbor town whose name James hadn't bothered to remember. He had his Lieutenant tell him everything that happened, including how the Pearl had escaped without her Captain again. Groves had been just as surprised and relieved when he had seen Sparrow alive again, being strangely fond of the pirate and quite obviously admiring his skill and wit and kind heart, so he had been just as horrified when he learned that the man was to hang the very next morning. No one was allowed to see or talk to Sparrow, Beckett obviously aware of Sparrow's charms and ability to charm a wail to not swallow him but instead of taking him to shore, so he wasn't taking any chances. Jack will have a really tough time escaping from this one.
"Sir, what are we going to do?" Groves questioned after a full minute of silence. Around them, the other patrons of the pub were loud and rowdy, enjoying their drinks and gossiping about the 'notorious criminal' that will be executed on the morrow.
"Do, Lieutenant Groves?" The Admiral echoed with an arched eyebrow, looking up from his rum. He had developed a taste for it in Tortuga and now found it far better than brandy or wine. Tastes change, it would seem. Just like people and their perspectives do. Just like roles and outfits do. "Might I remind you that we are officers of his Majesty's Royal Navy and are bound by the law we ourselves are supposed to uphold?"
"But sir-"
"He's a pirate." He cut him off again, although the word pirate once used to be spat out like a poison.
"He's a good man." Groves immediately countered, determined to get his point across. "A good man that had probably saved our lives more than we are aware of. For one, he never attacked any English ships or settlements since he regained his ship. He never killed anyone or raped a woman. He doesn't deserve to just die like this, sir! Come on, James!" He urged, even going so far as to take the Admiral by the shoulders across their table, on the verge of shaking him to get some sense into him. "You yourself admitted that he was better than any other pirate by leagues! You told me about how he treats his crew, how he doesn't kill unless he doesn't have a choice! How he is only trying to survive but how he would never sacrifice his crew for himself. And I heard what the other sailors from the Flying Dutchman are saying, the stories they heard from the cursed crew; how he had stayed behind and faced the Kraken on his ship while the crew rowed away. Surely a man like that can't be lost like this?"
"It's, unfortunately, out of our hands, now, Lieutenant Groves. We can't do anything for Captain Sparrow without dooming ourselves as well." James told him coldly, a firm glare on his face. Didn't Groves understand that he himself wasn't eager to see Sparrow hang? Yes, he had always considered Sparrow no more than an annoyance that needed to be taken care of once and for all, one way or another, but being put in the man's shoes, on his ship, watching that horizon Jack was always looking towards ... It had indeed changed his opinion of the infamous Captain. Yes, he knew Jack Sparrow quite well: he was a pirate, a scalawag, a thief, a liar that actually never quite lied but formulated his words in such a way that let you interpret them however you wished. He was a brave coward who would actually rather not waste human life on meaningless battles and instead of sharp blades use his even sharper tongue. He was a man who knew what he wanted and who wasn't afraid of going after it, even when skeleton pirates that can't die were after him. He was also one of the most loyal men, a devoted friend that should be treasured but was instead too often betrayed by those he called friends because he was so open and ready to trust. You could read all his emotions on his face and in his eyes. For a pirate, he was so strange.
"What if we could, sir?" Theodor inquired. "Lord Beckett said he wanted to speak with Captain Sparrow alone in his cabin to ask him about the Brethren Court and then arrested him right after. The Pearl left a few minutes later. He must have not revealed anything and so Lord Beckett is sentencing him to death."
"He's being sentenced to death because he is a pirate, Theodor." But even as he said it, he felt doubt begin to fester in his chest. He had had a few personal dealings and in depth conversations with Lord Cutler Beckett and what he had once looked over as not his business, his time in Tortuga had taught him that nothing can be overlooked. His dealings with Sparrow taught him to pay attention to everything. And Beckett left him uncomfortable, no matter what their interactions were.
"Just ... Think about it, my friend." The Lieutenant insisted with a sigh, leaning back in his seat. "Do you think he would leave you to your death after you were a part of his crew?"
