#much like how Stede needed to go back to his family to put things to rest | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dragon-kazansky · 7 months

Text

Spirit of the sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

SEASON 2 CONTENT AHEAD!!!

Blackbeard rules the sea. Despite wanting his captain back, Izzy realises his mistake. Protecting the crew is his concern. Protecting you is his life mission. Stede's return brings hope, but there's a lot of work to be done before this crew becomes a family.

{Masterlist}

{Previous Chapter} - {Next Chapter}

Warnings: Spoilers. Stede!!!! Mutiny. Izzy needs help.

Chapter Twelve - Captain, oh Captain

♡♡♡

Edward's body was taken below deck into the small room Izzy had been occupying after he had been shot. No one had the heart to actually toss the body overboard. Not yet anyway. Everything was still so fresh.

Izzy was given a peg leg made from some of the furniture onboard. It isn't the most stable thing, though possibly more stable than anyone's sanity right now. It was enough to get him around with the help of a mop made into a crutch. At least he could get around a little.

However, supplies on the ship were at an all time low, and after having survived the storm, The Revenge had definitely seen better days. This ship was going nowhere.

For lunch, a seagull.

Savage, you know, but food was food when stranded at sea.

Izzy hadn't said much. After killing Edward, you had held onto him with all your might. Fang had helped move him to somewhere he could sit, while Frenchie, Jim, and Archie worked on the leg situation. You had held Izzy's hand, not leaving him at all. You pull him into your body, letting his head rest under your chin as you held him to you. Izzy said nothing. He did nothing. He just let you cradle him.

He had lost a piece of himself.

Now you all sit in what was the captain's quarters, munching on a dead bird. How the mighty have fallen. You eyed Izzy in your peripheral vision as he downed more rum. He had been clutching a bottle most of the night.

You said nothing. He had every right to be upset.

As the crew eat, the door opens with a small squeak. You raise your eyes to see. The crew all turn and look too.

Right there before your eyes is a man you didn't think you'd see again.

Stede Bonnet.

♡♡♡

The crew of The Revenge is taken aboard The Red Flag. They're given soup and blankets.

Catching up with the others felt like a relief after not seeing them in so long. But seeing Lucius made you feel more than just content. When he saw you he looked like he had seen a ghost, but he hugged you happily.

He looked you over, seeing the state you were in, and you took one good look at him and knew he had been through some shit too.

Neither of you spoke about what happened to either of you, but you could appreciate the mutual understanding you shared.

You were just glad he wasn't actually dead like Ed had said he was.

After catching up with the crew, you managed to sit down to enjoy your soup.

"I just don't understand." Stede, though glad to see the rest of his crew, has his questions. "Where's Ed?"

You glance up from your soup to catch the eyes of Jim and Archie. It's awkward.

"There's no good way to say this, Stede." Jim says. "But-"

Jim is interrupted by Archie who connects the dots with Stede's name.

"Is this Stede? Like, Stede-Stede."

"What does that mean? Stede-Stede?" He asks, looking at Archie.

"Nothing. I just thought you'd be, ya know, taller, muscly, you know?"

You look down at you soup and find you don't have the stomach for more. You put the bowl down. Izzy watches you from where he is leaning against the mast.

"You okay?" He asks quietly.

You gaze up at him, a little startled to have been caught in a moment of weakness. "Yeah... fine."

"Why are you saying that?" Stede asks, bringing your attention back to the other conversation.

"Just the way people-- This is good soup, isn't it?" Archie rambles.

"Yeah, it's very, very good soup." Fang agrees.

"Why can't I get a straight answer from any of you?" Stede asks, looking at each of the group.

"Bonnet." Izzy hobbled his way over. "Good to see you."

"Piss off, Izzy. I don't want to hear from you."

"Frenchie?" Stede asks, looking at the man.

"Yeah?"

"Where is Ed?"

You all look at Frenchie.

"He retired."

Everyone looks at each other, nodding.

"Why are you all looking at each other?" Stede is confused.

"When you get old, if you don't wanna work anymore, you can just give up, I guess." Frenchie said, trying to make his point.

"Yeah, I know what retirement is."

"Yeah, that's where he went." Archie's says.

Everyone nods.

"What about my painting? Why is it all stabbed up?" Stede asks.

"That was me," Izzy tells him.

Stede sighs and walks off to look out at The Revenge.

Izzy turns back around to you to see you haven't moved from where you had sat. There's a distant look in your eye. He hobbles over to you, standing right in front of you. You blink and look up.

"We have to tell him," Izzy says.

You turn and look at Stede.

"I know..."

♡♡♡

That night after Ed stated a relationship was forbidden between you and him, Izzy's world had turned cold. He had only you only for a few mere hours before you were taken from him, and he was punished for threatening Ed. The days that followed had been some of the most miserable days of Izzy's life.

Your warmth was gone from his life and he hated every second of it. Looking at you from across the room wasn't enough. He had to hold you, feel you, give you the love that burned inside of him for you.

Still, no matter what, Izzy would take every punishment if it meant you were safe and out of harms way. That's what love does to a man. It protects the people that matter.

♡♡♡

Back aboard The Revenge, Stede was taking a closer look around his old ship. So much had happened to it since he left. In this quarters, knives stuck out of every surface, his furniture broken and misplaced. There was no life in this ship any more.

You helped Izzy inside. He only got so much support from the old mop and his makeshift leg. He couldn't get very far. In his other he clutched his beloved rum bottle, which he refused to part from right now.

"Don't cry, Bonnet."

Stede turns around to see you both there.

"We just redecorated."

"I don't mind, actually," Stede says. "I think the knives really help bring the place together."

"What'd you do with him?" Stede asks, after moving further away. "I know he wouldn't have left by choice."

"I know you think you understand him." Izzy stares at Stede.

"He was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying. So, which is it?"

"Alright, Bonnet." Izzy pulls away from your arms and hobbles across the floor, closing some distance between him and Stede. You don't move. "Have it your way. He went mad. He tortured the crew. He took my fuckin' leg 'cause I dared to mention your fuckin' name. He was a wild dog and we dealt with him like one."

"You sent him to doggy heaven," Stede whispers.

"No, I could never do that." Izzy said. "We deserted him on a beach left nature to do the rest. More than he would have done for us. You and me did this to him. And we cannot let this crew suffer any more for our mistakes."

Izzy glances over his shoulder at you and you feel your heart twinge at his meaning.

"Why would they suffer?" Stede asks.

"If your captain sense mutiny, she'll kill us all," Izzy explains. "That's pirate code."

You find yourself walking over to Izzy and reaching for his hand. He takes it with ease, turning his attention to you. You give him warmth when there is none.

♡♡♡

The feeling of your body pressed against his as the storm raged on around you, it was like life had been put back into him. All he could feel was your arms around him. He held you with one arm, wanting to treasure this moment. After everything he had endured to keep you safe, he knew it was all worth it for this feeling. The feeling of you alive and warm and in his arms.

♡♡♡

Blackbeard's body was discovered under the deck of The Revenge. The crew were promptly arrested for it. Yeah, mutiny.

Izzy was sitting down nearest to the bars. You were sat on the floor by his leg, resting your head gently on the thigh of his missing leg. Izzy had stretched his peg leg out enough for you to get comfy.

"I mean, clearly, it was him or you." Lucius says, leaning against the bars of the cell. "Sucks you guys are probably gonna be executed tomorrow."

"Eh, nah. We've been livin' second-to-second for a while now." Frenchie tell him, leaning back against the wall he is sat against. "It's actually kinda nice to have a deadline."

Stede walks in quietly. You raise your eyes to look at him. He must have seen the body by now. Izzy turns his head to look at him

"Go on, Bonnet. Give me your worst," Izzy tries to get him to bite.

Stede just shakes the bars before leaving again.

You turn your head to hide your face in Izzy's thigh. Unaware that Izzy is blinking back tears behind you.

At least you'll die knowing what Izzy's love felt like, even if it hadn't lasted very long.

Izzy looks down at you. His heart yarns to just... scoop you up in his arms and hold you. You're free from the Kraken, but at the cost of execution tomorrow. Izzy wanted to give you so much more.

So much more.

♡♡♡

Izzy's personal cell was his cabin after you were no longer allowed in it. His bed felt wrong to sleep in, his pillow no longer comfortable. Sometimes he felt like the walls were suffocating him. He began to hate this room.

Izzy had lost you once before. Last time he thought you were dead. Those 6 years without you were some of the loneliest years of his life. Yet, this is worse. This time he knows where you are and he can't reach out to hold you.

This was a game to Blackbeard. A very sick game.

♡♡♡

You're not sure how much time has passed before Stede comes running in again. He looks almost excited. You lift your head to watch him as he passes towels to Wee John, asking him to take them.

Stede then unlocks the cell.

"What's going on?" You ask.

Stede smiles. "We're taking back The Revenge."

"Yes, Stedey-boy!" Frenchie grins.

"Stay low and meet me at the bow." Stede instructs.

"Love a last-minute escape." Frenchie is all giddy.

As the crew file out of the cell, you get up off the floor and turn to Izzy, helping him up. He looks at you. You offer him a small smile.

Maybe not all hope is lost after all.

Stede instructs Wee John to get the a new wheel. Realistically, there is only one way to go about that.

The rest of the crew follow Stede up onto deck, after making sure any crew up there has been dealt with. Everyone moves quietly as they cross the deck. Izzy leans on you for support, Fang just behind you both incase he needs to step in and help you.

You look right across at the Revenge.

Stede hands Pete the crossbow which will shoot a line across to the other ship. It needs to be ana accurate shot as there are no second chances here.

You had no idea Pete could use a crossbow.

"We've only got one shot." Stede explains. "That's on you, Black Pete."

"Me? Why me?"

"You've always said you got perfect aim."

"I never said that."

"You say that all the time," Roach says to him.

"You said it today," Lucius points out.

"Come on. The entire escape relies on this," Stede states.

"Fine, I'll do it. Jesus." Pete takes the crossbow. Everyone goes quiet.

He takes aim.

He focuses.

"Just breathe into it-" Buttons says. Fang, Izzy, and yourself all turn to hush the man.

More seconds tick by.

"Nope, I can't do it," Pete says, lowering the crossbow.

You roll your eyes as the crew groans. Izzy gives you a nudge and then nods at this crossbow. You stare at him and shake your head quietly. He nods again. You sigh and let Fang take hold of Izzy as you march over to where Pete is.

"Give that here." You take the crossbow from him and nudge him out of the way. You hold the crossbow up and aim. You take a deep breath and fire. The line sinks right into the mast with perfect aim.

You pass the crossbow back and look at Pete, unimpressed. Lucius looks very impressed.

One by one the crew zipline across to The Revenge. Wee John breaks the wheel from The Red Flag to use for The Revenge.

You help Izzy onto the zipline, where Fang will catch him on the other side. You go after Izzy, Fang also helping you.

Soon enough everyone is across and the wheel is put in place.

"Frenchie, you get started on the riggin'. Roach, come here and brace the yard." Buttons starts giving out orders.

Zheng is now aware her prisoners have escaped. She stands on deck of her ship looking across at you all. Jim cuts the line so they can't zipline across.

The Revenge starts to sail away.

You stand at the railing smiling. Now that was an escape.

Izzy approaches Stede. "I just wanted to thank you for-" Stede walks away, not letting him finish. Izzy stands there quietly. 'Not leaving me behind.'

You turn to see him. You leave the railing and walk towards Izzy. He looks up when you approach. He says nothing. His eyes glisten. You say nothing as you reach out and wrap your arms around him. Izzy falls into your chest.

You're both here. You're both safe.

You both get to live to fight another day.

You can't ask for much more than that.

♡♡♡

Izzy's body fills with warmth. You're back in his arms again. His heart calms. He's far from okay, but you're here now. You're keeping his demons at bay.

He can't ask for much more than that.

♡♡♡

@grippleback-galaxy - @askmarinaandothers - @godlikegallagher - @for-fuck-sake-im-alive - @whiskeyswriting - @lxsm2 - @bloody-bunni666 - @the-chocoholic-writer - @bugbugboy - @callmemana - @the-shenny-of-azkaban - @cool-ontherun-world - @outer-space-beech - @ahewi24 - @grace585 - @innertimemachinegirl - @dmitrytherat - @emilynissangtr -

#spirit of the sea #izzy hands x reader #ofmd season 2 #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #dragon writes

93 notes · View notes

mysteriouslybluepirate · 7 months

Note

hi bestie saw ur post and im kinda curious about this since it's something not a lot of ppl are talking about next to ed's arc and izzy's death and all— what do you think about how they handled stede in the finale? I felt like a lot of the "incompetent wannabe pirate" jokes undermined his progress this season and also him deciding to stay at the inn with ed felt odd as he expressed he wanted to be a pirate and sail the sea. just wondering what other people think about that

[Oct 31, 2023]

Before we get into it, you are allowed to enjoy this show! My past (and next few) responses WILL be negative, but you aren't wrong for agreeing or disagreeing with most posts. Thanks to all the people who have already sent in messages! I can't wait to respond!!

I am an Izzy fan first and foremost, but how a show handles it's protagonist says a LOT about how it handles it' characters overall!

TLDR for this post: In any character-centric media, explore your characters as characters first. Develop your plot around them and their arcs. Don't treat an ensemble cast as faceless props for the story you're trying to tell. Stede's arc is weird because Stede is shoved in places where it feels like he doesn't fit anymore.

Creating a narrative focused on central character conflicts can work. This is how S1 was written. Stede and his actions directly lead to revealing truths of the world that push the plot forward. This worked because I'd argue the strongest part of OFMD overall is its characters. S2 misses out on this strongest aspect by only referencing its characters when it needs something from them.

S1 We went from Stede killing a guy-> The Act of Grace. S2 Stede tells a guy he shouldn't be an idiot and leave behind a calling card -> burning down the Republic of Pirates and killing Izzy. S2 doesn't feel as tied to Stede's arc of growing into a pirate. But Stede isn't the only person this has fucked over.

Each crew member has their role established from S1, we fans know how they work as a family. But in S2 most of the cast can be swapped out interchangeably unless its something that features this side character NICHE (Wee John in drag being good with fabrics, Roach being a cook).

Sadly, by focusing on the larger Zheng vs. Military arc, a story our characters BARELY caused, the audience misses out on potential character development. Instead of our characters facing the consequences of their actions, our favorite side characters are used as faceless narrative tools. This is largely why the crew was abandoned this season unless they had a romantic side plot. Seeing The Revenge sail off in episode 8, it feels like we barely care about them at all anymore.

As seen from @the-buttspie 's comment, even Stede's arc isn't left out of the firing range. His characterization in episode 8 is constantly thrown back and forth between 'Captain doing his best' and 'Village idiot' if the scene needs it.

