Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 1 - Chapter 2

Paying no more attention to what was going on in the fort, she turned around and ran down the path she knew all too well. Hardly hearing anything else but the pounding in her head and the wind rushing by her ears, she had but one thought. Elizabeth had to be fine. She just had to. But what were the chances of anyone even being down there to help? She could have already drowned by the time someone reached her.

Her thoughts continued to race as she pushed through the weariness already building from her running. The humid air burned in her lungs with every breath she dragged in, her slippers striking hard against the packed dirt path as she nearly lost her footing turning the final corner.

"Elizabeth!"

She quickly spotted her friend lying on the dock and coughing as three other people hovered around her. Relief hit so suddenly her knees nearly weakened beneath her. She sank to Elizabeth's side, ignoring the water and dirt she was surely sitting in. Her hands hovered for a second before touching her friend, as if she were afraid of finding some injury she had not seen yet.

"Lena?" Elizabeth peered at her for a moment, still trying to regain her breath. Damp strands of hair clung to her face as she coughed again, and a moment later she flung her arms around Caroline, holding on loosely, glad to have a familiar presence.

"Lizzy, are you alright?"

Elizabeth gave a slight nod as she coughed once more. It was then that the man beside them leaned forward and grabbed the medallion around Elizabeth's neck.

"Where did you get this?"

Caroline looked over and widened her eyes as she realized it was the thief from earlier. Her stomach tightened immediately at the sight of him crouched so close beside Elizabeth, beads and trinkets shifting softly against his hair as he moved. He seemed far too calm for a man beside a half-drowned girl.

"You," she whispered, though he ignored her.

The blade of a sword was suddenly by the man's neck as Caroline scooted back in fright, closer to Elizabeth. The sharp scrape of metal had come so quickly she barely processed Norrington's arrival before he was already standing over the man.

"On your feet," Norrington said sharply, persuading the man to stand via sword point.

It was in that moment that Caroline realized what the situation must have looked like to the Commodore, having a strange man looming over Elizabeth while she had been stripped of her outer garments. Wet fabric clung to Elizabeth's shift while the stranger stood close enough to touch her.

Caroline helped Elizabeth stand as Governor Swann hurried toward them.

"Elizabeth! Are you all right?" he asked, quickly draping his jacket around her shoulders now that she was only in her shift.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." She turned away from her father then to look at Norrington. "Commodore Norrington, do you intend to kill my rescuer?"

So many thoughts were racing through Caroline's mind as she tried to calm her heart and figure out what she should do. She was already wary of the man beside them, yet he had saved Elizabeth. Surely, he could not be too terrible. A thief, yes, but there were worse things out there. Still, her eyes kept drifting back to him, searching for something that would make the decision feel less foolish.

"It's true, Commodore. I was down here the whole time. He was helping her."

While that was not completely true, she had to trust her gut. Something told her he was not so bad that he needed a sword pointed at him.

As Norrington took in her words, his eyes shifted back to Elizabeth's rescuer calculatingly. In response, Jack merely attempted to nod as best he could despite having a blade near his head.