Jeff the Accountant Escapes the Wretched Burning Depths of Hades

Salvation

"I need you to find me, Ed." Blackbeard was dreaming. In his dream Stede was sitting at a table overflowing with gold coins and jewels. Stede looked different. Rougher around the edges. He had a full beard.

A...cinnamon colored...beard.

"How?? How do I do that, man?? I've been looking for you. Are you somewhere at sea? I haven't heard anything. No one's seen you anywhere."

"Or have they?" came a voice asking an annoying question.

"Blackbeard!" Stede was pounding his fists on his desk, in the dream. Calling out his name. He sounded angry. He looked oddly menacing.

"What do you have to be angry with me over?" "I waited for you, Stede!! I waited for you. I waited for you!!"

Blackbeard's raised voice stirred Lucius from his own fitful sleep. He went to the captain's room to see if he was needed, but was surprised to find Mary there. Mary sat on a chair next to the bed, holding Ed's hand.

"But, Ed, you know what happened. You know he had to make a hard choice. He thought he was protecting you."

Lucius was wrestling with what he was feeling, seeing the two of them together like this.

"I know - I know. It's just hard. I'm sorry for waking you." He looked at Lucius, who hadn't
quite made it into the room. "You too, Lucius. I'm sorry if my crying out woke you."

"No worries, no worries, Blackbeard. I'll just, I'll just go, yeah?"

"You're a good lad, Lucius" Blackbeard said.

"Goodnight, Lucius. I'll just sit with him til he falls asleep" Mary said.

Lucius was no longer wrestling with what he felt over seeing Mary in Ed's room like that. He knew how he felt. He was jealous.

The jealousy was short-lived, though. Edward aided that along.

The next morning at breakfast he enlisted the boy's help. "Ah, Lucius. Help me with this, will you?" He handed Lucius a mug of tea and a plate of food. "I want to show my appreciation to Mary for being there for me last night. It was a rough one." "Like you, Lucius, she's been a bit of salvation to me these days." "She's great, isn't she?

Lucius had to admit to himself that whatever was happening between Blackbeard and Mary was kind of great. Blackbeard having someone close by who didn't think of him as first a dangerous seafaring marauder, was something he needed.

Lucius shook his head at what he was thinking - what he was observing. Dread pirate captain Blackbeard and Stede Bonnett's ex-wife here, on The Revenge, acting like they'd known each other for ages. He realized Ed was talking.

"And, the two of you being artists, I thought you'd appreciate having her onboard, to collaborate with." "Even though it's just going to be for a short while."

Blackbeard and Lucius were at the room where Mary and Doug were staying as the ship's guests. "Should I knock?" Lucius asked.

"Well, yeah. That's the proper thing to do, isn't it?"

"Uh huh." thought Lucius. "Last I checked, all pirate captains knock before entering a room on their own ship." "Right" he said, smiling placatingly at Blackbeard.

Doug opened the door. "Ah. Good morning, Ed. Lucius." He stepped aside so they could bring the food in. "Mary, look." She was sitting on the edge of the bed, brushing her hair.

"Lucius! Good morning." "How are you feeling this morning, Ed?"

"Good, Mary...I'm good." Ed could say so much with his eyes, his expression. He spoke a mere four words, but in actuality he said "I'm better now, and I owe you my thanks for helping me past that rough patch."

"Come on, lad." he said to Lucius, before saying to Mary and Doug "We'll leave you to it. Join the rest of us when you're ready, yeah?" 

The two of them eventually joined the others, and a course was set for the first of the destinations Mary and Death discussed.

She sat sketching the helmsman when Lucius joined her. At first just observing, then offering his take on techniques she used. The two artists quickly became friends, each holding an appreciation for the other's special gifts. Doug was able to offer Lucius his own helpful insights, with a dash of praise as he expressed genuine awe at some of the work Lucius showed him.

Bonds were being formed that no one could have foreseen. Blackbeard grew to see Mary as...an in-law?...A mother figure? He wasn't sure. But she was more than a friend. ...an auntie, maybe? "No" he thought. Watching her and Doug together as they looked out over the waves, obviously content together, obviously, easily in love, he felt a kind of familial happiness for her. "A sister. Mary is now my sister." He shook his head, amused. "I didn't even know I wanted a sister..."