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Things are looking less than ideal. Wait, scratch that, things are looking positively dismal. Stede struggles against the ropes keeping his hands bound at his back, but the knots stay strong. He curses softly as the situation begins to unfold from bad to much, much, worse.
The attack had come out of nowhere, just as he was finishing up storytime. A deafening sound followed by a cannonball ripping through the railing followed by a screaming horde of fearsome pirates boarding the ship. The sleepy crew of the Revenge never stood a chance. So now, here they all are, huddled and tied together on the deck as the enemy captain menaces a strangely calm Ed.
“So what will it be, Blackbeard , you can surrender this ship and the Queen Anne’s Revenge to me or…I could kill you and this entire crew.” The enemy captain is young, broad, and exceedingly smug. Stede hates him immensely but has to admit that he’s put them in quite the sticky situation. He looks helplessly at Ed, hoping to catch his gaze and let him know he has his full trust and support. Ed however, stays looking straight forward, barely even showing an emotion aside from indifference.
“Yeah, mate…that’s not happening.” He manages a shrug even with his bound arms. Despite his position – on his knees and with a bloody and bruised face – he manages to look regal and powerful.
The captain falters, stunned by the complete lack of a reaction. His next words are said with less confidence. “I don’t think you heard me, I’m going to kill you.”
Now Ed looks rather annoyed. “Yeah I heard you, get on with it then.”
All around Stede, the crew begins to whisper in panic.
“What the fuck?”
“Is he just gonna let them kill us?”
“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him!”
Stede struggles up onto his feet with a giant burst of energy, “Edward please what on earth–”
“–stay the fuck down!” One of the enemy crew grabs him by the collar and he’s thrown back down, landing harshly on the deck with a pained yelp. Ed finally turns to look at him and gives him a small smile. Trust me . Stede decides with only a little bit of hesitation that he will.
The captain uses the distraction to get back to business, rearing his foot back and planting his boot hard into Ed’s abdomen. Ed grunts at the pain but barely has time to recover before he’s being grabbed by the hair and forced to look up at the captain’s sneering face.
“The stories must be true, Blackbeard is losing his touch. Look how weak you are, just giving up like this. Pathetic.” His voice is laced with glee. Okay, he’s getting overconfident. Stede desperately wants to believe that Ed is about to teach the whelp a lesson or two. “How about this, then? I’m going to kill your crew right in front of you, one by one. If you can watch all of them die for your pride, maybe, just maybe, I’ll keep you alive.”
“I already said I don’t care if you kill me, just get on with it. Or…are you too much of a coward? All bark and no bite? Too scared to lay a finger on Blackbeard even when he’s literally tied up at your feet.” Ed tilts his head up defiantly, aloof under the pressure even as the crew begins hissing and shouting at him.
This finally seems to fully rile the enemy captain up. He steps forward and draws his sword, his face red with his rage. “Why you fucking–”
“–stop! Please!”
Stede whirls to see Izzy – who had been absolutely silent the whole time before now – throwing himself forward, grovelling at the captain’s feet. As much as Stede dislikes the man, it’s a sorry sight to see him on his knees, begging for his captain’s life. His devotion to Ed is at least something Stede always admired.
“Please, spare my captain. Take me, instead! Anything but my captain, please! I beg of you!” Izzy is practically hysterical now and everyone on deck is stunned to silence. Most of the Revenge ’s crew have turned away, unable to bear the scene.
Even Ed looks shocked. “Iz, don’t–”
“–a volunteer then!” The captain hauls Izzy up by the neck, inspecting him closely before focusing on the X on his cheek. “And Blackbeard’s infamous first mate at that! Oh how the mighty have fallen, Izzy Hands. Whatever shall we do with him lads?”
An unsettling atmosphere fills the deck, all around them the enemy crew begin to snicker, this isn’t their first time doing this, whatever it is they’re about to do.
“Come one lads, say it with me now: what’s going to happen to Blackbeard’s dog?”
“He’s gonna walk the plank!” They shout it in unison and a pit opens up in Stede’s gut. No. No, Ed please do something!
“That’s right! Come on, you know the drill!” The captain carelessly shoves Izzy over to a pair of his lackeys who immediately get to work binding his legs and wrapping a rag around his eyes. Izzy is quiet through the process, barely even putting up a fight. Oh god, even Izzy’s given up…Christ he’s smiling! How is he smiling?
“Edward!” Stede calls sharply, ignoring the lackey that growls in his direction. “Stop them, please!”
