❛ Well, I've been afraid of changin' 'cause I've built my life around you.❜

SEASON 1, EPISODE 9
act of grace

"IN THE NAME of His Majesty, King George, this tribunal shall come to order," the Captain of the Englishmen called down to the crew below. "Edward Teach... or 'Black Beard.'"

⠀⠀⠀"It's just Blackbeard," Ed corrected him with a frown, shaking his head. He was trying not to be fully consumed by the child he had lost, his daughter, dead. He forced it to the back of his brain, stashed deep where if he didn't think too hard, he could imagine her up on the mast, looking down at them. "Like, just run it together as one word. Blackbeard. Don't have to put a gap in there."

⠀⠀⠀"You face death," the Captain continued, unamused and ignoring him. "For general crimes of piracy against the Crown."

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah," Ed muttered, bowing his head.

⠀⠀⠀"But, a friend of the Crown has prevailed upon me to remand you to his custody. You shall be released to Captain Hands in exchange for his service to the King."

⠀⠀⠀Ed turned to see Izzy sitting on the side of the ship. The man looked hesitant, raising a hand to wave, but both knew how much had changed. Ed knew Izzy had taken Nikita from him, and if he thought Ed would be with him, he had another thing coming.

⠀⠀⠀"How is he still alive, anyway?" Roach asked, staring at the man.

⠀⠀⠀"Traitor!" Swede shouted.

⠀⠀⠀"Order!" the Captain yelled. When they settled, he continued. "Stede Bonnet... for the wanton murder of Nigel Badminton... your sentence is death... by firing squad."

⠀⠀⠀"We'll find a way out of this, okay?" Ed said to Stede frantically. He couldn't lose someone else. Not like this, not right in front of him.

⠀⠀⠀"Ed, no. No, I deserve this," Stede said calmly.

⠀⠀⠀"We'll come up with a plan," Ed begged him.

⠀⠀⠀"At some point in a man's life, he has to face the music," Stede said, eerily calm with the notion that death was his next and final journey. "For the things he's done and the people he's hurt. It's time, Ed. The bill has come due."

⠀⠀⠀Stede had turned to look at him, a thin smile coming to his face as he knew what had to be done. He wanted to protect Ed when that was what he should have done for Stede this entire time.

⠀⠀⠀The two men were pulled apart, and were pushed to the side of the ship while Stede was positioned in front of the firing squad on the other side of them. Ed watched on, mind calculating for a plan.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, boss," Izzy said quietly, coming up to his side.

⠀⠀⠀Ed ignored him. He could hardly think of what the traitorous excuse for a man had done to him. All he could hear was Stede as he begged for his life.

⠀⠀⠀"Edward, I know you're upset, but it was the only—"

⠀⠀⠀Ed turned, punching Izzy in the face. Izzy fell, flipping over his feet and landing on his head. He groaned lowly to himself before pulling himself to stand. When he was beside Ed again, trying to speak, but Ed went again. Once for Nikita, the second for Stede. He should've killed Izzy in the most torturous way possible, but again, he had no time.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay... that's fair. That's fair," Izzy muttered, standing again with a bloody nose and blossoming black eye. He waited a moment for another punch, then continued when the strike didn't land. "Remember though. You said when you made me first mate, 'Above all else is loyalty to your Captain."

⠀⠀⠀Ed dismissed him, looking at the firing squad readying to fire.

⠀⠀⠀"You're my Captain," Izzy continued. "I understood your care for Nikita, but she was becoming nothing but a problem... and I was never gonna stand by and let you destroy yourself for that... twat."

⠀⠀⠀"Aim!"

⠀⠀⠀"It's quick. It's clean. Edward, you know that."

⠀⠀⠀"ACT OF GRACE!"

⠀⠀⠀It hit him like a bag of rocks. The only way to keep these English pricks to stop and keep Stede safe.

⠀⠀⠀"Act of Grace! Act of Grace!"

⠀⠀⠀"What?!" Admiral Badminton exclaimed, staring in shock.

⠀⠀⠀Ed walked across the deck and stood in front of Stede. All he had left, it seemed. Ed lifted the blindfold from Stede's smiling face as he stared at Ed with glee.

⠀⠀⠀"What's the Act of Grace?" Stede asked, furrowing his brows, but the stupid smile on his face was still there.

⠀⠀⠀Blackbeard returned the smile lightly, feeling utterly worn as he stared at the ignorant man. He wished Nikita was there, safe by his side, but this was all he could do now. He explained to Stede what the Act of Grace was before the Admiral approached them.

