Credit to Tom this time for coming up with 'Phoenix', and obviously to
Katrina for planning all this with me and to Sarah for being such a good
proof reader...oh, and I don't own the film, the characters, actually I even
stole this computer...
***
A Hard Man To Predict
Faye has made up her mind. She will go to the hanging, come hell or high water, just to make sure that he escapes. Just to see it. She feels like if she is actually there, nothing can go wrong, even though this makes no sense at all and Faye knows it.
When Susie brings her her breakfast, Faye is already fully dressed, complete with red scarf and phoenix, and sitting on the edge of her bed.
'What on earth are you doing up?' Susie asks angrily, as she puts the breakfast tray down on Faye's dresser. 'You're still recovering from your fever.'
Faye stays calm. 'I have finished recovering. I feel just fine, and I want to go to the hanging.'
'You're too young, it would give you nightmares.'
'When have I ever had nightmares?'
Susie tries to conceal her horror that Faye could want to see a man hanged, but then, although Faye doesn't know it, this is her father who is due to die...Susie is reluctant to let her, it seems so hideously morbid, but then this is history in the making. The hanging of the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean, and if anyone is strong enough to handle it, Faye is.
'I really don't think it's a good idea, and I have no intention of going with you. So you'll have to find someone else to take you, because I'm not having you going on your own.'
Faye hadn't thought in a thousand years that it would be this easy. 'Thanks Susie. I'll be really really good I promise.'
'I very much doubt that. Eat your breakfast then go and find some poor soul who'll let you tag along with them.'
Faye gobbles her breakfast as fast as she can. She has no intention of finding someone to go with her, and she just has to hope that Susie won't ask. She knows from experience and from overheard tales that Norrington sometimes tells that a hanging will take place at noon. So, this gives her about five hours to kill, and the sooner she is out of the house the better.
Faye considers going down into the town and just wandering around, but she dismisses this idea as pointless. So, she rummages around under her bed until she finds the clinking bag of silver that's been under there ever since she can remember but that no one has ever found except her, 'Legendary Pirates', and her phoenix, and heads down to the market.
Faye buys three apples, and a jug of grape juice that was going cheap, and proceeds up to the fort where, in four hours, her hero is set to be executed. Carrying all her purchases with her book in her money bag, Faye enters the fort through a side entrance, wondering why there are no guards.
Turning a corner, she sees the main courtyard with the gallows being set up. It is swarming with redcoats, but Faye doesn't panic. Using her skill of going unnoticed, she manages to slither along by the walls, before reaching the stone staircase that leads to the battlements. She expects to get caught, and begins to work out a cover story in her mind. She need not have worried – she is as invisible as a chameleon.
After the hard climb up the staircase, she reaches the high battlements of the fort. Usually there would be guards here, but today they are all in the courtyard below. Faye reasons that no one will come up here, but still she settles herself behind the edging walls that run alongside the battlements, facing out onto the harbour. She can see the gallows on one side, and one of the lower fortification walls on the other. Facing the gallows side, she sits down in a small patch of shade with her back against a wall, and begins to read her book, and eat the first of her apples.
-----
The time passes surprisingly fast. Faye has finished all her apples and most of her book by the time she hears the crowd surge in to see the Captain hanged. There are shouts as he is brought in, with his hands tied firmly in front of him. Faye gets to her feet, and peers down into the courtyard. All attention is on him now, so no one is going to look up and see her.
Things progress quickly. Miss Elizabeth, the Governor, and Norrington arrive, but Faye only sees them for a second as they take up their position in the archway in the wall below where Faye is standing. The charges against the Captain are read out, the drum roll begins, and – what? There is some kind of disturbance, a man in a hat is shoving the crowd aside – Faye can't see what is happening. She leans forward and almost loses her balance, screwing her eyes up against the sun, forcing them to see.
It's Will! She gasps as she recognises the man in the hat. The executioner pulls the lever and she almost screams as Jack Sparrow falls but – the glint of metal in the sunlight- he's stopped falling! Will is on the scaffold, fighting off the executioner, sending him tumbling into the crowd. Faye wishes she were closer, but it looks as if Will has cuts the rope around the Captain's neck...he disappears from view as he falls through the trap door in the floor of the scaffold, but only for a moment, and reappears running, with Will nor far behind.
