Notes:
Spoilers for season 1, episode 10.
I created this brainchild and was going to use it to sleep peacefully, but it was so good I needed to write it down and, well, enjoy it. Basically what I wanted to have happen in season 2, but I didn't get it, so I'm putting it somewhere. For some context, just imagine a little bit of season 1, episode 10, but the storm and mutiny part didn't happen, and the beginning of this fanfic is set after Stede has left his wife again and after his fuckery death scene.
It doesn't really make sense, but I didn't really think of the logistics of the beginning of this in my head. I just wanted to get to the angst in my dream, and all the rest of it is just me putting in the effort right now.
This is a one-shot, by the way. I'm not continuing this because I have way too many fanfics that I have actually to finish yet. But this is what I really wanted to have happen in the show, and it didn't, and I don't think I'm going to get it, and I'm a little bit sad because we needed this angst, and we didn't get it.
Listen, I just like angsty writing, and I never get enough of it in the shows, and when that happens, I need to write fanfiction. Anyway, I've been explaining for too long. I'm a very big fan of Our Flags Mean Death, and I am not coping well with waiting for more episodes to update every week.
Also, this is not my typical genre to write for. Usually, when I write Fanfictions I'm really in tune with the characters; it eases my writing process, but I'm not 100%, so if it seems a little off, I apologize; this is really just a brain child that happened because I couldn't fall asleep and I couldn't just let this be a child of my imagination and not actually have it on paper so that I can go back and read it again and again and again. I apologize if some of the characters don't seem authentic. I will try, but like I said not normally my style.
Ignore the continuity issues; as I said, I just wanted to get the main plot of this fic written; all the extra shit doesn't really make sense because I didn't really think about it too deeply.
/
After a few weeks at sea, after Stede Bonnet had disappeared into the night and left Blackbeard feeling unloveable, Blackbeard and his new crew sailed around the seas.
Blackbeard was growing more depressed as the days passed. He grew sick and tired of the monotony that his life had become again.
Pillaging ships for more treasure than he needed and killing all those who stood in his way. He felt that if he let his emotions of anger diminish, he'd go insane and kill everyone, including himself, so he branched out a little.
He thought if he was growing tired of the sea, then he'd hit land and cause hell upon it.
They landed ashore in Bridgetown, Barbados.
And so this tale begins.
"We all agree this is a bad idea, yeah?" Frenchie asked the crew as they slowly trailed behind Blackbeard, keeping within sight but not hearing distance.
"With how much havoc we've been causing at sea. Yeah, we should not come on land, especially while he's still unstable." Jim agrees.
"But you have to admit, anything is better than staying on the ship since that whole place just reminds him of, well, Stede," Fang says, whispering even quieter as he says the ex-captain's name.
It was a death sentence if Blackbeard had heard it.
"Well, it also makes taking care of Izzy easier; I mean, if Captin's not on the ship, it's easier to hide a half-dead dude," Archie said, bringing up a good point as Izzy was still on the ship recovering from having his leg chopped off.
They thought he'd shot himself, but after a closer inspection, he'd missed his shot and was knocked out cold when he landed ashore. They left supplies for him should he wake while they were exploring.
After walking through a rather thick forest, they happen upon a town. Nothing like their normal stomping grounds. Obviously, this wasn't a place where pirates were welcome. It seems like more of a town for well-off rich nobles. Considering the exquisite fabrics that adorned the people's bodies, none of them seemed anything but well off.
But like any town, there was a bar, and rowdy folk are always welcome in a bar.
Blackbeard pushed the doors open, walking in as if he owned the ground; he walked on and sat down at an empty table. The rest of the crew joined while Jim signaled for drinks.
After the group walked in, the atmosphere of the bar quieted. The loud, boisterous laughter that was happening before this particular group entered had quieted down to a soft murmur that could still be heard if listened closely enough, hence how Blackbeard started to overhear the conversation at the table next to them.
It was quite an interesting conversation indeed.
A few rich-looking men dressed in fine dress clothes were gossiping about pirates.
About the death of a particular pirate.
The conversation went something like this:
"Those guys are pirates, right?" One man asked.
"Dressed like that? What else would they be." Another man said with disdain.
"Well, not all pirates are of the same breed. I mean, did you hear of the Gentleman Pirate?" The first man said.
"Gentleman Pirate, please, as if there is such a man." Another man at the table said, scoffing.
"No, it's true, I met him. He told me of how he'd left his comfy life and lived his dreams of being a pirate. Fighting with a crew on his ship. Even said he'd met Blackbeard." The man gushed, but then he sighed.
"Though I guess he should've just stayed at sea."
"Why?" The first man asked, curious now.
