Chapter Text
Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Edward boarded the Revenge and promised to work on his retirement plan, and nothing had happened so far.
Or well, some things had happened, Izzy mused as he remembered how Ed had excitedly called him to the little room they occupied on Bonnet‘s ship and presented him with a bunch of tiny bows.
“Stede invited me to a party, Izzy. A fancy party! Apparently everyone looks posh and prim, so I need to look my best too.” He held up a few tiny, violet bows for Izzy to see. “You gotta help me put these in my beard, mate. I tried, but they ended up sitting all askew.”
“Bows. You want me to put bows in your beard?”, Izzy repeated flatly. He wasn’t sure what he expected when Ed eagerly called him to their room, but certainly not this.
Ed nodded. “Yeah! Stede suggested wearing them, he would know more about the appropriate clothing, so I thought, why not?”
Izzy shook his head to clear the memories.
Stede. There lay their problem, didn‘t it? Ed had promised he would kill Stede as a decoy to fake Blackbeard’s death, but with every passing day, Izzy got the feeling Ed had forgotten about his plan.
Or maybe he was reconsidering it even.
Before the party Ed had seemed ecstatic in the way he always got, when he found something new and interesting. But last night, after the party he had seemed oddly pensive, when he returned to their bunks to sleep. He didn’t speak with Izzy about it, only turned his back to him with a mumbled ‘G’night’, but it was clear something had happened.
Most likely something with Bonnet.
No, Izzy was sure Ed was wavering, but they couldn’t be allowed to hesitate. The Queen Anne had been left behind for long enough and it was only a matter of time before Bonnet and his incompetent crew ran into trouble, and Izzy would prefer to be far away when that happened. No way was he risking his life for this bunch of fucking idiots, not even for Ed.
He had to talk to him.
Nowadays it was hard to find him alone, he was usually at Bonnet’s side, listening starry-eyed to whatever nonsense the ponce was yapping about. But luck was on Izzy’s side today, because he found Ed standing alone on the main deck, staring at the clouds in the sky.
“Wind’s changing…” Edward was mumbling to himself while looking at the clouds, still oblivious to his approaching first mate. Izzy cleared his throat to alert his captain to his presence.
“Edward, do you have a moment?”
Edward turned to him with a smile. “Izzy, mate! What is it?”
Izzy walked up to Edward to lean on the railing next to him, but facing his captain. “We have to talk about your plan. You still intend to kill that posh twat? I will gladly assist you, if you need my help.”
Edward‘s face fell but he recovered quickly. “I’m working on it, I am just waiting for the right moment. But I have a plan.” He turned back to look at the sky, ready to end the conversation.
Izzy could feel his own mood sour. “And when do you think this right moment will come? We’ve been waiting for two fucking weeks now, Edward. I think you’re gettin’ cold feet and you’re stalling.”
A dark cloud fell over Ed’s face and his voice growled dangerously when he spoke next. “Careful there, mate. Anyone else but you and I’d already consider this mutinous talk.” Izzy swallowed heavily and ground his teeth together to bite back his words, but the darkness over Edward’s face cleared and he put a hand on Izzy‘s shoulder, gripping it tightly. “You gotta trust me, Iz. Don’t you trust me?”
Izzy had to look away, with Edward’s big brown eyes staring right into his soul. Of course he trusted his captain. Always did and always would. Edward had always been eccentric, and his actions often seemed questionable to Izzy but he always turned out to be right and succeeded. So why was Izzy feeling differently this time?
“Of– of course I do.” Izzy forced himself to look back at his captain, unwilling to falter again under Ed’s soul-searching looks. He was no coward.
Edward loosened his grip to clap Izzy’s shoulder amicably, breaking out into a wide grin. “Good. Good. Then trust me, Iz. And don’t ask me again.”
“Yes, captain.”
“You seem restless, mate. How about you make yourself useful? You always complain about Stede’s crew members not knowing shit ‘bout nothing. You could show them how to be real pirates, hm? How it’s really done.” And with the air of finality, Edward turned away from him and the conversation was over. He didn’t even see Izzy nod.
