Chapter 11:  What do you want most?

 

Elizabeth paced back and forth along the beach of the little island, holding Jack’s compass in the palm of her hand.  James and Robin had sat down on the beach long ago, and Jack had recently collapsed onto his back.  Jack and Elizabeth had been taking turns holding the compass, but neither of them had managed to get it to point in a plausible direction.  Jack refused to give the compass to James, worried that he may pull another stunt as he had done with Davy Jones’ heart, and Elizabeth would not let Robin get a hold of the compass, for rather obvious reasons.

For Jack, the compass kept spinning toward the Black Pearl, which was no surprise, but it was “maddeningly unhelpful,” as Jack had put it.  Elizabeth found that the compass kept pointing out to the open ocean, presumably toward Will, though once in a while the compass would spin briefly to Jack or even James, causing her to shake the compass in order to motivate it to point in different direction.

Elizabeth sighed as the compass turned once again to the ocean.  She glanced at Jack, who appeared to be asleep.  “James,” Elizabeth said quietly, walking over to him.  Perhaps James would be able to coax the compass in the right direction.  James got quickly to his feet, almost as though on command, and Robin rolled her eyes as she stood as well.

“That’s sad, you know that?” Robin whispered to James before wandering a few paces away to Jack, whom she nudged gently in the side with her foot, almost as though to see if he was alive.

“James,” Elizabeth repeated, taking his hand and wrapping it around the compass.  She felt his hand shake slightly as she did so.  “Out of everything in the world, you want the map.”  She looked up at him.  “All right?”

James said nothing as he opened the compass.  Elizabeth saw the arrow spin directly to her.  She blushed a little as James gently shook the compass, attempting to urge it in another direction, but the arrow continued to aim at Elizabeth.  When James lifted his eyes to her face, appearing almost apologetic, Elizabeth looked away uncomfortably.  She should have known.

“You have got to be kidding me.”  Elizabeth turned around to see Robin approaching them.  “Admiral, you really should take my advice.”  Elizabeth found herself glancing back toward the compass, which suddenly appeared to be moving slightly.  Elizabeth took a step aside to see if it followed her.

It didn’t.

Elizabeth stared at the compass and then at the person it was pointing to in horror.  James seemed to also realize what the compass was doing at that moment, for he shook the compass again, more violently than before.  Curious as to why the two were behaving so strangely, Robin walked up next to James, the compass following her the whole time.  Robin did not miss this detail, for she arched an eyebrow, looked up at James, and smirked.

“If you think that you can do better…” James snarled, shoving Jack’s compass into Robin’s hands.  He avoided looking at both of the women beside him as Robin shook her head with a quiet chuckle and opened the compass.

The arrow spun around a few times before pointing toward the Pearl.  “Yes, thank you, I know where the Black Pearl is,” Robin said in annoyance, shaking the compass.  The compass now aimed toward the open ocean, suspiciously close to where it had pointed when Elizabeth had held it.  Robin sighed and shook the compass again.  The arrow now refused to stay pointed in any direction, shifting around and spinning aimlessly.

“At least I got it to point somewhere,” James muttered under his breath.

Robin glared at him.  “Oh, and it was pointing at what you wanted most, was it?” she said, arching an eyebrow again.

James shifted his weight.  “I did not say that.”

“Apparently it’s true.”  James blushed and Robin laughed as she looked back at the compass.  Her laugh died instantly.  James and Elizabeth both looked at the compass, wondering what had made Robin’s attitude change so quickly and drastically.  Elizabeth’s mouth dropped.

The arrow was pointing to James.

Robin glanced sideways at James, who was now taking his turn to smirk.  Robin shook the compass fiercely, but it seemed to refuse to move now that it pointed to James.  Elizabeth did not understand at all—but it was probably little more than lust that was driving Robin.  But still…

Robin shook the compass again and held it vertically.  The frustrated look on her face faltered for a moment, and her eyes flickered down and to the right, but Elizabeth was not sure at what Robin was looking at.  Robin began to shake the compass again, appearing frustrated once more.  “This doesn’t work!” she exclaimed finally, handing it to Elizabeth.  “And it doesn’t point to what you want most.”  When James smirked, she added, “And do you want to believe that it does?”  James turned away, his cheeks darkening slightly.

Elizabeth did not even bother to open the compass.  She merely threw it to Jack, who started as it landed on his stomach.  “Oi!” he exclaimed.  He stood and swayed slightly as he opened the compass and began to wander away from them.

* * *

The sun was disappearing over the horizon when Jack returned, holding a bottle in his hand.  For once, Norrington was glad to see the pirate.  There had been quite a period of awkward silence ever since he had held the compass and it had pointed to Robin.  If that had been all, perhaps he would have felt more comfortable than he did now, seated nearby Elizabeth and Robin.

