Chapter 25
"Heave!... Ho!...Heave!... Ho!"
Jim snapped awake, his body bolting upright.
Dizzy, he spiralled out of control as workers, men and women tugged at ropes that raised the sails. The ancient ship creaked and groaned on its endless journey through the Ethrium.
A song buzzed through the sails.
"Heave!... Ho!... Heave!... Ho!..." the men hummed in their rhythmic chant.
Where was he? Where was this place? How did he get here?
The gunshot rang through his mind and in an instant he tore off his shirt, checking himself over for the wound... but there was nothing there...
How was this even possible?
A shadow fell over him. A figure tall and strong.
The captain stood with his hands upon his hips and a smirk wide upon his face. A smirk he'd only read about in story books...
Flabbergasted, the name of the impossible seemed to tumble from Jim's mouth.
"Captain... Turner?"
The Captain gave a nod, allowing the boy a moment to let his eyes trail across the ship... at the men who worked tirelessly and the sails that seemed to endlessly fly them despite the fact that the solar winds had faded.
He was aboard the Flying Dutchman... which also meant...
Jim's heat sank.
He was dead.
"There is someone that wants to see you," William Turner didn't let the boy dwell on that thought as he directed Jim's gaze to a man who stood quietly in the shadows.
Jim didn't need to take a second glance... he knew who it was...
His heart skipped a beat.
"Hello Jim," the figure shifted from the shadows.
The blue, inquiring eyes that watched him beneath messy, fat chunks of hair that hung over his face.
Jim's throat was tight, his head dizzy all over again as the man who he hadn't seen since he was a little boy greeted him.
"Dad," was all he was able to muster.
Leland Hawkins had tears in his eyes. Hell, the last time he'd cried was... well he couldn't recall... he hadn't even cried at his own death... but the sight of that boy...
"Jim... I am so sorry." It was all he could think of to say. "For everything."
The boy... no... the young man stood, his chest heaving...
"Dad. Why did you go?"
How could Leland answer that? Nothing could justify what he'd done.
He could only swallow, holding his head low.
"What I did to you and your mother was... unforgivable. There is nothing that I regret more than..." he swallowed, unable to finish his sentence. "I understand if you can never forgive me James. Just understand that I love you, son."
The boy's eyes watched him... searched him. Great pools of blue that threatened to swallow him whole and drown him.
"I miss you, Dad."
The boy's embrace was unexpected but seemed to shatter the very fabric of space and time. Leland let himself sink into his son's arms. And in that moment the only thing he realised of Jim was forgiveness.
"What is to become..." Jim struggled, digging his head into his father's shoulder. "...of me?"
"This isn't your time, Jim," Leland answered. "I'm calling in a favour." He chuckled lightly, and allowed the boy to straighten before he gave him a playful nudge on the chin. "Let's just say I have friends in high places and leave it at that."
Captain Turner was behind him again, his shadow long and endless.
The captain gave a signalling nod to Leland, his crewman.
"The star's rays are beginning to fade, our window is closing, Leland."
Leland nodded, his gaze falling upon his son again.
"Tell your mother I love her and I miss her."
Jim didn't understand.
He went to inquire but then realised that he had no voice.
The world around him... it was beginning to fade.
His father's face... drifting away.
"I love you, son." His father's voice rang in his ears until his mind started to feel heavy and eventually... he drifted off...
"Man overboard!" The yell was loud and rang clear across the morning breeze.
Sarah snapped awake in her hammock, the instincts only known to a mother screaming her to her feet.
She struggled her way into boots and a coat before she hurried her way back up to the main deck.
Jaka and Aidee were already throwing the ropes... pulling the body onto the deck. He fell with a loud thud upon the planks.
"He still has a pulse."
Jaka pumped at his chest, slapping him in the face and turning him onto his side.
"Jim!" fighting the loafing forms that attempted to stop her, Sarah immediately dashed to his side, her wail loud and desperate. Her son!
She grabbed at him, shook him. Begged him to his sensors.
The boy gave a cough, choking up his own tongue.
His eyes blinked open in the bright, morning sunlight before rolling back into his head. His head rolled to the side.
"Jim! James!" Still, Sarah struggled to revive him, her face awash with tears.
The hands grabbed at her, pulling her back.
Jaka wrenched her to her feet and Sarah found herself landing into a chest of fur.
"He is going to be alright." His purr was soothing and his heartbeats relaxed her.
The alien's hand stroked the back of her head, refusing to let her go until his crew had managed to place the boy into a stretcher and cart him away to the sickbay.
"He will be alright. I promise."