Absolution
Jack kicked the door off its hinges without even checking the lock. His pistol immediately trained on the man standing by the window in James's office.
Gillette turned to him, his eyes red-rimmed and his hair mussed like he'd been running his hands through it.
"Do it," he said hoarsely, the pleading note in his voice wrenching fresh anguish from the bleeding, aching flesh of Jack's heart, which was not so black as he'd once thought. Not tonight, and not for these three years past.
"Wasn't your fault, lad," he said, coating his tone with the same clover-honey softness he'd often used in the late hours of the night, rocking James back from dreams of burning sails and Jack himself swinging in the breeze. James – James –
The young lieutenant shook his head wildly. "It was!" he cried, stalking forward. "It was – I fell, and I was in the water, and I couldn't get back up the hull – couldn't help – couldn't save him..." With trembling fingers he gripped Jack's hand, pressing the cold steel muzzle into the hollow of his throat. "You came here to kill me, Sparrow, because I let him die. So do it!"
Jack pried himself loose, eyes locked on watery blue. "Hush," he said past the knot in his throat. "You didn't let him die. Nobody ever let Jamie do anything. He went down defending his ship, an' his men, and that's all he would've asked –" His words broke abruptly, cleanly. Gillette fell against him as the pistol clattered on the floor. Jack clenched his hands in the blue wool overcoat, so familiar, and yet he knew he'd never mistake it for the one that belonged to James, the one that carried his scent, the one now lost to whatever madly daring captain had finally sunk the Dauntless, leaving behind one sobbing lieutenant and a pirate lost with no more north to guide him home.