Little Dragon Rider : Hehe, see ? I'm not that evil ! :P Yeah, back together and all happy ! :3 I get what you're saying, and I'm happy that you think so ! :D It's not over yet, believe me ! ;) And yes, I do have planned something but, trust me ! :3 (Please don't insult me again even if I ruin your life ! XD)

FANFICTION

Treasure Planet II : The Quest of Tala

CHAPTER XXI : Warmth

[After two months of imprisonment, Hope finds out that the mastermind behind everything is James Calil, Lence's older brother. Her father is alive and so are her friends and her brother who saves her. But because of Carter's threats, Jim has no other choice but to open the map. Tala is in fact the moon of the royal planet, Winsor. They are about to go after Carter who had ran away with her father, her grandfather and James. ]

When Hope opened her eyes, awakened up by the sunbeams shining through the window, she blinked and felt numb. She had slept more than one night than the last two months. She didn't dream, but she didn't have any nightmares either and it was so peaceful that she just wanted to curl up even more against her warm pillow.

She closed her eyes, snuggling against the warm pillow who grumbled something that didn't make any sense.

Hope opened wide eyes and froze before slowly lifting up her gaze and saw that what she had thought was the warm pillow was in fact, Jim, sleeping deeply.

She stared at his peaceful sleeping face and she remembered that last night, when he was about to leave her alone, she had asked him to stay with her. And he was still here. So either her brother didn't come into the room or he decided to ignore the fact that Jim and her had stayed together in the same bed for the night. She crossed her fingers that it would be the first option.

She breathed and relaxed, looking at Jim's features. She had kissed him several times but she never had the chance to really look at him closely, he would always look away in embarrassment or just try to make her change her mind. His blue-green eyes were closed but she realised he had long dark eyelashes and as usual, his brown hair was a mess after sleeping. When he was sleeping, he was breathing easily, his mouth slightly open and pulling breaths go in and out… Sometimes his lips would make a little whizz. She smiled, thinking it was the sweetest thing he could do.

He moved slightly and turned his head to the other side, still sleeping. Hope examined his features. He had a perfect face for a man, hard enough but not too much. Enough to make you feel safe but not too much to make you feel uncomfortable…

He moved again and this time, his face turned towards her. She smiled even more but suddenly, his lips moved, his voice raising in the room. It was a little harsh and foggy by sleep but the grunt still had a light layer of joking tone :

"Quit staring at me like that, it woke me up…" He mumbled under his breathe, keeping his eyes closed.

She smiled and laughed slightly :

"Sorry for that, Jim… Thank you…" She said.

"Sorry then thanks ? I'm more sleepy than I thought…" He mumbled again.

He opened his eyes slightly, still sleepy and he obviously didn't want to move, think or do anything that would involve being an any more awake than he already was :

"Why are you thanking me ?" He asked with a little voice.

"Because thanks to you, I didn't have any nightmare for the first time in two months… So, thank you…" She said, her lips close to his ear.

And before he could say or do anything, she put her lips on his and kissed him gently, he mumbled behind the kiss when she got away, smiling and getting out from under the covers. She turned towards Jim but he had closed his eyes again, smiling dreamily, he had probably fallen asleep again.

She got up and she looked around of the room. It was a guest room like any other one. She quickly stepped out of the room, careful not to make too much noise to wake up Jim but as soon as she was out, she felt overwhelmed by people. Between the few soldiers and the dozens of maids and housekeepers that kept running everywhere, she realised she had lost the habit of being surrounded by people after two months in a cell.

She barely had time to blink before a maid went to her, taking her arm and pushing the young girl into another room :

"Miss Alhena, I have been asked by your brother to take care of you. You have a warm bath waiting for you, with clean clothes and food. He wants you to be rested and cleaned up before seeing you."

Hope let herself be drawn by the maid, vaguely remembering being used to this kind of behaviour from maids. After all, Hope had spent almost her entire life with people taking care of her for almost everything…

She enjoyed the warm bath even if she had one a day before. It was relaxing after the last events. She tried not to feel guilty about the fact that Carter had the medallion and the location of Tala but she couldn't. It was her fault. Since the very beginning… If she hadn't ran away and sneaked onto Carter's ship, none of all this would have happened. There wouldn't be an intergalactic war, there wouldn't be any pirate going to Tala, there wouldn't be anyone she cared about in danger…

After her bath, she had to choose between a fancy dress or her now usual outfit: brown pants, a white puffy shirt, a brown leather bodice, a red scarf. She could look like a lady, like she is used to be, like Celeste should look like… But she picked up the other outfit, the outfit of the fighter she had become. Hope's outfit. After all, if this war was all her fault, she had to fight as much as others to end it and she couldn't do it with heavy dresses and ribbons in her hair.

