Part 1: Either Way It Is Irrelevant

Notes:

Still not mine, Movies AU

I'm taking the movies and a version of the script I found on Kindle and combining that with dropping Charlie into the mix to create the AU.

On to Dead Man's Chest after this...

By the time Charlie saw Port Royal through the windows in the stern cabin, they were already preparing to dock. The sun was shining bright over the water and the seas were calm. Was that a good sign of things to come or irony? She could not decide. With any luck she and Jack would be able to spend time in jail and plot their escape, instead of going directly to the gallows.

There was no question in her mind the sounds of the door and clanking shackles were Norrington, so she did not bother to turn. She preferred to enjoy the view over the ocean as long as she could, anyway. He came to a stop behind her with a sigh.

"Now?" she asked quietly.

"We still have a bit of time." A moment later he added, "I need you to trust me, Charlotte."

Could she trust the man whose duty was seeing to her execution? Thus far he had proven trustworthy, but that was during her temporary release. Now they were back at Port Royal, with the gallows in sight. Finally she turned around to face him, furrowing her brow.

"Please."

She tilted her head and searched his eyes for any signs of dishonesty. If she were honest with herself, she was probably looking for a reason not to trust him rather than a reason to trust him. All she saw was honesty. Damn. Nodding slowly, she lifted her hands for the shackles. "I trust you."

His eyes left hers so he could secure the shackles and she finally remembered to breathe. "Be ready," he muttered, testing her bonds before gesturing to the door.

Out on the deck she was grouped with Jack and the other pirates to be led off the ship and to the fort. Will was at the back of the group, in chains, while Elizabeth was being blocked from him by members of the Royal Navy. She looked away and caught Norrington grimacing at the spectacle, before he moved to the front of the column to escort them to the fort.

As they walked, Jack commented nonsensically beside her on the weather, the buildings, the people, whatever he happened to look at. Many of the soldiers escorting them, including Norrington, tensed up as Jack droned on, and she could feel their irritation.

"Jack," she hissed, elbowing him.

"What?"

"Could you try not to irritate them into killing us sooner?" At the head of the column she thought she heard a laugh, but she looked forward and only saw Norrington coughing.

Upon reaching the fort they were ushered into separate areas of the jail- Jack, Will, and Charlie in a cell of their own and isolated from the formerly cursed crew.

Norrington himself closed their door and gave Charlie a look before leaving. Though she was fairly certain it was not his intention to signal her with the look, she tried the cell door. It was not a surprise that it did not move.

"So," Jack's cheerful voice came from behind her, "what do you think comes first - our execution or young William's trial?"

Charlie exchanged a look with Will. Whatever his plan was, hopefully Norrington would hurry.

The next time she saw Norrington, he was accompanying a group of soldiers to take Will to his trial. Jack had been trying to break the lock with a stone he had found, but when the door opened, he discarded it and tried to lay casually on the ground at the back of the cell. Charlie rolled her eyes at his antics and walked to the front of the cell.

"Mr Turner," Norrington called, unlocking the cell.

Will nodded at the Commodore, then cast a quick look back at Jack and Charlie, as he walked out and towards the stairs, head held high. The soldiers escorted him up the stairs, leaving only Norrington alone with Charlie and Jack.

"Turner will be pardoned," he muttered, closing the cell door as Charlie approached it.

"And us?" she whispered.

He hesitated as he cast his gaze behind her, presumably to Jack. When he brought his eyes back to hers, he grimaced. "I can't help you escape, Charlotte," he murmured, taking her hand in both of his and slipping her something that felt suspiciously like a key.

She nodded, their hands sliding apart as he turned to walk away. The door slammed closed at the top of the stairs.

"Well, that was unhelpful," Jack complained.

"Was it?" Charlie asked lightly, reaching through the bars with the key to unlock the cell. Turning back to Jack, she grinned and kicked the door open behind her.

Jack leaned back and regarded her skeptically. "How'd you do that?"

"Can we escape first?"

He worked his jaw for a moment, then pushed past her to grab his effects, once again hung on the wall. Next to his effects, Charlie's sword and pistol waited.

Now appropriately armed for a prison break, she followed Jack up the stairs. He peaked dramatically down both directions in the hall, then waved her forward.

"Jack!" she hissed as he started down the hall in the direction of the courtyard. "The trial!"

Either he did not hear her or he did not care. Freedom or follow Jack? She growled then took off after him, quietly calling after him. If pressed, she would place money on him knowing exactly where he was going. The man was nothing, if not a lover of spectacle.

"Jack!" she hissed again as she neared him. She reached out to grab at his shirt and pulled him back, causing him to tumble into her and both of them to fall to the ground. Only then did she realise they were in the archway entrance to the courtyard and an entire garrison of soldiers armed to the teeth had turned to see what the commotion was. Norrington looked upward and seemed to mutter something under his breath.

