ED TEACH & JIM JIMENEZ (with guest appearance by LUZ NOCEDA)
THE WALKING DEAD DAY 5 | EARLY EVENING | RATING PG-13
⚠ MENTIONS OF KILLING, KIDNAPPING, ABANDONMENT
Jim arrives at Derleth and confronts Edward with some questions, first and foremost being
This was not where Jim expected to wake up. This was definitely not the Revenge. Hell, this wasn’t a ship. And this certainly wasn’t the Republic of Pirates. Where the hell were they?
The piece of paper explained something and what was this thing? Jim shoved them both in their pocket, adjusted the hat on their head and drew their knives, twirling them between their fingers. Best to explore this place and get a sense for it.
Something about this world didn’t sit right with Jim. It felt creepy, creepier than half the things Izzy wanted to do aboard ship. Where was Olu anyway?
There was someone up ahead, slipping into the treeline, Jim moved silently, getting close so they could get a better look at the person. Grey hair, black leather. It couldn’t be.
Without a sound, Jim moved from the treeline, knives at the ready.
“Blackbeard?”
Ed had gone for a walk alone to get some fresh air: a risky decision, considering the world they were stuck in, but he wasn’t used to having a roommate, let alone a device in his pocket that let people contact him 24/7. He just needed some space. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Get bit, die, and wake up in a couple days no worse for wear?
His senses were on high alert as usual, but he was mostly listening for zombies, not silent assassins. How were you supposed to hear silence, anyway? So he was utterly unprepared to hear his name – his other name – being called. He hadn’t even processed what he’d heard yet when he spun around out of habit, his knife raised. Then he saw Jim, and his face went pale.
“No,” he muttered to himself, “no, no, no no no—” He had a sudden urge to just take off running, but where was he supposed to go? He’d just see them back on campus, eventually. For about half a second he considered taking his chances with the other survivors out there, but that was an even worse idea. He had to face this.
“Fuck. Did you just get here?” The answer was obvious but he asked anyway, to buy himself some time.
Jim hadn’t expected Blackbeard to react like that. Where were they and what the hell was going on. The letter didn’t explain nearly enough. Jim shrugged. “More or less.”
Jim’s gaze stayed trained on Ed, knife dancing over Jim’s fingertips. “Where the fuck are we? Where the fuck is the revenge and the crew? And why the fuck did you knock me upside the head?”
Ed didn’t answer for a moment, his head spinning as he tried to process what was happening. He could see it all now: he’d take Jim back to campus, they’d expose him for who he really was, and nobody here would ever forgive him. Maybe they’d make him leave, or build him some kind of prison. Or maybe they’d just stop speaking to him. He wasn’t actually sure which would be worse.
“Yeah, um, sorry about that,” he said sheepishly, scrubbing a hand over his face. “It’s – kind of a long story. The Revenge is gone – or, I guess technically we’re gone, I’m sure it’s fine without us – but we’re here in the future, there’s a whole bunch of people who’ve been here for ages. I’ll take you to them in a minute, but I can’t just yet, okay?”
“I’m going to need more than ‘it’s a long story’ if you don’t want to get closely acquainted with my knives.” Jim threw a knife up in the air and caught it deftly as if to illustrate their point. Blackbeard wasn’t normally so cagey. Something about Ed seemed off. And off in a different way than when he’d come back without Stede.
Jim narrowed their eyes at Ed. “What are you hiding?”
Right. There was no getting out of this one. Ed dropped his head and returned his knife to its sheath, his expression shifting from panicked to defeated. “I left Stede’s crew on an island,” he muttered. “Everyone but you and Frenchie. And– and Lucius.” Oh god, Lucius. He’d done a great job of blocking out that memory since he arrived here, but now it came flooding back. He was a monster. “I fucked it all up, Jim. I thought I had to. And then I came here and I thought the nightmare was over... but I was wrong.”
I left Stede’s crew on an island was all Jim heard before they were moving, closing in on Ed’s personal space and pressing a knife to the pirate captain’s neck. “Why the fuck would you leave the crew on an island? They weren’t just Stede’s crew, they were your crew too!”
Jim’s face twisted into a variety of emotions, overwhelmed by everything. “Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t just stab you right now? Also, what the fuck is this place, I saw rotting corpses in the woods?”
Ed didn’t try to back away, didn’t even flinch when the knife met his neck. “I know,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he looked anywhere but at Jim. “You should stab me. I won’t die anyway – or I might, but I’ll come back. Just like the zombies.” Ed squeezed his eyes shut and gestured down the road with his head. “Walk that way a bit, you’ll find the campus, it’s safer there. Don’t let the corpses bite you, go for their heads.”
