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Stede hadn’t expected everything to be fine when he caught up with The Revenge. That had been the reason he’d told his rescued crew to stay behind on their little stolen ship, he wasn’t going to risk their lives as well as his own. They had all told him of Ed’s depression and how he’d failed to cope with Stede abandoning him in the dock. He had expected harsh words, maybe a sword fight between him and Ed, perhaps a little implaling where they both pretended they hadn’t aimed for the left.
He certainly hadn’t expected to be forced to his knees as soon as stepping foot on the deck. A crew of unfamiliar faces, all with swords drawn, had sneered at him. The one behind him resting a knife against his throat as he forced an arm behind his back. Laughing when Stede tried to explain he was here to see Edward, pulling him to his feet and dragging him to the cabin.
Stede held back his shock at seeing the room so empty, so dark and devoid of anything soft. Forced to his knees again his attention was drawn to the dark desk, he squinted and tried to make out the shape at the table. Surely Ed wouldn’t?
“Edward?”
“You’ve some fucking nerve, Bonnet.” The shape moved, the familiar silhouette leant forward showing Stede the face of the man he'd taken too long to realise he loved. But the soft features of Ed’s face were now hardened with such a look of disgust and hatred Stede flinched back like he’d been hit.
“Can’t take seeing what you turned me into?” The man sneered, “Get rid of him, I don’t want to see him again.” For a terrible moment Stede was sure he meant for the man behind to kill him. “Throw him in with the fucker downstairs.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Wait!” He yelled, “My crew, where are they? Please Ed.” He got no answer.
Stede was dragged to the room that had once been for the non-humans, the wooden door now taken off the hinges and replaced with a metal cell door, offering those inside no privacy. Pushed inside Stede couldn’t decide if the single bench from the kitchen and the straw covered floor was a good or bad sign. Good that he wouldn’t be sleeping on bare wood, bad that it meant they seemed to be planning to keep him here for a longer time than he’d anticipated.
Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, the one who had dragged him down here had snuffed the candle in the corridor as he left and the small window at the top of the room did little to light the space, Stede gave a huff and sat himself down.
“Fuck.” And dropped his head back against the wood. It was only when his heart had calmed and no longer thundered in his ears Stede realised he wasn’t alone. Ed had mentioned another imprisoned down here and Stede could hear their laboured breathing. He could just make out a body curled into the darkest, furthest corner.
“Oh god.” He was on his feet and moving. “Are you okay? Can I help?” The man groaned when Stede tried to gently turn him over to get a better look for injuries.
“Bonnet.” The body snarled and Stede stepped back, he’d recognise that voice anywhere.
“Izzy? What the hell are you doing down here?” Stede watched as the smaller man forced himself into sitting up, collapsing against the wall breathless as stede sat himself back down on the bench. Once he’d settled, Izzy gave a humourless laugh.
“It’s all your fault, you know. You left him and you broke him. Your precious Edward is dead, all that’s left is the kraken.” Stede couldn’t help his flinch at the connotations of that particular name. “And now it’s everyone else’s problem.” Izzy gave a hiss of pain and Stede moved forward to help. “Just leave me alone, Bonnet. I’m fucking tired.”
They remained silent for a long time, the little light coming through the window had died some hours ago leaving Stede with little to do but ponder his own mistakes. He naively wondered if he could get through to Edward if only he could talk to him alone.
His thoughts were interrupted by a door swinging open and a flickering candle approaching. Stede hoped it was Ed, only for the face of the one that had grabbed him to appear at the door.
“Hands!” He snapped, causing the unconscious man to jolt awake, eyes scanning for danger for a moment before his body slumped back against the wall, all the fight gone from his body. Stede could only watch for so long, as Izzy struggled to stand before getting up in an attempt to help him. Izzy just growled at his movements, the shock forcing Stede to sit back down. The man at the door laughed when Izzy finally got to his feet, wobbling slightly as he walked unsteady to the door. Once in the small cone of light from the candle, Stede got his first good look at the man.
