Ch#9: Chasin' a dream

"Willy." Silver said, waving him over once Julie went down into the food storage room to get another ingredient for the dinner. "Is something goin' on? You seem to be gettin' stuck in yer noggin more than usual today."

"No, everything's fine." Will said, immediately. Silver raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes in a disbelieving look— which Will ignored as he went back to chopping vegetables. Ever since this morning every time Will and Julie got within close proximity or made eye contact they acted stiff and awkward. Will especially had been more quiet that usual, like he had something weighing on him.

"Will…I know Julie is a special lass but, ya gotta watch yourself before you get in too deep." Silver said, feeling a bit of sympathy for the young man. Julie, Will, and Silver had all grown rather close during the time spent together. Perhaps too close. "Keep your eyes on the prize, Will. Getting emotionally invested will only get in the way."

"I'll be fine, Silver." William's hands stilled momentarily. "As long as we stick to the plan, everything should go smoothly."

"Of course, Willy." Silver assured him, turning back to his own task. Not betraying anything that went through his mind on his face.

Not long after, Julie emerged from the pantry room carrying the ingredients she was asked to grab.

"Thank ya' lass." Silver said, taking ingredients and prepping them to add to the stew. "By the way, Once we 'ave the galley cleaned up after supper, I got a little somethin' fer you two pups."

Julie just rolled her eyes thinking another menial task was about to be laid of the two of them.

"So, what are we gonna be doin' this time, Silver?" Julie questioned, stifling a yawn while she followed Will and Silver deeper into the lower decks of the Legacy. "Some more cleaning or something?"

"No, no— nothing like that." Silver said, looking over his shoulder with a slight twinkle in his eye. "This is sometin' far more interestin', Lass."

Julie perked up slightly; filled with curiosity. She looked to Will for a hint but, all he did was give a half-interested shrug. Now that she thought about it, he had been acting a distant most of the day. She made a mental note to talk to him later despite the tight, nervous, feeling in her chest.

Scenes of the morning waking up together played through her head as she quietly followed behind William and Silver. Her eyes drifted up to that back of Will's head every so often.

'Is he mad at me?' She questioned herself. 'He got a little annoyed at the showers with me teasing him, but this seems different.'

'It has to be about this morning or last night.' She thought, feeling an apprehensive knot form in her gut. 'Maybe he is finally fed-up with me hopping into his hammock all the time. Why the hell did I even have to mention anything?'

Julie's thoughts drifted away from the young man when the group walked though a doorway into a large open room with a 4 meter sloop being suspended by ropes and a pulley system in the middle of the room. The space craft had a single engine, powered by a solar sail that was folded and stowed. The engine was about double the size of the one on her solar surfer.

Julie couldn't help but smile as she thought about what it would be like to take this craft for a spin. Sure, it wouldn't be as maneuverable but it could probably get some considerably high speeds than she could hope to hit with her solar surfer's smaller engine and sail. She watched as Silver and Will climbed into the craft and started working on the ropes that held it in place.

"Julie, get over there and pull that lever to open up the hatch." Silver called, motioning to a lever that stuck out of the ground next to a large hatch that was underneath the sloop. Julie quickly made her way over to it and pulled it to the open position and watched as the hatch slid open and the sloop was slowly lowered into the Etherium below the ship.

"No way!" She said, excitedly as she felt the wind rustle through her clothes and try to push her hair into a frenzy despite it being held back in a loose bun. She watched as the solar sail was extended and opened to it's full size. It's hexagonal pattern fluttering to life once it was touched by the solar energy.

Her heart sank when she saw Silver take the controls and the sloop went out of view of the hatch; leaving her standing there alone. But, her excitment was reignited when she saw the sloop pull into view again, this time with Will and Silver looking up at her with smiles and gesturing to jump down.

"Fuck yeah!" She yelled as she dropped the distance and landed in the craft, before taking up a seat next to Silver as he guided them slightly away from the Legacy. Julie sat up and reveled in the feeling of the wind pushing her hair back and rustling through her clothes. The desire to go faster was already scratching at the back of her mind like a bad addiction that needed a fix.

Silver tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and started to give her a brief rundown of how the throttles and steering worked. The controls were pretty straight forward so Julie was able to devise how to work it in the span of a handful of moments. The young woman quickly took hold of the controls and opened up on the throttle immediately with an excited grin spreading across her face.

