Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 2

The Black Pearl cut steadily through rough water while the first traces of morning slowly bled through the clouds overhead, though the gray light did little to make anyone aboard feel rested after the previous night. Most of the crew moved more slowly than usual across the damp deck, exhaustion dragging at every motion while land finally sat visible through the thinning fog ahead.

Lena rested one hand against the railing as the ship rolled beneath her, eyes fixed on the dark strip of shoreline before they drifted sideways again automatically. Jack had crossed the deck three times in the last few minutes alone, not quite pacing, though close enough that her attention kept following him whether she meant for it to or not.

Even now he passed near enough that his fingers slid briefly against the small of her back while squeezing between her and the rigging, his attention never leaving the shoreline. Lena watched him another moment before glancing toward Gibbs at the helm, who looked exhausted himself, though nowhere near as restless as Jack had been since the Black Spot appeared.

No one mentioned it aloud anymore. The silence surrounding the Black Spot had settled heavily enough across the ship that Lena noticed every glance drifting toward Jack before quickly looking away again, the crew's relief at finally seeing land tempered by something quieter and far less certain.

Jack stopped near the opposite railing long enough to pull the compass from his coat again. Lena's eyes narrowed as the needle continued spinning uselessly before he snapped it shut with visible irritation for what had to be the fourth time in the last hour.

"You're going to wear a hole through the deck at this rate," she said quietly.

Jack's fingers tapped once against the compass before he shoved it back into his coat. "Wear evens out eventually."

He started moving again, and a few nearby crewmen exchanged glances before quickly finding something else to do the moment he passed. The uneasy awareness drifting across the deck seemed to follow him almost as closely as Lena's eyes did.

"Not long now," Gibbs called from the helm while adjusting the wheel against the current. "Another hour maybe."

Jack only nodded distractedly without slowing, one hand catching automatically against Lena's shoulder as he squeezed past her toward the stairs below deck and disappeared from sight again.

"Well," Gibbs muttered while looking back toward the shoreline, "land ought to settle some of it."

Lena wanted to believe him. Since Jack had panicked the crew awake and demanded they run for land, the sea itself had begun feeling dangerous in ways she still couldn't fully explain, and the first glimpse of shoreline through the fog had eased some of the pressure sitting tight in her chest even if it hadn't removed it entirely.

Still, her attention kept returning toward the cabin stairs. The rest of the crew seemed to feel the same unease because no one questioned Jack openly anymore, though eyes followed him more than usual whenever he crossed the deck, subtle enough that most people probably wouldn't notice unless they already spent far too much time watching him.

After one last glance toward the shoreline ahead, Lena pushed away from the railing and headed below after him.

***

The cabin felt quieter the moment Lena stepped inside, though not peaceful. The lantern still burned low near the desk despite gray morning light pushing weakly through the windows, and the charts Jack had been pretending to use lay scattered across the table in a disorder suggesting they'd been moved far more often than read.

Jack barely looked up when she entered. He dragged open another drawer near the desk, abandoned whatever he'd been searching for halfway through, then reached for the compass instead and crossed toward the windows. One glance toward the approaching shoreline was apparently enough before he turned back and pushed aside a stack of maps that had clearly suffered the same treatment several times already.