Analyzing WHY I started to dislike Stede post episode 4 is FASCINATING, and I feel that digging all the way back to the beginning is a smart way to look at his character growth this season.

FRAMING: Stede's early story get's fucked over pacing-wise because his storyline happens side by side to that of Ed/Izzy.

Any dramatic moment is cut short to show just how much the other crew is NOT about to die. Every time I watch S2 with a new person, for episodes 1-3, they'll comment on how much they don't care about Stede's plot. Which is not a thing you'd want for your protagonist in a season of TV that's only 8 episodes long.

Stede goes through a really strong arc from S1 to the start of S2. For the first three episodes of S2, he puts the needs of his crew before the needs of himself. Literally making sure his crew is safe before going down to see Ed's corpse. I genuinely enjoyed how Stede stepped up for his family. How he doesn't blame the Revenge crew for killing Ed, realizing that yes. Ed is the love of his life and also a man who has seriously hurt so many people.

Eps 4-5: From that we see him trying to talk it through with Ed. While both of them aren't telling the whole truth, it's a good start! We're midway through the season, so we should expect things to get fleshed out more soon.

Until Stede decides 'I'm going to bring a man that tortured my family for 80+ days onboard less than 24 hours after my crew voted him off' Yes. Stede loves Ed to a stupid extent, but this starts the trend for Stede to be dangerously selfish this season using his power as captain to overwrite the want of his crew, a habit of his that partially gets Izzy killed.

I really enjoyed Stede in episode 5, and for me, this felt most like the Stede we recognize growing into a real Captain with hints of who he was. I think it says a lot that Stede still misses his layers and silks. That he craves the softness he used to have in the form of that cursed jacket. But as soon as Izzy is like 'you idiot, please listen to them, they will mutiny' Stede gives it up!!!! He's grown. He's listening to Izzy, he's talking with his crew! This episode did the one thing I wish the season did more of, show the reunited crew just living their lives.

This is where Stede stands out, it lets him be a bit more of a leader to the crew. Let him find his groove again. I loved it!!

Now: Killing Ned Low.

Stede choosing to kill Ned Low is the first time Stede killing someone counts. Yes, he burned down the ship French ship. But this is the first time the audience is supposed to care. I think this moment WAS in character and a really important moment for Stede. He chose this. This wasn't up to crew vote, Ned insulted Ed so fuck him, he deserves to die. Ned walks the plank, also referencing historical Bonnet's tendency to do the same thing.

This is where both Ed and Stede make an in-character mistake, having their first time after the rush of 'oh shit, I'm still alive, and I'm hurting and you're here too'. They don't regret their first time, clearly, they both enjoyed it, but both of them can't ignore what fueled it. Stede has had 3 episodes to re-establish himself with his crew, and now has very little time for the rest of the season with them to show off his growth. That's why, after the party, we don't feel like this show is showing off a family anymore. Even when reunited, they barely feel like a united front.

But from this point on, I personally feel that Stede should have toned down the humor a bit and act like he did in episode 3. Well, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself so-

Episode 7: Stede enjoys being popular, following in Ed's footsteps. He holds his ground against Ed, and overall this feels like a natural progression of his arc from episode 5. He knows what he wants in life and Ed not communicating is genuinely frustrating for him. Him being heartbroken and trying to fight Zheng like she's Izzy is one of the few callbacks I feel that works. As it compares a Stede who was supported by his crew, to this Stede who feels totally alone. I loved Stede this episode, only to be disappointed by-

Episode 8:

Where Ed is allowed to have his silly moments in private, I feel that Stede fluctuates between silly and serious WAY too much for us to take him seriously. Stede's response to Ed telling him he loved him being 'I know' also felt off to me.

"You're not a dick, life's a dick" This line is frustrating to me as it's Stede's response to Ed apologizing. Genuinely apologizing for his actions in the previous episode. This could have been a moment for us to feel like Stede and Ed were a united front but Stede's constant joking and not taking shit semi-seriously. Yes. He feels more comfortable around his family which is amazing.

But I can't help but point out how Stede chooses to go along with a plan the rest of the crew doesn't like. What NARRATIVE purpose was there for Stede trying to sell the captain? He has money, clearly. With the loot they still have, and a future alliance with Zheng.

Stede fucks up. His choice a plan that gets Izzy killed. The writers sacrificed Stede being a competent Captain who cares about his crew into what is described as a 'suicide mission' to push Izzy into his rushed death. A disservice to both characters.

ONTO:

Stede abandons piracy

I'm not shocked they did this, not after the other flubs of the episode, but I hate that it wasn't a conversation held between Ed and Stede.

They could cut the stupid joke about Ed being bad at fishing at the beginning and have these two idiots talking about their issues. Maybe establish that, yeah, piracy is a lot, and they deserve to settle down and get to know each other. Even if they return to the sea, this frames it as Ed finally finding peace and Stede getting pulled along, going against his character growth this season.

I'm surprised that they're setting this up now and not at the end of Season 3. Hell, I used to think S3 would be focused on Ed and Stede avoiding/faking their historical deaths. Given all the bullshit they'll have to clean up to wrap up all the loose ends established this season- S3 will be VERY Ed/Stede focused, I think the crew will still be inserted in without care or arc. Characters like Jim and Oluwande will be prioritized as they are in a relationship before our nonromantic characters like Wee John and Frenchie.

Stede and Ed's relationship, the driving force of the plot, still falls flat because after everything it still feels like puppy love. They've spent at most two months in person together, and two weeks in a serious relationship. I don't really feel convinced that they actually love each other. Ed still doesn't know that Stede was kidnapped at the end of S1, or why he struggles to talk about his feelings. Ed still hasn't talked about why he feels he needs to leave piracy, or his issues feeling like he doesn't belong anywhere in life. Their habit of running away the MOMENT things get hard just makes me not care about them.

I blame the size of the Izzy fandom on the fact that if you don't buy into the leads, there's almost nothing left here to sink your teeth into. The moment the show seems like they'll talk about it they hard pivot.

I hope S3ep1 happens after a LONG time jump. I want these fuckers to be snippy like two people snowed into a cabin for months. Sick of each other and bitching back and forth like no tomorrow. S3 is about genuinely breaking down their walls. Until then, I'll stick with Izzy, the Canyon, and his depressing version of this reality.

#stede bonnet #I'm a bit worried this post will reach all the Stede fans directly and they'll feel attacked. Please don't feel that way!#I genuinely enjoyed where he was going until episode 8 where Stede seemed emotionally distant the entire episode #I just wish Stede had more impact to his own central story #ofmd critical #ofmd meta #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #stede bonnet critical #IDK if thats a tag #stede critical #?#ofmd s2 finale #ofmd s2

52 notes · View notes

marinvolk · 7 months

Text

Since grandmaster honorary queer man David Jenkins taught us all that things like genre and tone are apparently irrelevant now, I’d like to bless you all with my first ever attempt at writing fan fiction. I present to you:

The Night is Dark and Full of Muppets

Stede threw his arms up. “You can’t blame Izzy every time you smash something when you’re upset, Ed!”

“There’s a darkness inside me,” Ed said from the dining room table, glaring daggers at the broom handle lying in two pieces on the floor; he’d broken it against his knee when Stede had mentioned wanting to talk about his anger management issues. The broom had been in his hands because he’d been sweeping up a broken kettle, which he’d broken because it had been ‘giving him a funny look’. “Izzy won’t let me be Ed. He wants the Kraken. You wanted me to be Blackbeard. Remember when you said how fugly I looked without my beard?”

Stede rolled his eyes. “I did not say that. Come on, Ed.”

“Your eyes said it. They looked at me and said, ‘you look so fugly, not-Blackbeard.’ It’s Izzy’s fault I broke the broom.”

“Really, Ed? I don’t know if you remember, but we buried Izzy. It quite literally cannot be his fault—”

“Then it was Pop-Pop’s fault.”

Stede did a double take. “Who is Pop-Pop?”

“My fisherman dad. He and my fisherman brother—I never gave him a name because I never actually had a brother—took me in when I left you at the docks. For a time, I was happy again, loved, content.” Ed’s eyes watered. “I was Ed.”

Stede scoffed. “Ed, you were gone for a night.”

Ed banged his fist on the table. “I was Ed! Pop-Pop made me go get my leathers!” Ed sobbed. “Pop-Pop made me!”

Stede’s face crumpled into a very muppet-like expression. “What?”

“You just don’t want me to be Ed, do you? You think Blackbeard’s better! Pop-Pop told me to go do the only thing I was good at, so I had to go be Blackbeard again! It’s all your, Izzy’s, and Pop-Pop’s fault that I can’t be Ed!”

“I want you to be Ed, I just don’t like when you throw all our things at the wall!”

Ed snapped, “I wouldn’t throw things at the wall if they weren’t there when I get mad! Maybe we just need a maid!”

“Christ, Ed! We can’t afford a maid because we bought too much fishing equipment—”

They both stilled as lightning split the skies beyond the window of the shitty inn by the sea, darkness falling like a heavy shroud. The candles went out in a hissing puff.

Stede glanced to the door. “Do you hear that?”

Something on the porch. A footstep? No, something thumping. Strange. That had almost sounded like…

The door creaked open.

Silhouetted against the moonglow, a man stood clad in black. A seagull perched upon his shoulder with knowing, very hex-filled eyes.

A voice that sounded like someone was whispering cigarettes said, “The night is dark and full of muppets.”

Stede glanced at Ed. “That isn’t…?”

Ed swallowed, taking a step toward the door. “Izzy? Is that you, man? How? We buried you!”

“You took my ring. You took my cravat. You took my leg. You took my redemption arc. You took my family.” One gold-painted unicorn hoof slid forward as a familiar face loomed from the darkness. “Now, I’m taking it all back. Edward Teach—born on a beach—prepare to taste lead!”

Izzy whipped out an AK47 from the darkness. A maelstrom of bullets thundered through the inn, peppering Ed’s body until he was flailing back and forth like Kermit the Frog. Meanwhile, Stede hurled himself to the floor and scrambled under the table as Buttons shot laser beams from his beady seagull eyes, destroying the remnants of a porcelain vase that Ed had hurled against the wall only just the night before, when Stede had yawned too loudly for his liking.

The whisper-cigarette voice said, “Stede Bonnet, you fooken twat. Get up, muppet. We got a ship to catch.”

Stede crawled out from the table, staring up at Izzy with wide eyes. “What are you, oh, sea prince who was promised?”

“Me?” Izzy pulled out a pair of sunglasses, put them on, and said, “I’m the motherfooken unicorn.”

No, I will not be taking any critique, you media illiterate cretins. This is 100% plausible because DJ never actually said that seagulls in this universe can’t shoot laser beams from their eyes. Also, the fact that Izzy knows a song from the 1940s is in fact proof that he’s also a time traveler, therefore the AK47 is officially canon appropriate. In fact, this is so plausible—remember, genre and tone are no longer important—that it’s basically just the new ending.

#ofmd critical #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd izzy #ofmd izzy critical #ofmd fanfic #behold my genre bending magnum opus #ofmd #izzy hands

44 notes · View notes

batsarebetterthanpeople · 1 year

Text

I feel like maybe someone needs to say it and I figure it's probably best coming from the guy with the Calico Jack pfp who has been very open about not being the biggest Stede fan (he reminds me of my shitty ex hope this helps), because then this comes off less like unhinged blorbo apologia. I just. I'm gonna walk through a minefield with this meta, but I want to talk about the whole Stede abandoning his kids thing. I understand that many people feel all types of things about this and it's valid I get it, but I think we need a bit of perspective.

So basically, recap from discomfort in a married state, which is where we get 90% of Stede's tragic backstory from. I know a lot of stuff with this show is anachronistic, but Stede's marriage really does not seem like one of those things. I say that because in the modern day in the US, which is the audience that OFMD is geared towards and the culture which all the other historical anachronisms seem to favor, it's an American show, arranged marriage is basically unheard of. But it was relatively common among the aristocracy of 1717. Based on this I think we can assume a few things about Stede's marriage. 1) Divorce is not an option, and 2) You have to have kids to carry on the family name and have somebody to pass your money down to. Sure nobody's forcing you at gunpoint to have kids, but culturally back then the expectation is that you get married in order to have legitimate children. If they didn't have kids Mary would have been socially ostracized and seen as a failure of a woman, there would have been social consequences for Stede as well though less harsh. It's informative that Stede and Mary have the classic heir and a spare, i.e. one child to inherit the fortune and one child just in case something happens to that first kid, it's also informative that the younger child is male, since at the time the fortune would either go to the son or the daughter's husband if there was no son to pass it onto.

This is the context we have to understand Stede in. He's a gay man who was forced to be a husband to a woman and who was forced to be a father. The being Mary's husband and being a father are inextricably linked for Stede, because remember the whole point of getting married was to have an heir and you cannot get divorced it's illegal and pretty much unheard of. Stede is so miserable in this state that he literally fucks off to sea to become an outlaw where he'll probably die tomorrow. He's so fucking desperate that instead of going on a rich people cruise like a normal rich guy trying to get away from the family he's doing fucking crimes that could get him hanged to death if he gets caught and could get him killed while he carries them out. This is Stede's last ditch effort to leave his old life behind before he kills himself. This is a borderline suicide attempt from our boy. He's too chicken to do it for real but he can't live like this anymore and he needs to do something.

So like, yeah. Stede's abandonment was probably traumatic for his kids. He was put in a situation where he didn't have many other options, and most of those options are in fact more traumatic for Alma and Louis than Stede just disappearing one day. Because like, staying miserable like that for another... decade minimum I'm gonna guess based on how old Louis looks and acts, is an incredible fucking ask, and having two miserable parents will probably fuck those kids up in a whole host of ways. I know people who have parents who didn't love each other but stayed together for the kids and those people do have issues. Alma herself says that it's probably best he leave because Mary was happier when he was gone. He could just kill himself like normal, which is also pretty goddamn traumatic for his kids I shouldn't have to explain that one. Or he could fuck off in the middle of the night leaving them with Mary and the nanny that almost certainly exists, this isn't child neglect it's child abandonment, Stede can be sure Alma and Louis will be taken care of if he leaves. Even if Mary falls into the worst tropes about widowdom and becomes unable to care for them herself, they're very rich they have people who will care for them. That will fuck them up to, but not significantly more than him sticking around would and at a certain point you have to take care of yourself. The best options are not having the kids in the first place or getting a no fault divorce and being a weekends and holidays dad, but oops, he was forced into having the kids in the first place and he can't get divorced. There's no good options left, those kids are getting traumatized one way or another. The option that hurts himself the least is hitting the bricks.

