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It took the crew only three weeks to return.
It hadn’t sat right, leaving Izzy with Ed and Stede. He deserved to be on the sea, with the only people that had loved him, where he belonged.
Not buried in the yard like a dog that had been put down.
Once they decided to return Buttons had returned. A seagull had landed on the wheel and then Buttons had been standing there, naked as the day he was born, like he had never left.
He informed them that he could bring Izzy back, that he had to wait for them to decide to fight for him, because he wouldn’t bring him back to a world that would make him suffer more. Now that they were determined though, they could have their Unicorn back.
The first thing they noticed when they arrived was that Izzy’s grave had been dug up, a barren hole still marked by his leg, but not his cravat or ring. There was an eerie silence to the shack that made them approach with caution, not sure what they would find.
The door stuck when they pushed at it, giving in small increments like a heavy weight was behind it and they exchanged nervous looks.
Fang and Wee John pushed it open and as light streamed into the room they were hit by an awful stench, and a dead body. They assumed it was Izzy, at first, though to dig him up and dump him on the floor like that seemed beyond cruel, but as the door eased open more the blonde hair was instantly recognizable.
Stede was curled on his side, a pool of dark colored dried blood around him. It hadn’t been recent from the look of it. There was a hole shot in the center of his stomach, even in death his face scrunched up in pain. There was a trail of blood like he had tried to make it to the door but had bled out before he could.
The crew eased around him and headed further into the house, afraid of what they would find.
There was a bedroom with the door closed, and they covered their faces as the smell only got worse. The door was cautiously pushed open.
The only thing in the room was a bed in the center. Ed leaned back against the headboard, one blank eye staring off, half his head gone, the gun still clenched in his hand. In his lap a body was wrapped in a blanket, clutched tight to him even in death.
They didn’t want to look to closely, but the shine of a ring at the corpses throat told them it was Izzy.
They looked from the front room to Ed, and it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. It looked like the inn wasn’t enough, Stede wasn’t enough, and Ed must have snapped. Killed Stede in the way Izzy had died, killed himself holding Izzy.
Jim shrugged, “Kind of fitting, I guess.” They looked to Buttons, “Can you still bring him back?”
“Aye.” He moved towards the bed but Jim put their arm out.
“Wait. We gotta, we gotta bury Ed and Stede first. Before we bring him back.”
Roach shook his head, “Just leave them, they don’t deserve it.”
“They don’t.” Jim reached out to rest their hand over the blanket wrapped around Izzy. “For him though. He’ll want to visit. He’ll miss him. He doesn’t need to see him like this.”
They dug Izzy’s grave wider and dumped both bodies in, covering them up with little fanfare. They took Izzy’s leg carefully, dusting off the dirt that had accumulated on it, they would have to touch up the paint. It had to be perfect for him.
In the end they decided to bring him to the ship before they brought him back. Wanted him to wake up where he was safe, where he was loved. He’d ask about his captains, and they’d tell him what happened, let him mourn and be there for him through it.
But for now.
Izzy will wake up on the sea, his home, surrounded by his family and know that he is loved.