The lecture of how to work the controls was cut short when the sloop sprung forward in response to Julie's handling. Silver gripped onto the seat with one hand and held his hat down with the other to keep it from getting blown off. All he could do was hold an astonished look on his face as he witnessed the young woman immediately handling the space craft like she had done it all her life. As he continued to watch her to correct any bad habits or mistakes she might make he saw that she was rapidly correcting herself on her own, every maneuver was smoother than the last, no mistake was repeated more than once.

'She's even better than I was at that age.' Silver thought to himself with a chuckle. 'She's something special alright.'

William, to his credit, had been prepared and secured himself into place farther up on the sloop with solid hand holds. The memory of the tattoo on the inside of Julie's right bicep flashed through his head, as he finally figured out what it meant.

'Adrenaline junky.' He thought to himself with a laugh as he looked back to the young woman piloting the sloop. The scenery of the cosmos flew by as she slipped the ship effortlessly around asteroid belts and nebula clouds. 'Can't say I'm much different though.'

Julie's eyes lit up as she spotted a nearby comet that was leaving a shower of ice and snow in it's trail. She pointed the bow of the sloop straight for the tail of the comet. She ignored the protests of Silver with a wicked grin, before closing up the solar sails and plunging them into what she could only guess was the equivalent of a snow storm. Being born of a desert planet hadn't yielded her any experiences with snow, but she had read enough books to get the general idea.

Sweeping back and forth, dodging larger chunks of ice and gliding the hull along the currents of snow and ice. After a few minutes Julie finally guided the sloop back out into open space and flipped open the solar sails to charge the engines once again. She couldn't help the laughter that erupted from her throat as she guided the sloop back toward the Legacy.

Her laughter was apparently infectious because William and Silver joined in with gleeful abandon; gratefully slackening their grips on the sides of the space craft. William looked back toward the adrenaline fueled pilot and couldn't stop his heart from skipping a beat.

Snowflakes from the comet's tail caught in her now loose, mostly blonde, hair that seemed to dance and reflect the light of the multitude of stars that drifted around them. The wind had turned her cheeks and nose a slightly rosy pink. Joyful light danced in her eyes that were lit up with the smile that colored her face her face. If Will hadn't known better he would have thought she was shining like one of the many stars in the sky, like the universe around them had taken human form.

He only stifled the strangely strong urge to reach out to her when they had to hoist the sloop back up into the ship and secure it. Julie and Will finished tying of their end of the sloop quickly and plopped back down in the relatively small craft, sitting across from each other. William found it difficult to focus on anything but the young woman across from him— continually wondering how someone could be so beautiful it put the Milky Way to shame. He had never taken the time to just…look at her before. Now, he was glad he finally had.

William's attention only strayed from Julie when Silver had started talking.

"Oh, Julie." Silver sighed happily, as he collapsed gratefully into the seat next to Julie with an easy smile on his face that the three seemed to have infected each other with."If I coulda flown like that back when I was yer age, they'd be bowin' in the streets when I walked by today!" Silver said enthusiastically.

"Well, they weren't exactly singin' my praises when I left home…" Julie said, her smile faltering slight before coming back with renewed and determined strength. "But, I'm gonna change all that." She finished with determination in her voice.

Morph plopped down onto William's shoulder as Silver responded.

"Are ya now?" He asked, sounding only half interested, wiping his face with a handkerchief. "How so?"

Julie just smiled and leaned back, putting her hands behind her head and closing her eyes. "I, uh, got some plans…gonna make people see me a little differently."

"Oh…" Silver and William exchanged a slightly guilty look. "Plans…sometimes go astray, lass." Silver finished weakly.

"Not this time." Julie said, totally sure of herself.

Silver was thinking about what to say for a moment before a sudden pain made him grimace slightly and grab his leg above the prosthetic. Morph immediately flew off Will's shoulder and over to Silver as the older man let out a grunt and propped the prosthetic up. Will had see this a few times even though Silver tried to be discreet about it. He had heard about the condition in his medical training.

'Phantom pains.' Will recalled. 'Pain experienced in a limb or part of a limb that isn't there anymore after traumatic amputation…cybernetics can sometimes agitate it, if the nerve connection isn't occasionally reset and given maintenance by a professional.' Silver's prosthetics were obviously an older model and although they worked well, affording the cost of maintenance was difficult cost to bear to say the least.

