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Izzy scratches at the fuller beard growing in. He should have requested a chance to shave his face clean before being marooned. Or a razer. Bonnet probably would have given him either. Or both, knowing the man. As it is, Izzy's sure that his beard resembles Blackbeard's when Ed first got the nickname. Grayer, of course, but just as wild and untamed.
Or maybe not. Ed's always had more curl to his hair, facial and otherwise, than Izzy.
Izzy isn't bored anymore. Survival takes more time than he thought it would. Gathering food, hunting food, trading with the islanders using the charades they'd worked out, cooking, building, then rebuilding, then patching his small shelter.
The islanders weren't that bad, really. The language they speak sounds like the one Blackbeard sometimes talked to himself in, when he thought no one was listening. His mother's language, he'd said. Izzy knew some words, but not enough, so charades it was. Once he'd observed for himself that they weren't going to eat him, that is.
Still, he might not be bored, but he's lonely. He misses . . . well, everyone. Even Spriggs, as bitchy as he can be. Even Bonnet.
He dreams, sometimes, that he's back on the ship, laying in a hammock watching the stars, or helping Roach in the galley. Taking part in raids.
He dreams, too, about growing up on the streets of London, one of the wharf rats that scavenged along the docks until the Navy pressed him.
The dreams feel real. That's why he doesn't initially react when he spies the Revenge in the distance, the unicorn masthead repaired and seeming to mock him. There's a part of him that started wondering about his sanity around the time he joined up with Hornigold, and now, as he sees the mirage get closer every time he looks up from his daily gathering expedition, he wonders if this is the final sign that he has gone crazy.
He doesn't think dreams last like this, so this must be a hallucination.
Well, hallucination or not, he has to eat. Once he has enough of the breadfruit and has caught a couple of fish, he returns to his shelter and builds the fire back up.
This is his new favorite time of day. It used to be the night watches, when he was all alone with the sea and the sky, when he could just be and not worry about strategizing and staying a step ahead of the smartest person he knew. Now it's this twilight when the night birds start calling and the crickets and frogs sing in their chorus.
Tonight, though, all is quiet. Izzy tenses. That's happened a few times further inland while he was gathering in the forests, but nothing so close to shore. As far as he's been able to tell in the last month the only major predators on the island are him and the islanders, so nothing should be making everything go still.
"Hello?" he calls out into the deepening darkness, then curses under his breath. "Fuck, no, they won't understand that. Uh . . ." louder, he tries again, "Malo?" That's the word the islanders use, or something that sounds like it.
There's a rustling in the brush off to his left, but if he faces it, that leaves his back to the sea. His sword is in his shelter. His heart is beating far too fast. He's afraid.
An amused voice calls out, "Kia ora." and Izzy forces himself to relax. He knows that voice, so it's another hallucination, then. The mirage of Blackbeard comes walking out of the forest as though he hasn't a care in the world.
"Well." Izzy says, "If I'm going to lose my mind, at least the hallucination is friendly."
The hallucination raises an eyebrow, "Hallucination, Iz? You sure about that?"
"There's no way Bonnet would come back this way." Izzy says, confidently, flipping the fish over the fire.
The hallucination shrugs. "Could be. Could not. Looks like you got a nice set up, here."
Izzy looks at it with a stranger's eye. "It's not bad. Third try on the shelter, but this one's lasted through a few storms already. The islanders are friendlier than expected, they helped me figure out what I did wrong on the first two." he uses a stick to poke at the fish. Almost done.
The hallucination has picked up the . . . "Shit. You're really here." Izzy says, snatching his breadfruit out of Blackbeard's hand. "That has to be cooked, it's not ripe enough to eat raw, yet."
Blackbeard's face quirks up into a smile, "Alright. Need help with anything?"
Izzy shakes his head, "Don't expect me to feed you, though. Barely got enough for myself and I wasn't expecting company."
Blackbeard nods, "'Sok. I've eaten. And after you have, there's a bunch on the beach who want to see you. And some other food." he's as relaxed as, no more relaxed than, if he was in Spanish Jackie'z. "Or we can go now. Up to you."
Izzy is suspicious. "Who's there?"
"Roach. Jim. Lucius. Stede." Blackbeard lists off the crewmates waiting on shore for him nonchalantly.
"Bonnet?" Izzy questions.
"Yeah." Blackbeard is smiling again.
"Should I be nervous?" Izzy asks, setting the breadfruit aside and pulling the fish off the fire. It's flaking so easy enough to eat, now.
Blackbeard shakes his head, "I shouldn't think so." but no matter how much Izzy pushes, Blackbeard won't say more.
The moon is full, tonight, as it was a month ago when Izzy first got to the island. It's easy to see the path down to the beach, so there is no more delay once Izzy has eaten his fish and banked his fire.
There's a small fire burning just above the high tide line, and Izzy can smell roast . . . goat? Yes, goat. And potatoes. Carrots. Food he hasn't had since he was on board the ship, last. "Izzy." Roach is the first to greet him. "Thought you might be tired of fish."
