Ed lay curled up fast asleep in the brig of The Revenge, just as he had been every night since he'd been permitted to return to the ship. Really, stripping him of his Blackbeard title and outfit, sticking him in a collar and a sack, and forcing him to sleep locked in the brig was getting off lightly, at least in Ed's opinion. As far as he was concerned, the crew would have been well within their rights to throw him in the brig permanently and flog him too if they so wished. Although Ed couldn't imagine that most of the Revenge Crew really had the appetite for public floggings, and The Revenge's brig was still much nicer than any other brig Ed had seen. In fact, it was nicer than some of the crew's quarters Ed had seen. The room was clean, which is more than Ed could say about most other brigs, and there was a bench Ed could sleep on. The room was a little chilly but after only two nights Stede has snuck Ed a blanket and so far, none of the rest of the crew had taken it off him.

Ed could have slept just about anywhere the crew could have thrown him, one of the consequences of living on pirate ships since he was fourteen, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate having somewhere comfy to sleep. Of course, the brig wasn't as comfy as the bed in the captain's quarters but, given that was now Stede's bed, and Ed and Stede had agreed they were taking it slow, Ed thought it was probably for the best that he wasn't sleeping there (even if a large part of him wanted nothing more).

Another consequence of being a pirate for so long was that Ed was a light sleeper. On a pirate ship you didn't survive long if you didn't wake up at the sound of somebody sneaking up on you. Consequently, Ed jerked awake at the sound of a loud boom echoing through the ship. He sat bolt upright in bed, knocking his blanket to the floor, and a second later the ship rocked. There was only one thing that could be: cannon fire. There was another boom and the ship rocked again. They were under attack.

Ed jumped to his feet and ran over to the door to his cell. He knelt down in front of it and pulled a pin out of his hair, that was still half up from the previous day. He jammed it into the lock and started to pick it; he had to get to Stede before their attackers did. Ed froze as he heard the sound of The Revenge being boarded above him, quickly followed by the sound of swords clanking. Ed turned back to the lock, redoubling his effort to get the door open.

It only took a minute for the door to swing open under Ed's effort, but as it did, the ship fell silent. The attack was over. Ed paused and just listened, trying to hear any signs of life, just the slightest hint that Stede and the crew were still alive. After a second, he heard the sound of somebody walking around on the floor above him, however, it didn't sound like the footsteps of any member of the crew, which meant it was their attackers. Ed could hear them making their way across the floor and towards the stairs that led down towards the brig.

Ed jumped into action. He wrapped his hand around the bell hanging from his collar to muffle the sound, and grabbed his blanket, removing all traces of himself from the brig. He then dashed over to the far wall and pressed down against one of the planks of wood in it, causing a panel to slide away, revealing a hidden door. Ed slipped inside and pulled the panel back in place after him.

It was pitch black in the secret room, aside from a sliver of light that shone through a small crack in the door. Ed knelt down in front of the crack and pressed his eye against. It was just wide enough to allow him to see into the brig without being seen himself. He heard the sound of the brig door opening and two unfamiliar men walked into the room.

"There's nobody here," One of the men said,

"Yeah, I mean a crew that easy to defeat wouldn't have any prisoners,"

"I don't know why the captain wanted to take them hostage instead of killing them."

The other man shrugged, "I don't know, sometimes it's more fun to drag it out, make it into a game instead of just killing everyone in the fight."

"Sounds long winded."

The man sighed, "Well it's what the captain wants."

The men turned around and left the brig, presumably to continue their search of the rest of the ship.

Ed pushed the secret door open again and stepped back out into the brig. He couldn't help the small smile that broke out across his face. Stede and the crew were still alive, at least for now, and that meant he could save them.

Ed reached up and undid the collar around his neck, he couldn't have the bell giving away his position. He tossed the collar onto the ground then headed out of the door. If he was going to help the crew, he needed some weapons.

He crept down the corridor, listening out for anyone as he went, but it would seem the men had completed their search of the floor. He came to a stop opposite a painting of a ship. He pushed the painting aside then climbed through the hole it revealed. Recently, Ed had been thinking that all of Stede's secret passages had rather lost their purpose, seen as all the crew now knew about them, but now he could see that this had been their point all along.

