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A Pirate and a Princess - pt 6

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Ch. 6 – Help From a Cyborg Pirate

Meanwhile, it took Jim the majority of the day to cross the kingdom to the distant farmland where the ship had crashed. The sun was setting by the time he mounted the hill on which the other side was the vast crater in which the ship sat. But that was alright, because he knew that Captain Amelia and Delbert would have the ship running by now, and it would be a matter of minutes for the ship to carry them back to the castle. His plan was to fly the ship to the castle, park it subtly in the back somewhere, run into the ball and find Cinderella, then take her back to the ship and blast off with Amelia and Delbert. After weeks of feeling lost, the plan had been suddenly illuminated before him, and it was so simple he didn't see how anything could possibly go wrong.

He knew he had been mistaken, however, when he mounted the hill, looked down into the crater, and saw absolutely no ship. It was gone; there was no trace left the ship had ever been there except for the gaping empty crater and singed trees around it. He ran down toward the crater, calling for Amelia and Delbert at the top of his lungs. He searched for them for an hour, but no one replied to his shouts, and when it was too dark to search anymore he wandered back to the crater and fell to his knees in despair.

Had Amelia and Delbert launched the ship without him? No; he knew in his heart that his two friends would never willingly have left without him. He realized, then, what must have happened: the villainous pirate crew had found the ship and taken it for themselves. He could only hope that they had taken Amelia and Delbert with them when they had launched off the planet, and not harmed them in any way.

If the pirates had commandeered the ship and left the planet with it, it meant Jim was stranded on this planet, probably for the rest of his life. That didn't seem so bad to him at the moment as the fact that he had now no means of reaching the ball in time. He had depended on flying the ship back to the ball; he would never make it on foot. It would take him until tomorrow morning to walk there, even if he wasn't already exhausted from the trek he had already made. And that meant he might never find Cinderella. What if she was there, waiting for him, and was hurt or angered that he had not come for her? Or worse: what if she met someone else there, a handsome young man, like that awful Prince Chartreuse? The thought of it made Jim simmer, and he stood up and kicked a fallen tree branch in anger. He stubbed his toe, howled in pain, and sank back to his knees.

"I can't believe, not anymore," he whispered to the dark, lowering his head in grief. "There's nothing left to believe in."

"Is that how you really feel, lad?" a familiar voice said behind him. Jim sprung to his feet, spun around, and looked in amazement at the figure of Long John Silver. The tall man stood before him at the rim of the crater, his metal cyborg parts glinting in the moonlight, a smug smile on his lips.

"Silver?" Jim cried in disbelief.

"It's good to see ya, Jimbo!" the cyborg pirate said heartily, stepping forward on one booted leg and one metal leg toward Jim, reaching out to embrace him.

Jim stepped back, glaring at the man, who stopped in his tracks at the boy's poisonous look. "You're a pirate," Jim accused angrily. "You were with the rest of the crew when they attacked that ship – when they murdered the Prince. I know you were part of it; I heard them talking about you - you probably led them."

Silver sighed heavily, sitting down on the stump of a tree that had been mowed over by the crashed ship. "Jimbo," he said. "I had better explain everything. I've been accused a lot of things in my life, some good and some bad, and some true, and some not so far from it. Now, I may have taken part in some piracy in my years, but that ain't enough to judge a man on. I may have even been willing to do some treacherous things to get my hands on Flint's treasure. But I can assure you, lad, that I would never lay my hands on an innocent life, not even if it came between me and all the riches of Treasure Planet."

"I managed to get on the last lifeboat," he continued. "And most of the lifeboats crashed close together, so most of the crew was able to join up. It's true, lad. I led them to attack the Prince's ship-" Jim turned his face away in disgust, but Silver pressed on. "I am a pirate," the main admitted fiercely. "A man has to make his living somehow, and it's all I know. I did lead the attack, but I told them all that not one drop of blood was to be spilt. I told them that we were after the ship only, and the cargo, but the crew was not to be harmed. I knew that, being from other worlds, we would frighten the crew enough that they would scatter without putting up any fight. We needed food, lad. What else were we to do? And as for taking the ship, well - it's our line of work, our vocation – you can't fight what a man is made out of. But I ordered them not to harm a single soul on that ship."

