THERES A DELAY,but It Only Lasts A Breath. Then A Hand Is Closing Around His, Strong & Determined, The

     THERE’S A DELAY, but it only lasts a breath. then a hand is closing around his, strong & determined, the pirate pulling himself to his feet. yet no sooner does he straighten than he stumbles again, his injured leg evidently unable to hold him. izzy is quick to slip himself beneath his arm, taking on some of the weight from his weakened side. ❝ it's up the stairs or under the hull, so up you go. ❞ he half-carries the taller man as they hobble together first up the narrow stairs & then across the empty deck. it's slow-going, but they don't stop even for a moment. when they reach the waiting rowboat, there is a brief breathless laugh at his side. & izzy thinks to himself that enduring a lashing would be well worth it for the chance to hear that sound again.

                    ❝ i told you, didn't i ? ❞ he responds softly, smiling in spite of himself. ❝ come on, get in. ❞ at his bidding, the man slips out of his arms to pull himself over the railing & into the dinghy. izzy misses the touch immediately. but there’s no time to mourn its absence — if they are caught now, it will all have been for nothing. ❝ row east, into the sunrise. the current is with you, & so is the wind. we shouldn't be able to easily follow you. ❞ his voice is little more than a breath, his hands moving fast to unfasten the tie-offs & prepare the rowboat to be lowered into the inky tide below. ❝ there's rations & water enough for five days, but you should reach land well before that if you keep your heading. ❞ the main knot falls open, but izzy holds it taut to allow himself one last look at edward teach. he truly is beautiful, almost unbearably so. the sky above is scattered with stars, & his wide dark eyes seem to reflect them all as the two men look at each other. they are from entirely different worlds, izzy knows, one clad in a pirate's leathers & the other in a royal navy uniform. but for a moment it seems their hearts beat in tandem, matching the steady rhythm of the waves. then izzy clears his throat & the moment passes, the final rope ready to release. ❝ you have to go. now. ❞

try as he might to make sense of the situation,   edward can do nothing but watch the man as he approaches,  slowly,  with no sneer or taunt on his lips.  his head spins,  sight faltering again and for a moment,  all he can see is the awful blue of his coat,  his words entirely forgotten   (   on my mother   ).  for a moment that stretches on forever,  he is surrounded and helpless again,  at the doubtlessly nonexistent mercy of the navy,  not for people like him anyway.  but then again,  even if they were to offer him a way out from certain execution in the form of service to them,  he'd only spit it back in their faces.  he finally shifts his stare to look up at the man's face,  realizing with some delay that he is talking,  in the middle of some long speech that edward only catches in fragments.  he's got the relevant bits,  and they make enough sense with the offered hand,  but he can't help looking at the officer like he has suddenly grown a siren's tail.

'  what the fuck,  man.  '   it has to be a quick decision,  he knows that,  there's no time for hesitation.  his only other option is doomed from the start  —  he can do jack shit on his own,  not with the state of his leg,  even if he were to incapacitate him somehow and steal his sword.  he'd still make a stupid,  insane,  bound to fail effort,  however.  you can trust me.  he grabs the hand,  of course he does.  he tries to kid himself,  half heartedly thinking that what comes next won't be so bad,  but getting on his feet,  putting even the slightest amount of weight on his bad leg is agonizing.  face blanched,  he almost passes out cold,  a black cloud obscuring his sight for a heart beat.  he doesn't remember deciding to do it,  yet lets the solid body near him hold him up with no resistance.   '  up the stairs,  huh?  gonna be fun.  '   he tries for humor,  even through teeth clenched so tight they start to hurt.  and up the stairs they do go indeed,  even though edward feels so sick he thinks he might loose it any moment, clutching that blasted coat with near to numb fingers.  when edward finally catches sight of the rowboat,  waiting for them just like the man said,  he feels like deliriously laughing.  he gasps out a startled half chuckle,  instead.   '  you really weren't kidding.  fuckin' lunatic.  '

       THE REVENGE ISN’T FAR AWAY, & izzy begins to return to her as soon as lucius is aboard the tender. the more his shoulders burn, the harder he pulls. the growing ache actually distracts from the sharper pain in his foot, & he endures it without complaint. yet he can’t help but wince at lucius’ question. he has no answer to give. while izzy would truthfully be glad to be rid of the lot of them — they were by far the most pathetic & infuriating crew he’d ever sailed with — that didn’t mean he would delight their slow painful death. besides, he's certain that even if he tried, edward wouldn’t be talked into keeping them aboard in his current state. izzy doesn't want to admit it, but something seems different about his captain’s rage this time, the ire he himself had unleashed. & he fears that lucius is right — that there will be no coming back from this ledge he's pushed them to.

                  ❝ i know he is, ❞ izzy snaps, voice ragged with exertion. the fresh injury on his foot throbs as if to remind him of the risk he's taking in disobeying his captain's orders, & he flinches in spite of himself. ❝ but we don't have much choice, do we ? if you'd rather take your chances with the sharks, you're welcome to jump back in. ❞ there is no lantern lit in the windows of the captain's cabin as they draw near, & the ship is peaceful & quiet. it seems that edward is still lost to his drunken sleep. izzy pulls them alongside until he finds the ladder he'd left waiting. & when he turns back toward lucius his voice is softer, almost gentle, as if he's trying to soothe his nerves. ❝ go, head straight belowdeck. i'll be right behind you. you'll be safe, just stay hidden. ❞

usually lucius would have some things to say about the reassurance he is being offered   (   okay,  quite a lot of things   ).  but in this nut case of a situation,  while he is still shivering and his throat feels scraped raw,  izzy's words don't sound entirely jarring.  or unwelcome,  even.  it's just nice to hear it and even nicer to believe him,  as baffling as it might seem:  izzy hands is a lot of things,  most of them not exactly positive,  but lucius supposes he can trust him when it comes to getting out of sticky situations,  when it's about improving his chances of survival.  and really,  they were painfully low before the man showed up like a mirage in the night,  before either sharks or fatigue could do the boy in for good.  even the usual snark isn't met with too much fuss.  lucius simply secures the blanket tighter around himself and when the eye roll comes it's more out of a matter of habit,  almost entirely half-hearted,  than actual grievance.

it takes being told not to worry, instead, to startle him out of the numbness taking hold of his limbs.  it shakes him out of the comforting darkness where what just happened to him is a distant dot on the horizon,  a nightmare he simply has to wake up from.   '  yeah?  and what will happen to them while i hide away in one of stede's ridiculous secret rooms or something?  '   voice crushed into a mixture of vitriol and disbelief,  lucius edges closer to the side of the little boat,  rendered suddenly aware of which side izzy would inevitably take in all of this,  when not covered by night and whatever blissful state of ignorance blackbeard has stumbled over.  he really should stop there,  shut his mouth and wait,  do as he is told,  yet the memory of fear turns his tongue sharp.   '  he is out of his mind,  hope you know that.  '

❝ NO WORSE FOR WEAR. ❞ save the missing toes, the sleepless nights, & the damnable bleeding heart in edward's chest that insisted upon making the rest of the caribbean bleed with it. but izzy knows better than to say so aloud. whatever the cause of edward's good mood today, he doesn't anticipate it to last — but he also doesn't intend to befoul it. ❝ we're already older than most of our lot will ever be. must be doing something right. ❞

You are not the burnt and broken shell of a man that I believed you to be. — for ed from izzy ( @musecraft )

"And you're not the listless, browbeaten husk of a man that I feared you'd become. Look at us. How many decades? And no worse for wear then when we started."

nadja’s outfits in season 1 of what we do in the shadows

the gang's all here ! to make your own.