Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 7

Tortuga was as loud and crowded as ever, though after the sleepless night behind them, the chaos inside the Faithful Bride felt more exhausting than lively while Jack, Lena, and Gibbs continued trying to find the ninety-nine people they needed. So far only a miserable handful had agreed to join them, leaving the entire effort feeling far too slow for the amount of time they no longer had.

Lena exhaled slowly as she scanned the tavern again, restless energy making it impossible to sit still for long despite the exhaustion dragging at her. Plenty was happening around them, but very little brought them any closer to what they actually needed, and beside her, Jack sat glaring down at his compass while repeatedly shaking it in irritation before snapping it open again.

An earlier glance had shown the needle refusing to settle properly for him, spinning wildly one moment before jerking sharply in another direction the next. More than once Lena thought she'd caught it twitching briefly toward her side of the table before it jerked somewhere else again, never slowing long enough for her to be certain she'd seen it at all, though the possibility lingered in the back of her mind far longer than it probably should have.

Needing something to do besides watch him fight with it, Lena finally pushed herself out of her seat and crossed toward the bar, ordering a drink for both of them before carefully weaving back through the crowd. Drunks stumbled into one another and arguments broke out around the room, but by the time she reached the table again, Jack had barely moved.

"I know what I want, I know what I want, I know what I want," he muttered, his full attention fixed on the compass as he flipped it open once more only to find the needle spinning uselessly. The irritation in his voice sounded sharper now than it had earlier in the night, worn thin beneath the constant motion and lack of answers.

"If you didn't know yesterday, I doubt you'll know what you want today." Lena held the mug toward him.

"Maybe I will know," he mocked, taking the drink from her. "I don't see you helping."

His fingers brushed briefly against hers, though his attention never fully left the compass in his other hand. Lena rolled her eyes as she sat back down beside him and held out her palm. "It won't point me where you need to go. You know that."

Jack dropped the compass into her hand anyway as though determined to prove her wrong.

Lena already knew where it would point for her before she opened it. That part had never truly changed, no matter how much more complicated everything around it had become, but she closed her eyes and focused anyway. Wanting to save Jack wasn't the problem. The problem was that she no longer knew what path actually led there when the key, the chest, the souls they needed, and the Kraken waiting somewhere beyond all of it had tangled together until she doubted even the compass could make sense of what she wanted anymore.

Still, when she finally opened it, the needle spun only briefly before settling almost immediately toward the space beside her.

Even after everything that had happened, the certainty of it could still unsettle her, especially when Jack's own compass barely seemed capable of choosing a direction anymore. Her fingers tightened slightly around it before she forced herself to close the lid and hand it back.

"I told you." Lena slapped it lightly into his palm before shifting her attention toward the man currently speaking with Gibbs nearby.

For the briefest moment, Jack went oddly still beside her. His attention remained fixed on the compass as the needle gave one quick twitch toward her again before spinning uselessly onward, then he snatched it shut and attached it to his belt with more force than necessary. Whatever the reaction meant, it disappeared beneath movement almost immediately, too quickly for Lena to decide whether she'd imagined anything unusual at all.