⠀⠀⠀"So, you want to go to war for the King?" the Admiral asked, unimpressed.

⠀⠀⠀"We'd rather eat our own faces," Blackbeard retorted but reeled himself back before he dug himself into a hole. "But yes."

⠀⠀⠀"Two Acts of Grace, please," Stede added.

⠀⠀⠀"Ah... I'm afraid the offer doesn't extend to you, Bonnet," the Admiral noted with a sarcastic chuckle. "After all, the King was only referring to real pirates." He turned to Blackbeard and said, "He's from my world, not yours. Raise your rifles!"

⠀⠀⠀The Admiral left the two in the line of fire and Stede back up in fright while Ed held himself in front of him.

⠀⠀⠀"Ah! Put the blindfold back on!" Stede exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"June the third. An excellent day!" Lucius suddenly exclaimed, standing up and holding the journal Stede had the man notate their journies in. "Raided a commercial vessel after overwhelming the hardy crew. We claimed a prize of lush vegetation in conquest.' Here's an illustration for reference."

⠀⠀⠀"And here's the vegetation in question," Oluwande added, the two holding out the image and plant for the soldiers to see.

⠀⠀⠀"They'll never forget the Eccentric Pirate Bonnet and his savage, insane, vengeful pirate horde," Lucius concluded, snapping the book closed. "See? He's a pirate. A real, proper pirate."

⠀⠀⠀"A proper pirate," Oluwande agreed.

⠀⠀⠀"That man is a fearsome pirate if e'er I seen one!" Buttons exclaimed, pointing his bony finger toward Stede. "Ya great foppin' twats!"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, he's definitely a pirate," Oluwande added.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, rule-of-law wise, I'd say that settles it," one of the officers agreed simply with a slight shrug.

⠀⠀⠀"A plant and a drawing?" the Admiral asked. "Settles nothing!"

⠀⠀⠀"It's enough for us," an officer retorted.

⠀⠀⠀"Blackbeard renounces piracy to serve the Crown?" another officer crowed with a smile. "We'll be dining with O' King George himself."

⠀⠀⠀"What?!" the Admiral seethed, whipping his sword at Stede's crew. "Why do you all show such loyalty to this... this... nothing?!"

⠀⠀⠀"I'd attribute quite a lot of it to a people-positive management style," Stede explained with a proud smile.

⠀⠀⠀"Shut up!" the Admiral exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"Stand down, Admiral," the Office snapped. "Or we'll be forced to take measures."

⠀⠀⠀"Measures?! Against me?!" the Admiral exclaimed, his face turning bright red. "He's the criminal! Alright! He's the murderer!"

⠀⠀⠀His sword came dangerously close to Stede's chest, and Ed pushed him back.

⠀⠀⠀"Calm down, Mr. Wavy Blade," Stede chastised him.

⠀⠀⠀"Give it a break, mate. You're freakin' us all out," Ed patronized him with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀"Chauncey, sometimes, when we get a bit angry, do you what we like to do?" Stede asked calmly. "We talk it through..."

⠀⠀⠀"As a crew!" his crew finished, making Stede swell with pride.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes."

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, I know. I know what's happened," the Admiral—Chauncey—claimed, stepping away as his words started to slut from the strain he was using in his brain. "Yeah, we've somehow drifted south of the equator and ended up in Backwards Land!"

⠀⠀⠀His compatriot swarmed the Admiral, pushing him down as he tried to push them off. It took nearly ten men to pin the insane man to the ground. All the while, he screamed and cursed them all into oblivion.

ED AND STEDE had been taken into the ship and presented with the document to sign their lives away for the King. It was horrible to look at, tiny scrawl that Ed couldn't even read and taunted that he was giving up everything he believed in as a pirate. He almost wanted to turn his back. But, it was better to die in honor than like this.

⠀⠀⠀However, there was Stede. The one person he had left in his life, the one good thing he could hold tight to. His pirating was over, Ed realized. His darling daughter was laid to waste without even a second to mourn her beautiful life. He couldn't let the one other thing that had brought happiness into his life turn up like her.

⠀⠀⠀"Can we have a moment to review it?" Stede asked with hope in his words.

⠀⠀⠀"Ed, it's boilerplate," one of the officers scoffed, bored by their own law-making. "Absolution for your terrible crimes in return for ten years of service to the King, blahdie-blahdie-blah."