Bitter anger coiled in his gut. He had seen things similar to this in the cases of many veterans who had been injured in the war. Case after case of older soldiers and spacers barely able to keep their heads above water financially while dealing with the mental and emotional effects of combat.

'You'd think that the Empire would actually keep it's promises about taking care of those that have sacrificed so much for them.' Will clenched his jaw in anger. 'Of course not. They just saw us a tools. We outlived our usefulness. Once we are broken, whats the point in fixing them.'

Julie, who had opened up her eyes at Silver's grunt, sat up and quietly watched as morph formed into a wrench that the cook used to adjust a few things on his outdated prosthetics.

"So, uh…how'd that happen anyway?" She asked as gently as possible.

Silver lifted his prosthetic arm into his view and looked over his arm and leg silently for a moment with a far away look on his face before answering.

"Ya give up a few tings'…" He stated solemnly. "…Chasin' a dream."

There was a slightly heavy silence that fell over them. William looked down at his own hands, dotted in various scars.

"Was it worth it?" Julie asked after a few moments.

Silver smirked slightly, leaning back and pushing his hat over his eyes. "I'm hopin' it is, Julie. I most surely am."

A more comfortable silence fell over them and Julie followed Silver's example and leaned back with her hands behind her head and hers eyes closed once again. William took off his bandana and combed his fingers through his hair before pushing any complicated thoughts aside and doing the same.

It wasn't more than ten seconds after Will closed his eyes that he heard a faint noise that made his eyes snap back open. He looked around for a moment, his body tensed and straining to sense whatever it was that was making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Hey, do you guys—" He started to ask before an explosion's deafening roar thundered over him and the ship shuddered dangerously. The sloop swung erratically for a moment, precariously close to the walls and support beams in the compartment before calming.

"What the hell was that?!" Julie yelled as she and Silver were both came to their feet. Will was already out of the sloop and almost to the door with a serious expression on his face.

"Let's get topside and find out!" Silver responded, exiting the sloop and following the cabin boy.

"The star Pelusa…it's gone supernova!" Delbert yelled from from somewhere behind where Silver, William, and Julie stood gazing at the titanic explosion. Despite the thousands of kilometers between the ship and the exploding star the heat could still be easily felt on exposed skin.

"Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" The Captain ordered over the searingly uncomfortable heat and intense solar wind.

"Aye-aye, Captain." The crew member at the helm responded, immediately putting considerable effort into maneuvering the ship.

"All hands, fasten your life lines!"

The order once again sprung the crew to life as they nearly trampled over each other to complete the order.

"Mr. Arrow, secure those sails!" Captain Amelia ordered as she secured Dr. Doppler's lifeline around his waist, while he stood in the same place tapping furiously on a radar/sensor read out.

"Secure All Solar Sails!" Arrow bellowed over the chaos.

The crew moved with urgency to their tasks and Julie and Silver made their way out onto the bowsprit to pull in the sprit sails. Being that she was the smallest and most agile, Julie was the farthest one out and despite the lifeline secured to her she felt her stomach do a flip every time the ship lurched and threatened to toss her into the open space below.

Despite all of this, she held herself together and completed her role efficiently. After securing the sail, she inched her way back toward the deck and saw the Silver was doing the same. Before either of them could react another explosive wave rocked the ship— accompanied by a small shower of flaming debris that Julie felt slightly sting her cheek. More urgently, was that she saw Silver's prosthetic leg slip off the bow sprit while the flaming debris flew dangerously close to him and caught his lifeline on fire.

Silver was falling before he could do anything to regain his balance but, was surprised when he was jerked to a stop by his weakened lifeline. He looked up and saw Julie holding fiercely onto the rope, leveraging it over the bowsprit to create a fulcrum by leaning her weight back and make it easier to bear the weight of the cyborg alone. Slowly, inch by painful inch Julie was able to pull Silver back towards the ship until he was able to grab hold of something and pull himself onto the deck.

"Thank ya, lass." Silver said with a sigh of relief.

Julie looked down at her hands that had been rubbed nearly raw. She felt the warmth of blood trickling down her cheek and touching the corner of her mouth.

"I'm gonna start to look like Will if this keeps up." She said with a laugh before following Silver back towards the aft of the ship. As they made their way closer, they saw the port-side cannons going to work blasting larger sized pieces of flaming debris. She saw Will coming down on the rigging and relief washed over her slightly as a weight left her shoulders for a moment to see that he was alright.

