To Meet the Past
More than once, Young Harlock had second-guessed his own actions too late. Now was definitely one of those times, as he tried to keep out of sight of a ship's crew.
"But what I can't figure out, is how we'd gotten into this mess in the first place! All we had done was come aboard an old derelict…." Young Harlock inwardly said, cursing himself for his own stupidity, while watching the men on the cruiser carry on with their usual routines.
"I think Dad had said something about time being strange in this area…..almost like a time hole has been opened in this region of space." Fang silently stated, uneasily, as one member of the crew got a little too close for comfort.
"And we'd walked right into it……Damn!" Young Harlock cursed; knowing it was only a matter of time before they were caught…..And that time came too soon for him to even think.
"Hey! Where did….?!" One crewmember yelped, when he'd turned and seen Young Harlock and Fang crouching there.
"Shit! Time to go!" Young Harlock thought, as he then raced past the startled man, and down the corridor. They both jumped when the alarms started going off.
"Damn, this situation can't get any worse!" Young Harlock snarled, then skidded to a halt when several men armed with laser rifles cornered them. At this, he got a deadpan look from Fang for his words.
"You were saying?" Fang's mental voice muttered, dryly.
"Shut up." Young Harlock irritably retorted, and gave Fang almost a glare.
"Captain, we've found a stowaway….." one man stated, then trailed off when he got a good look at what Young Harlock looked like; his face paling as he did so. They all heard a tired sigh come from the other end of the comm-link.
"Bring him to me, then. Might as well find out what he's doing here, and why he was foolish enough to stow away on this ship." An almost familiar voice muttered, in response. At this, Young Harlock and Fang exchanged confused glances.
"He'd sounded almost like Dad…..but not quite. Who am I about to meet, here?" Young Harlock wondered, as he was forced to walk along with the crew to their captain's quarters. As they walked, Young Harlock took that opportunity to get a good look at his surroundings; from what he could tell, the ship most certainly wasn't new, and it wasn't truly a warship, either.
"Looks to be a light cruiser or freighter of some kind….." Young Harlock mused, then glanced at the uniforms the men around him were wearing. They were the same scarlet color as his father's Solar Federation uniform had been, yet the design was slightly different.
"How far back in time have I been thrown?" Young Harlock wondered, his confusion swiftly changing into worry, as another thought came into his mind; how was he even going to get back?
"We didn't really try to come to this time, so maybe we won't have to do anything to return." Fang suggested.
"I hope you're right about that." Young Harlock replied, as they finally arrived at the door of the captain's quarters, and waited to be let in.
"Captain, we've brought the stowaway." One man said, quietly.
"Bring him in, then." The captain replied, crisply. With no further word, the door opened, and Young Harlock was forced to enter the room. At first, Young Harlock couldn't see anything unusual about the room itself; and then, some things started to distinguish themselves. The furniture of the room was of fine quality, and a fine portrait was hung near the window of the cabin…..Yet it was the portrait itself that really caught Young Harlock's attention.
"Phantom Harlock! The man who had chronicled his own flight over the Owens-Stanleys, and had inadvertently reunited not only the Oyama and Harlock lines, but also brought Falko's half of the family back! So this must be…..!" Young Harlock thought, as the man who was the captain of this mysterious ship finally made his appearance. In many ways, the man before him could have passed himself off as his father's double, yet some major differences could be seen. For one, the older man still had both of his eyes, and his long, unruly brown hair was only slightly darker. His uniform was also pre-Solar Federation, yet he wore a skull-and-crossbones pendant on his lapel, to prove he was indeed of the proud Harlock line. At the same time, he could tell that the older man was gazing at him with barely contained shock in his own eyes; yet he still managed to speak calmly, when he looked at his crew again.
"Let me speak with him." The captain said, sternly; his voice giving them the hint that he wanted to talk to Young Harlock alone. With nods of understanding, the crew abruptly left, all of them looking a little spooked, as well, once they had reached the same conclusions about the young 'stowaway' as their captain just had. Once they were alone, the older man then gave him a look of close scrutiny.
"I can tell that you're a Harlock as well…..But I can't for the life of me figure out just who you are. You're too old to be my son…..though you favor him greatly." The captain said, with some confusion on his scarred face, as he ushered for the younger man to have a seat.
"I'm not sure I can tell you anything….." Young Harlock replied, uncertainly; knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that even his being there was bending some of the rules of space and time.
"Why is that?" the captain questioned, curiously.
"You're gonna think I'm crazy." Young Harlock muttered, with a slight smirk.
"I'll come to my own conclusions. What is it that you're uncertain about telling me?" the captain asked, again, as he sat down across from the young pirate captain.
