The Lion and The Lamb ||| Hector Barbossa||| BOOK 1-UPDATED VERSION-COMPLETED|||

15 | Sparrow's Hanging

The day has finally arrived. Jack Sparrow is to hang for his crimes. It is only now that I realise I don't want him dead. I mean, he is a pirate and he has done bad things, but he has also done good things. He saved Elizabeth the day of the ceremony. He stopped me from killing myself to be with the man I love. Then again, he also killed the man I love.

Elizabeth agreed to marry James Norrigton the way I agreed to marry Phillip Gillette, so we decided to have a joint wedding in three months.

We are currently at the fort where Jack is going to be hanged. It is a rather depressing sight to see him standing on a platform with a rope around his neck.

"Jack Sparrow..." A minister announced and began to read a long list of Jack's crimes.

"Captain Jack Sparrow," I saw Jack correct him in a whisper.

"... for your 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, forgery, sailing under false colours, looting, poaching, brigandage, depravity, vandalism, impersonating a Royal Navy and other British and Spanish officers and a Clergyman, arson, kidnapping, piracy in the Caribbean Sea, perjury, theft and ransacking a rum shipment. For these crimes, you are sentenced to be on this day hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

The minister finally finished reading the list when we are approached by Will. I still haven't forgiven him for killing Barbossa.

"Governor Swann. Commodore. Lily. Elizabeth. I should have told you everyday from the moment I met you... I love you," Will said before walking away. Norrington and father looked really surprised. I saw Will push through the crowd and make a scene.

"I can't breathe," Elizabeth stuttered before pretending to faint.

"Elizabeth!" Father exclaimed and took off his hat to fan her. Gillette was standing beside me giving me odd looks until he saw Will make a scene.

"Phillip," I muttered and pretended to find it hard to stand. He grabbed my arm to help me stand, "Thank you. But I can't breathe," I discretely escaped his grip and fell flat on my back.

Just as the platform under Jack dropped, Elizabeth and I instantly sat up and gasped. Jack was balancing on a sword, most likely to have been thrown by Will, with a rope around his neck.

Gillette instantly grabbed my arm and pulled me into the hallway of the battlement.

"What were you thinking?" He asked me and released my arm.

"I followed Elizabeth's lead," I shrugged.

"Lily, this.. this has to stop. You can't keep involving yourself with pirates. I can't lose you."

"You've no need to worry, Phillip. I can protect myself," I stated and tried to walk back outside.

"But you shouldn't have to. You should always be safe, no matter where you are."

"Trust me, I will be fine," I pulled him into a tight hug. I'm still not over Barbossa. I still love him. But he's dead. I love Gillette, and he's alive. I need to move on. We pulled apart and I took off running to the edge of the fort where Will and Jack were cornered.

"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt," Norrington told Will, "but not from you."

"On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency. And this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him?" Father commented, "He's a pirate."

"And a good man," Will shot back, "And if this means the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear."

"You forget your place, Turner," Norrington warned.

"It's right here, between you and Jack."

"As is mine," Elizabeth stepped forward.

"Mine too!" I spoke up and stood next to Elizabeth.

"Lily..." Gillette almost whispered and looked betrayed. I couldn't look directly at him.

"Lower your weapons," Father ordered, "For goodness sake, put them down!"

"So this is where your heart truely lies?" Norrington asked Elizabeth. Poor man, he looked so broken.

"It is."

"Well, I'm feeling good about this," Jack randomly says and walks up to father, "We've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically," Next, he stands in front on Norrington, "I want you to know that I was rooting for you, mate. Kniw that."

Jack finally backs off and randomly says to me, "Lily. It would never have worked out between us, darling. I'm sorry."

"Keep telling yourself that, Sparrow," I laughed.

"Will. Nice hat," Jack says and runs up to the edge of the fort, "Friends! This is the day that you will always remember as the day that-"

Jack fell backwards off the fort and into the water below before he could finish his sentence.

"Idiot. He's nowhere to go but back to the noose," Gillette smirks. The Black Pearl was sailing towards Jack in the distance, "What's your plan of action? Sir?"

"Perhaps on the rare occasion, pursuing the right course demands an act of piracy," Father tells Gillette, "Piracy itself can be the right course."

Norrington walks to Will to give him a good talking to while Gillette pulls me aside once again.

"What is it this time, Phillip?" I sigh.

"I never got to give this to you last week, so I thought I should give it to you now," Phillip pulls out a diamond ring from the pocket of his coat and slides it on my finger.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed and threw my arms around his neck, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, future Mrs Lily Gillette."

A/N: Book one if finished! Plot twist in the last couple of chapters to please let me know what yoy think. I am working on book two as you are reading this! 💕