Chapter Text
Something cold poked Stede in the face. Rousing him from slumber. His brain took a while to understand what was actually going on. Once he realised it was a gun resting on his cheek he jolted and tried his best to look down the barrel at who was holding the gun at him.
Chauncey Badminton. The man who tried to have him killed. The man who's twin brother he killed.
Stede was going to die. He just knew it.
"Get up!" Chauncey whispered harshly, making it known that Stede had no choice but to follow his lead. Which lead him outside and in the opposite direction of the docks.
Stede could only hope that Ed wouldn't find him dead, that he'd sail off and find the crew and live his life the way he should, without him holding Ed back.
It wouldn't hurt to try and talk some sense into Chauncey though. Stede wasn't going to go down without a fight, even if the fight was a verbal one. "Chauncey, take it from a man with regrets. Think this through!"
"Shut up." He said as he walked Stede further away from the docks and the dorm rooms. "All I've been doing is thinking. And drinking. Drinking and thinking. Do you know what conclusion I've reached? Turn around!" Stede stopped dead, not wanting to face whatever Chauncey was about to do to him but also having no choice in the matter. "Stede Bonnet... is not a human."
"Just breathe." He whispered, more to himself than to Chauncey. He seemed too far into his drink to understand anything Stede tried to say to him.
"You're a monster. A plague. You defile beautiful things. My dear brother. Your own family. You've even managed to bring history's greatest pirate to ruin. And here you are... unscathed, God's perfect little rich boy."
With every word Chauncey said, his doubts from earlier became more and more clear. He was a plague to all those people, he had destroyed them all, and for what? "I think you're right. In fact, I- I completely agree."
"You don't fool me." Chauncey squinted his eyes and waved his gun at him, it would be any moment now and Stede just wished it didn't get drawn out for too much longer. Stede watched as Chauncey planted his feet and tried to steady his hand. "The Stede Bonnet reign of terror ends tonight."
The bang from the gun was loud, much louder than he thought it ought to be. It was probably due to the silence of the night, or that extra ringing in his ears. He watched, frozen in place, as Chauncey seemed to reload his gun. It didn't make sense to Stede why he would do that. Maybe he had missed and just really wanted him dead.
Chauncey moved for the second shot, walking fast towards him, before he tripped on a root and shot himself in the head. Stede felt like he might have screamed, he wasn't entirely sure if he did or not, but everything was coming into his mind slowly.
So slowly, in fact, that he suddenly had a view of the sky, which confused him greatly. He shouldn't be able to see the sky, the sky was above him and he hadn't been looking up.
He looked down at his body for the first time and saw the red staining his shirt. There was so much of it he couldn't tell where it came from. His head was getting dizzy, so he looked at the sky once more.
Maybe Ed was looking at the same sky.
~~~
Stede never came. Ed waited, and waited. He was starting to get concerned that Stede might have been lost but the island wasn't nearly big enough for that. So he started to look for him. He looked and looked and still he found nothing.
He didn't think that Stede would abandon him like that. He wouldn't just leave without saying something, surely.
But what did Ed know. They were so different from one another and maybe Stede thought Ed was below him. Maybe Stede thought their idea to run away together was stupid because it was Ed's idea to do that and Ed wasn't like Stede. He didn't have the upbringing, he didn't have the manners, he wasn't good in any sense of the word.
Yeah, Ed could see exactly why Stede wouldn't want to be with him. Stede was already married, for gods sake.
Ed let out a wet sigh as he made his way back to the docks. He knew what he had to do. He couldn't just stay here now, not with his reason for being here in the first place vanishing on him. He needed to leave, and he needed to do it by dusk. It would be the latest he would wait for Stede and if he wasn't there by then... Well...
Ed sat on the edge of the docks, looking up towards the sky.
"Why?" He whispered to himself.
~~~
He wasn't entirely sure he was alive anymore. His body was sluggish and slow. His eyes refusing to open. No sound seemed to reach his ears. The lights danced in a weird play of all the people he had disappointed and destroyed with being around. His mind was torturing him and he wasn't sure if he should attempt to stop it or if he should actually let it play out because he knew he deserved it.
Something cold moved across his forehead and it caused his mind quiet down for some time.
~~~
Ed tried his hardest not to think of Stede as he rowed away but it was hard. He couldn't understand why Stede didn't meet him. Ed had even gone back to the bunk beds and could see that Stede was no longer there. Maybe he had left and decided that he didn't want to be with Ed anymore.
