🪐Lucy's POV🪐

A huge explosion occurred within the black hole, sending solar energy to the sails, which gave us a large boost of power and sent us flying back into the safety of space. I opened my eyes when I heard the crew members cheering.

I saw Morph turn back into a blob and then sigh in relief and melt into a puddle on the floor. Silver and Jim relaxed and moved away from the mast. Jim still had his arms wrapped around me, which was totally fine by me.

He let me go, but he still held my hand, as if he were keeping me close by his side. Mr. Delbert started babbling to Captain Amelia as he detangled himself from a pile of ropes he had fallen into when the ship received its burst of speed.

"Captain! That-oh my goodness-that was-that was absolutely- that was the most-" he sputtered, trying to find the right words. "Oh tish-tosh," the Captain interrupted, gazing through an instrument into space. "Actually, Doctor, your astronomical advice was most helpful," she finished, complimenting him.

Mr. Delbert seemed taken aback by this, not expecting this rare moment of praise from the Captain. "Well, uh.. thank you. Thank you very much. Well I have a lot of help to offer anatomically- amanamotically-astronomically," he finished lamely, slapping his hand on his forehead.

The Captain walked down towards
Jim, Silver and I. "Well I must, uh, congratulate you, Mr. Silver. It seems your cabin boy did a bang up job with those lifelines," she said. Silver and Jim nudged each other playfully, and I gave Jim a little hug.

He smiled down at me and used the one arm around my waist to give me a little squeeze back. "All hands accounted for Mr. Arrow?" Captain Amelia asked, looking for Mr. Arrow.

I looked around, trying to locate the first mate in question. "Mr. Arrow?" Ms. Amelia repeated. I heard a hissing sound as Scroop stepped forward. As he drew near, a chill went down my spine, causing me to shiver. Jim looked down at me questioningly.

I gave him a worried look. This can't be good, I thought, getting a very bad feeling. "I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost," Scroop said, handing Ms. Amelia Mr. Arrow's hat, a sorrowful look on his face. She took his hat, a look of absolute disbelief on her face.

"His lifeline was not secured," he added, looking over at Jim accusingly. No! It can't be! I saw him tighten all the lifelines! I screamed in my head. But I didn't say anything; just let my mouth hang open in shock.

Jim appeared shocked, but also frightened. He turned to look at the Captain, probably hoping she wouldn't believe Scroop, but she gave him a disappointed glare. "No, I checked 'em all!" Jim protested, letting go of me and running over to the lifelines, pushing some of the other crew members out of the way.

But sure enough, when he got there, one of the lifelines was missing. "I-I did! I checked them all. They were secure. I swear," he said turning back to the Captain. But she only glared. Stupefied, I looked up at Silver; he looked back at me with the same expression.

I turned to look back at Jim; his face expressed total dejection. Captain Amelia looked down at Mr. Arrow's hat before speaking. "Mr. Arrow was a..." she paused to clear her throat, "fine spacer; finer than most of us could ever hope to be. But he knew the risks, as do we all. Resume your posts, we carry on," she finished, heading back up the stairs, most likely to mourn in private in her quarters.

I looked over at Jim again. He glanced back at me, a look of pure devastation on his face, but then ran away. I started to follow, but Silver stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Let 'im go lassie. He needs some time to himself," he said. I opened my mouth to protest, but then closed it, realizing he was right.

🪐☄️🪐☄️

Later than night, when I figured Jim had been given enough time to himself, I searched for him on deck.
I found him sitting in the shrouds, curling a piece of rope in his hands. I walked over so I was standing just behind the shrouds.

I saw him turn his head slightly in my direction when he heard my footsteps, but then he returned to playing with his rope. I thought carefully before speaking.

"It wasn't your fault," I said. Jim sighed and looked out into the stars. "I mean, I probably would've died if you hadn't-" I started, but then Jim threw the rope overboard and jumped down from the shrouds.

"Look, don't you get it?" he shouted, landing right in front of me.
Startled, I took a step back. "I screwed up! I mean, for two seconds, I thought that maybe I could do something right, but-" Jim cut himself off. "I just-Aagh!"

He leaned against the mast, turning his back to me, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Just forget it. Forget it," Jim finished. I slowly walked up to him. "Jim, I was just trying to help," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Well I don't want your help!" he snapped, whipping around to glare at me angrily. I quickly pulled my hand away from him. "I-I just thought-" I stammered, my eyes downcast.

"Thought what? That you would come on this boat and screw everything up for me! You know, if you weren't here, maybe Mr. Arrow would still be alive! I wouldn't have been so preoccupied checking your lifeline and making sure you were okay. I wouldn't have missed his lifeline. If you could take care of yourself, then maybe he would still be here! I didn't want you to come here in the first place. Now I wish you never had!" he exploded angrily.

