I Owe You A Love Song

14 – The Story

They have a long way to go before they reach the bottom of the Canyon, which seems like a good time as any to get answers.

"How'd you become a Dread Pirate?"

He feels Tron's hand flex, sees circuits flicker momentarily.

"I..." Tron looks over his shoulder at Sam with a wary gray eye. "Dread Pirates don't leave anyone alive. I was the last one standing when Paranoid's crew came for me. I killed three before Paranoid...decided to fight me himself."

Tron abruptly turns his head away and stares across the canyon. "Didn't get a chance to kill me. Bostrumite Recognizers appeared on the horizon and they had to leave. I was still alive, so they knocked me out and took me on board. When I came to we were on the other side of the world and the last Bostrumite Recognizer was sinking into the sea."

"And Paranoid didn't kill you?"

Tron hesitates. "...no. He thought I might be useful so he forced me into service. Spent three years on his Recognizer." He stops walking and turns to Sam, leans in and cups the side of his face. "I thought I'd die on the seas without ever seeing you again."

Sam kisses him softly. "I'm here now."

It takes a few minutes for them to start walking again.

"So you were with Paranoid for three years," Sam says. "You were gone for five."

The whirring noise becomes increasing louder, echoing off the walls.

"We were just miles from the border. Thought once we crossed I'll sneak away, find my way back to you," Tron says slowly. "But...what do you know about the Gridian war minister?"

"His name's Clu?"

"What else?"

"Don't know. I never see him and nobody ever talks about him."

"And the Grid-Arjia War?"

"I was six. Like I know."

He's not sure what the point is but Tron keeps giving him this look so he adds, "Arjia lost and the last royal lives in ENCOM City. She's marrying Junior in a few weeks."

"Do you know who engineered the war and won it?"

"What's the point-wait, are you saying-"

"Clu killed Lord Jalen and Lady Ophelia himself. He's been hunting down surviving ISOs ever since."

"I...I don't..." How does Radia sleep at night? "What does this have to do with you?"

Tron smiles wryly as he glances up at the blue sliver of sky. "One of Paranoid's crew members was an ISO and Clu found out. Harboring ISOs is treason, and all Dread Pirates have bounties on their heads. So he went after us, boarded the Recognizer with Sentries and killed half the crew before we knew what was happening. After that we tried to run. I was so close..."

"I tried…you don't know how I tried, but they wouldn't let me."

"Then what?" Sam asks.

"They hit the Recognizer and stopped us dead, boarded and killed everyone who stood in the way. After that, it was just me, the ISO, and Paranoid. Paranoid wouldn't hand her over; he recruited her to protect her from Clu and he was going to fight until she was safe."

"What, so Dread Pirates have hearts now?"

Tron shrugs. "We kept the Sentries and Clu occupied until she got out. After that..." He shakes his head. "It was hopeless. We were fighting for our lives but we were outnumbered. Paranoid was the first to go, then..."

Sam stops walking and Tron turns around to him. He raises his free hand and brushes fingertips along the thick scar running down Tron's neck. The broken noise stutters as Tron bows his head and takes a deep breath.

"Clu struck you down."

Tron nods. "Tossed me off the Recognizer to drown. I got lucky, though; a current pulled me away and left me somewhere far from the Grid. It took me months to recover and the town that found me wanted me to stay but I couldn't. I was broken and I didn't belong; I was just counting down the days until I could head back to the Grid. Clu has a long memory, though, and when he heard I survived he sent Sentries to finish the job. They razed half the town. I barely escaped but one of them hit me, left me this." He gestures to the red circuits. "I was on the run, Sam. I couldn't go home, not without half the Gridian army chasing after me. I...I wasn't even sure you'd still be there if I did manage to get past them."

"You could've sent a message, you know," Sam says shakily. "Could've tried to contact me instead of assume I moved on or something-"

"If I tried and Clu intercepted that message you'd be in danger-"

"What, so you decided it was better to let me continue thinking you were dead? Decided to go rogue instead and become a Dread Pirate? How does that-they killed Dad. They killed you. And now you're-you're one of them!"

"I didn't have a lot of options. I didn't know how else to get past Clu-"

"Well that makes sense-"

"As a Dread Pirate I have a reputation, I have connections, people who can guide me home. If it makes you feel any better I only struck military Recognizers and Solar Sailers. I had to get back at Clu for what he did to me, to Paranoid, to the ISOs. And every day I was a few miles closer to you...then I heard what happened."

"What, that I'm Prince Junior's brother and Dad had an affair with the queen?"

"That you were living under the same roof as Clu. I had to get you out."

Sam stares at him, and then says, "I need to think."

He turns and walks up the pathway.

"Sam-"

"No. I need to be alone."

He feels Tron's eyes on him but he doesn't stop walking for a long time.