James's POW

Contrary to what Turner may believe, I am not not a fool. I had seen that glint on the young man's eyes when he knew about Sparrow's hanging date, and I had to be either blind or a total idiot to not understand what he was going to try. And let me assure you, I am neither.

This knowledge caused me to have an argument with myself that night. On the one hand, Jack Sparrow was a pirate, and guilty of all charges. He was a scoundrel, a blackguard, a scallywag, a...pirate. And did I mention he was a bloody pirate? He deserved the punishment, for God's sake!

But on the other hand...well, this was hard for me to admit, but I had decided to be completely honest with myself this night. I had developed somewhat of a...liking to the pirate. On the trip back to Port Royal after capturing the pirate, I had gone once to talk with him at the brig. My intention was to make him give me information about other pirates, but one thing led to another and we ended up in a heated debate about law, morals, right, wrong, and freedom. It wasn't until I had returned to my quarters that I realized that it had been the first time in...well, forever that I had been so relaxed. And that happened after being with a pirate. And no conventional pirate, but Jack Sparrow, the man who have turned into my personal headache in the little time I've known him.

All that, along with some questions to Miss Swann and young Mr. Turner answered honestly, made me realize something that may take my view of the world and turn it upside down.

That Jack Sparrow, pirate captain, could possibly be a... good man.

And that realization was the culprit of said argument with myself. An argument that, if it ended in a certain way, not only may possibly change my beliefs but will definitely do it. Because if I ended up deciding to surreptitiously aid William Turner on his plan to rescue the pirate, that meant I, a Commodore of His Majesty's Royal Navy, admitted hanging Sparrow was wrong, that a pirate could be a good man, something I had never thought about.

No, wait, that was a lie. I, like Miss Swann, had also idolized pirates when I was younger, after one of them saved my life when I was seven. After that, I had thought pirates could be good men, and that being a pirate could be fun. But that opinion vanished the second I saw a massacre made by pirates in an innocent town. Women and little girls raped before being killed, babies' blood everywhere...no one survived nor died without pain. It was then when I realized how naive I had been, and decided that pirates were nothing but monsters, vile creatures who deserved nothing but a short drop and a sudden stop.

'Strange I would remember this now' I mused, sitting on the bed (I was slightly tired of pacing in front of the window for...I looked at the clock and was surprised to see I'd been doing it for nearly an hour) 'But now that I think about it, I had forgotten everything about the pirate who saved me...until now, that is'

Strangely, when I tried to think about that pirate, my mind would inevitably conjure an image of Jack Sparrow. Were they connected? But how?

Wait a moment. Sparrow?

Frowning, I tried to concentrate on the pirate's name. What was it? Tack...Teack...Tigh...Teagh...Teague! Captain Teague Sparrow, that was the name! How could I have forgot—

Realization hit me, and my eyes widened. Oh. Bloody. Hell.

So that was it. That was the reason I felt that vague sense of recognition when I laid eyes on Sparrow for the first time at the docks. He really looked a lot like him, so he must be a relative, and considering their ages, he must be his...father.

Yes, father. James Norrington had been rescued by Captain Jack Sparrow's father when he was a kid...meaning that he owed his life to him. And seeing that I was James Norrington, it meant I owed my life to a pirate. And seeing that the man had disappeared long ago, there was only a way to repay my debt.

...well, this made my decision easier and more difficult at the same time. Because that realization was the final drop to make my moral balance incline into one conclusion.

I will aid bloody Will Turner as much as I could into rescuing the damn pirate...Captain Jack Sparrow.

And consequences be damned.

On the execution day, I did my best to appear cool and collected, a thing that I wasn't feeling in the least.

'This will go well. It has to' I told myself, trying to relax.

Surrounding the place were soldiers handpicked by me for the occasion, soldiers who had been with me on the Dauntless that night when we were fighting undead pirates...along with some soldiers I had to admit that weren't very bright, like Murtogg and Mullroy.

Now I only had to trust the young man to stop the hanging.

And there he came, I thought with satisfaction. I was not surprised to hear William confess his love to Elizabeth. Again, I had to be blind or a complete idiot not to notice the obvious love between the two.

