So please please please help vote on casting choices for Lydia and Alice.
Lydia: Katie McGrath or Jaimie Alexander
Alice: Sahara Ray, Alexis Ren, or Lily James
Let me know what you all think of this chapter. We still have one more chapter for Curse of the Black Pearl before I start the brief Interlude. Thank you all for your support and remember to review/fav/subscribe!
Lydia didn't speak once she stepped onto the Dauntless, other than the required, "Yes, I'm fine" and "No, I'm not hurt." It did not escape her notice that her greeting was one of concern and relief, while Elizabeth and Alice were practically scolded like small children. Lydia saw Kitty poke her head out of the Captain's cabin and motion for Lydia to enter. Lydia walked over to the cabin and shut the door behind her as she entered. She wanted to be alone, more than anything, but Kitty's company was always pleasant to have.
"I'm so glad you're alive, Lyddie," Kitty said as she hugged her sister. "But your expression tells me you're not alright." Kitty pulled away from the hug and sat down with her sister, lightly stroking her hair. "You can always come to me if you wish to confide in someone. Elizabeth and Alice explained everything to me." Lydia let out a very faint smile and nodded, wiping away a single tear that threatened to fall. The door suddenly opened and Governor Swann entered the cabin.
"Lydia, thank God," he breathed out. He sat down on Lydia's other side and hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you're safe." Lydia hugged her father back and closed her eyes. She had thought she'd never see her father again. She'd thought she'd never see her sisters again either. She thought she'd never see Port Royal either. Yet now that all those she had missed and never thought to see again were within sight, she couldn't feel happy about it. She felt cold and numb.
She felt nothing.
Lydia couldn't seem to find any way to feel happy or relieved at her rescue. She didn't even realize she had started crying. Her father and sister undoubtedly thought her tears stemmed from relief rather than mourning. "We're already heading back to Port Royal. We should be there in a week." Lydia nodded and said absolutely nothing.
I've rendered ye mute, then? she heard the voice of Barbossa ask mockingly. She let out a ghost of a laugh and wiped away some of her tears. She supposed that the now-dead pirate Captain had rendered her mute in a sense. His memory would linger in her mind for many years to come; of that Lydia was entirely certain. "Are you alright, Lydia?" she heard her father ask. Lydia shook her head and wiped a few more tears from her eyes.
"No, Father," she said. "I'm not. Not in the slightest."
"What happened on that ship?" he asked.
Lydia let out a laugh and shook her head. So much had happened in so little time. It felt as if the day of Commodore Norrington's promotion ceremony had been centuries ago rather than a mere month ago. She wasn't a meek little noblewoman anymore. She was a Nereid now. She had experienced the supernatural and experienced finding and losing love. She'd seen and experienced horrors no one could even imagine. She'd been shot in the shoulder and lived. She'd seen death and experienced death as well. She'd grown so much in the last month. So much, in fact, that she could hardly recognize the naive young woman that she used to be in Port Royal. She wasn't sure how she was going to handle the return to a life of privilege, rules of propriety, and games of high society. So much had happened to her that she had no idea where to begin or what to say to her father.
All she could really do was shrug and say, "I fell in love, Father. And then I lost him."
Her father pulled her into another hug and held her as she sobbed onto his silk coat. He said nothing as he stroked his daughter's back. Lydia knew that he should be judging for falling in love with a pirate. She knew she should be reprimanded for the path her heart wanted her to follow. Yet her father did nothing. A silence hung in the room as Lydia cried and her sister and father comforted her.
Lydia knew she would never again be the same person that she was before.
It had been a week and a half since Alice had last seen Jack Sparrow.
And now she would finally see his face again, only to watch him die.
Life was a cruel mistress indeed.
Alice stood with her father, her sisters, and Commodore Norrington in the back of the courtyard of Fort Charles. As the daughter of the Governor, she was of course required to dress like a lady... which included a dress. Luckily, she was allowed to wear a very simple white gown with light lilac stripes. She would have worn black, but that would have given away her relationship to Jack Sparrow, something that would shame her father immensely. Plus, she had already promised Jack that she wouldn't get herself into any more trouble by revealing her feelings for him. Yet she couldn't stop herself from wearing the string of black pearls Jack had given her back at the Isla de Muerta. It took everything in her power to stop herself from crying in that moment.
Lydia stared blankly ahead at the gallows, her face cold and void of emotion. She wore a simple green gown... a green almost exactly the color of the apples Hector Barbossa apparently coveted. This was more than likely her subtle way of paying tribute to the pirate she'd fallen for. Kitty wore a similar expression of stoniness and shook her head. She donned a gown of robin's egg blue, a color that worked extremely well for her. Alice knew Kitty was just as upset about this execution as Elizabeth and Lydia. From what Alice had heard, Kitty did everything in her power to try and change the sentence for Jack Sparrow. She'd begged Commodore Norrington to have mercy on Jack Sparrow. After all, he'd helped save Lydia and Elizabeth. But the Commodore could not spare him from execution. He was bound by the law, according to Kitty.
