Work Text:
The smell was the worst part, worse even than the look of the putrid skin on the arms that were grabbing Izzy, dragging him down toward the pool of water that was flooding the belly of the ship. Their eyes were long gone, barnacles covering now the empty sockets, but still they had easily found him and got hold of him before he could react.
Izzy didn’t know where the crew was, or if they were alive at all, and when he tried to yell for help his lungs only managed to let out a desperate wheeze. The ship was sinking slowly, but the rotten corpses that had crawled through the breach on the hull weren’t waiting for it to go under completely to claim their victim.
Izzy thrashed around, trying to get free, but the corpses of the drowned sailors refused to let go and kept dragging him slowly toward the dark water. There were worse things under the seas than you would believe, an old pirate had told Izzy once, but he had been young and proud and had laughed at him. And now here he was, his worst fears made flesh.
He was going to drown, alone and scared, not even knowing why or even worse, not knowing if the crew was safe, if Stede was safe.
Izzy struggled desperately. His unicorn leg was getting loose in the fight, the smell of decay was suffocating him, he stretched his arm trying to grasp something that would help him, something to hold onto-
“Izzy! Izzy, darling, wake up!”
Izzy gasped, opening his eyes to find himself staring at the worried face of Stede Bonnet.
“Izzy, love, you were having a nightmare,” Stede said, softly.
Izzy panted, still trying to get his bearings as Stede slowly brushed his hair out of his face.
“Are you alright?”
Izzy nodded lightly, already starting to feel a bit stupid about the whole thing. Then he realized his hand was gripping Stede’s arm tightly and immediately let go.
“Sorry,” Izzy mumbled, embarrassed. “Just a stupid nightmare.”
“Nothing to apologize for, Izzy,” Stede replied with a smile. “Unfortunately we all have those sometimes…”
A chorus of sleepy voices agreed from nearby.
“Happens to everybody,” Roach said from his sleeping sack on the floor next to Wee John.
“Not if the mind box is closed,” Frenchie said from the settee. “Well, maybe sometimes…”
“It sounded bad, Izzy” Pete said. “Wanna talk ‘bout it?”
There were some groans coming from different places in the cabin.
“Not now, pleaaase,” Lucius whined, hiding his face under their blanket.
“Better in the morning, when we all have had some rest,” Stede agreed.
“We shouldn’t have let them sleep here tonight, they’re going to get used to it,” Izzy grumbled.
“Well, it’s really my fault for picking a horror story for story time,” Stede replied, apologetically. “But they understand it’s a one-time thing and that we need our privacy, right, crew?”
“Yes, captain,” they replied as one.
“Now, everybody, back to sleep,” Stede ordered as he curled up against Izzy once again.
The first mate let out a sigh and relaxed slowly, feeling safe and warm, and he felt asleep not much later and no nightmares bothered him this time.
End