Hello! This is a Treasure Planet fic that I have been working on for almost2 years. I am very picky about my writing so don't be surprised if it's several days between posts. They will be worth the wait. (I hope!) Anywho, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

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The flames roared and echoed in her ears, and the sharp crackle and hiss of burning wood made her wince. She opened her eyes slowly, afraid of what she would see. She saw a flaming inferno of what once was her home, and a wave of panic rose in her throat. She looked frantically around, trying to gather her bearings. She found herself in the middle of the path, staring up at the huge house that she had lived in all of her life. The roof of the mansion collapsed inward, and the house was leveled in a moment, a smoldering pile of ashes. She realized a split second later what had been in that house when it collapsed.

"DADDY!!"

* * *

Nicole mopped her brow. It was hot and humid in the kitchens. She could hardly bear the sticky air as it clogged in her throat and choked her. She gathered the dirty pots and pans and added them to her already mile high stack of plates and silverware. Nicole lifted the basin and struggled toward the washroom. Her feet dragged as she stumbled along, positively drenched with sweat and steam. She reached the room, with its humongous basins and spigots. Nicole dumped the dishes into the largest bin and took the basket back for more dirty dishes. The stench emanating from the basins was almost unbearable, and the moist air clung to her damp curls. Her arms ached and her head throbbed with the roar of the dinner rush. She hated this job with a passion, but paid well, and it was about all she could get. No one hires sixteen-year old orphans. It's bad for business. Nicole had something to be thankful for though, she at least had a job. Otherwise.... well she didn't know what she would do otherwise. Letting this thought flit about in her imagination, she slowed her pace and eventually came to a halt. She stood still for a while, thinking hard, but the moment was to be short-lived. Nicole was shocked back into reality by a booming clairvoyant voice echoing in her head.

"BRAT! Get back to work!!" screamed MacGruder, the owner of the small and unsightly establishment. Nicole clapped her hands over her ears in a fruitless attempt to block out the noise. "Clean off table thirteen now!!"

"Yessir." she mumbled halfheartedly. " Brat clean the tables," she muttered, "Brat sweep the floor, Brat do this, Brat do that. Vloek het, my name is Nicole, not brat!" But still, she roused herself and headed to the table indicated. As if by magic, the thought appeared in her head, and she made sure not to think twice, lest she change her mind. Nicole made to sweep the dishes into the bin, but at the last second yanked the bin out from under the table and let the dishes fall to the floor with an ear-shattering, yet oddly rewarding, crash.

* * *

As she limped down the road later that night, she decided that the sound of dishes smashing on the floor and the satisfaction of MacGruder's fury was well worth the beating that had followed. He had smashed her good, and she was pretty well convinced that her wrist was sprained. But that was all right with her, no beating would replace the dishes, or bring back the displeased customers. But it didn't ease the pains that reverberated through her chest, each gasp of air tugging on what she was sure were bruised ribs. Nicole sat down on a crate in the alley and tried to catch her breath. She was as little bit frightened, to be perfectly honest. And who could blame her? It was near midnight, the witching hour, when all the drunkards stumbled home, and anyone they came across was in alarming danger. Nicole was thoroughly worried not only for herself but for her orphans. She had to keep going. If she didn't get home, the little ones would worry, and they might even betray their hideaway. That would be the end. Nicole had very specific rules about this. They were not to leave the den after sundown, and if they left during the day, they were to travel in pairs. Otherwise, they'd all get sent to orphanages and it would be curtains for their little family. Nicole shuddered and stood shakily. She had to get home tonight, no matter what.

* * *

Nicole sighed as she crawled down the tunnel to Magnolia Cove, named for the river that ran beside it. None of the inhabitants ever called it by its name, though. To the many who lived below ground in its warm confines, the cave was known simply as "The Den". The lamp was dim and the room smelled slightly of dirt, but that was to be expected, as the den was really an underground hollow. At the bottom of the ladder, she was met with a small, screaming posse. One screamed for a glass of warm milk, two others wanted to get permission to go out tomorrow, another two begged for a lullaby. Nicole sighed and shushed them.

"Kiera, Charlie, yes you may go out tomorrow, but you have to stick together. Dierdre, get Ashlyn a glass of warm milk please? Grant, Ashlyn," Here she had to revert to ISL, and speak while she signed, "Get into your beds and I'll sing to you." Grant and Ashlyn jumped around, Grant screaming and Ashlyn squeaking. They danced about, and then made their way to bed. Nicole went over to Dierdre and gave her a big hug.