Whatever Jim had been expecting, it wasn’t Blackbeard crying. Jim’s hand dropped to their side, knife twirling before disappearing up their sleeve.
“Zombies? Are you fucking kidding me?” Jim took a step back and shook their head. “What the fuck happened Ed? Where’s Stede? I’m not going to fucking kill you yet.”
Jim didn’t ask why are you crying even though they wanted to. It was unnerving to see Blackbeard like this.
Edward did flinch this time, at the mention of Stede. “I don't know where he is. Thought maybe this place was why he left – but he's not here. It was just me. I wasn't good enough.” All this time he'd been trying to figure out what went wrong: had he freaked Stede out by dropping the Blackbeard persona? Disappointed him by being willing to give up piracy? That had always seemed the most likely scenario… But it couldn't be, could it? Because Stede didn't go back to his ship and crew. He just disappeared entirely. Which meant the problem was never Blackbeard. It was Ed.
“Is that why you marooned half your fucking crew on an island? Because you two broke up? And why keep me and Frenchie if you got rid of everyone else?” Jim asked. See, this was why they didn’t tend to do relationships. Because people did stupid things in relationshps. And probably why Jim and Olu had taken so long to do anything.
Jim raised an eyebrow. “Is Olu here? Is anyone else from the ship? Is Izzy?” Jim really hoped Izzy wasn’t here.
“You were the only two I had use for on my new crew. You can fight, he can sew flags.” He was also the closest thing left to a scribe, since Ed had pushed Lucius overboard. But he couldn't bear to admit that part out loud yet.
His cheeks hot with shame, Ed shook his head. “Just you and me. Haven't even been here a week yet, myself.” At this rate, though, surely it wouldn't be long before more showed up. And with his luck it'd probably be Izzy next. “They – they don't know me as Blackbeard here. Just Ed. I'm really trying... to be a better person here.”
A better person? Jim was pretty sure Ed had been becoming a better person around Stede. Everyone became a better person around Stede. It was just how it was. But then Izzy and Calico Jack had ruined all that and Stede had barely escaped with his life and.. Jim really needed to stop that train of thought. Jim tossed a knife and caught it. “So they don’t know you’re a pirate?”
That was something. Did Blackbeard– did Ed really want to be a better person? Jim couldn’t fault him for that. Hadn’t Jim wanted the same thing in some ways? A life not driven by the need for revenge, just with Olu and the crew? “And I’m assuming you just want me to keep that secret? Am I supposed to pretend I don’t know you as well?”
Ed hadn’t honestly thought that far ahead; he hadn’t even expected to survive this conversation, but apparently Jim had some surprises in them. “I mean… I guess that’s up to you, isn’t it? They know I knew pirates. They can know we worked together. Look, I – I’m not asking you to lie for me. Just – maybe let me tell people in my own time?” He knew that was a mercy he didn’t deserve, but wasn’t that the whole point of mercy? If you deserved it, you wouldn’t need it in the first place.
“Why should I keep your secret? What’s in it for me?” Jim asked, leaning into old habits. Olu would probably give him a look for that, as would Stede. But the whole situation of being pulled to a different world and what had Ed mentioned - zombies?
“Alright, let’s say I agree. And I don’t tell anyone you’re Blackbeard. What do I need to know about this world and these people? And no more lies, Ed.”
He held up his hands as if to surrender. “No more lies. We’re only here for a few more days, then we’ll go somewhere else. Some sort of void. For a week, I think, and then we’ll wake up in a different world. Some of these people have been doing this for months. You’d think they’d all be at each other’s throats by now, but – they’re not. They’re good people. They just want to help everyone around them.” Ed didn’t entirely understand it, but he wanted to. If he couldn’t go back to the life he (nearly) had with Stede, this was the next best thing.
“So no stabbing on first sight. Got it.” Jim flipped their knives, as much to have something to focus on as to distract them from their emotions. Hopefully ‘good people’ wasn’t a euphemism for ‘religious people’ because Jime was pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to handle those unless they were like Nana. “And the zombies? What's the deal with that? Also, where is the booze?”
“Yeah, nobody knows really. Except there’s hardly any people around besides us, so the zombies must’ve had the run of the land for a while. If they bite you, you turn into one of them, so don’t let ‘em get too close. Oh, and you have to destroy the brain to kill them.” Ed would have added not to use guns because they were too loud, but he’d never actually seen Jim use any weapon other than a knife. The noise thing might be important though. “Also loud noises attract them. Speaking of which – probably should get you back to campus. Might be some alcohol there.”
