Back with a new book! I'm kicking off the book with a… song. Something that I've actually never done. It's "Part of Your World" (I still think it should be 'that' instead of your', but whatever), but modified by me to suit the story. Please bear with me, I've forced some words into it, and not all lines may rhyme like they would in the original song. To say the least, I'm pretty proud of my 'version'. The original song belongs to its rightful owners, Disney and I believe, Jodie Benson. My target is to finish this book before the end of the year. So, let's do this!

In silence, she stepped into her favorite room of the inn. The mini library. There was a carpet made out of, quite possibly, the softest and finest material in the planet laid in the middle of the room, and Ariel didn't hesitate to remove her shoes before landing her feet onto the carpet to really feel the carpet. The feeling on her bare feet was her favorite sensation, and around her, was her favorite sight. Books, books, and some objects that Jim hadn't finished mentioning what they were all.

It's her shift to clean the room, and she'd use every second she spent in the room as 'efficient' as possible. Ariel had only spent a week and a half in the Benbow Inn, however, she had finished reading thirteen books in the library. And now, in her right hand's grasp, was the fourteenth, and in her left hand's grasp, a broom.

Both of her eyes were focused on the page where she last left off, but she cleaned the floor seamlessly as if she had an extra eye watching where the broom would swipe. In the process, changes of expression were seen on her face. Gasping, smiling, pouting, raised brow, you name it. Out of nowhere, she put away the book where to it was fifteen minutes later, and reached for the book next to it. She had already finished the book! However, she stopped.

"Hm… I probably should just focus on cleaning the room. Spare it for next time," Ariel smiled at the book she was about to reach. She straightened her back and resumed her work.

Done cleaning the floor, Ariel grabbed a nearby cloth and used it to clean three transparent boxes placed in the room that 'exhibited' the objects in them. There were a binocular, a small globe, solar surfer figures, and more. However, her brain couldn't tell what they were, and what functions they served. Still, the curiosity grew a smile on her lips.

"I can't believe this is my life now… I'm learning, and learning, and learning every day!" Ariel said, as she cleaned off the dust on a box with a single wipe. The moment could only be expressed in one way, a song.

"Look at this room

Isn't it neat?" (turns around, facing the bookshelf and approaching it)

"Wouldn't you think that my life's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl,

The girl who's learnt everything?" (pulls a book, and pushes it back in)

"Look at this trove

Treasures untold

How many knowledge can one room possess? (runs a finger through a row of books)

Lookin' around here you'd think

(Sure) she knows everything" (shrugs while smiling)

"I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty (wipes the boxes with care)

I've got whotzits and whatzits galore

(You want to know about the stars? (grabs a book with a star logo on it)

I can tell ya)

But yet still, (pushes the book back in)

Deep Inside

I want more…" (looks up to the ceiling, where stars-like decoration was hung)

"I want to be where the stars are,

I want to see (looks out at the window)

Want to see 'em shining

Walkin' around on that (watches her feet step on the wooden floor)

(whad'ya call 'em) oh – deck

Venturing 'round on the open space (climbs a ladder laid next to the bookshelf)

Endless sightseeing on the endless wonders

Sailin' along down the… (stops)

(What's that word? Oh – zone!) (as in ozone layer)

Up where they go

Up where they fly (mimics a ship flying with her hand)

Up where they stay all day on the space

Venturin' free

Wish I could see

See all of them"

"What would I give (climbs down the ladder)

If I could see

The wonders up there?

What would I pay (lifts one of the boxes)

To spend on a day

Feasting these eyes? (spins the small globe, and puts the glass box back)

Although I hope

He'll understand (grabs the pendant around her neck, staring it)

Understand that this heart desires for more

Bright young women (releases the pendant from her grasp, looks up)

Ready than ever

To fulfill this life"

"And ready to know what they all have seen (grabs a random book and skims through the pages)

Ask myself questions (holds the book near her chest)

And witness the answers (looks up)

Why are the stars up there (places the book down)

Shining ever so… bright?"

"When's it my turn?

Wouldn't I love

Love to explore that space up above? (lands herself on the chair abruptly, hand reaching for the ceiling)

Out of this world

Yet still, I hope (rolls over, lowering her volume)

To see all of them"

Indeed, the ex-mermaid was enjoying life. But she was the type of person who couldn't be satisfied quickly. Ariel's always on the search for something more, and not many had been able to stop her. One way or another, Ariel would get herself what she wanted.

Lazily, she laid her chin on the armrest of the chair. There, at the corner of her eyes, she spotted a particular figure standing near the entrance of the library.

"JIM!"

"Haha, hey."

In a rush, Ariel stood back on her feet and continued her postponed work. Slowly, Jim entered the room and approached his lover. "It's okay, Ari. No need to sweat yourself. That was quite the performance!"

"N-No… My job is to clean this room—"

"Oh, come on, Ari. I've never heard you sing, and your singing was wonderful!" Jim shrugged, laying his hands on the chair where Ariel was sat.

