Chapter Text
"No! Help! Please! Somebody help me!"
Lucius was panicking. He was screaming like a madman. It had all happened so suddenly that at first he was completely shocked. But then, when the water had enveloped him, his mind was forced to process it all quickly. He could not believe that Blackbeard had willingly thrown him overboard. The knowledge that Blackbeard wanted him dead made his heart sink. He couldn't accept it. He couldn't accept that he would die that way, at the hands of someone he thought was his friend.
The high waves made him drink the salt water. His eyes burned. He could see nothing but the huge black silhouette of the Revenge gliding past him, farther and farther away...
"Help! Help!" He cried. His heart was beating wildly. He didn't want to die. Not like this. And yet, hope was fading away. It slowly slipped away from his body, leaving room for an emptiness too heavy to digest.
"Please...! No! No!" He swam, trying to chase the ship, but it was moving fast, too fast for him to catch up. He could feel the current dragging him away, towards certain death.
He had always loved the sea, even as a child. He loved its colours, its beauty, and the idea that it would be the sea that would kill him made his stomach tighten. He felt betrayed. He felt angry. How was it possible that Blackbeard wanted him dead? Why? Why? What had he ever done to him? All those questions were swirling in his head at that moment, along with the sheer terror of death that paralysed his arms and legs, so that he could hardly stay afloat.
Suddenly, he heard a whistle. Something hit him on the head. He tested the water around him with his hands. He touched something.
A rope.
Hope came back to him and he clung to the rope with all the strength in his body. Suddenly, he was pulled forward so fast that he let out a gasp of surprise. Whoever was pulling him must have been very strong. It was difficult to swim while being pulled like that, so Lucius drank a lot of sea water and breathed with difficulty. When he hit his head against the Revenge's hull and was lifted upwards by weight, he held on tight. The muscles in his arms began to ache, but he managed to hold on through fear and all the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Hands grabbed him, pulled him through a porthole. Lucius fell to the floor, completely soaked and trembling. He kept coughing, spitting water.
"Are you alright?" A voice.
But Lucius did not answer. He was breathing heavily, terror still invading his body. He couldn't even figure out who that voice belonged to. He was in such shock that he felt completely disconnected from his own body.
"Breathe."
The minutes ticked by. Someone wrapped him in a dry cloth. Then, when Lucius finally understood that he was definitely safe and no longer in danger of death, his heart stopped beating so furiously. He calmed down, the tremors in his body ceased. When he regained control of himself, he pulled himself up and looked around.
From the dark corner of the room, Izzy emerged, an expressionless look on his face.
Lucius widened his eyes, shocked. "What the...? Was it you who saved me?"
Izzy huffed, irritated. "Why ask the obvious? Jesus Christ, all that screaming made my ears ring."
Lucius stood up, trying to pull himself together, but he must have looked very fragile at the moment. And he didn't like that at all, not in front of Izzy.
"Why did you save me?"
Izzy didn't answer that question. His gaze slid away from Lucius' and settled everywhere but on him. "You must come with me now. There's no time to waste."
"What do you intend to do?"
"If Blackbeard finds out I saved your life we're both dead. So, listen to me carefully. Here's what we're going to do; I'm going to hide you in one of the secret rooms on this ship."
"Secret rooms?"
"Stede fucking Bonnet is crazy enough to have had a dozen built on this ship. There's even one in the cargo hold and it's the only one Blackbeard doesn't know about. You'll stay there."
"And how the hell did you discover them if they're secret rooms?"
"It wasn't that hard. The good-for-nothing Gentleman Pirate doesn't even know how the hell to hide them properly. It makes tremendous sense that there are extra rooms here. This ship is too big and has too few rooms.”
"Oh."
"Come."
Lucius didn't let that be repeated twice. He followed Izzy through the dark corridors of the Revenge. They advanced slowly, in complete silence, hardly making a sound. Izzy, seeing Lucius anxious, grabbed his arm and dragged him to the spiral staircase leading to the cargo hold.
"Get a grip," Izzy ordered him.
"How can I? Blackbeard wants me dead. Why does he want me dead? What did I do to him that was so bad...? If he discovers me alive on his ship, I'm sure he'll stab me right in the chest and bleed me to death..."
"For God's sake, will you stop that? Be quiet."
"Yeah, sure. Sorry, sorry."
The hold was enormous. They passed the huge barrels full of drinking water and ended up in the weapons room. It was there that Izzy pressed a button behind a cabinet containing guns and bullets and a side door opened automatically. Izzy pushed Lucius inside. The room was quite large and was full of... wigs.
"What the fuck?" Lucius muttered, looking around. There were wigs of all kinds, with the most varied hairstyles.
"I told you, the idiot is crazy as hell," Izzy judged, sighing. "I just can't understand what Blackbeard saw in him."
Lucius said nothing. He was still too amazed. He had never seen so many wigs in his life.
"You must stay in here, do you understand?" insisted Izzy finally. "I'll bring you food and water every day. Maybe some blankets. But you must not leave here. Not for any reason. Do I make myself clear?"
Lucius turned to him, frowning. "Why are you doing this?"
Izzy's expression hardened suddenly. His eyes twinkled dangerously. "This doesn't concern you."
Lucius backed away from him a step, afraid of that expression. "No?"
"No."
"Well, then I won't ask any further."
"You'd better."
Izzy closed the door and Lucius was left alone.