"I don't know how, but your friends got the message."
"How can you tell?"
Bonny handed over the spyglass she was using to examine a shape in the water.
Stede took it and held it up to his eye and pointed it in the direction Bonny was pointing.
There was Izzy Hands in a dinghy cursing and flailing, oarless and at the mercy of the currents. As he spotted the William on an intercept course with the Revenge, he turned his attention to them.
Their course brought them closer to Izzy - close enough to recognize Stede.
The look on his face was pure, white-hot unadulterated rage, to the point where Stede was momentarily concerned the man's heart might give out.
"STEDE BONNET!" Izzy's voice reached them in barely a whisper over the waves and wind. "YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"
Stede exhaled a sigh of relief. "Well, it seems they figured it out. They're a resourceful bunch."
"DO YOU HEAR ME?! DEAD! I'LL GUT YOU MYSELF!"
"Can't believe you forgot your crew can't read," drawled Bonny as she snapped the spyglass closed. "You really are a lucky bastard, aren't you?"
Stede grinned sheepishly. "I suppose so."
"It's on, then. You better get ready."
—
It took about twenty minutes for the William to come up alongside the Revenge. Both ships' equal size was more obvious - as was the excess of ornamentation on the ship that Stede had commissioned.
The biggest difference was the William actually had guns, while the Revenge had none. Which made Izzy's plan to raid the merchant ships all the more bold, though from what Bonny had said of the men she heard he recruited, it would be all over if those men got on board.
The deck had been carefully arranged to obscure the fact that there were women on the crew, and Bonny's male crewmembers had gone to pains to make themselves look as fearsome as possible. The remnants of the Revenge crew stood alongside them, making their numbers look even more impressive given there were nearly twenty of them to the crew of six brigands, plus Frenchie, Fang and Ivan.
One of the fearsome men shoved poor Frenchie to the front of the pack. A big bear of a man with a wicked scar over his eye poked him until he spoke. "Who..." the man poked Frenchie again, "...WHO COMES BEFORE BLACKBEARD?"
Buttons stepped forward and met Frenchie's eyes, but Stede had to give it to him - the man had showmanship. He didn't give anything away. "We, the crew of the William, seek an accord with Blackbeard for the taking of the merchant ships."
"But who's your captain?" Reaper called with a snarl.
"I present to ye, the terror of the seas, Captain..." Buttons looked over his shoulder at Stede, "...Jeff Goldheart."
That was Stede's cue. The crowd of crewmembers parted before him. He had cobbled together an outfit from Bonny's crew. He wore a pair of calf-height boots that barely stayed on his feet because they were too big, a long sweeping coat that swept the deck as he walked, little bits of metal and half-affixed buttons clanging, a sword at his hip and a blunderbuss strapped to his ribs. He wore a tricorn hat that obscured his effete white-blonde waves.
He felt far more ridiculous in that getup than any amount of silk and powdered wigs he'd worn in his life. But it was necessary to both conceal his identity and to convince the murderous pirates that he was legit.
"I seek an audience with your captain. There are two fat merchant ships on the horizon, and taking them together will mean a bigger share of booty for all!" Stede really, really tried not to flourish at the end of that, but he couldn't quite resist.
He saw Lucius facepalm out of the corner of his eye. Earlier, the scribe had sucker-punched him and broken his nose, under the excuse that a war wound would bring him more legitimacy.
Stede knew what it was really for, and he couldn't argue that it was well-deserved. It also had the effect of temporarily taking some of the natural sing-song out of his voice.
It also hurt like a bitch. Every now and again, he'd try to breathe and taste the iron of blood in the back of his throat.
For a long moment, there was no reaction from the pirates on his old ship. Then, he heard the sound of feet on planks, and the crowd of bloodthirsty men parted.
It was a good thing the ships were some distance away still, because Stede couldn't hide the delight at seeing Ed standing there.
That delight soon turned to worry as he met the other man's gaze and saw the storm in the other man's dark eyes. The armor of black leather was back, as was a new addition of shadows painted on his face to suggest the beard that he had shaved for Stede.
For a long moment, there was no sound but the wind that lightly tossed Ed's salt and pepper hair. Then he nodded to one of the men, who dropped a heavy plank to close the gap between the ships.
This was a very unsteady situation. The water was relatively calm, but the wind was picking up, and occasionally the two ships would move out of sync, heave, and the plank would come dangerously close to dropping into the sea.
As he approached it, men on either side of the plan steadied it, but it was still a dangerous proposition. Stede swallowed, tried to remind himself that he couldn't show weakness, then started across the plank.
He got halfway across it before the sea began to swell. Stede was forced to drop to his knees and crawl the last few feet in front of both crew.
When he went to stand up, he found Ed looming over him, a dagger in his hand.
At that moment, Stede was terrified he'd misjudged the situation, that it was too late - that Ed was already lost.
That worry seemed to be confirmed when Ed pressed the dagger to his throat and forced him to his feet. Stede followed along with the blade and looked his former co-captain in the eye. He searched his face for signs of the man he knew, but he only saw more of that dark storm up-close - that simmering anger. The Kraken.
"What's your proposal?" Ed growled, keeping the blade pressed against Stede's jugular. "Why do I need...you?"
