Hi, guys!
Yet again have I found a chink in the armor of my ass busting schedule to post a fanfic, and this is to be my first "Treasure Planet" story.
In it, Captain Amelia(my favorite character)is living a wonderful life with her family and, when on traveling ships, is as adept as ever at commanding her crew and gets as much respect and/or liking as ever from it, but her happiness is to be blown wide open with something that she was, sadly, inevitably going to learn, as she finds out the very hard way.
Because Jim Hawkins, knowing the real reason that Mr. Arrow died but very conflicted as to whether or not he should let Amelia know, especially given the way that he made Scroop pay for killing Mr. Arrow and all of his other dirty deeds with his sorry life, so it might not be needed to reveal this fact to her, increasingly realizes he has to reveal the truth.
Which is why, despite Jim not being shown in this story, a letter that she receives from him is just that…from him, and it informs her of what really killed Mr. Arrow, and who did it, the fact that she made him what he is today and believed him to have been the reason her close friend died due to forgetting his lifeline(even though she eventually forgave him)further making him know that, however much it hurts like hell to do it, he knows it can't be avoided and must be done(in the form of being gotten over with, of course, since it's hardly what him or her would be happy about).
So, upon reading about it, rage, shock, alarm and fury build up in our favorite captain, but, once she is able to be proud of Jim for how he made the right choice and not only got rid of the sinister Scroop, but also came to see what was best after a time, that is only for a brief moment.
After all, she is lucky to be in her room alone, and I don't think that I need to tell you where this is going.
However, the question is what this will all mean for her husband and children, and what that will result in for all five of them and for her, of course.
Want to know the answer as to how the hell things turn out?
Then read away.
THINGS TO NOTE:
This fanfic takes place six months after the events of "Treasure Planet", and was inspired both by the end of the 122nd issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man", where Peter is crying for Gwen Stacy(and it is fitting that I would use this as part of the story, given Stan Lee's recent tragic passing, God rest that great, creative, famous, awesome and unforgettable guy's soul)and a "Treasure Planet" fanfic on this very site, written by o0IzumiSensei0o, titled "It's Ok for a Captain to Cry", which, by the way, was a fabulous and heartwarming story, and I congratulate its author for making it.
Granted, this sort of Doppler/Amelia story has been done before, in the form of "It's Ok for a Captain to Cry" or otherwise, but I am doing this for a version of my own which I mean to be a post-movie one on a level that either ranks way up there, or at the very least a noticeably high one.
I was also spurred by the aforementioned recent death of Stan "The Man" Lee to write this, and, just like made clear up there before, I will miss him just like so many others will the world over, and hope he receives a special place in heaven that is laden with comic book related things aplenty along with everything else that makes the abode nothing short of the perfect home, just like he was nothing short of the perfect comic book creator.
I own none of the characters mentioned here, the ones created for "Treasure Planet" or otherwise, as they all belong to their respective franchises, nor either one of the stories which inspired this one.
The title, which I decided on both for how the hell Amelia's eyes are green and how things are shown to happen in this story concerning them and their owner, is indeed a distortion of the title which belongs to the novel "How Green Was My Valley" and its movie adaptation, and I don't own the book or the movie, either.
How Green Were My Sad Eyes
Captain Amelia honestly did not think that she could possibly think of a way that life could possibly get any better for her at all.
After all, for six months straight now, she had been living the best family life possible, her children were growing up so quick and becoming so healthy and smart despite only being six months old, she and her husband were enjoying pure happiness at their opulent new home along with their offspring when she wasn't managing voyages and, when she was, the endless and vast amounts of popularity and respect she received from her crew was matched only by how her competence was just as clear and absolute as it always had been and always would be.
Alas, no good deed, or, in her case, no good deeds, since she'd done so, so many of them, as a captain or otherwise, would go unpunished, and sure enough, just before it was the usual routine at the time of night in her home this would make itself clear(making sure the children were put to bed and enjoying some quality time with her husband briefly before they both went to bed themselves, that is), she saw her husband, Delbert, coming out of their bedroom and looking quite surprised(in a happy way, since he didn't know what he, the children and his wife would soon know about what was giving him these feelings).
"Amelia! There's a letter for you from Jim Hawkins! It's on the bed in our room! He must have some wonderful news for you, given your friendship with him and how you made sure he'd become what he is now and will be always and forever!" he informed his wife.
"Oh, my! Then it seems you'll be serving both our roles with our son and daughters, because I'm going to go see why he wrote me this letter and what it was for!" Amelia replied as Delbert nodded and tended to Sunny, Matey, Tillie and Jib.