"How was your day?" asked Dierdre as she poured the warmed milk into a small cup.

"Awful. I'll tell you about it later" Nicole walked over and sat down on Ashlyn's cot, and the small Feline crawled into her lap, head against Nicole's chest where she could feel the vibrations of the song resonating. Ashlyn was deaf, and spoke only ISL, or Interstellar Sign Language. She loved to feel Nicole's singing as much as Keira, Grant and Dierdre loved hearing the lullabies. Charlie, 14, pretended to hate them and said he was too old, but she knew that he wouldn't go a night without them. Dierdre at 15 had no such qualms, and begged as wholeheartedly as the rest. Grant was 6 and often got frustrated that he couldn't stay awake to hear the end of the song. Ashlyn always began purring about halfway through, and combination of sounds would knock his lights out faster than a right hook to the temple.

"What would you like to hear tonight??" Nicole asked the group. The response was more than she had been prepared for, and she had to cover her ears just to protect her hearing. The only one she could understand was Ashlyn, who wasn't making any noise at all, simply signing rapidly, 'Unicorn, unicorn'.

"Okay, everyone, quiet down, quiet down. I have decided!" She put on a tone of mild superiority, as though she were about to announce the winner of the Best Dressed at the Intergalactic Awards. She watched as Charlie signed to his sister that she had picked a song. Nicole winced as the children settled into their cots, the sound of rusty springs echoing through the cavern. The mattresses had been rescued from the town dump, and had been cleansed of rotting food by rinsing them in the stream that ran next to The Den. They had been wet for days, nut eventually were suitable for use. They still smelled a little moldy, but nobody complained, and for that Nicole was grateful. She didn't know if she could handle one more thing. She breathed deeply of the earthen air, and hummed a chord to herself, to get a feel for the song that she hadn't sung since, well she wasn't sure how long ago it was. Definitely a long time, though. The song was one of her favorites, and she remembered her father singing it to her when she was very young, and someone else singing it even before that. Nicole paused to think for a second, wondering why Ashlyn requested it after such a long time. Whatever, it didn't really matter. Nicole was ignoring Ashlyn's feline instincts, and the obvious confrontation with her past. But that didn't matter now. She had to get these guys to sleep before dawn, or she'd never be able to get them up in the morning. She hummed a little more, and tapped her fingers on the tattered bedspread. Nicole leaned against the soil wall, cuddled Ashlyn to her, and began to sing in a soft, clear voice.

"When the last eagle flies,

over the last crumbling mountain,

And the last lion roars,

at the last dusty fountain,

In the shadow of the forest,

though she may be old and worn,

They will stare unbelieving,

at the last unicorn.

When the first breath of wind,

through the flowers is icing,

And you look to the north,

and a pale moon is rising,

And it seems like all is dying,

and will leave the world to mourn,

In the distance, hear her laughter,

it's the last unicorn,

I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!!

When the last moon is cast,

over the last star of morning,

And the future is past without even

a last, desperate warning,

Look into the sky, where through,

the clouds a path is formed,

Look and see her,

how she shimmers,

It's the last unicorn,

I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!!"

Nicole ended the song softly, not with the burst of sound requested. She hadn't wanted to wake anyone, or disturb their rhythmic snores. She slowly set Ashlyn down on her bed and crept over to her own. It was very late into the morning, and the purple night sky was tinged with pink, and the glow flowed down the tunnel and into the cave. Nicole sighed, and her ribs tightened maliciously. Hopefully they would sleep late, and she might actually get some rest. She crawled under the warm covers, and sleep washed over her like a wave upon the shore.

* * *

The next morning the light crept slowly down the tunnel and flashed around the Den. It blinked this way and that and finally settled on Nicole's face. Her eyelids fluttered lazily and she groaned inwardly. Another day at the Academy Inn was more than she could handle. 'Get up sleepyhead. Come payday you'll be glad you did. Get up, get up, get up!!' She told herself. Nicole tried to get up out of bed, but her whole body ached from the bruises she had received yesterday. She groaned again and tried to roll over, but was dived upon by Grant.

"Nickie!! Nickie!! Charlie burned my breakfast!!" He whined. Grant and Ashlyn hated burned breakfasts, and they were finicky eaters anyway. Charlie's cooking only aggravated the situation. Nicole sighed tiredly. Charlie was the only one of them that was willing to get up at the ####'s crow to buy Mantabird eggs and Spink bacon. Nicole walked over to the cooking fire and was met with five large plates full of black, crispy... something. And whatever the something was.... it smelled really, really bad. She ran a hand over her face in frustration. She scooped up the burnt food and dumped it into the trash bin. She reached into her pocket and pulled out two drabloons.

