"I suppose that he deserves it," Will winced as he looked upon the crumpled form of Jack.
"He should be grateful. My lovely Robin could have done much worse than that," Cherry shook her head. "And she would have, if he had dared to point his pistol at either of us."
"I'll keep that in mind," Will suppressed a shudder, giving Robin a wary glance. "I guess I should get him into the navy's hands…"
"Mm, that's for the best," Cherry lied, fully intending to break him out of jail come night fall.
No, wait! She should interrupt his hanging! That'll be a riot!
…
It took a surprising amount of effort to flag down some soldiers and convince them that Jack had been caught by a mere blacksmith.
"Does nobody know how good you are with a sword?" Cherry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't exactly advertise it," Will admitted. "And it isn't like it comes up all that often. Or at all, for that matter."
"It came up today," Robin pointed out.
"Just a fluke. My life isn't nearly so exciting that this sort of thing just happens to me," Will shook his head. "I half expect it was your fault somehow, Miss Harpin. No offense."
"Maybe," Cherry shrugged. She didn't think so, though. "Can you do me a favor and hold this for a second?"
Will accepted the beaten up compass without thought. "Is this the compass Jack was saying you stole from him?"
"It sure is," Cherry said without looking at him. She was too engrossed with the spinning needle which eventually stopped.
"That's not north," Will frowned.
"No, that's towards the governor's manor," Cherry revealed.
"I suppose it is," Will confirmed. "Does that mean something?"
"I don't know yet," Cherry snatched the compass back.
Was it pointing at Elizabeth? Or maybe it was pointing at the object in Elizabeth's possession?
Well, now it was pointing at Robin again, but that was beside the point.
"It points to whatever you want most," Robin informed.
"Really?" Will's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"No, of course not. That's absurd," Cherry shot Robin a look when she laughed. "Don't tease me. There's no way an artifact with mystical abilities would be so wishy-washy like pointing to your heart's desire. That's not how they work!"
And Cherry would know. She'd been making such things for centuries. While there were a great many effects you could create with inscriptions or other more obscure arts, there was always a kind of logic to them. An object that could locate your greatest desire in all the world was either outright impossible, or would be oozing with so much power that you couldn't miss it from a thousand kilometers away.
Robin grabbed Cherry's jaw and turned her head back to the compass, which started spinning again and stopped when it pointed out to sea. She let go and the compass whipped right back to Robin.
"How do you explain that, then?" Robin asked. "You know, with how often you run off on your own, I never would have thought you were so clingy. Even standing right next to me, you aren't satisfied unless we're touching in some way."
"I'm not clingy!" Cherry denied instantly. "I'm a little touch starved, that's all…"
"Anyways, what could it have been pointing to out to sea? I don't know what's even out there," Cherry argued.
"Answers," Robin suggested.
Cherry opened her mouth, then shut it with a clack of her teeth. "Ugh, I hate how plausible that is."
After all, the thing had been bugging her all morning. If it really pointed to what she wanted most (besides having Robin's hands all over her body), then it probably was pointed at something that would tell her what was up with the compass. Maybe even the person who made it.
She was interested in Elizabeth's mysterious object too, but that could easily be another thing she wanted to know about that was out at sea some place.
"So when I was holding it, it was pointing at-" Will began.
"At your girlfriend," Robin finished.
"Unless you only want to marry her for her house," Cherry teased.
"She's not my- That's not why-!" Will blustered.
"We'd help you elope, you know?" Cherry offered.
"Huh?" Will was caught off guard.
"All you have to do is ask her to marry you, or whatever. If her daddy pitches a fit, we'll sail you far away where he can never find you," Cherry elaborated.
"You would do that for us?" Will asked.
"Of course," Robin answered when she heard the sincere gratitude in his voice.
"You have to get to the asking part first, lover boy," Cherry gave him a friendly slap on the arm.
Will looked to have a whole crisis right then and there, internally weighing the pros and cons and risks.
He finally settled on "It wouldn't be proper of me-"
"Shut up and just do it!" Cherry exclaimed, far too loudly for his liking.
"Do what?" came the slurred speech of the once sleeping Mr. Brown. "What's with all this racket?"
"Sorry, Mr. Brown, sir! Won't happen again!" Will stood so straight that you'd think he was meeting a king.
"This silly boy is much too timid! He doesn't even have the nerve to confess to his lady love!" Cherry complained. "How am I supposed to trust a blacksmith like that?"
"Boy, go confess to your girl or you're fired," Mr. Brown commanded with an oddly firm air of authority given his bedraggled state.
"But-" Will hesitated.
"Don't test my patience, Will. I gave you a chance all those years ago, so don't waste it now," Mr. Brown didn't allow him to weasel out of this.
Will looked absolutely distraught.
Cherry clapped him on the back. "Get going! No time like the present!"
"She was just threatened by a pirate!" Will gave a lame excuse.
"So she'll need comforting! Good idea, Will," Cherry winked and gave him a thumbs up.
"I'm going to get banished for this…" Will's shoulders slumped.
…
Commodore Norrington waltzed into the jails below his fort with a pep in his step. There he found a certain pirate locked away in one of the cells; a sight that soothed his bad mood considerably.
"Well well well," Norrington gloated, feeling particularly petty after the awful morning he'd had. "Looks like the great Captain Sparrow Jack has fallen quite far. Captured by a mere blacksmith's apprentice; what a shame that must be."
"Oh yes, very shameful," Jack shot back. "Almost as shameful as half of Port Royal's soldiers getting shown up by that same blacksmith's apprentice."
Norrington's smug smile dropped into a scowl. "We'll see if you can keep up the attitude with a rope around your neck. They always break before the end."
"I was under the impression that the breaking happened right at the end," Jack joked. "The end of the rope, that is."
"Indeed," Norrington said. "Since you call yourself a captain, perhaps you'll tell me where your crew is? I would be interested in knowing if there are more pirates in my city. Perhaps I'll make sure your rope is long enough to break your neck, and not just leave you to strangle."
"Oh, there are more pirates in your city, alright," Jack snickered. "I couldn't tell you anything about them, though, I'm afraid."
"So be it," Norrington scoffed and left the pirate to stew in his final hours of life.