Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 8

The night after leaving Tortuga passed quickly once the Pearl finally had a heading again, though sleep came only in scattered pieces between shifting watches, footsteps overhead, and the constant motion of the ship beneath them. By morning nearly everyone aboard seemed caught somewhere between exhaustion and restless purpose.

With their course now set toward the chest, the crew had fallen back into motion almost immediately. Sailors crossed endlessly between lines and sails while Gibbs barked orders across the deck, determined to wring every possible knot from the wind, and somewhere below Jack had buried himself among maps and charts whenever he wasn't at the helm.

For once, though, it left Lena with uninterrupted time beside Elizabeth.

They'd claimed a quieter place against several crates that still hadn't been taken below deck, half hidden from the busiest parts of the ship while the sea wind rolled steadily across the open water around them. Elizabeth had stolen half of Lena's space within minutes without apology, their shoulders brushing comfortably whenever the Pearl shifted beneath them.

A year had passed since Port Royal, since hurried letters and delayed replies and either of them truly understanding what the other's life had become, yet sitting beside Elizabeth still felt dangerously close to sitting beside the same girl Lena used to whisper with through unbearable dinners and endless social gatherings while pretending neither of them wished they were somewhere else entirely.

Elizabeth studied her quietly for a moment, her shoulder still pressed lightly against Lena's whenever the ship rolled. "You seem to be doing well."

Lena smiled faintly and leaned her head back against the crates behind them. "That sounds suspiciously like you expected me to regret all of this."

"Not regret." Elizabeth drew one knee closer while her attention wandered briefly around the deck before returning to Lena. "I simply didn't expect you to belong here quite so naturally."

A quiet breath escaped Lena as another sailor nearly stumbled into a coil of rope after the Pearl shifted beneath him. "I'm not sure anyone belongs on this ship naturally."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "Perhaps not, but you seem far more comfortable aboard her than you ever did sitting through dinners in Port Royal."

"I think I'm happier here," Lena admitted after a moment, resting her arms more comfortably atop her knees while the wind tugged loose strands of hair across her face. Saying it aloud felt strangely vulnerable after everything that had happened lately, so she kept her attention fixed toward the water instead of Elizabeth.

"I think you are too."

Lena glanced toward her, only for Elizabeth to add more quietly, "Your letters sounded different after a while."

"Different how?"

"Lighter at first." Elizabeth traced her thumb absently against the sleeve gathered around her wrist. "Then they stopped entirely."

Lena's attention dropped toward her own hands, her thumb catching against a loose thread near her sleeve. There hadn't been much time for letters once Jack started running, no certainty about where they'd even be from one week to the next, and certainly no guarantee anything sent after them would remain private. "Things got complicated."

"Complicated because of Jack or complicated because of everything else?"

Despite herself, Lena let out a tired breath that almost became a laugh as she dragged her fingers through wind-tangled hair. "I genuinely don't know if those are separate problems anymore."

That earned her a longer look before Elizabeth finally sighed and rested her arms atop her knees. "I still can't believe Davy Jones is real."

The name tightened something through Lena before she could stop it, and Elizabeth noticed almost immediately.