There was no room to hesitate when she approached the guards stationed by The Interceptor. Knowing she had less than no chance of slipping by them like she'd tried to do with the ones at the prison, she kept her eyes locked determinedly on them as she approached.
"Good, you're here," she sighed, finally allowing herself to appear as harried as she felt "Commodore Norrington wishes to see you - urgently."
She recognised these two guards from the movies, at least - though she didn't know their names. They were the two that Jack had encountered where she now stood just the day before.
"…Us, Miss?"
"Yes, he believes you might have knowledge pertaining to Miss Swann's kidnapping. Or at least the pirates who did it," folding her arms, she did her best to project an air of impatience.
"We weren't even on duty last night," the stouter, dark-haired one frowned, turning to his counterpart "Have you said anything that might've led the Commodore to think we knew anything?"
"Well evidently he has reason to believe that you saw something of value," she answered before the man could.
"We're not to leave, Miss, not unless relieved of our duty by other guards."
"He's sending more down from the fort, but given the chaos it might be a moment - that's why he had to send me with the message. I can wait here until they get here."
"You, Miss?" The lighter haired one raised a dubious eyebrow.
"Haven't you heard? I'm a seasoned warrior now,' she gestured to her face "No pirate is any match,"
They gave unsure, uncomfortable laughs at that but they did falter. Theo seized upon it.
"All right, if you insist," she shrugged with a sigh "I'll go back and tell him you won't come."
During her first step away, she felt pretty confident. Then she took a second and a third, and she was beginning to doubt. Was there any other way for her to sneak aboard before things really kicked off? For all she knew, Jack and Will were already at the beach. She didn't have much of a headstart on them, they had to already be on their way. Could she swim towards the other side of the ship and climb aboard that way? No. Even if she could manage such a feat, encumbered as she was by her skirts and her provisions, there was no way nobody would spot her and call out. It was this way or no way. But just as she was about to panic over the fact that she had literally no back-up plan if her bluff did not work, they were calling after her.
"Miss? Miss Byrne - wait. You're sure it was us that Commodore Norrington asked to see?"
Turning, she nodded.
"Yes," then an idea struck "I believe it might've had something to do with your encounter yesterday with the pirate they have in the prison now - Jack Sparrow, was it?"
Theo stifled a smile at their sighs of resignation. She had them. Through sheer luck, really, thanks to how circumstances had conspired to align everything just so in a manner that would have them listening to her, but she would celebrate that later. After all, she hadn't fully succeeded quite yet.
"Stay here - do not move until the next set of guards come along, yes?"
"Of course," she bowed her head in agreement, making a show of taking up the space before the gangplank.
The two soldiers shared a look that spoke volumes about their faith in her guarding abilities, but the prospect of James' wrath was apparently the more motivational factor. Just as she'd hoped - nor could she blame them. It was something she found herself dreading more and more with every hour. Theo waited anxiously until they were off of the docks and out of sight (a good thing, too, for they shot one or two looks back in her direction while muttering at one another), and then she turned and strode onto the ship.
It was strange being back aboard The Interceptor. The last time she'd stood aboard this ship, she'd only just been barely coming to terms with where she was. It hadn't yet sunk in, she hadn't carved out a tenuous place for herself here, and she had no friends to speak of. Not Elizabeth, not Groves…not James. It was the thought of the latter that almost had her stopping, guilt threatening to fray her nerves.
But it was too late now. Even if she lost her nerve - even if the temporary safety she'd found here was something that was viable in the long-term - she'd come too far. Word would reach James, if it had not already, that she'd finagled her way into seeing Jack. While she could've potentially lied her way out of that, spouting falsehoods at being curious to speak with such a notorious pirate, and weathered his displeasure, there was the rest of it. Her slipping out from under Groves' nose. The lie she'd just told to the two soldiers. The ship had sailed - not literally, not yet, but in every other way that mattered. It was done.
