Author's Note: Hi! This fanfic is actually a VERY rough draft, but I love feedback on rough drafts I post, so please feel free to comment about it. Review, because I love to read them, and I'll reply to some later on in the chapters. I tried to make Melody and Jim as realistic as possible! Hope it worked! Again, I own nothing, everything belongs to Disney!
CHAPTER ONE
Melody
The broken clock on the wall kept ticking at the wrong times.
Tick-tock. Then a long pause. Then: tick-tock-tick-tock! Tick. Tock.
It was driving Melody insane. She had been lying in her darkened room for three hours, trying to go to bed after her mom had closed the door and announced bedtime. Because she was a good little girl that always listened to everything that her mom, Queen Ariel, said.
No. Because she feared the consequences. Groundings that never allowed her to leave her room. Her iPod and favorite clothes taken away. Refusal to send her outside, see any visitors. Double-lessons. Yeah; you did not want to make Queen Ariel angry. Ever.
Melody twisted a long strand of her thick raven black hair.
I wonder, she thought. If I was a normal girl out there I would be partying tonight with my friends. We'd be dancing, hanging out with boys, twirling our dresses, and making fun of weird photos we took.
Melody allowed herself a sad, pitiful little smile. That could be you, Mel.
That is, if she had any friends.
As a princess you didn't get a lot of those, no matter how important they were. What you got were royal brats that criticized you—and waited for you to make a mistake.
And Melody was full of mistakes.
She didn't know it wasn't proper to go out swimming past the palace walls. She didn't know it wasn't proper to wear shorts and a tank top in public. She didn't know it wasn't proper to wear her hair in a ponytail and not in some fancy braided intricate updo constantly.
Or she didn't really care.
She was constantly teased and made fun of by the better kids. They were only nice to her when her parents, the king and queen were allowed.
Melody detested any party those brats were invited too. That meant hours of trying not to cry while she heard them ridiculing her behind her back.
Melody sighed and picked up the pink telephone next to her bed. She had the emergency numbers by heart; not that she really used them anyway.
1=parents.
2=Martha, her personal maid.
3=the guards on patrol.
4=well, she didn't really care who it was.
Melody jabbed the number two. She'd only call her parents if she was on the verge of desperation.
"Hello?"
Melody twirled her hair. "Martha?"
"Yes, Princess?"
"Martha, could you get me a glass of water?"
"Of course, Princess. Are you thirsty?"
Melody bit her lip. "Not really. I just wanna talk to someone."
"In the middle of the night?"
Melody flopped down and tugged on the curly phone cord. "Please?"
"I'll be right up." There was a curt click.
Through the constant trials and tribulations and difficulties of being a princess, Martha was the sole comfort Melody had to last through it all. A friend, always there when she needed her, a shoulder to cry on, with comforting words to issue from her lips when she needed it.
The door opened. "Princess?"
Melody sat up.
Martha placed the glass of water on her nightstand and stood there, hands clasped politely. "Something you needed to tell me?"
Melody finally looked up at Martha. "Yeah. I was wondering why I don't have any friends."
Martha laughed sympathetically and sat down on the bed. "You have friends, Melody."
Melody laughed bitterly back. "I was being serious, Martha. Seriously. I know the truth. I just want to know why. What's wrong with me, that they hate me so much?"
Martha stared at her for a long time, tucking a wisp of gray hair behind her ear. "I don't know, Princess," she said finally. "I guess it's because you were born a princess. And they were born a lesser, like a duke's daughter. Or a count's son."
Melody looked up. "Jealousy, you mean?"
Martha shrugged. "Could be." She sighed. "Child, I'm tired. Is this all you needed me for? To ask me why you have no friends?"
"I want to make friends, Martha."
"Well, ask your mother."
Melody smiled sadly. "The same woman who won't even let me talk to the servants for more than a minute? Because it isn't healthy, associating with other castes?"
Martha sighed and massaged her temples. "The queen is a delicate creature, isn't she?"
Melody was silent. Delicate wasn't the word. Annoying and prejudiced were more suitable for Queen Ariel.
Martha jerked her chin towards the window. "Look."
Melody did. "At what?" she wanted to know.
Martha stood and crossed to the door. "The Neverland Star," she informed Melody with a small grin. "Make a wish and it will come true."
"That's stupid," Melody chimed.
Martha tilted her head. "I think if you try, you won't find it so stupid." She opened the door. "Get some sleep, child. You'll need it for your lessons in the morning."
"Don't remind me!" Melody groaned, falling back into her bed and wrapping her arms around herself.
