Chapter Text
Stede squints as he stares out at where the Revenge last was and sees a small sandbar in the distance. He grips the oars and paddles closer as the sun beats down, sweat beading down the sides of his face, his shirt sticking uncomfortable the his chest. As he nears the sandbar he sees movement, invigorated he pulls the oars faster and deeper than before. As the dot of land erupts in movement he moves to stand, to make himself larger, to show that he is there. In his haste to stand he almost falls overboard. Arms out to balance himself, his excitement returning. His hand shoots up but he dares not wave it for his balance is still in question; he shouts but if there’s a response he can’t hear it.
‘The Revenge needed to be resupplied,' Stede thinks to himself, 'it was nice of Ed to leave some of the crew here so we could meet up later, a note would of sufficed but it is such a lovely day out to relax in the sand.’
He carefully sits himself back down and continues to paddle to the sandbar. He ignores how his hands sting at the tight grip he has on the oars. He almost lost one while paddling out and the thought of being stranded, the thought of not returning to Ed was unfathomable. He rows as he looks down briefly at the giddy smile that spreads across his lips, it probably won’t be until next morning that he sees Ed but it’s so much closer than it was just a few hours ago. He rows. Any moment he’ll see his crew.
‘Lucius will have some tips on how to…’ Stede stops his thoughts as his cheeks blush, he isn’t sure if he was ready for Lucius’ advice but a friendly face free of judgment will be nice. Mary was kind to him when she didn’t need to be but she didn’t understand what it felt like having to hide your love, being afraid of the love you have. Being able to talk about the feelings he has for Ed will be nice. ‘In fact! With them doing a supplies run that gives me a chance to practice what I’m going to say to Ed’
Stede rows closer and can make out some of the crew on the island. Oluwande is waving his arms back and forth. ‘Ed must of told them to be on the lookout for me,’ he waves one arm while holding the oars inside. “Ahoy!” He yells and he can’t hear what is being said but he can hear their voices now. Any moment and he’ll be on land again, he’ll be with his crew. Stede loves Ed, loves him like he’s never loved something before but his crew. The crew is his family, he loves them just as fiercely; he didn’t know you could love someone non-romantically but he loves them just the same and promises himself, ‘I’ll do better this time around.’ He rows.
He is so close. A few more minutes. Stede looks at the sandbar and catalogs who's there. Oluwande is at the surf, ready to step in and help when he’s close enough. Buttons is under a palm tree with Roach watching out for the Swede as he gets closer to the top. It's nice to see they took that safety first talk seriously. Wee John seems to be laying in the sandnext to some rocks. Black Pete is next to Oluwande pacing back and forth. Stede frowns momentarily but remembers that Ed probably needed Lucius to help with writing out the restocking list. It is odd that Black Pete didn’t go with them but no matter, he can make out the words the crew are yelling.
“Cap’t! Where have you been?!” Oluwande yells.
This was the type of reunion he had in mind when he went to his wife, Stede smiles to himself, the crew missed him, of course, he knew they would but it’s nice to be reminded. “I’ll be there in a jiffy, it’s quite the tale I have. I’ll wait until we’re all back together to tell it.” He grips his oars and pushes with all his might.
“Are they with you?” Black Pete yells. “I don’ see ‘em”
Stede continues to row. He tilts his head, he loves his men but he would of just came back with the ship if he ran into them first. “Of course not but we’ll see them in when they come back.” Stede can hear the waves break against the shore.
Oluwande freezes for a moment before running out into the sea, saying something to Black Pete. Stede rows as he watches Pete look out at the horizon, shoulders slumping and sinking into himself. Stede’s smile falters. Oluwande is hip-deep and grabbing the bow of the dingy to help pull in. Stede jumps off the side and helps push against the current. He hears the water splash, Black Pete must of joined in the getting it to shore.
They drag the dingy up the sandbar as close to the rocks as they can get without damaging the wood. Stede’s legs are freezing from the water but it’s cooled him down some from all the rowing he had to do. The men are surrounding him, “Oh how I have missed you all.” He goes to clap Oluwande on the shoulder, “Now when should we be expecting the Revenge to return?” the response isn’t what he was expecting.
“Cap’t we’ve been stranded here for two days.” Oluwande says slowly, “they left us behind, Blackbeard left us here to die.”
“What? No. That must be a mistake. He wouldn’t-”
“No food, no water, no supplies Cap’t.” Oluwande stares Stede in the eye, “He left us to die here. No word on Jim-”
“Or Lucius” Black Pete pipes in.
“Or Frenchie,” Oluwande continues. “Izzy tricked us out here and then Blackbeard sailed the ship away.”
“Ed wouldn’t -“ Stede looks around at his men, ‘this can’t be right, there’s an explanation for all of this, he knows what they mean to me. He wouldn't’
“Blackbeard would” Stede freezes and looks at Black Pete, “if Blackbeard wanted to be rid of us. Would be nicer to kill us than making us suffer, but” Black Pete shrugs.
Oluwande nods, “You weren’t there Cap’t, when he came back… his beard was gone. It wasn’t good. He was hurt. What happened? Where have you been?”
Stede spins in a slow circle looking at his crew, of what was left of his crew. He blinks rapidly at the sudden wetness in his eyes, ‘His Ed did this. Ed left his crew to die. Ed didn’t… it was his fault.’ “I-I” a deep breath, “It’s my fault. There, there’s been some…misunderstanding. I’m sure that Ed, Blackbeard was working on faulty information.” Stede clinches his jaw and breathes deeply, “I’ll make this right. I am” Stede blinks back the tears again, “I am so sorry this happened to you all, but I’ll fix this.” He claps his hands together, “Right then, first things first.” He walks to the dingy, and pulls out a bag, “This should have enough food and water for today, and we’ll set out soon.” Stede passes the bag to Oluwande. “Now if you’ll excuse I… I need to revise my plan.” Stede turns around and walks up the rocks to the other side.
The sandbar isn’t big, bigger than his cabin on the Revenge but there’s no privacy to be had. Stede walks to the other side of the sandbar, he can still hear the men murmuring in the background. He looks out at sea as the tears fall silently from his eyes.