Well! Chapter ten at last, huh? (It would've been up sooner if I wasn't tormented by a writer's block)

Writer's block: Ha ha!

Shut up!

Disclaimer: I don't own Treasure Planet, only Tesoro, Natalie, and a bunch of other OCs.

Tesoro watched as her father packed his duffel bag. He hadn't even been home two weeks and he was already taking off for another voyage. Normally, this would anger his daughter, but after overhearing the conversation she heard between him and the Doc, she wasn't quite irritated…

"That's it, Doc." Jim had said, pointing to something in a book that was open on the table he and Delbert sat at in his room. "That's the planet I need to find."

"Jim, do you even know what planet that is?" Delbert had asked with both fear and concern. "That's Planet Xenta!"

"What's so dangerous about it?"

"Didn't you ever pay attention in Galaxeology at the Academy? Xenta is the one planet with the strongest gravity pull in the entire universe! If a ship were to even hover even 10 knots within its radius, they'd be sucked into its atmosphere at a deadly speed!"

"So it's a deadly vacuum in space. That won't keep me from going there."

"Why do you want to go there anyway? It's complete and utter suicide!"

Jim had paused. "A friend needs me." And that's all he said before he left the room, leaving Delbert baffled.

Tesoro understood what he meant by 'friend'. Obviously, he was talking about Silver (he always brought up the cyborg when he told her about his trek to Treasure Planet, though he left out the part about him being behind the mutiny). She knew this because she always remembered the look in his eyes when he mentioned his name- a look of sadness, yet joy.

Plus, it was the name she had heard him screaming that morning from his nightmare (which she heard about from BEN). That is why she didn't protest when he told her he was prematurely heading on another voyage- because Silver needed his help with… something.

"So… what's the voyage this time, dad?" Tesoro asked, pretending she didn't know the reason.

Jim turned around, startled. He hadn't noticed Tesoro standing in the doorway, watching him. "Oh, I…" he tried to come up with an excuse, but the way his daughter looked at him- with a stern look but eyes filled with hurt- he knew he couldn't lie to her. "I'm going off to save a friend. …Silver, to be exact. I think he's in danger."

This surprised Tesoro. She wasn't expecting her dad to tell her the whole truth. "What kind of danger?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good if it caused me that bad a nightmare… I take it you must have heard about it?"

Tesoro shrugged, innocently. "What makes you say that?"

"BEN."

Tesoro blushed. She forgot her dad knew BEN better than anyone else, so of course he'd know the robot would tell everyone, including her. "Yeah. He told me."

"I guess you find it ridiculous that I'm going on a risky voyage all because of some dream I had, right?"

"Of course not, dad! That dream must've been a message, a sign that you should go out and find Silver! It may sound ridiculous to the mind, but to the heart it's something else. And if your heart says to go for it, then… well, go for it!"

Even though her words sounded confident, Jim could still see worry in her eyes. He walked over and hugged his daughter. "I'll come back, Tess. I promise."

Leave it to dad to squeeze my tears loose. Tesoro thought, hugging her father tightly as tears rolled down her eyes. "Just be careful when you reach Xenta."

Jim looked at his daughter, suspiciously. "How did you know I was going to Xenta?"

"Eavesdropping." Tesoro shrugged, apologetically.

Jim rolled his eyes, then shook his head and smiled. "Of course."

"Hey, Jim!" Gene called from downstairs. "The ship's waiting!"

"Hang on, Gene!" Jim called down to his first-mate. "I still need to say goodbye to my family, you know!"

"Oh. Okay!" Gene's voice then turned his attention to Louigi, though his voice could still be heard from upstairs. "Hold on to your explosive horseradish, Lou! Jim has to take care of a touching family matter!"

"Oh, fine! Take your time!" Louigi called up to Jim, though he could sense sarcasm in the Italian's voice.

"He hasn't changed a bit, I take it?" Tesoro pointed out.

"Not really." Jim replied with a chuckle. "Oh, well. You know what they say: You can change a sailor's rank, but you can't change the sailor."

"Who said that?"

"I did."

Tesoro chuckled at her father's witty response, then hugged him again. "I'm going to miss you." Then something occurred to her. "What are we going to tell mom after you leave?"

Jim's shoulder's sagged. He knew Natalie would be devastated if she found out he went out on a dangerous trek to find his pirate friend. After all, she never did like the sound of the cyborg's character when he first told her about Treasure Planet …

"You mean, he burned down the Inn, caused a mutiny, threatened your friends, and endangered your very life, and you still let him go?" Natalie Crow gasped after Jim had told her the tale of his treasure hunt.