"I just wanted to be here for you," I whispered, not trusting my voice to speak without cracking. "Well I don't want you! In fact, nobody wants you! So why don't you just go back to where you came from!" he yelled before storming off to gaze over the side of the ship. [Hey guys, it's Jim. Please press F in the chat for my sis.]

I couldn't stop the tears from tumbling. That was one of the meanest things anyone had ever said to me. I immediately took off sprinting towards the sleeping quarters. My head was down, so I didn't notice where I was going. I collided with Silver and fell back onto the floor.

"Sorry Lucy, I didn't see yeh th-," he started, but then saw my flowing river of tears. "What's teh matter, lass?" he asked, concern evident on his face. I quickly stood up, ignored his question, and ran around him towards the sleeping quarters, still crying the whole way.

☄️Third Person POV☄️

Silver walked up to the deck and found the older Hawkins sibling gazing over the side of the boat. He could tell from the way Jim was standing that he was still upset about Mr. Arrow. He decided to help me first before asking about his sister. "What yeh t'inkin' about?" Silver asked him.

Jim sighed before answering. "I screwed up. I can't do anything right! I'm just a total screw up and a waste of space! I'll never be good for anything! I just-forget it," He yelled. The older sibling stormed away from Silver so that he wouldn't see that Jim was about to cry.

Silver looked at him for a moment, then reached his hand out and turned Jim around so he could look at the cyborg while he spoke.

"Now, you listen ta me, James Hawkins. You've got teh makings of greatness in yeh, but yeh gotta take teh helm and chart yer own course!
Stick to it, no matter teh squalls!
And when teh time comes when yeh get teh chance ta really test teh cut o' yer sails and show what yer made of, well, I hope I'm there catching some of teh light comin' off yeh that day,"
Silver said. [Lucy: Amazing speech 10/10 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼]

Jim looked up at him, clearly moved by the cyborg's speech. He couldn't keep it in any longer. Jim leaned forward and rest his head on Silver's belly, sobbing silently. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him.

Silver wasn't sure what to do at first.
He looked down at Jim, then patted his shoulders. "There, there," Silver said. "Lad, it's all right, Jimbo. It's alright." He loosely embraced Jim for a moment, then pulled away before there was any chance of someone seeing.

"Now, Jim, I, uh... I best be getting' about my watch and...oh yes, what happened ta Lucy?" he asked Jim. "I ran into her an' she was crying. She ran off before I could talk to her. Is she alright?"

"She was crying?" Jim asked, surprised. As he thought back on what he had said to her, he realized how cruel he had been. "Well, I guess I did say some pretty mean things to her. I didn't mean to." He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Well, yeh better go apologize ta her," Silver said. Jim sighed, not knowing how to do that exactly.

🪐Lucy's POV🪐

After I had run below deck, I plopped down onto my hammock and buried my face in my hands, just letting myself cry for a while. When my sobs had calmed down a bit, I took off my necklace and looked at the holograms.

Jim and me reading Treasure Planet.

Our weekend sleepovers in which we would braid each other's hair and talk.

Browsing the bookstore and finding The Hunger Games.

Us crying over Newt and Chuck whilst watching The Maze Runner series.

And singing The Hanging Tree at the top of our lungs.

I snapped it closed and angrily threw it across the room. I collapsed into my hammock and cried some more.
Only when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs did I silence my sobs. When I saw Jim's boots, I made the split-second decision to close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.

☄️Third Person POV☄️

Jim went to the sleeping quarters first, thinking that's probably where she had run off to. When he made it to the bottom of the stairs, he stopped and looked over at his sister's hammock.

Sure enough, there she was, asleep in her hammock, and she hadn't even changed into her pajamas. He walked over to her and saw the tear streaks running down her face. I did that to her, he told himself. He got down on his knees so he could see her better and studied every detail of her face.

A strand of her brown hair was hanging in front of her face, blocking some of his view, so he gently brushed it behind her ear. Some of the comet dust still stuck to her fell off as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, thinking she couldn't hear him. "I didn't mean what I said. I was angry and frustrated, but that's no excuse.
I hope you can forgive me." The older Hawkins sibling softly placed a kiss on her forehead. Then he stood up and walked away.

As he made his way over to his hammock, he felt something under his boot that wasn't the wood floor.
He bent down and felt around the floor in the dark for whatever had been there. When he found it, he brought it up closer to his face and into better lighting.

It was his sister's locket.

The one he gave her for her 10th birthday.

Unable to quell his curiosity, he opened it up and holograms of the two of them appeared. He turned to look back at her and smiled. After all these years... He placed the necklace in his pocket, climbed into his hammock and closed his eyes, falling asleep rather quickly after such an exhausting and emotional day.

As for the younger Hawkins sibling, she opened one eye and smiled softly.

phoebe has something to say!

i really liked calling milo and madeleine, the older/younger thatch sibling. i love it with lucy and jim.