It's awkward. Izzy hasn't belonged among these people since well before they left him here, but Bonnet gets up off the log he was sitting on, making a place for him. Lucius says something bitchy in an undertone to Jim, and for a moment it feels like home.
"Have a seat, Israel." Bonnet tells him, kindly. Kindly, as though he weren't the reason Izzy had been marooned to begin with.
When Izzy still hesitates, Jim tugs on his pants leg, "Sit down, cabron, I don't want to strain my neck looking up at you."
"Still be looking up at me." Izzy says, reflexively, reminding Jim that they're the only pirate on the Revenge shorter than Izzy himself.
Jim shrugs, "Less strain, then."
Roach serves out a plate of the roast goat and the veggies to Izzy, then two more to the captains. Lucius and Jim, Izzy notices, serve themselves.
There's silence as everyone eats, at first, then Bonnet sighs. "You're going to make me do this, aren't you, love?" he asks Blackbeard.
Blackbeard's voice is fond, and nearly laughing, as he answers, "It is your idea."
Another gusty sigh, then Bonnet speaks up. "Izzy, I may have been too hasty in leaving you here. The crew has become rather fond of you."
Lucius snorts, and whispers "Captain caught us going down to the brig to talk to you one too many times. He doesn't like it when we're sad."
Izzy makes note that Lucius is calling Bonnet 'captain' now, and turns his attention back to the blond. "I understand if you want us to leave you here, or just take you to the next English port, but you are welcome to rejoin us, with my apologies."
Izzy darts a glance to Blackbeard, and asks, "And you?"
Blackbeard shrugs, "Made no secret that I missed what I thought was your friendship. If it's genuine this time, I'd like it back. Otherwise, ship's big enough for us to ignore each other."
"What Captain - both captains - are trying to say is that we all like you, Izzy, even as the ass you are, the bastard you act like. No more of that manipulative bullshit, though." Lucius says, with a smile that's a little sharper than Izzy thought Lucius could smile.
"Could use help in the galley, and you know more about medicine than I." Roach chimes in.
"Need another fighter to help keep the rest of these idiotas safe." Jim adds, flipping their knife.
And Izzy . . . Izzy is overwhelmed, suddenly. "I need my things. The things I brought with me." he clarifies, stupidly, numb and foggy with it.
Bonnet is the one to break the last of his defenses, "If you need time, too, Izzy, we understand, and we can give you a few days."
Izzy nods jerkily before handing his plate back to Roach and practically sprinting back up the path to his shelter.
In the morning, Izzy wakes to birdsong. He's cooking the breadfruit when the sound of someone coming up the path reaches his ears. Too clumsy to be Jim or Blackbeard. Izzy doubts Lucius would do it. Roach will be cooking this time of day. That leaves "Bonnet."
"Good morning, Israel." Stede says, coming into view. "It is a beautiful day, isn't it?"
Izzy just stares. He's never been good at small talk, and in the last month he's gotten out of the habit altogether. No point to it when the only people you see don't speak your language.
Bonnet waits for a bit, and when Izzy doesn't say anything, the captain continues. "I wanted to talk to you away from everyone else. Not to take the offer back, but to . . ." he shrugs, "explain, I guess."
"Alright." Izzy says, and points to the log he uses for seating. "Have a seat. Sorry, no tea or extra breakfast."
Bonnet waves the worry away, "Ed's lost a lot of people, Israel." he says, taking a seat.
Izzy sits on the other end of the log, nodding. He knows this. He spent a good two thirds of his life by Blackbeard's side, he's seen a lot of those people come in, then leave again. And when they first met, Ed was still a boy grieving his mother, grieving that he'd killed his father, bastard that he was. Yes, Izzy knows Blackbeard's lost a lot of people.
Bonnet hesitates again, "When I first . . . came back, we discussed this. Finding somewhere and leaving you. And I think he thought he'd be ok with it. Or he thought I'd leave again if he didn't agree. One of the two. But he misses you. Even knowing that your friendship was fake on your side."
Izzy takes a bite, chews, and swallows to give himself time to answer. "Would you have left?"
Bonnet shakes his head, "No. I came back to stay no matter what. The only way I'm leaving his side again is if I take that last journey before him."
Izzy considers that, then surprises himself, "I don't think it was as fake as I said it was."
Bonnet, damn him, just smiles. "I thought as much."
Izzy sighs, then laughs, and Bonnet looks at him, shocked. "I've never heard you actually laugh before. At least, not . . . happily?"
Izzy just shakes his head. "Are you going to help me carry my things?" he expects the captain to refuse, to tell him he'll send someone else up, but Izzy is surprised once more.
"Certainly. What do you need to take with you?"
Izzy packs his things up in two packages, using his other two shirts to tie them into bundles. He takes his sword and knife himself, and motions for Bonnet to lead the way.
Bonnet gives him a considering look, then nods, and heads down the path, leaving Izzy, armed, at his back.
Izzy shakes his head, he has to talk to Blackbeard, Ed, he supposes, and Jim, about getting Bonnet to be more alert to possible danger. Then he shifts his bundle and follows, heading back home.