"Well, he sadly died. Fought to protect the love of his life and died a hero." The man said, sighing deeply.
Everyone paused.
Blackbeard was still.
He was casually listening to the story of Stede; I mean, who else could they be talking about? He had no emotion on his face, but he was curious about him; he couldn't help but listen in.
However, his world, which had broken when Stede didn't meet him to escape to China, shattered into a million pieces at the news of his death.
The crew looked at Blackbeard with panic in their eyes. They knew shit was about to start.
And shit did start.
Blackbeard took but a moment before he jumped out of his seat and grabbed the collar of the man who was recounting the tale of the now-dead Gentleman pirate. He lifted him up in the air and slammed him onto the table, knocking everything off while also knocking the breath out of the man himself.
The whole bar erupted in chaos as everyone looked frightened and scared. Many people ran out as none of these people were carrying weapons on them as this wasn't such a dangerous town, normally.
The rest of his crew tried to calm the barkeep, but everyone was really focused on what Blackbeard was doing.
He had removed one of his guns and held it underneath the chin of the man he was currently strangling on the table.
"WHO DID YOU SAY WAS DEAD?" Blackbeard said, shouting in heartbreak.
"Wha?-aagghhh."
The man looked confused, but after Blackbeard moved the gun from underneath his chin to right in between his eyes, he seemed to find his voice again suddenly.
"Ahh uhm, If you're asking about the Gentleman pirate uh which we were just speaking about *gulp*, then he's dead. He died a week ago. It was absolutely horrible. Please don't kill me." The man asked, tears welling in his eyes.
"What did you mean when you said he died saving the love of his life?" Blackbeard asked after a moment.
He did not want to ask the question, but he couldn't help his curiosity.
Who did Stede die for? And who was the love of his life?
The man gulped again as Blackbeard's grip had loosened a tad.
"I witnessed it. He was a hero. There was a jungle cat on the loose, and he lured it into an abandoned shop and killed it. He ended up covered in blood, but he did it to save his wife, Mary. He survived the initial fight with the jungle cat with his pirate combat skills, but then he got hit by a carriage that was passing by too fast. And we thought he might have survived that; I mean, he looked bad, not terribly so. But unfortunately, the worst of it all, he got crushed by a piano. He was crushed almost beyond recognition. If I hadn't seen his death with my own two eyes, I wouldn't have been able to identify the body. It was absolutely horrible, but he was a true hero." The man said, recounting the scene and seeing it replay in his mind; he was crying at this point, and so were the other patrons.
Blackbeard and the crew all looked skeptical.
Especially because the Stede they knew didn't seem like the type to be fighting jungle cats and winning . But he did seem like the type to get hit by a carriage and crushed by a piano.
Ed looked sick.
But Blackbeard, though, had to clarify even though he was sure this man was talking about Stede after hearing the mention of Mary .
"What's this Gentleman pirate's name then? What do they call him?"
"Stede Bonnet. Everyone here knows that name; this is his hometown. He died just across the street, and though we cleaned it up, you can still see the blood stains." The man exclaimed, crying after remembering the event of Stede's death.
Blackbeard had let the men go and silently left the bar, walking across the street and looking down at a rather dark black spot on the floor.
As the man had said, it was mainly cleaned up, yet you could still see the discoloration of the ground from the dry blood that was still there.
Blackbeard was still holding the gun in his hand, and his fingers were all white as they were gripping it so tightly because they couldn't handle the news that they were coming to accept as true.
Stede had left him to go back to his wife and then died protecting her.
Blackbeard was full of anger, but Ed was heartbroken and devastated.
The crew soon followed their Captin outside, but he was nowhere to be found. They'd walked to the stain themselves, but all they found was the gun lying on the floor. Half decided to look for their broken captain, and half went back to the ship for Izzy. Frenchie and Jim went to look for the Captain, while Archie and Fang went back for Izzy.
It took Frenchie and Jim 20 minutes to find Blackbeard, who had accosted another person looking for the Bonnet estate.
After processing his thoughts alone, he realized that he had learned that this was Stede's hometown, and so his home, his wife, and his children were all here.
He didn't necessarily want to do anything to them, but he wanted to see with his own eyes what Stede had left him for.
What he thought was worth dying for.
He wanted to see how much better they were than him.
Jim and Frenchie tried to steer him in a different direction, but there was only so much they could do. He was still Blackbeard, no matter how heartbroken and depressed he was at the moment. And he also still had at least eight guns on him and a couple of knives.
That's how they ended up in front of the Bonnet estate.
It was a very nice house. Homey and comfortable looking. Two children were playing in the front. They had paper swords and were wearing bandanas.
They didn't notice Blackbeard and his crew till they got within a few feet of them.