"Charlie, go buy one more batch of eggs, and this time, I'm cooking." Charlie scowled and stomped away. He climbed up the ladder, muttering something in the way of, "-- who --s she think she --?"

"I heard that Charlie!" she called after him. She sighed for what seemed the millionth time that morning. Nicole walked over and shook Ashlyn out of bed. The small Feline yawned widely and mewed. Ashlyn blinked sleepily, and twitched her nose suspiciously, then made a face of disgust. "I know, Ashlyn, I know, I'm fixing that," she signed to the girl, "I sent him for more breakfast." Nicole walked over to Keira's bed and tried to shake her awake. The girl groaned and rolled over, but shot up out of the bed once she caught a whiff of the breakfasts Charlie had wrecked.

"Ugh! Gross! Did you let Charlie cook again?? Eeew!" She squealed. Nicole jumped on her, pinned her to the bed and began to tickle her. Keira tossed around in the bed squealing and shrieking, until finally Nicole decided that it would not be a good idea if Keira wet the bed. Then she got off the bed and met Charlie at the bottom of the ladder. She made sure to take the eggs from him right away, so that he wouldn't try to 'help'.

"Charlie, would you take Ashlyn and Grant out to the stream and give them a bath? Then you're allowed to go out for the day. Keira, go help him." She handed the eggs to Dierdre, who tossed them into the frying pan she had laying over the fire. Nicole leaned against the dirt wall, closed her eyes and yawned deeply. Her back hurt again and she felt her knees tremble. She and Dierdre were the only ones still in the Den. Dierdre, who was a Noxian, always knew intuitively when something was bothering one of the gang.

"What did you dream about last night?" she asked. Nicole sighed. Resistance was futile.

"It was really weird. I dreamed that I took you to the Inn, and then I was a boy, and then I was on a ship with this really cute captain dude. I don't remember the whole thing. It was really funny-feeling though, like I was supposed to do something and I wasn't sure what. I dunno, it was real weird." Dierdre sat down on a chair, put her chin in her hands and looked pensive.

"Hmmmm," she murmured. "That makes some sense, but not enough."

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked, "Do you understand it?"

"No, but I think you were having a 'preview'. You know, like a vision of the future. Maybe I should go to the Inn with you today." Dierdre looked confused still, but seemed a little brightened by the solution.

"That won't work today, Charlie and Kiera are going out. No one will be here to watch Grant and Ashlyn, unless we drop them off at Linney's...." she trailed off, tying up the loose ends in her head. "Okay, we'll drop the little ones off with Linney and have Charlie and Kiera pick them up later. You can come with me to the Inn. Who knows? Maybe that dream did mean something." She smiled at Dierdre. "Oh my gosh! The eggs!" She swooped down and grabbed them off the fire.

"That was a close one! You almost pulled a Charlie on me!" Dierdre laughed. Nicole laughed too, and soon the two were collapsed in giggles on the floor, clutching at their sides, with tears rolling down their cheeks.

* * *

Nicole was dressed in her cleanest skirt and blouse, which wasn't saying much. The clothes were still dirty and worn, but they were all she had. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, for lack of a winter coat. She grasped for Ashlyn's hand, and found it to be as icy cold as her own. She looked back and saw Dierdre carrying Grant, who was shivering uncontrollably. Curse the weather! It had been quite warm only last week, and they had held out hope for a light winter. No such luck. This winter was one of the coldest yet, and not one of the orphans had a winter coat.

"Come on, Ashlyn, only a few more blocks until we get to Sabra's house. Aren't you excited?" She signed to the girl rapidly, trying to get her hands back into their pockets.