Rushing into her room and quite excited to hear from Jim, along with being eager to read what she believed was going to be delightful news from him, she tore open the envelope quickly and opened up the letter, only to quickly(read: seconds thereafter)and suddenly become increasingly shocked and enraged instead of happy like she thought she was going to be.
Because here is what the letter read.
Dear Captain…
Hi, it's me, Jim Hawkins.
How are you and your family?
I hope well.
I'm writing because there is something really awful that I need to reveal to you, and although it hurts like hell to do so, especially given our friendship and everything you did for me along with what it resulted in, it's recently become clear to me that I have no choice but to.
When I was having a final showdown with that godawful Scroop during our voyage six months ago, having found out beforehand, albeit, I admit, by eavesdropping, that he was the one who had cut Mr. Arrow's lifeline and therefore caused his death despite how he otherwise would have survived with how I secured things, and then pretended it was my fault while putting on a false sad face and showing you his hat, no less, I managed to get rid of him, sure enough, but there was a problem.
I was conflicted about whether or not I should reveal the truth to you.
Because, see, we were already dealing with enough at the time, and later on, when you had, as part of how everything turned out beautifully, married and birthed a family from Doctor Doppler, the last thing I wanted to do was reveal something that would simultaneously break your heart, cause you to become furious and, chances are, cause God only knows how many problems for the others and yourself.
Of course it would reopen an old wound, and I didn't want to do that, either.
Sadly, it's now clear that making you learn this was so clearly avoidable that I could either get it over with like I've done now or try to further ignore the fact it was inevitable and prolong the pain that I was feeling and you would feel once I finally accepted that I had to get it done.
So I chose the former.
That said, I am currently in a lot of agony, knowing what is going to happen once you've finished reading this, but there was just plain no way out for either of us at all, though only I knew that fact before now.
Please forgive me for this, and know that I give my best of respect and kudos to Mr. Arrow for how loyal and competent he was, as well as how he was such a close friend to you who you could always trust and turn to.
Sincerely, Jim Hawkins.
Shredding the letter in a sudden rage, having become livid and aghast as hell, though not at Jim, but about how Scroop tricked her so and made her think Jim was to blame, along with it being clear he was a treacherous sneak and evildoer who acted like a loyal, trustworthy member of her crew, having been Mr. Arrow's killer all this time, she then thundered out the following words in a tone of voice that was nothing short of angry as hell.
"SCROOP! YOU VILE ABOMINATION! I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE JUST READ FROM JIM AND THUS LEARNED ABOUT YOU! YOU ARE LUCKY HE KILLED YOU BEFORE I KNEW ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE SEEN YOU TORTURED TO DEATH FOR TAKING MY BEST FRIEND, WHO WAS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MEMBER OF MY CREW, AT THAT, AWAY FROM ME AND THE REST OF THIS WORLD! YOU UNDERHANDED, FIENDISH MONSTER! I HOPE YOU ARE ROTTING, BURNING AND BEING PUT THROUGH HELL IN A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN THE AFOREMENTIONED HELL! HOW I WOULD TAKE YOU APART PIECE BY ABOMINABLE PIECE IF YOU WERE HEAR IN FRONT OF ME, WITH MY CLAWS, MULTIPLE KNIVES, SCISSORS AND PLENTY OF OTHER CUTTING TOOLS! IF ONLY I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU INSTEAD OF JIM! MADE YOU WALK THE PLANK WERE WE TO HAVE BEEN ABOVE A VOLCANO AT THE TIME! RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH! IF I COULD MAKE YOUR SUFFERING IN HELL WORSE, I WOULD DO SO WITHOUT A DROP OF HESITATION AND IN A WAY THAT WAS OFF THE SCALE!"
The well beyond furious and unbelievably aghast/taken aback Amelia suddenly heard her husband step into the room, having put their daughters and son to bed just in time before he heard her flying off the handle.
"Amelia, what's wrong?" gasped Delbert as he took a hold of his wife, and, after she, following a few moments of being kept still, was no longer consumed by an immeasurable amount of white-hot rage, she spun around and sharply told him what the letter had said and what it meant.
And, although Delbert let out quite the gasp, with both being lucky that their children were so sound asleep and indeed sleeping like dogs in truly deep sleep that even all of this noise wouldn't be able to even begin to wake them up, along with how he took a few steps back after he did so, he suddenly saw something about his wife that he had never seen before.