When she had done, she ate a little, feeling hungrier than the last days, feeling alive again but she had to stop eating soon. She wasn't used to eat more than a little bit of bread so, an entire meal was almost impossible for her now. But she would probably get used to it soon enough…

She walked into the halls, now ignored by maids and housekeepers. Some looked at her before turning away and she could understand them. They had been under the orders of a man who had almost destroyed the universe and had broken her. She ignored them as well and walked into the halls, looking for someone she would recognise.

She wandered a long time before seeing long blue-black hair, a light blue-green skin and a white uniform she recognised immediately :

"Karoon !" She called.

The nereid stopped and turned towards her, smiling. She hadn't seen him in two months but he hadn't changed a bit, he was still the same joyful blue man she had always known :

"Hope, this is good to see you well once again. How do you feel after everything that has happened ?" He asked with a sympathetic look.

"Way better since yesterday, sleeping and eating had done me only well. Do you happen to know where my brother is ?" She asked anxiously.

"I do, let me guide you to him. I was going to the meeting anyway," he added, starting to walk.

"The meeting ?" She hesitated, frowning.

"To decide what to do next. You know, Carter and Calil's runaway knowing where Tala is located, is really bothering for your brother. After all, he's an Alhena and was supposed to keep safe the secret of Tala, of its location and the different parts of the map. But everything has gone wrong and he feels really bad about it, he thinks the war is his fault. And I'm not even talking about your disappearance, I don't think he slept the last two months, he was overwhelmed with guilt…"

Hope looked at her friend. She knew he was good at reading people but knowing all this about her brother who usually tries his best to hide his emotions to other people…

"How come you know my brother so much ?" She asked.

"Well, after two months of running everywhere after him, I kind of got used to him."

She hesitated, anxious to ask the questions she hadn't stopped wondering since she had realised they were all alive.

"What happened ?" She asked. "How did you escape ? I heard the ships blowing up, I.."

Her voice broke and Karoon glanced worriedly at her but she continued, her face straight despite her eyes shining with tears :

"I thought you were dead… All of you… I thought I had lost everything…" She whispered.

"Well, you remember when Carter and his pirates arrived on the RLS Majesty and got us all on our knees ?"

She nodded and he continued :

"The pirates were putting boxes, bombs, everywhere but as soon as you and the pirates left, Caliban reacted. He was furious that you had been kidnapped and he was sure the ships would blow up. He gave orders and we all hurried to the lifeboats and ran away… The ships blew up just when we were out of reach from the explosion and we were hidden by the fire… Unfortunately.."

He hesitated then continued in a bittersweet voice :

"Unfortunately, not everyone made it to the lifeboats in time… From all the ships out there, only three lifeboats from the RLS Majesty made it out, the others weren't so lucky… Lucky us, we survived."

She swallowed hard, thinking of all the men of the Queen Armada who had died because of her but she continued :

"What happened next ? How did you know where we would go ? And how come my brother let all of you around him ? Except Andrew, and maybe Lence, he wouldn't have kept any of you, especially not Jim."

"Well, we tracked you down quite easily in fact. Carter thought we were dead, he didn't have to worry about covering his tracks, we just followed him for a few weeks late but we managed to catch up in time when you arrived on Dareia. And about us… Well… Your brother probably didn't want of us but he only made up his mind after two weeks. Jim and I were sure we would be sent back at the Academy, or called for duty or something but when we were about to go, your brother came and told us he wanted all of us to stay alongside with him. Jim and he talked later about.. everything…"

Hope flushed slightly but Karoon continued with a little smile :

"Your brother hadn't forgiven Jim for falling for you but he understood you two were truly in love. He doesn't encourage you or want you to have any relationship, so if I were be you, I would stay quiet and discreet for now… But, Caliban doesn't want to kill Jim anymore, or at least, he contains himself."