Before she could say anything to him, however, she saw one of the crew members that had been manning one of the cannons jerk suddenly, then slump to the deck as the cannon went silent. William moved smoothly over to kneel next to the downed crew member; reaching out and feeling for a pulse. After a few moments he shook his head and stood before sliding into the seat of the cannon and went to work blasting pieces of debris.

Julie's stomach sank slightly when she saw the red stains on the shirt that he wore. Now that she took the time to look at the other crew members— she saw that most were sporting similar injuries to the one on her cheek. Some, like the cannon crewman, lay lifelessly on the deck or hung limply— caught in the rigging above. While she was looking around the deck she heard the cannons going silent until only one remained.

The young woman looked back to find the crew manning the cannons dumbstruck; others ran altogether and Julie couldn't help but sympathize with their impulse when she saw what made them react that way.

The deck slowly darkened and the crew all looked off the port-side of the ship and adopted similarly shocked expressions.

A massive piece of flaming debris, easily big enough to be the moon of a large planet grew larger and larger as it careened towards the Legacy.

No one had any words to say as they watched their inevitable death growing closer. Everyone stood still. Everyone except for one cabin boy.

William resolutely fired the cannon he manned along barely visible fault lines on the large piece of debris with expert precision. Julie moved before she really thought about what she was doing. She was sitting in the seat of the cannon next to Will in a moment and started trying to work with him to break apart the astroid. Silver saw his two young friends fighting with everything they had despite the overwhelming odds and it ignited a fire in his chest that erupted out of his throat.

"GET YER ARSES INTA GEAR, YA SACKS OF SHITE!" Silver roared easily heard by everyoen one deck, jumping into another cannon's, seat next to Julie. "WE AIN'T GONNA DIE HERE BOYS!"

The fire that had been lit in Silver by the two young people rapidly took hold of the rest of the crew that heard his words and spurred them into action. It wasn't long before all of the cannons on the port side were being fired again. The shots hitting along the fault lines, in an attempt to work together to break apart the astroid. Eventually the piece of debris broke slowly apart but, seemed to start to slow down and stop a few kilometers from the ship.

Relief washed over most of the crew, including Julie. She switched out with another crew member and walked over to where Will still looked off the port-side with a grim expression on his face. She felt the wind slow and then change direction as if pulling them back towards the center of the supernova. Julie looked and saw the large piece of debris that had been about to collide with the ship retreating away faster and faster— back towards the star. Revealing a fiery whirlpool of gargantuan proportions; at the center of which held something Julie had hoped she would never encounter.

"It's…it's devolving into a black hole!" She heard Delbert say in disbelief somewhere near the helm.

"We're gettin' pulled in!" Mr. Turnbuckle gritted out as he wrestled with the helm to keep them from going bow first towards the singularity. With a sudden explosive wave that originated from the black hole, the helmsman was knocked loose from the wheel and struck a bulkhead— rendering him unconscious.

"Oh no you don't!" Captain Amelia yelled as she grabbed the spinning wheel and put all of her strength into trying to guide her ship away from the black hole. Another blast-wave, from the black hole that seemed determined to devour it's surroundings, hit the ship once again— nearly knocking the captain away from the helm. Captain Amelia barely managed to hold on and continued to try and control her ship.

"Blast these wave!" She grunted in frustration. "They're so deucedly erratic!"

"No, Captain." Delbert responded, leaning over the radar and sensor read out. "They're not erratic at all. In fact, there'll be another one in precisely 47 seconds— followed by the biggest magillah of them all!"

The Captain's face changed as an idea sprouted in her head. "Of course! Brilliant, Doctor!"

Dr. Doppler looked confused but, went back to analyzing incoming waves on the readout.

Arrow appeared next to the Captain. "All sails secured, Captain!"

"Good man! Now, release them immediately!" She called with eccentric light in her eye.

"A-aye, Captain." Arrow responded, a bit confused but turned to follow the order anyway. "You heard her, men! UNFURL THOSE SAILS!"

"What?!"

"But we just finished tying them down!"

"Make up your bloomin' minds!" A few crew members growled before they climbed back up the rigging. Arrow followed them up to help with their task.

The Captain looked around and spotted Julie about to climb up the rigging. "Miss Hawkins! Make sure all lifelines are secured good and tight!"

"Aye-aye Captain!" Julie responded, jumping down to the deck and running around the main-mast— tugging firmly on all of the knots that might be the only thing to save the lives of her fellow crew members from certain death. Another wave from the black hole rocked the ship as Julie finished.

