[ SMUT WARNING: don't want it? don't read it. actually, it's like semi-smut I guess ]
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I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE.
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IT FELT GOOD, sleeping in her own warm bed with Nash curled into her side. Everything at home was exactly the same and yet Nerissa was a completely different person now. She'd fought pirates and stolen a ship. She'd come out braver and stronger than she had been.
That morning, when Nerissa looked in the mirror and saw the cut on her eyebrow, she couldn't help but smile, recalling how she got it. Muriel tried to style her hair to hide it, but Nerissa wouldn't let her. It was a badge of honor in her mind, one she would wear proudly.
But Nerissa's pride melted away upon arriving at Fort Charles. Dread settled in her stomach as she stood between James and Elizabeth, her father at her other side. The drums were sounding, and when they stopped, Nerissa knew Jack would be gone.
He stood on a gallows, his wrists bound. As the executioner checked the mechanism that would rip the floor out from underneath him, an officer was droning on, recounting the very long list of Jack's crimes.
Nerissa might've laughed were she not horrified by what was coming.
"Jack Sparrow —be it known that you have been charged, tried and convicted—"
"Captain," Nerissa whispered underneath her breath, only James hearing, which made him frown deeply.
"—For your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature. The most aggrieves of which to be cited herewith: Piracy. Smuggling...
"This is wrong," Elizabeth said, her eyes also on Jack.
James didn't bother to respond, but Weatherby spoke for him. "Commodore Norrington is bound by the law. As are we all."
The officer was still listing the crimes, it taking far longer than anyone would've thought. "Impersonating a person of the Spanish Royal Navy. Impersonating a cleric of the Church of England. Sailing under false colors. Arson. Kidnapping, looting, poaching, pilfering, depravity, degradation, and general lawlessness."
"And for these crimes, you have been sentenced on this day to be hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."
Suddenly, Will, who was wearing a large and fancy hat, walked in front of the area where Nerissa and the others were staring. They weren't his final destination, and yet he still paused and looked at Elizabeth with stars in his eyes.
"Governor Swann. Commodore. Nerissa," he greeted cordially before moving on. "Elizabeth."
The surprise and delight in Elizabeth's eyes was clear as he called her by her first name.