“I’m good at not making noise.” After all, Jim had snuck up on Ed easily enough. There was a bit of a cocky smirk to accompany the statement. Jim knew their talents after all, and what they’d been trained for.
Jim gestured with the knife. “Lead on.”
“That’s a good point,” Ed admitted. And he was usually pretty good at catching people sneaking up on him, which only made it more impressive. Tucking one hand under his belt and wrapping the other around the hilt of his sword – but very intentionally not unsheathing it, just in case Jim took that as a threat – he started back down the road toward campus. Once he was a few paces ahead of them, he sniffed a bit and ever so stealthily swiped a sleeve across his tear-stained face.
Jim let Ed move a few paces ahead and kept their knives at the ready - both for any potential zombies as well as in case Ed tried anything. Jim certainly wasn’t going to give Ed a clear shot at their back considering the last time they’d seen Ed they got knocked unconscious. As they walked, Jim took in everything they could about this world.
Up ahead there were people and Jim found themselves tensing slightly, pulling the hat down lower on their head and hiding the knives for the moment.
Luz was on the edge of campus, trying to see if she could get her magic to work. Sitting in the grass, sketchbook open in front or her, she was drawing plant runes and slamming them down on the ground around her. She’d started with the runes that had gotten the apple tree to work and was going through whatever combinations she could think of. She wasn’t having much success, just a few tiny strange little plants around her, small and half dead - nothing like the apple tree she’d grown last week with Hunter. Hearing footsteps, she grabbed her staff and started to scramble to her feet, on her guard. She let out a sigh when she recognized one of the people.
“Hi Ed! Didn’t hear you. How’s it going? Who’s your friend?”
Ed put on the most convincing smile he could – which wasn’t actually as hard as he’d feared, considering he’d been dreading every step the closer they got to the campus. He knew Luz, he liked Luz, and she was probably the least likely to judge him if he told her the truth about who he was. “This is Jim, we know each other from back home. They just got here.” He glanced back at Jim. “Jim, Luz. Luz, Jim. Luz is good people. She went to magic school, you know. Oh – that’s a thing. Magic’s a thing here. Also, gods and alligators. Actually I think the alligator might be a god? He’s harmless enough though.”
Jim looked at the girl in front of them. She looked young. Sure, Jim had been young when they’d started training. Jim leaned into Ed. “She’s a kid. With a cat tail.”
Magic? Gods? Alligators - well, those Jim could deal with. But this was definitely a lot to take in. It might have been easier when it was just avoiding Royal Navies.
Luz grinned at the new arrival, staff twirling into her left hand so she could hold out her write to shake their hand. “Hi Jim! Oh, the cat tail is harmless, just a side effect of some weird magic from last week. Do you want to pet it?”
Said tail swished and then curved around Luz, coming up next to her arm.
Jim made sure the knives were tucked away before shaking Luz’s hand. “Hi.” The offer to pet the tail was strange but they didn’t want to seem rude, so they reached out and pet the tail gently. “Huh.”
Luz turned to Ed. “Oh! I have something for you! Don’t go anywhere!” She dropped back to the ground, pulling her sketchbook into her lap and flipping through it.
“It’s a lot, I know,” Ed said to Jim, leaning towards them. “And everyone here’s from like... 300 years ahead of us or more. They have ships in the sky now, can you believe it? Sailing to other planets. I haven’t seen one in person, but maybe some day.” Without even consciously meaning to, he leaned over toward Luz this time and gave her tail an affectionate stroke. The fur was soothing, and Ed needed some stress relief at the moment. “You can ask questions, people don’t seem to mind. Nobody here tries to make you feel stupid.” Which he, personally, had appreciated.
Jim rubbed at his eyes. “Sky ships? Now you’re just having me on.” It was odd seeing Ed comfortable with someone who seemed nothing like a pirate. Luz was about as far from Izzy as you could get.
When she sat down, Luz's tail wrapped around Ed’s leg, sensing he might need it. “Found it!” she exclaimed, tearing a page out of the sketchbook and getting to her feet and holding it out to Ed. “I thought you wouldn’t mind something to cheer you up and distract from the zombies and stuff, so I drew you a picture. See? That’s you and that’s me, with the matching cat ears. And me in my pirate outfit and the cat tail.”
This time Ed’s grin was completely genuine, and he reached over to ruffle Luz’s hair as he admired the artwork. “You drew this? Incredible. It’s us! I love it.” He smoothed the edges of the paper a bit before showing it to Jim. “We got matching cat ears at the shopping mall.” Not that he thought they actually cared about his jewelry choices, but he did want Jim to see that he’d been telling the truth: he was trying to be a better person here. The kind of guy who looked out for kids and took care of his friends.