"I betrayed and tricked him, Theo." James countered with a sigh of his own, although his was closer to a melancholy one than Groves' was. "There is no way he would come for me after that." And he was startled at the regret he felt, as well as the sorrow he got from that thought. He was sure, however, that he more than deserved it to lose whatever respect or regard he had from the pirate. He had, after all, betrayed them all, took the heart of Devy Jones and handed it over to Beckett while leaving Sparrow to his fate. The news of his death by the Kraken had left him confined within his office for two days. And he learned about it from Jones of all people! He had had to resist the strange urge to sock the man right then and there as he boasted around about being the one to finally deliver Jack Sparrow to death's door. He had never thought he would develop such a sense of loyalty towards the man that had essentially ruined both his career and his life.
Although he did acknowledge that Sparrow had a point in regards to William Turner's role in it all. In the end, it didn't really matter. Sparrow had died and Turner was an outlaw. Now Sparrow was alive and Norrington ... Well, he wanted to speak with the man but he knew he wouldn't be getting an opportunity to do that. Everyone knew that Lord Beckett wanted Sparrow to be utterly isolated until it was time to hang him. He shuddered in horror as a thought occurred to him. Did that mean no one had given him any food or water in four days? Was Sparrow even alive still to be hanged?
"Didn't Turner leave him for dead with the crew that had marooned him on a spit of an island in the first place and yet he had still fought for the boy's life?" The other man replied with a slight grin on his face. "And didn't he still protect Miss Swann even after she tricked him and practically delivered him to us on a silver platter? He seems like a loyal friend to me, one anyone would want. Blimey, didn't he only help Turner because he was friends with the lad's father? I think he would have helped you, still, despite you 'betraying' him. Don't pirates do the whole 'do right by yourself' thing?"
"Lieutenant Groves," the Admiral said with clear amusement and mock reprimanding in his tone. "Are you instigating that I am a pirate?"
Groves just grinned, glad to have at least lifted his friend's mood, if only a little. "Wouldn't dream of it, sir." But their humor was short lived as they overheard some of the other patrons of the pub start joking around about the upcoming execution. Norrington glared at a man who used his bandanna to act out the sudden stop that broke the neck while bulging out his eyes and making choking sounds around his stuck out tongue. He felt like going over there and slapping the man or punching him, but this was not Tortuga and he was an Admiral now. Just a couple of years ago, he would have been thrilled with his calling but all he longed for now was the open sea and only one commander to answer to, the freedom to go wherever he wanted and do whatever he pleased without fearing for his good name. Nothing seemed enough now. The brandy wasn't alcoholic enough. His ship didn't sway enough for him to sleep comfortably. His uniform didn't allow enough movement or air. His wig didn't let enough wind through to his real hair. His victories were nowhere near satisfying enough. "Are we really not going to do anything, sir? About Sparrow?"
James hesitated before taking a sip of his ale. Still nowhere near as satisfying as Tortuga's rum - that was some stuff - but it was definitely better than the watered down brandy he had around. He thought it over once more before shaking his head and meeting Theodor's expectant eyes without any expression of his own. He could see the moment the Lieutenant's hope flickered out of his eyes but James didn't change his own expression the tiniest bit.
"I'll speak with Lord Beckett in the morning to perhaps convince him to at least postpone it a bit until someone comes to save Mr Sparrow-"
"Captain," Groves corrected as unconsciously as anyone who had ever heard the man himself protest it time and time again did but Norrington paid him no mind.
"Or he finds a way to save himself. Either way, I believe you are right. We can't just stand by and watch as he hangs. Our jobs would have no meaning without pirates to chase them and I rather like the New World."
"Does this mean?" Theodor didn't finish his excitable question as a smile spread over his face, joy dawning his young face.
"Indeed, Lieutenant Groves." Norrington hid a smirk behind his ale. "It is time for us to be in Mr Turner's shoes and save the notorious Captain Jack Sparrow."
"I'll drink to that!"