So like, yeah, dunk on him for being an absent father. I love dunking on him for being an absent father it's very funny. I'll take any opportunity to dunk on Stede. But treating Stede's abandonment with the same lens you would examine modern child abandonment or acting like it's akin to child abuse (I have seen both takes on this wretched website, I'm far more sympathetic to the first than I am to the second) seems kinda unfair. Just like, idk remember the context of him never having asked to be a father and him not having any good options left. Walking out wasn't the right move because there was no right move. I think Stede probably should have had a conversation with Mary about how the only way for him to be happy was for him to leave and made sure that his leaving wasn't a surprise to his kids, but sometimes I think the way that people take it so damn serious is a little unfair

#ofmd #ofmd meta #stede bonnet #stede bonnet ofmd #cw child abandonment #cw suicide #our flag means death

116 notes · View notes

canonically47 · 7 months

Text

my take on the OFMD s2 finale: fuck that

(major spoilers continuing from here)

it’s sweet that the crew now also has zheng, auntie, spanish jackie and the swede is back, the reunion kiss was the sweetest thing ever, i loved lucius and pete’s wedding etc etc but there’s some things i can’t look past.

let’s get into izzy. izzy went through a lot this season. he started off as someone we were meant to dislike and slowly evolved into the only reason the crew was alive and functional. they became his family, and he became their new, true leader. their new unicorn, if you will. they cared for him, they loved him, and he loved them back. hell, he even had that sweet speech about piracy that made me tear up!

but then he died. and this isn’t the bury your gays trope, since the show has dozens of happy gay people and a lot of queer joy, but the redemption through death trope - or at least a poor attempt at him.

look at me. izzy got all the redemption he needed. he proved himself. he was happy. he was content. he had a good life ahead of him. and then he died.

his final words didn’t even mean anything, because ed still left the crew (along with stede). and this is sweet because they got to fulfill their dreams of having an inn, but this would have been better if izzy’s speech was just slightly different. or if it was like it canonically is, then it should have been established the crew was going to visit, or the inn was temporary, or ANYTHING.

back to izzy - i’m not mad he died. i’m mad the timing was horrendously bad. a single 28 minute episode is not enough to have ed’s character arc evolve, a sweet reunion, lots of drama and comedy, kill izzy off, have a lupete wedding, and have gentlebeard stay behind to have an inn. there should have been one or two extra episodes. there should have been more time to mourn izzy! i was sobbing my ass off and the show had already moved on to the wedding - i mean, what?? are we just not meant to care? i get that he had that burial, and he was shown as the last frame in the show yes, but how much tribute is that? stede’s dialogue made it seem like he barely cared when we knew the two had gotten closer! i get that he may have had conflicting emotions and this show is a comedy, but come on, people, you can do better!

the inn idea is sweet but i don’t see it lasting. the fourth episode really makes me wary of this idea because those two girls really fucking hated that domestic lifestyle bro!!! also, ed just accepted himself as a pirate outside of blackbeard, he just forgets that life? that’s bullshit. you can’t just spend the entire season exploring ed’s character as a pirate and then drop the pirate part. you can’t!!!

still mad about izzy. still confused about why everyone was in such high spirits after his death despite, you know, them getting along with him amazingly this season and loving him so deeply. but whatever, i too would be back at sea and giggling after my (at heart) captain died. in fact, i would even get married after that! yay, ring those bells! (/sarc)

i loved the wedding but you cannot tell me it wouldn’t have been better if there had just been more time between izzy’s death and it.

also. i’m pretty sure so many other characters walked off wounds in that exact area izzy got shot in... but i guess... plot armor??

tl;dr: i’m pissed off at OFMD’s season two ending, especially the way izzy’s death was handled.

yeah, i’m not happy with this. at least put me out my misery and announce this is the last season. dragging it on for longer would not work.

ending words: i would have been much more content with izzy dying if he was given more time, if his death was handled better, and if his speech had meant anything at fucking all to ed.

40 notes · View notes

sixstepsaway · 7 months

Text

right, so, here are my Thoughts about that whole thing now i've slept on it. probably won't be super coherent but here we go

i feel bad for stede. he got shoved, somehow, into the weird love interest role so many female characters find themselves in, where they are truly completed by a man and a romance not the things they've been striving for throughout the series so far. he's shown no sign of wanting to give up the pirate lifestyle he's just finally got back, and to accompany him giving that up with izzy's gorgeous "piracy is about family and somewhere to belong" speech from earlier just feels cruel. we joke about how episode 2 stede wouldn't care if lucius died but that changed, he got attached, his crew became his family. they were loyal to him and followed him even when they were just working at spanish jackie's for pennies. they respected him and loved him enough to let him talk them into letting ed back on board. this was, at least at this point in stede's arc, his happy ending. in fact, you can even argue he was happy without ed for a while at the start of this episode. his relationship with ed is important and it's icing on the cake, but it isn't something to complete him, or his only source of happiness -- nor should it be!!! and then for some reason ed shows back up, fishes up his leathers, kicks ass to save him, loses izzy and now they're leaving stede's ship and crew and found family to... run an inn made out of the world's shittiest fixer-upper? stede? stede twirly fancypants bonnett??? in that place? maybe at the end of a full run this might have felt like a good conclusion to his story, him realizing he wanted belonging, not necessarily to be a pirate, and maybe them bringing some of crew along to have their home somewhere safer and happier than the piracy they don't really enjoy but turn to because they have no other choice, but right now it just feels like... honestly like either he agreed to it to keep ed with him ("AITA for convincing my boyfriend to run an inn with me after leaving him two days ago because we were moving too fast? little backstory: this involved my boyfriend leaving everything in his life for me and no i did not apologize for running off to become a fisherman") or like, as i said up there, a matter of "actually all he needed was a BOYFRIEND all along" which... ngh. stede is more than his relationship.

idk why we bothered establishing that frenchie, jim and even archie were willing to put their lives on the line and lie to ed's murderous face to save izzy's life just for them to be stone-faced and have no feelings about his loss. like, okay, ed and he's stories are tied together and him dying in ed's arms makes more sense narratively than him dying in anyone else's, but also ed hadn't earned that and izzy deserved to die in the arms of someone who hadn't tried to kill him and shot him in the leg not to mention we went from fang's squishy hug and frenchie holding his hand to just... nothing? not a thing? roach, the ship's surgeon, did nothing to try and save him? it's just ed slapping his gunshot wound pathetically?

it strongly feels like they swapped izzy and ed's roles in his death scene sounds stupid but hear me out "you're my only family" would make so much more sense coming from izzy with ed dying in his arms. izzy's desperation to keep hold of ed, right down to accidentally pushing him down the kraken path at the end of season 1, being rooted in the feeling that ed is all he has in the world? ed responding that no, the crew love izzy. he's earned their love. he has a family outside of ed now, can't he see that? that makes so much more sense, considering izzy nearly died for them multiple times and spent the first few episodes trying to protect them and then being protected by them in kind he was their new unicorn!!! meanwhile ed said sorry to fang, izzy and lucius, and no one else has been shown to give any fucks about him since that whole thing, and like... rightly so? because he hadn't earned them back at all? and he fucked off on them too last episode lol dont forget he didnt JUST leave stede

we should have known better than to trust djenks when he broke jim and olu up for no reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk

nothing worth a damn happened this episode it was all running around and waving swords. idk how anyone got to where they were at the end. it was just poor writing.

the pacing has been off all season but they really shoved three episodes into one and hoped it'd work

i'm getting flashbacks to the timeless ~finale~ ugh

they spent so much time one ed's stupid fishing boat monologue instead of on ANYTHING ELSE

i ran out of thoughts

oh, here's another: the show walked a line between muppetry and things that were taken seriously lucius' finger, izzy's toes: serious ed getting bonked by a cannonball: emotionally serious, but not physically serious ed and stede both getting stabbed: not serious and what was treated as serious and what was treated as handwavy was dictated by what the storyline and the emotional needs were izzy getting shot to make it so they all had to run away yapping would have been hilarious, especially if he got back to the ship and went "nah eddie it's my left side, remember what i told you about the left? nothing important on the left" "your liver" <- roach, horrified but instead weird death scene because this was treated as physically serious, even though it...should not have been, really? and that is bothering me a lot too, because when lucius was thrown to his death, we looked at stede finding the crew on the island and went, "aha! lucius will be fine, because that's what the show logic is" and we were right, because the show had taught us that but that didn't extend to izzy for this and that's just weird

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #izzy hands

39 notes · View notes

o-wild-west-wind · 8 months

Text

okay…one more thing. kind of feeling crazy about how Stede, crying by Ed’s literal deathbed, thinks this is all his fault. but it’s not!!!

I’m not saying his leaving had no weight on the situation but a) in this instance it really wasn’t intentional, he was very much almost murdered and b) Ed was doing just fine without him—sad and emo, yeah, eating marmalade and writing mediocre breakup songs—but he was okay. he was healing without Stede, because he wasn’t truly alone anymore, even without him. he was retiring on his own! ready to forget piracy and just get weird and silly and artsy and let the crew be his family now. life beginning again.

but Izzy is the one that actually snapped him. Izzy is who forced death back into Ed’s mind like a virus, who forced the wheel back into tragedy after convincing them both they had steered into the wrong genre. Stede, though he made mistakes and messes of his own, is not who pushed Ed into the abyss; he actually gave Ed the inoculation that was keeping him alive! because while love is the thesis of this show, romantic love really isn’t what pushes Ed to the brink; it’s self-love, or a lack thereof, and Izzy is the one who cuts the loose threads of self-actualization away in ep 10 and reminds Ed that unless he is Blackbeard (classic comes-back-wrong trope by the way, which maybe I’ll expand on later), he has no right being alive.

i do think the guilt seeping out of all three of them is delicious, because they all have their reasons to feel it (to varying degrees)—but Stede’s is misplaced, and Izzy is doing this insanely complicated and deliciously painful thing where he’s trying to spare Stede the details out of what seems like a genuine desire to protect Stede’s feelings while simultaneously pushing as much of his own guilt onto Stede as he can get away with. saying they both did this. and from Izzy, that’s honestly growth!! he’s admitting that he fucked up and that fuck up put real blood on his hands!! but he’s still unwilling/unready to admit out loud that he’s the foundation on the pyramid of everyone’s fucking-each-other-over trauma here—including the foundation of the trauma inflicted by ed onto the crew, because he wasn’t careful what he asked his god for when he asked for blackbeard back—and this is even though he truly seems to understand what he’s done now. con’s stellar performance oozes the weight of Izzy’s guilt so gloriously (and given this show’s forgiveness theme I do think his full development is on the cards, which I’m very excited to see).

but Stede doesn’t recognize that yet because how could he!!!

i could go on but I’m too tired so I just wanna tl;dr that like…god, stede needs a hug. someone please give him a hug. and a massage. he’s going through the horrors and carrying everyone’s burdens on his back like a penance and STILL managing to stay silly despite despite despite and he needs a HUG DAMMIT

#when will god stop my sinful hand #girl help I can’t stop thinking about this *clenches fist* silly goofy pirate comedy #this is the tip of the iceberg of my thoughts but I think I’m word vomited out #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd meta #stede bonnet #tw: suicide #suicide #idk if this is Izzy crit because I think he’s fascinating and I’m giving him grace and I think the show is too but I can tag it if asked

23 notes · View notes

wearfinethingsalltoowell · 8 months

Text

Quick TealOranges drabble that I’m dashing off before tomorrow renders it moot!

“I kissed someone.”

Olu couldn’t say he was expecting anything different. They’d been seperated for months after having sex once, it was natural to move on. But he had his best friend back, and that was what mattered.

And Archie was pretty cool. He was looking forward to meeting her properly.

He was appointed to go to the Pirate Queen to beg for the crew’s lives. Captain Bonnet was in no state.

And he wasn’t going to deny that poor man anything, circumstances being what they were. His problems seemed small compared to saving the people who killed the love of your life.

He liked Zheng—they had been fast friends when she masqueraded as a soup seller, and she had taken them in when they were in need. An pirate legend who had a soft spot for those…less skilled (looking at you, Stede). She reminded him of the Blackbeard they had met months ago, before…

He really only intended to talk to her, but when she admitted she was trying to seduce him, he wasn’t opposed. If it crossed his mind that he was evening the score with Jim, he only had to look at Blackbeard and Stede to reassure himself it was hardly the worst thing to do after a breakup.

And she was really, really pretty. He tried to keep his head on, to advocate for the crew, but no one could blame him for getting a bit distracted.

“Get your pants on, they’re escaping!!” Auntie burst in, startling Olu out of his thoughts.

Stood there in shock, all he could say was “I have my pants on.”

Zheng looked at him with fury, and he understood completely. This looked horrible. No one would ever believe he didn’t know.

He wondered if he should go after her, or if it would be pointless, when Jim dropped down from the ceiling.

“We have to go, now!!”

“Are you escaping?” Olu was a bit offended that the crew hadn’t waited to see if he could save them before running. Were they going to leave him?

“We’ll talk about it later!” Jim was frantic, motioning Olu over, but he stayed put. He cast a glance to the door, feeling a rush of guilt for what happened with Zheng.

“Olu!!” Jim called, and at the look in their eye, he followed them out. They were family, and he wasn’t about to let Jim lose any more family.

“Okay, what the fuck?” he asked, when they were safely back on the ship.

“Captain said we were retaking the Revenge, we did a little chloroform, made a makeshift rope, and..ta-da!” Jim punctuated their statement with a thumbs up.

“Did he not know I was negotiating? Was he gonna leave me there?”

“The whole plan was pretty spur of the moment. I feel for the guy, but I could’ve killed him when I asked where you were and he said he didn’t know. You would’ve been killed if you had stayed there!”

“It would probably have been fine,” Olu muttered, not sure how much of the story he should share.

“You’re too optimistic,” Jim sighed, “I wasn’t leaving without you!”

“Thank you,” Olu smiled at them, and Jim dove into his arms for a hug.

“Missed you.”

“I missed you too, you know that.” He wondered again if he should tell Jim about Zheng. This seemed like the perfect opening, and, as Jim had said, they were best friends who told each other things. But he couldn’t make himself do it. What happened would come out, probably in an embarrassing way, and he wanted to keep it to himself for a bit.

They went above deck to join the rest of the crew, sans Stede who had gone to say his goodbyes to Edward. Olu’s heart hurt for them—they were in love, it was plain as day to everyone who knew them. He didn’t understand Jim’s newfound sympathy for Izzy, the man so vile and hateable they were ready to kill him after one day as captain. He couldn’t help but eye him with continued suspicion—that day on deck, before everything had gone to shit, Edward had seemed, if not happy, then content. The marooning only happened after Izzy emerged from his cabin later that day—they might never know what happened, but Olu had known people like Izzy. He would never trust him.

