Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 11

Still struggling to steady her breathing after forcing herself away from Jack, Lena moved back toward Elizabeth's side while the rest of the crew slowly abandoned whatever tasks they'd been pretending to focus on. Every eye aboard the Pearl had fixed itself on the water surrounding the ship as a strained silence settled heavily across the deck, and the first signs of the Kraken appeared slowly above the rails, enormous tentacles dragging themselves upward while the Pearl creaked uneasily beneath everyone's feet as though even the vessel itself understood what waited below the surface.

The sight pulled Lena fully back into the present despite the dangerous direction her thoughts kept threatening to drift. The second the deck fell quiet again, her mind tried dragging her back toward Jack, toward the panic in his voice and the way he'd looked at her when she refused to leave him behind, while a horrible realization pressed harder and harder against her chest because suddenly a great deal of it felt difficult to explain any other way.

Jack loved her.

The thought hit hard enough that Lena almost physically recoiled before shoving it back down and tightening her grip around her sword instead. Somewhere below deck Will continued shouting orders while the crew waited tensely for his signal, and Elizabeth leaned toward the opening beside them. "Will?"

"Steady!" came his answer from below.

It took Lena a second longer than it should have to realize they were waiting for Will's signal to fire together, her thoughts slipping badly out of focus every time she remembered Jack's face when she told him to go. The plan sounded solid enough, but she still couldn't stop herself from wondering whether anything aboard the Pearl was truly capable of killing the creature beneath them.

The exchange continued between Will and the crew until finally his order cut through the ship. "Fire!"

At once the cannons exploded together hard enough to shake the entire Pearl beneath Lena's feet, cannonballs tearing violently into the Kraken and forcing the massive creature back beneath the water. The second the sea cleared, the crew surged toward the rails in disbelief as relieved shouting broke across the deck, though nobody sounded fully convinced the victory would last.

Beside Lena, Elizabeth and Will looked visibly relieved as well, but the feeling barely survived more than a few seconds before Will pulled Elizabeth away from the railing. "It'll be back. We have to get off this ship."

Elizabeth looked quickly around the damaged deck and toward the shattered remains of the boats. "There's no boats."

Lena searched the ship despite herself, panic tightening through her chest when she couldn't immediately spot Jack anywhere above deck. She could only hope he'd managed to lower the boat and get clear while the Kraken retreated because the alternative threatened to drag her thoughts somewhere she couldn't afford to let them go, not after everything that had just happened between them.

Will was already forcing himself into another plan. "Pull the grates. Get all the gunpowder onto the net in the cargo hold." Turning toward Elizabeth, he shoved a rifle into her hands. "Whatever you do, don't miss."

"As soon as you're clear," Elizabeth promised.

Lena met her eyes briefly while tightening her grip around her sword, and despite everything that had passed between them earlier, neither hesitated now. "I'll help make sure you have a clear shot."

The crew moved frantically across the deck gathering barrels below while ropes and cargo nets were hauled into place overhead, and as everyone scrambled to prepare for the Kraken's return, Lena stayed near Elizabeth with her attention fixed uneasily on the water surrounding the Pearl.