"I'm from the future…..though how far from it, I can't tell, since I don't know how far I'd been thrown back." Young Harlock replied; sounding like any typical frustrated time-traveler, at this point. At this, the captain raised an eyebrow.
"If that is indeed the case, how did you end up here?" the captain asked, as he sat back in his seat and gave Young Harlock a critical look. Young Harlock shrugged.
"Bad luck, I guess." Young Harlock replied, ruefully. At this, he got a snort from the older man in amusement.
"Bad luck, indeed." The captain agreed, then asked, "What do you call yourself?"
"Phantom Harlock IV, though family and friends call me 'Young Harlock'." Young Harlock replied; watching when the older man paled slightly.
"I see…..then this makes you my grandson, then, since my own son is Phantom Harlock III…..You look to be in your twenties, so you've been thrown at least forty years into the past, since my son, your father, is only fifteen now." The captain murmured.
"So you believe me, then?" Young Harlock asked, as he exchanged glances with Fang at this strange development. The older man nodded.
"As unbelievable as it sounds…..I know some strange things can happen in space, sometimes…..and that time isn't exactly a streamlined thing. It's easy enough to get lost in time, since I've seen that sort of thing happen before." The captain said, then gazed a bit sadly at Young Harlock, "I won't ask you what the future holds, but I will ask this; what kind of man will my son become?" For a few moments, Young Harlock couldn't think, since he now knew he was sitting in the presence of his grandfather, a man he'd thought he would never have the chance to meet, let alone talk to. Then, Young Harlock managed a slight smile.
"It seems weird for me so say something like this, but I can say that he'll become a pirate that is feared by all who dare to attack the earth." Young Harlock said, and as a relieved smile appeared on the older man's face at this.
"Good. I'm relieved to hear that what I am doing here, now, won't deter him from his chosen path…..That my so-called 'fool's errand' will not have as big an impact as I had thought….." the man stated, with an almost shaky sigh, then smiled at the younger man before him, "And that my grandson will also become a man that his family can be proud of." Yet, before Young Harlock could even say anything in response to that, a tremendous explosion shook the ship; almost sending the both of them sprawling.
"What the hell was that?!" Young Harlock asked, as he looked to his grandfather for an answer. He was surprised when a familiar light appeared in the older man's eyes, and as a familiar smirk came into being on his face.
"It seems my own enemies have returned for another round." The older man replied, then reached up and pressed a button on the wall.
"I'm coming up. Bring cannons to bear on their closest ship. Let's give those green bastards something to regret!" the older man said, and got some fiery agreements from his crew to that.
"Green…..?! Wait! The Illumidas! He's fighting against the Illumidas!" Young Harlock thought, as a chill ran down his spine, and as the realization suddenly dawned on him.
"The derelict we had landed on had been his ship!" Fang silently added, but could only stare in confusion when the older man turned to look back at Young Harlock, and a vaguely sad expression appeared briefly in his eyes.
"Already gone……I hope he was able to get back to his own time without trouble. My grandson……I wish I could have been there to watch you grow up…..but it seems my destiny is coming a little sooner than I had thought." The older man said, with a soft sigh, then summoned all of his courage and determination, and raced to the bridge…..just as another explosion rocked the ship again. Young Harlock didn't even have time to shout after him, before he felt a searing feeling go through him, and blacked out because of it.
……………………….
When he came to again, he could hear some worried voices coming from close by; among them being his own father.
"Damn……what the hell hit me?" Young Harlock growled, his own voice sounding rough to his ears, yet it was enough to get everyone's attention.
"Shimatta! Why'd you worry everybody like that, you yarou?!" Tochiro yowled, when he'd approached the bedside and glared up at his friend's face.
"Sorry, Tochiro." Young Harlock replied, as he opened his eyes and looked at all of those gathered there. His father seemed quite concerned for his welfare, as did Marian, who, even now, was seated at his side with a damp cloth in hand. Even Hiko and Kenshin were to be seen in Harlock's quarters, much to his own surprise.
"You look as though you'd seen a ghost." Hiko stated, bringing to their attention just how pale Young Harlock now looked. At this, Young Harlock could only smile somewhat ironically.
"I may have…..I'd found an old derelict on the way back to the DeathShadow after a flight through an asteroid field….and was stupid enough to go aboard. I stepped right through a time hole." Young Harlock muttered; noticing when he got a rather shaken look from his father for that.
"But how did you come to be here?" Lightningtooth asked, then added, "Harlock and I had found you and Fang in the Central Computer room, unconscious."
