"The inside of your head is a fucking madhouse," Izzy said. "I've seen Hornigold and Stede as a mermaid. Nobody ever shuts up. How do you even hear yourself think?"

Ed blinked. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Izzy smirked from the table he was sitting at, holding a bottle of rum. He had both of his legs which somehow didn't surprise Ed. "Saving you from being a fucking twat. Again." He nodded at the empty chair at the other side of the table. "Sit your ass down."

"You're supposed to be dead." Ed said as he slid into the seat.

"I am, you little shit." Izzy took a long pull from the bottle then passed it to Ed.

"What happened to the wooden leg?"

"I'm a fucking unicorn, Edward. With the endless insanity that is your brain I'm surprised I don't have four arms and angel wings," Izzy replied as he watched the former pirate take a swig.

Looking at Lucius and Black Pete as they ran around and giggled, Ed asked, "Is it really that bad in here?"

"This doesn't bother you?" Izzy asked, incredulous as he snatched the bottle back and downed half the bottle in several gulps. "The constant noise at full volume and all the people going every which way. It's exhausting."

Ed shrugged. "It's just another Tuesday for me."

"How do you keep up with all this?"

"I don't."

"I've been in hurricanes that were less chaotic. But I'm not here to talk about my legs, or lack thereof. Or mermaids. Or bloody fucking Hornigold."

"So you've come back from the dead because...?"

The question hung in the air for a few moments.

"I'm here because I'm partially responsbile for the Kraken coming back." After Ed inhaled half the air in the room, Izzy continued. "I thought I was doing the right thing, for you and for us, by bringing him back. That was a huge mistake, Edward, and I'm sorry."

With a cluck of his tongue, Ed replied, "Kind of an odd time for an odd apology."

Taking the bottle back, Izzy began "You would be that blasted Kraken murdering his way across the ocean, but then you would lock yourself in your quarters and cry your eyes out over Bonnett. I nearly went insane listening you whine for hours on end."

"Izzy-"

"There were times I didn't like you, Edward. In fact, there were times when I hated you, what you had become. But there was never a time I didn't love you. Even when you shot me in the leg. Even when you wanted me to shoot you because you didn't have the guts to pull the fucking trigger yourself. I still loved you, you fucking prick." A single tear trailed down Ed's cheek and quietly dripped onto the table. "I spent my entire life cleaning up your fucking messes. The least I can do is help clean up the one I had a hand in making. I deserved The Kraken's wrath, but Bonnett doesn't."

Ed swallowed thickly. "No, he doesn't."

"I know, Edward." Izzy took another long drink.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

A smile tugged at the edge of Izzy's mouth as he watched mermaid Stede splash around the ocean without a care in the world. "Didn't your parents ever tell you stories about monsters?"

"I suppose they probably did."

"And what do monsters fear the most?"

"Nothing," Ed puzzled. "That's why they're monsters."

"No," Izzy said with a shake of his head. "Every monster has a weakness. Every monster has something they're afraid of."

Ed threw up his hands, exasperated. "You really came back from the dead to confused the hell out of me with riddles?"

Izzy grinned. "I'm not really here, remember? Don't focus on me, focus on what I'm saying."

"What are you saying?" Ed snapped.

Leaning forward, Izzy said, "Monsters thrive in the dark. You saw that when you killed your father. I saw that when you were the Kraken. You were in the darkest place, Edward. It was scary. But you find your way back to the light, Edward, and the Kraken hates that. Because monsters are afraid of the light. They are vulnerable out in the open. Do you understand what I'm saying now?"

"Yes."

"Good." Leaning back on his chair, Izzy asked, "Do you remember what what you told Stede about lighthouses?"

"Yes, I remember." the former pirate replied with a nod.

"What did you tell him?" Izzy pressed on.

"Ships are supposed to avoid lighthouses."

"Why?"

"If you see one that means you're close to the shore and risk running aground."

"Exactly," Izzy replied. "Now just remember that the next time the Kraken decides to grace you with his presence. Monsters hate the light and thrive in the dark. Stay in the light. Put the light on him. Remember that too. Is The Kraken listening?"

