Fathoms Below: Captain Jack Sparrow

Chapter 23: Isle de Cruses.

I sat beside Jack in the longboard with Ragetti and Pintel rowing us to land, Norrington and Elizabeth both sat in the back quietly talking.
Jack was clutching his jar of dirt in his arms like it was his lifeline, whilst the duo were arguing about how to pronounce 'kraken' which I noticed made Jack more jumpy than ever. I placed my hand on Jack's knee which did seem to calm him slightly as as he reached out to place my hand in his, his rough fingers rubbing across my knuckles to comfort us both.

Once the longboat was firmly wedged into the sand, Jack threw down his coat, chucking it into the boat and reached for the shovel, throwing it over his shoulder.

"Guard the boat, mind the tide, don't touch my dirt," he called to Pintel and Ragetti before turning to me, "Lily you're with me," he said touching my arm as he walked past, marching straight ahead.

We walked inland for a considerable distance, the hot sun beating down on us. Jack and I walked ahead, with Norrington and Elizabeth following closely behind. Elizabeth had her hand outstretched holding the compass as she used it to guide us to the chest, having been tricked by Jack.
I could feel Jack's gaze on me as we walked, probably due to my silence, but he seemed focused and determined to reach the chest quickly and I didn't want to hinder that. I had an uneasy feeling being here, not believing that Davy Jones would leave his heart unguarded on a random island. The quicker we got it and left, the better.

Elizabeth suddenly stopped, causing all of us to turn and follow the direction she suddenly began walking, changing course to mirror the compass needle.

Jack pulled me over to one side as Elizabeth started walking shorter distances now, circling almost as she tried to locate the exact position. Jack's arm snaked around my waist as we stood there observing, his other hand balancing the shovel over his shoulder.
I felt Norrington's gaze on us and I pushed down the urge to recoil away from Jack, thinking back to James' words the other day.

A moment later, Elizabeth threw herself down onto the sand in a strop, sitting cross-legged on the floor with folded arms. "It doesn't work!"

Jack ran over, gingerly looking at the compass as not to spook it before standing up straight again.
"Yes it does, move move!" He shooed her away and she scoffed, walking over to me. I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and we all held our breath as Jack threw the shovel to Norrington. James let out a huff, clearly his pride being wounded by the action, but began digging a moment later under Jack's silent command.

Jack then signalled for me to join him and pulled me down beside him as he sat on the ground, seemingly meditating, waiting for Norrington to continue his digging, hopefully finding the chest soon.

Suddenly, a loud clink rang out and I watched as Jack's eyes shot open, excited by the noise.

We both leapt forward, reaching into the hole and Jack, Norrington and myself pulled the heavy chest out. Elizabeth stood back, watching us as we placed the chest on the side of the hole.

Jack threw open the large chest, finding papers and little notes placed inside the large box. He pushed them aside, seeing a black chest at the bottom. He pulled the chest out and placed it on the side of the outer box, as we all leant in, listening for the heartbeat.

Thump thump.

"It's real," Elizabeth said, still not believing it.

"You actually we're telling the truth," Norrington said in disbelief, looking at Jack.
"I do that quite a lot," Jack said, "yet people are always surprised." I let out a little laugh through my nose, causing Jack to mock-glare at me.

"With good reason!" A voice called out behind us. I turned round to see Will standing there, soaking wet. Elizabeth immediately ran to him screaming as he embraced her.
"You're alright! Thank god! I came to find you," she explained before they kissed.
My eyes flicked to Jack just as his eyes flicked to mine, both of us looking slightly uneasy.