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Well, Lucius thinks. This is certainly not an ideal turn of events.
As if it wasn't bad enough that Captain Bonnet apparently abandoned Blackbeard—Edward. And after Lucius went beyond his job description to help those two assholes get together. Honestly.
(At least, that's the way Ed tells it. Lucius knows there's at least two sides to every story, but Captain Bonnet's not here to tell his, is he?)
And if it also weren't awful enough that he lost his shoe when Edward so ungratefully tossed him over the railing as if he were a moldy sack of potatoes. His shoe, like, it's not as if he has a whole closet of them to strut around in whenever he likes.
Ungrateful, Lucius thinks again, as meanly as he can. He copied down Edward's terrible breakup songs. He consoled him in his time of need.
He even offered to draw him—not like that would have been a hardship, the man is gorgeous if a bit too rugged and a bit too his boss' paramour for Lucius' tastes—and then had to hold him while Ed confessed, teary-eyed, that Stede never even got to see him naked.
Really. They're pathetic, the pair of them.
He doesn't remember everything about how he got back on board. There was a rope, and a conveniently open window, and then he was alone and huddling in the nearest crawl space, stripping out of his soaking wet clothes in hopes of staving off a fever.
(That didn't work, but he's youngish and strong enough and somehow managed to fight it off. Someone might have brought him water; it's all a haze in his memory.)
Now he's picking his way through the ship's secret passages, hoping to find a way out that won't put him right in Edward's—no, he's Blackbeard again, or maybe something even worse, Lucius has no idea. All he knows is that his survival instinct is far too strong for him to put himself in that man's path twice.
When Lucius finally does come out, listening intently at the end of the passage for Blackbeard's heavy footfalls and unmistakable accent, he's in some kind of storage room. That's what it looks like, anyway; there's a whole jumble of things, fabrics draped over random things all piled up haphazardly, which isn't like either of the captains, really.
But he only has a second to spare for that thought, because as soon as his fingers brush one of the fabrics, someone clears their throat.
Oh, fuck, he's not alone.
"Hey," Lucius says, in the most placating tone he can manage under the circumstances. "You're not Blackbeard, are you? Or Izzy? Because if so, I'd really appreciate a head start—"
"Fuck, no." Out of the shadows, Jim emerges, flanked by Ivan. "That pendejo had me clocked over the head after I agreed to work for him. I'm not on his fucking side anymore."
"Jim! Ivan! Thank God," Lucius says with feeling. After so much time alone, wandering the ship like a ghost and hearing with increasing dread how quiet it's been, the sight of them is just—
"I could kiss you," he blurts out.
Jim quirks their lips in something like a smile. "I'm taken these days. But I'm still flattered. Help me get back to Oluwande, and maybe we'll talk."
Back to… as in, they're on the ship, but Oluwande's not. God knows how many others.
Pete….
Lucius shakes it off, pressing the tip of the wooden finger he somehow, miraculously, still has against his palm. No time for personal tragedies now; even if it's just the three of them now, they can still work together and figure this out.
They'll find them, and take down Blackbeard if necessary, and, who knows, maybe even get Captain Bonnet to come back and fix this.
"Blackbeard tossed me overboard. Right after our talent show meeting," Lucius says fiercely. He looks directly into Ivan's eyes, then Jim's. "Tell me absolutely everything that's happened since then."