With a heavy nod, Ed answered, "He's always listening."

"Good. He's a fucking cunt. Did he hear that?"

Ed gave a short laugh. "I'm sure he did."

"I meant it."

"I'm know you did." Ed looked up. "I miss you."

Izzy smiled. "I miss you too. I always that I would just be dumped in the ocean when I died, but you were nice enough to bury me on land. Thanks for that. I really like the view."

"Let's go into town, how does that sound? We're still out of bread and marmalade," Stede said brightly.

Ed beamed, the crinkles by his eyes making Stede's heart skip a beat. "That's a good idea."

The walk to town was pleasant, filled with chatter and laughter and the promise of better days ahead, while waving to Mrs. Cortez along the way and dodging the occasional wayward chicken on the road. They stocked up with extra bread, marmalade, tea, wine, and more ingredients for their favorite stew. That night ate their fill at the dinner table, eating and drinking well into the night. Ed smiled the entire time.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The Kraken's scream nearly blew out Ed's eardrums. "You fucking pussy. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

The dark haired man sat bolt upright in bed, nearly falling out of it, heart nearly pounding out of his chest.

"Your fucking lighthouses and marmalade and fucking Izzy Hands. Did you really think I'd let you get away with that shit?" The Kraken wrapped his tentacles around Ed's wrists like shackles, holding him in place.

"Fuck you," Ed growled.

"You'd better do something about your stupid little boyfriend!" the monster demanded. "Do something about him now."

"No." Ed's heart was still roaring in his ears, his chest rolling in somersaults. He looked over at Stede, who was still sound asleep. "I won't do anything and you can't make me."

"I said do something about him."

"NO!"

"Do something about him, Blackbeard, or I will."

"You wouldn't dare," Ed challenged.

"Try me."

"I hate you." The more Ed struggled, the tighter the Kraken's grip twisted around him.

"I hate your stupid little boyfriend more. I said do something about him."

"So do it yourself then."

"Oh, I will, Blackbeard. Gladly." The Kraken cackled, his tentacles winding up Ed's arms.

"Don't hurt him!" Ed cried, the realization of his mistake crashing over him like he had bellyflopped into the ocean from the world's highest cliff. "Do whatever you want to me, but please don't hurt him!"

"You called my bluff, Blackbeard. Too bad I wasn't bluffing."

"No! Don't!" Ed screamed until the tentacles swallowed up his mouth, then his body, pinning him down, muffling his agonized pleas.

"Wake up, dog."

Stede squinted in the early morning light to see the Kraken leaning on the wall between the window and chest of drawers, wearing Blackbeard's leather trousers, purple shirt, gloves and boots. With one hand he raised a bottle of wine to his mouth and took a long gulp, a knife and the black cravat dangling from the other. Black soot from the stove was smeared across his eyes, making them look sunken six inches into his skull, strings of hair hanging loose in his face. The weight of his contempt was heavy on Stede's chest.

"You and your little boyfriend had a lovely afternoon," the Kraken sneered.

"We did," Stede replied defiantly, sitting up and swinging his feet to the floor.

"Blackbeard out shopping for marmalade and tea. What a fucking joke."

"His name is Edward Teach." Stede dug in his heels, preparing for battle. "He likes marmalade and tea."

The Kraken guzzled the rest of the wine and tossed the bottle aside where it landed with a dull thunk. "Are you going to pick flowers today? Look at the pretty butterflies?"

"If that's what Ed wants."

"You turned Blackbeard into a weak little pansy."

"Ed is who he wants to be and it's not Blackbeard."

"He should be out there on the sea doing what he was born to do!" the Kraken bellowed. "Not skipping around this speck of land in the middle of nowhere, sipping tea and picking oranges!"

"What do you have to offer him? What is out there for him?" Stede challenged, standing up. "Why should he go back to a life he had grown to hate, a life of looking over his shoulder, waiting for the day he's caught and hanged by the British or has his throat slit by another pirate. How many other Ned Lowes are out there looking for him? Can you answer that?"