In Alice's opinion, it was a load of bullshit.
The monotonous drumming began and Jack Sparrow emerged from the prisons. His hands were bound and there was a guard on either side of him, ensuring he didn't escape. Alice bit her lower lip and shook her head. She wasn't sure she could watch this. She wasn't sure she could handle watching this. But she had to. She had no choice in the matter. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Lydia looking at her, her eyes full of concern. An official stepped up by the gallows and unrolled a scroll containing his crimes and sentence.
"Jack Sparrow, let it be known that you have..." the official read.
"Captain," Alice muttered. "Captain Jack Sparrow." Luckily, no one but Lydia appeared to hear her.
"...for your willful commission of crimes against the crown," the official continued, as the drummers drum on. That stupid pattern was going to haunt Alice for the rest of her life, she knew it. "Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith. Piracy, smuggling-"
"This is wrong," Elizabeth said.
"I agree," Kitty said, looking up at Norrington. "Was there truly nothing that could be done?" James Norrington looked down and said nothing, answering Kitty's question clearly with his silence.
"Commodore Norrington is bound by the law," Governor Swann said. "As are we all." Alice held back a snort of disgust. That was cheap excuse for sentencing a good man to die.
"Impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England-" Jack seemed to smile at that one, earning himself a harsh glare from the executioner. Alice let out a smile and shook her head. He was still proud of his adventures, even as he stood on the brink of certain death. "Sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness." As the crimes Jack had committed were read off, Alice caught the sight of something blue and gold flying through the air.
The parrot landed on a banner being held by Mullroy and promptly pooped on his shoulder. Alice let out a faint smile and widened her eyes. That was Cotton's parrot... and if that parrot were here, then... Then the Black Pearl was in Port Royal. Jack had a chance of being saved! She held back her excitement and glee and scanned the crowd. Will emerged from the crowds and stood before the Swann family and Commodore Norrington. "And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul," the official read.
"Governor Swann, Commodore, Miss Swann, Miss Swan, and Miss Swan," Will greeted with a curt nod to each. When he looked at Alice he gave her a second nod and looked towards the parrot. He was in on whatever rescue was being planned for Jack. "Elizabeth," Will said, at last, passion evident in his voice. "I should have told you every day from the moment I met you. I love you."
Governor Swann turned to Elizabeth in shock, and Elizabeth dropped her jaw ever so slightly. Will turned away and disappeared into the crowd as the noose was placed around Jack's neck. Elizabeth's eye darted to the side and she saw Cotton's parrot flying away. Alice and Elizabeth exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Will shoved his way through the crowds, eliciting shouts of annoyance from the townspeople of Port Royal.
"Marines!" Commodore Norrington shouted when he realized something was happening. Elizabeth looked around and then began to furiously fan herself.
"I can't breathe!" she gasped. She fell backwards and pretended to faint.
"Elizabeth!" Alice shouted. She knelt down to her sister as Governor Swann and Commodore Norrington rushed to her aid. The townsfolk screamed as Will drew his sword from his belt. The executioner grabbed the lever that would send the floor flying from Jack's feet.
"Move!" she heard Will shout above the scream of terror. When the bottom of the scaffold fell, Will threw his sword, embedding it right where Jack's feet could balance on it, sparing him from suffocation. Will ran up to the scaffold, drawing a second sword as Elizabeth sat up, watching the scene. It was now clear to Governor Swann that she had faked the fainting spell. Alice watched as Will's sword clashed with the executioner's axe. Jack was frantically trying to balance on the thin, metal sword beneath his feet. Alice wanted to run up and do something, but she was unarmed and wearing a dress.
Norrington now had a group of marines behind him as he charged to the gallows. Will's sword was knocked out of his hand by the axe, but the executioner mistakenly cut the rope tied around Jack's neck, effectively freeing him. He fell down and cut the rope around his wrists with the sword. Will shoved the executioner onto Norrington, delaying him for a minute.
Jack removed the rope from his neck and threw the other end of it to Will. The held out the rope and ran towards a group of three marines. The marines hit the rope and fell to the ground. They used the rope to trip around two marines, who flipped forward and landed on their backs. They wrapped the rope around yet another two marines and pulled them hard against a pillar, knocking them out. Alice ran to where the fighting was happening and watched as Jack and Will fled from the marines with perfect unison. They ended up by the parapet that Elizabeth had fallen from over a month ago, only to be surrounded by a flock of marines and their bayonets. Alice appeared behind her father and Commodore Norrington, who held out his sword to Will's chest.