"I don't know. One moment I was in the past, the next, I'm here…….How long was I missing from the DeathShadow, Tochiro?" Young Harlock asked.
"Six hours." Tochiro replied, beginning to calm down, in the face of what had really happened to his friend, and how shaken the younger pirate captain seemed to be by it.
"Dad…..you'd once said that derelicts are the grave-markers of space…..Looks like I'd proven it the hard way." Young Harlock murmured, somberly, as he lay back and gazed at the ceiling of his father's cabin; brown eyes haunted by what he'd learned.
"What do you mean?" Harlock asked, as he got closer to the bedside as well, and placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder.
"The derelict was what remained of the Discoverer." Young Harlock replied; noticing when his father's face paled even further, and he had to be steadied by Kenshin and Marian when his knees almost collapsed from under him.
"Discoverer……My father's ship……" Harlock muttered, numbed by this piece of information, yet it didn't stop his next question from slipping between his lips, "How?"
"No idea. But when I went through that asteroid field, my fighter picked up on a faint signal from it…..It was then that I saw it……But I didn't put the pieces together till after I was aboard…..and in the past." Young Harlock said, in response.
"Did you….see the captain?" Lightningtooth asked, hesitantly; his mouth having dried completely during the younger pirate's tale.
"Didn't just see him, Lightning. I was lucky enough to meet him." Young Harlock replied, with a slight grin, this being enough to get him to slowly sit up; wincing slightly when some bruises in his back flared to life in retaliation.
"Kami-sama….." Tochiro muttered, even as tears appeared in his eyes.
"And that explains why you'd said you have seen a ghost…..because in some ways that was what had happened." Marian finally said, as she gazed gently at the shell-shocked look on Harlock's scarred face, before he forced himself to stand on his own again, walked over to the wine cabinet, opened it, and started pulling some glasses and one bottle of wine in particular out.
"You're not going to drink yourself into a stupor over this, are you?" Marian asked, smirking slightly when Harlock sighed in exasperation and shook his head.
"No. Not with this bottle of wine. Mother gave this to me not long after she moved into her new home on Titan…..Wine my father had made, before the war." Harlock said, then looked at Lightningtooth and nodded. Within moments, gates were opening all around them. Through one, Falko and Fritz strode through; looking genuinely confused by this turn of events. Out of another, Mira came; looking concerned as soon as she saw how pale her son now looked.
"What's going on? What happened?" Mira asked, worriedly.
"You're never going to believe this, Mira…..but Young Harlock has done what could be considered impossible, given the circumstances." Lightningtooth said, as he gently urged the older woman to sit down, while Harlock handed the glasses out.
"What would that be?" Mira questioned, confusedly, when she'd also seen how pale Young Harlock's face still was. Lightningtooth smiled a bittersweet smile, and blinked back his own tears.
"He has met the past……In other words, he's met his grandfather." Lightningtooth replied, warmly. For a moment, Mira looked as though she didn't quite know what to think, then gave Young Harlock a questioning look, as well.
"How…..could that be? Phantom has been dead for almost forty years, now." Mira whispered, numbly.
"I found his ship…..and stepped through a time-hole. I think I scared the shit out of his crew when they saw what I looked like." Young Harlock said, with a slight smirk.
"I think you scare enough people today, with that mug of yours'!" Tochiro laughed, getting a chagrined look from his friend while he was at it.
"Oro……" Kenshin sighed, chuckling and shaking his head in amusement at the deadpan expression that now graced Young Harlock's scarred features at his friend's ribbing.
"It doesn't help matters much that Machine Men have no eye for proportion on any of their wanted posters, either." Hiko added, with a smirk and an almost mischievous glint in his dark eyes, when he noticed the rather longsuffering looks he was getting from almost all of those in the room with him.
"Take a good look at your own, from time to time, Shishou." Kenshin muttered, even though a rueful smile was also crossing his face at this, as well, as he watched Harlock begin filling the glasses with his father's wine. When he'd finished, he raised his glass.
"For a true warrior of space…..Gohram!" Harlock murmured, repeating part of what Tochiro Sr. had said, years before.
"Gohram!" the rest echoed, and felt it when the Arcadia vibrated in agreement; proving that the spirit of Tochiro Sr. agreed.
"I hope he's able to rest in peace, now." Fang almost whispered, so only Young Harlock could hear him.
"Same here." Young Harlock said, even though he knew that his grandfather's spirit was indeed at peace now, since he knew that his family would continue to endure…..and that was how it should be.
Owari
Author's Note!
This was written as sort of a companion piece to Lithingtooth's fic 'Old Memories'. Hope this made some sense!
Gemini14