This is my first POTC fic. It's not really a story, but what I like to call "a chunk", or some scenes that would really kick ass in a real story if I wasn't so lazy, but please read it.
(Emergency Broadcasting System voice) If this had in fact been a real story, Norrington would be engaged again! Yay! He moves on well! But his new bride to be is none other than CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow's daughter, whom she just found and brought home to Port Royal. This chuck goes from here.
And for those of you who like to listen to music while reading, I got this idea listening to Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Mvt 4 for the gallows scene. If you can't find it, email me and I'll hook you up. Check it out, I think you'll like it.
DISCLAIMER: I did borrow a a few lines form Shakespeare (it just kind of happens with me) so don't sue me on his behalf as well as any of the POTC. I own NOTHING!
The Commodore stared. It was absolutely impossible. There was no way that his hated adversary -and possibly the worst pirate on the sea- was Jacquelyn's father.
"James? I said this is my father." A mile spread across her face. "I finally found him."
The pirate met Norrington's gaze. "you never know when I'll pop up, do ya?"
"Do you two know each other, James?" Jacquelyn's eyes widened. Why hadn't he said anything yet?
"We've had a few run-ins," Jack slurred, "but I try not to hang around Port Royal for too long."
"Jacquelyn, I can't believe this is true!" he fiance finally managed to spit out.
She ran to him and grabbed his shaking hands. "Neither can I! Isn't it wonderful?" She turned to her father, who was still lazily eyeing the Commodore. "Now he can walk me down the isle at our wedding. Just like a perfect dream."
Jack swaggered over. "And just think, Commodore, you'll be part of our little family." He grabbed the two in a bear hug. "I always wanted a Commodore in me family!"
"No!" Norrington pulled away, a full three paces from the two.
"What? James, what's the matter? What's wrong?"
"I refuse to become a son-in-law to a...a pirate!"
Jack raised his hand to his mouth. "A pirate? Where?"
"James, what are you saying?" Jacquelyn started toward him, only to be met with his back.
"Your father is a pirate, a scoundrel, a fake, and a bloodthirsty devil."
"Stop, you're making me blush," Jack sighed.
Jacquelyn suddenly realized the precarious nature of her engagement. "It doesn't mean that I am."
Norrington spun around and glowered down at her. Her eyes, usually green, were beginning to turn red and her lower lip quivered slightly. "Honestly Jacquelyn, IÀ Àm not so sure about that."
Jack chimed in from where he was standing. "She'd be a horrible pirate, mate. She's too short, and a girl -woman- besides."
Norrington sneered. "but blood, I'm sure, is thicker than salt water, isn't it, Mr. Sparrow? And if she's your daughter, probably one of several-" Jacquelyn blinked and gaped at her father, who just smiled to himself and laughed a little. " -then I'm sure Miss Sparrow is about as clean as you are."
"How dare you!" She cried, tears now pouring freely down her face. "I'm not like him! Was your father a Commodore for the fleet? What did he do? Whatever it was, I'm sure you didn't follow in his footsteps!"
"And you are nothing but pirate trash!" Norrington bellowed. Even Gillette was shaken by it. Jacquelyn's mouth hung open as he walked past her. Her eyes wandered, looking for anything to comfort her.
"Sparrow, I'm giving you one day to leave here with your daughter and not return. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, mate."
The Commodore looked back to his now former fiance, who was standing stock still. As he turned back around he got a good look at a large gold ring as it connected squarely with his nose.
"No one was does that to a lady mate, especially me little girl, savvy?" He stepped over Norrington's body, now unconscious, and stood behind her. He was never good at consoling, especially when he wasn't trying to get something out of it, which wasn't often. "C'mon love. We got to leave quick or both of us'll be wearing a really itchy necklace."
"Why? I didn't do anything."
"I know Jacquelyn, love, but you're guilty by association."
"Then I'm not leaving. I won't be like you, running away from everything, from your family, from me!"
The guards were starting to close in. Jack began to sweat, but his broken©hearted daughter wouldn't budge.
"You want us both to be killed?"
"You deserve it," she sobbed, turning to face him. "And what have I to live for now?"