Ed found himself at the bottom of a ladder. There was no corridor so the only direction he could go in was up. He stepped on the bottom rung and began to climb. He made his way up the ladder until he reached the floor above, where the secret passage stretched out into the walls, allowing Ed to walk around the floor unseen.

He headed down the passage towards a strip of light that was poking through a hole in the wall. He paused when he reached it and pressed his ear against the wall, listening out beyond the passage to the rest of the ship. When he was sure there was nobody out there, he pushed the hidden door open and stepped out into the corridor. Just as he stepped out there was a loud shout from above him. Ed froze. The sound could only have come from the deck. There was the sound of more shouting followed by heavy footsteps, probably somebody running, however, there wasn't the sound of any weapons. No gun being fired, no swords clinking. The sound of footsteps grew fainter, clearly getting further away from Ed's position, so he leaped back into action.

He hurried down the corridor and ducked into Jim, Olu and Archie's room. He marched over to the bed and knelt down in front of it. He ducked down to so he could see underneath it. There wasn't much under the bed, but in the far corner there was a black bundle. Ed reached and pulled the bundle out, to reveal that it was a cloth bag. He sat back up and opened the bag, then started pull his personal belongings out of it.

Ed jumped back to his feet and stripped off the sack outfit he was wearing, he may have come here for his weapons, but his leather clothes were always going to offer him more protection in a fight than the sackcloth was, and he wasn't about to turn that down. He snatched up his leather trousers and black t-shirt and pulled them on, before sitting down on the bed and putting on his boots. He slipped on his jacket then looked down at the rest of his accessories still sat on the floor. He frowned at them before scooping up just his sword and pistol, leaving everything else behind. He slipped the sword into his belt then flipped the pistol open to reveal that there was only one shot inside it. Ed let out a huff. He needed more weapons. He glanced around the room, but it didn't look like Jim or Archie had left their weapons in there. Ed racked his brains for the best place to find something he could use as a weapon. The kitchen leapt to mind.

He poked his head around the doorway to check that the hallway was empty. He looked around but there was nobody in sight. He stepped out of the room and headed down the corridor, towards the kitchen.

It was only a short walk from Jim, Archie and Olu's room to the kitchen, and Ed had nearly made it when he rounded a corner only to come face to face with Izzy. Ed froze at the sight of his former first mate. The two of them hadn't spoken since the whole mutiny thing, truly, they had been doing their best to avoid each other.

The two of them stood staring at each other for a several seconds until they were drawn from their thoughts by the sound of several men approaching them.

Ed grabbed hold of Izzy's shirt and dragged him towards the wall closest to them. He dug his nails into a notch and the entrance to yet another secret passage sprung open. He shoved Izzy inside, then followed him in and closed the door behind them. Ed pressed his eye to the gap between the wall and the door just in time to see three men rounded the corner and walk into the corridor Ed and Izzy had just been in,

"Where'd he go?" One of the men said, "I could have sworn I heard him come down here,"

"It's like he's disappeared in a puff of smoke."

One of the men scoffed, "He's only got one leg, he can't have got far!"

"No, he can't," One of the other men agreed, "Come on, let's keep going."

The men continued down the hall, away from Ed and Izzy.

Once they were in the clear, Ed pushed the door open and stepped out.

Izzy eyed Ed up and down as he followed Ed out of the wall, "You found your stuff then," he said.

Ed shrugged, "I've known where it was the entire time."

Izzy nodded, "Figures."

Ed could feel the air of tension between them, he would have to be oblivious not to. It was a tension he'd never felt with Izzy before. He'd known the man for twenty years and things had always felt easy between them, even when they were shouting at each other, but now…Now you could cut the tension between the two of them with a knife.

He sighed and glanced down the corridor, after the three men, "What's going on?" He asked,

"We were attacked," Izzy said bluntly,

"Yes, I heard that much."