A red tint appeared in her cheeks, which were hidden away from the male. "Thank you, but this is not how I pictured it, I thought you'd ask me to sing or something at first. Not catching me while I'm unaware."

"Weird," Jim said, "it's very much how I pictured it."

"Oh please, Hawkins," she giggled.

Afterwards, the male proceeded to help the female by doing the paintings in the room. The 'paintings' were actually a super thin monitor, projecting a picture in a high resolution. As Hawkins traced around the picture with a cloth, the projection stuttered, but the pixels were cleaner than ever.

One feature that the pixel had was its mirror feature. The pixels mimicked a glass so well, that Jim saw a reflection of Ariel who's lost in her own world while gazing onto the ceiling of the room.

He turned around. "Ari?"

The red head jumped on her spot. "Y-YES! Yes?"

"You were lost there, you okay?" He approached her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I was merely…"

"Stargazing? Heh," he chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Yeah. I just love this room."

Jim approached the female. "Did you know that these stars weren't just hung randomly? They actually follow the real map, if you compare it."

Ariel's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, I can name the name of the stars, if you want me to," Jim said. He raised an arm to point the star that was hung the lowest. "That one is the Victorian Star, named after—"

"Ah tahtah!" With a finger, Ariel shut the Hawkins' mouth. "I'll find out by myself, okay? Just tell me where the book that provides the map of stars is."

He removed her finger gently. "Always on it, huh? It's…" Jim turned around and scanned the bookshelf in front of him. Finding none, he turned around to face the one behind Ariel, and stopped at a dark green book. It had a star logo on it.

"There," Jim pointed at the book, and Ariel spotted it right away.

"Ah, that one. I just grabbed it moments ago. I'll definitely check it out."

He sat down on the chair, spectating her as she kept on with her job. He heard her very well, that she was in a thirst for an adventure. Jim himself was in the same mood, but he knew the priorities he had to take care of at the moment. However, Jim couldn't deny that Ariel was in a 'need' for an adventure, more than he ever was.

He cleared his throat. "Erhm, Ari…"

She turned to him. "Yes?"

"Look, I get it. I probably shouldn't have shared you my adventure that made you… really want to have a taste of the adventure that outer space could give. I can't promise you to take you out there tomorrow, nor next week, nor next month, but I can promise you someday. Someday, I'll take you to the space up above." He smiled genuinely.

Ariel appreciated his effort by returning the same smile. She walked to the male and gave him a warm hug.

"Thank you," she whispered on his ear before letting go.

With that, he left the room to take care of his shift. His brief presence was enough to make that smile on her lips last until she finished with the room. The female added a final touch on the window before leaving the room to return the broom she had.

She walked in the hallway towards the counter where guests who wanted a room would be served. At the moment, there was no one in charge. Once there, with a click of a button, the broom retracted in length, making it possible to be saved in a tight space. The female saved it in a drawer in the counter.

On the counter itself, Ariel spotted something particular. It was a book, filled with list of guests and their room. She skimmed through the pages and stopped at the page listing the newest guests. She studied it, and discovered that they would leave in the next morning. From this, Ariel saw an opportunity.

"Perhaps… I can ask him. Yeah, maybe at the end of the day."

Meanwhile, the male Hawkins was making his way down to the dining room. The room wasn't crowded, but that didn't mean there weren't works to be done. As he crossed the room, he picked up orders, grabbed the dirty dishes, and cleaned the dirty tables, all in one go before he reached the kitchen. It wasn't the busiest hour of the day, so he wasn't on the fullest.

Before entering the kitchen, Jim placed all the grimy plates in a caddy. Right when he was about to push the door open, the conversation inside the room halted him. He later discovered that Sarah was having a chat with Silver, but they were speaking in a volume where they were almost whispering. The act of discreet intrigued the boy.

"HE WAS A WHAT?!"

"Quiet! This is just between us for now. Jim cannot know this, at least not yet."

Silver fixed the frying pan in his grasp, and continued frying the food in it. A wild question popped inside his head that stopped him "Sarah, does this make him, you know—"

"No, let's move on from that," Sarah denied, with her hands forming an X. "That's all you get to know at the moment. What do you know about him, Silver?"

As much as he wanted to know more, Silver respected the family's privacy. "I've only heard of his name once, but his name was the main character of this story. I heard that he had raided ships from the royal kingdoms of Montressor, Cudenia, Omeistee, and probably more," Silver replied. The names that Silver mentioned only made Jim more intrigued into the story.

"Oh my, how much has he done in ten years?" Sarah crossed her arms, shaking her head in confusion.

"Ten years is a long time, Sarah. A lot must have happened," Silver said, placing some dirty plates into the dishwasher.

Sarah grumped. "I know. But, how much has changed in him?"

The topic of the conversation was still a question mark for the eavesdropper at the moment, and listening more was his only hope of getting to know who was being talked about. However, several guests in the room were doing activities that involved sounds. Such as pushing a chair, contacting a fork against the plate, and worst of all, a crying kid.