"But that Scroop," Silver continued with a venomous sneer, "was the first to take blood. The others followed his example, despite my commands not to. They murdered most of the crew, and took the ship to themselves. Scroop murdered the young Prince, though the lad fought bravely to defend his crew. When I protested, they threw me overboard. I've been wandering alone ever since."

Jim's glare had given way to a sympathetic glance at the pirate. "I've been searching for the ship," Silver went on, his tone of voice beseeching to Jim to listen. "I had hoped to find you with the ship, Jimbo, and maybe the Captain and any other survivors as well. But mostly you, Jimbo. Well, it seems I arrived too late to find the ship. Obviously it was here, by looks of the crater, but my guess is Scroop and his lot found it first and flew it off with it. So, I didn't find the ship, but I did find you, Jimbo, all safe and unharmed, by the looks of it. And that gives me the greatest relief of anything."

Silver smiled hopefully at Jim, and Jim could not help but return the smile. "You really didn't hurt anyone on that ship?" he asked quietly.

"Cross my heart," Silver replied.

Jim sighed, partly in relief, and partly in exhaustion. He believed what Silver was telling him, that he had not hurt anyone, and had tried to stop the carnage that occurred that day. He needed to believe Silver. Because Jim had begun to suspect that the pirates' attack on the Prince's ship had deeper implications than anyone had realized. Their presence, just being here on an alien planet, was causing things to happen that Jim now realized had not been meant to happen. Delbert had said that, by coming through that wormhole, they may have irreversibly altered the timeline. Jim hadn't really understood that until he had seen how Cinderella's eyes lingered on the portrait of the murdered Prince.

Some part of her clearly knew the dead Prince, though she had claimed never to have met him before. If what Jim suspected was true, then she had been meant to meet him, and to fall in love with him. Jim had heard the King say that he had been planning to throw a ball for the late Prince Charming. It was likely, Jim thought, Cinderella would have met him at that ball. She had been meant to be with that Prince, who was now dead - because of the pirates who had crash-landed on the planet - and who were not supposed to be there. Ultimately it was Jim's fault, because it was Jim who had insisted they start out on this unfortunate voyage to Treasure Planet. Jim realized now: he was not supposed to be here, and by coming through that wormhole to Earth, he had ruined Cinderella's life forever. He had crash-landed into her world and come forever between her and her one true love.

He had had nagging suspicions, but as this awful truth dawned on him with its fully realized force, he sank back to his knees in despair. He cradled his head in his hands, and could not keep a few tears from escaping.

"Why lad, what's wrong?" the old pirate asked, kneeling beside him, and draping an arm around his shoulders.

"See," Jim said, not meeting Silver's eyes, "there's this girl. And, I promised I'd go back for her. Well, the short story is, I was supposed to go meet her at this ball at the castle tonight. I was going to fly the ship to the castle and meet her there, but then I got here, and this ship was gone, and I have no idea where it is, and I could never get to the ball on foot in time to find her." He sighed, disgusted with himself. "I thought that I could help her, but I was wrong. Just like I thought I could help my mother by finding Treasure Planet, and making us rich. I was wrong about that too. I can't find Treasure Planet," he said with a bitter laugh, "and I can't help anybody."

"Lad-" the pirate said gently.

"Maybe it wasn't really about helping anyone," Jim said defiantly, his voice raising. "Maybe it was really about proving myself. I wanted to prove that I could do something right, that I was somebody worthwhile." His head dropped again, staring at the ground. "But I was wrong about that too. I meant to help her, but I've only ruined her life. And it's all my fault."