Izzy sighed, "Another pirate ship got the jump on us, wasn't a group I recognised, before you ask. They tied everyone up then started getting out a load of instruments," Izzy shuddered, "You know the sort. Bonnet tried to do his normal Bonnet thing, but I guess he ran out of luck this time, it didn't work, and the captain knocked him out."

Ed bit his lip in worry, thoughts of Stede lying unconscious on the deck flooding his mind, images of him bleeding and alone. "What about you?" Ed asked weakly, "Why weren't you caught?"

"I was," Izzy said, "But their knots weren't the best. I was going to sneak off and find a weapon, but I can't sneak with this thing," Izzy waved at this wooden leg, "I got all of two steps before they saw me, and I've been trying to lose them ever since."

Ed glanced down the corridor once more, "While they're looking for you, they're not torturing the others," he pointed out.

"That won't last long," Izzy said.

Ed nodded in agreement, "So we need to hurry up and free everyone before they decide you're not worth looking for."

"Agreed. I still need a weapon though," Izzy said.

Ed reached for his pistol and went to pass it to Izzy; however, he noticed Izzy tense up when he touched the gun. Ed suddenly remembered the last time he'd held a gun out to Izzy. Brief pictures of Izzy, bleeding out on a makeshift bed; of Ed asking Izzy to kill him, flashed through Ed's mind. He opened his mouth to apologise but before he could get the words out, Izzy reached out drew Ed's sword from his belt,

"I was always a better swordsman than you," he said.

"Probably the better choice anyway, the pistol only has one shot,"

"All you need is one shot," Izzy said.

Ed looked away uncomfortably, the feeling of guilt still gnawing away at him. "Umm, I was heading to the kitchen for knives," he said.

Izzy nodded, "Good plan."

Ed frowned. It felt weird for Izzy to be complimenting his idea after everything that had happened between them, especially one as basic as this one, however, Izzy had already set off down the corridor.

Ed and Izzy reached the kitchen without any issues. Once they confirmed the room was empty, they hurried over to the draws and started to pull out all the knives they could see. They both tucked several knives into their belts and Izzy picked up a meat cleaver.

"What now Boss?" Izzy asked.

Ed head snapped up, "Don't call me that."

Izzy raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I'm not your boss anymore," Ed said,

"Fine," Izzy scoffed, "If you're going to be so fucking touchy about it. I was just asking what our next move was,"

"I know, I just…I don't want to be your boss anymore, Iz. You outrank me now and that's the way it should be. That's what we deserve."

Izzy narrowed his eyes, "That's the way it should be, is it? So, what? Everything we've been doing for last two decades was wrong?"

"That's not what I meant-"

"No, you were doing what you've been doing for the last few years, you were wallowing in self-pity like a fucking twat, instead of getting on with what you need be doing!"

Ed opened his mouth to snap back but before he could say anything, there came the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. Ed and Izzy both froze. They turned to looked at each other with wide eyes before they dived towards one of the kitchen counters. They shoved it out of their way and dived into the hole it revealed. They pulled the counted back into place just in time.

"I could have sworn I heard him in here," came a voice from the kitchen,

"Well, there's clearly nobody here now," said another voice, "Come on, let's go, we're wasting time looking for this guy when we've still got everyone else on deck."

They heard the men leave, then, after everything had been quiet for a few moments, Ed reached up and pushed the kitchen counter back out of the way.

"We don't have time to argue," Ed said, "Look, I know we have…"

"Yeah," Izzy looked up at the ceiling, "I can ignore it to save them."

"Yeah, me too,"

"Good," Izzy nodded, "So, what do we do?" He asked,

"We need a distraction," Ed said,

"I'll be the distraction."

Ed shook his head, "No, I can't ask you to do that,"

"Well, I can't really sneak around anymore with this," Izzy stamped his wooden foot.

Another wave of guilt washed over Ed, but he pushed it down; now wasn't the time, "Okay," he said, "Let's go up to the deck."

The two of them made their way through the ship, sticking close the walls, ready to dive for cover the moment they got any sign of somebody approaching. However, they managed to reach the deck without running into a single other person.

