I'm so dang surprised no one's reviewed yet! I think my story is good. Ahem… Disclaimer: I do not own Silver or Treasure Planet. If I did, I'd make a sequel… Do own Aria, Captain Maria, & the L.J.S. Wrath. Also own the crew… Oh, and don't over criticize. Me hates that.
Aria woke up to a heavy hand shaking her by the shoulder. She opened her eyes to see that Silver had awoken her from her peaceful sleep. "S-Silver…? What in the world-" She jumped out of her hammock. "How- you were-," she stammered as Silver silenced her with a rise of his metallic hand.
"Rea woke me up. Time fer work, lass," Silver explained as he walked toward the entrance to the deck. He looked back to see Aria still standing there, unmoving. "Well? Are yeh gonna just stand there, or do I have ta carry yeh to the galley," Silver questioned.
At this Aria snapped out of her daze and looked up. "I'm sorry, I was practicing something," she replied shaking her head vigorously. Silver looked puzzled, then he remembered Aria's mind powers. He sighed, not really wanting to figure it out at the moment for his head still had a mild ache from the fever that was rapidly reducing. "Well, whatever it was, do it when yeh ain't workin' or when yeh ain't doin' nutin'- Ah, dat's right, most of the time you will be," the ursid stated as he remembered that all of his work pertained to focus and diligence.
Aria, being the psychic half ursid human that she was, figured it out without a hitch. "Dang," she exclaimed as she walked toward the door stubbornly.
The work he gave that day was tough. She had to clean dishes, and polish the longboats so that they looked their best. Each weren't as hard as what Jim had. She only had half the dishes he had to wash, where as he had a weeks load. The long boats took up at least the rest of the day, for they weren't polished since Silver owned the ship, leaving them a dull grayish color versus their black and red color design- the L.J.S. Wrath's bear claw emblem- in honor of its previous owner- a blood red.
To make it worse, if she got distracted and messed up on a coat of polish, or, for that matter spaced out during her job, Silver would scold her or tell her to scrape off every bit of polish and redo it. She couldn't slack off with him gone, for the matter he had Renald watch her meticulously, following Silver's orders not to let her go unwatched. It was tough working under the scalawag's rule.
She sighed exhaustively, her work over with, on the top deck whilst leaning over the rim of the ship. She suspected her mother had locked herself in her room to escape the pressures of being a captain. "Man, I would have never guessed Silver would be that much of a slave driver," Aria grumbled. "Can't say I haven't heard dat before…," Aria heard from behind her. She jumped out of her skin to the sound of Silver, a tad bit afraid that he was going to give her more chores. "What do you want? You here to give me more work so I can die of exhaustion," the young half ursid human remarked sarcastically as she turned to Silver.
Silver's face had an insulted and angered look upon the remark. "Now, dat ain't no way ta talk ta yer grandpap, an' yeh know it, lass," Silver scolded. Aria gave a depressed sigh at Silver's scolding. "I know, Silver. I'm just tired and a bit irritable from today. Sorry," Aria apologized. Silver nodded, understanding where she was coming from. "So… where's yer pap at," Silver inquired, remembering that in order for Aria to come in existence there had to be a father involved.
Aria shrugged. "Don't know. I never knew him. Mom said he died when I was around one and a half years of age. I always figured that he just broke up with her and she made up the story to protect me from the truth. She won't tell me anything about him. She tells me to drop it when I begin to ask her for more information." Silver leaned next to her, over the rail of "his" ship. "Yeh don't miss 'im," Silver asked, curiosity getting the better of him once again. Aria nodded. "Don't really care much. My mom has been taking care of me. She, in her own way, has been my father and mother since I could remember. She gave me odd jobs, small ones of course, since I could walk and talk. We live on the ship. The crew is almost always the same. It's kind of like a family."
Silver nodded at her reasoning. "Aye, but ev'ry girl needs a fat'er to guide her," Silver stated, attempting to smother a yawn without the young girl noticing, even though she showed signs of it. "You tired, too, grandpa," she asked jokingly to get the pirate's goat. Silver chuckled, looking out at the stars.
"Maybe you do need the guidance of a father, lass. Ya seem ta be a bit misguided...," Silver stated, suggesting something hidden. He had noticed a bit of a rebellious streak in the girl, but he let it go, knowing it was probably one of the things she just had from living on a ship. But, since he was her grandfather and the girl's father was "dead", he had to step in and do something.
Aria picked it up. "So you're saying that you want to "pound some skills into this thick head of mine"? Well good luck," she scoffed, using the thought she had read. Silver nodded and chuckled at the reuse of the fraise. "Basically, yeah. I'll be keepin' my eye on ya the whole course o' the day. Yeh already know t'at fer yerself. From now on, yeh can ferget the captain's orders when yer doin' my work," Silver began, gesturing to himself when he said, "My work".
"But-," Aria began to protest. "From t'is minute I'm in charge. Dat's the way it's gonna be," Silver finished. Aria stared at him in disbelief. "'Don't do me any favors!'" Aria recited off of reading Silver's thoughts. Obviously he had done something like this some time ago. Someone had said that before, and now it was her turn to say it. "Yeh can be sure o' dat, lass," Silver promised as he walked towards the galley to probably put up some supplies, giving a slight wave of his organic hand as he did.