Her beautiful green eyes, despite how they were still in what was clearly an angry position while the rest of her face still expressed wrath, as well, had the unmistakable appearance of newly formed, not yet shed tears in them.
"Dear…" Delbert began, and Amelia shouted: "WHAT?!" in a clear attempt to suppress her tears, which she knew she was on the verge of, but she also knew, or at least believed, that, besides how crying was disallowed for one such as herself, it signified considerable weakness, as well.
"Listen, I know that you're hurting a lot after the memory of what happened to Mr. Arrow being brought back, especially knowing how it really happened, and Jim did not like having to send you that letter, but he had no choice."
"I am well aware of that fact, Delbert." Amelia hissed, and then she continued on: "I am also going to tell you that, while I was certainly in pain from my closest friend's death back when it had happened and that vile, despicable, loathsome Scroop lied to me about why it did, in the process causing me to be angry at Jim when he had absolutely done what he needed to do and was not to blame for our loss, and went all the way up on the top of that mast so that no one, or at least I believed no one, could see me, I can assure you that I did not…"
"Did not cry, love?" asked Delbert, and Amelia, who knew secretly(at least up until now)that she had cried, which was the reason she made sure that she was where she thought no one could see her, barked in response: "YES! OF COURSE IT'S THAT I DID NOT CRY! WHAT ELSE WOULD I HAVE FINISHED WHAT I WAS TELLING YOU WITH ABOUT THE CURRENT SUBJECT HERE?!"
She was unaware in her explosive reply to her husband's question that two long tears, one out of each eye, were coming down from said eyes, but though Delbert backed away once more, holding both of his hands up to try and signal that he wanted her to calm down while doing so, he informed her: "Honey, I know you're hiding the fact that you did then. The fact that you are now is evidence of that. Don't keep your feelings bottled up. You can cry. You're perfectly allowed to."
"NO, I'M NOT!" she snapped. "FIRST OF ALL, HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT I AM CURRENTLY CRYING! NOT EVEN THE BIGGEST OF SHIPS COULD HOLD THAT BIG A LOAD OF TRIPE! AND SECOND OF ALL, I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED TO CRY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BEING THE CAPTAIN I AM, AND IT'S A WEAK THING TO DO, ANYWAY!"
"Amelia, let me show you what you obviously aren't able to tell in your anger here." he said as he put his right index finger onto her left cheek and then showed her the liquid on it.
She opened her eyes widely and told him: "Wow. I must be sweating profusely from the heat of this anger I'm feeling. And I don't see how someone as smart as you would be unable to tell a difference as simple as the one between sweat and tears."
"This isn't sweat." he said. "You might actually feel a salty taste in your mouth just now. And sweat isn't salty in flavor, while tears are."
"I'll…admit I taste salt for some reason…" Amelia nodded. "But as much as I truly miss Mr. Arrow badly and wish he were still here with us just as badly, I…"
She couldn't suppress her tears any longer, not even with her utmost efforts and what kind of strength and hardness she had going for her, and she couldn't deny what she didn't want to be so anymore, either.
She got onto knees after turning around, covered her face with her hands as much as possible and cried so hard and with such clear sadness, pain and heartbreak that it would make EVEN CRUEL PEOPLE want to comfort her.
"Darling, I'm here…" Delbert said as he knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder, beginning to try and pull her over to cry into his chest. "I'll do what I can to lessen the pain and…"
"NO!" exploded Amelia through her floods of tears as her heart was torn at by the knowledge of Mr. Arrow being dead, and as said tears were gushing enough so that there was a miniscule puddle in front of her knees, plus both of her hands were now soaking wet, she let out a wail of: "GET OUT! NOW!"
"No, I won't. You're only making the pain worse by responding to my attempts to comfort you. Although it is good that our little sweethearts are far too fast and sound asleep to hear any of this, what matters more, at least at the moment, anyway, is your…"
"I SAID GET OUT NOW!" Amelia boomed, but then she lost her ability to speak and could no longer even be on her knees.
She fell over to the floor and her long pent up tears(given they concerned Mr. Arrow's death, it's rather obvious just how long they had been concealed by her as much as possible)all continued to stream out as she put her face into her arms, no longer bothering to try and make her husband leave, and unable to see or feel anything but the memory of her confidant and all of the times in which they were together.
In seconds her arms were just as wet as her hands, and Delbert paused until he was certain that the moment that had the most appreciable chance of him getting through to her had arrived, and then he told his crying wife while helping her up: "The last few things you said to me were not said by you. It was the understandable pain you're in talking. Not you. Come to me."
