Chapter 6

YES YES I'M BACK BITCHES AND BETTER THAN EVER. HOLD ONTO YOUR PISTOLS because we have to get through the second movie soon which means no Barbossa sorry guys. I'll try to keep it moving and interesting even though our loves are separated.

And honestly, throwback to July when I lied to you guys and said I was almost done with the next chapter. Oops.

The walk to the gallows was long, longer than it should have been. As Jack trudged past the other prisoners, some jeered and shouted, some expressed their sympathy.

Some were no longer present in their minds.

Jack didn't hear any of them. It felt like she was in a trance, in mourning, almost.

She mourned for the friendships she had made over the past weeks. She mourned for what had and could've been. She mourned for the life that had been lost and given.

Mostly, she mourned for her Pearl.

She saw the parrot. She saw the bloody parrot.

She was about to die and Cotton's parrot was pooping on an officer of the Royal Navy.

Her life really was strange sometimes.

"...for your willful commission of crimes against the crown…"

So this really was it. Jack saw no way out of it- and that was surprisingly unconcerning. She was in a fog. Everything in her life had led up to this moment. She had gone through the farthest circle of hell and back, loved and lost and...possibly loved again? She didn't know.

"...impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England…"

Jack looked up and saw Elizabeth standing with her father and Norrington at the back of the crowd. She felt so sad that Elizabeth couldn't marry Will.

"...sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage…"

Speak of the little devil, there he was. He was talking to Elizabeth. Jack was so grateful for his help, even though she had to threaten him into it a bit. She wouldn't have been able to kill Barbossa without him.

Jack paused in her thinking. She went through all that trouble to kill Hector, and now she was to die for it. She was to die for her troubles and would only see him again in the next life.

You have got to be absolutely bloody kidding me, she thought.

"...hung by the neck, until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

Jack stood tall. She would see this through with dignity. But, oh, what was this? She caught sight of Will pushing his way through the crowd, shouting at people to get out of the way.

He was trying to save her. He would be too late.

Jack closed her eyes as the floor gave out beneath her.

A loud thunk made her open here eyes as she felt her toes brush something. It was Will's sword. He had thrown it so it stuck in the wood. The rope was tight around her neck, too tight. It was digging in and she struggled to balance on the thin metal and breathe.

She didn't have to wait long. Will fought his way to her and sliced the rope. Air flooded her lungs, and she wasted no time in grabbing the sword and joining the fray.

But, eventually Jack and Will found themselves cornered at the top of a rampart.

Norrington once again, and with little surprise, looked disgusted.

"I thought we may have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt, but not from you," he said to Will.

"She's a good man!" Will shouted defensivly.

"Excuse me?"

"Woman...she's a good woman! I won't see her hang. If all I've achieved 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, Turner."

"No. It's right here, between you and Jack."

Elizabeth stepped forward. "As is mine."

Norrington and the Governor looked completely aghast.

"So this is where your heart truly lies?" the Commodore asked. You could hear the heartbreak in his voice and see it in his eyes.

Elizabeth looked at Will, and then at Jack. "It is."

Jack couldn't have been more proud of her than she was in that moment, though she felt bad for Norrington. He wasn't all bad. But, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Now was her chance and by God, she was going to take it. Delay seeing Hector a little bit longer, if she could.

"Well, now! I'm feeling rather good about all this. I feel we've arrived at a rather special place, eh? Norrington, love, I want you to know I'm rooting for you. Truly," she said, getting into his space again. This time though, he didn't curl his lip at her in disgust.

Huh.

She turned. "Elizabeth, thank you. And Will…" Oh, what to say?

"...nice hat."

Perfect.

Jack began to back up to the edge. "Friends! You shall all remember this as the day that you almost caught, Captain, Jack Spar-"

She was cut off as her legs collided with the lower wall, and she lost her balance.

"Bloody he-"

She hit the water with a hard splat. When she resurfaced, she looked up and saw their faces peeking over at her. That had not gone as she had planned.

Jack saw one of the figures point out at the bay, and she turned to see her beloved Pearl sweeping around the inlet. Jack couldn't help but smile as she swam to her lovely ship.

She had a date with the horizon.

And that's the end of COTBP! WE DONE DID IT (finally). I'm ready to low-key breeze through DMC because boy, do I have some big plans for AWE. Y'all are gonna lose your goddamn minds. I'm so excited. Sorry this is a little short and poorly written. Boost my confidence in the comments please! Let me know your hopes, fears, dreams, what you want to see out of this! Feed the hungry duck pls.