⠀⠀⠀"And, if we had known that you would enact the Act of Grace, we would not have killed the girl," the other officer beside him openly admitted. He was shorter than his compatriot and thinner. "Well, we didn't. That was devised by Mr. Hands and Badminton. We would like to extend our condolences and offer a proper burial for her."

⠀⠀⠀Ed wasn't sure what to say as he stared with wide eyes back at them, completely bewildered. Stede, however, always had the right words to say.

⠀⠀⠀"That would be lovely, at sea, of course. The dear girl was a pirate after all, and her body is..." Stede started, trailing off as he seemed to come to the reality of her demise. Finally, he cleared his throat while the officers nodded solemnly to his wishes. "And... did you perchance say ten years? Ten human years?"

⠀⠀⠀"Mm-hm, or we can still shoot you."

⠀⠀⠀"No, that'll be lovely!" Stede assured them, bending down and flourished his signature across the bottom of the page.

⠀⠀⠀"Course, it's only valid if Mr. Teach signs on," the skinny officer continued, looking pointedly at Ed.

⠀⠀⠀Ed looked between them, then turned to Stede. His face, so happy and full of life, had fallen into despair. He held the quill between his fingers softly.

⠀⠀⠀"You really don't have to do this," Stede told him.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah," Ed agreed, taking the quill. "I know I don't."

⠀⠀⠀"Think what you're doin', Ed," Izzy's voice grated against his ear, pausing him in signing. Ed turned, glaring at the man, someone he had once trusted. "Do you really want to lick the King's boots?"

⠀⠀⠀Ed turned away. There was no point now. He marked his signature at the bottom, and that was the end of Blackbeard, the greatest pirate to ever live.

NIKITA HAD DREAMED of the ocean enveloping her in blankets of waves, wrapping her tight in a bed of safety and warmth. She would be dragged far away from the land, away from the inhabitants, and the death of everything good that came into contact with it.

⠀⠀⠀Her dream had become a reality as she sunk into the water. The light blue water darkened as she fell, either from the depth or the wound she cradled between her hands. Her body felt weighted as if she was not supposed to resurface and only to continue down and down and down until she found the floor. Then, her skin would dissolve, and her bones would lie to rest.

⠀⠀⠀When her lungs filled entirely with water and pain no longer tied her to the earthly plane, Nikita welcomed the end. Her death would be marked here in warning to other foolish girls who thought they could become pirates without consequence.

⠀⠀⠀The numbness had crossed from no feeling to tingles in her chest. It felt like the nights she stood underneath the moon's gaze and waited for her life to change on its own. She could feel the moon, the comfort, and the glow.

⠀⠀⠀Nikita cracked her eyes open. The dark water should have been pitch black, but instead, there was a soft white that allowed her to see the blur of sand and shadows. Her heart nearly leaped out of her throat when she realized the shadows were of a humanly shape and floated above her.

⠀⠀⠀Her skin was dark, so she faded in with the background, but she looked as if she'd been soaked in moonglow. Her hair flowed around her head in a deep blue-green with strands of small braids laced with pearls. Her lips were plump and curled into a sweet smile as she looked down at Nikita. For a moment, Nikita could've sworn she saw the flicker of a tail behind the girl.

⠀⠀⠀It's just your mind playing tricks, she thought. The seconds before death are always the strangest.

⠀⠀⠀At least, that's what she had been told by the pirates who had gotten close enough.

⠀⠀⠀The illusion of a girl... a creature of the sea... leaned closer so that Nikita could stare into her milky white eyes. There was no iris, no pupil or color. Only a depth of white that was haunting as she came closer. Her nose brushed against Nikita's, then her lips, a sweet honeyed sensation filling Nikita's bones. A bubble of air pressed between her lips and filled her lungs. She could feel all things at once, the warm water, the wound in her stomach, and the gentle caress of a real girl.

⠀⠀⠀Then, everything became too much, and her eyes fluttered shut.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Okay, this is... not the end but for the moment, it's all I have to post. I had an alternate ending where Nikita and Blackbeard reunite but I think for Ed to turn after Stede's betrayl he also can't have Nikita there.

Anyways, I don't know if I want to do between seasons chapters but maybe in the future I will feel like returning to add in some chapters of what happens with Nikita and the mystery girl.

And, um, I'm having the worst time casting the mermaid, her name is Calypso! I currently have Laura Harrier and Alexxis Lemire or even Anya Taylor Joy as potential castings but let me know who you might've subconsciously seen in your head (because I'm not swept away by anyone yet).

**I can't get Photoshop to work to edit my GIF so I'll add it in later :/

SONG: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.