Epilogue
James Norrington and AnaMaria were married a few days after the technical conclusion of the war—1783; the day the last of the Britidh left New York—by one General Jonathan Depp. Together, after enjoying several more years of very profitable piracy, they retired to a quaint little cove in what would become Maine, where the Dauntless always waited for them, should they ever return to the sea. For the next several years, James Norrington became a respected naval historian, a man who was known for never traveling without his wife.
They did return to the sea once, when the War of 1812 was engaged. The US government asked for him to take an advisory role with the Navy to help with action against the English fleet. He offered the Dauntless as a ship to them, which they gladly took, granting him an Admiral's command, and giving his wife captaincy of the Dauntless. The ship saw a bit of action, and by war's end, returned to Maine, where the Norringtons quietly lived out the rest of their days. They bore several children, of whom six made adulthood.
John Norrington, the old Admiral's oldest son, enlisted in the Navy, and would serve with distinction in the US Civil War. Their only daughter, one Elizabeth Norrington, made her way to the Caribbean, where she vanished. She never was found, although rumors persisted that she had been apprenticed by a kindly old enchantress by the name of Tia Dalma.
James and AnaMaria Norrington died the same day; March 15th, 1825.
General Jonathan Depp remained in America, having developed what he termed 'bizarre, inexplicable affection for the bastard child that is America'. He assisted General Harry Lee, the man known as 'Light-Horse-Harry', with the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion. He then, tired of the military, offered his resignation from the American Army to then-President Thomas Jefferson, and asked that he ensure the military leave him in peace.
It was barely a few years later when Depp broke his own word and went to West Point, where he instructed the fine points of militia warfare, what would become known as 'guerilla warfare'. After the War of 1812, Jonathan Depp retired to the hills and valleys of what would become Kentucky, where he died contentedly on July 29th, 1826, surrounded by his beloved family. It was Kentucky where a descendant of the General's, called Johnny Depp, originated. The man became an actor, and decided to tell the story of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow.
Joshamee Gibbs, tired and old, retired from piracy in 1790, worn out from many hard days at sea. He found the quiet of Isla Cruces exactly what his old bones needed. He rebuilt the monastery there, and with help from his old crewmates, turned it into the Church of the Good Pirate. He lived the rest of his days in that church, finally dying at the age of 80 in 1809.
Four captains of Jack Sparrow's fleet, the captains Parker, Sinclair, Fowl and Starr signed on to the United States Navy, where their four ships stayed until being decommissioned in 1870, the Age of Ironclads beginning.
Bootstrap Bill Turner never truly recovered from the loss of his son. The last few years of his life were called by his friends, "painful existence, not life". He died in 1792, and was interred in the Church of the Good Pirate.
Commodore Nathaniel Gillette resigned his commission after the decimation of Fort Charles. He returned to England, where he died of smallpox in 1785.
Pintel and Ragetti served the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow to the end of their days.
Amy and Mera Sparrow both retired from piracy after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Amy never regained use of her leg, but found her life far more bearable by the wheeled chair that she could move about in her sister built for her. With the considerable funds they had received from their line of work, they had Giselle brought from Tortuga to them in America. It was then that they learned they were Jack Sparrow's children in blood as well as spirit. They and their mother settled in Philadelphia, where their descendants reside still today. And though their father never settled in Philadelphia, he still visited regularly on Christmas and the two birthdays that the Sparrow home celebrated, with wife and children in tow, the latter group of whom Amy and Mera adored and doted upon.
Jack and Elizabeth Sparrow stayed on the sea for years, even past the entering of gray hairs into Jack's temples, which both he and his wife claimed made him looked 'distinguished', rather than 'old'. Their first children were twins, William and James Sparrow. The next year came two more twins, AnaMaria and Elizabeth Sparrow. It was at that point that, when seized roughly by the neck and threatened with not only grievous injury, but also destruction of the large cache of rum Jack had been so sure he'd kept hidden from Elizabeth, that Jack confessed that twins tended to run in his family. Two years later, their last son, John Sparrow was born. John resolutely refused to use the name 'John' and made certain that he was called 'Jack'.
Jack Sparrow, Jr., at the age of twenty, was given a gift by his half-sisters that was called the Black Sun. What he did with this gift after receiving it can be somewhat easily surmised by examining his family history.
No date of death can be given for any of the Sparrow family because they are simply not known. There are no records of death or burial, and the Black Pearl and the Black Sun vanished not long after the death of Giselle Renault. That is all that is known.
It is speculated, however, that Amy and Mera Sparrow returned to the seas with their father and his family when he stumbled, in his typical rum-induced fashion, upon the secret of immortality. Ever since the final known fact of their large family was submitted—the death of Miss Renault—August 21st, 1826, there has been a rather bizarre occurrence in the Atlantic, though sometimes occurring in the other oceans and seas of the world.
Over the past 180 years, there have been sporadic sightings of two ships with black sails and black hulls, ships that fly pirate flags accompanied by flags bearing the image of a sparrow.
From the Civil War came reports of two ships black as night harassing New Orleans and several other Confederate coastline cities and towns.
The Great War, also called World War I, had soldiers making several claims that these mystery ships had been seen in the English Channel, and also laying siege to the German coast.
World War II had even odder reports. Several dozen German submarines simply vanished, although in many cases, the last radio contact indicated unknown ships of the 18th century were approaching them. There were also reports that these two ships had assisted in the evacuation of Paris, but there were no witnesses to support the claim. (One wonders where the stories came from, then)
The oddest of all came from several Reich and British pilots who participated in the Battle of Britain. They claim that a pirate ship was seen flying across the night sky, and almost destroyed several of the Reich's planes. However, reports differ on the ship; some claim a man with a hook and ludicrous hat captained a ship with white sails, others that a man in flamboyant dress and a woman, with a large group around them, captained a ship with black sails.
And every report mentions, even across several miles' distance or airplane engine roar, hearing the oddest tune; something that goes along the lines of 'yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.'
FIN
A/N: And that is it for me. With the completion of this story thread, I'm departing on hiatus. I have extensive research to do for my next project, one which will require a large amount of time, energy and work; the story of Davy Jones.
Of all the fictions I have written, this is by far my favorite. I finally got to include Pintel and Ragetti in the final chapters, and ended with the note of a Jack Sparrow-Elizabeth Swann relationship which I believe will come about by the end of Pirates III. I hope Will realizes and embraces it, rather than ersorting to violence and destruction of rum.
The mention of the flying ship in the Battle of Britain comes from Disney's "Return to Neverland", which I felt I simply HAD to use.
Johnny Depp IS from Kentucky, though I doubt he is the ancestor of a General Jonathan Depp, personally.
The settling of Amy and Mera Sparrow in Philadelphia is, as always, for Captain MeraSparrow, fellow author and cohort for so much of this story.
Captain Jack Sparrow will never die. If his mortal body does ever fail him, we can and will take solace in the fact that he lives on immortally as a member of culture for all time, a symbol that will be loved, laughed with and at, and cherished forever.
And so, my friends, readers, and reviewers, I leave you with these five words:
Captain Jack Sparrow lives on.