His eye was blacked and his lip split, usually slicked back hair disheveled. A ring of bruises sat around his neck and strayed lower under his shirt collar. His usual clothes were torn and rumpled and Stede could just make out the blood soaked bandages wrapped tightly around his foot. Stede didn’t know what had happened, but that must have been the cause of Izzy’s unsteadiness on his feet, he’d never seen the man so unbalanced. Once near the door, the metal swung open, Izzy was grabbed by the collar and the two of them left Stede alone in the darkness.
It was after sunrise when Izzy was thrown back into the cell, nearly unconscious. His shirt was ripped, the expanse of skin on his back that stede could see was torn and bleeding freely. It looked like he’d been flogged, something Stede had always had very strong feelings about during his time as Captain and almost hysterically he wondered where they would have even gotten a whip from.
Stede moved to help him up only for Izzy to snarl a warning at him and Stede was forced to watch as the man dragged himself back to the far corner of the room before collapsing into a heap. Stede waited until he was certain he was asleep before moving to cover him with his own shirt in hopes of stopping the violent shivers that were currently shaking his body.
They both startled awake some hours later when a different crew member pushed some hardtack and a jug of water into the cell. Rising to grab the tray Stede made a face at the meagre rations.
“Too good for it?” Izzy snarled, still partially asleep.
“I’m sure there must still be some marmalade about, it seems Edwards has been running this ship into the ground in my absence.” Izzy huffed out a laugh at that, cut short when he noticed Stede’s shirt still draped over him.
“This yours?”
“Oh, well you seemed to be struggling when you first came back. You seemed terribly cold, and your shirt was ripped…” Stede watched as multiple emotions played over Izzy’s face as though he couldn’t understand why Stede had done it, irrespective of his explanation.
“Here.” Stede moved to sit near him while still leaving space between them and held out one of the biscuits. Shaking hands took it and Izzy began to nibble at the edges. They fell into a nearly comfortable silence as Stede continued to ply Izzy with the lions share of the food and water. “You need it.” He’d murmur each time Izzy tried to refuse and each time the man would repent and take it. Only when the plate and jug were empty did Stede attempt to move, only for Izzy to reach out and grab his arm.
“You don’t have to move.” He muttered, eyes already slipping closed from exhaustion. And Stede could see the veiled fearful expression. Izzy wanted the comfort but was clearly afraid to ask for it and to make himself vulnerable, who was Stede to deny him that?
“Of course. Thank you, Izzy.” And he scooted closer only for Izzy to drop his head immediately onto his shoulder and fall asleep.
When he woke up again, Stede had questions.
“What happened to him, Izzy?” He asked quietly. There was a long moment of silence where Stede feared he’d pushed this tentative truce too far and too fast.
“It broke him, you leaving. He wasn’t himself, a black mood worse than I’d seen before. Your crew had him talking about his feelings and singing songs so…” A beat, “I pushed him too hard, told him Blackbeard was my captain. That Edward should watch himself and then that night he…” Stede waited patiently for Izzy to continue, and noted how he was staring at his injured foot, the dots connecting like constellations in Stede’s mind as he worked out what had happened that night.
“Did he do that?” Stede motioned to the injured limb and Izzy nodded.
“Threw your stuff overboard the next morning and marooned your crew after.” Stede glanced around the cell, as though they could be being spied upon.
“I found the crew.” Izzy jolted. “Told them to hold back when I came aboard, they should be moored a distance from The Revenge. I’m glad I didn’t let them come with me now.”
“They’re alive?”
“Yep, all of them. I’d hoped to reach out to Ed when I came aboard but if not I’d planned to grab the others and leave. Are they still here? I didn’t see them when I came aboard.” Izzy took a deep breath and Stede feared the worse.
“I got them off three days ago, got them in the rowboat and told them to flee. How did you think I ended up here?” Stede felt his heart soar, his crew had probably picked them up just after he’d had set off.
“Oh, thank god.”
“I kept them as safe as I could,” Izzy sounded almost like he was begging Stede to believe him, “kept Spriggs hidden, took him and Jim food when they were denied it. Made sure Frenchie was given jobs that kept him from the captain's view.”
“Why was Lucius hidden?”
“Blackbeard had thrown him overboard, just before he’d… my foot.” He offered in a small voice, “Kept him hidden in all those bloody secret passages you had built in until I could smuggle them all off. Ivan and Fang went with them. They’ll be safer anywhere that isn’t here.”