“You really like it?” Luz asked, doubtful for a moment before wrapping her arms tightly around Ed. He was weird and quirky and reminded her of Eda and just looked like he needed more sunshine in his life.
“I’m sure you would look amazing in cat ears, Captain,” Jim said, trying very hard not to smile. Maybe this Blackbeard was different. Or at least, more like the Blackbeard he’d known during those times when it was him and Stede as co-captains, drinking tea and everything.
Ed wrapped his arms around Luz and gave her a squeeze, careful not to crush the drawing in his hand. That was definitely going up on a wall in his room, as soon as he figured out how to tack it up there. It might not stop him from crying himself to sleep every night, but at least it would help him find the strength to get out of bed the morning after.
“Right? I do look amazing in them,” he deadpanned, surprising even himself with how easy it was to joke like that with Jim. Like being back on Stede’s ship, before everything went wrong, before he threw it all away. He couldn’t change what he’d done then, but he could try to do better now. “Oh, hey, did you find a little… device about yea big when you got here?” Ed held up his free hand in the shape of a phone.
Jim dug a hand into their pocket and pulled out the phone that had been near them when they arrived. “This thing? What the fuck is it? Is it a weapon?”
Luz smiled slightly. She’d gotten used to Ed’s liberal use of the f-word and it seemed Jim was the same. “No, it’s not a weapon. Well, not really. It’s a phone and you use it to talk to people... well, maybe Ed can explain it better since he understands your time better.”
“Yeah, so, it’s kind of like a beacon? It’s got this screen and people can send you messages through it. Then you can write back to them on the screen and they’ll get it within fucking seconds, it’s amazing. They can send you little pictures and sounds and stuff too.” Ed reached over to turn Jim’s phone on. “It’s a good way to meet people, ‘cause you can just throw it across the room when it gets to be too much. But, don’t actually throw it, my roommate said that could damage it.”
Ed kept saying words that theoretically made sense but Jim stared at the pirate captain as if he’d grown a second hand. A beacon or messaging device that was this small.. and instantaneous? It seemed like witchcraft. Jim stared at the screen that lit up in their hands when Ed touched something on the device, plenty of words and a few pictures on it.
“So it’s like a book and letters at the same time?”
Luz nodded, showing Jim how to read things and scroll through posts. “Yup! You could write things just to yourself if you post it private, or to specific people - so you could send a message just to Ed if you want. You have to know the people's names to do that. You just push the letters here and then they show up in the message, see? Or , if you don’t want to do that, you can just push this button here and speak and the phone will write what you say.”
Luz pushed the voice to text button to demonstrate. “Hi Derleth. I’m new here.”
Jim watched as the words appeared on the screen, fascinated. “Mierda,” Jim cursed under their breath, eyes widening when the word appeared on the screen of the device. Jim glanced at Ed. “The maldito knows Spanish?” Glancing back at Luz, Jim waved their hand. “Probably shouldn’t type that. How do you make it go away?”
Luz chuckled and turned off the voice to text function. “You can undo what you typed with this button here,” pointing to the delete key and deleting what she and Jim had said. “It won’t send it until you hit this button.” She indicated the send button for Jim. “If you want, I can help you learn how to use it.. in English or Spanish, whichever is easiest for you.”
Ed hadn’t even known the voice-to-text function existed; he’d just been painstakingly typing every single letter in like a chump. “Well that’s pretty fucking convenient. No more hand cramps. You’re getting the inside scoop right here.”
Noticing the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, he glanced at the time on his own device, then nudged Jim’s shoulder gently – almost hesitantly – with his own. He had no physical boundaries among friends, but he didn’t know what Jim’s were… or if they even counted him as a friend just yet. “Mind if I leave you with Luz for a bit? I’ve got an appointment coming up.” He’d cancel if he needed to, Chris would understand, but he suspected Jim might appreciate some space from him to process things.
Luz grinned at Ed. “Don’t worry, Ed, I’ll teach you all the cool phone tricks later.”
Jim gave Ed a half smile. The kid - Luz - was a bit overwhelming, but oddly reminded them of the Revenge crew. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Jim gave Ed a nod. “I’ll be fine, Ca- Ed.”
“Go to your appointment. Find some booze if you can. I’ll message you or whatever or you can send one to me.” Jim gestured with the phone as if they already knew how it worked.
“I’ll see what I can rustle up for you,” Ed confirmed, before turning to Luz to give her a little pat on the back. “Thanks for the drawing, love. Gonna put it up in my room tonight!” And with that he was off, heading for Butler Hall to stash the picture Luz gave him in his bedroom for safekeeping before meeting Chris up on the roof.