The sea, at least, claimed his unwanted tears as he took a break from rowing for a moment. He was unsure where he was going, just hoping that he could find a ship he could board, though there really was no point in worrying about it too much. If he found a ship, he found a ship. If not, well it wouldn't be his problem anymore and he would have a break from this ache in his chest.
After a moment, and splashing some sea water in his face to remove the evidence of tears, he pulled the oars towards himself and continued rowing. He could be sad when he was safe, somewhere.
Not too much longer and Ed could see a ship off in the distance. It was his best bet, he didn't care whose ship it was, he could captain it easily enough, and so he made his way towards it.
Once at the ship he double checked that he didn't have any stray tears on his face and made his way up the ladder. He knew whose ship this was, it wasn't hard to recognise a ship he'd been on for the last couple of months. He took a deep breath before he passed the railing, knowing that he would have to speak to the crew and preparing himself for it.
He could see most of the crew standing around Oluwande and chatting amoungst themselves. Izzy wasn't with them but some of his crew was, he wondered briefly where he could be. It wasn't until Pete spotted him that the voices were directed at him.
"Blackbeard!" Pete shouted, it was followed by the rest of the crew shouting much more confused. "What are you doing here?"
"Escaped." He said as he made his way into the ship and towards the captain's quarters. He didn't wait for them to reply as he walk in and shut the door behind him.
This might have been a bad idea to come to this ship. It was full of Stede, the way it looked, the memories of them together, and all his stuff. It was torture but Ed felt he deserved it. He was the one that got too close. He was the one that poured his heart out. And, of course, he was the one who got it broken.
Ed walked over to Stede's bed. Lying on it was his dressing gown and Ed couldn't help himself. He put it on and wrapped it tightly around himself. He didn't care what the crew thought anymore. He was going to sit, surrounded by Stede's things, and cry.
~~~
When Stede was coherent enough to ask questions he found out that he was in a hospital. That he had been waking intermittently for a week and that he had been grazed by a bullet on his left side. Nothing important had been hit with the bullet but it had gotten infected and had cause him to have a terrible fever.
In all, it was definitely much easier to come back from than from being stabbed that first time. The doctors had even said he was lucky to have survived such a wound to begin with.
"Now, sir, we are going to need a name?" The doctor asked as he wrote something down on a pad of paper.
"Stede Bonnet," he croaked, his voice in disuse after a week. "When will I be able to leave?"
"Hmm, it will be a few more day at least. It could be up to two weeks depending on how your condition holds." The doctor finished and walked away.
After a few hours Stede could see the doctor and attendant talking back and forth amongst themselves. There was obviously something that was wrong and by the way they kept looking at him he was sure it wasn't going to be anything pleasant. It had been morning when he had first woken up and after all their questions and queries it was nearing afternoon. Though he might have dozed off for a while there too.
When he could see the doctors heading back over towards him he feigned sleep. He hoped that they would speak near him, even if they wouldn't be talking directly to him. He wasn't disappointed.
"Stede Bonnet is a dead man, do we have any idea who this imposter could possibly be?" He heard a doctor ask someone.
"I wouldn't have a clue, sir," a much younger voice answered. "Do we know were he came from?"
"He appeared to have a one-sided fight with an officer. The man shot himself in the head. Probably a drunkard looking for a fight. Idiot."
"So the poor man was in the wrong place?"
"Seems like it. Though it is suspicious that he gave the name of a dead man." There was a pause and Stede tried his hardest to remain immobile. He hadn't heard them leave just yet, and it paid off when a moment later the doctor spoke again. "Did you manage to get in contact with an officer?"
"Yeah, he'll be around just after nightfall. Says he's too busy to come earlier than that."
"That's fine, as long as he can get some answers out of this man."
Stede listened as he heard two sets of footsteps walk away and slowly let out a breath. His heart was beating quickly and his head was pounding. He needed to get the hell out of this hospital before that officer arrived.
Cracking his eyes open slightly he looked around the room. It was fairly empty, with only a couple of beds preoccupied and one other staff member walking around doing rounds of the patients.
Slowly he sat up, testing his range of movement and seeing just how possible it was for him to escape. It seemed likely that he would be able to do this, to escape this hospital. He just needed to wait for the right time.
It wasn't too long before he spotted his chance to at least change into something that he could move around freely in. Soon after that he was able to make the move to leave. One of the other patients had started coughing up blood and had drawn the two attendants and the doctor over to them.
He moved as quickly and quietly as he could. Though the patient was currently making an enormous racket, Stede didn't want to even chance their attention.
They didn't notice one bit as he slipped passed the doors and outside.