Hope bit her lip and asked one last question, the one that had bothered her the most :

"And.. Lence ?"

Karoon glanced at her then answered :

"Lence had been.. well, I don't know him very well but he was quite shocked about the whole story between you and Jim. I don't know how he feels about your relationship and even if I know that your two men talked about it, Jim never told me anything about it, I think he's jealous but he won't admit it… And also.. for the last two months, we all thought of how Carter knew about the Treasure of Tala. We made up a list of people who knew about it and one after the other, we cleaned up the list and the last one who stayed and could have betrayed your secret was only James…"

Hope swallowed when she realised that for days, maybe even weeks, they all knew that the mastermind of all this was James, Lence's older brother. She knew the two brothers were close, even if not as close as she and Cal… It must have been horrible to learn this way about his brother's betray…

"When Lence and you became fiancée and your father told him everything about the whole Tala myth, he told James, thinking he could trust him… It was a mistake but.. anyone would make it, right ? We always trust our families…"

"How does Lence feel now that he is sure his brother is the perpetrator of this story ?"

"He's pretty shaken up, but he had been prepared for this and he went well about this."

They had arrived in front of a huge door and stopped, looking at each other. Karoon had a serious look on the face :

"I would be more worried about what he's going to tell you about your relationship with Jim than anything else…"

"He can tell me anything, just like my brother, I don't care. I won't fight against my feelings, I've done it for weeks, I won't do it again. I'm in love with Jim and no one will get between us," she said with hard eyes.

Karoon opened his mouth to answer but he glanced worriedly behind her and when she turned around, she saw the one she wanted the least to see for now : Lence. He was looking at her with a serious face and in his eyes, she saw how betrayed he was feeling. Not just about his brother but especially about her…

She frowned, her mouth but before she could say anything, her fiancée opened his mouth :

"Celeste, I am glad you're feeling better now."

He glanced at a clock on a wall then at Karoon :

"We still have time before the beginning of the session and I would like to talk to Celeste alone."

"Of course," Karoon said.

"You should probably go look out for Hawkins, I didn't see him yet and it would be detrimental for him to be late for such a thing," Lence added.

Karoon nodded then walked away. Hope saw him walking away then she turned towards Lence :

"Lence, I-" she started but he cut her.

"Celeste, let's go into some private room, may please ?" He asked.

She nodded darkly and followed him into a little room not too far from this one. When they entered in, alone, he closed the door behind her and she turned hesitantly to look at him. He had a serious face, hard eyes with so much sadness and betrayal… She felt her heart hurt. She didn't have a lot of memory of him from her past and the few days she had spent with him, she hadn't really looked at him, too scared to see memories coming back suddenly. But all the time she can remember and had spent with him, he was smiling, he was always smiling with his lips, with his eyes, always full of joy and life. But now.. now he was heartbroken. He had to endured two betrayals one after the other : her own then his brother…

"Lence…" She started.

But she couldn't add anything because he talked :

"Let me talk, Celeste," he said, looking right into her eyes.

She didn't dare reply and he continued :

"Recently, I thought a lot about the last events. You lost your memory and you spent months with this man, Jim Hawkins. You care a lot about him and your brother never told you about me before I came for you, he explained it to me after your.. accident…"

Hope blinked, noticing that Lence was considering Jim as a man, unlike her brother who was still calling him "boy" or "cabin boy"…

"And I.. understand that you fell in love with him. He saved you, several times and was there for you when I wasn't. I should have. But I wasn't and you.. turned towards the one who had been there for you since you woke up without memories…"

He turned towards a window and looked outside, he remained silent for few seconds then sighed and turned back towards Hope, his eyes dark :

"I already talked to your brother, but I wanted to say it to you, looking into your eyes. I've decided to cancel our engagement."

Hope blinked and swallowed hard, feeling her fingers trembling despite her, too shocked to say anything. But Lence continued :

"You are now free, Celeste…" He said with a sad smile.

She couldn't express her happiness and her relief but he must have seen it in her eyes because he smiled even more, his eyes getting sadder and yet, she knew he didn't have any regret :

"Lence… Thank you…" She said, taking his hands and squeezing them gratefully.

He smiled and asked her the question he wanted to ask for two months :

"I know you don't remember about your past, but, please, be honest with me… Did you ever love me ?" He asked with a hesitantly voice.

