Chapter Text
It had been a little over a year since Ed’s heart died.
The Kraken ruled the seas without mercy.
He hated it.
He hated everyone and everything.
He hated Stede Bonnet.
He hated himself.
He spent most days brooding (sulking?) in the captain’s chambers, drunk. He had barely eaten; barely slept; barely taken any care of himself. He thought to himself “Why bother”? He let Izzy run most things on the ship, except for the raids. He took his frustration out on whomever his ship was attacking, slaughtering anything that moved. It got worse after he heard about Stede’s death, even going so far as to kill the unfortunate crew member who brought him said news.
Today, Blackbeard was supposed to have a parlay with another pirate captain who supposedly wished to form an alliance of sorts for mutual profit. He claimed to have some unique merchandise that would make them all filthy rich, and hoped to cut Blackbeard in on the profit. Blackbeard wondered whether this Captain was insane or stupid. Who would want to willingly ally himself with The Devil?
Izzy escorted the Captain and his entourage into his darkened chamber. There, Blackbeard sat slumped in a large wooden chair, barely registering that there were other human beings in his cabin. He couldn’t even bother to pay enough attention to get the other Captain’s name. He apparently had been having great success with his particular brand of merchandise: human trafficking. He called them his “pets”. He had spent the last few years perfecting his pet training techniques and he had brought along his greatest specimen. He ordered everyone else out of the room except for one figure covered head to toe in a cloak. He pulled on a leash that was attached to the cloaked figure, and then unveiled the pet: a man.
Blackbeard was disgusted by the sight of this wretched creature. The pet was completely naked except for a thick, black leather collar around its neck, from which the leash was attached. He was severely malnourished, practically skin and bones. His shoulders were slumped and his head bowed. Blackbeard couldn’t see the man’s face, as it was hidden by shaggy, shoulder-length blonde hair.
“This one is my greatest product yet,” the other Captain explained. “Dog here is a definite purebred, a rare find in these parts. He is going to sell for a King’s ransom. He is expertly trained and willing to do whatever his master desires. Allow me to demonstrate. Kneel,” he commanded the pet. The man immediately dropped to his knees in front of his master.
“Mouth.”
The pet tilted his head back and opened his jaw, his tongue hanging out provocatively.
"Close."
The pet closed his mouth.
“Good boy, Dog.” The captain stroked the pet’s face with his filthy hands.
Blackbeard’s blood started to simmer. This was repulsive.
“Stand,” the Captain commanded.
The pet closed his mouth and rose to his feet.
“Bow.”
The pet turned around and bent at the waist, gripped his ankles and presented his rear to his master.
The Captain pulled the man’s ass cheeks apart as nonchalantly as if he were breaking bread. He reached inside the man’s asshole and pulled out a glass bulb. The pet let out a faint whine.
Blackbeard didn’t want to watch this pathetic thing anymore, so opted to stare at the opposite wall.
“One of the keys of training is this little device right here,” the Captain continued, holding up the glass object. “They are specially made by one of my crew, a glassblower. They help keep the pets nice and ready for their master’s pleasure.” He begins stroking the pet’s ass cheeks and whispering “Good boy, Dog. That’s my good boy.”
“Dog here is worth his weight in gold. He is actually literate. He can both read and write. The only time you’ll ever hear him speak is if you command him to read to you. Come here and feel him, his skin is smooth like silk. His hands are as soft as a woman’s, and save for two small scars, he is practically unblemished.” The Captain ran his hands slowly across his pet’s ribs, along his side, over his hip, and then down his thigh.
Blackbeard didn’t move a muscle, and continued to glower at the opposite wall.
Undaunted, the Captain pulled on the leash and brought the naked man over to stand in front of the infamous pirate.
“Pets will only obey whoever is holding their leash. You can even detach their leash from the collar and the pet will still obey whoever is holding it. Perhaps you would like to test the merchandise? Go ahead, try him. Kneel.”
In the instant before the pet dropped to his knees again Blackbeard caught sight of something: two scars on the pet’s abdomen. He couldn’t help but think that those scars seemed familiar somehow.
