Chapter Text
It had been weeks since Stede found the Revenge. Stede and the crew he had located had happened upon her anchored in a cove. The crew included a very angry Lucius, who was found in the Republic of Pirates, offering scribing services for pirates in need of contracts. Stede's confusion at Ed's marooning of his men changed to outright anger when he first heard Lucius' tale, anger that was later tinged by a profound sadness when Lucius told him about Ed's behavior on that last day before he had been shoved overboard.
The Revenge had looked abandoned, so they decided to chance it and go aboard. After the tales they had heard about Blackbeard's escalating violence as they tried to locate him, Stede was apprehensive about the possible danger, but resolved that he had to see Ed again.
"What if he knows you're following him, and this is all a fuckery?" asked an anxious Lucius.
"That's a chance I'll take. You can wait in the dinghy if you'd like, row yourself to safety." Stede answered. He gave the boy a pat on the shoulder. "What if, indeed," Stede thought to himself.
As they approached the ship, Stede was shocked to see the rope ladder tossed down to them by Fang, who was both grinning, and holding finger to his lips in the universal sign of keep quiet. They climbed aboard, and Fang whispered to Pete and Stede, "It's just me and Blackbeard aboard right now. Everyone else went ashore." Fang said, "He's in there," while pointing to the door of the captain's quarters. "Good thing you're here, it's getting bad." Fang added, with a nod toward the door. "Drinking all day now."
Stede heard the rest of the crew asking about Frenchie and Jim, and calling Lucius to come aboard, but he was already focused on the door to the stateroom. "Ed is there. My love..." he thought, as he walked slowly toward the door.
Stede braved his way into the darkened hall. He heard a smash of glass as he approached the door to the main room. As he placed his hand on the doorknob, the door was yanked away from him, and he found himself facing Ed. At last. But what he saw was worse than he could have imagined, Ed, his Ed, had smeared kohl all through his regrowing beard, and across his lovely eyes. And the fury in those eyes... Stede barely had time to process it all before Blackbeard grabbed him by the front of the shirt and swung him inside the room, slamming the door behind them.
"Why are you here?" Blackbeard roared at him, as he shoved Stede up against the door.
"I had to see you again, I have so many things to say to you, Ed..." Stede trailed off at the rising anger on Blackbeard's face. His eyes wandered around the barren room. “What happened?” he wondered.
"Don't call me that. I'm the Kraken." Blackbeard growled at him, snapping him back to the predicament at hand.
"Edward, you aren't a monster!" Stede shouted, regaining his resolve.
"I am what you made me." Blackbeard replied, his voice cold. "You're a ghost, anyway. Dead and buried. Why not stay that way?"
The Kraken grabbed Stede by the shirt again, and drug him out the door and back down the hall, while Stede struggled against his grasp. Blackbeard wrenched the outer door open, and threw Stede back out onto the deck, where Blackbeard's crew, led by Izzy Hands, was coming back aboard. Stede jumped back up as soon as he was free, and Blackbeard remained glaring at him from a few feet away.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Izzy barked, as Stede's crew ran forward to reclaim Jim and Frenchie. Izzy turned on Fang. "You were meant to be keeping watch, you twat!" At the same time, Ivan stood between Stede's crew and the other members of Blackbeard's crew that had returned with Izzy. Ivan had his arms raised as a wall in defense, with his back to Stede's crew, because the others looked ready to fight, and said, "They're alright lads, seriously."
While this was happening, Lucius stood glaring at Blackbeard defiantly. When Blackbeard finally turned his head and registered who was staring at him, a shadow crossed his face. He looked toward the rest of the crew, and then back to Stede. He started to take a step toward him, but he spun to shout a command at his first mate instead.
"Izzy! Make for Ocracoke. Now."
"But these imbeciles..." Izzy started, but was cut off by a howl from Blackbeard.
"I said now!" The Kraken bellowed at Izzy. He spun around and headed back through the door to the stateroom, slamming it behind him.
“Fuck. Ivan, on the wheel! The rest of you imbeciles stay out of the way.” Izzy headed off to follow Blackbeard, no doubt to confront him about Stede and his crew’s presence on board.
"Well, he hasn't thrown us off the ship, maybe there's hope yet." Stede said to no one in particular, as the crew wandered over to him.
“Right. Let’s make ourselves useful. This is our ship after all.” Stede ordered, in the most positive tone he could muster.
The crew started to grumble and gave him some funny looks, but they were met with only a fierce smile from Stede. Eventually they started wandering off, followed by the eyes of Blackbeard’s new crew. Fang led Lucius away as well, and Stede was left alone in the middle of the deck of his ship.
“Where do I even begin?” Stede thought, as the Revenge headed out into the open sea.