Impotent to protest, resist, refuse or anything similar, Amelia actually didn't even realize that he was sitting down and holding her close to him as she cried until the memories of how things were when Mr. Arrow was alive ended and reality showed itself once more.
"T-t-t-thank you…" she managed to squeeze out after a time, sounding just as sad as she still was, which, quite frankly, one can hardly blame or fault her for, and this pause in her tears ended and they kept coming out.
"Of course, sweetheart." Delbert nodded as he hugged her and held her tight around his waist while her arms gripped it with her face buried into the front of his torso.
By the time Amelia was no longer crying, twenty minutes had passed.
Neither knew it, but Amelia really needed sleep not just because she and her husband were tired, anyway, but because after all of this, it was the healthiest thing for her to do, and she and Delbert, on the contrary to their unawareness that it was now twenty minutes later, both knew this second fact.
So both got into their night clothes without one word, though once they were in bed together, covered up and all, with the lights out, Amelia held her husband close and said: "Thank you, Delbert. It'll be a while before I'm right as rain again, I'll admit, but you were so selfless and thoughtful in doing what you did. You're not just the best husband that anyone could have, but let's face it. You deserve a better wife than someone as weak and pathetic as me. Just be sure that, when our little darlings are older, you don't tell them what a pitiful embarrassment of a so-called mother they've got or let my crew know that their captain was such a laughable pushover all along."
"Don't be so self-loathing." Delbert responded as he pulled her in and kissed her on the lips, which she promptly accepted as they hugged.
He then looked into her green eyes with his own brown ones and added: "You aren't any of those things. I couldn't have possibly asked for a better wife, and you've been the excellent captain you were, are and always will be since you started being one. But more than this, it won't be long after our daughters and son are old enough to understand that sort of thing that they could not possibly hope for better parents, and this applies to us both. Believe me. You are not a pitiful embarrassment, and they won't see you as one. Just like I don't see you as weak or pathetic, and your crew will never believe you a laughable pushover, because that's not what you are, as evidenced by everything you've done in the past, being a good captain and mother alike. Everyone can cry when they are sad. It doesn't matter who or what they are or aren't. You will always remember Mr. Arrow and he will always be in your heart, just like is the case with everyone else who knew and liked him like was so with you. But don't let the past rule that heart. Allow your future to be the best it can be just like you were doing prior to that letter. You saw to it Jim would make a name for himself. Surely you would not make him think that he broke you in doing what he didn't want to do, but had to do. You made him that brave and capable. Don't allow part of its result to take those traits away from you, dear. That just isn't you."
"You're…you're absolutely right. Thank you again." Amelia said as she embraced Delbert once more. "Perhaps it won't be so long before I'm right as rain again after all."
They smiled warmly, and after one last hug, they fell asleep into one another's bodies.
Jim would, a little while later from now, find out that Amelia got his letter and, despite being badly hurt for a time, would congratulate him for such bravery and make it clear that he did the right thing, but that was, as I said before, to be a little while later from now.
Now, however, this story comes to a close, and while Amelia would wake up fully recovered from her nighttime upset the next morning, one cannot deny how sad were her green eyes.
THE END
Was this as good a story as I meant it to be?
And yet, I did indeed throw in that last part at the end as a distortion of the title which was a distortion, both for irony and for adding just a little more feeling to the already massive amount of it in this story.
And just a little something else to add on concerning part of this story's inspirations and what lesson it teaches us…first, rest in peace, Stan Lee, and thank you for everything you've done for and given us, and second, when someone close to you dies, especially when a bad guy kills them like Green Goblin did with Gwen Stacy and Scroop did with Mr. Arrow, it does not matter whether you are an average citizen or a captain or anything in the ordinary category or the kind of category which is noticeable and significant.
ANYONE AND EVERYONE CAN EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT SOMETHING, THE LOSS OF SOMEONE NEAR AND DEAR TO THEM OR OTHERWISE, SO DO NOT TRY TO IGNORE, CONTAIN OR DENY HOW SAD YOU ARE IF SOMETHING LIKE A FRIEND, FAMILY MEMBER, PET OR ANYTHING OR ANYONE ELSE YOU LOVE DYING HAS HAPPENED, BECAUSE IT WILL ONLY MAKE THE PAIN WORSE AND EVENTUALLY CAUSE A HORRIBLE, TORTUROUS MOMENT FOR YOU AND WHOEVER IS AROUND YOU AT THE TIME!
Anyway, I am hoping that anyone and everyone who read this liked it, especially if you are top ranking Captain Amelia fans like I am!
Ratings and reviews, please!