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It was the night that Stede had finally taken off his ring that it happened. Ed had been encouraging him to take it off, to let himself truly be all of himself. He'd worn the ring since he was a teenager, since it was given to him by his father after his first transformation and he was told to keep it to himself and never take it off. That it would stop their family disgrace from being a problem, and would let them retain their place in society. It wasn't until Stede had discovered that pretty much everyone else on the Revenge and even the Queen Anne held some sort of supernatural secret, or sometimes not a secret, that he'd even considered that he could live his full truth.
Stede had gone alone. He had only ever transformed once, as a thirteen year old boy with his father in their buried, locked ice house. Stede had never been outside like that before. Had never felt the air whip through his fur as he ran through the jungle, had never felt the exhilaration of freedom. Ed's own form was tied to the ocean, while Stede's was tied to the land. He didn't want to risk Ed getting hurt in his human form, so they had sunk anchor off a deserted island so Stede could run free.
Apparently deserted didn't account for fishermen who stopped by every so often to feed their families.
Stede howled in pain as the bullet lodged itself in his flank. He turned tail immediately and ran back the way he had come. He needed to get back to the Revenge. Something was wrong. He had been hurt before, he'd been stabbed in the guts more than once, but the way this bullet wound burned was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Ed and the rowboat were already on the beach by the time Stede broke through the trees onto the sand. He bounded into the rowboat and shuffled to make space for Ed. He needn't have bothered, as Ed transformed into his kraken form and dragged the row boat back to the Revenge and then lofted it onto the deck. Roach was already inspecting Stede's wound as Ed hauled himself up over the railing in human form again.
Stede tried to turn back into his own human form, but he couldn't. He couldn't grasp it. The burning from the wound was so intense it was searing his mind and he couldn't think properly.
"Silver," he heard Roach say. "It's a silver bullet. If we don't get it out soon it'll poison him."
Stede whimpered and Ed was suddenly there, soothing a hand across his snout and looking into his eyes. "Shh, it's okay. We just need to get this bullet out, okay? Then you'll be fine. It's gonna hurt, though. Need you not to lash out."
Stede swallowed and whined, then nodded. He tried to tell Ed with his eyes, but all he could do was reach out a pawed front leg and rest it around Ed's waist.
"Just look at me, Roach will be as quick as he can be. You know he's damn good at what he does."
A glow began to radiate out onto the deck as Roach let his anglerfish-like headlamp grow from his head. "I'm going in."
Stede let out a growl as the sharp tools prodded his flank, and then began to search inside the wound.
"You're okay," Ed soothed. "You're gonna be fine, just a minute longer."
Stede couldn't help but lift his head and howl as the pain lanced through him. Then another voice joined in his chorus. Ed. Then another, and another. He realised the whole crew was howling alongside him. His pack. He was the only wolf, but they howled alongside him anyway to soothe him, to help him through the pain. It was almost overwhelming as the sense of love and belonging flooded through him alongside the burning pain of the poisonous bullet.
"I have it!" Roach called, and then a few moments later the burning was gone.
Stede practically collapsed as he felt himself shrink back into his human form. Ed reached forward as Stede slumped into his arms.
"Hey, love," Ed said softly. "Of course you manage to get shot by a silver bullet on your second ever transformation."
Stede gave a weak smile. "Getting myself hurt appears to be my speciality."
Ed laughed. "Too right. Now, let's get you into the cabin and get you all patched up, yeah?"
"Sounds perfect," Stede replied.