"God—" Jim turned around to the source of the crying, "dammit." He attempted to focus his hearing into Sarah's and Silver's conversation, but the kid's crying was too loud.

"Oh for Pete's sake—" he turned around to the kid, who was now being soothed by Ariel. The kid's crying ceased instantly, as he was enjoying a popsicle given by Ariel.

"Thank God," now with the calmer atmosphere, Jim planted his ear on the door again. Before he could even hear more, Ariel pushed the door as she entered in, compromising the eavesdropping. Jim quickly posed normally.

"Sarah, I gave that kid a popsicle because his crying was too loud," Ariel reported.

"Oh it's okay. The popsicles are for that kind of situation. They work like magic," placing her hands on her hips, Sarah spotted her son on the background, standing like a frozen statue.

"What is it, Jim?" Sarah raised a brow.

He shrugged, naturally. "Nothing, it's just these dishes are heavy."

"Put them here, lad," Silver gestured at the dishwasher.

"Aye aye."

Jim did as instructed, and left the room nonchalantly. His awkward aura didn't raise any suspicion, and he was glad to have it that way. He was hungry for more information about this person that they were on about.


"Montressor, Cudenia, and… what's the other one? Ugh, damn my brain," Jim cursed under the moonlight. The boy was sat on his bed, trying his best to remember the name of the planet that Silver had mentioned previously. His effort came in vain. He regretted for not arriving at the scene earlier. If he had arrived earlier, he would've known something he wasn't supposed to know yet, as it was mentioned by Sarah previously. Whatever it was, it was a family secret that he was yet to know. But at the moment, a rest was the most ideal thing to have.

Right when he landed his head on the pillow, a knock was heard on the door. Jim bolted up once again, "come in."

The door opened, and Silver was there.

"You were about to have some shut-eye, Jimbo?" Silver asked.

He shook his head. "Nu-uh, what's up?"

The cyborg sat on the edge of the bed, and immediately, a loud crack sounded as his heavy body descended a tad. He stood up immediately. His weight was obviously too much for the bed to withstand.

"I'll… take a look at it next morning," Silver pointed on the spot where he briefly sat.

"Heh, chill," Jim waved a hand. "What is it?"

"Erhm, I'll be leaving the inn within the next three days."

The boy gasped.

"This old cyborg is sure good at cooking, and it's been proven by the guests. But, this old cyborg is way better at venturing the wonders up there," Silver 'grabbed' the air above him.

"Oh… well, my mother didn't fire you or anything, right?" Jim asked in a mocking tone.

"What are ya talkin' about? Why would she fire the best chef ever known?" Silver replied with a tone full of confidence.

"Right," he shrugged. "Well, I can't blame you. The latest map of the universe only covers a tiny shard of the actual universe itself. More to see out there," Jim said. Silver was taken aback to see the boy being so impassive about his departure. Although, the fact was that Jim's true feelings were hidden away very well.

"You know me. I'm going off the map after I've gathered me crew," Silver said.

"I suppose… that's all I wanted to tell. Save the hug on the day I depart?" The cyborg asked. Jim agreed right away.

"Sure."

"Heh, night kid," he gave a friendly pat on the boy's shoulder. "Sleep well."

Jim watched the cyborg leave his bedroom with a smile, which soon turned upside down as he got further and further. Right when Silver turned to the left to go to his room, he spotted someone at the corner of his eyes that made him turn around for an instant.

"Ah, didn't know there was a queue," Silver said, leaving to his bedroom.

"Yeah, there was a queue," a chuckle was followed. Jim didn't know who it was until the figure entered. Ariel.

"Hey Jim," she greeted.

"Hey, what's up?"

The lass sat on Silver's previous spot, and inhaled an air, exhaling it afterwards. Seeing from the behavior, Jim suspected that it might be something serious.

"This afternoon, I checked the guest list, and the last guest is to check out from the inn tomorrow morning. After that, no one has booked a room or anything yet. I was thinking about…" she paused, still feeling doubt whether to ask her request to him or not.

"What is it?"

Once again, she took a deep breath. "I want to see the city, or town, or any civilization near the inn. Will you take me around? You know, we can kick in the 'exploration' with a small one, like the nearby town…"

And she proceeded to explain the things she'd like to see in the nearby town/city to strengthen the reason why he should take her nonstop. Jim chuckled, seeing how much of a simple request it was. "Of course, I'll take you around."

She stopped. "OH JIM, THANK YOU!"

Ariel attacked the male with a hug so sudden, she ended up laying on top of him. However, neither of the two felt any sense of privacy-trespassing feeling whatsoever. Ariel's face was buried in the crook of Jim's neck, where a wide smile was hidden away. But Jim didn't need to see it to acknowledge the girl's abundance of happiness.

Jim placed Ariel and himself back up, and connected his arms with hers. "We just need my mom's permission—"

"Already on it! I've asked her, and she said yes," Ariel cut.

The boy could only laugh. "Fine… just wake me up next morning."

"Will do," with love, Ariel kissed Jim on the cheek. "Good night."

"Good night."

What do you think of the song?