Work Text:
You don't cut a rope if you can untie it; you don't burn a rag if you can salvage the thread. It's waste-not, want-not at sea, and a sailor's no different than anything else in supply on a ship. And so Izzy takes pains not to cut his ties with Ed when it's over, not to set any fires, but to let go slowly, slowly, a little at a time with bleeding fingertips, hoping there will be something left of himself at the end of it that someone else can put to use.