Jack stared at her. Her brown hair fell limply around her shoulders and the sparkle in her eyes was drowned in the salt sea of her tears. She rushed into his arms and buried her head in his chest, sobbing. Hesitantly, he held her and stroked her hair. "It's all right, love. Daddy's here."
"MR SPARROW!"
Neither of them moved. Jack looked up for a moment to see several shining bayonets pointing at them. Norrington was on his feet, his nose covered by a blood-soaked handkerchief.
"You, sir, will be hanged at dawn!" Jacquelyn was ripped away from Jack by two guards, but offered up little resistance.
"Does this mean you wish to kill me again, James?" she asked.
"Jacquelyn, even though you are his daughter, you've done nothing wrong."
She gritted her teeth. "Oh?" One of the soldiers, who held her away, doubled over in pain. A bloody dagger, one missing from Jack's side, now clanked to the stone.
"Jacquelyn! What've you done?" the pirate whispered aloud.
She locked eyes with Norrington, tears once again in her eyes. "Sins of the father," was all she managed to say. She looked up at Jack, whose mind was working one hundred miles a minute.
"Well, gents, this is where I take my leave. Sorry, love." With that, he ducked between the men and took off in a sprint for the docks. His daughter hung her head in shame.
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Morning came frightfully slow. The sun hadn't even made it over the plastered window of her cell. Rotting straw crackled as the guard entered her cell. She had slept surprisingly well, with her death to come at daybreak. Her face was suddenly cold as the guard doused her in cold water to wake her.
"Time to go, Miss," he sneered, pushing her out of the doorway. She would have fallen in her still sleepy haze if another guard had not caught her by the shoulders.
"Ah now where you goin', love? You've got people waiting for you," he laughed binding her hands dumbly. "You can't keep them waitin'."
The other pulled the hair messily out of her face, poking her several time in the eye. "Let's be able to see you pretty face, dearie." He tied a thick black ribbon in it and marched her out the door.
The sun was beginning to peek over the wall, curious to see what was going on. People were pouring into the square, ready for the event. Some of the less god fearing merchants set up for sale, hoping to make a profit. Jacquelyn's eyes were solidly fixed to on the gallows, the noose, made of heavy hemp, barely swayed in the sea breeze. She managed to keep her head high, but she could by no means look at the people around her.
Her legs just seem to work without her thinking, marching to the scaffold. She felt herself jerk to a stop and forcibly turned to a small alcove in the fort. The governor, his daughter and her husband, and her own ex-fiance stood silently. She could feel Norrington's eyes burrowing through her.
"Miss -uh- Sparrow, do you have anything to say before you are executed?" the governor asked. The crowd murmured, awaiting her response.
"Only to teach my father, the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, a lesson. I understand what I have done and I apologize, but such a lesson comes at a heavy price." Jacquelyn refused to meet Norrington's gaze.
"I see," the governor said lowly. He motioned for the guards to post at the base of the gallows. Norrington turned to the him. "There will be no interruptions this time, sir." He nodded and turned his attention to the execution.
Jacquelyn climbed the creaking steps to her end. The sun was rising over the garrison's wall, making her turn her head toward the empty sea. For a moment, the sea drowned out the bloody cries of the usually reserved British colonists. gazing out onto the green, she felt...at home. Almost free. She felt the boards creak beneath her and she steeled herself, her heart ready to burst from her chest. Her eyes turned as the hangman slipped the noose over her head and tightened the cord. He stepped back from her as a guard read the single charge.
"Miss Jacquelyn Sparrow, daughter of pirate Jack Sparrow-"
"Captain! It's Captain Jack Sparrow!"
She widened her eyes as a single figure sauntered up. "You could at least get my name right when you're not hanging me, gents." The guards raised their rifles.
"Jack Sparrow! What the hell are you doing here?!" Norrington yelled " Guards!"
The pirate was immediately surrounded, but looked nonplussed. "I'm just here to exercise my right as a father."
The Commodore arched an eyebrow. "Oh really? And how would you as a father handle this? Send her to bed without supper?"
The crowd laughed uneasily. Jacquelyn's eye never left that over her father's.