“Thank you Izzy, for keeping them safe.” Stede felt himself beginning to scowl, questions forming in his mind, “But why didn’t you go with them?”
“It’s all my fault. And he was far less likely to give chase if he was focused on me. At least that worked.”
“So there’s no one on this ship that could help us? That you trust?”
“Just you.” Stede could barely believe what he’d just heard, but judging from the way Izzy’s body was slumping against his again, the man wasn’t going to elaborate.
The sun had once again set when the crew member Izzy had told him was called Doyle sidled up to the door.
“Captain's ready for you.” He sniggered and Stede was on his feet.
“I want to see him. You’ll take me to him tonight.” Doyle was about to say something when Izzy cut him off.
“Bonnet, you don’t want to see him.” And something in his tone made Stede pause. Izzy sounded petrified, not for himself, but for Stede.
“Well, if you really want to see him.” Doyle sneered, making a grab for Stede.
“No.” Izzy hissed, pushing between Stede and Doyle and slamming into the wall. “You want to go against his orders?” Izzy asked, still slightly breathless from the quick movements. “You’ll be in with us by sunrise.” Doyle’s sneer fell at that, his face showing just how scared of the kraken the man really was before he grabbed Izzy and pulled him out. Izzy went without complaint while Stede screamed for the both of them.
His time alone gave Stede plenty of time to think, on the injuries Izzy came back with each morning, to how much Ed had changed in his absence. Maybe there really was no way to get through to the man, the kraken and Edward seemed two entirely different entities and Stede wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to break past the walls the kraken had erected. Nothing the man was doing now was anything he could have envisioned Ed doing, not even with the whole burning a ship down with people still onboard. That was cruel but this was sadistic. He’d only been here three days ,only three days and the violence towards Izzy was escalating at an alarming rate. The coward in Stede wondered what would happen when Izzy died, for no man could survive this sustained level of abuse, would the kraken turn his attention on him then? Repeat the whole disgusting cycle again until he dies too?
Izzy was thrown back into the cell around mid morning. His hands tied behind his back and kicking out, his chest making small ineffective movements in an attempt to breathe. Stede immediately noticed he was blindfolded, coarse fabric tied harshly around his head, and his own cravat tied so tightly around his neck it was slowly choking him to death.
“God, Izzy.” Stede gave a cry, falling to his knees at the man’s side. “Hold still, I’ll get it off.” This close Stede could see how the man’s face had reddened, the fabric around his eyes wet with tears and his movements became less coordinated as he was starved of air. Stede continued to fumble with the knot in his panic.
“God, I can’t…it won’t loosen.” Stede felt like crying, his heart leaping to his throat when Izzy's small movements stopped altogether. “Fuck, Izzy!” His fingers finally found purchase on the tightest part of the knot and Stede could begin to unthread the fabric. His own breathing quick and panicked as he pulled the fabric free from Izzy’s neck, but still Izzy didn’t breathe.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He pushed Izzy into his back and with all the strength he had left he raised his fist, whispered a desperate “Please work” and brought it down on the centre of Izzy’s chest. He gave it a moment before repeating the movement. “Please, please Izzy.” Once, twice, three more times
And then Izzy drew in a great shuddering breath and Stede felt himself crying in relief. Watching the man carefully for any sign of relapse Stede untied his hands and pulled the blindfold off before bringing Izzy to rest against his chest, hand resting over his heart as though to convince himself the man was still alive. The only sounds in the small room were their shaking gasps and sobs.
When they came for him the next night, Stede was up.
“You’re killing him.” He snarled, ignoring how Izzy reached for him, as though begging him not to get involved.
“Captain’s orders.” Doyle sneered, “You want to take his place?”
“Yes.” “No.” They both spoke at the same time, glaring at each other across the room.
“Bonnet, Stede , you can’t.” The use of his name caused Stede to stop. Izzy had never actually used it before.
“You won’t survive another night.” Stede all but whispered, his back turned to Doyle in the hope of a little privacy. “Let me do this for you, let me help.” Izzy just shook his head.
“It’s what I deserve.” And began the arduous task of righting himself, fingers trying to dig into the wall for any purchase to help him stay upright. In the dim light Stede made out the violent bruising around his neck from the night before, how Izzy was shaking so violently he was certain the man would shake apart, how he couldn’t even stand without help.
