@flintsredhair : James rescues Charles in s3 and Feels ensue. Also if they could somehow save Thomas that would be great.
HERE YOU GO. Not the most exciting piece but there is *tension* in there.
Freeing Charles was simpler in the end than he had expected. The guards were tired; overworked, with little to no sleep and rations that were starting to spoil. He took some of the stronger and more dependable men from his crew in the dead of night and stole Charles away right under the “governor’s” nose.
Charles spat on the floor where he had been chained before taking a sword, buckling it to his belt, and a pistol in hand. The dirt smeared on his cheeks and brow made him seem more animal than man – his hair was dirty and tangled where it hung over his shoulders, adding to the image.
“Seems our roles have reversed,” Charles grunted. There was appreciation in his voice, a dulled edge to his gaze as he stood before Flint.
“I’ve suffered the deaths of too many who mean something to me; I’ll suffer no more.”
The words were sincere. He thought at first that they would make him seem weak, but Charles lowered his eyes and shifted ever so slightly closer, held his hand out. His palm was hot, clammy with sweat, but solid and alive in Flint’s own hand. They held on a moment too long. It was only a moment, barely more than a breath, but James felt a sting in his heart as the feeling of calloused skin under his fingers took him back to Thomas’ bed.
As they left the streets, boarded the Walrus and headed out to open water, Flint let his breath come easier. The weight in his chest and shoulders lifted, his whole being finding a calmness in the moments after. They would stay out of sight for a few days, retreat away from Nassau to prevent fighting before returning to take the island back from the so-called “civilised hands” of the British Empire.
Or that was the plan.
Charles told him of news he had heard, a secret that hadn’t yet reached the ears of the governor, and James’ whole world crumbled and reassembled in moments.
“There’s a place,” Charles had said, “in Spanish Florida. Rich men’s shames are sent there to be hidden away; love children, slaves with too much in their heads, unwanted relatives… Kept out of the way in exchange for money and secrecy. Word is there’s a man there who you might have known, once.”
To say he kept his composure is a lie. James felt the sob in his throat only as it clawed its way out. Charles let him weep, only reached out to touch when the breath didn’t enter his lungs and his vision blurred and faded.
Charles asked quietly, a hand on the back of James’ neck like an anchor to keep him from drifting back into that black abyss of guilt and grief, “who is he?”
James shared his story then. Every moment of happiness, the sharp sting of loss, the blast of betrayal that finalised his form as a monster in the eyes of men. Charles listened, his expression sombre and troubled at the tale as each turn was revealed.
“You love him,” was the only thing Charles said.
“More than I can say. For ten years I’ve grieved, ten fucking years-”
A hand rested on his knee. The warmth made his chest flutter, his lips purse. Charles just touched him though; it was an act of comfort, of understanding, one that James felt linger for hours after.
They set sail for Florida as soon as the wind picks up. Charles stood by his side on the quarterdeck as the sailed towards the sun.
(Not incredibly long, sorry… Set after the other prompt I have to do with Flint saving Charles at the end of s3 so it’s more ~feelsy~)
—
When he sees who steps out of the little dinghy his heart leaps into his throat, Anne whispers “fuck”, and the sun peaks out between the clouds.
Charles Vane, cheroot between his lips, is a vision of swagger and ease as he moves over the sand to where they stand. He looks Anne up and down with a nod, silent understanding between them. He catches Jack’s eye next.
“You look good,” Jack croaks, “for a dead man.”
Charles snorts and claps a hand onto Jack’s shoulder, squeezes, tugs him forward into a tight hug that brings tears to both their eyes. When he pulls back Charles has a dampness on his cheeks. Jack wonders for a moment if this is some fever dream brought on by staying too late at the tavern. But Charles squeezes his arm again and he knows it isn’t.
He sniffles, a pathetic sound and he knows Anne will mock him later (but she won’t, she knows what this means to him, the wreck he’s been since Charles had been captured), but he can’t help the grin on his face.
“You were dead.”
“No, not even close. Takes more than a pack of civilised dogs in wigs to kill me;” Charles winks. “Flint returned the kindness of saving his life, got there just in time.”