"Lifelines secured, Captain!" Julie yelled.

"Very good!" The Captain called back before focusing fully on steering the ship.

Julie looked up and saw that all the sails were unfurled and looked around for something to do or someone to help with a task. She couldn't help but scream when she finally found someone in need of assistance.

"WILL!" She cried as she saw him dangling by his lifeline off the side of the ship. He was being flung back and forth, only being held back from the reality rending jaws of the singularity by the rope around his waist. Julie ignored her already sensitive and hurting hands as she gripped onto the rope and painstakingly pulled in the cabin boy.

When he finally pulled himself onto the deck once he could grab ahold of the bulwark Julie patted him down for injuries, leaving, light, bloody handprints across his shirt. She turned his face towards her and he had an expression she couldn't quiet understand.

"Will, are you ok?" She asked, feeling tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. "I thought you had learned not to slip off the yardarms by now." She said over the wind with a small smile.

"Julie, I—" Will began before Dr. Doppler shouted close by— drawing his attention.

"Captain! That last wave, here it comes!"

"Hold on to your lifelines, gents!" The Captain called. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

William quickly picked up Julie and ran over to the Mainmast. He set her down and she turned and grasped as much of the mast as she could.

After Julie had gripped onto the main-mast as tightly as she could, she felt Will's arm come around her and press her even tighter to the wood. They turned their faces for one last glance at light-bending edge that grew ever closer, then looked back to each other. The light around them started to fade as Will gently set his forehead against hers.

Blue-green softly met amber-gold despite the chaos that surrounded them. She saw his lips move but couldn't hear the words that came out.

"Now or never, I suppose." She said aloud, knowing there wasn't a hope of him hearing her. The light continued to fade and both of their eyes fluttered closed as their lips inched closer.

Everything went dark and silent. The rest of the universe faded away. Julie would have thought she was dead if she hadn't felt his lips capturing hers.

Warm.

In the way everything about him always felt when he was with her. Softer than she thought they'd be. The faint hint of the metallic taste of blood mixed in to create a first kiss she wouldn't have ever thought up in her wildest dreams.

'Not a bad way to go.' She thought vaguely before light, heat and sound from the explosive wave encompassed everything around her and rocketed the ship away from the edge of the known universe. She felt Will break away from her and heard the rest of the crew letting out cheers and dancing around the deck. Julie let out a laugh and hugged Will and felt Silver encompassing them both into a bear hug, lifting them off the ground.

On the deck above them, Captain Amelia stood confident and calm, examining their surroundings to make sure they were out of danger for the time being. Dr. Doppler pulled himself from a pile of rope.

"Captain! That— oh, my goodness. That was—…that was absolutely—…that was the most—" The doctor started to say.

"Oh, tish-tosh." The Captain stated dismissively, like she hadn't just secured her place into every history book, Naval tactics textbook, or adventure story that would be written for the next three decades. "Actually doctor…your astronomical advice was most helpful." She said with a slight smirk as he finally freed himself from the rope.

When he finally registered her compliment he stammered and nearly stumbled over himself in response. "Well, uh, uh— thank you. I have a lot help to offer anatomically— amanamonically— as-astronomically." He finally finished slapping a palm against his forehead. The smirk on the Captain's face only grew as she and the doctor made their way down to the main deck where the crew was still celebrating.

Once they sighted the Captain the crew gathered in a half-circle around her with smiles and laughs still occasionally bouncing through the small crowd.

"It seems your cabin girl did a bang-up job with those lifelines, Mr. Silver." The feline said with a smile. Silver elbowed Julie with a smile and she returned it with the same proud smile. No one noticed the final spider-like figure to finally join the 'horseshoe.'

"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" The Captain asked confidently. However, she was only met with silence.

"Mr. Arrow?"

Everyone glanced around, as if the large boulder-like first officer would suddenly appear among them. One crew member, that was not Mr. Arrow, stepped forward holding a familiar tricorn hat.

"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow…has been lost." Mr. Scroop said loud enough for everyone to hear. "His lifeline was not secured."

All eyes on the deck swiveled to the young woman who had been laughing and smiling a minute ago; missing the dark smile on the arachnid's face.

"N-no, I checked all of them." She said in disbelief. Julie pushed through the small crowd and looked around the places where all of the lifelines were tied and came to an empty space. She stopped and stared, feeling her heart sinking into her stomach.