"He'd die like a man."

"He'd die like a dog. Even you know he deserves better than that."

"You're so protective," the Kraken mused as a smug grin spread across his face. "Where was that protection for your own family, hmm? You couldn't cut it as a family man. You were an utter failure as a husband and father. You wrecked their lives and now you have to wreck another. Tell me, what was it like catching your wife fucking another man? How does it feel to know that man will be the husband and father you could never be?"

This isn't Ed speaking…just remember that…this is not Ed…

"No, I couldn't cut it as a family man," Stede conceded, using every ounce of willpower to keep his voice from sounding defeated. "But I made damn sure they were provided for. I did that if nothing else."

"Meanwhile, Blackbeard–oh I'm sorry, his name is Edward Teach–gets a fucking orange tree and a house that is falling apart. How generous of you."

"It's a simple life we have here, eating the oranges and fix up the house. It's what he likes. He hasn't complained." Stede thought of how Ed said how much he liked the island, liked having a home on solid ground.

"We'll see about that," the Kraken mocked. "Here's something you don't seem to understand–I'm not going to give up Blackbeard so easily."

"Here's something you will never understand," Stede began. "I'm not going to give up Edward at all. Do you hear that? I will not give him up, ever!"

Stede started towards him when the Kraken raised the knife.

"Stay there." The blade was pointed towards Stede's neck, the hate in the Kraken's gaze burned through the quiet summer morning.

Stede halted in his tracks, resigned to whatever the entity in Ed's brain had planned. The Kraken held up the cravat and spat out, "Is this what you use to walk your eager little doggy to the market?" before the black silk was wound around the blade and sliced in two, then four, then eight pieces, then tossed aside, littering the floor alongside the empty wine bottle.

"Let me talk to Ed," Stede demanded.

"He's not here," the Kraken replied dismissively with a taunting grin.

Stede clenched his fists. "Now who's the liar? Let me talk to him."

"No." The Kraken spun the knife around in his hand. "You can talk to me. Don't think I didn't notice you sidestepping my questions. You never told me what it was like seeing the wife you failed fuck someone else who is ten times the man and husband you are."

"Ed...," Stede began.

"Your children probably don't even remember your name anymore."

"Ed, darling, please-"

Stepping forward, the Kraken muttered, "Nevermind. Shut up about him. I've had enough of you and your pathetic whining," before viciously backhanding Stede across the face. The blond man tumbled backwards, stunned, black stars swirling in his vision as he sprawled across the floor. Warm blood poured from his nose and dripped onto the nightshirt, red blooms scattering across the white fabric. "Why didn't you just stay gone! Why did you have to come back and ruin everything!" A kick to the gut knocked the wind out of Stede; it felt like the heavy boot went straight through his back.

Stede crawled backwards into he hit the far wall, the Kraken's savage black eyes, shark eyes, never leaving him as he stepped closer. "Dead weight, that's what you are. Dead weight to your family, to your so called pirate crew, to Blackbeard. You know what happens to dead weight, don't you? It's cut loose and thrown out of the way."

The monster held up the knife once again, the yellow morning light gleaming off the blade. "Fuck you and your fucking tea and marmalade and books."

"Ed!" Stede tried to scream but it came out more as a wheeze. "Ed, I know you can hear me!"

The Kraken growled, "Nobody here to help you now, dog. It's just you and me."

"Ed! There's an escape! There's always an escape!"

"Shut your fucking mouth already."

The Kraken pivoted and picked up the night table, the contents crashing to the floor, and smashed it against the wall above Stede, who covered his head with his hands as splinters and shards rained down on him.

"No! What are you doing?" It was Ed's voice, overflowing with anguish. "I told you not to hurt him! Don't hurt him!"

"Fuck you both!" the Kraken roared.

"He is not my father," Ed roared back. "He doesn't deserve any of this. Leave him alone!"

"Get that light away from me!" It was the Kraken screaming again. This time Stede detected something new in the monster's voice: worry, panic.

"Get in there!"

"No!"