Faye is breathless, this is the miraculous escape! Will and the Captain take the rope that was to be the instrument of the pirate's death, and send three redcoats tumbling into the dust. Running up the steps to the archway under Faye's feet, they send another two sprawling. And then...and then...they are under the archway and Faye can see nothing. She bites down on her tongue in her frustration, and tastes blood. She dashes to the other side of the wall, and sees Will and Captain Sparrow back against a pillar at the centre of a circle of bayonets, the Governor, Norrington...she tries to hear what is being said but the wind carries their voices away. Miss Elizabeth steps into the circle, the redcoats shoulder their weapons again...Faye jumps as a blue and orange parrot lands on the cannon next to her. It regards her suspiciously for a minute, as if it were evaluating her, before taking off again.
The Captain notices this parrot for some reason, and begins to walk away from the group. He speaks to the Governor, Norrington, Miss Elizabeth, and the to Will...Faye almost wants to stamp her foot in frustration that she cannot hear the words...Then, in answer to her unspoken prayer, a further miracle. The wind changes, and Faye can hear what the Captain says, as he backs towards the sheer wall that falls to the sea.
'This is the day you will always remember as the day that...' He glances up, just for a moment and sees Faye, at the exact moment that he reaches the wall. The shock of it startles him, and he loses his balance and falls backwards, down into the sea.
Faye's heart leaps into her mouth. He'll drown for sure, how can he get safely to land now – surely he can't swim across the bay. Just as she thinks these thoughts, she hears a shout from below her of 'Sail ho!'
Rounding into the bay is a ship, and Faye can just make out the tiny dark dot of the Captain swimming away towards it. She crosses her fingers, and hopes that he makes it. Perhaps it's his ship, she thinks, what luck that would be.
Faye sits down in her patch of shade again, and drinks the rest of her grape juice in one long swallow. Idly, she wonders if she will ever see Captain Jack Sparrow again. She opens her book, and looks at his picture. Such a shame she couldn't have gone with him somewhere, and got away from domestic drudgery. Ah well, she reasons to herself, I can make my own miraculous escape some other time.
Closing the book with a snap, she gathers her belongings and sets off for home. It is her day to help with lunch, and Susie will be wondering what's taking her so long.
***
Keeping Faye out of camera shot was so damn difficult... Anyway, just to let you all know, this is not the end! No way is this the end, there is a lot more to come. Please review!
***
A Hard Man To Predict
Faye has made up her mind. She will go to the hanging, come hell or high water, just to make sure that he escapes. Just to see it. She feels like if she is actually there, nothing can go wrong, even though this makes no sense at all and Faye knows it.
When Susie brings her her breakfast, Faye is already fully dressed, complete with red scarf and phoenix, and sitting on the edge of her bed.
'What on earth are you doing up?' Susie asks angrily, as she puts the breakfast tray down on Faye's dresser. 'You're still recovering from your fever.'
Faye stays calm. 'I have finished recovering. I feel just fine, and I want to go to the hanging.'
'You're too young, it would give you nightmares.'
'When have I ever had nightmares?'
Susie tries to conceal her horror that Faye could want to see a man hanged, but then, although Faye doesn't know it, this is her father who is due to die...Susie is reluctant to let her, it seems so hideously morbid, but then this is history in the making. The hanging of the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean, and if anyone is strong enough to handle it, Faye is.
'I really don't think it's a good idea, and I have no intention of going with you. So you'll have to find someone else to take you, because I'm not having you going on your own.'
Faye hadn't thought in a thousand years that it would be this easy. 'Thanks Susie. I'll be really really good I promise.'
'I very much doubt that. Eat your breakfast then go and find some poor soul who'll let you tag along with them.'
Faye gobbles her breakfast as fast as she can. She has no intention of finding someone to go with her, and she just has to hope that Susie won't ask. She knows from experience and from overheard tales that Norrington sometimes tells that a hanging will take place at noon. So, this gives her about five hours to kill, and the sooner she is out of the house the better.
Faye considers going down into the town and just wandering around, but she dismisses this idea as pointless. So, she rummages around under her bed until she finds the clinking bag of silver that's been under there ever since she can remember but that no one has ever found except her, 'Legendary Pirates', and her phoenix, and heads down to the market.
Faye buys three apples, and a jug of grape juice that was going cheap, and proceeds up to the fort where, in four hours, her hero is set to be executed. Carrying all her purchases with her book in her money bag, Faye enters the fort through a side entrance, wondering why there are no guards.