It had been two months since they left the Spaceport to deliver the celestial bronze, and they sat in the galley that night in the corner where they could talk privately, away from the rest of the crew (it occurred to Natalie that Jim didn't want too many people to hear, and now she knew why).

Jim cringed, feeling he had said too much. "Not so loud," he said to Natalie. "I know it sounds reckless, but-"

"Sounds reckless?" Natalie scoffed, raising her voice as she stood up, glowering at Jim. "It was reckless, Hawkins! You, the boy who had saved a dozen lives, went off and set free the man who caused it all? What were you thinking?"

"Natalie, pipe down!" Jim pulled Natalie down. "Look, it may seem bad to you, but you don't know what Silver had done for me! If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the man I am today-"

"Another reason to loathe the scoundrel,"

Jim's expression hardened. "I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for 'that scoundrel'." Natalie looked at him curiously, though she still glowered. "Yeah, he was a pirate; yeah he caused a lot of damage to get his hands on Flint's treasure… but he gave it all up to save my life."

Natalie huffed. "One good deed doesn't erase a bad deed, Hawkins," She shook her head. "I can't believe you'd even consider him a friend for the things he had done."

"If you count him changing my life, I would believe it." Jim stood up and left the galley, leaving Natalie alone at the table.

Gene had seen Jim leave, and went over to Natalie, carrying two cups of hot coffee. "Wow, what was that all about?" he asked.

"Apparently, your captain is a knucklehead." Natalie replied, grudgingly. "Did he ever tell you about his journey to Treasure Planet?"

Gene laughed. "Of course I have! Everyone has heard about the Great Jim Hawkins, who boldly faced pirates and discovered the loot of a thousand worlds!"

Natalie sneered. "Well, what 'the great Jim Hawkins' probably never told you that he was close to Silver."

Gene nodded. "Yeah, Jim did say the cyborg had a rough character- putting him through hard labor, giving him a hard time on the trip, and suddenly taking off- but all the while, before they found Treasure Planet, Silver had shown something to Jim..."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "How to plan a mutiny?"

"Nope. He showed he actually cared for him, and had complete confidence in him as well."

Natalie leaned in, intrigued by the blue, four-armed sailor's words. Jim said Silver was a good friend (though she doubted it), but he never told her how the cyborg felt about him. "How did he show it?"

Gene leaned back, grinning. "Did Jim ever tell you about his father, Anthony Hawkins?" Natalie shook her head. "Of course not, that's because he left Jim when he was just a young boy, causing my dear friend to lose trust in everyone… including himself." Natalie gaped. Louigi had told her about how rebellious Jim was, but she never knew the reason. "Yep, it was hard on both him and his mother. He always caused trouble- especially on his solar surfer- and it didn't make it any better on either of them, especially when the coppers got involved."

"I didn't think he was so… troublesome."

Gene sipped his coffee. "Yeah, well, that was before he met Silver. At first, he said, they didn't trust each other- Jim never said why, maybe it was because he hated being bossed around, and Silver didn't like having to deal with a rebel- anyway, their ideas of each other changed throughout the voyage from their time together, but what really sparked their friendship was… wait, did he already tell you about the death of Mr. Arrow?"

Natalie gasped. "Someone died?"

"I'll take that as a 'no'."

"What's going on? Who died?" Louigi asked, overhearing only part of the conversation. "Listen, I-I know my cooking is bad, but-"

"We're talking about Treasure Planet, Louigi."

"Oh. …Okay, then. Uh, continue…" Louigi turned and walked off, blushing from embarrassment. Poor man, Natalie thought.

"As I was saying," Gene continued. "Captain Amelia's first mate, Mr. Arrow, went overboard- the work of one of those nefarious pirates, Jim said, though he first thought it was his fault, because he was in charge of the lifelines and… you see where I'm going with this?" Natalie nodded. "Well, there he was, sitting in the shrouds, blaming himself…" Using his two right hands, Gene set one sideways on the table to represent the shrouds, and made a four-fingered gesture of his other hand sitting on top of it, representing Jim. "He thought he was the world's biggest screw-up… Until Silver came along," Using one of his left hands, he made a two-finger walking gesture to represent Silver. "And, I don't remember what his exact words were, he talked Jim out of his emo-moment, claiming he had 'the makings of greatness in him' or something."

Natalie sat there, silent. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the man I am today. Jim's words echoed in her mind. Yet she couldn't help but wonder… how could a down-right loathsome pirate care so much for a troubled rebel?

"I don't know why he cared, either." Gene sighed, as if reading Natalie's thoughts. "Who knows? Maybe Silver saw a bit of himself in Jim, or maybe he just saw hope for him. …So, what did you say earlier, something about mutiny?"

