Norrington's Darling

Tia Dalma's Promise

POV: Zuri Sparrow

Words didn't matter to me anymore. They passed right through me as though they aren't real, as though they're just the chattering of birds, senseless to any human. Only Gibbs seemed real.

"Aye," he said forlornly. "And already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all, right to the end. But I guess that honest streak finally won out." He raises the mug Tia offered him just as she presented me with one. "To Jack Sparrow!"

"Never another like Captain Jack," Ragetti said.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," Pintel said.

"The best brother the world could offer," I said, my voice choked.

"He was a good man," Elizabeth said.

Will said nothing.

But for those of us who do speak, our voice are thick and choked with tears.

Tia pulled me to the back of her house. "Zuri..." She held out her arms and I fell into her embrace, sobs falling out of me without difficulty.

"You have lost so much," Tia whispered.

"Jack...the Pearl...Jamie..."

"Jamie?" Tia asked. "James Norrington?"

"That's the one," I said weakly. "Oh, I wish I'd gone with him...I wish I had been with him instead of watching Jack die!"

"If you had a chance, would you go with him instead?" 

"Absolutely," I whispered.

"Ahh, good..." Tia watched me closely. Then her attention snapped to the others in her house just as Will spoke.

"If there was anything to be done to bring him back, Elizabeth..."

"Would you do it?" Tia demanded suddenly. "What would you? Hmm? What would any of you be willing to do? Hmm? Will you sail to the ends of the earth and beyond to fetch back Jack and his precious Pearl?"

Gibbs's response is immediate. "Aye."

"Aye," I echoed.

"Aye," Pintel agreed.

Ragetti followed him. "Aye."

"Awk!" Cotton's parrot squawked. "Aye!"

"Yes," Elizabeth said quietly.

"Aye," Will murmured, just as softly as Elizabeth.

Tia nodded. "All right, but if you're going to brave the weird and haunted shores at world's end...then, you will need a captain who knows those waters."

There are steps on the stairs. Barbossa appears, an apple in hand and Jack the monkey on his shoulder. "So, tell me... What's become of my ship?"

While the rest of the crew gawps at Barbossa, Tia pulled me aside again. "Alright, Zuri. You're going back to him, alright?"

"I—what?" I frowned.

"You're going back to your Norrington," Tia said. "You need to fight back. You need to stay with him. You will carry all of these memories with you—and he his—but you will get a chance to spend more time with your beloved, a chance to see what might have happened."

"Tia..." I whispered. I threw my arms around her. "Thank you!"

She hugged me back. "Of course, dear."

"You have no idea how much he means to me," I whispered.

She gave me a sad smile. "Oh, I might."

I squeezed her hand. "Thank you, Tia."

"Close your eyes, Zuri," Tia whispered. "I will tell the others you've departed for Port Royal. Not far from the truth, in fact." She smiled at me and I smiled back. Tia began to murmur something, and the next thing I knew, the air was hot and muggy again and the sun was shining down on me.

"JAMES!" I screamed as I ran forward toward him.

He stopped, shocked. "Zuri!"