Off the coast of North Carolina, Ocracoke Island was a favorite anchorage and Teach chose to port there as some imitation of a celebration to have undermined a governor, which in turn will allow his crew to gain the reputation that often followed the men under the charge of Blackbeard.

A woman hooked under his arm, she might as well have not come to him at all, for he had received no satisfaction from her visit and thought her not worth any coin, despite it being no fault of hers, when she wasn't Elizabeth.

The jewelry box, after dismissing the whore, Edward had brought it ashore with him and unclasped the lid. Inside was paper scribbled by his hand, which were the notes he'd leave behind for her to find in the morning that he left her for long periods of time.

She had been seventeen when they met and began their relationship, and there were a pile inside that cushioned what Teach was really after.

The letters, Elizabeth had kept them all in her hideaway, and the thought made his grasp tighten around what he held, from a shaken moan.

Love…

It wasn't enough of a word.

He lifted the object to his lips and uncurled his fingers, showing off the pearl necklace she'd worn for those two weeks.

"Thank…you…"

"…I had seen him before he'd arrived at the brothels doorstep; so most of what you see is the result of my escape; dropping from the balcony. Then as you know, chaos erupted and it wasn't safe for me to wander without some kind of shield. It's taken me these passed days, just to worm my way to the harbor; Edward, is burning Rogers ship really going to make things better?"

As she had spoken, Edward had tended to Elizabeth's injuries diligently; cleaning her cuts and scrapes, tightly binding her ribs which he confirmed were broken, while the numerous bruises staining her flesh black and blue, was something she must endure.

He'd been quiet all the way through the process, but when Elizabeth asked her question he returned to the present with her.

Dropping the washcloth, tarnished by her blood, Teach chuckled half-heartedly, and leaned in close to Elizabeth's face. His eyes were narrowed; rigid, cold, and hard. By their look, they had turned from pure blue skies, to gun metal, lethal towards who they are aimed at.

"He's too far away to hear me shout 'Go fuck yourself!"

Drink infused his breath, and was a poor choice of concoction to mix with anger.

"Seeing his ship aflame; I reckon that will translate the message loud and clear."

Elizabeth's thoughtful expression soon dissipated with a curled lip, when her understanding that she and Edward might sail away on his ship, was replaced by the actuality of what was to occur, and that she wasn't enough to make him put aside this quarrel.

"So this is all to do with pride? Revenge means more to you than the chance we have to leave!"

Elizabeth's claim was nothing more than rain steaming at the scolding impact of a boiling surface, unable to wash him and renew his mind, allowing Edward to consider anyone else's opinion, which was not his own. It seemed that she had crossed some invisible line and offended his sensibilities, causing her heart to beat erratically in waiting for the fire Captain Blackbeard was infamous for, and had demonstrated at the main dealers of Elizabeth's injuries who now were dead.

Edward's gaze had just been the beginning, a sort of calm before the storm when with a fluid movement, the table with the water bowl atop was flipped over, and thudded the tents wall letting Edward bolt upright onto his feet and pace a groove into the sand.

With tenseness, Elizabeth couldn't bear to cower in her chair and backed away in the opposite direction, since nothing about this was making sense, not his curling fists or the anger that radiated from his skin.

The couple had argued sure enough, as they were too stubborn for them not to have clashed as often as they have done in the past. However; this was rage Elizabeth could not justify to be the blame for and even if she looked past the beard and heavy brow, it didn't originate from the prideful boy's heart so many men carried either.

Instead, it was a man's wroth, which made his once still frame tremble.

"Do You…Have Any Idea…What He Would Have Done To You?"

The hiss caused Elizabeth's stomach to churn and with no obstacles between them, Edward lunged towards Elizabeth and scooped her up by the legs, until her body hit the makeshift bed piled in a corner.

The action knocked the air out of her lungs, thanks to her ribs, and she gasped as Edward forcefully pressed his mouth against hers, Holding Elizabeth's head on both sides, so her neck couldn't turn it. Then, finding a random cut, he pressed his thumb into the raw wound and sent streams of pain up her arm, and while she fretted over that, Teach tossed her onto her stomach and struggled to pull her trousers down.

Elizabeth knew what he was doing, as her legs fiercely thrashed as a natural response to the positon she was in.

He was proving a point, and wouldn't push things as far as he could, but all the same, she couldn't help but scream.

"STOP! EDWARD; STOP IT!"

Heaving to try and catch their breath, Edward lingered still behind her as she crumpled to have endured how Edward might act if he were a lesser man, and what indeed a lesser man like Rogers would have done.

But she had known all this.

It was why she had runaway.

And in the bitter silence, the late sun had finally set, providing the dark canvas which was perfect for Edward's fire to paint on.

Rising from her side, there wasn't much he took with him, but his sword and pistol, and though he could have left her without another word, he didn't have it in him to leave her on such a note as this, and gazed over his shoulder, where he saw the tears falling off her cheeks.

"Those two days you were missing, and I had no idea where you were… Rogers could have taken my life and I would never have, nor could, contemplate fear. Tear me limb from limb and I would still look up and smile. But he chose to hurt you instead Elizabeth, to move the intent towards you. Oh...Then I knew pain; then I felt terror. I won't allow that to go unanswered. He thinks you are my weakness by threatening your life, exposing you, a strong woman, as a weakness… he has no idea what he has unleashed, what your safety inspires in me. He'll beg for the devils embrace after I am done with him."