Well, Chapter three. I just had my fill of breakfast burrito, and it was delicioso! Wow, Spanish test tomorrow. Hope I don't fail
P
Disclaimer: I own only Captain Skye Naria Benderick and her gun, Dark Star. Oh, and the naming obsession.
CHAPTER THREEAfter spending an entire day and night in the church, Skye finally had the energy to leave. She told the man who could not respond that she would be back in just a bit, as she was going to go find food and a proper shelter.
She patted the man's head, which made him stir a bit.
"Don't try and move just yet. Wait until I find you a hotel."
She sighed and walked out of the empty church, and into the bright morning suns. She trotted to the end of the alley, and ventured out into the marketplace. They were selling all sorts of things, and Skye smiled as she saw her favorite treat from back home.
"Apples?" she asked, picking one up.
"Only a double dollar for one ma'am, but 3$$ for four!"
"I'll have to take the four then!" she said enthusiastically, handing the man a bill.
He gave her change, and she bit into it hungrily.
Damn this is good!
She finished her shopping, and made her way back to the church. She stopped in front of the upright-sitting man, and showed him her bags.
"Look, we have enough food for weeks, and it only put us back 50$$!"
He gave her a slight smile.
"Hey! You're up, that's great. I thought it would take you much longer. You still have a while before you can speak though."
She gave him an apple.
"You think you can eat?"
He nodded and weakly took her apple. He bit into it, and savored each bite.
"Do you think you can write, or no?"
He nodded again, and Skye smiled.
"Good. I would like to call you by your name, and I'm not quite sure what that is. If you write it down, it would be a lot easier."
She handed him a pen from her coat pocket, and he set down his apple. He took the pen and slowly wrote miss-shapen letters on the bench in front of him.
"Nicholas D. Wolfwood?" she asked the black-haired man who looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion.
He nodded once again, but Skye wasn't sure if it was the answer of the question, or that he had fallen asleep. She decided that it was both, and picked up her groceries.
"I'm going to find us a hotel. I'll be back for you once I find one. It would look strange if I was carrying you around with me."
She didn't care if he had heard her, she just kicked open the doors of the church and stomped off into the suns.
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"25$$ a night then?" she asked the clerk in the lobby.
"Yes ma'am." He replied, handing her a key.
"So, two beds, a bath, and a pass to the hotel bar?"
The clerk nodded again, and Skye smiled. She could really use a beer about now. Come to think of it, she hadn't had a thing to drink in order of alcohol since she joined the Aurexiellian army.
"Thanks again!" she said, with her room key in hand.
She made the short walk back to the church, and saw Mr. Nicholas D. Wolfwood in the same place she had left him.
Why am I doing this again? She asked herself, Damn my nice person-ness!
"Got a room!" she said, lifting his head so she could see his eyes.
He was still asleep, and Skye decided that there was little that she could do to change that. Finally, she resolved to carry him.
"Up!" she grunted, lifting him so he was leaning on her, half snoring.
"Jesus you're heavy. You didn't eat that much, only an apple."
He snored louder in reply, and Skye grunted again.
"Here, you're going to have to help me a bit."
She readjusted at least seven times before being satisfied enough to take the first step. She stumbled all the way to the door and almost fell.
"This is going to be more difficult than I thought."
She guided his sleeping steps, and pushed him through the door. She caught him on the other side and continued her long journey to the hotel. It took her quite a while to get there, and she got a questioning look from the clerk at the front.
"He's reeeally drunk." She made up as an excuse.
It seemed to be sufficient, as the clerk just nodded and waved them through.
…And he was dead yesterday. She finished in her head.
Hauling him up the stairs was a different matter entirely. She resorted to sliding him up the banister, and she didn't care how many weird looks she got. She got closer and realized that he smelled of gunpowder, whiskey, and leather. Quite a combination.
"We're here." She said with a sigh of relief.
Skye struggled to get out the room key from her inside coat pocket, but eventually succeeded. She turned the key and opened the door.
The room was fairly large, and it had two twin beds.
"It works." She said to the sleeping form leaning against her.
Once again, there was a snore in reply. She shrugged it off and wasted no time in pushing him onto the bed on the far side of the room.
This planet isn't so different. Skye thought, eying the items placed in the large room.
There was a small bedside table with a bible lying on it, and next to that was a lamp. A primitive radio was placed on a small table with a wooden chair. The chair looked like it was ready to collapse, but the radio looked like it was in working order.
"It's like being in a museum." She said to herself in a whisper.
Skye looked over to Nicholas, who let out yet another loud snore. He would wake up soon.
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It was two nights later, and Nicholas woke up only once, and it was briefly. He looked around, though it was hard for him, and fell back into an everlasting slumber, or so it seemed for Skye. She really didn't know what she would do after the 500$$ was fully spent. She could get a job, but she really had no other skills but piloting and speaking in foreign tongues. Shooting maybe, but she only did that for self-protection and fighting ground wars. Skye doubted there was anything that she could pilot on this desert-like town. Once Nicholas was fully healed, where would he go? Would he try to find the man in red, did he have a wife, children even? Skye had been thinking long and hard about these things, as she was sure she was the most bored being on the entire planet.
When she was bored back at home on The Fifth Dimension, Skye would tinker with computers, or chat with Danielle or Rosy. Now she had no one. Sure, Nicholas would wake up soon, and his speaking ability would be restored, but he would leave. Wouldn't he?