"A girl, 'ey? Well that explains things a bit." Silver said, half to himself. He looked back at Jim. "It weren't your fault, ya know." Jim sighed. Silver went on, "I'm sure you tried your best, and that's all anybody can-"

"Look, don't you get it?" Jim burst suddenly in anger. He pulled away from Silver and rose to his feet. "I screwed up! I thought for two seconds that maybe I could do something right, but – I just-" He trailed off, unable to continue speaking. He stumbled to a tree and leaned against it, dropping his head to stare at the dirt. "Forget it, just forget it," he said.

Silver watched him with a painful sympathetic expression. Then he became pensive, and his face took on a light of determination. He put his hand on Jim's shoulder, turned him around to see his face, and stared him straight in the eye.

"Now, you listen to me, James Hawkins," he demanded. "You got the makings of greatness in you, but you got to take the helm and chart your own course! Stick to it, no matter the squalls! And when the time comes and you get the chance to really test the cut of your sails, and show what you're made of - well, I hope I'm there, catching some of the light coming off you that day."

Jim looked up at him with wide awestruck eyes. Here was the one person in the entire world, maybe further, who believed in him. Jim had once admired this man, a criminal and a pirate, like the father he had never really had. Now that he had heard the truth from the man's mouth about what had happened, and what was more, now that he had heard the man's assurance that he truly had faith in Jim – it had erased all doubt from Jim's heart. He loved Silver, and admired him, and would for the rest of his life. And he would be forever grateful for the faith this man put in a boy who didn't even have faith in himself. Overcome with gratitude and exhaustion, Jim leaned his head onto the man's chest and wept.

"There, there, Jimbo," the man said, patting the boy's back reassuringly, and embracing him. "It's alright." Then he put his hands on the boy's shoulders and held him out at arm's length. "Now listen, Jimbo," he said. "About this girl you're supposed to meet at the ball tonight – well, time's a-wasting! We better get you off in a jiffy!"

"The ball?" Jim asked, his eyes red and bleary.

"Aye, lad! So you can find your bonnie lass!"

"But, I don't have anyway to get there."

"Lad, you don't think you'd ever catch ol' Silver without a boat, do ya?" he laughed heartily. He pulled back a clump of bushes with his metal arm to reveal a small boat hidden in the undergrowth. It was complete with rocket propellers and a small triangular solar sail, and big enough for a few people to sit in.

"One of the lifeboats!" Jim said, his face lighting up. "It survived the crash!"

"Thanks to me," Silver said, patting the boat. "It was a fair job of steering I did coming down in this lifeboat. It's the only one that survived the crash, as far as I know. I've been sailing it around all this time, looking for the ship. But now, Jimbo, I'm gonna sail you over to your high-toned fancy-do ball of yours. And after that," he finished, looking at Jim straight in the eye with a roguish smile, "you and me are blasting off of this planet."

"We can launch in that?" Jim asked.

"Unfortunately the solar sail just busted yesterday," Silver explained. "Irreparable. However, there's just enough reserve fuel in the rocket propeller to launch us into space."

"But Silver," Jim protested, "that wormhole put us light years away from home! We'll never make it back in that little boat. We can't even make it to the nearest spaceport, not on reserve fuel!"

"We only need to make it back to the wormhole, lad."

"The wormhole? But I've always heard it said, you can't go back through the same way you went in."

"Aye, that's what those high-browed astronomers tend to say, isn't it? But they've never been through one, have they? Don't know what they're bloody talking about. Now you listen to me, Jimbo: I sailed with Billy Bones and Flint himself back in the day. It was agreed between us to divvy the loot into three. Never got my share. Flint took it all to himself and stashed it in his trove. That's why I've been after Treasure Planet after all these years – it's not so much the loot as the principle of the thing. Though the loot is fair motivation standin' on its own."

"But the point is," he continued, "I saw how ol' Flint stashed his loot. He used wormholes; he called 'em portals. He invented the technology to create a portal, anywhere, at any time, that could lead him anywhere he wanted. He went back and forth to Treasure Planet riding the wormholes. He went through 'em both ways. You hear that, Jim?" he said with an intense glance. "Both ways."