"I checked them all…" She said weakly, looking back to the Captain. "…I swear."

The barely controlled swirl of emotions in Captain Amelia's eyes was all that she was met with before the Captain clenched her jaw tightly and looked down at the tricorn hat that belonged to her friend.

"Mr. Arrow was a…" She started to say. Clearing her throat and pushing down her emotions she continued. "A fine spacer. Finer than most of us could ever hope to be…but he knew the risks, as do we all. Resume your posts. We carry on."

After those few words, she directed the crew in gathering up the handful of bodies that still lay slumped on the deck or hanging lifelessly from the rigging.

Including Arrow, there had been five lives lost that day.

Four bodies lay on the deck. Each wrapped in a white sheet.

The Captain looked down at them. Silently standing next to them with the hat still grasped in her hands. The crew had slowly dispersed back to their tasks once the bodies were collected. Only a handful of crew, including William and Silver, stood nearby. Julie was nowhere to be found, having disappeared right after they gathered the bodies together. She hadn't said a word since earlier.

Captain Amelia beckoned over Will.

"Can you get me a list of their names, as well as gather together whatever personal belongings they had for the next of kin?" She asked quietly without looking up from the still forms, laying on the deck.

"Yes, ma'am." He said simply. "Is…there anything else you need?"

"No, that's all for the moment. Bring it to my cabin once you gather everything together. We can have a short ceremony for them later when everything is situated."

William nodded silently and moved to his task. Already narrowing down the places Julie was probably hiding so that he could find her as soon as possible.

The door to her cabin finally closed behind her with a thud.

Captain Amelia walked behind her desk and stood, facing out the stern windows that had been shattered. She still held Sam's tricorn hat tightly in her hands.

'All fires have been put out. All repairs that can be done for now are being taken care of. Mizzenmast and Mainmast are still mostly functional but, the Foremast was nearly snapped like a twig. Only 60% engine output is possible without burning out the engine.' She thought, while gripping the hat in her hands— desperately trying to keep her mind busy. 'We are weeks out from the nearest port capable of repairs of this scale. Hopefully we won't be preyed on by pirates on the way. Our food situation may get a bit tight but we should be able to manage.'

Her thoughts were cut short by a knock at the door. She responded without turning to see who it was.

"Enter." She heard the door open and close and footsteps leading up to her desk and stopping. "You can set the list of names on my desk. As far as the personal possessions—" The words died in her throat when she turned to see Dr. Doppler.

She quickly turned back around to face the window once again.

'Dammit.' She thought, consciously tightening the reigns on her emotions. 'Why is he…'

She heard foot steps come around the desk and come to a stop behind her.

'If it were anyone else…everything would be fine.' She thought, not daring to turn around. Her hands shook uncontrollably. 'How can he just…'

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, slowly turning her to face him.

"Amelia."

That was all it took.

A look. A touch. A single word.

Everything she had been pushing down came streaming out as she finally leaned against him and wept.

"What am I supposed to tell his family, Delbert?" She mumbled between sobs. "What am I supposed to tell his son?"

"That he was a fine spacer. Finer than most could ever hope to be." Delbert said softly, sliding his arms around her. "That he knew the risks, but came anyway to serve with his friend— because he was sterling, tough, honest, dependable, brave, and true."

Hours later— when most of the crew was pass out after dinner— William stepped out onto the deck. In one hand he held a plate of food; in the other was some first aid supplies.

Will spotted a certain cabin girl sitting on the bulwark on the bow. She sat hugging one knee to her chest and letting the other leg hang off the edge.

"Julie I brought some—"

"Go away."

'Still like this, huh.' He thought to himself. Will had gotten a similar reaction earlier when he had tried to talk to her. A guilty feeling wiggled itself into the forefront of his mind. 'This is all my fault. If only I had jumped sooner, maybe I could have…no, there's no use in thinking about that now.'

He set the first aid kit behind her on the deck. Still holding the plate in one hand, he used the newly empty hand to gently grab her shoulder. "Julie, I'm just trying to help. Come on, I brought you some food." He said trying to extend it for her to see.

"I don't need your fucking help!"

The plate was smacked out of his hand— causing it to hit him in the face with enough force to shatter, throwing the food and sharp pieces in every direction. The shattered pieces lay on the deck, igniting a memory in the depths of Will's mind.