He spat out that last word in a way that might have well been that dagger twisted right into Stede's heart.
"Well...our...my...ship. It has guns, you see? And that's something you're quite lacking. And as you've spotted the ships first, we can offer you...the entire contents of one of the ships, and a third of what we raid from the other."
That offer caused a murmur to echo through the mercenary pirates standing on deck.
Ed watched him for a moment. Then, "We can discuss your proposal." Slowly, almost like a caress, he slid the dagger away from Stede's throat.
Stede exhaled with a gasp and straightened himself.
Ed turned and walked towards the cabin, the crew once again parting as he moved.
Stede touched a hand to his throat, where there was a small scratch and few tiny pearls of blood. He followed behind Ed into the cabin they once shared.
He was struck immediately by the hollowness of the space. No furniture, no books, and only the lighthouse painting of Mary's on the wall. Ed stood there, facing the bed, his back to Stede, his shoulders rounded, the dagger still clutched in his hand.
After the door closed, Stede whispered, "Ed. Oh Ed, I..."
Ed turned, and the heartbreak was naked on his face. He had begun crying, wetting rivulets through the false beard. He surged forward and dropped to his knees, gripping Stede tightly around the waist. His dagger clattered to the ground.
"You came back," he whispered as he buried his face against Stede's belly, fingers grasping at him like a drowning man. Ed grabbed handfuls of his jacket and sobbed softly.
Stede felt an absolute wall of guilt wash over him. He dropped to the ground and slid hands along the sides of Ed's head so he could look him in the eye. "I never left," he whispered.
Ed looked at him, eyebrows raising.
"Well. I...I did. But not in my heart. Oh, Edward. I'm so, so sorry. I just...I have explanations, but they're not good enough. I should never have left you. I'm a fool. A stupid, clueless fool."
As the adrenaline and fear started to subside, Stede started to let a little joy trickle back into his heart. Ed was here, he was alive. And he didn't seem to hate him. Before he knew what he was doing, he hauled the man's face towards his for a deep and probing kiss.
There was a half a second when Ed didn't return the kiss. But when he did, when he felt return pressure and the other man's hands on his arms, his heart began to sing. They were both shaking ever so slightly, pawing at each other like they couldn't quite decide how to embrace.
After a moment, Stede pulled back from the kiss and just clung to him in a tight, fierce hug. They rocked together in time with the swaying of the boat.
They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, then Stede pulled back to look Ed in the eyes. The storm had subsided, and he saw the man he knew deep in those dark eyes. He touched his cheek.
Ed cracked a wry little smile and then touched Stede's cheek where the kohl from his false beard had smudged all over his face. "You've got a little...Blackbeard on you."
"Just a little? Oh, we should fix that."
"Boss," came a voice from outside the door. Then the man let himself in without waiting. Wheezer froze, staring at the two men on their knees in the middle of the empty room, Stede's face smeared with black, and Ed's paint all disturbed.
"What the h..."
Before Stede could do anything, Ed picked up the dagger that he had dropped and whipped it at the man's head. The dagger implanted deep in his eye. He doubled over and fell in such a way that it jammed the blade deep into his brain.
"Oh, Ed," breathed Stede.
"What? I didn't kill him. The fall did."
"Well...I suppose that's one less of them to worry about." Stede scooted to his feet as a river of blood moved towards them. He helped Ed up.
"So...Captain Jeff Goldheart?"
"Yes, well, I didn't exactly have a lot of time to come up with a good alias."
Ed picked up Stede's hat and smiled as he settled it back on the other man's head. He also took a moment to move the kohl around so it just looked like dirt on Stede's face.
Stede did the same to fill in the gaps from their kiss.
The two men stared into each other's eyes for a few long minutes.
"I've really made a mess of things," said Stede.
"You're not the only one," replied Ed. Silence fell again, and they continued to gaze at one another. Ed shook himself out of it after a moment with an inhale. "But it seems like we're in the middle of a Fuckery. What's the plan?"
"Ah, yes. Quite important. Buttons has sent a message via gull to the merchant ships to let them know that the William is on their side. We'll turn on them during the battle and hopefully that will be enough to take care of your new friends."
"Mhmm. Not bad. You know, I had a plan too."
"Oh, yes? What was it?"
"Em. Well. I was going to wait until we pulled into port. Break Jim out. Then leg it."
Stede tilted his head. "Well, sometimes the simplest plans are the best."
"Not everything needs to be a Fuckery, Stede."
"Right. But this..." Stede motioned to himself.
"No no, you did well. It's a good plan. But now I see why you needed Izzy off the ship. What was your backup plan?"
Stede turned pink. "Ahh..."
"...ah well. Don't need a backup plan if the first one works, right." Ed smiled.
Stede's heart sung.
"One complication. If the merchants see us, we might be recognized. There've been posters with our likenesses in all the major ports. You're wanted on desertion. I should be listed as dead. But if they spot us, they'll come looking for me, too. So after we seal the deal, you and I need to hide."
"Where?"
"Well..." Stede walked over to the wall, rapped a few panels until one came up hollow-sounding. "In the passages, of course!" He triumphantly swung open a tiny door.