Martha chuckled and closed the door sharply behind her.
Melody got up and went to the windowsill. "This is so stupid. Someone stop me from doing this."
But no heavenly force gusted into her room and pulled her away from the windowsill. Melody wrenched the window upward, and let in the gust of cold air.
Wrapping her thin arms around herself, she sat on the windowsill and tilted her head up to look at the Neverland Star.
"I wish for a friend," Melody said softly. "Just one is enough. One to understand me, and feel my pains and pressures. It doesn't have to be someone rich, or someone who lives in my kingdom. It could be anyone, anyone at all. Someone lovely for me to talk to. I mean besides Martha."
Melody stared up at the star. She waited a moment.
Nothing.
Melody huffed through her nostrils. "I knew it."
She crawled into bed, pulling the blanket to her chin. Why was I even expecting anything to happen? Melody chastised herself.
She turned over, and the star blinked.
A thin trail of silver headed from the black night sky down towards the ground.
Jim
The solar surfer was going down.
Jim Hawkins twisted around to peer behind him, and saw the big overlit ship not so far behind, blasting cannons at him. Big round black balls streamed through the night sky, some nearly missing him.
The solar surfer was losing energy as moonlight faded away from the dial, covered by a thin veil of gray clouds.
"No, no, no, no!" Jim yelled. "Come on! Come on, please!"
He yanked the throttle up and down, only succeeding in folding in the sails. The Legacy, booming and blasting noises that made his eardrums ache, slammed into the small spacecraft of his.
The contact between the ship and solar surfer were hard.
Jim flew out of the solar surfer, landing hard on the ship's deck.
Long John Silver and a few pirates were standing on board, staring at him.
"Well, look who it is," said Silver in a low growl. The Legacy was still speeding forward. From this high in the sky, Jim could just spot the gentle line that made up the ground.
Nausea rushed towards him, and he felt his stomach churn. Don't throw up, he commanded himself. Be brave, don't throw up.
He felt his senses lilt, but he stood up anyway, pulling out his pistol from his belt, glaring at the pirates.
"I like ya, lad," Silver growled. "But we've come too far to have you just stand in the way of me treasure."
"Run him through," whispered another alien pirate, Scroop, who looked very much like a crab with sharpened pincers.
"No, not yet!" Silver held up his mechanical arm. Silver was a cyborg, half man, half machine.
Jim glared at him, but his knees buckled. "Give us the map, Jim!"
Jim felt in his pocket, where the spherical map was, and where Silver's pet, Morph, was hiding. Morph had grown to like him, and was now quivering into a jelly in his pocket. "No. The map is mine," Jim snapped. His body shook with cold and fear.
Silver glared at him, transforming his metal arm into a gun. "How about I give you till the count of ten? And then we'll see how you like this game."
Jim grabbed the map and began backing up slowly.
"One."
Jim zoned out, thinking mentally. His solar surfer was still in good condition, and it had iron siding. It came naturally to the magnetic cuff attached to his wrist.
"Four."
Silver was counting slowly, but Jim knew that he only had six more counts till Silver actually shot him. The other pirates were looking impatiently bloodthirsty.
Sucking in a great bout of air, Jim flicked his wrist. It was a subtle action, no one would think much of it.
Bleeping, the solar surfer shot to the edge of the ship.
"Eight. I'm losing my patience, lad."
Jim leaned over the edge and saw the surfer waiting there, like a faithful dog.
"Silver!" yelled Scroop. "Look!"
Jim had leaped over the edge and back onto the solar surfer. He could hurtle towards ground and then run. The pirates wouldn't come into a world where they had no idea where they were going. And they defenitely wouldn't let the locals see them.
It went against everything they knew.
Jim heard a shot ring out, and he felt a sharp pain in his lower back. The bullet had flown into his back and pierced his stomach, because blood was leaking in swirls out onto his tan shirt, bloodying it.
Jim grunted. "Agh!"
He saw the ground come into motion. He saw the tall spires of something. A tower? The idealistic place to go.
He pushed forward the throttle. The solar surfer half flew-half fell in that general direction.
His vision was swaying and blurrying.
He hoped there was someone—anyone—that could help him.
He saw the tall top of the spire.
No, wait. It was a roof.
He almost contemplated falling to his death. Then he shot forward. You take what you get.
With one last exertion, the solar surfer knocked him onto the roof. He rolled over and covered his head. An echo of shots rang out nearby.
Blood stained his shirt. Clutching his stomach, Jim slid to the edge of the roof.
He wondered how the person who's room was past the window below him would react to a stranger sliding down.
He wondered if they'd help him.