She hesitated then smiled slightly :

"I did care about you. It wasn't love the way I feel for Jim, but it was the closest feelings of love I've ever felt for a man other than my brothers or my father before Jim…" She said with a shaking voice.

He smiled, relief in his eyes and continued, his voice almost a whisper :

"Do you think we would have been happy ?" He asked.

"Only if nothing had happened, if our lives had remained the same, yes, we would have been… But now.. now.. I've lived too much to live this kind of life with you…" She answered honestly.

"You've changed," he said with a little smile like if he was realizing it only now…

She smiled back and he nodded :

"Hope…" He added in a low voice looking at her one last time with the eyes of a lover.

He leaned and put his lips on her cheek with a sweet sad kiss. She closed her eyes the whole time he had his lips on her skin and when he stepped back, she smiled at him, relieved and happy despite their mutual sadness and guilt.

Someone knocked at the door and they turned when it opened on Karoon :

"You are asked in the room for the beginning of the session," he announced.

"We're coming," Lence answered.

Hope glanced at a clock and realised that several minutes had spent in what seemed to be only one or two…

They went into the other room and they sat, ignoring the gazes of the others already sitting at the long wooden table. She glanced at her brother who nodded at her, she saw Andrew at his side. Sitting at the table were also Jim, Silver – with Morph floating around them – Karoon, Lence and herself. The key of the map was in the middle of the table, shining under the sunbeams :

"So," Caliban started, "let's talk about the situation. We know the location of Tala which is, in fact, the moon of Winsor. Alexander Carter along with James Calil who is the mastermind of all this."

Lence lowered slightly his head in shame but Cal continued :

"They both escaped with my father, probably my grandfather and the medallion. We've got the key but Carter will probably soon go to Tala for the last battles…"

"He needs the key to get on the moon and towards the treasure," Hope added.

Caliban nodded and Andrew intervened :

"And we have to consider the war against the Procyons. They haven't come close to Winsor and Tala but we still have to be prepared against them, they may be just a distraction. Our last reports said that a few ships of the Procyon Armada had started to move, as well for few pirates' ships. Not enough to determinate their trajectory, though…" He added.

Hope looked at the wooden table, thinking deeply. James wanted power and wanted to gain it by money and riches, she had no doubt he would do anything possible to get to Tala and use the treasure to overthrow the Queen.

"We will launch as soon as possible towards Tala, there is no doubt Carter will go there. Let's just hope he doesn't have a big advance on us," Caliban said.

He lifted up, looking at all of them around the table :

"You may leave," he said with a serious face.

Hope didn't move while all the chairs noisily scraped the floor. She tried to ignore the annoying sound and soon enough, almost everyone had left the room, leaving the two Alhenas alone. Hope glanced at the door where Jim was standing, she smiled slightly and he nodded before going out of the room. If Caliban noticed it, he didn't say anything.

When Hope got up, they both relaxed and looked at each other :

"How do you feel ?" He asked with a sweet voice and a sad smile.

"Much better now," she answered.

He nodded and approached her :

"It's sure that after eating and sleeping, you probably feel better…"

She looked up at him and smiled sadly. She still couldn't believe that all her friends, all the people she cared about, especially Jim and her brother were alive. They were safe and sound. They were here, with her, protecting her and smiling at her…

"I feel better because you're alive…" She whispered.

He seemed a little surprised but she continued :

"You, Jim… Everyone… You are all alive and this.. this means so much…" She said, feeling all the pain from the last weeks slowly fading away. "I.. I thought you were dead… All of you and I.. I lost it…"

She lowered her head, feeling guilty and ashamed of her behaviour from the last weeks :

"I gave up, on everything… I didn't have anyone, I didn't have anything else worth fighting for and I gave up when I should have fought for you…" She whispered, not looking at her brother.

She heard him sigh and he stepped towards her, he put a hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin. He forced her to look up at him and his blue eyes met the flickering ones, the eyes that didn't have any colour but all the colours in the same time.

