A/N: The next chapter is on the short side, but I thought it would be better to cut it off where I did than to add onto it.
The Pirate household had grown very quiet when everyone had gone to sleep. It was all quite normal and routine except for one housemate. Whelp had curled up on Will's bed, but found it very lonely without his master. He'd tried sleeping in many different positions, but found that none could alleviate his sleeplessness. So he hopped off the ex-blacksmith's bed and trotted out into the hallway, making his way down the hall.
The first room he came to belonged to Elizabeth. He tried to open the door by pushing against it with his nose and found it to be shut tightly. With the canine equivalent of a grumble, he backed up and continued on his pathway down the hallway, crossing to Anamaria's room. When he pushed his muzzle against the door this time, it swung open and he slid in.
Whelp spotted Anamaria in bed and, tail wagging happily, bounded up onto the bed and stood over her. Anamaria shifted in her sleep, not quite noticing the shifting of weight on her bed. Whelp whimpered and nudged her, ears drooping as much as a German Shepard's possibly could. Ana grumbled in her sleep, something about Jack leaving the toilet seat up again and swatted at the offending nose.
The dog took that as his cue to leave and hopped off the bed, sliding out of the room again. He made his way to Bill's room and once again found the door shut tightly. Take a leak on a man's bed and you were branded for life. He grumbled lightly again and trotted to Jack's room. The pirate had left it open slightly, enough for the dog to shove it open and trot over, hopping up with his front paws on the bed. He whimpered, trying to get Jack's attention. When the pirate didn't respond, he nudged him again and whimpered louder.
"Blast it, you scurvy dogs! We're not spending another night in this forsaken place. Heave to!" Jack shouted in his sleep. Whelp hopped down from the bed just in time to avoid the swinging arm. He quickly made his way from the room as Jack sat up, blinking in confusion. "Someone there?"
There was one room left to check at the end of the hall. He bypassed Norrington's room, knowing the man was wherever his owner was and pushed his way into Gibbs' bedroom. There was no one there, as the pirate worked late nights at his tavern. The dog whimpered, feeling lonely and sat at the end of the hallway, glancing over his shoulder at the rooms before looking back to Gibbs.
Then there was a hand scratching him behind the ear. "You miss your buddy, don't you?" Gibbs said quietly as he knelt down beside Whelp. The dog whimpered again in reply, leaning against the hand scratching him, closing his eyes lazily. One foot began to thump rhythmically against the floor as Gibbs scratched him behind the ear. The pirate chuckled and stood up. "I suppose I could share some room for tonight. Come on." Whelp got to his feet, prancing happily into the room.
"It is night number one. Turner and I, despite best intentions, have not been able to find the rest of the group and have decided to make camp for the night. However I believe it would have been best to press on as neither one of us seems to know how to set up the tent." The camera zoomed away from Norrington's face and landed on the pile of fabric and poles that was supposedly their tent. Norrington sighed and closed the monitor, glancing around the darkened woods. Behind him, he could hear Will's boots crunching on the twigs and leaves as he looked for firewood.
"Blame me for getting us lost. I'm not the one who broke the cell phone." He muttered quietly under his breath as he used the flashlight and leaned in closer to the map. They were a bit more complicated than he was used to but he was learning how to decipher them. They even told a man what his elevation was on land now. Quite helpful.
Will lazily made his way through the woods a little ways from the camp, still in sight of the dying campfire. The headphones in his ears blasted music as he scanned the ground with the help of his flashlight for good sized branches to burn. Instead, something strange caught his eye. He bent over to brush the leaves away from it.
Behind him, a shadow appeared in the form of a woman, only slightly darker than the night. Hair waved around her face wildly, dress windblown around her body. There was no detail for she was just a shadow. She approached the young man silently, arms raised up, ready to attack.
Will stood back up, a frown on his face as he looked at the curious object in his hand. Scanning the flashlight along the ground, he found another and another, picking them up and shoving them into the bag at his side to take back to camp, heedless of the dark figure behind him. When he couldn't find anymore, he collected a few loose branches. He paused for a moment as did the shadow, directly behind him and ready to pounce.
Just as it did, Will abruptly changed directions, trotting back towards camp. The shadow hit the tree with a sickening thud and toppled back into the leaves, but Will remained absolutely oblivious as he made his way back to the tiny clearing and squatted down beside Norrington. "James, look what I found." He said, pulling the headphones from his ears and digging into the bag. "Must be the class came through here while our ever so entertaining professor was lecturing." He handed over the crudely made stick figure to Norrington. "Cool, huh?"
Norrington raised an eyebrow as he looked down at it. "Interesting at the most. I don't quite understand what the purpose would be."
"Probably just bored. There was a ton of them. I bet they'll make good fire wood." He took the one from Norrington's hand and headed over, throwing the pile onto the fire. The flames licked hungrily at the wood and finally started to consume it as it caught hold of the dry wood. Will sat back on the edge of the fallen tent and held up his hands, letting the heat warm his palms.
Out in the woods, the shadow got woozily to its feet just in time to see the younger man of the two throw the pile of wooden stick figures into the fire. It screeched, waving it's arms over it's head in anger. "Do you know how long it took me to make those, you ungrateful whelp? It's not easy making something vaguely terrifying!" It stomped its feet, making small circles in the leaves
James glanced up from the map, looking around at the woods with a frown on his face. "Turner, do you hear something?" Will glanced up from the fire, turning his head slightly and listening for a moment.
"Maybe it's just the wind." He replied with a shrug and returned his attention to the fire. "It's really too bad we don't have marshmallows. Or chocolate bars. Or graham crackers." Will said after a moment, a wistful expression on his face. "We could've made S'mores."
"S'mores?" The ex-commodore glanced up from the map at him, looking intrigued. "I've heard about them but no one has told me yet just what they are."
Will stared at him. "That's a crime." He said slowly. "When we get back, I'll stoke up the grill out back and show you what a good S'more is." He shook his head. "You poor man."
Norrington stared dead pan back at him. "For someone who can't cook, you seem to fancy yourself quite the connoisseur of foods, Turner." He drawled.
"You will too once you get addicted to Gibbs' cooking." Will replied.
Norrington couldn't argue with that. "The crew of the Pearl must've fed quite well with that man about." He said, rubbing his chin. "It's a pity the Navy let him go. I know I would've hired him for the Dauntless."
As the two men continued conversing about food, the shadowy figure had yet to spend all its rage, still stomping about and waving its hands in the air, looking like a mental patient in a padded room. "This is why I don't like tourists! Don't respect quality art work when you see it! Well I'll show you! You won't escape these woods alive." It threw back its head, laughing manically in the darkness until it's foot caught on a protruding root and it fell face first onto the ground. "Oh hell..."
James glanced up from the map again, making a face. "I'm sure I heard something that time!"