"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt but not from you," Commodore Norrington said, his voice low and his face stern. The rest of Alice's sisters had appeared behind Governor Swann by now.
"On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency. And this is how you thank me?" Governor Swann asked. "By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!"
"And a good man!" Will argued, throwing down the sword he'd taken from another marine. Alice looked at Jack, who met her eye and nodded, as if telling her to come with him should they escape. As if he needed to silently ask her such a thing... "If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear."
"You forget your place," Norrington growled.
"It's right here, between you and Jack," Will said. Elizabeth marched forward and linked her arm with Will's.
"As is mine," Elizabeth said. Alice walked forward as well, her head held high and her eyes brimming with bravery.
"And mine," she said, taking a place next to Elizabeth. She looked defiantly into the eyes of Commodore Norrington. She saw Lydia let out a faint smile and a nod. She understood perfectly what Alice was feeling right now.
"Elizabeth! Alice!" Governor Swann gasped. "Lower your weapons." When no one lowered their bayonet, Governor Swann furrowed his brow and shouted, "For God's sake put them down!"
"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Commodore Norrington asked them.
"It is," Elizabeth said.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Alice questioned. She looked up and saw Cotton's parrot sitting on the wall. She nodded upwards briefly, to try and get Jack to notice the bird as well. She turned to him and smirked when he saw the bird.
"Well," Jack said, stepped out from behind Elizabeth and Will. "I'm actually feeling rather good about this." He walked up to Governor Swann and basically breathed into his face. Governor Swann recoiled, apparently disgusted by the smell of his breath. "I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually… Ecumenically… Grammatically?" He swaggered over to Commodore Norrington and smirked. "I want you to know that I was rooting for you, mate. Know that." He turned to Elizabeth and shrugged. "Elizabeth. It never would have worked between us darling. I'm sorry." Elizabeth furrowed her brow in confusion and looked up at Alice. Alice merely shrugged and watched Jack. He turned Lydia, whose face was still rather cold. "Lydia. I just wanted to apologize. But it had to be done. I hope you understand that." She looked down and nodded ever so slightly. "Will! Nice hat," Jack said with a glance towards Will.
He finally turned to Alice and smiled. "Alice. Alice, Alice, Alice," he said. "I think you know what I'd say to you." Alice nodded and laughed. Jack ran up to the parapet and stood on the edge. "Friends! This is the day that you will always remember as the day that-" Jack didn't get to finish that sentence, however. He fell backwards off the ledge and into the waters below.
"Jack!" Alice shouted as she ran over to the edge.
"Idiot," Gillette snorted. "He has nowhere to go but back to the noose."
"Don't be so sure," Alice said with a smirk. Gillette looked at the smirking blonde in confusion for a few seconds.
"Sail ho!" A sentry called out. They all looked up and saw the Black Pearl sailing towards Jack Sparrow, who started swimming towards the ship. Alice let out a laugh and a smile . She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to find Lydia.
"Alice," Lydia said. "This is your moment. You won't get another chance."
"But, I thought-" Alice stammered.
"Alice. You have a chance to be with the man you love," Lydia told her, her voice soft. "Don't let him slip away. You need to find your own happiness." Kitty appeared next to Lydia and nodded in agreement. Alice took a breath and nodded. She looked up at her father and bit her lower lip.
"Father," she said. "I need you to disown me."
"What?" Governor Swann asked incredulously.
"I need you to disown me," Alice repeated. She looked out to the sea, where the Black Pearl sailed closer. She shook her head and smiled. "We both know that this life isn't what I was meant for. I will never be happy so long as I remain in Port Royal. My happiness is out there, with Jack. I love him." Governor Swann looked down and sighed.
"Is this what you truly want?" he asked her.
"Yes," Alice replied. "It is." Governor Swann nodded and took in a breath.
"Alice Harriet Swann, I hereby disown you. But know that should you ever return to Port Royal, I will welcome you with open arms," Governor Swann said. He took a step towards Alice and gave her one final hug. He stepped away and the rest of the Swann sisters hugged Alice.
"Go," Lydia told her. "Live your life." Alice nodded and smiled. She walked up to that ledge and stared at the sea below. She turned to face everyone in Port Royal one last time.
"Bye!" she said in a singsong tone. She then jumped off the parapet, screaming the entire fall to the sea. She landed in the water with a loud splash. She felt the rush of cold, salty water surrounded her as she plunged underwater. She swam as hard as she could to the surface, gasping for air when her head bobbed above the water.
"Alice!" she heard Jack shouted. "Why!?"
"You know why!" she shouted back as she swam towards him. When she reached him, he took her arm, as if he intended to help her swim to the Black Pearl. He laughed as they swam away from Fort Charles together. Alice smiled and laughed along, knowing that this course of action was right for her. She was more than ready to start her new life as a pirate aboard the Black Pearl.