Edward Teach Died on a Beach (OFMD)

Part 2: Chapter 9

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"Ed," Jim said gently. "Want to let us in on whatever you're freaking out about?"

Ed forced a bottle of rum open with what appeared to be almost animalistic fear. "We're fucked."

Jim pursed their lips and looked at Stede. "Uh... why?"

Ed sat on the bed and pulled his legs up to his chest. He felt dizzy. His heart pounded in his chest. He couldn't breathe. Stede slowly stepped over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Stede grabbed the neck of Ed's rum bottle and gently pried it away from him. Ed shot a glare at him.

"Ed, what do we do when something bothers us?" Stede asked.

"Talking it out won't help anything. It's too late."

Stede frowned. "What's too late?"

"Okay," Ed said, taking a deep breath. "To be fair, there's only a fifty percent chance that we'll die."

Stede hummed. "That's good!"

"It isn't," Ed replied.

"Spit it out already!" Jim snapped.

"CaesartoldmethatHornigoldwasofferedapardoninexchangeforhuntingme, Blackbeard, downandkillingme," Ed said without taking a single breath.

Jim blinked. "What?"

Ed took a deep breath. "The British offered Hornigold, my old captain, a pardon in exchange for killing or capturing me."

Stede hummed. "Well, that's not so bad. You're already dead!"

Ed shook his head. "It should be fine as long as the British don't fuck him over. If they grant him the Pardon now that I'm dead, we'll all be fine!"

"And if they do what they do best?" Jim asked hesitantly.

"Realistically, if the man is the same man I knew years ago, he'll end up here. Either he'll see the dead body that is supposed to be me and know it isn't, or he'll think I'm actually dead and come to get revenge on whoever did it."

Jim grimaced.

"At least he's not the shoot first type," Ed said darkly.

Stede frowned. "Well, there's still a chance he won't come after us."

Ed shook his head. "Caesar said he'd be on our side if he found us, sort of. He said he wasn't certain, but he'd probably side with us. And then..."

"Oh..." Jim said quietly. "I told him to fuck off a few times."

"Okay... fuck!" Ed said, putting his head in his hands. "What would Izzy do?"

"Izzy would probably be quivering in anticipation," Jim replied.

"No!" Ed said, turning to look at Jim. "What would Blackbeard do?"

Jim sat down at the table. "We just killed that guy. It's too late to ask him."

Stede sat next to Ed. Ed shot up off the bed, pointing. He began to pace.

"Blackbeard would start looking for him," Ed said.

"Isn't that a bad idea?" Stede replied.

"Maybe," Ed said, his eyes bright. "We've got to get a general location on him, though. That way, we'd be able to tell if he's coming after us."

"Where could we get information on where he is?" Jim asked.

Ed smiled slightly. "The Republic of Pirates."

"I'll go tell the others that we're heading there," Jim said.

Ed nodded. "Thank you."

Jim smiled and quickly left. Ed took a deep breath. He looked over at Stede. Stede seemed nervous. Ed approached Stede and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"We'll be okay," Ed said. "We just have to get our shit together."

"Should we send Jim onshore to talk to Jackie? Perhaps it might be good if she doesn't know you're alive."

Ed hummed. "You're right. That's probably a good idea."

Stede frowned slightly. "I suppose I should go, though. I'd like to be there so I know exactly what she said."

Ed nodded. "Sure."

Outside, Jim told Oluwande everything. Oluwande seemed nervous.

"You sure it's a good idea to go to the Republic if Hornigold is looking for us?" Oluwande asked.

Jim shrugged. "We'll be able to see him well before he gets to us."

"Yeah, but you said Ed seemed scared. What if Hornigold has a big fleet of ships?"

Jim hummed softly. "He might. We'll just have to be faster. Or we can hide Ed again."

Oluwande pointed slightly at Jim. "Good idea."

Jim nodded.

The Pirate Republic was rather busy. Stede stood outside the door to his quarters, frowning slightly. He was dressed rather modestly in comparison to the way he normally did. He was wearing a simple linen shirt and breeches. He was a little disappointed; now that the Gentleman Pirate was dead, he couldn't really be so gentlemanly.

"You ready to go?" Ed asked from the doorway.

Stede nodded slightly. His eyes were locked onto the merchant ships that were docked by the land. He glanced over at Ed.

"Will you be okay? We should only be gone for a few hours," Stede said.

"I'll be fine. Just... you be careful," Ed said gently.

Stede shrugged. "When am I not?"

Ed chuckled, but didn't look away. "I mean it. Come back if you notice anything odd."

Stede nodded. "Of course. If anything terrible happens, I'll shout at the top of my lungs and run for my life!"

"There you go," Ed replied.

Ed was dressed similarly to Stede, with a gun belt on his hip. He had a sheath for his dagger on his leg as well. He wanted to be armed. He was incredibly anxious about everything.

As the ship neared the quieter part of the shore, Stede, Jim, Oluwande, and Lucius got ready to embark on their journey. They'd decided to split the crew rather evenly, since it was likely that if pirates were looking for them, they'd see the ship first. They had also decided to wait until it was night, since then they'd be harder to recognize.

Stede sat on the dinghy nervously, fiddling the grip of the dagger that Ed had given him. Ed had insisted he be armed. It wasn't a bad idea, honestly.

As Oluwande began to row to shore, Jim leaned in to the crew.

"Nobody breathe a word about Ed or Blackbeard. We can't risk them finding out about him," Jim said quietly.

The others nodded. Jim eyed Lucius.

Lucius chuckled. "I wasn't going to talk about him anyway."

"Yeah, but... just stick with the story that really happened, except stop at the part where they take him away on the other ship," Jim said. "You got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"And Stede, you're Captain Thomas," Jim replied.

Stede nodded. "I'm a bit nervous about this, guys."

Jim chuckled softly. "So am I."

Stede looked over with wide eyes. "It can't be good if you're nervous about it too."

Jim rolled their eyes.