Disclaimer: I own no part of Pirates of the Caribbean, no profit can possibly be made from this.
To Dance
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, Cross-step, turn, 1, 2, 3…I still remembered the steps even after all the years had passed since I had learned them. Soon I would dance differently, not upon the toes of my mother, as I had done as a child, but with a grim figure, who coveted my life. I had escaped this dance many times even by the skin of my teeth. The steps repeat themselves over in my head, heavy with the knowledge of what lay ahead. All thoughts of escape and a grandiose return to my crew had been long since abandoned. They had left and I had no one to count on to help my escape, save Will, though I doubt that he would break the law in such a way after being pardoned, or at all for that matter. And bound by hand and shackled by foot I would be of little use to myself. It seems I will have to dance.
It never fails to amaze me the amount of people who will break their own necks to see another man's broken. I sighed in resignation, the beat of drums steady and heavy in my ears, at the great crowd, all of whom would take great pleasure in seeing my body swing from the gallows.
"Jack Sparrow, be it known that you have…"
"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow."
Why did no one ever remember the Captain? Is it truly that complicated to remember? If I didn't have a noose around my neck I would have shaken my head.
"…for your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith – piracy, smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England…"
"Ah, yes." I remember that; great fun that was. I found that if I wasn't of the Articles, I could have been of the cloth… well, that's a lie, I couldn't stand a life of celibacy, but I would have been believable at least on most counts.
"…sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness. And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."
I never will understand the reasoning behind stating the manner of a man's execution when it was blatantly obvious. Of course, the practice was started by those under the crown, who tend to be a bit lacking in the way of intelligence.
The drum roll begins, fast and sharp in my ears. I steel myself and look out among the crowd. Pushing his way through the crowd was a man in a completely farsical hat with a huge feather. Looking closer I see that it's Will, I should have figured only someone like him would wear such an awful hat. The platform below my feet begins to fall, and there is the sudden sound of singing metal. As it turns out, I won't have to dance with Jack Catch. After all, I am Captain Jack Sparrow, escaping death is what I do.