"We can go back through the wormhole," Jim said, realizing. "Right back to where we came in."

"That's right. Once we're on the other side, we're bound to be picked up by a passing ship; space traffic is heavy around those parts. Then it's a hop and a skip to the nearest space port, and you and I can even resume the search for Treasure Planet, just the two of us."

"Silver," Jim said firmly. "I'm taking Ella too."

"The lass of yours?"

Jim nodded.

"I thought so," he sighed. "Well, that's alright then. The ship will hold all of us. But Jimbo, tell me what's become of my little Morph?"

"He's with Ella," Jim said. "And so is the map."

"You must really trust her," Silver said thoughtfully. "Well then, no time to waste! Hop in the boat and I'll sail you straight to the ball! No dilly-dallying around; we've only got so much reserve fuel." Jim excitedly ran to the boat, about to hop in. "Why Jimbo," Silver said abruptly. "Blimey, lad, you can't go lookin' like that!"

Jim stopped and looked down at himself. He was wearing his dirty, worn-out spacer clothes and boots. They probably wouldn't even allow him into the ball looking like that. "Let's see what we have in here," Silver said, digging into the hold of the boat. "Ah!" He pulled out a white gold-trimmed jacket and trousers. "Look what's in here!" he said. "Royal Navy formal uniform! Left over from when the Navy was sailing our ship. Well go on, try it on."

He tossed the suit to Jim, who changed quickly and threw his old clothes in the boat. The jacket and pants fit perfectly; he looked down at himself and thought he must not look half-bad. Silver patted down the hair on his head. "There," he announced. "A dashing young man. Now hop in your carriage, sire," he said with a grin and a flourishing bow, gesturing to the boat.

"Oh, shut it," Jim said, stifling a smile. He hopped into the boat, followed by Silver, who sat at the stern with the steering mechanism. He engaged the engine, and with a loud spluttering noise, the rocket propeller burst into blue flame, and the boat was lifted off the ground.

"Hold tight," Silver said. The boat roared into motion, zooming over the ground. Silver deftly steered the boat around obstacles, keeping the boat at a low hovering altitude so as not to be seen by natives. The wind whipped Jim's hair as they soared through the night, over hills and rivers, toward the white shimmering point in the distance that Jim knew was the palace.

"Here's the rules, Jimbo," Silver said. "We're going on reserve fuel, so I don't dare turn off the engine, or I'll never get it started again. I'm going to wait out back with the boat hidden somewhere, keeping the engine on. You need to run into that ball and find this lass of yours, and Morph too, and the map would be mighty nice as well. You bring her back to the boat, and then we're launching, before we run out of fuel. We absolutely have to launch tonight, Jimbo; if we even wait 'til morning, the fuel will run out, and we'll be stranded here forever."

"If you don't find her," Silver continued, his tone more wary, "you have to come back, Jimbo. I don't want to launch without you, but I sure don't want to be stranded on this backwater planet for the rest of my years either. If she isn't there, we're leaving without her, understood?"

"I'll find her," Jim said firmly. "She'll be there – I know she will."

"Sometimes," Silver said warily, "plans go astray."

"Not this time," Jim said. The boat raced through the night, the castle shimmering ahead like a supernova in the starlit sky.
Part 7: [link]

A Disney crossover fan fiction: Treasure Planet (2002) meets Cinderella (1950)

Jim HawkinsxCinderella

Involving adventure and romance!

Summary: While on the search for Treasure Planet, Jim Hawkins' ship goes through the black hole and crash-lands on Earth, where Jim meets a servant girl named Cinderella. A fairy godmother, a Silver cyborg, a not-so-Charming Prince, a treasure map, a glass slipper, and a ball attacked by pirates are all involved when Jim crash-lands into someone else's fairy tale.

Characters belong to Disney! (Some dialogue and scenes comes directly from the movies!)
© 2011 - 2024 spacepenguin42
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