He turns and faces the other captain for the first time. “Thank you,” he manages to say, “I’m in your debt it seems.”
Flint just shakes his head and looks down. “Well, if anyone was going to make a trophy of him…” he trails off, shares a twisted smirk with Charles before clasping his hands behind his back. “Besides, couldn’t leave our best asset to swing, could I?”
Jack flinches, Charles does too. But the happiness soon takes the sting away.
“This calls for a celebration!” Jack claps his friend on the back, relishes the living warmth of him. “How about we all go get so drunk we can’t see straight?” Charles laughs at him and everything feels… right.
Two weekends back, my extraordinary friend V—who has not seen Black Sails but who’s been enthusiastically helping me learn about Queen Anne’s London and the Navy of the period—took me on a wonderful tour of St James & Westminster circa 1705. For Reasons.
All right, some additional information, for @sea-changed and anyone else who is interested! Fact-checked + additions by V!
1) In 1698, Whitehall mostly burned to the ground; before that, it had been ~A Scene~; in V’s words, like “an amusement park with big hotel suites, foyers, eating zones, gardens.” This is an important way of contextualizing what’s built after in the Whitehall area, and on the Westminster and St James edges of it. (Side note: Collier and the moral reformers took this fire as a signal from God, as they did the Great Storm of 1703, because of course they did.)
2) Politically—and, I guess, socially—this period marked a shift in where in London elites lived and gathered, at least on the Whiggish side of of the aisle. (Generally in this period, the Whigs were invested invested in building a sort of urban elite, in opposition to Tory landed gentry.) Parliament convened more often, meaning MPs were more likely to live at least part-time in London. So building in Whitehall and Westminster in this period reflected that.
3) Historically contextualizing television show characters has its limits—a real-life James McGraw would likely have had a room within walking distance of Greenwich and Deptford, thus making it totally unlikely that Miranda could like, swing by in her carriage, but if you enjoy historical fiction then you probably let some of that go for the sake of the plot. I certainly do (or actually, I kind of like to hold both in my head simultaneously). But V took me to the Westminster street in the top images for prime examples of the kind of houses the Hamiltons would have lived in, were they real people. We chose them the biggest one that kind of spans the corner of the row, with the original double doors.
4) The next two images are a bluecoat school built in 1709, now owned by the National Trust and occupied by a fashion designer’s boutique. The exterior decorations were *delightful*, in a way that photo doesn’t do justice: who knew you could do such exquisite things with onions! V said it was very period-appropriate. As in:
5) These Westminster streets nestle up south of St James’s Park, which would have been central to the lives of people (aristocrats!) living in style in the new western London developments. At the park’s far end was Buckingham House, built in 1703, which sits at the core of the greatly expanded (in Victorian times) Buckingham Palace we see today. At the start of the 18th century, westwards of St James was countryside; and Westminster, like the City of London and its eastern docks along the Thames, extended inland from the river. You can get the feel (tree by tree) with this.
6) The final image in this batch is from the walls of Andrew Edmunds, the wonderful restaurant in a 1710 townhouse where we ended the day. Obviously it’s a modern restaurant, but they’ve kept the guts intact, so you can see the basic layout of the service basement (now the lower dining room area plus bar and kitchen) as it would have been in the era, which was a delight after looking at exteriors all day.
Chapters: 7/9 Fandom: Black Sails Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton, Vane/Madi Characters: Captain Flint, Thomas Hamilton, Madi (Black Sails), Charles Vane, Admiral Hennessey (Black Sails), John Silver (briefly), Abigail Ashe, “Calico” Jack Rackham Additional Tags: So one day after the finale I sat down, and decided to find out what happens if Charles Vane is still alive post s4, you know – presuming he was out of action but not dead, and then the thought hit me that Madi and Vane would make a cute couple, and well here you have the results, not Silver friendly, post finale fix-it, Grieving, found family of a sort, All the people that love James and Thomas come together to rescue them from the shame farm, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence Summary:
When he’s transported from Nassau to Jamaica, Charles Vane does not expect to leave the jail in Port Royal alive. When he’s released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement at the end of the war –
There might, he thinks, just possibly be something wrong with him, because he is about to go rescue James Flint from slavery with the help of a princess and an admiral of the English fleet, and he’s not quite certain but he thinks he may even have been sober when he agreed to do it.
