Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 3 - Chapter 15

A/N: Updated

Wind howled across the deck the moment Lena followed Jack into the open, rain striking hard enough against her face that she had to squint to see more than a few feet ahead. After the cramped darkness below, the Dutchman seemed to erupt around them all at once, crewmen rushing through the storm while shouted orders disappeared beneath the crash of waves and cannon fire.

Lena stayed close behind Jack as they moved, one hand already wrapped around the hilt of her sword while her attention swept instinctively across the surrounding chaos. Somewhere beyond the rain was the Pearl, though she could barely make out more than flashes of black hull through the storm. Jack still had the chest clutched against him, and getting this far without anyone stopping them already felt like more luck than they were likely to keep.

She had only begun to wonder how long that luck might last when Jack pivoted to take in the space behind them and came to an abrupt stop.

"Lookie here, boys. Some lost birds."

The voice sent a cold jolt through her before she even turned. Lena spun toward the steps behind them, her grip tightening instantly around her sword as Davy Jones descended toward the deck.

"Lost birds that never learned to fly."

Her breath caught despite herself. The last time she'd stood this close to him, Jack had been dragged toward the death she'd spent months trying to undo, and for one sharp instant the memory threatened to close around her. Lena forced it back, drawing her sword as several members of Jones's crew began turning toward them.

Jack shifted beside her. "To my great regret," he admitted flippantly, already edging toward the railing as though Jones hadn't just appeared between them and their only reasonable way out. His eyes moved quickly between Jones, the surrounding crew, and Lena before dropping toward the rope beside him. "But, never too late to learn, eh?"

Lena barely had time to follow his glance before Jack swung the chest toward the rope. In a flurry of movement, it went flying upward and caught against the mast, Jack launching himself after it almost immediately.

"Jack—" He was already beyond her reach, and Lena stumbled back as Jones moved after him, her eyes following Jack upward through the rain until he caught himself among the rigging with the chest still in play. For one brief second his gaze dropped toward her, and Lena held it, sword clenched tightly in one hand while the Dutchman crew began closing around the space he'd left behind.

There was no following him up there. Whatever happened between Jack, Jones, and the heart was beyond her reach now, and the realization landed unpleasantly close to everything she'd fought against on the sandbank.

A blade flashed at the edge of her vision.

Lena jerked her sword up just in time to catch it, the impact tearing her attention away from Jack entirely. With little time to think, she dashed through the first opening she saw, barely evading one sword before another forced her own up in defense. The impact jolted painfully through her arm as she caught sight of at least three of Jones's crew closing around her. The rest had turned toward other targets, either preparing to board the Pearl or fighting off the pirates already swinging across to the Dutchman, but three were more than enough when the deck wouldn't stay beneath her feet and Jack had disappeared somewhere into the rigging with Jones after him.

Lena gave ground before they could surround her completely, catching another blade against her sword and shoving it aside as the violent tilt of the ship sent her stumbling. She recovered before the man in front of her did and drove forward just enough to force him back, but the first opening between the bodies betrayed her. Her gaze darted upward in search of Jack, and movement at her side warned her too late.