She's a Pirate (Jack Sparrow)

23. Goodbye

Norrington added "However, we can't say the same about Mister Sparrow. He has been a wanted pirate for years, after all. He'll be hanged tomorrow first thing in the morning."

Narissa and Will nodded, not saying a word, as the two men left to their own duties. She sighed, she had less that twenty-four hours to spend with Jack.

"I'm sorry," said Will. "He is a good man, after all."

She smiled softly, with an expression that her friend recognized well. "He is."

The boy felt sympathy for her; he had realised that she was very fond of Jack and felt something strong for him. "Does he know how you feel?" His question was answered by a shake of her head. "You should tell him."

"What's the point? He'll be dead in some hours." She tried not to think of the image of Jack being hanged, his body shaking before taking his last breath.

"That's why you should do it. He must feel the same for you, let him have something nice before it ends."

"For having so many relationship advises, you seem awfully alone, William," she said with a teasing smirk. "Would you do the same with Elizabeth, if the circumstances were the same?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes. If one of us was to die, I would tell her."

She weighed his words. He was right, she couldn't let him die without telling him what her heart wanted to say. "I'm going to see him." She finished the conversation and left her friend, walking to the stairs that led below deck, where the cells were.

There was Jack. His back, turned to her, was leaning on the bars of his cell, his legs were stretched out. He was murmuring something with his eyes closed. When she got a bit closer to him, she could recognize that he was singing. 'Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me'. She smiled. He played with his compass in his hand inadvertently, eyes closed, opening and closing the lid over and over again. The sound of the object closing repeatedly seemed loud in the silent place.

"Jack," she whispered, not wanting to startle him.

He recognized the sweet voice and smiled. Opening his eyes, he turned around to see her. She knelt in front of him. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, touch her, but the metal bars stood on his way.

"Thank goodness you came. It's awfully boring down here."

She didn't know how he managed to be so calm and carefree in a moment like that.

"Jack... Do you know tha-" she was going to ask, but he interrupted.

"They'll hang me tomorrow. I know, I know... Not the first time I've been sentenced to die on the noose, love, but here I am."

"You have a plan, then?" she asked hopefully.

He didn't answer right away. "Of course!" He directed his eyes to the floor for a second, unable to look at her while saying that. "I always have a plan."

He tried not to worry her and smiled. But she knew him too well: He was lying. He had no idea of how to escape from this one. She looked down at her own hands and bit her lip. He noticed the small cuts on the flesh and his heart dropped. Had she been that worried about him during the few hours they had been on the Dauntless?

He reached out a hand between the bars and gently grabbed her chin. His next words came out with the softest voice she had ever heard from him. "Hey, you... You don't need to worry about me, love. Alright? I'll be fine and even if everything goes wrong, I'm not good for you. I mean, maybe it's better this way. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come with me and travel the world together. I tend to always find myself in a huge mess and-" he stumbled with his words and she didn't let him finish.