"Celeste…" He started. "I would have been the one in cells, thinking that you and all my friends were dead… I would have given up too…"

"But… You're strong…" She said. "I'm just weak for giving up so easily…"

"I'm not strong, I'm just trying to look like I am," he answered with a little smile. "Giving up, being sad, being lost… This isn't being weak. This is being strong because you've been able to live through this, no matter how hard it was for you…"

He looked right into her eyes and continued :

"Celeste Alhena. You are strong. Stronger than anyone I've ever met…" He said in a fierce voice.

She looked at him and after few minutes, she smiled sadly. She closed her eyes and fell against her big brother who put his hands on her back reassuringly.

"I missed you…" She breathed against him.

"I missed you too, Celi…" He answered, relieved to have his sister back.

When Hope left her brother to give orders, she walked in the huge mansion, trying to remember from her past what it was like to live into such a huge house. She was looking at the big walls, at the people walking by her and she was feeling alone and overwhelmed by all this. She had been used by her little cabin on a huge ship full of men who barely knew how to be clean. She had been used of the warm feeling of the Inn back on Montressor…

She leaned against a window, looking outside at the infinite blue sky and the trees of the property. When this crazy adventure would end, would she be able to go back to a normal life ? A life of.. worldliness and good behaviour…

She heard laughs and she saw in the garden right under her Jim and Karoon who were laughing, swords in their hands. They had thrown their white jackets of the Interstellar Academy on a marble bench and were training.

She smiled, seeing Jim this happy but suddenly, he dropped his smile and walked towards the bench, talking with Karoon. The brown-haired man was rubbing his left leg with a pout.

Hope swallowed hard and hurried downstairs, she got a little bit lost but when she finally found the entrance for the back garden, she hurried towards Jim and Karoon. When they heard her, they turned towards Hope and smiled like if nothing had happened :

"Hey, what are you-"

Hope cut Jim before he could finish his sentence and she crossed her arms, looking down at him :

"How long ?" She asked.

"What ?" He hesitated, glancing at the nereid who shrugged.

"How long have been hiding me that you were injured ?" She asked again.

"What are you talking about ?" He asked, looking away with an amused smile.

She rolled her eyes and sat right next to him, she punched his left thigh and he pouted of pain before glaring at her :

"I knew you were injured !" She exclaimed. "Why did you keep it away from me ?"

"It's nothing, Hope…" He mumbled.

"Nothing ? Then why-"

"It was back when Silver and I crashed near Beleb, at Calelith. I got hurt, it was just a deep cut and it asked several months before I could completely use my leg again."

"The doctors said it would take time to completely heal and considering Jim is more stubborn than a galactic whale, he didn't want to wait as long as the doctors said to start training again. Results : it takes longer to heal." Karoon explained with a desperate tone.

"And I guess that when Carter cut you again at the thigh two months ago, it didn't help…" Hope muttered under her breath remembering the fight Jim and Blondie had had before she decided to follow the pirate.

"Uh, you remember that fight ?" Jim asked, pouting ashamedly.

"Of course I remember it !" She exclaimed, glaring at him.

Karoon smiled, amused by the two and answered to Hope's silent question :

"He doesn't like the fact that you remember it because he had been beaten up faster than he ever was !" The nereid said with a smile.

Jim glared at him and rolled his eyes :

"Thanks for the support…" He grunted.

"You're welcome, pretty face !" Karoon mocked back.

Jim narrowed his eyes but Hope, annoyed by his behaviour, hit slightly his thigh and he glared at her :

"Why did you do that ?"

"For lying to me. For months. In fact, for almost a year. Because you were hurt badly and you never told me, and you're even more hurt for the last two months because of me !"

"All of this for a scratch…" He grumbled.

"Tss, no more lies, James Pleiades Hawkins," she said with a fierce voice and dark eyes.

"Ok, ok… No more lies…" He said, giving up and lifting his hands towards the sky.

"Good boy," Karoon mocked again.

Jim glared at him but turned back towards Hope, lifting up her head with one hand and leaning to kiss her. She frowned and backed away, her nose brushing his while his blue-green eyes were staring right into hers :

"Anyone can see us, Jim…" She said.

"I don't care," he said brushing his lips against hers.

She smiled under the kiss while Karoon was looking up the sky with an amused smile, slightly embarrassed.

So, what do you think ? A little sweet chapter, cooler than the others before and the ones to come ! :3

Next chapter : "BLOOD OF A PIRATE" !

Tell me what you think in reviews ! :D

Truly yours,

May