I just hope I can survive on this God-forsaken planet.
Skye looked out the only window in the room, and saw no one was on the streets. Strange, it was only seven or so. She tipped her chair back on it's hind legs, and listened to them creak. She rocked herself back-and-forth until she got tired of it. Looking at her watch that she had re-set to this planet's time, it was near midnight.
Time passed by unnoticed in deep space. There was no sun to rise or fall, and sometimes it could drive you crazy. She was actually glad to be on some planet, even if it did have two suns. Come to think of it, there were several moons as well. Five or six of them at least. Skye stared up at one of them with interest, wondering how such a big crater could be formed when the others had none. She sighed and got up. She walked all the way over to her bed, and was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.
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"Morning, Nicholas." Skye said to the priest sitting upright in his bed.
He was still unable to speak after three weeks, but he was making improvements. He could get up and walk now, even if it was just around the room.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Skye handed him some noodles she had bought the day before, and he took them graciously. Skye really couldn't remember the last time she had been this nice to anybody. Even her own mother had never been treated with this much kindness. Skye had only revived three or so people from death, as she was born with this little gift. All of them were taken from her after she had performed the difficult task, so she never had a chance to show them kindness. Her father made her do it to fallen generals when she was very young. They had never shown her any kind of gratitude for the things she had done. She was a tool for her father a lot of the time. Her mother had put a stop to this because it showed signs of weakening Skye a great deal. Not that her father cared, but he couldn't deny the wishes of his wife. Apparently that had changed, but maybe the old coot was dead now. It really didn't affect Skye anymore, now that she was a great deal away from him.
Then she remembered.
He doesn't know who I am. He doesn't know that I am not from this world, or that I have dog-ears growing out of my head. He doesn't know what my name is even… All he knows is that I somehow revived him from death. Dammit!
The day passed without incident, and Nicholas drifted off into sleep around midday. Skye didn't mind much, she was used to him drifting off like that. It wasn't until he started muttering that she shot up from her chair and rushed to his bedside.
"It's right next to you, Needle-noggin! Use it!"
Skye jumped back. He spoke! But what of what he said? What was a needle-noggin? He woke with a start, and stared blankly at Skye, who was pushed up against the wall opposite him, staring back. He sat up and scratched his head before he spoke again.
"He took my cross punisher, dammit."
"Nicholas?" she asked, still staring.
He nodded and stared out the window.
"I never got your name." He said searching his coat for something.
He found it. It was a beat up pack of cigarettes. He drew one out carefully and placed it in his mouth. He lit it silently, waiting for an answer.
"Captain Skye Naria Benderick." She said, giving her full name.
"Captain, huh?"
Skye snapped out of it. Dammit! She had told him something she didn't want him to know. He was looking calm, however, taking puffs of his cigarette.
"Sandsteamer?"
"Sure." She answered.
Whatever, I can fake it for now.
"So, the question of the day, why in the hell am I still alive?"
"I saved you. I thought you would be more, I dunno, thankful?"
"Did Knives send you?" he asked.
Then miraculously, he answered his own question; before Skye had the chance to ask why a knife would send her.
"No, he wouldn't. I was ordered to be killed, why would he then save me?"
He looked like he was talking to himself now, and Skye didn't like being ignored. Especially after saving his goddamn life no less.
"If it's any consolation," he said, interrupting her train of thought, "Thank you."
"You're very welcome Mr. Nicholas D. Wolfwood."
He took another drag on his cigarette before speaking again.
"Why then? If nobody sent you. Why did you save me?"
Skye leaned back into the wall. Why had she saved him? Then it came to her.
"You looked like you had unfinished business. Besides, I'm a nice person."
He nodded, and took another drag before putting it out.
"Why do you hide your head with a hood when we are indoors, and out of the suns?"
Skye didn't have a real answer for this one either. The best thing she could come up with was hat hair, but she doubted he would accept that as an answer. Well, if he didn't accept her, she could just kill him, right? Everyone thinks he's dead anyway.
She flipped down her hood to reveal her ears, and he only looked at them with interest for a few seconds.
"Eh." Was his response.
She was stumped. Was this normal for life on this planet? She failed to see anyone who looked like her in the market.
"Believe me, in my line of work, you come across some pretty weird shit. You aren't even a comparison to some of the freaks I've had to deal with."
"You're line of work? A man of the cloth?"
"Yeah. Some of the confessions are pretty weird to. You wouldn't believe some of the things this one guy did with a pair of salad tongs and a thomas."
Thomas? Was that the giant chicken?
"Well. I must be going." Nicholas said, getting out of his bed.
"To where?" Skye asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"I'm not sure. I really don't have any money, and I'm not sure where my friends are. I guess I'll just wander now."
"Can I come with you?"
Nicholas looked at Skye, who was still on the floor. She had very large, pleading eyes, and she resembled a puppy begging for table scraps. Especially with those ears, one of them perked while the other fell to the side of her face. Nicholas looked like he was thinking hard about letting her tag along. He was weighing the pros and cons, and he must have found more pros, because he nodded with is eyes closed tight.
"Sweet. Anything here you want to take with you?" she asked.
Nicholas looked around the room, and spied the bible. He grabbed it off the table and led the way out the door.
"We're off." He whispered.
Fun times, huh? Remember, when rating, beware my fragile ego. It will eat your face sucka. Sorry, apple juice has a hell of a lotta sugar.