Norrington's eyes grew wide when he saw that Rose had recognized him.
"You!" she spat. She drew her sword and yelled out, "Liar!"
Francois's music on deck had come crashing to a halt, but she cared not who saw this spectacle. She had just been granted a chance to fulfill her revenge, and nothing was going to stand in her way this time. James let out a yelp as he moved to parry once more. "I'm sorry," he said, through the cross made by their swords.
"For what? Lying? Repeatedly?" She swung again. This time, he anticipated her movement and put all of his weight into his parry, sending her toppling backward.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said, offering a hand to help her stand up.
Now on the ground, she swung her arm out, swishing the blade low to the ground to graze his legs. He leapt, just barely above the slice. "You won't!" she cried triumphantly.
She scrambled to her feet and readied herself for the frontal blow James had prepared. Once again, they were braced against each other, blades in a perfect X.
James was out of breath. "Must we do this here? Now?"
"That's the thing about attacks," she spat. "For someone, they're always UNEXPECTED!" She broke pose and lunged toward him. He, however, grabbed her hand that did not carry a sword and pulled her into him so that her wrist was pulled across her back in an armlock.
He held his blade to her neck and put his face next to hers. "Really, you don't want to be doing this. May we please stop this charade?" Rose tried to spin out of the armlock, but James only pulled her arm tighter. He laughed once more. "This is pointless, you know. We're both dead, so there's no use in trying to kill me."
"Aye, but humiliation and pain are still a viable option!"
His eyes smiled. "Pirate!"
"Pirate yourself!" she hissed.
Rose finally managed to spin out of her armlock in the opposite direction. She was still pressed against him, but now they faced each other. Both of their blades were pressed against each other's necks.
"I freed you," he said. "What revenge is there to be had?"
Rose snarled, "Recompense for using me! You…confused and manipulated me and set your dogs on me just so I would tell you where the Pirate Lords were meeting!"
"Consider this," he countered. "Who ended up victorious at the end of the War, you or me? You sailed away with kin and lived comfortably for years until you didn't, while I was long gone even before the first cannon fired. It was a wasted effort on my part regardless!"
Rose growled, "The only reason why I can fathom forgiving you after all this is what you did for Elizabeth."
"And yet you forget that I saved you as well," he finished. He looked down at her neck, then leaned closer to her mischievously. "I see you kept the key, mademoiselle."
Her face grew red. Of course. He would spot the one keepsake she kept of his. "I thought the shape was interesting, that's all," she lied.
He leaned still closer. "No you didn't!"
Rose let out an angry grunt and ducked beneath his blade, freeing hers. She attacked, with a swing to the right, a swing to the left, all of which were blocked successfully by James.
"Predictable," he scoffed. "Clearly it was Sparrow who taught you how to wield a sword. You're just as haphazard as he is!"
At the sound of the clanging of their weapons, all peace and progress on deck had ceased entirely, and all of the men rushed to the place where James and Rose were having their row. Most of them watched in silent fascination, while several more eager onlookers drew their weapons and rushed to Rose's aid in some ill-conceived act of chivalry.
Rose stuck her arms out to keep these would-be protectors at bay. "Please," she cried out above their grumbling, "I can handle myself, thank you, despite my haphazard swordsmanship," she said with a pointed look at James.
He only raised his eyebrows in amusement, which angered Rose more. She swung yet again, but he quickly deflected her with only a slight flick of his wrist. Another man inserted himself into the fight, making aims at defending Rose by taking James from behind. However, James's skill in battle was unquestionably better than anyone else aboard, with the exception of perhaps Will, and James turned just in time to deliver a swift kick to the man's chest, sending him backwards into the group of onlookers.
"Did you not just hear what she said?" James scolded him. "She can handle herself, stay out of this!"
"We're not 'bout to let you 'arm her, Norrington!" a small-framed man shouted out.
James rolled his eyes. "What 'harm,' you imbeciles? We're all dead!"
The man James had kicked back was less than pleased about having been taken out of the fight so quickly, however, and once he recovered from the blow, he launched himself full on at James. This caused the other men to charge at him, stampeding Rose in the process. As rum had been a choice beverage of the evening, several of the men had no idea what they were fighting for and began blindly fighting each other. This had quickly grown out of hand, and had unraveled into something Rose hadn't anticipated nor could control. Her main prerogative now was to dodge swinging arms and blades and to also find James, who was now somewhere in the middle of the massive tussle.
When a shot fired, all commotion ceased. Rose popped her head out of the mass of bodies to see Will standing at the head of the forecastle deck, pistol raised overhead with a stern-looking Bootstrap at his side.
"Who started this?" Will said, walking slowly towards the group.
Rose had certainly noticed that none of the men had taken James's side in the scuffle, but she didn't realize just how opposed to him the crew all were until a ripple of "Norrington" surrounded her as a certain answer for their captain. Rose knew that at least one of these men had seen that it was actually she who had started the fight, but yet all of them were steadfast in blaming James.