Stede is shaking now, despair overtaking the trust he’d just put into Ed. How is he just letting this happen? Izzy is here happily sacrificing his life for his captain and Ed is…Ed is also smiling? What on earth was going on here? The captain grabs Ed’s jaw, roughly forcing him to watch as more men grab at Izzy and bundle him towards the side of the ship. The entire enemy crew is jeering and taunting, all their eyes on the gruesome scene unfolding right in front of them.
“What, nothing to say, Blackbeard?” The captain gives Ed a hard slap to the face for good measure.
Ed’s face snaps to the side and in that moment he meets Stede’s eyes. His expression is still resolute, still asking him to trust me, I’ve got this . What possible plan could he have with this? They’re about to throw Izzy to the sea. Stede can’t clear his mind of images of the shorter man thrashing in the cold, merciless ocean, gasping for air even as his lungs fill with salt and he’s dragged down down down…
“No! Wait, don’t! Not my first mate!” Ed suddenly wails, jerking from his previously subdued stupor. “Don’t do it! Please don’t do it!”
There’s a lump in Stede’s throat as the entire enemy crew sneer and laugh at the pleas. He tears his gaze away and onto the deck as Ed continues, crying and begging for Izzy’s life even as he’s rained down with more blows. He wishes to god he could just get out of these ropes and dash forward and–
“–Captain!” A voice hisses in his ear; it’s Jim, who has somehow gotten free of their bonds.
“Jim? How–”
“–shut up, pendejo! While they’re distracted.”
Stede snaps his mouth shut as Jim easily slices through his ropes with their knife. A quick glance around tells him the rest of the crew have already been freed too, all huddling together to hide something that’s being passed around. He’s still too disoriented to figure out what it is when Jim presses a small lump into their hand. Wax?
“What? Why–”
“–look, I don’t know either, but that crazy bastardo Izzy told me that we have to plug our ears with it, okay? So just hurry!” Jim whispers, frantically gesturing towards their ears with their hands.
Stede rushes to do so immediately, a renewed adrenaline thrumming through him. So both Izzy and Ed were in on whatever the plan was then, right? Once he’s certain he’s packed his ears right he turns to the rest of the crew, raising his brows at them in an attempt at comfort and reassurance. Some of them nod back at him, nervous but determined to stay calm despite how things are looking. Satisfied that they’re all ready, Stede turns back to the front. He can no longer hear what’s exactly being said, but from the expression on the captain’s face he must still be taunting Ed (hasn’t he gotten tired of it?), who is bruised and bloody but somehow still smiling. Trust him, he has a plan, you have to trust him –
Stede can only truly comprehend the sound of own heart pounding and the blood rushing in his ears as a group of lackeys lift and toss Izzy right over the railing. Stede screams, he doesn’t hear it, but he must have, with all the terror flooding through him. His mouth hangs open. His entire body feels numb and he can do nothing but stare at Ed, who has finally slumped over onto the deck in exhaustion. Stede can’t quite believe it, doesn’t want to believe it. Their plan failed. Edward’s plan failed. And now they’re all going to die, follow Izzy to a watery grave while their ears are filled with fucking wax! Stede starts to get up and is reaching to unplug his ears when something strange happens.
There’s an unusual stillness on the deck. Every single one of the enemy – including the captain, who was more than energetic not one minute ago – is standing stockstill, bodies rigid and faces blank as if they were hypnotised. It’s a creepy sight, each of them has the same glazed over look in their eyes, staring into space, mouth hanging open. Then, they begin to move.
As if possessed by some force (and Stede is starting to suspect that this may not be too far from the truth) they all shamble to the side of the ship, in complete unison as if they are all puppets being pulled along by the same strings. Stede’s mouth is dry as they all step over the railing and throw themselves into the deep abyss below. He turns to his crew, looking for any sort of confirmation that what he’s seeing isn’t some sort of dream or vision. Their matching frightened faces tell him it isn’t.
They stand in horrified silence, nobody daring to move, lest they be gripped by the same supernatural hand that dragged those men to their own watery graves. Stede blinks and his eyes land on the slumped over form on deck. Edward! He runs to him, tugging the ropes from his hands and turning him over to inspect his wounds. Luckily, the look of it is probably worse than the actual injuries; mottled bruises that will turn a sickly purple then yellow and shallow cuts where knuckles broke through skin. Ed shifts uncomfortably and opens his eyes, blinking up at him with a satisfied smile.
“You're alright Ed, you did it.” Stede says soothingly and he winces at how his voice reverberates through his whole head and chest, locked in by the wax in his ears.
The wax. Izzy had told Jim that they needed to plug their ears with wax. Right before he volunteered himself for death. Death by drowning. With a smile on his face.
Oh. It was a fuckery. Stede takes the chance to unplug his ears, sighing in relief as the familiar sound of the ocean (both a foe and a friend, Stede was reminded today) fills his ears and his bodily equilibrium is returned.
