Chapter Text
Edward Teach guides his faithful horse, Anne, through the wreckage of a village, all the while holding his head high and doing all he can to appear like he belongs. When he arrives at the heart of the village, he understands why the smoke called to him from afar.
By the gods, he understands, and he wishes it weren’t so.
A faded banner with a skeletal warrior emblazoned across burnt fabric flaps atop an almost completely burnt out barn, and he swallows, steadying himself. It isn’t chance that brought him here, nor is it the ministrations of the gods; no, this wreckage is his to bear alone.
A sound catches him off guard — footsteps, but not those of a full-grown man, the pitter-patter of someone smaller. Ed swivels his gaze, halting Anne, to catch a child ducking behind a wooden beam. The little imp looks at him over the charred wood, its eyes narrowed until it catches sight of Ed, meets his eyes and then ducks back down.
Ed sees that it’s a little boy, his expression hazy and far away, desperation bleeding out of him.
“Hello there.”
The child looks at him vacantly before approaching like a rabbit, skittish and afraid of being caught.
“Sir…” he says in a tiny, tremulous voice. Ed takes Anne a little closer, unable to do anything else. “Sir, do you have any food to spare?”
Ed’s heart races in his chest, a current of emotion swelling there. He tries to wear indifference on his face, but it’s never been harder.
“Nah, sorry, kid. Nobody’s got much to spare these days.”
“I understand. Of course.”
He darts back into his hiding place, but Ed can still see his eyes. The broken expression on his face aches so deeply, a full-body spasm that hurts. Ed has a question to ask, and he needs the answer. He knows it will destroy him, but he still needs to know.
“Where are your parents?”
He calls the words to the boy, who is still watching him.
“They’re gone. Gone to the halls of Hades.”
Of course.
“How did they die, my friend?”
“The Kraken killed them.” While his voice otherwise seems shattered, he spits those two words out like a snake’s venom. “I plan to leave in the morning, but this is my home…”
Ed’s stomach drops, and the tiny meal he’d eaten that morning crawls back upward. He can feel it in his throat, but he keeps his face stony, as unbothered as he can manage, and swallows the bile down. He does not let himself shatter on the outside, at least.
“I’m sorry... You should head towards the coast. There are places for a sturdy boy like you out there.”
“I will have to, tomorrow…I just did not want to…”
The boy speaks as if he is dead, just as is parents are, and Ed lurches forward.
“The gods be with you. I must be on my way.”
Ed leaves the child behind, and as soon as he’s far enough, he shatters like glass. He gallops with Anne into the woods, as far from the scorched village as he can get her, and then he dismounts.
“Stay nearby.”
Anne looks at him, always listening, and settles near a tall oak tree.
Then Ed sinks to his knees and sobs.
The tears are a surprise.
Ed has not given in to tears for many, many years. To cry is a relief, however, because it’s a reminder that even after the unfathomable things he’s done, the man he’s been, he’s still human.
Sure, he’d had run-ins with the gods.
But he’s still human.
Still Ed.
His legend, however, is anything but human.
Ed knows for certain that he is not personally responsible for the village’s destruction, the murder of its villagers, but his legend is.
The weight of his legacy crushes him, each tale a fresh wound on a tender heart.
The Kraken still lives.
When he’d started out, he’d been a killer, and Ed is not trying to deny that or escape from it. He has killed many people, probably orphaned many others like the desperate child…
But now his legend is slaughtering innocents all on its own.
It had been several weeks since Ed had left his army, abandoning them in the dead of night. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the army just…stopped. Many people who ride under the banner of The Kraken have never even met Ed.
“It’s not me.”
Through his tears, Ed whispers the words, trying to focus.
The most likely answer is that it’s one of his generals, making choices while riding under the monstrous banner. Someone ambitious enough to keep up the charade, perhaps, maybe someone who claimed his death and continued on…
Ed sobs, allowing himself a release he’s been waiting for so long. His fist slams into the dirt, letting out his pain. The Kraken is not him. He can beat the legend. He can make good on his promises.
The armor.
The armor is his second skin and has felt that way for years.
He wears leather and steel every single day, but how much of it is practical for battle, and how much of it is a mask? Ed takes off his breastplate and lays it in the dirt, feeling like a weight is being lifted off of him, but he also feels exposed to the elements, naked. Only a thin layer of cloth covers his bare skin now, and without the armor, he’s even less any sort of Kraken.
Without the armor, he is just Edward Teach, a boy from a small town in Thrace who made a choice a long time ago.
Or well… a series of choices.
Those choices have led him here.
The armor is surprisingly easy to bury, even though Ed feels somewhat like he’s burying a friend. He digs a hole with his hands, still kneeling on the dirt. It’s shallow, but when he lays the armor down, his whole body shudders, and he knows it’s right. He takes his sword and lays it down too, right on top, before covering the shallow mound with dirt.
When he stands, it really is like he’s at a funeral, a feeling he knows well. He’s stood like this at many vigils — how many friends, family members and lovers has he buried in this same way? This time, though, it’s just armor and weapons, things that don’t feel.