Blackbeard’s half of the crew were settling back in nicely, Frenchie and Fang already having changed out of their Kraken-era garb. Jim kept theirs on—said they liked the style.

Olu took a seat next to the newly-returned Lucius, who had struck up a fast friendship with Archie.

Relief flashed over Lucius’ face when he saw Olu.

“Oh thank God, Olu! Though I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d chosen to camp out on the Red Flag. Competent captain, you know?”

Seemed like he and Stede were still on the outs.

“Wait, you’re Olu?” Archie broke in, sticking out her hand for an introductory fist bump, “sorry, you’re just kind of a figure of legend on the ship. Jim told me all about you! You’re the smart one!”

“Hey!” Lucius scoffed.

“You’re smart too, bud. I just didn’t hear your name 20 times a day. If I had to hear the cake story one more time, I was going to kill them.”

A smile graced Olu’s face. It was better than her reaction to meeting Stede, from what he’d heard.

Frenchie walked over to him later that night, offering him the room back. Something about bad juju, again.

He didn’t argue, he could use a warm bed.

He curled up into his pillow, trying not to think about the day ahead. Their troubles were far from over, having made an enemy of the queen of Pirates.

When he was half asleep, he heard his door open, which wasn’t necessarily odd, but annoying. He didn’t want to get out of bed in the middle of the night for whatever trouble the crew got themselves in.

He waited for whoever had come in to announce themself, but it didn’t come. He heard near-silent footsteps and began to wonder if they were being invaded.

Instead, he felt the covers pulled back and the cold hit his bare skin, before another body jumped into the bed with him.

He relaxed a bit when he realized it was Jim, who was climbing on top of him and nuzzling their head in his neck.

“Made Frenchie give us the room back.” they announced.

As confused as he was, Olu laughed. Only Jim would bully poor Frenchie for a room that wasn’t even that big.

He could ask Jim what was going on in the morning. Right now, they were sleeping soundly for what was likely the first time in ages, and he didn’t plan to wake them.

16 notes · View notes

ragingstillness · 7 months

Text

MAJOR SPOILERS

Ok just finished the season here are my thoughts:

@/djenks fuck you man

No seriously, I love like 99% of what you do but killing Izzy? Fuck you man

I know it’s entirely possible he won’t turn out to actually be dead and season two will start with Izzy being like “you fuckers buried me alive without even checking?! I hate you all!”

I’m always afraid of stuff like this happening when characters are given so much development and love but really it feels so unnecessary I can’t accept it as a plot point like I don’t even feel sad now because I’m so numb

Certainly seems like we’re getting a third season or at least the set up is there

Ricky can fuck right off. I do kind of wish he had remained and become a sort of protégée for Stede from the beginning and someone else became the villain because the whole thing with him was clearly that he was meant to be a metaphor for queer people feeling safe to live their truth when they see other queer people do so and playing out that metaphor against the plotline of the season gets pretty negative

Not a fan of us not seeing if the rest of Zheng’s crew were ok

Not a fan of them just fleeing without acknowledging that the port is probably overrun by soldiers who are holding pirate captives still. In general I wanted a better idea of how many British soldiers were really there so I’d get a better understanding of how the plan worked

This is turning into a rant about the things I didn’t like but I’m gonna keep going, I’ll put the neutral and good thoughts at the end

Yeah Zheng’s ships got blown up but they seemed to still be on the water. Did they even try to fix them up and make them seaworthy again? Healing people?

During the fight where Stede and Ed reunite and Zheng is there I got a bad feeling that she was starting to replace Izzy as the “swordsman” character and I thought of how Auntie is acting an awful lot like how Izzy was developing when she was trying to be more encouraging to Zheng to be herself

If they were gonna have Izzy get gut shot I wanted more significance to it, maybe it’s over the only wound he has from being stabbed “in the right bits” and it was from Ed? Or smtg like that

Izzy’s death scene was way too short and no one was sad enough for me

Genuinely ridiculous for Ricky’s character to be faster on the draw than Izzy with a literal knife against his back

We never found out what happened to Ed’s red silk scrap and that was a bummer

Did the only person to acknowledge Izzy’s infamy really have to be Ricky? Give Izzy more respect from more people

Idk if this was on purpose, probably was, but the way Ricky was treating Jackie felt racially motivated to me. It’s rare the show gets explicit about that, mostly just in season one when that one officer called Roach a slave and got killed for it. It felt, like Izzy’s death, unnecessary, considering how much of this show is about joy and seems to dance nimbly around the discrimination that would have existed in that time period. Pick a lane. Is the world gonna have racism and discrimination or not? Because having just tiny moments feels out of place.

When something like “we get poison training in this family” exists why kill Izzy

Really I’m just pissed about that, he means a ton to me and to a lot of other people too. Con was the first celebrity I got to meet in person and hug and talk to. Ok the numbness is wearing off now I’m sad

Still waiting on Sam Bellamy to show up in this show

Not sure I love Izzy calling Ricky a cunt. I mean, I know I’m somewhat prescribing American sensibilities onto British language and that it seems like splitting hairs when Izzy has been calling everyone twat from the beginning but while I know this show is mostly about men being queer I wouldn’t mind less gendered insults against women

Izzy still never got a proper apology from Ed and that’s bugging me

Did Zheng not say she’d need Ed and Stede? How did they go from that to the two of them being inn keepers? Just odd and jolting

When did Ed and Stede take possession of that house where they buried Izzy?

Did the bird landing on Izzy’s grave symbolize Olivia or Buttons and are they implying that sea witch magic is gonna bring him back? Confusion symbols

The Happy/Neutral stuff:

“Finding family to kill for” - fuck me up Izzy that’s so sweet

“Being a part of something bigger than yourself” “the crew” “you have family all around you and they love you” dammit Izzy this is supposed to be the happy section

Auntie is my love she’s so good

This episode had all the slow motion badassery of my dreams

I totally knew Ed was gonna dive for his leathers, idk how I knew but I totally did

Ed reverting to a violent version of himself on the rejection of “pop-pop” is totally analogous to Ed turning to a life of piracy after killing his father and the fact that Stede’s letter/Stede’s love has always brought him out of that killing phase is beautiful to me

I had forgotten about the messages in bottles and that genuinely cracked me up

Finally we get to see the characters be really really cool. Like we’ve seen them be silly and incompetent but it’s refreshing and exciting to see them be genuinely awesome, makes me feel an odd sort of pride

Love that Zheng remained relevant for the whole season and wasn’t a one-off

I could literally feel the passion in Con’s voice talking about how the pirate spirit will survive I guarantee he was picturing himself giving a speech about queerness because the wording and delivery was very reminiscent of his commentary during conventions and especially the “vote the fuckers out” speech

Archie/Jim kiss wahoo we love to see it

Jim should wear a tricorn hat forever they looked so good

I am genuinely having difficulty remembering so many of the good parts because I’m so sad

I’m glad Ed said I love you first, it was beautifully delivered, that frigging Star Wars reference Stede you fucker

Lucius/Pete marriage fuck yeah

Wedding questions asked by the crew? Beautiful

Mateys - yeah Matelotage is a little clunky of a word to say without a french accent this is a good medium

Ok I legit can’t think of anything else I’m gonna see if I can get in a good cry before work in the morning sorry guys

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #ofmdspoilers #ofmd season two #ofmd season 2 #ofmd season finale #ofmd season two spoilers #our flag means death #our flag means death spoilers

16 notes · View notes

perpetualcontrolleddrowning · 6 months

Text

Blackbonnet Soulmate AU - Part 18

The Nettles in the Garden Don’t Go Away

JRaylin441

Summary: Stede goes back to Barbados

Ed goes back to The Revenge

Content Warnings: dissociation (as always), panic, alcohol use as a way to manage emotions, one scene where a character is drunk, a mention of a character being high

Read on AO3 (x)

Read Part Seventeen Here (x)

Stede spends the entire trip back home alternating between shaking panic that locks his limbs like a puppet and blank, raging snowstorms. Blizzards that white out sight completely and dampen any and every noise.

He’s back in Barbados. How did he get here? He doesn’t know. Can’t remember. His eyes are scratchy and aching from all the time he was supposed to be sleeping and instead spent crying.

He’s on the stoop of his old house. How did he get here? Impossible to know. Time doesn’t exist. He is using muscle memory to step over the creaking board on the porch. He is a completely different man than the one who left here a century ago. A few months. A single breath. A thousand lifetimes. The snow is silent, but so loudly silent that it dampens every sensation of the world around him.

He is standing in the entryway, staring down Mary. How did he get here? Well that’s simple. All he had to do was run as fast as he could away from every single thing that ever made him feel alive, before he could do what he always does and ruin everything.

Better to go back to where everyone else thinks he should be. Stede has tried trusting himself and following after his own desires and whims and it has led to this nightmare. An abandoned family, a ruined legend, arrests and a shaved beard and a crew left alone after being boarded by the English.

He must not have tried hard enough, before. If this truly is what everyone else has been saying he needs, what everyone else agrees is right for him, then Stede is done watching the aftershocks of his attempts to fight it. He’s back. He’s going to coat himself in ice and shove all the too-much parts of himself into that tiny little box, and he’s going to do it fucking right this time. There’s nothing else for him to do.

“I’m home,” he says, at the loudest volume he can muster up, which really isn’t much of anything, is it, Baby Bonnet?

Mary stares at him, trembling, until the teacup falls from her hand and shatters, wet and jagged, across the sitting room floor.

Me too, thinks Stede.

And then he goes upstairs, washes himself, shaves off several days’ travel’s worth of stubble. He goes to the closet, still packed with the endless clothing he wasn’t able to take with him. It’s been moved to the back of the closet, behind all of Mary’s things.

He puts on the old clothing. The soft fabrics cut his hands. He is picking up the pieces of himself and trying to put them back together into an old shape. His hands are wet and bleeding.

Stede Bonnet. The full name, always. The family name, always.

*~*~*

Ed’s been upset before, okay? He’s done this shit a thousand times for a thousand different reasons. Something about this is different. Instead of the whip-crack shatter and fight-back, it feels like some part of him crumpled in on itself. The supports collapsed and lost all structural fucking integrity. There’s nowhere to lean, not even long enough to get the leverage to throw a punch.

He keeps stepping, trying to catch his balance, but the floor is never quite where he’s expecting it to be, and he has to adjust before anything else can happen.

He makes it back to the ship.

Izzy is there. Sure.

He makes his way to the old cabins. Stede’s cabins. Their cabins. Ed’s now, really, if you think about it.

Ed goes into Stede’s cabins and sits quietly down on the couch.

He loses time, for a little bit, there. Probably forgets to blink. Not sure he thinks of anything. He realizes, after some unknown wait, that Izzy must have come and gone, because there is a bottle of rum on the coffee table next to a cold cup of tea.

Ed realizes that he is waiting for something. His whole body is an empty cavern, every muscle tense.

It’s the beast. That’s what he’s waiting for. In every situation even mildly similar to this, any time Ed feels even remotely hurt or threatened, all he has to do is step away from the controls of his body and trust himself to rain down violence and rage until he’s forgotten every reason he was upset in the first place. Until he’s chased everyone so far away that they’re not within line of sight when he breaks down.

But.

The beast isn’t here. There is just some young, crumpled-child part of Ed. An open wound, sitting vulnerable and visible on the couch in the room of a man who left him.

The paranoia strikes, blindsiding and white-hot. If the violence and rage aren’t here, then what’s protecting Blackbeard from people seeing him? If the beast won’t come to drive anyone away, then they could see him. They could see him. They could see him like this.

And that would be. That would be bad. That can’t happen.

This grasping, child part of Ed wants something soft. Wants to hide under beds and beneath blankets. And sure, what the fuck. Anything to quiet this raw-nerve panic.

Ed builds a space, using the books to weigh down blankets and the curving walls as structural supports. A blanket fort. Something close and warm and soft. Something that will hide this strange new version of him from sight.

Fuck, but what the fuck is happening to him. What did Stede Bonnet do to him? It was just a month or two, and that fancy, rich fucking white man came in and ripped away every defense Ed has ever had. What is he supposed to do now? Now that even the life he had before Stede Bonnet is so far out of reach?

Ed doesn’t know. He doesn’t know the fucking answer to any one of those fucking questions. His muscle memory calls for him to smash the bottle of rum against the wall, but he forgot to grab it when he climbed into his blanket fort and he doesn’t want to leave and risk the exposure it would take to get it.

Instead.

Instead, Ed turns his face into the pillow he’s laying on.

Instead, Ed finds himself crying for the first time in. The first time in? Fuck, but he has no idea if he’s ever fucking cried in his fucking life. He must have when he was little and shit, but he can’t think of a single fucking reason he would have.

It’s not a pleasant feeling. The tears are sneaky little fuckers. They slip out one at a time at first, foot in the door. There’s a gasping, awful feeling in his throat, like someone reached right through the skin of his neck and started to wrap their fist directly around his windpipe. His breath is coming in strangled and panting. Exhaled into the pillow, it’s hard to get enough oxygen, and the fabric just reflects it back to him, body-warm, so that now his face is hot and now he’s sweating or are those fucking tears because the motherfuckers have been intensifying their assault on his eyes while he wasn’t paying attention, and now his whole face is wet and his nose is dripping and his body is all twisted and curled up on itself, wrapping around the broken-animal-bone center of him while horrible, choking noises wrack through him.

And it’s about Stede. Of course it’s about Stede. He keeps raking his claws through all the old memories: laughing on deck, hearing the stupid ridiculous voices he put on while reading stories, the agonizing joy of Stede shoving him up against a wall and holding him there, the soft touch of his hand to Ed’s cheek while laying in a bathtub (and oh, fuck, he’d kind of been crying then, hadn’t he, but it wasn’t like this wasn’t like this wasn’t anything like this why is it always Stede and crying), the firm guidance of Stede’s body against his while he taught Ed to waltz in this very room.

The memories cut with agonizing sharpness, but it doesn’t fucking stop there. Just like the sneaky motherfucking tears, it’s like every awful thing that ever happened has just been waiting there, under lock and key, waiting for Ed to show the slightest hint of vulnerability. Because it’s about Stede, obviously, but it’s also about bleeding almost to death on the beach of Blind Man’s Cove while watching Jack walk away. It’s about the sound of a plate smashing against the wall of his childhood home. It’s Hornigold stabbing him in the gut and chucking him over the side of the ship. It’s the feeling of a salt-wet rope burning against his hands and the look his mother gave him when she realized.

It’s about Stede Bonnet and also about everything else, obviously. It’s about the fact that Ed can’t remember the last time he cried. It’s about the fact that his face is too hot and the pillow is wet with snot and sweat and tears. It’s about the fact that he had to build this blanket fort all alone, and that no one else is going to be here beside him.

