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Izzy told Bonnet that a raid was no place for a scribe to be. He told him on multiple occasions, five if he remembered correctly.
But apparently, having an anxious boy with hemophobia to take notes while Spaniards are literally being maimed and dismembered around him seemed like a good idea to captain Stede fucking Bonnet.
Of course, Izzy realized that being that over sensitive was ridiculous considering the boy was a pirate, for Christ’s sake.
But still, he couldn’t help but to feel bad whenever he saw Lucius, panicking with Stede’s stupid journal in the middle of all this chaos.
Izzy Hands knew that no one chooses to be a pirate - well, unless you’re a bored rich fucker with nothing to do apparently. The violence of a life at sea was probably not Spriggs’s first choice of career.
Since Bonnet didn’t seem to take this information into account, Lucius was once again helpless, during a particularly violent raid.
There weren’t that many soldiers on it, but they were armed and not ready to give up without a fight.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god…”
An unconscious Spanish soldier fell right in front of Lucius. Fuck, he should really be more careful.
“Focus, Spriggs!” Yelled Izzy.
He didn’t have time to worry about the boy. He had to keep himself alive too.
Edward was right, they died quite dramatically these Spaniards. And their screams were getting distracting, a bit overwhelming. It became harder and harder to focus.
Suddenly, he recognized one of the screams. Fuck, fuck.
As soon as he heard him, Izzy ran towards Lucius. A soldier had walked behind him and stabbed him in his left shoulder. Without even thinking about it, Izzy sliced off the officer’s arm. Before Lucius could collapse to the floor, he held onto him.
“Oh my god, t-this can’t be happening…”
“Stay with me, mister Spriggs. We got to get you out of here.”
Izzy placed his arm under Lucius’s healthy shoulder, and helped him to stand.
“Oh my god- there’s so much b-blood… am I going to die-“
“Not on my watch you’re not.”
He looked around the deck of the raided ship, saw that the other crew members seemed to be doing okay. In fact, most of the Spanish were incapacitated or dead by now.
He searched for Blackbeard, and found him looting jewelry off a body.
By the time he got to him, Lucius was only half-conscious.
“Captain, I need to go back to the ship. The boy got stabbed.”
“Shit, is he gonna be okay? Should I get Roach?”
Izzy glanced around once again; the turmoil of the raid was over. Roach was with three other crew members, patching them up.
“He seems busy. What happened with them?”
“Frenchie’s got punched in the face and got a fucked up nose. Jim got hit pretty hard in the ribs, I don’t think anything’s broken but we’ll hear it from our professional over here. And Black Pete, I’m not sure but I don’t think your legs are supposed to do that…”
Izzy turned to look at Pete, and saw that his knee seemed pretty fucked. It looked like a dislocated joint.
Lucius’s injury was more severe, Izzy knew that. If he went to Roach, he would be treated first. But, for some reason, he felt like Lucius was his number one priority as a first mate right now.
“I’ll take care of him.”
Edward nodded, and went back to the looting.
Izzy struggled to guide Lucius to the Revenge, his own mangled foot was hurting him like a bitch. But they both finally reached Izzy’s room, and he carefully sat the boy to his bed. He left out a small cry.
“Fucking hell- that sucks-“
“Stay still. You’ll bleed more if you move.”
Izzy reached for some supplies along his room. He has done it before. A ship doesn’t always have the luxury to carry a doctor on board, so most sailors learn how to take care of stab and gunshot wounds. Izzy knew what he was doing.
He took his pocket knife, and started to cut Lucius’s shirt. It was covered in blood, almost all the way down. Fuck, he needed to do this quickly before the boy passes out due to anemia.
He grabbed the alcohol bottle next to him.
“Try not to move. This is gonna hurt.”
Lucius nodded, bitting both of his lips and closing his eyes tightly.
As Izzy poured the alcohol onto the wound, Lucius wailed so loudly that it made Izzy feel terrible. This is what a pirate’s life is. It’s painful, unfair, cruel. But for some reason, the thought of Lucius being hurt was making his stomach sink.
“I need to stitch you up.”, he mumbled while whipping the excess blood with a wet rag.
Lucius turned even paler than before. Fuck, he looked so miserable.
“Where’s Pete?” He said, his voice trembling.