"Y-y-yes-s-s." Ashlyn shivered as she signed back. Nicole's eyes watered. She hated this. All the poverty, not being able to provide necessities, it was awful. Nicole pulled her shawl off and wrapped it around Ashlyn, winding it several times around the small body. Ashlyn had long, flowing, black hair, and cat-like features. Her eyes were a piercing gold that could either make your blood run cold or make your heart melt, depending on what mood she was in. She looked a lot like her brother, Charlie, who had similar eyes, but brown hair that he kept trimmed close to his head. They had been on the streets for about a year before Nicole found them, and they had not been doing so well. Ashlyn had been near death from starvation, and Charlie almost died of the cold, having given his coat to Ashlyn. Nicole took them in and got them fed and warmed. She had been doing this for years, it was almost like an underground society. She had established homes all around the planet for the orphans who snuck aboard the Academy's ships. Linney's house was one of the shelters that Nicole had helped build. Linney herself was a large twenty-two year old girl with the sweetest disposition you could ever hope for. She currently cared for about six orphans, and was an orphan herself, like Nicole. Ashlyn's best friend, Sabra, lived with Linney, and Linney often babysat for her and Grant when Nicole needed help. Of course the favor was always returned when Linney needed help herself. They turned the corner and walked down the alley to a ramshackle warehouse that looked abandoned. That was part of the disguise, no one ever ventures into an abandoned warehouse. This way Linney and her crew were always left alone. Nicole rapped sharply on the door, her knuckles stinging from the cold, hard, metal. The door opened to reveal a heavyset woman with a wide toothy grin. Nicole smiled back and allowed herself to be pulled into a ferocious hug.

"Nicole, dear, why you no come see me no more? Always love guest! Come in, come in, you freezing cold. Sabra! You friend here! Ah! Deeder!" Nicole stifled a giggle. With her heavy accent, Linney had never been able to pronounce Dierdre's name. "Deeder! Come, come, come! Put boy down and give me hug!" Linney near suffocated Dierdre and Grant, not having waited for her to put him down. "Come in! Come have tea. Fresh brewed! Good and warm, make you not so shivery!"

"Actually, Linney, we have to go now. We're already late for work. I promise I'll come by again soon, and thanks for taking Ashlyn and Grant."

"Is no problem, you know that. Hokay, you go now. Bye-bye! Say bye-bye kiddies!" The group of small children waved exuberantly at the pair. Nicole and Dierdre waved back, and, collecting her shawl from Ashlyn, went out the door. The biting wind nipped at her face and hands, but she was a little warmer now that she had her shawl. She turned around to face Dierdre. 'Ooh!' she thought, 'Bad idea!' Her neck was sore and her back ached whenever she twisted her head. Dierdre saw her wince and spoke up.

"What happened last night?" she asked, "Did he beat you again?"

"Yeah. I broke a set of dishes. I don't really wan to talk about it." She stepped over a large stone and winced as the stretch in her muscles became unbearable. Dierdre caught her hand and assisted her around a pothole. Nicole looked at the girl, and remembered finding her hiding with her sister in an alley. The two, Dierdre and Kiera, were from the planet Noxia, and were naturally black. Literally with ebony skin, the blackest hair imaginable, and black eyes, the only part of them that was detectable in the dark alley was the glimmer of the whites of their eyes in the dying firelight. She had found them huddled in a black coat that was obviously not theirs, as it was too big for either of them. They had been near frozen and quite thin. She had brought them back to the cave, already inhabited by Ashlyn and Charlie. The five children had grown into a family, with Nicole acting as matriarch. The children all looked up to her and respected her, except for Charlie, who had a hard time respecting anyone.

"Do you think that he'll let you back?" Dierdre asked, "I mean, you did break the dishes. What makes you think you weren't fired?"

"Of course I'm still hired. You think he'd release his favorite punching bag? No way." She made a grim face and shook her head. They were entering the town now, and were passing the Post Office. Nicole looked in the window and saw that there were a ton of 'Most Wanted' signs. As she walked by the Post office everyday, Nicole tended to stop and try to memorize the faces on the signs, just in case one of them made an unexpected stop in one of the alleys near their home. There were the standard assortment of ugly and sinister looking bad guys, but there was also a sign that advertised a need for young men as spacers on a Royal Escort ship. This intrigued Nicole, but her heart sank like a stone in water as she remembered the "No Female Spacers" law that had been passed two years ago. She remembered it only because it had broken Ashlyn's heart not to be able to follow her hero, Captain Amelia Cymric, now Captain Amelia Doppler. After the famed Captain had retired to raise a family, the Empire jumped on the opportunity to eliminate females of any species to take a job on a solar galleon. Nicole groaned and began walking, flinching at the pain that shot up her calves.