*~*~*

Stede Bonnet, landed gentry, makes his way down to a lovely dinner. He sits up straight at the head of the dining room table. He smiles and remains calm and unruffled while his children yell at him, forget him, leave. Mary is furious, clearly, but they’re all here at this table. They are all playing their parts. They’re all going to keep playing their parts if Stede has to drag them through it day after day after day after day after day after day after day after-

It’s night. Stede stands up from the table and goes to his office to check on the estate. He drinks a finger of whiskey from a cut-crystal glass (this really is the perfect brandystop) and looks over the state of things. After an hour or so, he stands up, lights a candle, and goes to complete his evening toilette.

Mary is getting ready for bed too, and they bump into each other a few times while trying to remember the ways they used to move in this routine.

They climb into bed together. Both of them are out of practice sleeping next to another person. There is more bumping and kicking. Neither one of them speaks.

Stede rests his head on the pillow. His jaw is clenched tight, he realizes, to the point of a radiating ache through his entire head. He relaxes it consciously, and then again a few minutes later.

Eventually, he sleeps.

*~*~*

Ed must fall asleep. He wakes up feeling blasted clean like the hull of a barnacle-scrubbed ship. Empty and floaty again. His eyes are crusty and his head aches like a hangover without any of the alcohol for explanation.

He’s waiting for the beast to arrive, give him some reason to emerge from his safe blanket fort, but it’s still absent. It’s just Ed, alone and open-wound raw, laying on a pillow gone cold and damp over the course of his sleep.

How long was he out? Was this a nap or a whole-night sleep? Or even longer? It’s been days and days since Ed actually properly slept through the night, and there’s no one he trusts enough to let in on the fact that he is completely out of touch with time now. Can’t even see if the sun is up through all the thick cushions and blankets.

Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe he just needs his little candle in here and something to eat. There is something pure, in the wake of all that crying and sleeping. Ed still feels the broken-animal-bone parts of him on display, but it’s less terrifying, for some reason. Like he purged all the fear with the tears last night.

He needs to get a hold of his thoughts, but they’re all jumbled up and smeared from his crying. Out of reach and still pressing against him. He needs to get them out. He’ll die before he gets up off the floor.

There’s a rustle. The sound of a plate being set down outside the blue cushion and a deep sighing exhale that can only belong to his first mate.

“Izzy,” Ed hisses. He doesn’t mean to hiss it, but his vocal chords are ravaged by tears and dehydration and sleep, so it comes out that way anyway.

A cough, clearing of the throat, then “Ye-, yes, captain?” It’s Hesitant Izzy, come to visit, not sure which version of Blackbeard he’s going to be met with and ready for anything. Defaulting to obedience until Ed gives him a signal otherwise.

“Bring me the boy, the one who can write. And some marmalade, from the kitchen. There’s huge jars of it. Orange stuff.”

And Izzy does, because Ed can always count on Izzy to follow instructions while he waits to figure out the lay of the land. The marmalade is sweet and tangy on Ed’s tongue and the candle he brought in smells faintly of lavender. It feels like that first morning after the lighthouse, wiped clean in the morning sun, the radiance beaming off of Stede, the warmth of bread and orange marmalade on his tongue.

And it hurts, of course it still hurts. But it’s all hidden behind that buzzing layer of cottony dehydration that he woke up with. So Ed is left turning over rocks in his mind, unearthing new layers of memory and things that he’ll never be able to experience again without thinking of him.

The boy arrives, with that damned notebook that landed them in so much trouble and that saved Stede’s life. And now it’s still here and Ed’s still here, both of them chronicles of Stede Bonnet, left behind and pointless.

Lucius talks, and then Ed talks, and somehow this all ends up with Ed crying again, raw nerve exposed, while a member of the beautiful crew that Stede built listens. It should hurt, it should be terrifying, and it is, it feels like falling, like dying, but

But

But this is all so different. There is something so fucking different about this ship, and the way it has always made space for Blackbeard to just be Ed, from the moment he met Stede. The way that every single pirate on this ship is so incredibly fucking awful at piracy and somehow they’re all still alive anyway. And Ed is hurting, he’s flayed open, he took a risk and was left behind again. He’s left behind every time. People will leave when Ed shows them his true self, and the world proves it to him over and over. People will leave and people did leave, that did happen.

But

The crew is still here. Luicus sits with Ed on the floor of the blanket fort and works to tweak the lyrics and come up with a melody for hours. He leaves and brings Frenchie back and Ed’s still flopped on his pillow, eating marmalade by hand out of the jar, and they all work together to put the lyrics to music and no one is laughing and Frenchie is clearly on edge and so is Lucius

But

Ed can remember the isolation of his first weeks on Hornigold’s crew. He remembers laying in his cabin, staring at the stars through a porthole and making up constellations alone because no one else could see the world the way he could see it.

And maybe it’s a long fucking shot, but it seems like a lot of the people on this ship have been through the same thing. And that they all are kind of just letting each other exist while they’re here. And yeah, Stede was batshit for a whole lot of the fancy shit, but this was the craziest part of it all. This crew that he insisted be family and come together and support each other and the way that they did.

Ed’s not a part of that group. He hasn’t let himself be. He hasn’t wanted to be, too focused on doing everything he can to catch and hold Stede’s attention. But he’s been here, nearby, and maybe

Maybe

Fucking maybe

He could reach out and take it. Maybe he’s going to keep waiting for the beast to arrive and take over but it never will and he can just be Ed, just Ed, an open nerve full of broken-animal-bone parts. Maye he doesn’t have to lug around the fucking keelhauling weight of Blackbeard.

Maybe

*~*~*

It’s harder than he thought it would be, fitting back into a box after giving himself so much time outside of it. Stede hadn’t noticed, before, just how much effort it took. Mainly because he had never had a single moment of his life when he wasn’t exerting that effort.

It’s a muscle that atrophied with disuse.

Mary and the children have a schedule now. They operate as a self-contained system. Stede wakes up, falls on the ground, doesn’t have his land legs. Makes his way downstairs anyway. Eats breakfast while Mary, Louis, and Alma all sit on the other end and debate what the best game to play later today would be.

Stede sits silently. His father was always silent too. It is fine for the children and mother to speak while the father remains distant.

They depart for their days. Louis and Alma off to a playgroup Mary apparently put them in. Mary to? Do something? Stede wasn’t listening, if there was anything she said. He lost his focus when he realized there was no marmalade with his breakfast. He took it all with him when he left, and they must not have ordered any more after his departure. He can’t eat the dry toasted bread without it.

None of them are talking to him. Not that they did before. Not that anyone has ever actually taken the time to listen to him when he wants to speak (Edward didstop).

Stede walks to the office again, but he already discovered last night that Mary, or someone she may have hired, has been staying quite on top of all the management of the estate. Doing a better than Stede ever did, certainly.

Stede is left at loose ends. The family is running without him. There’s a painting in the hall with him removed. Painted over and blacked out. His favorite decorations have been taken down and replaced with tasteful pieces, probably chosen by Mary. Stede realizes that he doesn’t have a good enough sense of her decorating taste to know for sure if she picked them or had someone else do it for her.

There is a wall in the living room that is entirely decorated by sheets of paper, covered in paint and graphite and wax and colored pencil. Clearly made by some combination of three or four individuals, each with their own style and varying levels of fine motor control.

It’s beautiful. It’s more color than Stede has ever seen in this house.

It is nothing that ever would have been here before. Because this isn’t Stede’s house anymore. He has been carefully and efficiently edited out of the building. Every touch of Stede Bonnet has been removed. All that remains is Mary and the children. Potentially even this mysterious Doug character.

This isn’t Stede’s house anymore.

But that won’t stand. This is what everyone wants from him. He’s been screaming for years that this is all wrong, but no one ever backed down. Just that endless, unrelenting pressure to fit himself into this role.

This isn’t Stede’s house anymore. And that’s too bad. Because it means he’s got quite a bit of work ahead of him.

Stede Bonnet is back. He is going to be the husband, father, and landowner that everyone always tried to turn him into. That is what they all asked for. That is what they are going to get.

*~*~*

It’s fucking terrifying. It’s genuinely so fucking scary to put on that soft red robe, to stand in front of the crew of The Revenge with no beard at all and sing the song he wrote. To actually fucking stand there, yelling out his open wound, and trust that Stede Bonne built something that would be kind to him.

And, fuck him sideways with a rusty fucking hook, but it actually goes well. Everyone listens, and they clap. They’re kind, and Ed was vulnerable, just Ed, and they seemed to like it. They’re listening to him. He wants to have a talent show and that’s the kind of shit that Izzy would have shot down before a sniff of it ever made it to the crew, but they’re all bouncing around like it’s just as exciting to them as it is to Ed.

Fuck. Fuck. Maybe Stede left. Well, Stede did leave, that definitely did happen. And maybe Ed will never know why. Or what chased him away (as if it isn’t obvious). But he left this behind, this group of people that actually fucking like each other. That actually fucking like Ed, and it’s fucking his head in. What the fuck. This shouldn’t be possible but it is.

Ed feels…lit up inside. Like there’s something warm and bright behind his breastbone. Like he wants to chase this feeling chase this feeling chase this feeling. There is still something good here. There is something salvageable here. Fuck, but who knew the world was actually capable of being like this.

Stede Bonnet, that’s who. That’s the man who stood up and made it like this. And just because he’s gone now doesn’t mean that they can’t take what he built and run with it. Maybe that’s the point of soulmates. Not to stick around, but to change things. Make life more liveable when they inevitably leave.

All of them, a crew still captained by Stede Bonnet, even when he’s gone and moved on to bigger and better things.

*~*~*

It would be easier, all of it would be so much easier, if Mary would just go along with it.

Stede is here. He’s here, isn’t he? He’s back. He came back to this coffin everyone wants him to live inside. He’s going to be a lighthouse for his family. He’s going to sleep in the same bed as Mary every night until one day he dies from old age and is buried under that headstone he already has waiting in storage.

He’s here. Every muscle is locked down tight, straining to keep himself contained within this tiny, restricted box. He is smothering any chance of light or fire inside him. The coals have gone damp and white-crusted. He is playing the part.

So why is Mary making it so difficult? Sticking to her new schedule, painting her pictures, calling herself the Widow Bonnet, having the art show. She is furious, spitting mad, telling him that he chose to un-abandon his family on a whim, as if Stede hasn’t been agonizing over it and building to it and running from it from the moment he left.

And Doug. Doug. Oh, Doug. The thorn in his side. The rock in his fucking shoe. This man, this painting teacher, who shows up one day while he’s gone and simply? Seduces his wife? As if it would ever be proper to do something like that so soon after the supposed death of a husband. Mary might have been grieving! The children could have been confused.

Doug, who smiles so nicely and compliments Mary’s paintings and plays with the children. Every time Stede looks at him, he can hear Louis in his head. Isn’t Doug my father? As if it were that easy to forget Stede.

No one wants to hear about his travels. His trips. He gets the schedule wrong and ends up the only one at dinner. Just him sitting alone at an empty table, staring down at his food, refusing to think about or look at any of the emotions screaming within him for too long. Struggling to eat at all when the things that make food easier for him are left out at sea, along with every other good thing.

In a moment of weakness, he imagines Ed at the other end of the table. Eagerly eating the food, practicing his table manners, laughing when Stede does or says something improper. Ed, who would listen when he spoke of his day and who would have all kinds of wonderful stories to share in return. Ed, who always listened. Ed, who was his soulmate. Ed, who kissed himNO

No. He can’t think about that. Back in the box. He has to take all his memories of Ed and bury them out in the snow or this will never end. It’s dangerous, in a life like this, to be holding onto things that make you seem out of place.

Instead, Stede is going to eat his dinner. He is going to spend time in the office, reacquainting himself with the estate and preparing to take it back over. He is going to make Mary talk to him at breakfast and he is going to learn what the children’s new schedules are.

He is Stede Bonnet. Wealthy landowner with a head caked in snow. This is not his home, but he is going to live here anyway. He is going to break himself down smaller and smaller until there is nothing more he can infect with his existence.

And he’s going to drag Mary with him. It’s not as though he can ruin things between them any more than he already has.

*~*~*

It was only a matter of time, really. Ed stood there, in the red robe, with his wounds on display, and he sang a song. He left Blackbeard behind. He took one strong, solid step toward trying to figure out what it would mean to keep being Ed, one of Blackbeard’s crew but free from all the everlasting pressure.

It was only a matter of time.

Because here is how it works: Blackbeard is a two-man show. Sure, Ed’s Blackbeard. He’s got the black fucking beard (or at least, had it) and he’s got the leather and the swagger and the chaotic temper that sets ships aflame. But it’s Izzy, too. They built this legend together, brick by brick after Ed scooped him up off a nothing fucking island, hijacked his boat, and commandeered his fucking life.

Ed’s the face of Blackbeard. But Izzy’s the driving force. Izzy’s what gets him out of bed and on the deck, making an appearance when every part of Ed’s body feels weighed down by bricks for no good reason. Izzy’s the one that makes sure he remembers to fucking eat and who sewed up almost every stab wound he’d gotten in the past two decades. He’s the reason Ed’s still walking around and he’s the one that grabs Ed by the hair and drags him into the next responsibility before it all falls to hell in a handbasket.

It was only a matter of time.

Because Ed stood on the deck of that ship and tried to throw away Blackbeard. This is not the first time Ed has tried to do something like this. This is not the first time he’s made some dumbass choice to try and run and leave it all behind. It’s Ed’s job to bring the unpredictable violence, emphasis on the unpredictable.

But it’s always been Izzy’s job to tailor that crazy into a legend.

He’s got a drawing in his hand, that ridiculous pirate-vampire-viking fucking bullshit, but he’s waving it around, because that’s the legend they fucking built their lives around. It’s Izzy, and he’s red-faced and spitting mad. He’s talking, and every word is ripping away at that washed-clean cotton protecting Ed from himself. Every word is showing him just how flimsy an effort this all fucking was.

It’s all noise, it’s all destructive noise, and then it’s some namby-pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend and there it fucking is. There’s the fucking beast that Ed had almost stopped waiting for. There it is, roaring to life with blood between its teeth. Ed has been an open wound, an exposed nerve, and people have been letting him be until Izzy just walked up and stabbed a knife in the center and twisted and this is what the beast was fucking made for. This is what Ed was made for. Izzy jabs and Ed snarls and the beast lunges for the throat and Blackbeard is slamming Izzy up against the wall.

There it is.

There he is.

“Blackbeard is my captain. I. Serve. Blackbeard. Not Edward. Edward better watch his fucking step.”

*~*~*

It was only a matter of time.

Stede goes and gets a drink. Why not? There’s nothing else for him to be doing right now. This is what wealthy landowners can do during the day. His estate is running itself. His children and wife are happier without any of his involvement.