Stede had made up his mind.
He spun himself, all but throwing himself towards the door and causing Doyle to startle, something Stede took great satisfaction in.
“You’ll take me.” Stede’s tone gave no room for argument, he began pushing at the door to encourage Doyle into action. Izzy was shouting at him as Stede was grabbed, rough hands digging their nails into his arm when they were tied behind his back. Stede caught one last look at Izzy as he was dragged away and he looked terrified.
Stede winced as he was forced to his knees in Edward’s cabin. The man himself was sitting at the desk and facing away from Stede. Moments stretched into minutes then hours, Stede refusing to speak first and Ed doing a fantastic job of pretending he wasn’t even there.
Is this how he treated Izzy?
“You been getting friendly with him again, Izzy?” The voice in the darkness caused Stede to flinch but still he didn’t make a noise, he still didn’t know he wasn’t Izzy. “The crew told me, how you cuddle up to him. Trying to take something else from me, you fucking coward. Should have thrown you overboard years ago.” There was a creak of wood as Ed stood, but still didn’t turn. “You not gonna answer? Think you can disobey me anymore that you already have? What happened to above all else is loyalty to your captain, eh, you piece of shit.” His voice was rising now, a tone Stede had never heard from him before. “Maybe I should feed you the rest of your toes so you really understand? Or hold off rations until you're begging to be fed them anyway.” Ed gave a dark laugh. Izzy hadn’t told him that, and Stede felt his own anger rising too.
“What the hell have you been doing to him.” He shouted, a sick sense of satisfaction when he saw Edward tense and freeze.
“You dare?” He snarled, low and viscous, like the predator he was as he spun and advanced on stede.
But Stede would not be intimidated by this, even being half undressed with hands tightly bound to make him clearly disadvantaged, it did not make him weak and he rose to meet the challenge. He’d spent enough of his life in fear and wouldn’t be cowed by this behaviour.
“You expect me to cower, Edward?” Stede asked, pulling himself to full height. “I’ve seen how you treat him. So come on, hit someone who won’t thank you for it. He won’t survive much more of this and you know it. Such a fucking coward you destroy the one person who would do anything for you.” Stede was nearly feral with his rage now. “Everything you’ve done, killing Lucius? Marooning my crew? And now this? And you expect me to stay quiet.” Ed did not need to know they were all okay, he didn’t deserve to know.
“And what would a little rich boy like you do differently?” Stede ignored the sting of the word fired at him, before preparing his own.
“I wouldn’t become my own father.” He snarled. Stede almost relished the feel of Ed’s fist connecting with his cheek, the pent up energy and anger fuelling him as he fought to regain his balance. He turned back to Ed and laughed, laughed in the face of the dread pirate Blackbeard, and found he didn’t care. He was no one now, just a bully picking in those weaker than him.
“It takes a big man to attack someone who can’t fight back.” Stede spat, “Like father like son.”
The air left his lungs when Stede was thrown onto his back. Ed straddled his chest and held a knife to his neck as he spat out curses.
“It’s your fault!” He roared
“So I’ve been told. I left you on that dock, Edward, and I never should have done that, I would give anything to take back that decision and I have been trying to make it right. But I never pushed you into becoming this . This monster from those books you hated. No one did that but you.” For a moment Stede thought he may have gotten through to him, the smallest crack in his expression that signalled his words may have changed the man’s mind.
But then that hopeful gaze was enveloped by such a look of disgust that Stede knew he hadn’t changed anything. Hands wrapped around his neck as Stede began to fight. Bucking up and trying to dislodge the man above him. His feet scrambled for purchase as his heart hammered, Edward's full weight seemingly bearing down on his neck.
“Ed…s-stop.” He managed with the little air left in his lungs, the only response was a growl from the man.
“Not so mouthy now.” Ed hissed as colours began dancing behind Stede’s eyelids.
When did I close them?
Another desperate attempt to breathe.
God, it hurts.
His chest was burning, muscles on fire as his heart began to slow. The pain receded and he felt himself slipping.
Like falling asleep.
And Stede Bonnet stopped fighting.