The realization had hit me the moment Elizabeth asked me to rescue Will 'as a wedding gift'. In that moment, I saw the pain and determination in her lovely brown eyes, as well as something that someone as sharp as me should've noticed since the very beginning.

Elizabeth did not love me, and never would. But she was willing to marry me, to sacrifice her happiness, to save the one she truly loved. I couldn't, in all honesty, marry her after that. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I did, knowing I was making the woman I loved unhappy.

So I decided to play the honorable fool and hide my pain when I ordered my men to turn around and chase the pirates.

'And here comes the commotion' I thought, seeing young William wrestling his way towards the platform while I pretended to be busy worrying about Elizabeth's 'sudden' fainting.

But when I glanced towards the scene, my heart nearly stopped. The hangman was about to open the trap and make Sparrow dangle, and William's sword had missed its aim of cutting the rope.

Things were about to not go well, and I had to avoid it.

So I acted.

Taking advantage of all the confusion, I jumped from where I was into the middle of the mess, knowing that anyone who saw me would assume that I was trying to stop him from freeing the pirate, and ran to where William was, grasping his arm in an apparently restricting move and whispering urgently:

"Fight me, kick me, take my sword and use it"

He stared at me for a second but did as I had told him: he pulled his arm from my grip, gave me a (rather painfully) kick on the shin, took my sword and threw it just when the hangman opened the trap. The sword lodged itself on the wood under Sparrow's feet, just in time for the pirate to stand on it and avoid being chocked.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, thank full for not having the death of a good man upon my conscience. I then looked around while the rest of the fight unfurled to see if anyone had seen my actions.

They were all fortunately too occupied being distracted by the commotion or making people leave to have noticed, thank God.

'Well, maybe my career isn't over yet' I thought with a touch of irony and a rueful smile.

Picking a sword from one of the soldiers, I went to play my part and threaten William Turner for aiding a pirate.

The irony here was too much to not let a small chuckle escape my lips.

"You forget your place, Mr. Turner," I told him, my voice cold and hard.

"It's right here, between you and Jack" He defiantly answered, his eyes hard but with a hint of confusion on them.

I ignored it, trying to think about how to proceed when something I wasn't expecting happened.

"As well as mine" Eliza- Miss Swann said, standing beside Will.

I was expecting the rejection, as I had explained before, but I had never expected her to add the embarrassment of doing so in public to the pain it inevitably caused.

"Is here where your heart truly lays?" I couldn't help but ask to make sure.

"It is"

I sighed. Of course it was. I was such a fool...

I saw Captain Sparrow (when had I started to think of him as Captain I wonder?) looking at me with pity in his dark eyes and ignored it. I certainly didn't need his pity.

The man then proceeded to approach us. First the governor, and then myself.

"I want you to know, I was rooting for you mate," He told me in all seriousness, poking me on the chest "Know that"

His eyes then sent me a questioning glance, and after a second of confusion, I was dismayed to realize that he had noticed my part on his rescue. His eyes continued to ask me 'why' and, after a conscious effort to harden my features and eyes, I shook my head minutely, trying to convey 'do not question it'. I saw confusion swim in his eyes, turning to gratefulness for a second and finally to determination, before returning to their usual playful and mischievous appearance.

"Be sure I'll come to visit you sometime, mate" He whispered to me, so low that I barely caught it. I blinked, surprised, but couldn't ask anything as he was already giving his peculiar farewells to Mr. Turner and Ms. Swann, then said his usual parting phrase...

And fell from the fort.

I would've laughed at how ridiculous and fitting it was for the pirate if it wasn't for the fact that there were sharp rocks on the bottom. I quickly ran to the wall and was relieved to see that he had miraculously missed the rocks.

That bloody man was lucky indeed.

After pardoning Will and hearing the Governor's words that somehow absolved me and justified my decision to give the Black Pearl a day's headstart, I went to my office to write my report, which was going to be a... challenging exercise in composition. And Jack Sparrow's escape from my clutches once again, along with the loss of the Interceptor, was going to give me a big amount of trouble from the Admiralty.

Still... I felt it was all worth it. Wich was absolutely mad, to consider placing my career at risk for a pirate worth it, and I couldn't help but wonder if the Caribbean's sun had finally driven me mad like Sparrow.

That had to be it. If not, why would I feel that I would've done the same again were the situation to repeat itself?