He gets a drink, and he runs into some of the other wealthy landowners with nothing to do during the day. God, but is this what it will be forever? There’s no life. No joy. No adventure.

And it’s fine. It’s all fine. Take that emotion and choke it in the snow until it learns to leave you alone.

They want to hear about his adventures. It’s nice until it isn’t, because they don’t actually want to hear about the adventures, do they? They’re not interested in Stede’s life or his experiences. What they want is a good story. They want to think about what life could have been, if everything was nice and happy and going according to plan. They want Stede to tell them that he had a grand old time, much like a vacation, drank and fought and sailed, and then returned home. Refreshed and rested and ready to live out the rest of his days with a newly discovered appreciation.

They buy him drinks. They buy him lots of drinks, and the drinking works better even than the snow, and Stede has played this game before. He knows what it is to have a group ask about you while rejecting any true answer you could give.

Stede wedges himself into the box. He takes his drunken, loosened tongue, and tells them a story like a vacation, and everyone laughs and no one was hurt and Stede is going to reach down his throat and rip his heart out, bloody and beating. He’ll set it on the table and let them pick it apart next. Let them tell him which parts to trim and change and alter. He’ll do it. He’ll do whatever it’s going to take to fit back into this box he never managed to fit into in the first place.

They buy him even more drinks. Stede lies and lies and slips up and watches the table go silent because Baby Bonnet went too far again. And then he lies some more until they are all smiling again and buying him more drinks.

It was only a matter of time.

He makes his stumbling, hiccupping way over to Mary’s art show. There is a part of him that knows he probably shouldn’t go in this state, but he is her husband and she is his wife and so he is going to go to her art show.

He’s not sure how it happens. Stede’s been talking about piracy all night, and he’s been carefully editing around all the crass bits, which really ended up being almost all of it, and now he’s brimming with it. All the unsaid parts. All the parts he can’t say out loud here. The crying panic after a kill and the desperate breathlessness of a raid and the feeling of holding every single bit of Blackbeard’s attention. The brush of a beard against your skin. The burning sting of a sunburn that slowly fades into the leather of well-tanned skin.

And Ed. Ed, not Blackbeard. Absolutely lovely. With stars in his eyes and hair and beard and battle-roughened hands so soft around Stede’s as they taught him to defend himself. As they danced together. As they drank and laughed and read late into the night. The way you could see his smile better from the crinkles at the corners of his eyes rather than from watching his mouth. The way that Stede had watched both his eyes and mouth closely enough to determine that for sure. The way that Ed had smiled often enough to determine that for sure.

It’s all boiling up inside him, but no one wants to hear that part of things, and it’s fine, because he’s drunk as a skunk and snowy on top of that. It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine.

And then Doug walks up behind him. Touches his shoulder. And then Doug isn’t touching him, because Stede has him pinned on the table with a cheese knife to his throat.

He’s trying to fit in the box. He really is. You wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at him, but, then, you never could, could you?

He pins Doug to the table and everyone is staring and he lets him go and tries to cover it up but most of the damage is already done.

It was only a matter of time.

He tries to explain some parts of it to Mary as they get ready for bed. How he drank too much. How it’s all spilling out. How he’s furious with her for not pausing time while he was away. For making it so hard for him to come back when he’s already had to burn every good thing he had and salt the earth behind him. How he forgives her, for sleeping with Doug.

He probably doesn’t do a very good job of it. He’s apologizing but he’s snowy and drunk and spiraling over how terribly this has all gone and reminiscing about how much easier this all was before he’d ever had a taste of anything better and-

It was only a matter of time.

When he wakes up to Mary crouched over him, trying to kill him, he really can’t even blame her.

*~*~*

It’s all fucking Stede fucking Bonnet’s fucking fault. It’s the breakdown that’s been waiting in the background. He’s cried, sure, but here is the fucking noise, finally. The rage and the boiling fury and the black-out pounding of his blood in his ears.

Because, what? Did he think he was going to build a new life on the sea with a bunch of failure pirates? In a world that looks at people like them and kills them the instant they let their guard down?

That is what would happen, if he kept down this road. Without a doubt. Ed could live as an open wound for a few days, but the whole point of Blackbeard is that he’s what Ed needs to survive. Stede Bonnet built this happy fucking fantasy of a boat and even he didn’t stick around to see how it all played out.

He didn’t even stick around to say why he was fucking leaving. Just. Fucking. Cut. And. Run. Leaving Blackbeard standing on that motherfucking pier with his dick in his fucking hand, just waiting like the idiot he was turning into.

Fuck that.

Fuck that but he’s not fucking falling for this shit again. Never a-fucking-gain. Blackbeard killed his father and disgusted his mother, was kicked out of every crew he tried to be a part of until he built his own fucking crew from the ground up. Fuck Stede Bonnet for trying to come in and comment on any of it. Trying to change any of this shit, as if that was ever something that would work. As if he wouldn’t have died a thousand times over if Blackbeard hadn’t been right fucking behind him and protecting him with all the violence he refused to fucking see.

He needs to move. He needs to get up and fucking move, just to let some of this snarling fury out.

Blackbeard stomps his way down to the figurehead in his big fuckoff boots, just to rile the beast up that little bit more. It doesn’t need the help. The beast is a rabid, livid pulse of fury that is gnawing on the bones of Blckbeard’s chest just to have something to destroy.

Something to destroy. Something to fucking destroy. That’s a fucking idea. Blackbeard’s got a few things on him to destroy. A few things to ruin in his wake.

Did Stede think he could just walk away from all of this and it would all be okay? Everyone could still keep playing happy family without him? He can leave the crew and all his beautiful fucking things and they’ll all just sit here waiting patiently for him to come fucking back?

Well fuck that. Fuck every motherfucking part of that. Blackbeard’s not fucking playing. He wants to tear the skin off his own body. He wants to burn this red fucking gown he’s wearing. He wants to take the fucking handkerchief and shove it down Stede’s throat until he chokes. See if he can make it beautiful then. See if he can do anything but choke on the unwanted fucking albatross of a soul gift that started it fucking all.

Blackbeard reaches into the inner pocket of the gown, where he’s been keeping the silk handkerchief body-warm and soft against his breast. Rips it out into the open, so it can flap in the wind like the pathetic, tattered and ragged thing that it is. Stronger than it fucking looks. Bull fucking shit. Blackbeard would rip it to shreds with his teeth, if he could.

He wants to give it back. He wants Stede to take the stupid fucking thing back, along with all his other fucking useless soulmate fucking gifts. He doesn’t want to think about Stede ever again, and he wants Stede, wherever he fucking is, to have to haul the weight of all of it around for the rest of his fucking life.

He’s going to throw the damn thing over the side of the ship. He wants to give it fucking back, but letting it be destroyed by the ocean could be a close second. Let it rot in the sea water, stain and spoil. Silk should have known better than to be so fragile and breakable.

He wants to give it back. If Stede were here, he would throw it in his fucking face and walk away without a fucking word. He would give it back, give it back, give it-

The silk, clinging on the very tip of his fingers before slipping into the ocean below, vanishes.

It doesn’t blow away so quickly, or fall so that Blackbeard can no longer see it. It vanishes. One moment, there is a red silk handkerchief clinging to the end of his fingers, and then it disappears.

Which.

Oh fuck that.

Fuuuuuuck that.

Blackbeard stares, dead, at the space where he tried to throw away the silk. Where he tried to get rid of the silk and instead ended up sending it to motherfucking Stede Bonnet. Because why not. Why shouldn’t he rob Blackbeard of even this catharsis. Why the fuck not. It’s unfinished. It’s jarring.

It’s the last fucking straw.

The beast rears up within him, and it’s too big, it’s too big for his fucking chest, and then it isn’t in his chest anymore. It’s ripped a gory hole right through him and emerged into the world.

Ed is no longer in control. He’s deep within himself, leaning exhausted and stricken against his own ribs, and the beast, the Kraken, stands victorious in the sea wind.

Ed rests.

The Kraken, on the other hand, is just getting started. It wanted to throw something over the side of the ship, and Stede Bonnet took away the option to throw the fucking silk.

So it throws Lucius instead.

*~*~*

Stede wakes screaming. Those same automatic fight or flight reflexes that got him into so much trouble this evening try to make an appearance, but he’s all tangled up in blankets and nightgowns and sheets and fabric that he instead manages a horrible strangled wiggle that ends with him spilled out of the bed and collapsed on the floor. The whole time, Mary kneels patiently on the bed, the skewer clasped in her hands and resting on her lap. She is seemingly unconcerned about Stede’s wellbeing as he thrashes up to his feet.

Which, well, it does make sense. Considering the murder attempt and all.

They take a moment for Stede to stand there, panting, staring at Mary while she looks calmly back. When Stede does not seem to be settling down quickly, Mary heaves a laborious sigh and stands. She presses the skewer into Stede’s hand and guides him to sit at the foot of the bed while she paces before the fire.

And finally, slowly, his brain comes back online long enough to gasp out “You were going to stab me!”

Mary is unapologetic. Of course. He’s been an ass since the moment he came home. If he’s being completely honest about things, he’s been an ass from the moment she met him.

They have it out for a bit, but the steam runs out of Stede’s arguments fast. He’s been pushing down all his feelings since the moment he returned, with varying levels of success. But this, waking to his wife trying to murder him, facing the actual true intensity with which he is not wanted here, it strips him bare of all the protective numbness.

And underneath all that snow, it’s not the pain that he was expecting. It’s not the aching sting of rejection that he’s felt his whole life. There’s something warm. What is that? He can’t quite put his finger on what he’s feeling and Mary is speaking again before he can properly examine it.

“We just can’t seem to stop hurting each other, can we?” she asks, as she sits down next to him on the bed. And it should hurt. It should be the same as his conversation with Chauncey, the agonizing terror of someone saying out loud the exact same thing that he’s always been afraid was true.

But it’s not. What is that? It’s boiling up in him and he can’t find a word for it.

“I don’t fit here anymore, do I?” This isn’t Stede’s house anymore, and that fact doesn’t hurt. He doesn’t want the house. “You’ve got your life. Your art. Doug.”

“I am sorry about Doug,” she tries to apologize, as if she ever should for falling in love with someone who actually treats her well while her husband was off playing pirates. As if Stede has any room to judge.

And she is in love. That much is clear to anyone that looks at Mary and Doug in the same room. It doesn’t matter that Mary still has that string tied around her pinky finger and stretching off into nowhere or that Doug has a constantly-morphing mark on the back of his neck. How strange, to have been married to this woman for decades and only now learn what she looks like when she is in love. To only now see the levels of joy and contentment she’s capable of feeling.

“How does it feel? To be in love?”

Mary describes it, but it takes three words before Stede realizes that he didn’t need her to. Love. Mary is in love with Doug. It’s obvious just looking at her. And Stede.

Oh.

Stede is in love with Ed.

Of course he is. Gasoline on faintly-glowing coals.

Of course he’s in love with Ed. How could it be anything other than that, with the way that Ed touches him? Fire roaring to life. With the way that Ed looks at him? Flames against his breastbone. With the way that Ed listens to him? The fire never went out, it just slept and all it took was this. God, of course he’s in love with Ed. How long has that been there? How long has that been the word for what he’s feeling?

Ed. Edward Teach. He is in love with Ed. A bonfire. He is in love with Edward. A radiating heat. He is in love with Captain Blackbeard.

Stede! Stede Bonnet! A soulmate! That can’t be right! Except it is and it’s Ed because there is no one else on the face of the planet that it could possibly be. Because there is no one else Stede could ever want there to be.

“I hope you find that,” Mary says.

“I think I have.”

“Really?” And she’s so happy for him. She really is beautiful, all lit in the firelight like this. Smiling with joy for their individual happinesses. “What’s her name?”

“Ed,” Stede says, and it doesn’t even feel like the leap of faith he was afraid it might, because it doesn’t matter to him how Mary responds to this. He’s not justifying himself or trying to explain or excuse anything. He’s just telling the world about the man he loves. Just telling his wife about the man he is in love with.

Mary hugs him, and even if he wasn’t nervous about her reaction, it’s wonderful to feel that he can talk about this and be met with love and joy. Stede hugs back, holds on tightly, holds her closer than he ever did when they were still pretending to be proper husband and wife.

He holds her and, now, with this deeper understanding of himself, it’s so much easier to look back at that feeling within him and name it. He is not feeling the sting of rejection because he wants to go. He’s not sad or angry or upset. The feeling is burning determination. Because if this is true, if everyone on earth can see that he doesn’t belong here, if he’s in love with Ed and Ed is his soulmate, then what the fuck was he thinking, coming back? Why would he ever bother to even try, when there is the potential for something more?

Ed kissed him and probably waited for him. And Stede ran away. Ed may never want him again. He might think he’s better off without Stede Bonnet in his life. He’s probably right about that. He would definitely be justified to think it.

But Stede isn’t going to let any of this be thrown away until Ed says it to his face.

If there’s a chance, even a snowball’s chance in hell, that Ed might take him back, that he might be able to try this again and do it right, then how could Stede ever make any choice other than to go back?

He’s holding tight to Mary while his head fills with fantasies of swashbuckling his way back to Ed’s side. And then he sees-

Huh.

He sees something red on the bed, where he had flailed his way out of the blankets and crashed to the floor.

And he would assume it was Mary’s if not for the way that his heart thunders in his chest at the sight of it.

“Stede?” Mary questions, because she must have felt his attention wander. Stede could not give less of a shit right now. He lets go, leans as far as he can, stretching over the vast expanse of the white blankets to grasp hold of. Of red silk. Of a red silk handkerchief.

“This is Ed’s,” he says, because it’s the only thought in his head.

“Oh,” Mary says, and she has that same smile she always wore when she was trying to engage in something uninteresting but that Stede was excited about. “Thank you for showing me?”

“No, Mary.” And how can he explain this? How can he put this into words? “This is Ed’s.”

“Yes, you said. I’m glad you brought a keepsake back with you.”

“I didn’t!” And he can’t help it, but his hand is clenched so tight in the silk that its fibers strain and creak. “This, he wouldn’t have given this up easily.” Standing on the deck of The Revenge. The blown-open look of vulnerability while Stede handled the handkerchief. “Something’s wrong.”

“What?” And Mary’s voice is sharp again, the way it always gets when she’s worried Stede might have fucked up in a way that will bother the children.

“Not like that.” Stede slides to the floor, kneels in front of her, grabs her hands. “You’re safe. The children are safe. It’s Ed who might be in trouble. He wouldn’t have sent this if something weren’t wrong.”

“Sent it? Stede, I need you to explain if you want me to understand any of this.”

