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“This isn’t exactly legal but as long as the guards don’t show up we’re good.”
“You have got to be joking.” Izzy mutters, shouldering past the newly minted pirate and stepping over the property line.
“Izzy, wait!” Stede hurries after his partner in crime. “I’ve known Nicklebudi since childhood! Besides, Ed told us to work as a team.”
“I am not working with a ponce like you, Bonnet!” Izzy tosses over his shoulder as he makes for the treeline, not slowing for a moment.
Stede scrunches his nose. “Well that’s not very nice.” He raises his voice to catch his departing partner. “You wouldn’t want me to tell Blackbeard that you refused to cooperate, would you?”
That stops him. Stede plants his hands on his hips, waiting.
Izzy stomps back to him.
Gritting his teeth loud enough to make Stede wince, Izzy growls out: “Fine.”
“Great! Here’s the plan–”
Izzy grabs his cravat, wrinkling it beyond repair. Stede winces more at the disregard for fashion than the vitriol in Izzy’s tone when Izzy says, “Shut the fuck up. I don’t care if Blackbeard keeps you around for his plaything, but I only follow real pirates, not some little mommy’s boy who wants a vacation from his mansion. A pirate is one thing you’ll never be.”
Stede turns up his nose. “Your breath stinks more than your attitude.”
Face redder than Button’s sunburn, Izzy drops Stede’s cravat, screams wordlessly in his face, then stomps back towards the trees.
Stede straightens out his outfit and follows at a distance. It only takes three steps into the trees before Izzy vanishes from sight.
…But not from earshot. “FUCK!”
Stede takes his time.
Izzy is jumping to try and reach the edge of the hole when Stede finally makes it to him, but the mud up to his waist doesn’t allow movement easily. “Well, Izzy?”
“Fuck you.”
Stede kicks a bit of dirt into the hole.
“FUCK. FINE! What is your plan–and get me out of this damn hole.”
Grinning, Stede uncoils the snatch of rope he’d remembered to bring and drops one end down to the shorter man. “That’s the spirit, Izzy! We’ll be a team in no time!”
“Fuck you.” Izzy mutters. Stede lets the rope slip a bit. “FUCK!”
“As I was going to say earlier…Nicklebudi loves traps, but he’s rather amateur at them. Always has been. It only takes a few mishaps to be able to recognize the tells he leaves in the wake of his little projects. In fact, you walked right past another pit trap earlier! Missed it by inches!” Stede offers Izzy a hand up once he makes it over the edge of the hole, but Izzy slaps it away. “Lucky that. The last trap probably had a bit worse than mud at the bottom.”
Stede shivers and shoves the memories away.
Izzy eyes him from where he’s sprawled on the ground. “You rich types have the weirdest fuckin hobbies.” Stede turns away.
They walk in silence for several more minutes. Surprisingly, Izzy speaks first.
“Thanks.” Stede opens his mouth, but Izzy plows on. “This the kinda shit that happened regularly to you?”
It feels like an olive branch. Or at least a twig from one.
“Yes.” Stede does not elaborate.
“What’s the plan?”
A shimmer near the forest floor catches Stede’s eye and he grabs Izzy by the back of the jacket, hauling him backwards just as his foot bends the wire.
“Oi–Fuck! What now?”
An axe whistles past their noses.
“Shit.” Izzy breathes.
Throat tight, Stede barely manages to choke out: “That’s new.”
They’re frozen, breathing heavily. Everything has suddenly become a threat. Paranoia creeps up their spines. Any movement could mean death, not just entrapment.
“The plan is to find sticks.” Izzy blurts out. “Yeah?” He looks up, wide-eyed at Stede.
Stede knows his face can’t look much different. “Yeah. Good plan. Thick walking stick.”
They move carefully to the nearest tree, snapping off a pair of branches. Progress is slower now. A lot slower. Neither are aware of it, but both are wishing they had an enemy to fight instead of murder forest to survive. Looking an opponent in the eye when they sling a death blow at you is a lot easier to handle than a death blow dropping from the trees at any moment.
They find another few pit traps. Mud, mud, and rats. The rats are teeming, squirming, running over each other. The bottom of the pit isn’t visible. Izzy looks at Stede in horror. Stede looks away.
They make it through the trees just as the sun is touching the horizon and there is the house. There are no guards, the arrogant ass. There’s a light on on the second floor and Izzy snarls, branch brandished with more fury than Stede has ever seen. He starts for the house.
“Wait.” Stede says.
And Izzy stops.
“I’ll go.”
And maybe it’s the Stede’s face, or maybe the way the branch is splintering under his grip, but Izzy takes one look and stands down.
Izzy paces, waiting at the treeline as Stede vanishes into the house. It’s unnerving to watch. Stede’s footsteps no louder than a ghost’s. Izzy tries not to think about why Stede knows how to step that quietly.
It reminds him of Ed.
It’s only a few minutes before a piercing scream splits the empty air. Izzy grins ferally, knowing Stede can’t see him. Knowing no one could’ve heard. The property is empty for miles. The light in the window goes out and Izzy takes it as his signal to meet at the front entrance.
He rounds the corner of the house right as Stede steps out the front door. He closes it behind him. Of course he does. Stede nods and holds up the papers. There will be no bounty out on any of their crew now. No record of their last raid of the port. No survivors. The lighting is poor, but Izzy sees the splashes of red against Stede’s coat and the wild look in his eye.
Izzy steps forward to meet him. “Want me to get you a new coat there…?” He bites off the sentence before the last word slips. ‘Boss.’ When did that change in his mind today?
“No, Izzy, I think I’ll keep this with the others I’ve ruined.” Stede’s voice is too calm for someone who just killed a person they’ve known their whole life. Personally, Izzy would sound a lot happier if he were Stede. “Let’s get back to Edward, shall we?”
“Yes, Boss.”