Izzy turned around and let his captain be, but even though he promised to trust him, the uneasy feeling in his stomach persisted.
Trust me, Iz.
His captain had given him an order, and Izzy would follow it as always.
——
He could hear laughter from the poop deck and his already sour mood worsened even more. Of course Bonnet's crew was slacking off again. How this ship was still in working condition was beyond him. He stomped up the stairs to find the Scribe, Black Pete and Fang sitting together and doing exactly nothing, as expected.
“And what are you lot doing here? There’s enough fuckin’ work to be done. Have you scrubbed the deck? Have the fuckin’ barnacles been scraped yet?” His voice boomed over the deck and three heads turned towards him with various shades of displeasure on their faces.
“Ugh, Iggy, can you not relax for once?” Spriggs drawled in annoyance. “We were just having a nice chat about…” He considered his words for a second, then put on a fake smile. “…about the proper techniques for deck scrubbing and barnacle scraping. Fang here had quite the funny tips to share.” He inclined his head towards Fang, who after a split second of confusion caught on to Lucius’ scheme and nodded eagerly.
“That’s right boss, we were definitely not just joking around.” Fang added and Izzy threw him a withering look after which Fang thankfully decided to not say more.
“So you lazy twats are just sitting on your lazy asses. I suggest you quit your chit chatting and actually get some fuckin‘ work done.” Izzy’s voice raised more and more as he went on. “This damn ship is in such a sorry state. The deck has probably never seen a proper mopping, the ship will eventually slow down because the fucking hull gets overtaken by fucking barnacles, the captain fucked off to god knows where instead of caring, probably drinking tea and reading stories and his crew of imbeciles is sitting on their lazy asses, giggling like school girls while pretending to be fucking pirates!” Izzy was huffing after he finished his tirade and was met with three pairs of wide eyes.
Predictably Lucius was the first to open his mouth to speak, but Izzy wasn’t done yet. “Now listen, Iggy-” “That’s first mate Hands to you, you twat, is that understood!?” Lucius shut his mouth with visibly great effort and threw a disbelieving look at Fang who gave him an apologetic shrug. Pete put a calming hand on his shoulder and glared at Izzy, but kept quiet.
“And don’t even get me started on this ship’s weird rigging,” Izzy continued, gesturing at the ropes and sails. “Would love to know what went on in the rigger’s head. A whole fucking lot of nothing I bet. Who the fuck is supposed to understand this chaos.”
“Awww, are you telling us not even you know what to do?” Lucius spoke up again, his tone mocking. “How should we poor pretend pirates ever understand if not even the great Izzy Hands has any idea.”
“Yeah when I was on Blackbeard‘s ship, I remember climbing the shrouds to secure the sail.” Pete added proudly.“I’m a good climber but less good with ropes, so I wouldn’t know much about the rigging…”
“Ohh, babe I can teach you about ropes some day.” Lucius purred and patted Black Pete’s arm.
Before Izzy could either process Lucius’ comment, or Pete’s mention of being on Blackbeard’s crew, Fang chimed in as well. “They’re right though, boss, how should they know about the rigging, if not even you can fully make heads or tails of it. Someone needs to teach us.”
Izzy was grinding his teeth, feeling very much undermined. This goddamn crew was always questioning his authority and even Fang the traitor was on their side. “I do understand the rigging, I’m not a fucking idiot, this shit’s just all backwards and unnecessarily complicated. You idiots just need to understand the important bits, so pay attention, I’m only going to teach you once.”
Lucius groaned. “Is this happening right now? Did we get stuck in a boring rigging lesson with Iggy as the teacher? Do we really have to? Ohhh, what was that? I think I heard the captain calling for my help…” He held his hand to his ear, pretending to hear Stede call, but made no move to actually get up.
Izzy could feel his anger rise again but before he could erupt into yet another tirade, Fang calmly interceded. “Izzy is right, this is important. Many accidents could happen if you’re not careful with the knots and ropes. Someone could go overboard even, or we could lose our sail. And you do not want to be stranded on the open sea without a sail.” He shuddered as if recalling a bad memory.