Natalie blushed, feeling ashamed of what she said about Silver (though she still thought the man sounded like a rapscallion). She lied, "Oh, nothing. I just didn't like how Jim described him, and assumed he was a bad guy."

Gene smiled. "You don't have to lie to me, Natalie." he whispered. "I know a bit about Jim's 'description' of Silver as well." he gave her a wink.

"You mean, you know he was-"

"I wouldn't say it out loud, Nat," Gene looked around, making sure the rest of the crew weren't listening in. They weren't. "There are some people out there who'd like to skin Silver alive, not only local authorities, but others as well. For his sake- as well as Jim's- let's keep this hush-hush."

Natalie eyed Gene, suspiciously. "You and Jim seem pretty defensive about Silver,"

"Hey, I'm not just defending Silver. I'm defending Jim." Natalie cocked her head to the side, confused. "Trust me, Natalie, if you were an enemy of Silver looking for revenge, but he wasn't around, who would be your next choice to get vengeance on him?" Natalie thought about it a moment, her eyes widening in understanding. "Exactly. Heck, Silver's own crew would've even got to him if they knew he was buddy-buddy with Jim! Just ask Jim yourself…"

Natalie sighed. "I don't think Jim will want to talk to me about it. After all, I still wouldn't trust Silver if he were around, despite what you and Jim said about him. …That, and Jim's pretty mad at me right now."

"Ah, Jim's just a little steamed," Gene held the other cup of coffee up to Natalie. "Care for a cup?"

"No thanks. I'm pretty tired, so I'll be turning in soon, and I don't want the caffeine to keep me awake."

"I can get you some decaffeinated, if you'd like-"

"Mama Mia! Who the heck spit-a in the coffee pot?" Lougi cried out. Half the crew gasped, some spewed out their own coffee, and others snickered, thinking he was joking.

Gene looked into his coffee mug with a disgusted look. "On second thought, I'm with you. I think I'll turn in, too… after I rinse out my mouth. *Gack!*" Running off and gagging, Gene left the galley, along with a few other crew mates who also needed to rinse out their mouths.

Natalie pushed the coffee mug away, happy that she decided to avoid drinking coffee that night. As Louigi cursed in Italian and some of the crew mates gagged, Natalie thought hard about her conversation with Jim. Finally, she decided she owed him an apology.

Jim walked onto his ship, ready to set off on his trip to Xenta. He looked back, waving to his mother, his daughter, Morph, the Dopplers, and a few others who came to watch him and his crew set off. He decided to take BEN along, knowing he'd need his navigational help on this voyage.

"Ready to set off, Captain Jimmy Sir!" BEN called, saluting Jim from the helm.

Jim gave one last wave to the rest of his family, and then commanded his crew to prepare for take-off.

Tesoro kept waving until the CSS MAELSTROM blasted off into the Etherium. Inside her mind, she rehearsed what her father told her to tell her mother: "Tell her I've been called off on an urgent voyage and won't be back for a few months. And if she asks how urgent, just say that I said it was a personal matter."

I hope she believes it. Tesoro thought. "Gosh, I wonder how mom's gonna react…" she said aloud. Possibly too loud.

"React to what?" A female voice asked. Tesoro turned around and gasped, seeing her mother standing right behind her.

"Mom! You're home!" Tesoro's voice was more shocked than happy.

"Well, yeah… I figured everyone had gathered to see my ship come in. Looks like you've all come to watch your father take off instead. …Where's he going, anyway?"

Tesoro gulped. "He's on a personal- and very urgent- voyage."

Natalie crossed her arms and looked at her daughter. "How personal?"

Ah, crud… Tesoro thought, mentally kicking herself. "Um, it's a long story. I'll tell you when we get back home."

"Home's a long ways away, sweetie," Natalie's voice was stern. "Might as well spill it."

Tesoro sighed in defeat. "He's going off… to help a friend."

Natalie looked over at Sarah and the Doppler children. "On second thought, I'm tired." she said hastily. "You can tell me later."

As they boarded an interstellar bus to their home, Morph walked over to Tesoro and- after making sure no one was looking- turned into an imitation of Silver, muttering questionably as he did so.

Tesoro nodded. "You've got it, Morph." she said quietly. "Dad's off to find Silver."

Morph resumed his original form, chattering happily, but his joy didn't last long when he saw the concerned look on Tesoro's face.

A/N: Wow, Natalie sure has it out for Silver… but could it be more than because of his mutiny? (dun dun DUN).

OMGitsEMILY: Sorry if the flashback's about Jim and Natalie confuse you.

Anon: Glad you think my story is still cool.

Please R/R. Flames are good for making s'mores, but don't send them anyway.