Stede heard Ed shout, "Get in there, you fucking monster, and stay in there!" and for a bizarre second wondered if he was having some freakish fever dream. The throbbing of his nose and the coppery taste of blood on his tongue told him otherwise.

"Leave us alone!" Screams and thuds and the crash of breaking glass bounced off the walls. "Get away from him! Stay in there! Stay in there!" Ed screamed, followed by a shriek and a slap, then a deafening silence.

After what seemed like hours Stede slowly raised his head, his vision blurred by the salt from his tears and sweat. Jagged remains of the lamp that usually occupied the night table were scattered all around him. Breathing was painful, his nose clogged with thickening, drying blood and his stomach was still reeling from bearing the brunt of the Kraken's anger. He was shoving pieces of wood of the way when he glanced up and saw Ed's leather clad form collapsed by the bed.

"Oh, God...no...," Stede gasped, crawling over the splinters and shards of glass, ignoring the pain as pieces of the lamp and frame sliced into his palms and knees. Torn up hands reached out for Ed, and Stede couldn't help but let out a cry of relief when he saw Ed was still breathing, though he was out cold, a steady stream of crimson trickling from his nostrils. The knife was gone from Ed's hands. It wasn't anywhere among the jumbled mess.

"What did he do to you?" Stede whispered, brushing his hands against Ed's blood and ash streaked face. "What the hell did he do to you?" He was still muttering to himself when Ed's eyes blinked open.

Edward Teach, not The Kraken.

Ed's bewildered gaze locked onto Stede's, then looked down at the red-stained nightshirt, then the chaos strewn all over the room, the destroyed tables and lamps. He tried to speak, but Stede cut him off with a gentle hand on his cheek.

"Don't," Stede said softly. "Not now."

Hot tears dripped onto the blonde man's fingers. Stede used the end of this nightshirt to wipe them away.

"He...," Ed began weakly. "He did this..." His voice low, words slurred.

"Don't try to talk now, Ed. Save your strength." Stede's thumb rubbed soft, soothing circles along Ed's cheek, leaving behind rings of red and black.

"But he...you... there's blood everywhere..." Ed's face collapsed, Stede's heart collapsed with it.

"Ssshhhhh...It's alright, Ed. He tried...and he failed miserably. It's not as bad as it looks."

Like hell it isn't...

From the corner of his eye Stede could see the wine bottle on the floor. The wine bottle that had been unopened when they had retired to bed the night before. The wine that the Kraken gulped down this morning. Ed's words weren't stumbling all over each other just because he was injured. On top of everything else Ed was also having to deal with the being blind, stinking drunk as well.

"Can you stand up?" Stede asked.

Ed shook his head and swallowed heavily.

"It's fine," Stede began. It was actually better that Ed stay where was. He wasn't in any shape to try and help Ed stand up just to have them both crash onto the glass-covered floor. "You're fine where you are for the moment. Just stay there for right now and we'll figure things out when you're feeling better."

"Don't leave me," Ed muttered, his eyes fluttering closed. "Please don't leave me."

"I'll be right here, Ed. I'm not going anywhere." Stede fought back a sob as a fresh round tears welled up.

Damn you, Kraken, damn you, damn you, damn you to hell....

"Ed, where is he? Is he still here?"

Keeping his eyes closed, Ed answered quietly, "No."

"Where is he then?"

"In the lighthouse," was the murmured reply.

Stede's brow furrowed. "What lighthouse? There is no lighthouse here."

"He's locked in the lighthouse. Monsters are afraid of the light...it's their weakness..."

"Ed, you're not making any sense..."

With a sigh, Ed whispered, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Stede whispered back, thoroughly confused.

"The rain." It was only then that the steady pounding of the rain on the roof reached Stede's ears. "I love listening to the rain," Ed muttered before he passed out again.

Stede grabbed Ed's hand and broke down, crying for the second chance that was threatening to be so unfairly snatched away from them, crying for the man he loved lying hurt and unconscious at this feet, crying for the love that both he and Ed craved that was so close to being lost.

I can't lose you, Ed. Not again. Never again.