After that little spat, Aria walked down below deck to head off to sleep. She began having dreams again. This time it was of a cabin boy who had once been mentored by Silver. Scenes flickered through her head, an impromptu solar vehicle, an exploding planet, Silver's caring for the boy, and a sense of betrayal. It blurred and then became a nightmare.
She thrashed in her hammock, screaming a yelling, when a familiar hand rested on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, her ursid senses kicking in. She saw Zhoul standing over her. "Hey, you okay," the thirty-eight year old felid asked. She nodded. "Just had a nightmare…," Aria began. "And no I don't want to talk about it," She snapped, knowing well that was what Zhoul would ask.
"Aree," a familiar spacer voice asked. "Did yeh know a kid named, James Hawkins?" the ursid inquired from behind the felid. Aria rolled over, not wanting to answer his question. "No. I never knew a 'James Hawkins'! Let me sleep," she commanded. She heard both of the men sigh and head back to their hammocks. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, not wanting to look forward to tomorrow.
The work that was thrown at her the next couple of days was grueling. She had to endure back breaking labor everyday on the ship. Silver's orders became an everyday routine. Soon, she would only gripe about the filth and how she would one day thank the cyborg for teaching her the responsibilities of taking care of one's ship.
One day, however, Silver had Aria go down into the engine room to clean it. It would seem the medicine Rea concocted had cleared the virus out of his system, since he was up first thing in the morning whistling cheerfully whilst preparing the galley for the day.
Aria hated going down into the engine room, for the menacing reptilian demon was usually looking for someone to skin if anyone messed with him during his work. His name was Vister and he hated his name with a passion, along with everyone else. The young girl hauled her bucket of soapy water and sponge down to the engine room, along with a canister of oil as to not let it rust. Every time the bucket clanged on the ground, she feared the red reptilid would hear her, so she hid every time it did.
Once she finally made it down, she put on the gloves in her pocket that Silver had given her as to not let the girl burn herself, cleaning the very thing that ran the ship. She began to mutter and grumble about how annoyed she was as she cleaned the engine of its grime. A step was heard, and then came a voice. "Get out of here you cretin!" Aria ignored Vister and continued to clean the engine. "Did you hear me," Vister hissed. She ignored him again, focusing on the fact that the engine had not been cleaned in a bircoon's age.
She was seized by Vister, shoved against the engine, her grey coat and beige shirt the only protection she had from the heat. Her hair burned against it. "Listen, you puny piece of crud, I want you out of here or else," Vister yelled in Aria's face. Aria yelped at the heat of the engine. She couldn't get her rage up enough to push him away. "Understood," the reptilid hissed. She spit in his face, making him even more red than usual. "Why you-" He shoved her onto the engine more, the heat singing her back, causing her to yell out in pain.
"BAM," was all she heard, the heat and pain knocking her out. She could have sworn that her grandfather was there, asking muffled questions to her.
Aria awoke in her hammock under Maverick. She felt around her head and winced in pain when she fingered the bandage wrapped around her head. "Ouch…," she yelped quietly. She looked around the room, noticing the night that shrouded it. She looked beside her hammock and eyed a familiar, harmless laser like glow from the mechanical eye of her grandfather. He looked like a bear- his ursus like appearance was the reason- about to attack an intruder. Aria would've coward at the sight of him if this were the first time they had seen each other.
Silver stood, and looked her over. "Yeh got in a rough situation, eh lass? Now, tell me, how'd dat happen," Silver inquired, growling with menace.
Aria gulped, afraid that his menacing tone was directed at her. "W-well… I was cleaning the engine liked you asked and I was focusing on only that. Vister, the reptilian guy that works down in the engine room, found me down there, doing the job you requested me to do. He attacked me! All I did was ignore him and do my work," Aria explained, trying not to sound afraid because of Silver's daunting look.
Silver's look softened, a sign that the explanation had sunk into his mind. "I see… well, that reptilian won't be workin' down t'ere anymore. Tha way I figured it, lass, was that yeh picked a fight wit' the lizard. In fact…," Silver began as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Dat's basically 'bout the same report I gave the captain. Told 'er yeh was attacked by 'im, yeh see…" Silver gave Aria a sympathetic look, and then his gaze hardened a little. "Next time sumt'in' like dat happens, don't ignore the threat, run- especially if the threat has a reputation. The only time yeh should fight it is if yeh have the courage and mind to," Silver stated wisely, pointing to Aria with his robotic hand.
Aria nodded, wincing at the pain at the back of her head. "Thanks, Silver." At this the cyborg chuckled at his granddaughter. "No problem, Aree." His look softened once more, seeing the girl wince as she nodded again in reply. "No work fer yeh tomorrow, lass. Was gonna have yeh swab the deck but-"
"No way! I want to swab the deck! It gets my mind clear," Aria protested. She saw Silver shut his eyes in exasperation "No, Aree, I won't have yeh workin' injured like tha'," Silver ordered, a slight caring tone in his voice. "Yeh will stay down here 'till yer better." Aria looked down, annoyed that she couldn't do anything. She began to wonder how Silver felt about the injury, so she peeked at his thoughts.
The girl is but a mere lass and she's already getting' hurt severely. I'm gonna have ta make 'er take it easy or she could really hurt herself. 'Wish I could do more fer her… The ursid thought as he walked back to his hammock. He didn't want to restrict her like that, but it was for Aria's own well being.