Both children, who resembled Stede, stopped and looked at the real pirates in front of them with fear.
The older girl whispered in her brother's ear, and soon he shot off, disappearing into the house.
The little girl stepped up, holding the paper sword out, "Are you pirates?" She asked.
Jim smiled, "Yes. Who are you?"
The young girl looked thoughtful for a moment, then introduced herself,
"I'm Alma Bonnet. Who are you?"
"My name's Jim. That's Frenchie. And this is our Captian...uh...Blackbeard." Jim introduced, looking at Blackbeard tentatively.
Jim saw him as a ticking time bomb and worried for anyone who had anything to do with Stede, including his kids.
"Blackbeard? Like the infamous one?" She asks.
"Yup, that's him," Frenchie said after Blackbeard didn't respond.
"My dad said he was a pirate," Alma says after a few moments of awkward silence.
"He gave me this. Said it was treasure, but I don't think he knows what treasure is." She says, holding half of Stede's petrified orange in her hand.
Jim and Ed recognize the petrified fruit.
Ed's breath is stuck in his throat, and Jim gives Stede's child a sad smile as they think about those days.
"Why is it cut in half?" Frenchie asks because the last time he saw it, he remembered it was an actual whole petrified fruit.
"Oh, I cut it in half so I can have half, and my dad could keep the other," Alma says.
Blackbeard opens his mouth to ask a question but gets interrupted as three people come out of the house, walking towards Alma.
The little boy had brought his mother and a man along with him. Once Alma sees them, she rushes to their side standing beside her brother.
"Hello? Who are you?" Doug asks, looking at the three pirates in front.
Ed looks at him and his arm, which is wrapped around who he assumes is Stede's wife.
The anger that he felt about Stede leaving him for Mary was resurfacing.
But it was also a new type of rage at this woman who had taken Stede from him but then, not even a week later, seemed to move on to a new man.
Almost as if it was so easy to replace Stede.
His hand moved to one of his many knives on his person, and his fingers turned white as he clenched the handle.
Jim looked worried and stood in front of Blackbeard.
"We are pirates. We've come here to..." Jim didn't finish the sentence as they weren't sure why they'd come.
Jim looked to Frenchie, who shrugged.
Then Jim chanced a look at Blackbeard. He was glaring at Mary.
"That's Blackbeard's mother," Alma said, pointing to Ed.
Mary looked worried and pushed her kids back but then tilted her head,
"You looking for Stede, then?" She asked, remembering that Stede had said he'd once sailed with Blackbeard.
"We heard the bad news, and so we just thought to stop by," Frenchie said, trying to help Jim lead the conversation as their captain looked about ready to murder everyone.
"Oh, right, yes," Mary said, forgetting for a moment about Stede's death.
"Were you Stede's friends?" Mary asked with a smile on her face.
Jim and Frenchie looked at Blackbeard, not willing to answer that question, fearing for their lives.
Blackbeard didn't even get the chance to speak as someone called his name from behind him.
"Ed!" Everyone looked down the road and saw Izzy with Archie, who was supporting him as they walked towards them. Fang was sweating and nervously walking behind them.
Jim and Frenchie were making silent signals with their hands, saying that this was a really, really bad idea, but they were ignored.
For the slightest second before Ed had turned around, he thought that maybe it was Stede and this was all a dream, but once he saw Izzy, a new type of anger pulled up in his stomach.
He couldn't handle the emotions, and that's how Frenchie ended up with a dagger in his left shoulder.
Everyone looked a bit shocked, but the crew got over it quick enough, and Frenchie was glad that's all that it ended with as he held his left shoulder while the knife was still sticking out of it.
The Bonnet family and Doug were shocked but for varying reasons. The two children and Doug were shocked about the violence.
And Mary, well, Mary was shocked to learn that Blackbeard was apparently also called Ed.
And without thinking about it, she said, "Your Stede's Ed?"
Blackbeard's head whipped around so quickly, looking at her with wide eyes, not expecting her to say that or to even know that they were ever sort of a thing.
But this time, Mary smiled with a genuinely happy smile.
"You're not exactly how I thought you'd look like." She said with a giggle.
"Would you all like to come in? I think I have some things to tell you." Mary said, pointing to her house with a smile on her face.
/
Notes:
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I could have continued, but I didn't really want to. You can imagine what the following conversation is like. Basically, it would have been wholesome, and she would eventually tell them that Stede's not dead. But I kind of like it where I ended it.
This is really what I wanted to have happen, maybe with a better flow, but I wish they did this before they met back up again. Anyway, I'm still waiting for Stede and Ed to have a nice talk about his fuckery death.
Let me know what you think about this, and I hope you've enjoyed it.