"No, we pirates have our own way of dealing with martyrs." He broke eye contact with his daughter and focused on one of the guards. His eyes narrowed and he growled. The young soldier side glanced and stepped out the way sheepishly. Norrington, seething, jumped from his place and rushed up the scaffold to block the pirate's way.
"She's not your problem anymore, Sparrow. She belongs to the Crown now."
"She's me blood, Commodore, and belongs to me," Sparrow lilted at him. "I'll deal with her."
He approached and stood before her. Her green eyes were fearful emeralds in his presence. Her neck had already begun to be rubbed raw from the rope. The breeze blew her ponytail around her face and her dress flapped in front of her, giving her some kind of angelic silhouette.
"Why are you doing this, love? For attention? Because you've sure as hell got that."
"To teach you a lesson, Father. To stop running. It needs to end here." She fought back the too familiar tears. Jack moved to hug her, but she moved away as far as she could. He stopped and looked over the crowd. "You're right, Jackie©love. It ends here. I promise."
He embraced her, holding her close. Her bonds rendered her unable to return her affection. "Thank you, Father." Jack gave her a light kiss on the corner of her mouth.
His brown eyes softened. Jack sighed and closed his eyes. There was a quick movement and she gasped. The movement reversed and he stepped behind her. Her face was pale, except for the blood running down her mouth. Her white dress was stained in blood. The crowd gasped, and those near the exits ran, but those who could hear looked on mortified.
He slowly removed her neck from the noose and caught her as she fell backwards in his arms. She looked at Norrington, who was, himself, terrified at what was happening before him. "You are nothing but a pirate!" Jack was already kneeling over his daughter, who was bleeding quickly.
"James?" She tried to reach out for him, but her hands had not been untied. He fell to her side. "I'm here, Jacquelyn."
Jack coughed. "Too bad she's not, mate." He nodded and lowered his eyes. Norrington sucked in a breath and looked. Her eyes were half open, her chest still. "She's gone."
"You killed your own daughter! In front of everyone here!" Norrington screamed. The crowd didn't know whether to clap, cry, or anything.
Jack shifted his weight and picked up her body. "Did I? Or was it you, Commodore James Norrington? You loved her until she found me and now look where we are. All three of us, here on the scaffold, and the one who hadn't done anything wrong in her life, except for killing one man, is dead! That's where we are!"
Norrington knew not how to react. The governor, his first fiancÀ)À, the population of Port Royal, his men, and his nemesis looked on him. Tears choked him. He tried to meet Captain Sparrow's eyes, but could not bring himself to do it, even as a proper Englishman. He held his arms out and swallowed hard. "Then please, permit me to give her a proper Christian burial."
Jack glared at him. "Should we replace one ceremony with another? No." He walked past him and down the gallows steps, parting the crowd like stories of long ago. "She'll be with me family. At sea. After all," he said taking a final look, "she is the captain's little girl."
The pirate took his daughter in a singular funeral procession. As he passed, old women who spat on her walk up now wept and kissed her cold hands. Jack didn't even have the heart to begin cutting purses.
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The Black Pearl left with the noon tide. Norrington sat atop the lookout point of the garrison watching quietly. Gillette had been given command for the duration of the day so he could keep his vigil. The Pearl's sails grew big bellied with the wanton wind. The black hulk cut through the water, but something didn't seem right about it. A scrap of white fluttered near the bow of the ship. Norrington shielded his eyes against the sun to see it."No. It can't be."
A single white sail. No. It was dress. Jacquelyn's dress, tied to the prow. No, she was still in it. And alive? She even waved to him, from afar. She looked at home on the sea. She turned away and ran athwartships to the helm. Jack stood there at the wheel, in the largest hat Norrington had seen. The captain motioned to Jacquelyn and she pulled what looked like a bladder out of her bodice. Running her hand over it, she threw it over the side, waving one bloody hand to the Commodore. Her brown hair flew around her wildly as she left the deck for her father's cabin.
He sat there positively flabbergasted. "Not like your father, eh?" he sighed. He squinted in the sun and adjusted his powdered wig. "I'll see you again. Both of you." Norrington reached into his coat and threw a handful of wilted poppies over the cliff. He mused to himself for a moment. "I suppose sparrows flock together, then?"
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