Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet or any material related to Walt Disney in any way or form.
Jim sighed; he'd been doing that a lot in the past few hours. The brunette blew his hair out of his eyes as he flicked another pebble down the side of the roof of the Benbow Inn. Propped up against the chimney stack, and bracing himself against a few broken tiles, Jim listened to his mother and Dr. Doppler having an agonizing conversation below.
Glancing down through the skylight, Jim caught a glimpse of the girl his mother had hired. Lai was her name, and she proved within a span of two minutes that she would be annoying to Jim. At the moment, Lai was apparently oblivious to the two personages speaking behind her as she wiped tables and set the chairs on their wooden surfaces. Jim noticed Lai turn to face the skylight. Looking up, she held his gaze for a second, before turning her attention back to her work, shaking her head. The youth frowned as he noticed another long, cylindrical object fastened to her left side. Apparently, his mother and Dr. Doppler had yet to notice the girl in the room, but his attention was diverted as he heard the great rumbling of a falling space vehicle roaring overhead. Jim leaped up as he saw the pod, skidding down the roof to land harshly on the ground below. Without a second thought, the brunette ran off toward the fallen vehicle which had crash landed on a docking platform at the end of a long, dirt path leading away from the Benbow Inn. Jim slammed his fist against the hot metal door, yelling through the blinding smoke.
"Hey, mister! Mister you're okay in there, right?!"
Lai softly swept into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying an empty plastic tub balanced on her hip. Glancing briefly and uninterestedly at her kind employer speaking with a wealthy-looking patron, Lai proceeded to divest the tables of their dirty loads. The girl's feet made no noise as she lightly stepped across the wooden floorboards, despite the fact that she was wearing heavy solar-surfing boots.
"So, Sarah, who is that girl you hired over there? She seems to be quite content working here…" Lai made no motion to suggest she had heard the comment from Dr. Doppler, who was a well-known and greatly respected creature of a race of people who resembled dogs in appearance, but mainly humans in speech.
"Oh, her name is Laixyn. But she said she wanted to be called Lai," Sarah said, somewhat grateful for the turn of conversation. The poor woman had been dwelling on her son's doings for too long, and she was becoming all too exasperated with his recklessness.
"Laixyn… Now why does that name sound familiar?" Dr. Doppler tilted his head to the side, a floppy ear quirked slightly. The said young woman turned at the sound of her name, even though she had heard every word they had said from across the room.
"Yes, sir?" she asked, politely bowing to the esteemed personage. Dr. Doppler eyed her outfit just as Sarah had done, surprised to see someone who looked as though they were a troublemaker, but whose personality was just the opposite.
"Miss, Laixyn-"
"Lai, if you please, sir."
"Miss Lai, my name is Dr. Doppler, a noted astrophysicist. Is it possible that I have met you before? Or perhaps one of your parents? I seem to recall seeing you somewhere before; your facial features suggest as such."
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid you must be mistaken. I have no parents whatsoever," Lai swept a few crumbs off the table Sarah sat at into the tub as she spoke. "They died when I was five." Dr. Doppler seemed taken aback by the manner in which she spoke; the girl had spoken plainly, as though she was merely commenting on the weather.
"Although," Lai began again, balancing a half-filled tub on her right hip, "It is possible, sir, that you have seen my advertisement in the local papers. Mrs. Hawkins has been so kind as to take me in if I work for her." The young woman smiled gently at the care-worn woman sitting beside her, who returned the smile with motherly affection.
"And I thank you for coming so soon, Lai," she said, burying her face in her hands.
"Ah. It is possible I might have seen that," Dr. Doppler said, hitching up his books in his arms. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I had best be going. I would rather not intrude upon your peace now that your customers have departed." Sarah rose swiftly, grasping the doctor's free hand in her own and giving it a grateful squeeze.
