Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Pirates of the Caribbean characters. Thorn and Livna belong to me. My friend Christina gets credit for a few of the ideas in this chapter, but it was all written by me.
Well here you go, chapter 5! This is the longest chapter so far, and it's a little bit hard to follow, I know. Leah, be happy again. This chapter is almost all Will xD
Will was in the room he shared with Jack, lying with his back to the Captain in his own hammock, pretending to be asleep. That didn't really take much, though, because Jack appeared to be drunk, as usual. Turning his head to glance over his shoulder, it appeared that Jack was already dead asleep. But just to be sure, he allowed another couple of minutes of silence before sitting and then standing up. His movements were slow and cautious, and it was quite obvious that he was trying to be as silent as possible. Anyone sneaking around in someone's room trying to take something belonging to that someone would be acting quite the same way; it was instinct, or something close to it.
About ten minutes later, he had learned quite a few things, all of which were equally unhelpful. The compass wasn't on Jack's desk, or in one of the many drawers accompanying it. It wasn't on any of the other various tables that were scattered about the room, and he was quite positive that it wasn't anywhere on his side of the room. He gave the room a final sweeping glance and was just about to lay back down and go to sleep, knowing he would have to tell Thorn that he couldn't find it in the morning, when his gaze rested on the very item in question. It appeared that Jack, drunk as usual, had pretty much collapsed on his bed. This could be considered a good thing for Will, since the compass was, as it always was, hooked on Jack's belt.
Was it really worth the risk of waking him up just to do this one little favor for Thorn? Well, it probably would be best to just try and get it now because he was drunk, meaning it would probably be harder to wake him up. Taking a last deep breath, he half-tiptoed over to stand at Jack's bedside.
Trying not to make the slightest noise – even his own breathing sounded much too loud right now – Will reached out with one arm as slowly as he possibly could, squinting slightly, until he felt the smooth surface of the compass's top beneath his fingertips. Blinking his eyes fully open, he tilted his head to one side, trying to determine how exactly it was attached to the belt. It appeared that it was hooked on. Good he thought to himself, smiling slightly. That shouldn't be too hard to get off…
Grasping the compass, he unhooked it as slowly and quietly as he could, with surprisingly steady fingers. He almost couldn't believe that he was going to be done so quickly. But he had the compass referred to as 'broken' by so many individuals in his hand; now all he had to do was get it to Thorn and get it back on Jack's belt. It had been easy enough to get off, so he doubted the rest of their little plan would prove to be very much trouble.
"You'd better be happy." Will muttered, tossing Thorn the compass. He was sitting beside her on her hammock, after safely making it out of Jack's room and into Thorn's. Livna was sleeping soundly, but he and Thorn exchanged words in whispers just to be safe.
Thorn grinned, feeling the smooth outer casing of the compass, feeling almost afraid to open it; fearing what she might find, perhaps? She looked up at Will, waving an arm towards the door. "You have to go back now. I haven't exactly told Livna what we were doing. I'll return it by tomorrow morning, I promise." She finished.
Will opened his mouth the protest, but knew he wasn't going to change the headstrong pirate's mind. He sighed slightly, then stood and walked to the door. "You owe me." He mouthed, stepping out onto the dark deck, just faintly lit by moonlight, closing the door behind him.
As if she could forget. But the important thing now was that she had the compass. Taking a final deep, readying breath, she flipped open the lid of the compass. For a moment that seemed to drag on for hours, she watched the hand of the compass swing back and forth, as if it couldn't make up its mind on what she wanted. Then it stopped.
She looked up, trying to visualize what was beyond the wall it was pointing towards. She felt her heart drop into her stomach as she realized what she had secretly feared this entire time had just happened; Jack's room was beside theirs. But that didn't mean Jack was what she wanted most. There were plenty of other things in that general direction…
There was only one way to truly figure out wether or not the compass was referring to Jack or something different altogether, and that was to actually use the compass while inside Jack's room. Besides, she had to go in there anyway to put the compass back. She eased herself into a standing position, not wanting to wake Livna right now; that would take way too much explaining than she had the patience or the energy to do right now. Sliding out of the room, she made her way gropingly across the dimly lit deck until she found the door of Jack's room. She stepped inside, the cool night air outside giving way to a pleasantly warm atmosphere.
She could see Will lying with his back to her on his own hammock, and he appeared to be asleep already. Trying to figure out where he had gotten the compass from in the first place would be too time consuming. She could either leave the compass with Will and hope that he woke up before Jack, or just leave it on Jack's desk and hope he thought that he had left it there the night before. Deciding her second choice made more sense, she slid it onto one of the few uncluttered spaces on the desk.
Remembering that she had actually planned on using it before she left it here, she picked it up again. Her hand had grown accustomed to its smooth surface and shape, even though she had only been using it for a few minutes now. Flipping the top open with one hand, she felt her breath catch in her throat; this time the arrow hadn't even swung around once, but instead pointed straight at the sleeping figure of Jack.
Shutting it immediately, she had to literally force herself not to slam it down on the desk. This was impossible! She made her way back to the door, forcing herself not to look at Jack as she passed by him. She was back on deck within seconds, and just a moment after that, back in her own room. Lying down on the hammock, she sighed. All this to find proof that now seemed to be nonexistent. And what would Will say when she told him? Sighing slightly, she closed her eyes in hopes that sleep would find her soon so she would get a good few hours without this clinging worry.
Well, now she was certain that Jack's stupid, bartered compass was broken. But…it had worked in so many previous instances.
That was kind of long...anyway, I hope you liked it! That's the last of the chapters I had already typed up and ready to be uploaded, so now I actually have to get back to writing. I'll probably update sometime tomorrow, but I can't garuntee anything. Please R&R!