“Edward.” Stede says carefully, voice as neutral as he can allow it.
“Yeah?” Ed replies, far too light-heartedly for the situation at hand. Stede chooses his next words carefully.
“Izzy isn’t dead, is he?”
“Nah.”
“I see.”
“Just give him a bit, he likes to be dramatic.”
Right on cue, there’s a splash, a thud on the deck, and a familiar voice saying “what a bunch of stupid twats.”
“There’s my Iz.”
Stede blinks up at a soggy, annoyed-looking, but very much alive Izzy Hands. He looks just about the same, except perhaps, for the gills and completely black eyes .
“Stay back demon!” Buttons rushes forward, metal teeth engaged and performing a series of complicated hand-signs. He’s followed by Frenchie, Wee John, and Black Pete, each wielding a sword and looking very willing to use them.
“Y-yeah, fuck off, mate!” Frenchie yelps, jabbing the blade forward in an attempt at intimidation. “We don’t do kindly to demons and creatures and witches and cats around here!”
Izzy – to his credit – merely looks inconvenienced, squeezing out his sleeves and barely even glancing at their blades before attempting to step aside them. “Fuck off you idiots, I just–”
“–stop, demonio .” Now Izzy stills, careful to avoid the shining knife at his throat. Jim looks deathly serious, eyebrows knit together and mouth pressed in a thin line.
“Really, Jim? I just saved your life, I just saved all of your lives.”
“What are you?” Jim presses, looking fairly conflicted now. They know Izzy is right, but whatever is going on here, whatever had just happened, it scares them. They don’t like being scared.
Izzy’s expression softens, they always did like Jim more than the others. “I think that’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Jim says, and their knife falters only slightly, “but I want to hear it from you.”
Izzy sighs but grumbles only a little when he replies, “I’m a siren. There, are you happy?”
A shocked murmur reverberates the deck. Jim lets out a breath at the admission but does not make any further moves. “No.” They admit, stepping backwards and tucking their knife away anyway. Izzy nods, acknowledging their trust and makes to keep walking.
“Woah, woah, woah!” A bold-feeling Black Pete leaps forward and grabs him in a lock, sword wobbling towards his throat. “You still have to answer to us, you–you monster!”
Izzy looks just about ready to kill a few more men when Ed finally speaks up, voice stern as he commands, “put that shit away.”
“B–but Blackbeard! He–”
“–now!” With Stede’s help he manages to sit up and level the crew with a scowl, “next person to threaten my first mate follows those fuckers into the sea. Do you hear me?”
Frenchie and Wee John lower their weapons with a grumble and Black Pete lets go of Izzy, slowly they slink back to where the rest of the crew is still staring in shock. Buttons has yet to stop doing hand signs but is at least now doing them from the safe distance of the helm. Izzy straightens his still sopping clothes and walks over to Ed. He smiles down at him softly.
“Captain.”
“Hey, Iz. Woah, I forgot how freaky you look like this.” Ed grins, and now that he’s closer Stede can see the faint shimmering of scales on Izzy’s neck and face. “Still pretty though.”
Izzy flushes, his cheeks tingeing blue in this form. “Yeah, yeah,” he grunts, “could somebody just get me a fucking towel?”
There’s a bit of scrambling before Izzy is handed a rag and starts wiping himself off with it. Where the fabric goes the scales start disappearing. Stede watches with fascination as slowly his eyes return to normal and the gills meld back to normal flesh. When he’s satisfied he squats down and gently holds Ed’s face, inspecting him with quick efficiency. Stede moves back to let him handle what he’s probably more qualified to do.
“Well, none of it looks serious.”
“Of course it isn’t, you had it under control.” Ed shrugs, and winces for his effort.
“I almost didn’t, you idiot. What if they’d killed you before I could even get into the water?”
“Again, I knew you wouldn’t let that happen. You’re my secret weapon, Iz.”
“Christ, Edward.” There’s a hint of a disbelieving laugh in there, Stede notes.
“You got to show off, didn’t you? I gotta say your acting today was pretty good.” Stede definitely has to agree with Ed on that one.
“Much better than yours.” Izzy scoffs. With careful movements, he wraps an arm under Ed’s armpits and hauls him up. “I saw you almost laughing, idiot.”
Stede’s beaming as he watches the two bicker their way below deck. He doesn’t miss Ed planting a swift peck on Izzy’s lips right before they disappear through the door, or the tender, familiar way their bodies intertwine. He’ll want to ask Ed a million questions later, but decides for now they can wait till tomorrow. All he knows is that he and his crew are alive and well and now he has an entire ship floating across from them to loot.
Better get onto that.