"Thanks for listening, Delbert," she sighed, sitting back down exhaustedly. "It helps." Lai decided to stand back and let the two friends speak privately. She went back into the kitchen, depositing the tub of dishes next to the sink she had found Sarah's son at earlier. The young woman looked out the window, which was being assaulted by fat drops of rain. Lai immediately felt a deep sense of tranquility, and a small twinge of pain rose in her stomach at the calm. She did not have the luxury of being truly safe very often, and every opportunity that presented itself was gladly taken. Abruptly, earthen eyes trained on an enormous hulking figure limping through the dim light outside the entrance of the Benbow Inn. Snatching her jacket and gloves from where they lay discarded on a table, Lai swiftly walked to the kitchen door, following the shroud with her eyes. She saw the door fly open in front of a very startled Dr. Doppler, revealing a soaking Jim and a turtle-like creature that Lai assumed had been the colossus she had seen from the window.
"James Pleiades Hawkins!" Lai immediately went to Sarah's aid, who looked as though she were about to faint.
"Mom, he's hurt. Bad." Sarah took Lai's offered hand as the girl gently set her back down in her chair. Jim glanced at Lai, who ignored him and knelt beside the turtle-like creature, frowning at his condition. He rasped and motioned to Jim for the chest he had been carrying, before typing in a combination, opening the box to reveal a small, spherical wrapped bundle.
"He'll be comin' soon. Can't let him find this," the creature said. Jim leaned forward, speaking rapidly.
"Who's coming-"
"The cyborg," the creature hissed, grabbing Jim roughly by his collar. "Beware, the cyborg." Lai's frown deepened as the creature fell back, and she immediately knew his time had come. She heard Sarah's gasp behind her at the same time she heard a space cruiser powering down outside the inn. Both Jim and Lai leapt up, each positioning themselves at either end of the changeable curtain in the window. Jim twisted a winch ever so slightly, allowing a sliver of night to be seen. Lai's hand gripped the cylindrical object at her waist, body tensed as she recognized the familiar sense of malevolence and bloodlust in the air. Jim seemed to notice it too.
"Quick, we gotta go," he said, running swiftly away from the window and grabbing his mother before dragging her up the stairs. Lai didn't stop to watch Dr. Doppler hesitantly touch the doorknob, before she began shoving things in the door's way. After a ball of electricity burned through the door frame, missing the doctor by inches, Lai grabbed him roughly by the wrist and dragged him up the stairs.
"Sir, I suggest you run," she said, hand at her waist, eyes locked on the furniture blocking the door.
"No! Lai!" Lai started at the sound of Sarah's anguished voice, a plea for her to escape lingering in the woman's voice. Cursing, Lai left the scene, following the doctor down the hallway until they met an open window. Dr. Doppler immediately shouted to a creature tied to his vehicle, before taking Sarah's hand in his own and speaking to her swiftly. Jim and Lai exchanged glances as they saw the shadows of what looked like pirates ravage the room downstairs. One shadow pointed upstairs, and Jim's heart skipped a beat. Without a second thought, both teens shoved the two adults out the window, following them with enough momentum to pitch themselves out the window. Dr. Doppler, Sarah, and Jim landed harshly on the cushioned seat of the carriage, each concerned with their own wellbeing. Lai landed on her feet beside the carriage next to Sarah, and Jim caught a flash of what looked like dark metal shining in the pale, rain-streaked moonlight at Lai's waist. Her hand rested firmly on the object
"Dr. Doppler, go! I'll distract them!" she yelled, not facing them. Jim noticed something had changed about her; the fun-loving demeanor was gone, to be replaced by a dark, serious, wary one. Sarah leaned out of the carriage and grasped a handful of jacket-leather.
"Lai, you have to come with us. I'm begging you." Lai didn't look back, but assented, stepping up swiftly onto the carriage step as it began to move in flight. She watched as Sarah's gaze turned to her establishment, now burning and shrinking into the distance as Dr. Doppler drove further away. Lai's hand fell from her waist, to rest on Sarah's shoulder. Jim looked on the scene with irritation, and at the same time, felt an inexplicable gratefulness to the girl who had been willing to forfeit her life for theirs.
A/N: Reviews are nice, and make me want to keep writing the story. Please review, even if it's criticism.