Turning a corner, she sees the main courtyard with the gallows being set up. It is swarming with redcoats, but Faye doesn't panic. Using her skill of going unnoticed, she manages to slither along by the walls, before reaching the stone staircase that leads to the battlements. She expects to get caught, and begins to work out a cover story in her mind. She need not have worried – she is as invisible as a chameleon.
After the hard climb up the staircase, she reaches the high battlements of the fort. Usually there would be guards here, but today they are all in the courtyard below. Faye reasons that no one will come up here, but still she settles herself behind the edging walls that run alongside the battlements, facing out onto the harbour. She can see the gallows on one side, and one of the lower fortification walls on the other. Facing the gallows side, she sits down in a small patch of shade with her back against a wall, and begins to read her book, and eat the first of her apples.
-----
The time passes surprisingly fast. Faye has finished all her apples and most of her book by the time she hears the crowd surge in to see the Captain hanged. There are shouts as he is brought in, with his hands tied firmly in front of him. Faye gets to her feet, and peers down into the courtyard. All attention is on him now, so no one is going to look up and see her.
Things progress quickly. Miss Elizabeth, the Governor, and Norrington arrive, but Faye only sees them for a second as they take up their position in the archway in the wall below where Faye is standing. The charges against the Captain are read out, the drum roll begins, and – what? There is some kind of disturbance, a man in a hat is shoving the crowd aside – Faye can't see what is happening. She leans forward and almost loses her balance, screwing her eyes up against the sun, forcing them to see.
It's Will! She gasps as she recognises the man in the hat. The executioner pulls the lever and she almost screams as Jack Sparrow falls but – the glint of metal in the sunlight- he's stopped falling! Will is on the scaffold, fighting off the executioner, sending him tumbling into the crowd. Faye wishes she were closer, but it looks as if Will has cuts the rope around the Captain's neck...he disappears from view as he falls through the trap door in the floor of the scaffold, but only for a moment, and reappears running, with Will nor far behind.
Faye is breathless, this is the miraculous escape! Will and the Captain take the rope that was to be the instrument of the pirate's death, and send three redcoats tumbling into the dust. Running up the steps to the archway under Faye's feet, they send another two sprawling. And then...and then...they are under the archway and Faye can see nothing. She bites down on her tongue in her frustration, and tastes blood. She dashes to the other side of the wall, and sees Will and Captain Sparrow back against a pillar at the centre of a circle of bayonets, the Governor, Norrington...she tries to hear what is being said but the wind carries their voices away. Miss Elizabeth steps into the circle, the redcoats shoulder their weapons again...Faye jumps as a blue and orange parrot lands on the cannon next to her. It regards her suspiciously for a minute, as if it were evaluating her, before taking off again.
The Captain notices this parrot for some reason, and begins to walk away from the group. He speaks to the Governor, Norrington, Miss Elizabeth, and the to Will...Faye almost wants to stamp her foot in frustration that she cannot hear the words...Then, in answer to her unspoken prayer, a further miracle. The wind changes, and Faye can hear what the Captain says, as he backs towards the sheer wall that falls to the sea.
'This is the day you will always remember as the day that...' He glances up, just for a moment and sees Faye, at the exact moment that he reaches the wall. The shock of it startles him, and he loses his balance and falls backwards, down into the sea.
Faye's heart leaps into her mouth. He'll drown for sure, how can he get safely to land now – surely he can't swim across the bay. Just as she thinks these thoughts, she hears a shout from below her of 'Sail ho!'
Rounding into the bay is a ship, and Faye can just make out the tiny dark dot of the Captain swimming away towards it. She crosses her fingers, and hopes that he makes it. Perhaps it's his ship, she thinks, what luck that would be.
Faye sits down in her patch of shade again, and drinks the rest of her grape juice in one long swallow. Idly, she wonders if she will ever see Captain Jack Sparrow again. She opens her book, and looks at his picture. Such a shame she couldn't have gone with him somewhere, and got away from domestic drudgery. Ah well, she reasons to herself, I can make my own miraculous escape some other time.
Closing the book with a snap, she gathers her belongings and sets off for home. It is her day to help with lunch, and Susie will be wondering what's taking her so long.
***
Keeping Faye out of camera shot was so damn difficult... Anyway, just to let you all know, this is not the end! No way is this the end, there is a lot more to come. Please review!
