Chapter Text
Ed ran as fast as his legs could carry him, his knee screaming at him to stop. He had to reach the Mother Spring, he had to reach Stede . He had to get there in time, he had to stop Ricky. Fountain of fucking Youth, absolutely fucking ridiculous, but if Ricky truly believed that was what the Mother Spring was, Ed knew he’d stop at nothing to control it. There was not a single thing anyone could do to stop the greedy fucker getting his hands on what he thought was the ultimate prize - eternal life. Fucking idiot . Ed thought every person on earth understood there was no such thing, whether by magic, folklore or technology. When Ricky had said he’d managed to capture Stede, Ed knew exactly where he would be taking him.
Stede thrashed against his binds and hissed at the humans who had a vice grip around his arms. He thought he’d been safe to make an excursion out to do some overland foraging before the sun had truly risen for his friends as they’d been so hospitable letting Stede stay at their home cave while he couldn’t go back to the Mother Spring. He’d been very, very wrong. The men had come out of nowhere. Ricky had sauntered into view as he was being tied up, Arthur's parting gift of a broken nose clear on his face.
“I have heard that I need you for my plans,” he sneered. “I’m not exactly sure why, but I suppose you will bear witness to the next step in human evolution.”
Stede snarled at him. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“That, my dear… salamander, is where you are wrong.” Ricky grinned and Stede felt a deep unease sink into his bones. “A little birdie told me all about your little spring, and the rituals you can perform for people there.”
Stede racked his brains, trying to figure out where Ricky could’ve found this information. It couldn’t be Ed, it just couldn’t be, so who?
Ricky’s smile was predatory. “Ahh, you’re wondering who has sold you out, I recognise that expression. I’m told you should be able to guess, and that you should have expected some kind of payback?”
Stede wracked his brains until a name came to the front of his mind. He felt sick. “Chauncey.”
Ricky clapped and looked genuinely gleeful. “You did get it! Thank goodness I didn’t take him up on that bet, I’d’ve lost out on quite a bit of money!”
The overwhelming anger at Chauncey’s betrayal poured through Stede’s system like molten rock. Not betrayal of Stede, he was right, he did expect some sort of payback, but Chauncey had betrayed their entire people. He had put every single person who lived in Wellspring and the surrounding areas at risk. Stede’s job had been to protect the Mother Spring and all those who swam in her waters, only for one of the members of the council to turn around and spill her secrets like a flood to the very people who intended to drain her? Stede wanted to scream, so he did, sending out a deafening screech to everyone in projection range. Ricky and the men holding Stede cried out and slammed their hands over their ears. Stede tried to run, but having his arms tied behind his back put him enough off balance that he couldn’t run fast enough to stop the humans from catching up to him. If only he’d managed to make it into water.
Ricky had tried to keep up some semblance of conversation as they transported Stede back to the Mother Spring, but Stede stayed silent. Even when Ricky got fed up and started insulting him and his people, insulting Ed, he managed to keep himself quiet. All the while he projected out as far as he could that he had been captured to any of his people who might be near enough to hear it. He blocked out Ricky and his captors from the message, but he thought Ricky might know what he was up to. It made Stede feel extremely pleased in a satisfyingly petty way that there was nothing they could do to stop him from calling out. They couldn’t gag him, they couldn’t muffle him, they couldn’t blindfold him and stuff his ears so he couldn’t hear. They were powerless against his ability to reach out to his community.
Stede was half surprised he hadn’t just been thrown over the waterfall into the Mother Spring, but it seemed Ricky needed him alive which was a good thing. The thing was, while there were a number of rituals that Stede could perform, there was absolutely not one that induced youth or lengthened life.
“Ricky, Chauncey lied to you. The ritual you’re seeking doesn’t exist. The Mother Spring does not take kindly to those who might use her for their own greed.”
Ricky stepped right into Stede’s personal space and held a finger up against his face. “Do not try and lie to me, creature. I know you hold the key, and I will get it out of you whether you like it or not.”
“Stede!” Ed’s voice broke the moment. Stede looked up and found Ed climbing down the ropes Ricky and his people had used to get into the basin.
“Ed,” Stede breathed in relief, unable to stop the smile spreading across his face and the gold-orange spreading across his spots and fins.
Stede was alive. He was tied up, yes, but he was alive . Ed really wanted to just drop down into the basin and land beside him, but it was deep enough that unless he jumped into the water he’d very much not be useful afterwards. He didn’t want to risk a dive when there were armed mercenaries right there either, he had a feeling Ricky wouldn’t take so long to order them to shoot after their last escape. Abseiling down the ropes wasn’t exactly something he loved doing, but needs must and Stede needed someone there with him. As soon as his feet hit the ground Ricky’s lackeys were on him, his hands tied behind his back just like Stede. They dragged him over to stand by Stede so Ricky could see them both from his vantage point.