Lucius pouted but didn’t argue, and Izzy was both glad for his acquiescence and furious, because it took Fang for Lucius to finally listen to Izzy.
“If you’re ready to fucking pay attention now?” He hissed through his teeth and stalked towards the ropes going up the mizzenmast. “Let’s start with these. There’s top sails and course sails, and these ropes help secure and loosen the sails attached. You following so far?”
The three nodded but Izzy could tell at least Lucius was already losing concentration, obviously bored by the lesson, and the other two weren’t far behind. They wouldn’t even make it through the basics.
“Fuck it, whatever.” Izzy ran a hand over his face. “Do you know how to loosen and tighten the knots at least? One day your stupid luck will run out and you will end up in a storm, and you need to be able to act fast in the heat of the moment.”
Lucius shook his head and batted his eyelashes at him. “Nooo, but you could demonstrate to me how to… tighten the ropes. And maybe I can help you loosen up a bit in return.” He drew a finger over Izzy’s leather jerkin and giggled when Izzy hastily slapped his hand away. He could feel a blush creeping up his face but he refused to give in to the scribe’s mockery.
“Fuck off!” Izzy spat at him but then paused. “Actually, a demonstration might not be a bad idea. Come over here, all of you.”
He ignored Lucius’ surprised ‘Oh?’ as he waved all three of them over. “I’ll untie it and have you redo the knot. Just follow my orders. This way you’ll learn how to do it with your own fucking hands. SPRIGGS! You first.”
Lucius shuffled over to Izzy’s side and watched him curiously, as he deftly undid the knot. “Now hold the rope fast in your hand. Don’t fucking let go, unless you prefer a taut rope snapping into your face and a sail crashing onto you. You listening, twat?!”
Lucius flinched and nodded quickly. “Hold it tight, don’t let go, or else. Got it.” He held out his hand and Izzy forcefully pushed the rope into his open hand. Lucius grabbed it tightly and tugged experimentally. “Huh, I expected the pull to be heavier. This shouldn’t be so hard. And now?” He turned back to Izzy, expectantly.
“Now you listen to my instructions. And I invite the rest of you to follow along, because I’m not going to fuckin’ repeat myself.” Fang and Pete nodded and moved a bit closer to watch. Lucius huffed nervously, all attention now on him and the rope in his hand.
“Ok, you take the end of the rope and loop it around. Once you made a loop, you put the rope end back through it. You do this again so you have two loose knots through the loop and then you do another beneath the loop so you can pull it tight at the end. You got all that?”
Lucius looked at him blankly. “Of course I got all that, what do you think? NO, I DIDN’T. Half the things you said were ‘loop’, how am I supposed to follow?”
“Babe,” Pete tried to encourage his lover, “Maybe you should just try it? What if you’re a natural and your hands will know immediately what to do?”
“Have you seen these hands? They were not meant to hold ropes. These are for writing poetry and turning pages, and maybe for giving great massages, but not for this.” Lucius was holding up his hands, the one hand still slightly holding the rope.
“Spriggs, the fucking rope, don’t let go–!”
“YES, Izzy, I understood you the first time. ‘Hold the rope tight, or else–’ I’m holding it!” Lucius huffed out indignantly, and held up the rope towards Izzy’s face to demonstrate.
In that moment a gust of wind hit the mizzen sail and ripped the rope out of Lucius’ hand. The boy let out a surprised yelp at the same moment Izzy started cursing loudly. “Fucking FUCK, out of the way!”
A few things happened in the next few seconds.
Izzy shoved Lucius aside, while trying to grab for the rope. The rope slipped away, unimpressed by Izzy’s desperate attempt to prevent a disaster. It slithered through the pulley and the yard started rattling loose, only held taut on one side. Izzy watched as the yard tilted sideways, almost in slow motion, and before he could react the piece of wood was flying towards his face. He felt a searing pain in his head as the wood collided and he let out a pained grunt. Clutching his head in agony, he staggered backwards in a daze until his back hit the railing to the quarter deck. Izzy lost his balance and the last thing he felt was the feeling of flying, as he fell backwards, and his head connecting with the deck.
Then nothing. The whole world went dark.