“Mouth,” commanded the Captain, and he handed the thin strip of soft leather to Blackbeard, who took it only on reflex.
The pet tilted his head up to look at Blackbeard, opened his jaw and extended his tongue.
Sudden, terrible realization washed over Blackbeard.
No.
His eyes flew open and he stared at the emaciated wretch at his feet.
No.
He leaned forward and, with trembling hands, reached out to gently brush the hair away from the man’s eyes.
He gasped in horror. He felt as though he had taken a cannon blast to his stomach.
NO.
He knew the eyes that looked back at him. He knew them well, but they were all wrong. What once sparkled with hope and life were now empty voids. There was nothing inside those eyes. They were like a corpse’s eyes, vacant, not looking directly at Blackbeard but through him.
NO! NO! NO! NO! It can’t be. Not Stede. Not Stede.
Rage exploded through his veins like a volcano. The Kraken demanded blood.
Without breaking his gaze from his long-lost friend, Blackbeard immediately raised his pistol at the Captain and put a bullet right between his eyes.
The sound of the gunshot summoned some of the dead man’s crew, who came bursting through the door. The first of them didn’t even have time to register that his captain was dead before his head was impaled by a sword. The other three pirates fell to the Kraken’s blade in quick succession, blood spraying everywhere. He leapt over the bodies and continued his rampage up to the deck. He could no longer tell his own crew apart from the others, slaughtering both in his wake. He saw only red. He skewered one man through the throat and gave a kick to his chest powerful enough to send him and the man behind him flying over the railing and into the sea. In his frenzy, Blackbeard failed to notice that the other man who went overboard was Izzy. Fang and Ivan dove for cover behind some crates, hoping not to get caught up in the maelstrom. Blackbeard vaulted over the gangplank and continued to rain his wrath down upon the other ship, scouring it clean of anything alive, and finally setting fire to the powder room.
The sound of the resulting explosion wasn’t even enough to drown out the screams of Kraken.
Fang and Ivan had absolutely no idea what was going on, but they were sure that his screams could frighten even the Devil himself. After a short time they heard their Captain climb back aboard his ship. They cautiously gambled a peek and saw something straight out of a nightmare.
There stood the Kraken, soaked in blood and silhouetted by fire and smoke. His jaw hung open, and he was panting heavily, his shoulders rising and falling with each breath. His head kept turning left and right, searching for more prey for his rage. His eyes were completely obscured by shadow except for one split second when they caught the light of the fire and reflected a glowing crimson. He looked feral, an animal, a demon.
Slowly the frenetic energy seemed to dissipate from him and he began to tremble. He let his swords drop to the deck, let his head fall back, and closed his eyes. His senses gradually returned, along with the horrible realization of what had just occurred. He may have just slaughtered his entire crew and the crew of another ship because… No, that was impossible.
The doubt crept its way in. Did he really see who he thought he saw? Was it a delusion? Had he gone completely mad?
No, Stede was dead. He died long ago. That man just looked like him. Did he really murder everyone because of a mistaken identity? What had he done?
He clutched at his wounds and slowly made his way to his cabin. His chest grew tight and he began to panic. What if there was no one there? What if he imagined the whole interaction? What was he going to do?
He dragged the body of one of his former crewmembers out of the doorway and tried to steel himself for what he might find inside.
Please don’t be him.
The pet was still there, naked, with his mouth open, kneeling in the exact position as when he left. He looked like a statue.
“S-Stede?” Blackbeard called softly, his voice cracking as he shut the door behind him. His legs finally gave out from underneath him. He fought through the pain and stinging tears to crawl his way to the motionless figure, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
“Stede?” he whimpered again and reached up towards the man’s face, his hands covered in blood. “Stede, it’s me, Edward. Please look at me.”
The pet remained frozen in place.
Ed managed to slide himself in front of the chair and get himself into an upright position. He gently tried to close the man’s open mouth, but it refused to budge.
“Stede, please look at me. It’s me, Ed.” he sobbed. Then he remembered the leash. He grabbed hold of it tightly and cleared his throat.
“Close.”
The pet closed his mouth.
Ed squeezed his eyes shut and winced, as a spear of anguish stabbed his heart.