Ed slid a foot over to touch Stede’s and turned to look at him.
Stede smiled at him, his spots and fins golden-orange-purple-teal. [You came back,] he projected, full of relief.
“Never left,” Ed answered, and winked.
Stede’s spots and fins ran through a giddying rainbow of colours as they kept eye contact, until Ricky cleared his throat.
“None of this psychic nonsense,” he whined. “Anything that is to be said is to be said out loud! Anyway, we don’t have time for this. Stede,” he pointed at him. “Tell me what I need to do to fulfil this ritual.”
Stede kept his eyes on Ricky but projected to Stede. [There is no ritual for what he wants. This is going to get pretty unpleasant. Just watch and trust me, we’ll be okay.]
Ed didn’t answer, but his heartbeat ticked up just a little higher.
“Fine. I’ll perform the ritual for you. I’ll need to be at the Spring, and I’ll need my hands unbound.” He took a breath. “If you hurt Ed in any way, I won’t do it for you.”
Ricky pondered them for a moment, then his face set in a way that showed he’d made a decision. “Okay. If you try to escape or hurt us, your friend here will die immediately.”
Stede nodded.
[Trust me,] projected into Ed’s head. He did, god he did. He hoped Stede knew how much he trusted him, and he also hoped Stede knew what he was doing.
Ed watched as Stede’s bonds were cut. He immediately rolled his shoulders forward and shook out his arms to loosen the muscles and get the blood flowing properly again and Ed had to bite down a surge of jealousy. It was only as Ricky pushed Stede forward ahead of him that he realised there was a long metal panel laid down to create a bridge to the standing platform in front of the Spring. God, Ricky was such a prissy little loser he couldn’t even let himself get wet in the pursuit of eternal life , Ed thought to himself, channelling a little bit of Stede’s inner bitch himself.
He dug his nails into his palm as Ricky gave Stede a final shove and almost pushed him right into the pool that welled between the Mother Springs hands. He took the anger and tucked it away, filed it for later. Ricky wasn’t going to waltz out of this one like nothing had happened, Ed was going to make sure of it.
He watched nervously as Stede began to chant, loud and shrill, his arms making complex motions and gestures. Ed couldn’t see Ricky’s face but he could see him impatiently fidgeting as the ritual continued. Stede loudly spoke his last statement so everyone in the basin could hear it.
“I have performed the ritual, but the Mother Spring herself has the last say with any one who wishes to seek her power. The result is in her hands, now.”
Finally Stede stepped off to the side and gestured for Ricky to drink from the Spring.
[This is not going to be pretty,] Stede warned Ed again.
Ricky dipped his hands into the water, turned around, held them triumphantly in the air for a moment, before bringing them down to his mouth and taking a long drink of the cold, clear water. Ed held his breath as he saw Stede inch away from Ricky towards the steps into the main pool.
For a moment nothing happened. Ricky dropped his hands, opened his eyes and grinned. “Eternal life!” he shouted into the basin. “The Mother Spring has chosen me!”
The shift was subtle at first. Ed wasn’t even certain anything had changed, but Stede had warned him. Ricky’s eyes widened and he placed a hand against his chest. He looked like he was panting, like he was struggling to catch his breath. Stede was waist deep in the water now, backed right down the steps.
Ricky stumbled forward a bit, then caught himself with a hand on the edge of the Mother Spring’s outstretched hands. His skin began to tighten around his face, his fingernails began to lengthen, his hair began to grow fast as it turned white and his hairline receded. It was like he was aging years in seconds. His skin continued to wrinkle and become taut at the same time, pulling back from his teeth and eyes, his clothes becoming large and drooping on him oddly making it clear he was dropping weight across his whole body. He cried out in a dusty voice as he dropped to his knees. Ed watched the life drain out of his face, out of his body, as the skin began to slough off of him and disappear, until all that was left was a skeleton holding on to the edge of the Mother Spring with ragged clothes hanging off of it in strips.
“Well, fuck,” is all Ed could say.
Ed turned to his captors who were staring dumbfounded at the skeleton of Ricky.
“That fuckin’ fish killed him,” one said, and Ed did not like where that train of thought was going.
“Where is it? We’ll never get paid now! I’ll kill it myself,” another growled.
“You’ll do no such thing, gentlemen,” came Izzy’s voice booming into the basin.
Ed looked up and grinned. Izzy, Fang and Ivan stood around the edge of the basin, with what looked like Ricky’s men’s guns trained on the two mercenaries standing beside Ed. Then all of Stede’s friends appeared standing beside them, looking down with angry expressions. The mercenaries lowered their guns and raised their hands. Stede emerged from the water and used a claw to cut straight through Ed’s bounds.
“Looks like the raid was successful, then,” he said as he looked up.
All Ed could do was laugh and pull Stede in for a kiss.