"Now, Dee, we can't be late, so step it up. And when we get there, just do what everyone tells you to, and don't complain. You'll probably be a busboy... er... girl, and you have to clean all the dirty dishes off the tables. But you have to do the job quickly or you'll get yelled at by the big orange guy and you don't want that." Dierdre nodded to show that she understood, but wanted to interrupt. Nicole couldn't let her or she'd lose her train of thought. "If you take too long to clean the tables, the customers will complain and you'll get bawled out by those sissy waitresses. They think you'll cost them their tips, but in reality they weren't gonna get any anyway. IF anyone besides the boss yells at you, just roll your eyes and walk away, that way they know not to mess with you."

"Chill, Nicky! I got it, I know. I've been to work with you before and I was a busboy then. What makes you think I'll mess up today?" The Noxian's voice was calm and soothing, and the use of the obscure nickname that Grant had come up with told Nicole that Dierdre was worried for her.

"I know Dierdre, but I'm worried 'bout you. I don't know if you can handle this." Nicole's voice touched on a whine that sounded pathetic even to her own ears.

"Calm down, Nicole. I am sure I can handle this. Don't worry about me." The girls reached the employee's entrance that was unsurprisingly less elaborate than the entrance intended for the guests. Once inside, Nicole and Dierdre sighed in relief as the warm air rushed over them. Oh, the sweet smells of breakfast were terrorizing the empty bellies. Nicole sighed rather loudly, and the noise caught the attention of one of the cooks.

"Oh Nicola, dearie! The boss wants to see you right away. Says he has an important message for you. Hurry up now, dearie! Go, go, go!" Nicole groaned. This was not good. She looked up at Maya, the one who had delivered the message. There was a spark of worry in her eye, (Nicole shrugged it off, Maya was paranoid) but there was also a glimmer of fear. Oh man, definitely not good. Maya was a class 'A' paranoid mixed with hypochondriac, but it took a lot to actually scare her. When Maya thought she had the Sputum flu, and she was going to die in three days, she had accepted it and gone about her work as normally as possible. When she woke up healthy as a horse on the fourth day, she had celebrated raucously. To have Maya actually worried about something was definitely dangerous.

"Okay, Mama, don't worry." Nicole used the familiar nickname and saw the large woman soften. "I can handle it. I handled Leiko didn't I? When she tried to rail me for stealing her tip and I hadn't? Yeah, and I don't think MacGruder has claws like that she-beast." Maya smiled at the memory and Dierdre giggled at the story.

"You win, dearie, you win. Now get along before old Maya has any more chance to worry herself. Go on, get going."

"Yes, Mama." Nicole smiled to the older lady and received a broad toothless grin in return. She giggled and waved goodbye to Dierdre. As soon as she had turned her back on the two, the smile melted off her face. She shivered in anxiety and felt her heartbeat speed up. She tried in vain to calm herself, but in spite of her efforts her hands began to shake and her palms became sweaty. She climbed the back stairs that led to his office, wincing each time the stairs creaked. She pushed gently on the door, peeking around the corner like a scared kitten.

"COME IN." said a gruff voice in her head. Despite herself, she rolled her eyes at this. The creature didn't have a mouth, and instead spoke telepathically into the heads of his employees. It was annoying to said employees, but he found it quite convenient. If he had yelled audibly, the customers would have heard. But the way that he yelled, the patrons downstairs were blissfully ignorant.

"Yes, Mr. MacGruder? You asked for me?"

"Yes, Brat. I have decided that, as of last night, you have been promoted."

"P-pr-promoted, sir?" Nicky stumbled over the unexpected word.

"Yes, girl, promoted. You showed me that you are much too old to be bussing tables. You have reached a level of maturity where it is downright embarrassing to have you working at such a lowly position. Am I right?" Here his slanted eyes became menacing, and the red pupils glowed evilly against the orange, scaly skin. One of his tentacles snaked around the desk to wind itself around the leg of her chair. She watched it out of the corner of her eye, and it stilled, brushing her ankle. She shivered, and returned to looking at her boss. "You will not be working as a busboy anymore." She stopped breathing, and stared at him. She thought to herself, 'Oh boy, this is it, I am soooooo fired.'

"No, no, my dear girl, not fired," he said smoothly, reading her mind, "You will be working as a waitress from now on."

"WHAT? A WAITRESS? No way, no WAY!" Nicole stood up so quickly she knocked her chair over. " I can't be a waitress! I have zero people skills! Zero, nada, zip, the empty set, NONE!! I won't get any tips and I'll be fired in a week, tops!" She paced around the room, still screaming, as her mind began to fly from one worry to another. She was so preoccupied with her own internal ramblings that she did not hear the boss's whispered, "Exactly."