He presses his forehead to her hands, holds himself there. Somehow, this is worse than confessing his love. Maybe because he still hasn’t figured out where this part of it all fits. Still. She’ll need to know this, to understand everything.

“Ed, Edward, he’s my soulmate.” A quiet gasp above him, but he needs to finish this or he might never say it at all. “He’s my soulmate and I left him to come back here. But I think he’s in trouble and I need to leave. I need to go.”

Mary is silent for a moment before she takes her hands back.

“Well, I knew there would have to be some drama before this was all over. I thought it would be murder, but soulmates work just as well.” Stede can’t help the baffled glance he sends her, and Mary rolls her eyes in response. “Of course you have to leave. That’s all both of us have wanted since you came back.” She stands up, pulls Stede with her. “Go start some coffee and I’ll get Doug. Apparently, we have to make a plan to reunite you and Ed.”

And it’s whiplash, to see this caring, focused side of her. He’s seen it around the children, but never directed at him. How many other ways have they been stifling each other, all these years, trying to play house?

“Really?” he can’t help but ask, because he doesn’t think he’s ever felt like he and Mary were on the same team before.

“Go!” She snaps. “It’s going to be so much easier to make plans to fix your terrible approach to romance now that I’m out of it.”

And so, Stede goes. He brews coffee. And Mary sends for Doug.

*~*~*

Ed is gone. It’s Blackbeard now. It’s the fucking Kraken. Back and better than ever. More than ever before.

It’s easy, like this, to destroy everything he and Stede had built.

He throws away every trusting thing that could have been between him and Izzy. Cuts a fucking toe off. Masochistic freak probably likes it.

Throws the books and trinkets and summer fucking linens overboard. Doesn’t even have to be present for that shit. Let everyone else clear out the main areas. Blackbeard goes right for the secret fucking closet, throwing the clothes out through the little porthole in the private room.

Throws the fucking crew overboard too. Keeps the ones who can cut it and drops everyone too soft to make it through a proper raid. The Kraken doesn’t have time for crewmates that can’t fucking contribute. Because they’re about to raise a lot of hell.

See if anyone can stop them.

*~*~*

Between Mary, Doug, and Stede, they come up with a proper fuckery. There are daring escapes, fights with wild animals, falling instruments, and dramatic apologies. It’s good. It’s really fucking good, and the fire inside Stede is strong, stronger, strongest. It’s too much to hold inside. It’s spilling out of him, out his eyes, out every pore. Because this could work. This could work and, more than anything else before, it’s looking like Stede is going to get to do something he wants without hurting anyone. He might even get to leave it better.

Imagine. Imagine a world where Stede Bonnet gets to run off and be a pirate and not have to carry around an anchor of the guilt of what he’s done to his family. A world where there are others out there who think of him fondly, when they remember him, and are better off for having known him.

He’s beaming, he’s glowing, the fire is raging and burning his innards to a crisp with all this excitement. He gets to have what he wants, and he doesn’t have to hurt anyone to do it. He’s been in freefall his whole life and now, suddenly, there’s the solid thump of his heart landing on its feet.

This is right. This is how he should have left the first time, back when he hadn’t even looked for the possibility, because he didn’t know how to live in a world where embracing his needs as Stede Bonnet wouldn’t leave others hurt.

That’s not to say that others aren’t hurt. Ed’s still out there. His soulmate. The man Stede loves (the man he loves the man he loves the man he loves can you even fucking believe). There is more to be done. More to be fixed, but it seems so much more possible now. With his feet planted firmly on the ground, solid in their location, and this light beaming out from every piece of him.

He could find anyone. He could, maybe, still fix this. If Ed wants it too.

But first:

“It’s like we’re playing pretend,” Alma says, ripping and staining the blue silk beneath her hands.

“That’s right,” Stede adds, feeling like he’s fully present in a conversation with his daughter for the first time in his life. “It’s a secret we have to keep. We’re all going to play pretend that I’ve died, so that I can run away and return to a life of piracy!”

“Are you actually a pirate, though?” Louis interrupts. “Or is that a play pretend too?”

“That part is true,” Stede says, leaning forward to catch the excited sparkle that always came into Louis and Alma’s eyes when they would play pirates. “Out on the sea, they call me the Gentleman Pirate! I have a whole crew that sails with me, on The Revenge!” He puts a little growl on it, just like he always did, back when they were all playing in the living room. There is a sudden feeling of vertigo as Stede realizes that he is actually going to miss this part of family life. Not enough to keep him here, but enough to come back and visit. Enough to think of it fondly.

“And you have a whole crew of scallywags!” Alma adds, in an excited shout that spills some of the pigs blood.

“With swords and eye patches and knives!” Louis jumps in too and Stede is starting to realize the impact he had on these children, and some of the difficult conversations he may have set Mary up to have in the future.

“Knives especially,” Stede emphasizes, and he leans in like he’s telling a secret. Louis and Alma lean in too, eager to share in the secret just like they used to be, and Stede is glowing and God he thought he’d lost this. “In fact, I have one crew member that can hit a fly in the air with a knife without even looking!”

And Stede is planning to leave it at that, except. Except. It might be nothing. It might not mean anything at all, but there are suddenly several memories flashing behind his eyes at once. Stede is split into parts and

One part is looking into the eager glowing eyes of his children and shining with joy at their interest and

One part is looking down at James’s letter, all that time ago, when he was still just a child and didn’t know what he was doing with anything and was suddenly hearing tales of a woman who ran away from her fiance to live on a pirate ship with women who loved women and

One part is thinking about young Stede Bonnet who read romance novels in secret and was chased through the woods by other boys and pelted with rocks and mocked for crying and

One part of him is holding a crying Louis in his lap in a carriage, kicked out of the playdate because he put on makeup and wanted to play dress up and maybe it’s nothing but maybe it isn’t and

One part of him is staring at the place where his escape bag was hidden in the closet, the night of his wedding, panicked and looking for escape and convinced that his father had been the one to find it and take it when in reality it had been his soulmate and he hadn’t even thought of that as an option and

One part of him is thinking of Alma getting kicked out of that same playdate for punching the boy that bullied Louis and maybe it’s nothing at all but

But

“Their name is Jim and they’re the scariest person a villain on the high seas could ever meet! But they’re also kind, and they care a lot about the people that are important to them.” And then, because Stede is good at storytelling but not particularly good at subtlety, he adds “They go by Jim, and they aren’t a man or a woman. They’re just Jim, and they’re a wonderful part of the crew.”

Louis and Alma look a little confused, but they’re still listening, and they’re so young. Maybe it’s nothing. But maybe it’s not. And on that note:

“And I’m not just running away to see my crew, even though I like them very much. I’m also going because I met my soulmate out there.” A woman to fall in love with or a man to befriend. “His name is Ed, and I love him very much, but I think I might have hurt his feelings, and I want to apologize and maybe give him a kiss.”

“Wait, what?” Louis butts in, and Stede worries for a moment that he is going to have all sorts of questions about what it means for a man to love another man and that is the conversation Stede just signed up to have but he’s not sure he’s actually prepared to have it or that he will have any answers for him, seeing as this is all new territory for Stede too.

But no. “You fell in love and you didn’t tell us?” His precious Lois, his heir, the one who cried in his arms so many times. He is accepting this in the way young children sometimes do, when they learn something new and assume it’s because someone just hadn’t explained it to them yet and not because it’s something utterly unheard of. Louis isn’t shocked at the idea of his father with a man. He is shocked at the idea of his father with someone else, and he has thousands of questions about this Ed person.

Alma joins in after just a few, the questions drawing her away from her destruction of clothing. And then it becomes clear that Louis has somehow settled on the idea that, if two people who are married decide not to be married anymore, then they both have to go off and marry a man. So, now Stede and Alma are wrapped up in a conversation about how that’s not quite right, and how some people might never get married again, and some could fall in love with a woman and some a man and some with someone who isn’t either of those things, just like we talked about earlier, with Jim, remember?

And somewhere in the middle of this confusion, Stede realizes that he’s laughing, and the fire has grown out of control (he feels like he’s burning but instead it’s just mirrors upon mirrors inside of him, reflecting and brightening the light back on itself and beaming it out into the darkness and it doesn’t even feel like a candle or a fire anymore. It feels, ha, if feels like a lighthouse), and he looks up and sees Mary, backlit against the entrance to the painting studio. She’s smiling softly and listening quietly as Stede shares all these stories about the different ways he’s learning you can live your life and, when he looks up at her, Mary catches his eye.

She smiles.

And she nods.

*~*~*

Sometimes, at night, Ed manages to creep his way out. The Kraken is drunk and high and exhausted twenty four fucking seven and, when it’s well past midnight and there’s no one around, there’s no point in working so hard to hold it all back.

The Kraken lets Ed escape so he can give a voice to all the emotion he’s choking on and hopefully exhaust himself enough to keep fucking quiet tomorrow.

Ed curls up in the nook by the window, just like he learned to when he was younger. Hidden away, out of anyone’s line of sight or notice. Unobtrusive.

And then he stares at the lighthouse painting, thinks of that first night and the red of the sun on Stede’s hair the next morning. Red sky at morning. And Ed cries until he throws up.

The Kraken shoves him back down. They drink more until they throw up again.

And then they do it all over again.

Beautiful fucking things.

#ofmd #our flag means death #blackbonnet #ofmd ed #edward teach #blackbeard #gentlebeard #stede bonnet #blackbeard x stede #stedward #edward x stede #ofmd fic #soulmate au #my writing #nettles

6 notes · View notes

ninthform · 7 months

Text

i have so many fucking thoughts this is gonna be so disorganized. ofmd spoilers

•ed calling the older fisherman pop pop. ed the babygirl that u are

•also i did feel kind of bad DKJFH ed was so excited to be a fisherman and he was right that guy was a dick

•his transformation back into blackbeard after seeing the destruction and being scared that he lost stede after they separated again. god. also the fucking physics in this show are so funny bc how was the navy dinghy docked right above where his leathers sunk to???

•everyone leave stede alone be nice to him!!!

•also zheng yi sao thinking she lost auntie and just losing all hope :( so glad auntie wwas alive tho i love her

•"and you are... pinocchio?" izzy ur such a fucking bastard. get his ass

•i also wasn't big on the theory that izzy was going to die bc of how much everyone seemed to love him both on the show and within the fandom but the whole buildup this season between his development and ed's journey toward self discovery honestly made it make so much sense. ed really did need to lose him to truly separate from blackbeard - the two of them together were blackbeard and that's why they were so toxic!!

•THE FUCKING BEACH SCENE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. OH MY GOD THE PARALLEL TO STEDE'S DREAM. THE REUNION. THE KISS. "I LOVE YOU" "I KNOW" im fucking. biting and scratching at the wall.

•SOMEONE TELL STEDE HE DID A GOOD JOB also ed calling stede babe omg

•"it's only suicide... if we die" babygirl izzy just got shot

•also stede putting on the naval uniform. WHEW.

•i'm so so fucking glad the crew stayed together. that was one of the things i was most worried about, but i'm glad that the found family got BIGGER!!! spanish jackie and auntie and zheng yi sao joining the revenge!!! the swede is back!!

•i'm so glad they got to retire to their inn omg. but babygirls please find out what that smell was

•buttons landing on izzy's grave. i'm not well

•the episode (and the season as a whole) was VERY rushed but i'm not surprised nor do i blame the crew. they worked with what max gave them and still managed to speedrun some of the best development and writing despite it. i might be biased bc of brainrot but truly the only complaint i have is the pacing which was entirely due to budget cuts and not the writing. if we could've gotten two more episodes i'm positive the pacing would've been so much better

•i like that there are still loose ends and conversations to be had and adventures to go on with the hopes of a renewal, but i also appreciate that they made the ending just satisfying enough that in case we don't get s3, we at least get the ending we got without a huge cliffhanger

#anyway it's 3 am and i'm a wreck actually #like. god.#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers

9 notes · View notes

dragon-kazansky · 7 months

Text

Spirit of the sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

SEASON 2 CONTENT AHEAD!!!

{Masterlist}

{Previous Chapter} - {Next Chapter}

Warnings: Spoilers. Izzy's depression spiral. No real unicorns were harmed in the making of Izzy's new leg. Things get a little steamy at the end.

Chapter Thirteen - Loving touch

♡♡♡

Stede had gathered the crew, minus Izzy, to talk to them all. Turns out Ed woke up. You swore under your breath when you heard that. No way is that man going to be happy with any of you.

"What happened to your face?" Pete asked Stede who was standing to a bruise on his cheek.

"Bet Blackbeard did that, didn't he?" Wee John asks.

"It was an accident. Okay? I think Ed just sat up too quickly," Stede says.

"That's what they all say," Roach states.

"As you know, he's gone through quite the ordeal and he does need to regain his strength," Stede explains.

"Yeah. He'll probably get around to killing you after he's rested," Jim says, looking Stede in the eye.

"Yeah, I'd say it's a pretty obvious mistake letting him get strong again," Lucius points out. You nod.

"Kick him off the ship already!" Jim yells.

"We just don't banish people, do we?" Stede says. "That's not us. Let's give him some time, perhaps to rebound a bit."

"Medically speaking, the man can't speak, and his brain is maybe couscous." Roach points out. "Also, gonna need that steak back. It's dinner."

"Right. Yes, aye."

"Maybe we should put it to the vote," Fang suggests.

"Do we have to do this now?" Stede asks.

The crew start yelling.

♡♡♡

Stede got his answers from the crew, that much was clear enough. As you head out, Stede catches up to you.

"You were awfully quiet in there."

"Don't get me wrong. I agree with them, Ed has to go."

Stede's expression falls.

"I know you like him, but that man... he did things. He hurt people like I've never seen before. He hurt Izzy..."

"Ah yes, Izzy. How is he?" Stede asks.

"He's been better."

"Where is he anyway? I didn't see him in there."

"Drinking probably. He, uh, he's stopped talking to me at the moment. He won't talk to anyone."

Stede frowns again. "He's stopped talking to you?"

"I think it's the constant drinking... It's making him... upset. Like, more than before."

"I see..."

You shrug lightly and sigh. "Look, I'm not looking for sympathy. You're the captain, sort this out."

You walk off. Stede watches you go, his heart feeling heavy. Maybe he could have a word with Izzy for you.

♡♡♡

You sit on deck with the wooden sparrow in your hands. After everything that happened it had survived. Izzy had kept it in his cabin. You had found it when you had gone in there to find him. Izzy was nowhere to be seen, but the sparrow was sitting on his desk. There was a slight chip in the wood, right on the wing, but for the most part it looked good.

You sigh as you run your finger carefully over it's little head. Did Izzy even notice it was gone? Probably not.