Of course, it could have been merely lust, maybe even on both of their parts.  James was lonely and single—Robin did not appear much better off, given the general hatred many seemed to share for her.  Robin was extremely attractive, and Norrington was certainly not ugly.  Yes, lust was probably all that there was between them.  Norrington glanced at Robin, who had been watching Jack carefully as he approached.  However, as soon as Norrington looked at her, she turned to him, capturing his eyes in hers.  She held his gaze for an uncomfortably long time.  Norrington felt as though she was delving into his mind, yet he found himself unable to look away.

He found his mind traveling to the past.  He had no idea how he could not have recognized her the moment that he had seen her in Singapore.  It had been many years, granted, he had believed her dead, and he had never seen her in pirate garb before, but he still felt almost guilty that he had not known who she was from the start.  But he should not think about Jacqueline—that woman had not really existed.  Robin was a liar, a criminal—a pirate.

After what felt like an eternity to Norrington, Robin finally looked away.  Norrington let out his breath, which he had not even realized he had been holding.

“What do you have there, Jack?” Robin asked as Jack neared.

“What?”  Jack looked at the bottle in his hand.  “Oh, right, this!”  He took a deep swig from the bottle.  “This is what I wanted most, apparently,” he said, motioning to the compass on his belt.  “There’s a whole gathering of bottles of rum just like this that-a-way,” he said, pointing to where he had come from.  “Want to see?  It’s really quite remarkable,” he said with a grin.  Elizabeth scoffed and shook her head.  In contrast, Robin smiled broadly and went with Jack.

Norrington found himself wishing that Robin had not left.  With Robin gone, Elizabeth apparently believed that she could simply stare at Norrington quizzically.  Elizabeth’s gaze was impossible to ignore, although Norrington did his best to do so.  He was grateful that Elizabeth was not actually asking him about Robin, but her stare was nearly as trying to him.  Norrington had been well aware of his latent attraction to Robin, obviously.  After all, many years ago, he had been in love with her.

He slapped himself mentally.  No, he had not been in love with her, because the woman that he had known did not really exist.  He had fallen in love with an idea, with an illusion, not a person.  Having Robin around was a constant and painful reminder of the past.  That’s why he hated her.  Or at least, he had thought that he did.

Norrington reminded himself that the compass had initially pointed to Elizabeth.  But had it?  Robin had been standing beyond Elizabeth—the compass could have been pointing at either of them.  Norrington put his head in his hands, continuing to avoid looking at Elizabeth.  He should take Robin’s advice and forget both of the women.  Neither had done anything for him except cause pain.

But then the memories of his nocturnal strolls with Jacqueline surfaced.  Even the joy he had felt when Elizabeth had accepted his proposal of marriage did not compare to the happiness he had felt when he was with Jacqueline.  “She never existed,” he breathed, trying to keep himself from getting caught up in the past.  “It was a lie.  She was a lie.  Like everything she ever said.”

“James?”  Norrington looked up and was surprised to find Elizabeth crouching down right in front of him.  He had not heard her move.  “Are you all right?”

“As well as can be expected,” Norrington answered quietly.

Elizabeth gently took his hand.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll get off of this island.  We’ll find that map eventually.”  Norrington knew that Elizabeth understood that the missing map was not actually what was bothering him.  “And don’t worry about the compass either.”  Norrington dropped his gaze from Elizabeth and looked down at the sand.  “It doesn’t work properly.  I wasn’t in love with Jack when the compass would point to him.”  Norrington looked back up at Elizabeth, knowing that this was a rather personal topic for her.  “I see you remember that.  But it really doesn’t mean anything.”

“Oi, lovebirds!  We brought rum for everyone!”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she stood and turned to Jack.  “No, thank you, Jack.”

“Come on, Lizzie, get into the spirit of things!” Robin said, raising a bottle she was holding in a sort of toast.  Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed.  “You really don’t like me, do you?” Robin said, recovering quickly from this as she knelt by Norrington.  “Rum, Admiral?” Robin offered with a surprisingly sincere smile as she held a bottle of rum out to him.

Norrington sighed heavily and took the bottle that Robin was offering.  Robin smiled kindly at him, which caused Norrington’s stomach to do a slight flip.  He silently cursed, insisting to himself that Robin was not Jacqueline.

“We should start a fire,” Elizabeth said, looking at the darkening sky.

“Not with my rum, you’re not!” Jack exclaimed, hugging a bottle of rum to his chest.  Norrington smiled slightly and shook his head as he uncorked the bottle that Robin had given him.  He watched as Elizabeth head to the trees to collect something to start a fire with.  Norrington stood to go help, but he first smelled the rum, cringing at the strong scent and the memories that came with it.

“I’m going to regret this,” he muttered as he threw his head back and took a large gulp of the drink.  Norrington did not notice Robin watching him carefully as he did so.  She smirked as she also took a drink of rum, closing her eyes as the bottle touched her lips.