Norrington's Darling

The Fight, the Key, the Chest

POV: Zuri Sparrow

Elizabeth and I exchange a glance. Elizabeth is indignant. "No!"

"JAMES! STOP IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" I yell as Elizabeth continues on her rant.

"This is not funny! This is no way for grown men to—" Elizabeth started.

"JACK, PUT THE SWORD DOWN!" I yell. 

"Oh, fine! Let's just pull out our swords and start banging away at each other, that's all there ever is!" Elizabeth yells, walking around and mimicking them.

"JAMES, PLEASE BE REASONABLE! WORDS ARE USEFUL, YOU KNOW!" I call. I'm itching to join the fight, but I doubt joining them will support my words.

"I've had it! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum-soaked pirates!" Elizabeth called. She starts gathering rocks and hucking them at the three men.

Elizabeth and I pace. "THIS IS MADNESS!" the governor's daughter yells.

"We need a plan," I muttered.

"What?" Elizabeth asked. She glanced back at them. "ENOUGH!"

"We need to get their attention somehow. What about..." I snapped my fingers. "I know! Men always think women are fragile, right? What if ones of us faints?"

"Brilliant!" Elizabeth cried. "I'm prone to fainting, I'll do it." She takes a moment, then— "Oh. Oh! The heat!" She wobbles and falls over.

"It didn't work," I said blandly as the three keep fighting.

Elizabeth sat up. We watch Pintel and Ragetti running away with the chest. Elizabeth leaps up and runs after them. "GET THOSE THREE TO STOP!" she yells back at me, pointing to James, Jack, and Will.

I run to the three men as Jack falls. I clearly hear his, "Bugger." I watch as he grabs the key and runs. Will and James both pause to watch him. James pulls Will back from chasing after Jack and Turner falls to his knees. James kicks sand in his eyes and mock-bows to Will. "By your leave, Mr. Turner." He turns and races after my brother.

Will catches sight of me as he scrambles up. "Your boyfriend is a—"

"Yes, I know," I yell. "But don't you DARE finish that sentence!"

The two of us race after my brother and boyfriend, I just slightly ahead of Will. My brother and James are running up the ruins of an old mill. James snatches the key from Jack's grasp and Jack loses his balance, grabbing the bell rope for balance. The bell tolls as Will takes the opposite rope going up. He steals the key from James. 

"By your leave, Mr. Norrington," Will says, a cocky smirk plastered to his face. He descends and James jumps after him. 

"OI!" I yell at Will, drawing my own sword.

The fight is taken outside, onto the rooftop. Jack catches the key. Will and James instantly corner him, Jack disarmed and pushed against the building. 

James keeps his gaze trained on Jack, but says to Will, "Do excuse me while I kill the man who ruined my life."

"Be my guest," Will replies.

"Let us examine that claim for a moment, former Commodore, shall we?"

"JACK!" I yell at the reference to James's fallen status.

Jack ignores me. "Who was it that at the very moment you had a notorious pirate safely behind bars saw fit to free said pirate and take your dearly beloved all to hisself...aye? So whose fault is it really that you've ended up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?"