"The atmosphere around here sucks," Lucius sighs, sitting down next to you. You notice the cigarette between his fingers, but you don't ask. "What's that?" He nods toward the wooden bird.

"Marietta."

"Marietta?" He looks at you with a funny expression.

"That's what I called it. It was a gift for Izzy from me. I dropped the first one in the sea while I was angry at him... so I remade her." You hold the sparrow up. "She's a little beaten, but still in nest condition."

"You carved him a bird?"

"Look, I can't draw like you can. I can't make sew like Frenchie, or knit like Wee John. I can, however, whittle."

Lucius smiles a little. "I like it."

A moment of silence passes while you play with the bird in your hands a little more.

"So, you and Izzy?"

"So, you and Pete?" You reply, sarcastically.

"We're fine," he says defensively. "What's going on with your boyfriend?"

You raise your eyes to Lucius. "Blackbeard abused him. Punished him. Took his leg. He's a little upset at the moment. Rightfully so."

Lucius stands up a little defensively. "We've all been through shit," he says.

You narrow your eyes at him. "I'm not saying you haven't. We thought you were dead!"

"Well, I wasn't." He puts out his cigarette. "I've suffered too and it's all his fault!" He points to where Blackbeard is tied up on the deck.

"He's fucked everyone over, Lucius. Just need Stede to get his ass in gear and do something about it."

Lucius sighs. "Do you think anything will ever go back to how it was?"

"No," you admit honestly. "But I do believe things can get better. In time."

Lucius says nothing. He glares at Blackbeard and then leaves. You sigh and return to holding the bird, caressing it again gently.

"Oh, Izzy..."

♡♡♡

Stede found Izzy at the front of the ship. He was leaning on some of the rope rigging, his wooden leg propped up on the railing. In his other hand was a bottle of rum, of which he was drinking merrily.

He looked a mess.

Stede offered him a smile as he joined him, ignoring the look Izzy was throwing his way. He means over and notices the unicorn is missing it's head.

"He's seen better days, hasn't he?" Stede asks in a lighthearted manner.

"At least he's still got both legs!" Izzy yells.

"Yes!" Stede joins in. "He can't hear you, he's go no head. You've got a head, though, which you should look after."

Izzy down his rum. Stede sighs.

"What do you want, Bonnet?" Izzy asks, not really in the mood for conversation.

"Well, here's the thing. The crew, they're in a bit of a deadlock over the whole banishment of Ed thing and I just thought, seeing as, well, you were the one who kept his body aboard, maybe you should weigh in. You've already murdered him once. Seems like a pretty good payback." He chuckles softly. "So, what do you think?"

"My vote?" Izzy leans in a little closer to Stede. "A rotten let's got to come off."

"Right. Just to confirm, was that a nay or yay on the banishment?"

Izzy just drinks some more.

"Right... I suppose I just mention that our Spirit of the sea is worried about you. You've stopped talking to them apparently..."

Izzy says nothing.

"Don't push them out, Izzy."

Izzy just drinks from his bottle again. Stede sighs and takes his leave.

♡♡♡

"So! We, the crew of The Revenge, have voted and we've chosen banishment, unfortunately." Frenchie states, announcing the result. "So, yeah. Effective immediately. Your complimentary dinghy awaits you portside. Now leave, please."

"Fuck off," Ed hisses, walking past him. You watch him closely.

"Alright, rude."

"Fuck you," Ed laughs softly, walking past Olu.

"First time I've been on this side of a walk of shame," Wee John comments.

"Way to make this awkward, bruh," Archie says.

"Shitty sailing with you." Jim chimes in.

"You're making it really hard to look up to you, man," Pete sighs.

"Hey, made you this sandwich for the trip," Roach says, holding it out to him. Ed slaps it out of his hand and Stede catches it

"You don't want your sammie?" Stede looks sad.

Ed slaps it out of Stede's hand and it hits Lucius in the face. You have to cover your mouth to stop from laughing. Lucius bites back his laughter too. It really isn't a funny moment, throwing someone off the ship, but at least you can find something to laugh about, you supposed.

"Ed, say something at least."

Ed turns his head and looks at Stede.

"You're not a fuckin' mermaid."

You knit your brows together in confusion by that statement. Stede looked equally confused.

"What?"

Ed climbs off the ship and into the dinghy. Stede looks down and watches him, you and Lucius part with the rest if the crew, not hanging about to watch any longer.

Ed was gone. That was that.

♡♡♡

"Is it me or does the energy around here seem off?" Wee John asked.

"By 'the energy,' do we mean him?" Roach nods over to Lucius who was smiling and freaking out a little. "Or him?" He gestures over to where Izzy is still standing at the front of the ship yelling at the unicorn.

"Well, mythical creature?" Izzy yells. You sigh as you watch him from where you stand. He still wasn't talking to you much. "Anything to say to yourself? Fuck you!"

"Or them?" Roach asks, looking at Jim, Archie, Frenchie, and Fang scrubbing the deck of any "possible" bloodstains left over from where Edward had bled out.

"Do you still see blood?"

"Yeah. We'll get it. Just keep scrubbing."

"They're lookin' this way." Fang says.

You tune out the rest of their conversation to watch your stupid drunk pirate curse at the unicorn some more. If only you could talk to him. He would surely listen to you.

It was breaking your heart to see him fall apart like this. Izzy hadn't held you since you got back onto The Revenge. He was shutting you out, suffering on his own.

You hated it.

You try not to let the tears fall as you walk away, letting Izzy do whatever the fuck he wanted.

♡♡♡

Olu had invited you to join the crew for a surprise. Jim had speculated they were planning to kill you all off for being disturbed after sailing with Blackbeard. You thought it was a bit of a stretch, but you wouldn't put it last them either.

You were all guided below deck where the surprise was.

"You gotta close your 'cause it's a surprise." Olu says.

No one does that, everyone sceptical. Frenchie leads you all behind Olu. You find Pete and Wee John waiting.

"Ta da!"

Wee John moves to reveal the surprise.

The crew all jump and startle, hiding the knives they were all carrying behind their backs incase of an attack.

"Fuck!" Lucius sighs, jumpy enough already.

"Guys, it's called a pine-ata." Pete says.

"Yeah. So, you just pull this string and then--" Olu tries to explain.

"And then you hit it with a stick!" Pete demonstrates.

Everyone is triggered. PTSD from the storm, from Blackbeard.

"Time for blindfolding." Wee John tries.

"Stay the fuck sway from me!" Jim yells.

"You won't want to stay the fuck away from this came!" Roach says, brining the cake in.

You feel your stomach churn at the sight of it. It looks like the wedding cake...

"God's sake, take it away!" Fang screams.

You all draw your weapons. Yeah, even you. This is too much, too soon. This how it ends up at a stand off.

"One-half of this room has some serious emotional damage," Jim explains, holding Wee John in a choke hold. "And it's not us."

"Well, it's not us!" Wee John says back.

You have your knife pointing at Olu.

"Right, so, is everybody else's arms and various limbs getting tired?" Frenchie asks.

"Alright, look, look, look, look. I think there's actually an easier way to resolve this." Olu days, eyeing your knife. "Yes? Right. So you all think that we're plottin' against you?"

"Yeah," you nod.

"Which, in hindsight, maybe was inaccurate." Frenchie says. "I don't know, you tell me."

"Okay. So, can we all agree to just not jump the other crew and solve this as fuckin' adults?" Olu asks.

"You're saying this is like a space that is safe?" Jim asks him.

"Yeah, babe." Olu looks at them.

"I love that."

"A safe space."

"Yeah, okay."

You all lower your knives. You take a deep breath. Nearly lost your cool there.

"A lot has gone unsaid," Roach speaks. "I think now is a great time to discuss lingering issues."

"Yeah, yeah, absolutely." Archie nods. "Can we talk about the fucked-up sleeping arrangements?"

"Excuse me, do you even have a name, new guy?" Wee John asks her.

"Yeah, fuck you is her name." Jim starts, drawing their knife again.

"Hey, stupid name for a person," Roach draw his knife on Jim.

"You know my name is Archie," she point her weapon at Roach.

Everyone draws their weapons again. You sigh and point your knife at Olu again, but he doesn't sense any actual malice from you.

The sound of something thudding against the floor draws everyone's attention to the door. You turn and your heart skips a beat at the sight of Izzy. Two wooden legs at his feet.

"There! It's done!" He yells. "Maybe next time he'll think twice about not doing his fucking--" Izzy's peg leg breaks from under him as he raises his crutch and he falls harshly to the ground.

You gasp and drop your knife, hurrying over to him. He shrugs you off.

"Get off me! Fuck off!"

You sit there on your knees as he rolls over and starts crawling down the hall. Your heart breaks watching him.

"Leave me alone! I'm already gone." He mutters. He starts repeating a phrase over and over again. "You're born alone, you die alone. You're born alone, you die alone."

You can feel tears building up again. God, only Izzy could ever make you cry so much.

"Yeah, he's definitely more disturbed than any of us," Lucius says, watching Izzy go.

You try to hide your teary eyes as you get up and leave.

♡♡♡

You're sat up on deck with yours curled up wiping away the tears that were falling. If only you could get that stupid man to talk to you. You just wound to heal his internal wounds, and soothe his external wounds.

You don't hear the door open, but you do hear footsteps coming over. You turn your face away, but you know it's Fang who is now sitting beside you. He has one of the unicorn legs in his hand.

"You okay?" He asks softly. Fang was a soothing presence.

"Spectacular," you mutter.

He look down at the wooden leg and then back at you.

"We, uh, we had an idea for Izzy."

You wipe your eyes again. "Yeah?"

"We're gonna make him a new leg. You wanna help? It would sure mean a lot if you gave it to him after." Fang smiles.

"You want me to help?"

"I think Izzy would like that, don't you?"

You shrug quietly. "I don't know. He's not exactly talking to me right now."

"Aw, listen. He still loves you. He's just hurting, but maybe we can help. Let's do something good for him."

Fang offers you a small smile.

You find yourself smiling back. You reach over and take the leg from him. "Okay. Let me see what we can do."

Less than 30 minutes later the leg is being constructed, the crew are gathered to help. Fang constructs the leg into a strong, comfortable, and practical leg. Lucius had got some gold paint to add something that little bit extra.

You smile as you paint the leg.

"The gold was a gold touch."

Lucius smiles, happy he could help.

You leave the leg to dry and then Fang returns to your side with it. You sigh as you take it, looking it over.

"We sure it will do?" You ask.

"Its been measured and made just for Izzy. It will more than do. Oh don't forget the note." Fang holds out the parchment.

You take the leg and take the note.

"Right..."

"Just leave it outside his door if he doesn't want to talk. I can assure you he'll talk to you again soon."

You nod and make your way to Izzy's cabin.

♡♡♡

As you approach Izzy's door, you don't hear much. It's almost too quiet for your liking. You hover outside the door, the leg in hand. That's when you hear his voice. He's talking to someone.

"And you? What's your excuse?" You hear him say. You lean a little closer to listen, worried about him. "I mean, what even are you?"

You knock on the door hoping he'll answer.

"Fuck off." You hear him shout. You knock again firmly. "Fuck off!" He yells again.

You sigh. Telling him it was you probably wouldn't make a difference. You prop the leg up but the door, tucking the note and Marietta, Izzy's carved sparrow that you still had, into it.

You knock again and hurry away, disappearing down the hall.

"You are harassing a cripple! Fucking twats!" Izzy yells, no longer realising the person has gone from behind his door. He limps his way over and opens it, looking down the hall.

He sees no one.

His gaze drops down to the item waiting for him. He sees the note and the bird. He reads the note first, all emotion clogging up in his throat.

Those little shits.

He cries. Izzy covers his mouth as tears overwhelm him. He looks up down the hall, trying not to break down.

"Fucking cocksuckers."

He sees the sparrow and picks it up. It's then he realises you had been the one knocking. His finger close around the bird and the tears fall freely.

Shit. He's been really shit to you.

Izzy hold the sparrow against his chest and takes a few deep breaths. He grabs the leg and hobbles back inside his room.

♡♡♡

It's the early hours of the morning.

Izzy stands on deck with his new leg on. It's a good fit. Made really well. His hair is slicked back against his scalp, out of his face. His face is a little cleaner. No rum in sight.

In one hand he's clutching the ring he wears under his clothes, hanging from a string of twine. He smiles as he looks down at it.

In his other hand is the note. His eyes drift over to the words written on it. His heart feels full.

'For the new unicorn.'

Izzy smiles.

With the dawn of a new day comes a new Izzy. A healing Izzy.

He's going to be okay.

No. He'll be more than okay.

He just needs to talk to you first.

♡♡♡

The sun hasn't even risen yet when Izzy wakes you. You've been sleeping with the rest of the crew since Izzy stopped talking to you, so he had to be quiet when waking you. You're startled awake by something hitting your face again and again.

You wake up to find little balls of paper being thrown at you. You look up to see Izzy waving you over. You look at him confused. He wasn't talking to you befkre, and now he wants to?

That's when you notice the leg and your heart begins to race.

You climb out of bed and make your way out of the room, not waking a single person. You follow Izzy into his cabin and enter cautiously. He looks tidier, cleaner, more content.

"Izzy?"

He stands there and looks at you. There are several emotions flickering in his eyes, but he finds his words in no time.

"Thank you."

You stand there awkwardly. "I didn't do anything."

Izzy inhales loud enough for you to hear as he looks down at his leg, his hand resting over his thigh. "You did this."

"It was the crew's idea."

Izzy holds up the sparrow. "I noticed it was gone, but there was only one place it could be."

You nod your head softly.

Izzy puts the sparrow down and walks over to you, closing the distance between you both. You find your heart rate picking up as you look into those beautiful eyes of him.

"I love you," he whispers.

Just like that he's reaching out and kissing you. You're in his arms again. You return his kiss, having missed his lips. Having missed him. You reach out and take hold of him.

The kiss is hot, passionate, desperate. It's significance lies with the fact that you two spend all your time wanting each other, but when you're hurting, you don't reach out for one another.

You remove his scarf, taking the ring around it and carefully placing it down. It belonged to his mother and you know he would definitely curse you if you lost it. You begin to undress him, and he, you.

Clothes land on the floor. The soft thud of his wooden foot taps lightly on the floor as he moves you over to his bed.

Doing this right after the emotional rollercoaster you both has been through probably wasn't the best idea, but this time no one could stop you both, and this was long overdue.

You push Izzy down on the bed and take care of him, admiring him. You notice the other ring around his neck. You had seen it before, but it's origins you hadn't known. He was wearing it last time you did this too.

Still, your mind was focused on other things.

Safe to say, both of you are going to be a little late getting up tomorrow.

♡♡♡

#izzy hands x reader #spirit of the sea #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd 2 #ofmd #dragon writes

114 notes · View notes