And so she set her shoulders, clenched her jaw, and headed below deck. The riskiest part of her departure had yet to come. She had to make sure that she wouldn't be found when the soldiers fell for Jack's bluff and pursued him, thinking that it was The Dauntless that he was trying to steal. That would be even more difficult to explain than anything that she'd already done, and throwing her hands in the air and proclaiming 'I'm Irish! What are we like, eh?' could only get her so far. James' patience had been a blessing, but she did not kid herself that it was finite. Not when it came to the law and piracy.
Despite all of the time she'd spent on the ship, she did not know her way around the lower decks. She'd been all but banned from them back then. She raced to get below deck once she was aboard, determined not to be seen, but once she was there, she had no idea where to actually go. What parts of the ship would they use? How deep would they delve during their brief pursuit of Jack and Will? It couldn't be too far down, not if none of them were left aboard by the time the ruse became apparent.
Her plan of action from that point was simple. She scoured each level, and whenever she found a set of steps leading lower into the bowels of the ship, she followed them. It wasn't long before she found herself nestled among a ridiculous number of barrels, climbing slowly over them until she found a space behind them that was out of sight of the door. And then she began to change, if only because inaction tore at her nerves in a way that the cannon fire the night before could not.
The breeches she'd stolen from James were ill-fitting - too tight at the hips and backside, and too big just about everywhere else, but she could fit into them, so they would have to do. The shirt offered a similar problem, the neckline dipping down at the chest to an extent that would've been scandalous even in her own time, and constantly threatening to fall down her shoulder at one side. But she wore her sports bra from back home beneath it, and she called it a day. Once her feet were securely tied into her Docs, she bundled all of her more 'appropriate' clothing together and hid it atop one of the barrels towards the back. The only thing that she kept from the clothing she'd worn that morning was her necklace from home.
When all of that was done, there was nothing left to do but wait. Clutching her now mostly-empty satchel to her chest, she sank down amongst the barrels and listened. It was near-impossible to hear anything above the pounding of her own heart, and the storage room she was in was pitch black - she'd had to find her hiding space and change solely through sense of touch, but she supposed that only made it a better hiding space. Still, unable to hear and unable to see, her mind was left to run rampant.
There was a lot of room for error here. Much more than she'd like - which, admittedly, was anything more than 'none at all', but there was still an uncomfortable amount that could go wrong thanks to her presence alone and the minor things she'd changed already. What if it was her ruse that brought James and his men aboard the ship, and not Jack at all? What if they were too busy scouring the ship for her to pay Jack any mind at all? Or what if something about the paths she'd changed over the course of the day meant that soldiers would happen across Jack and Will and catch them on the beach? The longer she sat, the more possibilities occurred to her. She'd said to Jack that she knew what he would do before he even did, but what if that suggestion alone had him changing his plans just to put her supposed 'sight' to the test? It certainly sounded like something he would do. Then everything would be fucked, and she'd be left with no advantage at all. The butterfly effect was something she'd never put much stock in, but it was shaping up to be a real bitch.
The minutes stretched on into an eternity, and Theo's taste of solitary confinement was leaving much to be desired as she strained to hear for any sign of men boarding the ship. But then it lurched into movement, and her heart along with it, and even Theo herself wasn't sure if the shaky sigh she gave was one of relief, or resignation.
It remained impossible to tell what was going on up above. At times she was sure she could hear bangs and thuds, and even the odd shout or two, but a lot of it was drowned out by the creaking and groaning of the ship. Having never been below deck in a ship such as this before, it was near enough impossible to discern what noises were normal, which were the result of the skirmish up above, and just when exactly it would be safe to emerge. Real life didn't provide the advantage of some epic score belting out over the action for her to know when it had peaked, and she was certain she'd die if she went above deck only to come face to face with James himself.