Things that don’t matter.
Ed leaves it behind with a smile.
For all of two seconds.
He’s riding Anne, lighter than air, and it feels like he and his horse are both floating.
Then a shout rings out, bringing him out of the ecstasy.
“What the hell…”
He and Anne trot towards the scene, and Ed inhales, the air burning his lungs. There’s a band of armor-clad warriors down the road, rounding up a group of villagers as if they own them. They believe they do, don’t they? Slavery is becoming more and more common, especially around these parts.
The villagers are mostly women, young peasant girls from what Ed can see, but there’s at least one man among them, and Ed nudges Anne closer so that he can see. He’s a little older than Ed initially thought and has a wild look on his face.
He catches Ed’s eye, brandishing a stick at the warriors like it’s a proper weapon.
“Back off!”
Ed can hear the man, even from as far away as he stands, and can see his golden curls gleam in the sunlight. Ed watches from the foliage, curious to see how this plays out.
“You will not touch these young ladies. Our village is simply not up for grabs, gentlemen.”
“I don’t think you get a say in that.”
One soldier snarls out those words, and Ed is certain he recognizes them. His gut churns a little, and he knows he can’t stand by and watch from the bushes. There’s no way that he can remain there and let these young women (and the strange, brave man) get themselves abducted by novice warlords.
“We intend to claim for ourselves some brides!”
That’s another voice, bold.
“I will not allow that! Stand back!”
Both men laugh.
“You can come along if you want, buddy. I’m sure there are some men so inclined.”
Okay, time to act.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ed urges Anne onto the path and rides up to them before dismounting. With all of his weapons and armor gone, he looks like anyone. Maybe his long hair and tattooed arms make him look unusual, but he could still be anyone.
And yet — the armored men pay attention.
You don’t give up decades of a role, a legend, a presence in a few weeks.
“I think,” he says, tilting his head to the side, “you are going to leave these good folks alone.”
They are familiar.
Especially the one who leers at the handsome defender. Ed has spent so many years with the same breed of man, though, and they all sort of look the same.
“And who are you exactly?”
“Someone who’s going to become a problem for you.”
Ed isn’t sure where his gifts come from. Some say that he is blessed, touched by the war god, Ares, and where there was once a time he swore he felt the war god’s presence, he no longer believes that.
This isn’t Ares.
This is all about Edward, a power that he’s honed through terrible means.
The first man draws his sword, and Ed springs into action, leaping through the air. Instinctively, he finds the most exposed of the soldiers and yanks the sword directly from his sheath, snatching it and wielding it against the big, bad leader.
“You really didn’t need to do that, my man.”
The swords clash, and Ed groans. It’s the same thing, time and time again, and he’s so tired. Three against one might seem like bad odds, but not for Ed. It’s over and done with so fast and he’s so fucking tired.
As skilled as the men are, they are nothing against Ed. The leader of the three is decent, however, and it takes a few minutes for Ed to put him down. He lets the first two run away, but gets the third to his knees, recognizing his face. He knows him, maybe not personally, but you don’t have to spend much time with these men to really know them.
“You work for Izzy,” he says as he pins the big guy down. He pushes his full weight down on top of him, his stolen sword pressed to the man’s throat. “Is this one of Izzy’s operations?”
The man nods; he’s shaking, so afraid — gods, it’s too easy to make men like this tremble.
Well, that explains a lot, really. Izzy had been one of Ed’s best generals, but over the years he’d taken a different path. Ed sighs and allows the sword to graze the man’s bobbing throat, just the tiniest scratch, really.
Izzy. He’d loved the man once, and honestly still does, somewhere deep inside of his blackened heart, but they are no longer destined to be together, even if the desire still bleeds through him sometimes. Izzy is a comforting part of the toxic place Ed is desperate to escape, and now, of course, he’s here when Ed’s trying to get out.
Classic Izzy.
“What’s he want with a bunch of villagers?”
“He plans to take the village, sell the girls, the usual.”
Yeah. The usual.
“Get out of here before I kill you.”
And Izzy’s man does, but not without a parting gift.
Ed pulls back, and the man pulls a dagger from his trousers, catching Ed right in the gut, and with no armor to protect him the blade enters his stomach and comes back out as the coward runs, clattering to the dirt with Ed’s blood glistening upon it.
“Dickfuck!” he yells as the bastard runs off.
Ed drops to his knees, trying to fight the pain. An arm snakes around him as he drops, supporting his weight. The arm is strong, masculine, and Ed’s heart races as dizziness creeps in. What the fuck is going on, and who is this man? His head spins a little faster, and he turns, face to face with the most beautiful man that he’s ever seen.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Stede. You saved our village girls, and…and me…and I’m going to bring you back to get patched up, okay?”
Ed doesn’t want to do that, of course. He knows the danger of getting too involved with these kinds of village folk. He doesn’t want to draw Izzy or any of The Kraken’s other problems to their backyard, but he knows he needs some help. Yeah, if he doesn’t get some help, he’s likely to collapse, because it hurts so much.
“Okay, yeah, that’s fine. Lead the way.”