Edit: Chapter 6 was missing a bit and I have now posted it. If everyone could just… reread that chapter with the first section, I’d really love you all forever.
Chapters: 7/9 Fandom: Black Sails Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton, Vane/Madi Characters: Captain Flint, Thomas Hamilton, Madi (Black Sails), Charles Vane, Admiral Hennessey (Black Sails), John Silver (briefly), Abigail Ashe, “Calico” Jack Rackham Additional Tags: So one day after the finale I sat down, and decided to find out what happens if Charles Vane is still alive post s4, you know – presuming he was out of action but not dead, and then the thought hit me that Madi and Vane would make a cute couple, and well here you have the results, not Silver friendly, post finale fix-it, Grieving, found family of a sort, All the people that love James and Thomas come together to rescue them from the shame farm, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence Summary:
When he’s transported from Nassau to Jamaica, Charles Vane does not expect to leave the jail in Port Royal alive. When he’s released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement at the end of the war –
There might, he thinks, just possibly be something wrong with him, because he is about to go rescue James Flint from slavery with the help of a princess and an admiral of the English fleet, and he’s not quite certain but he thinks he may even have been sober when he agreed to do it.
Edit: Chapter 6 was missing a bit and I have now posted it. If everyone could just… reread that chapter with the first section, I’d really love you all forever.
Chapters: 7/9 Fandom: Black Sails Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton, Vane/Madi Characters: Captain Flint, Thomas Hamilton, Madi (Black Sails), Charles Vane, Admiral Hennessey (Black Sails), John Silver (briefly), Abigail Ashe, “Calico” Jack Rackham Additional Tags: So one day after the finale I sat down, and decided to find out what happens if Charles Vane is still alive post s4, you know – presuming he was out of action but not dead, and then the thought hit me that Madi and Vane would make a cute couple, and well here you have the results, not Silver friendly, post finale fix-it, Grieving, found family of a sort, All the people that love James and Thomas come together to rescue them from the shame farm, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence Summary:
When he’s transported from Nassau to Jamaica, Charles Vane does not expect to leave the jail in Port Royal alive. When he’s released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement at the end of the war –
There might, he thinks, just possibly be something wrong with him, because he is about to go rescue James Flint from slavery with the help of a princess and an admiral of the English fleet, and he’s not quite certain but he thinks he may even have been sober when he agreed to do it.
Edit: Chapter 6 was missing a bit and I have now posted it. If everyone could just… reread that chapter with the first section, I’d really love you all forever.
Chapters: 7/9 Fandom: Black Sails Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton, Vane/Madi Characters: Captain Flint, Thomas Hamilton, Madi (Black Sails), Charles Vane, Admiral Hennessey (Black Sails), John Silver (briefly), Abigail Ashe, “Calico” Jack Rackham Additional Tags: So one day after the finale I sat down, and decided to find out what happens if Charles Vane is still alive post s4, you know – presuming he was out of action but not dead, and then the thought hit me that Madi and Vane would make a cute couple, and well here you have the results, not Silver friendly, post finale fix-it, Grieving, found family of a sort, All the people that love James and Thomas come together to rescue them from the shame farm, Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence Summary:
When he’s transported from Nassau to Jamaica, Charles Vane does not expect to leave the jail in Port Royal alive. When he’s released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement at the end of the war –
There might, he thinks, just possibly be something wrong with him, because he is about to go rescue James Flint from slavery with the help of a princess and an admiral of the English fleet, and he’s not quite certain but he thinks he may even have been sober when he agreed to do it.
Edit: Chapter 6 was missing a bit and I have now posted it. If everyone could just… reread that chapter with the first section, I’d really love you all forever.
Meg's Mumbles 