“Look at me.”
The gaunt, shaggy haired man turned his face towards him, his gaze unfocused.
Ed felt as though the floor had fallen away from underneath him.
There was no mistaking it. He looked just on the right side of death, but the man that knelt before him was once The Gentleman Pirate. Tears poured down like a thunderstorm as Ed softly caressed his protruding cheekbones, along the stubble of his chin which was now sprinkled with silver, down the delicate skin of his neck which, on close inspection, showed nearly healed bruising.
“Oh, Stede. What have they done to you? I’m so sorry. I’m so… so sorry.”
His whole body shook. He had hated this man for so long, cursed the day that they met, but now face to face with this empty husk he was utterly lost.
Ed unfastened the collar and began to remove it when Stede’s eyes flew open wide and he let out a loud yelp like a dog that had been kicked. He fell onto his side, curled into the fetal position, and shook with panic.
“Oh, no. Hey, hey, hey, shhhhhh… it’s alright, Stede. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be alright.” He could feel the bones of the trembling man’s arm as he stroked him gently, trying to comfort him between choked sobs. His hand left smears of blood in its wake. He could see a thick, red band of scarred welts around his neck under where the collar had been.
Stede frantically grasped around the floor near Ed’s feet until he felt the collar. His boney fingers fumbled with the leather collar as he tried desperately to put it back on.
“You… you want the collar back on, yeah? Here, let me put it back on you.”
Stede immediately let out a sigh of relief, his body going limp and pliant.
This was unbearable for Ed. He clenched his fists and rubbed his eyes. He stared down at the broken man on the floor. He was like an angel who had been kidnapped from heaven, had their wings ripped from their back and their halo smashed to dust. He didn’t know what to do. He felt helpless and alone. All of his strength and ferocity were completely useless. This was agony. He didn’t want his friend to suffer like this. He couldn’t stand to see him like this.
Stede wouldn’t want to live like this, would he?
His hand moved of its own volition and grabbed hold of the leash again.
“Kneel,” he whispered.
Stede robotically resumed his kneeling position.
“I’m so sorry, Stede” he choked. “I don’t… I don’t know how to do this. I only know how to hurt people. I can’t fix you. I can’t fix…” his words faltered.
“I love you,” he whispered as he closed his hands around Stede's neck and began to squeeze.
Ed stopped breathing. He wished away all the pain, all the suffering, everything. He wished it was his own life that he was ending. He wished the world would open up and swallow him whole. He wished for oblivion.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he mouthed silently, like a mantra, as he squeezed tighter.
He tried not to, but he needed to take one last look, to say goodbye, before this unforgivable act was over.
Stede’s hands were splayed on the floor, not even attempting to fight back. His eyes were dark and hooded, and his cheeks were flushed. His mouth was open slightly and he let out a strangled moan.
Ed’s hands immediately flew off Stede’s neck in a panic. His eyes went wide, his mind racing, scrambling to figure out what just happened. He glanced down and saw that Stede’s cock was red and hard.
CHRIST, NO.
The torrent of tears resumed as Ed shook his head. He felt an intense wave of nausea rise up in him. This was all so very wrong. Whatever was done to him was wrong, and what he was doing was wrong. He stared at his bloody hands. He was a monster for even entertaining the idea of snuffing out this wonderful light. If it were Stede who found Ed like this he wouldn’t even give a second thought to trying to save him, even though he wasn’t worth saving. He knew Stede would pour his heart and soul, his everything into saving him. He knew Stede would never give up on him like he did just now.
He clenched his teeth, and his chin quivered. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to Stede’s.
“I’m so sorry, Stede! I’m so fucking sorry! But I swear to you now that I will never, ever hurt you again. I will do whatever it takes to bring you back. I swear. I love you so fucking much!”
He nuzzled Stede’s forehead and gave it several small kisses. He then sucked in a painful breath and peeled off his jacket, wrapping it around Stede’s shoulders, smearing blood all over the pale skin of the man he loved. Ed looked deep into those sad, vacant eyes, wrapped his arms around him and crushed him to his chest.
The anguished wail that erupted from Ed could be heard for miles.