Jack sprang to his feet and helped Charlie up. "Gentlemen!" he exclaimed with glee.

I'm going to kill him.

Before she could comment, Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd of people gathered for the trial. "I can run from the danger you put us in on my own, thank you very much!" she shouted as she ripped her hand from his.

"It is not my fault they held the trial in the middle of our escape route," he grumbled.

"Our escape route? Jack!" she exclaimed, dodging past a young woman. She seemed to be having trouble breathing, making Charlie glad she no longer wore corsets. "My sympathies, Miss," she offered over her shoulder. Where the hell was Jack going, anyway?

They reached the other side of the courtyard. A commotion behind them caused Charlie to risk a glance. Elizabeth appeared to have fainted next to her father, and a few soldiers under one of the colonnades. Young William was nowhere to be seen. When she turned back she saw William helping Jack fight the soldiers. Not the smartest plan if he had just been pardoned for piracy.

Charlie growled and pushed into the middle of the fray, parrying blows with her sword. The Royal Navy fought them back under the colonnade and out onto the rampart overlooking the ocean. She tried not to look back over the ocean as they were backed up to the ledge. If this was Jack's plan, she was going to kill him.

Suddenly Norrington and Elizabeth burst through to the front of the crowd, followed by Governor Swann. Elizabeth pushed into the fray to take Will's hand and Norrington called for a cease to the fighting, over Governor Swann's cries not to harm his daughter.

"Sir, we can't -," Gillette began.

"Not now, Mr. Gillette," Norrington ordered.

Governor Swann pushed to the front of the crowd. "Elizabeth! What are you doing?"

"You know this is wrong."

"Lower your weapons," Norrington ordered. Everyone had lowered theirs with the exception of Gillette, who was wavering. "Mr. Gillette, lower your weapon."

Governor Swann finally released the breath he had been holding, then looked to William. "And you," he continued. "I only just proclaimed a pardon for you. And this is how you thank me? Throwing in your lot with pirates?"

"They're good people," William replied.

Jack grinned at Charlie, then turned to the amassed soldiers to gloat. Norrington looked at her, eyebrow arched in question, and she rolled her eyes in reply. She had given up on trying to get Jack to not be an ass.

"You can't be serious!" the Governor exclaimed.

Elizabeth slid her other hand into the crook of William's arm and stepped closer to him. "We are."

Of course Jack chose that moment to interrupt. "Well!" he exclaimed, pushing around Elizabeth and William to address the Governor directly. "I'm actually feeling rather good about this."

It was then Charlie noticed the parrot flying overhead. "Jack, no."

He grinned at her, then turned back to the Governor. "I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh?" The Governor flinched as Jack breathed into his face. "Spiritually, ecumenically...grammatically…." The Governor flinched at his breath. He then walked over to Norrington. "Personally, I don't know what she sees in you, mate. Little too...uptight."

Whatever Norrington's reaction was, Charlie did not see it. She risked a glance behind her at the ocean and took a deep breath. That...was high. Was it technically murder if Jack would have been sentenced to hang anyway?

When she turned back around she saw that Jack had come to stand next to her and Norrington was looking at her strangely. Her eyes grew wider as the panic began to settle in.

"Gentlemen!" Jack exclaimed grandly, stepping up to the ledge and bringing Charlie with him.

"Jack, don't," she begged, trying to wrench out of his grasp. She would rather face the gallows, as illogical as that sounded.

"Charlotte," she thought she heard Norrington say.

"This is the day that you will always remember as the day -." Before he could finish, Jack feigned a trip and knocked them both off the ledge.

Charlie screamed as the ocean neared.

She had just enough clarity to remember to point her toes before hitting the water and being completely submerged. When she surfaced she took a few deep, panicked breaths and looked back up at the fort. Norrington was staring down, so she threw him a half-hearted salute, then swam towards Jack.

"You ass!" she shouted as she punched him in the shoulder. "You know I hate heights!"

"I do," he replied, trying to hide a grin. "That's why I didn't tell you."

"If you ever do that to me again, I'll -."

"You'll what?" he asked as he started to swim off. Cotton's parrot had appeared in the sky again and was flying off in the direction Jack was swimming, where The Black Pearl was sliding into the port.

"Now I know why they're called 'Jackasses'," she muttered as she followed.

Jack called back over his shoulder, "I heard that!"

"Good!"

When they neared the Pearl, Gibbs lowered a rope for them and hauled them up onto the deck. Charlie immediately marched off toward the first mate's cabin to cool down. If Gibbs and the crew had come to Port Royal, they certainly were not planning a mutiny. And she was still reeling from the fall.

"You staying?" Jack called.

Without looking back she called over her shoulder, "Of course I am! Likely to get your stupid self killed without me! How am I going to explain that to your dad?"

"Could always try telling him -."

"Shut up, Jack!" she huffed. Charlie took a brief glance over her shoulder at Port Royal shrinking away in the distance before slamming the door shut behind her.