Norrington's Darling

Jack and Zu

POV: Zuri Norrington

The Locker, when we stumbled onto its shores, was a desolate place. The air was dry, devoid of water. Maybe even devoid of oxygen, too. One could hardly call it air. 

My eyes felt like they were burning. My clothes were dry, somehow. Elizabeth and I still held each other's hands as we stumbled further onto shore with our crew.

Bits and pieces of our smashed ship had followed us into the Locker. They knocked against the beach. A length of slimy rope curled around my ankle, eliciting a shriek from me. My heart beat should have been racing wildly, but...it was hardly there. Just a slow bump...........ba dump...........bump............ba dump............

"I don't like this place," I breathed, shuddering.

Gibbs wrapped a blanket around me. "This truly is a Godforsaken place." He made a cross over his chest.

"I don't see Jack," Elizabeth noted, despairing. She scanned the sandy dunes we stood upon. "I don't see anyone."

The place was not what I had expected. I had expected something like Hell—a scorching inferno with the souls of the damned. This barren wasteland, hot though it was, was the opposite of that.

"He's here," Barbossa promised us. "Davy Jones never once gave up what he took."

"It doesn't matter," Will spat. "We're trapped here, by your doing—just like Jack!"

Tia intervened before an argument could begin, idly petting the shell of a white crab. Vaguely, I wondered where the crab had come from. "Witty Jack...is closer than you think."

A sound like a thousand snakes hissing broke through the air. A gasp pulled itself from my lungs as the mast of the Black Pearl rose—and down came the ship, cresting over the sand like it was water.

I nearly sobbed at the sight of the ship. The Kraken had taken that down with my brother—surely, if the ship was here, Jack was with it. I made to run for it, but Tia grabbed my wrist. 

"He will come to us," she assured me.

The Pearl slid into the water on the backs of thousands of crabs. "Impossible," breathed Tai Huang.

"Possible," I countered.

"Boat," said Ragetti.

Gibbs was starting to smile. "Slap me thrice and hand me to me momma—it's Jack!"

And it was Jack who came walking up to us, his usual swagger in his step. His hat was atop his head, his compass dangling on his belt, his sash not on quite right.

He was Jack. My brother, returned at last.

I sank to my knees, hands to my mouth.

James, he's here. He's alive. Ish. But he's here. He's in front of me.

"It's the captain!" cried Pintel.

"A sight for sore eyes!" Gibbs cried. "Jack!"

"Mr. Gibbs!"

We froze. Jack did not sound pleased. In fact, he sounded severely displeased.

"Aye, Captain," said Gibbs, looking a bit confused.

"I thought so. I expect you can account for your actions, then?" Jack demanded.

Gibbs glanced at me. "Sir?" he asked.

"There has been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline aboard my vessel! Why is that, sir?"

A crushing feeling filled my chest. He didn't realize he was dead, did he?

"You're in Davy Jones' locker, Captain."

Jack paused, thinking it over. "I know that. I know where I am, and don't think I don't!"

"Jack Sparrow." Barbossa stepped forward with a sly grin. I slid a glare in his direction. If he'd just stayed quieter for a few more moments...

"Ah, Hector!" But Jack looked delighted to see him. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"Aye, Isla de Muerta, remember? You shot me."

Jack's self-assured grin slipped for a moment. Then he said, "No, I didn't!" He moved on. "Ah, Tia Dalma! Out and about, eh? You lend an agreeable sense of the macabre to any delirium." His statement confirmed what Will and I were both thinking.

"He thinks we're a hallucination," Will said.

Jack gave a sad smile. "William, tell me something. Have you come because you need my help to rescue a certain distressing damsel? Or rather a damsel in distress? Either one?"

Will frowned. "No."

"Then you wouldn't be here," Jack snapped. I was reminded of his complaints about Will only coming to him when Elizabeth was in danger. "So you can't be here! Q.E.D., you're not really here!"

Elizabeth timidly stepped forward. "Jack, this is real. We're here."

Jack eyed her distastefully, then scurried back to Gibbs. "The Locker, you say?"

"Aye."

"We've come to rescue you," Elizabeth said softly.

"Have you, now? That's very kind of you. But seeing as I possess a ship and you don't, it seems as though you're the ones in need of rescuing and I'm not sure as I'm in the mood."

Barbossa's face split into a sly grin. "I see my ship. Right...there." He pointed to the Pearl.

"Like hell that's your ship," I spat, as the same time as Jack said, "Can't spot it, must be a tiny little thing hiding somewhere behind the Pearl!"

Then he realized I was the one who had spoken with him. Slowly he turned. 

Jack's mouth didn't seem to know what to do. For several long moments, he gaped at me, mouth forming words that didn't make a sound. I found my mouth had gone dry. Here was my brother, alive and well (not really), and I didn't know what to do?"

Jack ran to me. Before I knew what was happening, I was sobbing as we held each other with painful force.

At last, Jack managed a strangled, "Zu?"