Ed and Izzy peaked out at the desk and Ed got a glimpse of Stede and the crew for the first time. They were all sat in a line on the deck with their hands bound behind their back and their legs tied together. A few members of the attacker's crew stood behind them, looking like they were ready to leap into action the moment they got the word from their captain. Stede was lying apart from the others with his eyes closed and a large bruise forming across half of his face.

Izzy nudged Ed, bringing him back to the present. He nodded towards the far end of the ship and Ed nodded in agreement. He slipped out from his and Izzy's hiding place and started to creep down the length of the ship. He stuck to the shadows as he went, remaining unnoticed by everyone else. That was the secret to Ed's success; the reason Blackbeard had become the legend he had. It wasn't his ruthlessness, or even his skill in a fight. It was his effectiveness, the fact that he had the ability to not to be seen until he wanted to be. He could creep up on ship and people alike and they wouldn't know he was there until it was too late.

Ed came to a stop once he was standing behind everyone at the far end of the deck. He caught Izzy's eye and nodded at him. Izzy nodded his confirmation then took a step forward out of the shadows, his wooden leg stomping loudly as he went.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the noise.

"Looks like we were wasting our time looking for you," said a man who was clearly the captain of the attackers, "We could have just waited for you to reappear up here."

Izzy pulled out Ed's sword and held it out in front of him, ready to attack.

The captain scoffed, "You think you can take on all of us on your own?" He looked around dramatically at all of his men, as if highlighting the number of them.

Izzy smirked and Ed took that as his cue to step out from the shadows, "No, but he can."

Everyone spun around to see Ed standing there behind them, back lit by the moon, creating a dramatic silhouette.

"Blackbeard!" Somebody gasped.

Ed pulled two knives out of his belt and threw them at the two closest men before anyone could get over their shock, striking them both in the neck.

As Ed's knives hit their intended target, Izzy leaped into action, swinging his sword at the nearest man. This gave everyone the kick they needed to jump into the fight.

Ed stabbed another guy then dived towards where Jim and Archie were tied up. He knelt down next to them and slipped a knife under the rope around Jim's writes and sliced through it.

Jim started undoing the rope around their ankles while Ed moved over to Archie. Ed paused to throw two more knives at two approaching men before freeing Archie. He pulled out his remaining knives. He had three left. He pressed two into Jim's hand and one into Archie's, "Free the others," he said. He hoped their like of the others would out way their dislike of him and they would do what he asked.

Ed got back to his feet and hurried over to one of the fallen men. He pried the man's sword out of his hand, claiming it for his own. He heard a loud cry from behind him and Ed spun around just in time to see another man charging over to him with his sword held high. Ed raised his newly acquired sword and met the man, their swords clanging as the hit each other. The man took another swing at Ed, but Ed blocked him once again. The man moved back to swing at Ed once more, but Ed made his move before the man could get a chance. He swung at the man and stabbed him in the shoulder, pinning him to the mast. The man gasped in pain and dropped his sword. Ed bent down and scooped it up, replacing the sword he'd just used to pin the man to the mast.

Ed turned back around and surveyed the fight going on around him. Izzy and Archie were doing a good job holding everyone off while Jim freed the rest of the crew. They cut Roach free, and he instantly jumped up to join the fight. Izzy passed him the meat cleaver and Roach instantly hit out at the nearest attacker.

The crew seemed to have the fight in hand, and this gave Ed the chance he'd been waiting for. He ran over to where Stede was still lying on the desk and fell to his knees by his side. He scrambled around, feeling for a pulse on Stede's neck. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt a steady beat. He made quick work of the rope around Stede's wrists and ankles. He then turned Stede over, so he was lying more comfortably on his back. He reached out and took hold of Stede's hand, "Come on, wake up," he said desperately.

There came a roar from behind him and Ed sprung back to his feet. He spun around with his sword raised and came face to face with another pirate. Ed swung aggressively at the man, sending him stumbling backwards across the desk. Ed took another swing at the guy and the man took another step backwards, straight into Fang. The man slowly turned around and looked up at Fang in fear.

Fang nodded at Ed over the guy's head, then swung at the man, taking over the sword fight.