She looked to James to see his reaction. Not even he protested, he just ruefully rolled his eyes and pursed his lips.
The crowd dispersed to make room for Will as he approached James. Rose had only ever seen the two of them together once before, when she had first met both of them accidentally on Port Royal many years ago. At that time, James had age, experience, status and Elizabeth over Will, and dismissed him with ease and pleasure. It was the strangest thing to see Will now exerting his power as Captain over James—now his subordinate.
Will looked exhausted. "Why?" he merely asked.
James gave a slight motion of his head towards where Rose stood, saying, "Ask your friend."
Rose felt the heat of all the men's eyes on her, and felt her face grow red. However, she had to face the consequences of her actions.
"I started it, Captain," she told Will.
He looked frustrated with himself, rubbing his neck with hand. "Oh dear. I thought you might know of each other, but not much else. Norrington pursued you and Jack in the Caribbean, didn't he?"
"Yes sir," Rose chirped. She did not want to provide more explanation than was necessary.
"Did he pay you personal insult or harm from that time? Is that what brought about the attack?"
She could feel James's unwavering gaze on her, challenging her to say exactly what brought about the attack. Rose wanted to keep her humiliating past with James a secret from most everyone, but especially this crew and her new Captain, who she wanted nothing more than to impress. She couldn't afford to give him reason to distrust her; she already had little to nothing to do on this ship. So, she kept her answers concise, replying only, "Yes. I encountered him once again after we were separated at Singapore."
Will looked confused and intrigued. "What happened?"
The exact question Rose was dreading. Her mind raced, trying to find either a suitable lie, or a elegant way of saying, "I became emotionally troubled, convinced myself that I was in love with him, and divulged perhaps the most important secret in the War on Piracy that could have ended all of our lives."
The time it was taking for her to formulate a response grew increasingly awkward with every passing second. Rose didn't expect James to speak for her. "She resents me because I held her as my prisoner. I knew her involvement with Sparrow and thought it was the quickest way to locate the Pearl," he began.
Rose looked at him in alarm, and his eyes glinted coyly as his mouth opened to continue the story. No! she thought. He's going to humiliate me right now in front of everyone.
She was shocked when the words she expected never came. Instead, James proceeded with, "She managed to escape, however. She sought revenge for the time I took from her. Time she could have spent fighting for the cause."
Will looked at her. "Is that so?" Rose, dumbfounded, only nodded in response. "Well," he said to both of them, "As this is to be unavoidable, I want to make one thing clear; Whatever happened between you occurred in your past lives. You both have new lives here now, and it is your duty to the Dutchman that is your priority. Am I understood?" He looked at Rose expectantly, to which she replied, "Aye, Captain."
He then turned to get James's verbal confirmation, but said under his breath, "And I expect you to honor our agreement, Mister Norrington."
James raised his eyebrows. "What's curious is that I did."
"You could have walked away," Will hissed, growing closer to him. "You are under orders. Remember that." He stood there until James begrudgingly spat, "Aye, Captain."
Will then turned to his men, calling out, "Crew, back to your stations for the night, you know who you are. The rest of you, get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." As the men obeyed, Will turned to Rose, saying gently, "That includes you. Best hop-to."
She instantly replied, "Aye, aye, Captain." Rose felt great unease at having disappointed her friend and Captain, and was worried about the ramifications her actions might have on her future on Will's crew.
Soon, everyone had departed, leaving Rose and James alone on deck, an awkward space and silence between them.
Rose could see James out of her peripheral vision staring at her coldly, calculating something to say next. When she saw his chest rise, she immediately said, "Don't say a word."
He exhaled loudly through his nose in annoyance, then continued anyway with, "I was going to remark about how badly you wish to impress your Captain."
"He's my friend," Rose replied stiffly. "Of course I want to impress him."
"He's not mine," James snorted. "Count yourself lucky. He'd always side with you before he'd side with me." Though she still couldn't bring herself to look at him, his eyes pored into her. "Although," he was still saying sardonically, "Why would you feel the impetus to lie to him if he is such a good, 'friend?'"
"Shut up!" she cried, glaring at him.
"Worry not, Miss Hexfury," he continued to chide, "Your lies are safe with me."
This caused Rose to draw her sword once more, and swing out at him. He was able to unsheathe his own at the same time, blocking her blow in the nick of time. Her motions were steadfast and sharp, however, clanging left and right again and again, blow after blow. She repeated the movements until she had moved him backwards toward a rogue plank. He tripped over it, sending him flying backward. She held her cutlass, tip pointed down at his face.
"I would kill you were you not already dead," said she. And with that, she sheathed her sword and walked back toward her chamber without looking back. She smiled when she heard the four men on night duty applaud as she left. True, it must have been quite the spectacle.