So she counted to a thousand. There were numbers missed here and there, balanced out by the ones that were inevitably repeated as the ship swung and lurched and the bangs from above broke her concentration. Then, to be safe, she repeated the process all over again. By the time she was contemplating a third round, the muscles in her thighs were screaming at her for the crouching, her back ached, and she was certain if she lingered down here in the stifling dark much longer, she'd never emerge at all. So she straightened, slung her satchel over her shoulder, and began to carefully feel her way across the barrels.
With each door that she opened as she emerged, she cracked it open first and then paused to listen - for sounds of a fight, for voices, for anything. More often than not, she was greeted only with silence. A good sign; one that suggested there were only two men aboard rather than the entirety of James' crew. Her hopes were confirmed when she finally heard the rumble of Jack's voice barking orders at Will.
That was it. Definitely no going back now. If memory served, and nothing had changed, Groves would've been with James on The Dauntless as they watched Jack sail away. He'd have told him how she'd slipped away. While they likely - hopefully - did not know where she was yet, they'd know she was up to something. And anyway, it wasn't like she could ask Jack to turn around and return her to comfort, if not safety. Not that she wanted to. Because she didn't want to. The heaviness in her chest was fear of the unknown, nothing more.
When she finally emerged into daylight, she did so slowly. There was no part of her that desired to surprise two fully armed men, one of whom was a pirate. She didn't have much choice, anyway, for the sunlight pierced her eyes like a blade after so long in the dark. Screwing her eyes shut against it, she held her hands high up in the air as she ascended the stairs up to the main deck. The only greeting she received was the click of a pistol cocking, and the metallic whisper of a blade being drawn…which was quite enough to motivate her to open her eyes and deal with the pain.
The two men stared at her in surprise, although the undertones of the looks varied greatly. Will, whose sword was drawn but now hanging limply by his side, looked utterly aghast, his eyes wide and horrified while his lips moved, forming words without speaking them. Jack's surprise, however, was much more positive - wonderment, more than anything else, watching her with unconcealed interest as though she'd just performed a particularly impressive magic trick, even as his pistol remained trained on her.
"We meet again, Miss Byrne," he greeted, finally lowering the pistol.
"Satisfied, Captain?" She asked.
"Never fully, love," he gave a crooked grin "But as far as this matter goes, I'll accept that you seem to be a woman of your word."
"Theodora Byrne?" Will still hadn't gotten over his shock.
"Ah, you two are acquainted then, are you?" Jack asked.
"Miss Byrne is Commodore Norrington's…ward," the blacksmith seemed to struggle to find the right word, and even continued to look unsure with the one he'd settled on.
Jack paused in his holstering of his pistol, his hand remaining on the grip.
"You neglected to mention that."
"Because that isn't the word I'd use," she grimaced "He had no idea I was aboard when he gave chase - I was hiding below deck."
Jack's kohl-rimmed eyes narrowed, like he was taking measure of the honesty in her answer.
"Does he really strike you as the type to send a woman to do his work for him? One woman, alone? Trust me, Captain Sparrow, if he finds me here, I'm in just as much trouble as you."
"And did the good Commodore Norrington know of your…gifts?"
"Gifts?" Will echoed faintly.
If possible, he looked even more horrified now. And people said she was the dirty-minded one.
"Nobody does. Just you."
"Well, consider me honoured," his hand finally slid from his pistol, but his gaze remained trained on her "We'll talk later, love, I suddenly find myself very interested in what you might have to say. Until then, make yourself useful."
Theo sighed in relief as Jack finally looked away. Will's gaze remained trained on her, evidently waiting for some kind of explanation, but he didn't intimidate her nearly as much. Especially not because some petty part of her was still irked by his snitching on her. But Jack's order was a welcome one. Work, she could do. Even after her sleepless night, itt would take all of the back-breaking labour the ship had to offer to ensure she might get even an hour of sleep tonight, and she couldn't face what was to come if she was exhausted.
A/N: In the next chapter we'll get to see James' reaction to Theo scarpering. As always, thank you guys for the lovely reviews - hopefully I can reply to any I get for this chapter now. I'll keep trying until it works again.