Ed pivoted on his heals and ran back towards Stede, however, he froze just a few steps in front of him. He could see Izzy standing at the other side of the deck fighting two men at once. Izzy reached out and slit one of the men's throats with his sword, however, this gave the other man the opportunity to get the upper hand and he raised his sword, preparing to strike Izzy down.

Without thinking, Ed drew his pistol and fired his one shot at the man, hitting him straight in the head. The man crumpled to the ground and Izzy turned to see who had fired. His eyes set on Ed, but Ed had already turned away and he fell back down on his knees next to Stede,

"Ed?" Came Stede's weak voice.

Ed reached out and squeezed Stede's hand, "I'm here."

"Retreat!" Somebody yelled behind them, and the remainders of the attacking crew quickly fled The Revenge.

Stede's eyes fluttered open and met Ed's.

"Hey," Ed said.

Stede pushed himself into a sitting position, "Hey,"

"How do you feel?" Ed asked.

Stede raised his hand to his head where the bruise was forming, "What happened?" He said,

"What do you remember?" Izzy asked, as the rest of the crew made their way over to them.

Stede touched his head again, then looked down at his hand as if to check if he was bleeding. He looked around at the ship and frowned, "We were attacked," he said slowly, "And I tried to talk to them…They hit me!" Stede cried indignantly.

Ed smiled at Stede's outburst, the relief at hearing Stede sounding like his normal self, suddenly overwhelming him.

Stede returned Ed's smile then frowned, "How did you get here?" He asked, "You were locked in the brig."

"Izzy let him out," Jim said.

Izzy snorted, "Nah, he did that by himself, he was well on his way to arming himself by the time I ran into him,"

"That's so cool." Pete said, only to be elbowed by Lucius.

"You could get out this entire time?" Roach cried.

Izzy rolled his eyes, "Of course he could."

Ed sighed and reluctantly got to his feet, "I apologise for breaking every condition of my probation," He said, "And I understand if you want me to leave." Ed looked down at his feet, unable to meet the eyes of the crew. He couldn't let them see the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. He didn't know if he could face being separated from Stede again, but if this was the price for saving Stede's life…

"We're not going to get rid of you for saving our lives," Izzy said, causing Ed's head to snap up,

"Yeah," Jim agreed, "You've been able to get your stuff this entire time and you haven't killed us yet."

Frenchie nodded in agreement, "Much bigger show of trust than us physically stopping you."

Izzy frowned, "Did all of you think he couldn't get out of the brig or didn't know exactly where his stuff was this entire time?"

Roach shrugged.

"I knew he was doing everything of his own free will," Fang said.

Stede clapped his hands together and got to his feet, "Well, if that's everything-"

"Wait, what are we doing with him?" Lucius said, waving his arms at Ed,

"You just said I could stay!" Ed cried, trying, and failing, not to sound desperate. Thankfully, everyone seemed to ignore his tone,

"No, I just meant are we putting him back in the brig?"

Olu shrugged, "There doesn't seem much point now we know he can get himself out,"

"You can keep your stuff too," Jim said, "I don't want you coming into our room again to get it."

The crew devolved into chatter about Ed, about the attack, about whether it was too early to have breakfast.

Izzy let out a shrill whistle and everyone shut up and turned to look at him. "Alright," he cried, "We've got a lot of clean up to do before we can go back to bed,"

"Can't that wait until morning?" Roach groaned,

"No, it can't. Everyone, get to work!"

The crew all grumbled but dutifully set about cleaning up the mess the attackers had made.

Stede took Ed's hand and led him over to the side of the deck. "Thank you," he said,

"What for?"

"For going along with the whole probation thing."

Ed smiled softly, "Of course," he said, "It meant I got to stay with you."

Stede leant forward and kissed Ed. "You know," he said, as he pulled away, "Now that you don't have to stay in the brig, you can stay in my room with me."

Ed kissed Stede on the cheek, "I'd love to," he said, before looking back to the crew, "But you heard Izzy, got work to do before I can go back to bed." Ed took a step back from Stede, back towards the crew,

Stede smiled softly at Ed, "Join me when you're done?" he asked.

"Always."