“He got hurt, Roach is taking care of him. He’ll be fine.”
Izzy hesitated, then rubbed his hand on Lucius’s good shoulder.
“You’ll be fine too. I know it sucks. I’ll be quick.”
Izzy really wished Black Pete could be here, to hold Lucius hand or to find comforting words, or anything to soothe or distract from the state of panic Spriggs was in.
But Izzy didn’t do comfort or reassurance. All that Izzy knew was efficiency and practicality.
“Can I have some alcohol to numb me up?”
Izzy shook his head.
“It will make you bleed more. We definitely can’t have that.”
He took his leather glove off his hand, and handed it to Lucius.
“Bite this. For the pain.”
He accepted the request, probably too exhausted by the blood loss to say anything.
Izzy prepared his needle and thread, and quickly started to work. There wasn’t anytime to waste.
Every time the needle poked his skin, Lucius sobbed through the glove in his mouth.
Izzy tried his best to be tender, but he was obviously not very successful at that. There isn’t any pleasant way to have your shoulder sewn after you’ve been stabbed, so ‘might as well do it quickly so the pain doesn’t last longer.
Once the other side was taken care of, Lucius was to exhausted to cry anymore. He was shaking like a leaf though.
Izzy finished bandaging him, making sure it was tight enough to hold the stitches in place.
“It’s over, Spriggs. You’re okay. Get some sleep.”
Lucius grabbed Izzy’s sleeve, still shivering like some kind of baby deer.
“Stay…”
Izzy stared at him. He didn’t saw the usual sassy lazy Spriggs, who would do anything to avoid his chores. He didn’t saw the confident and smug look in his eyes. Right now, all he could see was a frightened boy. He was suddenly reminded of how young Lucius was. He seemed to be the youngest crew mate on this ship, probably not even thirty years old. And right now, he was hurt and scared. He needed Pete, or Bonnet, or anyone good at this emotional stuff. But he was stuck with Israel Hands.
“I’ll stay. This is my room after all. Now get some rest.”
He helped Lucius to lay down, and stayed there next to him. He noticed that the boy kept Izzy’s glove, and was holding it in his hand.
A wave of pain made Lucius winced, his jaw locked tightly.
“Fucking hell-“
“Don’t move.”
“It sucks, everything hurts…”
“I know. But if you move and snap your stitches of I will have to do all that again. That wouldn’t be fun for either of us. Now try to sleep.”
“Is the pain going to go away when I wake up?”
Izzy thought about lying for a second, but decided against it and shook his head.
“It’s gonna hurt like shit. It will take a couple days to go away.”
“Fantastic…”
Lucius closed his eyes and sighed.
“Izzy?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you help me? I mean, you could have let Roach do it… I know you don’t like me.”
For a few seconds, Izzy stayed silent.
He knew he wasn’t the social type. His relationship with the crew was purely professional. Pirates don’t need more than that.
But the memories of Lucius’s scream, of the Spaniard stabbing his shoulder, turned Izzy’s stomach upside down. It was his fault. He knew from the start that a raid was no place for a scribe. He should have been more careful. But, as guilty as he felt, he would never admit it out loud.
“Shut up, I never said I didn’t like you.”
Lucius raised an eyebrow, and smirked.
“So, are you saying that you like me?”
“Not what I said either.”
The boy laughed a little. Well, at least he was focusing on something else than the pain.
“Thank you Izzy. Y’know, for saving my life.”
“I didn’t save your life. You weren’t about to die, you twat.”
“Well, thanks for taking care of me anyway.”
Lucius smiled at Izzy. It wasn’t mocking; it was a genuine grateful smile, and Izzy knew he didn’t deserve that. He was just the first mate, caring for a crew member.
“Get some sleep. I will stay with you.”
Lucius answered by closing his eyes and reaching for Izzy’s hand.
“When I wake up feeling like shit, you’ll be there?”
Maybe Izzy cared a little about the boy. Maybe he felt a bit warm to see that he wanted him. Maybe there was a part of him that wanted to kiss Lucius’s forehead and murmur sweet nonsense in his ear.
But Izzy couldn’t tell him about this. Israel Hands didn’t do feelings. But while the boy slowly fell asleep, Izzy could gently squeeze Lucius’s hand, and whisper:
“I will be there. I promise.”