Present
Edward had not anticipated returning to Nassau, until it was he exchanged vows with his eighth wife.
He could recall looking upon her wearing that odious guise of white and gold, and being in some regards repulsed not by her in general, but the deed he was once again repeating, since her face blurred and became one and the same with the seven women before her, so that if someone happened to ask him to describe any of the number of them, he would fail to do so, not from lack of memory but indeed care.
They were scarcely women after the third milk faced bride, and more so a possibility at the wanted son and heir, but in truth; it wasn't for an expansion of himself that he craved a being of his very flesh and blood, but a means of something to fill the vacancy in his soul and ease the betrayal that put it there.
Charles Vane.
When after his long and forced absence from an island he aided in its initial creation, Edward had spent so long in pain that eventually, the impossible happened and he accepted the transpiring of his progeny's actions and forgave them, for it seemed senseless to allow it to shadow the good times they had shared together.
To him, that had just given the Guthrie woman the damned satisfaction she probably lusted for, to see such a close relationship severed by her hand, and he refused to allow that to continue when he looked back upon the matter with eyes unclouded by the hurt.
However, be that as it may, now that the Guthries have been disposed of, that hadn't restored Nassau to its former glory as Edward had hoped. Instead, their absence has only left others to assume the high status they blessed onto themselves, to guard riches from an approaching English fleet, and of all people; among them happened to be Jack Rackam of all men, to stand beside Charles and the more understandable Captain Flint.
It was clear to Teach, the Nassau he often dreamt about, was gone, becoming little more than fragile bones, which were inevitable to defeat, when they were even without a navel strategist to stand at the head of their pirate fleet.
Admittedly, there was no devotion in guarding the island inside of him, like he had seen emanate from Charles. But for that same person's sake, he was willing to step in and aid them if he could in that missing role, on the condition that Vane becomes his protégé again.
Speaking in brief terms, conditions, weariness, suspicion and doubt.
It was hardly the encounter one might expect to share with such a dear and old friend, but even just the chance itself, to be in the same room was someone of his likeness, meant more to Edward than anything had come close to meeting during those eight long years.
A small part of that hole had eased, but Charles was not the only one who had caused Edward to lose a part of himself.
After parting with him, his feet needed no conscious effort to go where he was now.
Only…
The room was not hers anymore.
But she'd left an impression.
That Edward could feel about the room, allowing him to see her ghostly visage sitting on the window ledge, where he would have so often found her when he woke in her bed.
Tracing his fingers where her form had once perched, looking out at the view of the streets, which had changed so much, he wondered if she would have been as displeased with it as he, at the sight of a horde of men, hearing of stories like Blackbeard's, but doing nothing to create their own.
A single linen sheet wrapped around her body…if he closed his eyes he could indeed still see her, and recall the touch of her soft skin, enchanting him as much as the open water did.
Two things which were both a siren to his heart; Teach could never decide which called to him the loudest, and had become torn between the pirate and the man as a result, for he always returned to either of the two in the end.
Even, it seemed, when one was lost to him now…
"Elizabeth," He muttered pitifully, having heard others belong to the name often, but never himself speaking it aloud, and he had missed the sound of it on his lips.
Downstairs he could hear the inhabitants of this establishment laughing, and if he didn't hurry, he might become a cause for surprise when a girl comes to the bedroom intending to provide some customer or another with her services, and that would in fact call for more explanation than he was willing to give, and would rather avoid the situation altogether.
Thus, beneath a large chest, as it would seem the piece of furniture was a fixed object to the room, he began to push it aside, since it remained to sit atop what he was seeking and serve as an obstacle, to what no one else, he supposed knew was under it.
A pluck of a loose floorboard after, he reached for the hidden box and marred its surface with a few swipes of his sleeve to clean the dust off, as a mark of how long it had been since it had seen the light of day.
The laughter grew louder, and tucking the treasure under his arm, Edward didn't bother to return the room to the state he had found it in, as there was nothing more needing the protection of the placements he had disordered and just as he was about to close the door tightly shut behind him, he paused just for a moment, spellbound by the dressing table...