He blinked. The smell of an open sewer drifted through the broken window. Dried mud from the gutter stuck to his bare feet. He was looking down at the broken plate and the spilt food.

"Can't even do the simplest thing can you, worthless little shit?" A man's voice asked, dripping with venom and anger. He knew that voice. The tone. It held a dark promise. Punishment.

Will darted back and brought his shaking hands up to defend himself, but when he blinked again and looked around he was back on the deck of the Legacy. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, cold sweat was already on his skin and he felt warmth dripping down his chin from the cut a shattered piece of the plate had left on his lips. He looked around and only saw Julie; the anger on her face was slightly mixed with confusion as she turned looked at him in the low light— obviously confused by his reaction.

Before she could notice the blood on his face or see his violently shaking hands, he turned on his heel and walked below deck.

Julie was left alone once more; feeling more confusion come into her head to mix guilt and anger. She ran her fingers roughly through her hair and groaned in frustration.

"What the hell is wrong with me?"

She shifted her foot to return to her former position— looking at the universe as it drifted by but, her foot knocked over the first aid kit that Will had set on the deck.

More guilt wormed it's way into her mind as she picked up the small kit that the cabin boy had brought for the wounds on her hands and the cut on her cheek.

Julie didn't know how much more time passed before she heard another set of foot steps approach, behind her. This time she was sitting in the rigging that lead up to the yard arms and crow's nest. She looked down at her clumsily bandaged hands glumly.

The leg and arm made noise as he moved so it was easy to tell him apart from anyone else without needing to look. Silver leaned on the edge to look out at the passing scenery with her; he was carrying a small pipe that he puffed on occasionally.

"It weren't your fault, ya know." He stated, sending a glance up to the young woman who only responded with a heavy sigh. She knew she would have to talk about it at some point.

"Why, half te crew would be spinnin' in tat' black abyss—" He started to say before she jumped down to the bulwark he leaned on, making him take a step back.

"Look, don't you get it?!" She yelled, stepping down onto the deck as he retreated further. "I screwed up!"

She turned away from the cyborg and ran a hand roughly through her hair.

"For two seconds, I thought that maybe…" She let her eyes fall to the deck beneath her feet. "…that maybe, I could do something right for a change, but…Aagh! I just—" She stopped and just let out a defeated sigh. "Just forget it. Forget it." She finished weakly trying to blink away the tears that were close to falling.

Silver looked at the slumped shoulders of the young woman. He felt he needed to say something but, was still hesitant.

'Ta hell wit' it.' He thought as he reached out to put a hand on Julie's shoulder and turned her to face him. He adopted a firm tone in his voice.

"Now, you listen to me, Juliet Hawkins. You got the makin's of greatness in ya." Her eyes turned up to look at him. "But, you gotta take the helm and chart your own course! Stick to it, no matter the squalls; and when the time comes, and ya get the chance to really test the cut of your sails and show what you're made of…" He stood to his full height and spread his arms like he was basking in warm sunlight. "Well, I hope I'm there…catchin' some of the light comin' off ya that day."

She silently took a step closer to the cook and let her head fall against his stomach, finally letting the tears fall down her cheeks.

For a moment Silver was too stunned to move; caught between comforting her or stepping away. It did take more than a few seconds before he slid his arms around her and whispered quietly to her.

"There, there, Lass— it's all right Julie." He said a bit awkwardly at first. "It's all right."

After Julie calmed down again, Silver came to his senses and took a step back and cleared his throat. "Now, Julie, I—um…I best be gettin about my watch and you best be getting some shut-eye." He gently pushed her towards the stairs that lead below deck.

Julie glanced over her shoulder and gave him a small smile before descending the steps.

Silver leaned back against the bulwark as Morph chipped happily and sank down onto his shoulder.

"Gettin' in to deep here, Morphy." He said quietly to his semi-liquid companion; not knowing that above him, hidden in the rigging, was a pair of glowing eyes intently observing everything that had transpired. "Next thing ya know, they'll be saying I've gone soft."

Even though Julie was dead tired after the events of the day she sat awake in her hammock thinking about one thing.

Will.

'I need to apologize, first of all.' She thought to herself as she got up and walked over to his hammock. To her surprise she found it empty. 'Well, he might be going to the bathroom or something so I guess I will wait here.'

She sat down in his hammock; determined to see him and apologize but, 10 minutes later found her passed out in the young man's hammock— dreaming about the kiss the two had shared on the edge of the universe.

.