Norrington's Darling

Beckett and Jack Make A (Fake? Terrible? Bad?) Deal

POV: Zuri Norrington

I felt it then.

Raw, unfettered panic.

My heartbeat quickened and I felt as though I was slowly being burned alive. Jack's hand found mine and squeezed. He was trembling, too. My fingers brushed across the brand on his wrist. We both had reason to be terrified.

"What happens to James," I gasped. "What happens to James when Beckett sees me? What happens to him? What happens to us?"

"It's alright," Jack said. "We...we'll come up with a story. Now. Here and now. What did Norrington say about you to Beckett?"

"I...I don't know. I... We hadn't agreed on that before I left. It just...we just..." I could hardly breathe. Beckett was going to kill me. He was going to kill James. Hell, he might even kill Jack. My family was doomed. My family could end right here, right now.

"Alright, we'll figure that out when we get there, I'm sure Beckett will gloat," Jack reasoned. Already I could see him slipping into his old self, the old marine he used to be under Beckett's command. "Um...we kidnapped you? Barbossa did anyway. And then you brought me back to life. And we were...spiriting you away to the Brethren Court! And now we're here!"

"Simple enough and only lies have detail," I said, shakily. But I couldn't bring myself to be relieved. It still felt as if the world was about to end.

"We can handle it," Jack said confidently.

"I'm glad you think so," I murmured, "but I do not."

The trip the Endeavour only took about twenty minutes, I'm sure. But it felt like it took hours. Dread coiled in my stomach. I swore I heard Jones' cruel, bubbling laugh—the laugh of Death before he took someone into his poisonous embrace.

Jack kept me close when we boarded the ship. He snarled at anyone who's gaze lingered on me too long. Just once we were stopped—by Theodore Groves. He caught my arm and whispered, "James is on the Dutchman. His claim is that you left to bargain with Barbossa and were captured. Stick to that story." He nodded to me, then to Jack, and then bustled us to Beckett.

But now my heart beat out a rapid tattoo of two fears. Beckett waited inside the office we stood before; James was on the Flying Dutchman and within Jones' grasp. I wasn't sure which was worse.

The French doors opened. Panic seized my body the moment my eyes landed on Beckett.

The foul man stood before his window, watching the Pearl and Feng's ship. "Remarkable." He spoke as Jack and I entered the room, I behind my brother. Beckett stood in front of his window, observing. He wore a coat of deepest plum. I instantly hated it. Jack started rifling through Beckett's belongings. "The last I saw of that ship, she was on fire, her blackened hull sinking beneath the waves." He almost sounded mournful and upset as he continued. "We had a deal, Jack. I contracted you to deliver cargo on my behalf; you chose to liberate it."

Jack froze. My gut tightened. "People aren't cargo, mate."

Beckett had yet to turn around, still studying the Black Pearl. "You incurred a heavy debt to raise her up again, didn't you?" 

Jack ignored him, lifting up another lid.

"It's a debt he payed," I said quietly. "He payed it. He payed more than he ought to have."

Beckett turned to observe me briefly, running his eyes over me once, and then he returned to the window. "Curious," he said. "Your friends appear to be quite desperate, Jack. Perhaps they no longer believe a gathering of squabbling pirates is enough to take down the Flying Dutchman. And so despair leads to betrayal. But you and I are no strangers to betrayal, are we?" Jack paused in his rummaging and his gaze dipped to the brand on his arm, then to me.