Disclaimer: I own Aeneas, the Blackhawks and Whitestripes and Pylea . . . yea; that one is mine . . . everything else is Disney.

Notes: I wrote this as a brainstorm idea . . .There is a speech from Shakespeare's Othello somewhere in here, just so people don't think I'm stealing it.

Dedication: to all of my constant reviewers! You are the best!

"Kitty" Year-Round

Part XII: A Night Without Armor

By Mia LeighArc

As Amelia's crew realized that Aeneas was hanging from the port side of the ship, the mumbled shouts became louder. Delbert was near the port side and ran toward the screams. He pulled the frightened stranger as hard as he could and he was actually a lot stronger than anyone had given him credit for. Just as Aeneas climbed over the side of the ship onto the deck, the crew began docking the Legacy. Delbert silently fell onto the deck, with Aeneas falling next to him.

"Planet Ho" the lookout shouted from his post. The crew cheered; and even though she had no desire for the treasures and riches to be found on Pylea, Amelia smiled with delight and shuffled to the front of the ship as quickly as she could without looking uncivilized or unladylike. As soon as they rescued the remaining survivors, the sooner they could go home.

"Delbert come see, we've finally arrived!" There was no reply. Amelia turned panic stricken and called to him again.

"Delbert? Delbert?" The only reply was the sound of silence. Amelia searched for her husband, who was lying on the deck with a knife wound across his abdomen and an even deeper wound in his shoulder. He had a minor cut on his left palm and a little scrape on his right hand. (From where he got a paper cut earlier that day) When she found him, she immediately tried to help him up off the deck that lay under him.

"I'll be fine dear; I won't need any help." He said in a soft voice, just before he cringed at a stinging pain in his chest from where a rough spacer had put all his weight during the battle. He felt like he was going to be sick. Aeneas noticed that he was being ignored and went towards the gangplank when Mr. Cornelious and Mr. Quinn noticed his swift retreat. They took note of what direction he was going, so they could hunt him down later.

"Oh tish tosh Doctor, you just saved a man's life . . . a scoundrel of a man, but still it's the thought that counts." Amelia cooed as she lightly smiled, then took his hands and pulled him up off of the deck. That left Aeneas, to himself...watching them through the shadows

"I'll get you Delbert Doppler . . ." Aeneas said to himself in a low, evil voice as he crept back into the shadows to leave the ship and explore Pylea.

"Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you?" Amelia said in a low voice as they walked up the stairs to her stateroom to get a first aid kit. She stopped for a moment to open the door, but when she looked Delbert's way and he wore a guilty puppy pout

"Come, now, let's get you cleaned up, Doctor." Half way through Amelia's sentence, Delbert grabbed her by the wrist with his free hand. Thinking of a greater task at hand, (taking care of her injured Husband) she turned to face him and looked deeply into his eyes, smiling warmly

"You always know how to take care of me." He whispered softly. Amelia looked at her feet as her cheeks turned an unfamiliar shade of red. A stray strand of her short hair drifted into her face as she spoke.

"That's my job Delbert, I think you should. . . "He brought his hand up to her cheek, and held it there. He lightly graced the stray hair back to its place and kissed her lovingly on the cheek. Amelia smiled and slid her arms around him looking around for a moment to see if anyone had noticed the display between the two of them. She finally opened up the door to her stateroom and closed it behind them.

"I love you . . . " He whispered as she turned back to look into his chocolate brown eyes. Delbert smiled and touched his nose to hers.

"I love you too." She said as his lips soon came in contact with hers. She found herself blushing again at his daring display of affection.

"Now, come on dear...we haven't all day to get you cleaned up." Delbert sighed slightly and slowly sat down in her stateroom chair.

Aeneas stalked along the side of the ship talking to himself as Professor Grey Avail, (Professor of fine arts) and his second in command, came out of the brush to join his leader. Aeneas stopped and looked toward where Delbert was the last time he saw him and scowled.

"Why do these things have to happen to me?" Aeneas said with anger in his voice.

"What's the matter this time, Aeneas?" Grey said in a raspy voice. Aeneas growled, scorning the whole situation...he spoke with cold, bitter resentment and Professor Avail could sense it wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation…

"yet another excuse for the man to gripe about his troubles, he's such an over-actor." Thought the professor to himself as Aeneas prepped his Shakespearean voice.

"Why, there's no cure for this; it's the curse of my passions. Preferment chooses by love and affection, and not by the stages, where each man stood by their masters. Now, be judge of yourself, whether I in any just term am obliged to love Amelia. "

"I would not follow her then." Grey growled more angrily than he would've liked, rolling his eyes, but playing along so that Aeneas might just drop the whole charade and let them go home. Totally disregarding his friend, Aeneas continued with a long sigh.

"I follow her to serve my turn upon her..." Aeneas said with a brooding raise of his brow and a slowly clearing his throat.

"We cannot all be leaders, nor can all leaders be truly followed. You shall mark many a studious and intelligent crew of men. Then doting on her own obedient bondages; whip me such honest men. Others there are who are trimmed in forms and visions of their duties, keep yet their hearts on themselves, and, throwing shows of service on their lords. Do well, thrive by them and when they have lined their coats, they have paid themselves homage. These fellows have some soul, and such a one do I profess myself. For, It is as sure as you are Mr. Avail, were I her, I would not be Aeneas. In following her, I follow myself. Heaven is my judge, not for my love and duty, but seeming so, for my peculiar end. For when my outward actions demonstrate the actions and the deepest feelings of my heart, in compliment external, it's not long after but I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for I am not what I am."

"You always have to be the show off don't you?" Professor Avail said bluntly as Aeneas gave him a dirty look going back to his regular speech.

"You could always go home Professor, it's not like I need you anymore anyway!" Aeneas spoke with a fire in his voice that scared both of them.

"Plus, I'm only here for one thing, and that's to get what I came all this way for."

"And yet you must always speak in riddles. Why must you bring us into your sexual excursions, you seem to think a happily married woman would want to leave her husband to fuck you? Do you honestly think she still loves you?-if she ever did." The professor was speaking logically, but Aeneas, as usual didn't want to hear it.

"What are you saying, she wouldn't be impressed by me trying so hard to win her heart?"

"Naturally, no." the professor replied.

"I'm sorry Mr. Avail, but there's nothing natural about it. She loves me, and she always has, just you wait-" The professor was getting annoyed with Aeneas calling him "Mister" non-stop so Grey finally decided to say something about it…interrupting him.

"Professor, not Mr. Avail if you please…I didn't go to eight years of medical school to be called mister." The professor interjected, politely. True to form Aeneas didn't care one way or the other.

"Oh would you go fuck yourself…this isn't about you, this is about how I'm going to get Amelia back."

Professor Avail heard a rustling of bushes close by and got closer to investigate. He drew his gun out and held it fiercely when he thought he heard a sound coming from the bushes. Aeneas stood, thinking about his situation for a few awkward and silent moments. You could simply see the wheels turning if you watched him long enough. Not really caring that his companion now had his back to him and was walking through the woods, Aeneas continued—as if harsh words were not said and the professor was still his good friend. Silence followed.

"What say you, Mr. Avail?" There was a moment of silence and then the rustling of leaves.

"Mr. Avail?" All he heard was silence.

"Mr. Avail, What do you say by this change? Do you . . . think-me-mad?" Aeneas entered the clearing to find his friend was gone. There were no traces of blood left that led anywhere, although the gun Mr. Avail usually carried was half-hazard on the ground.

Amelia finished caring for her husband's wounds with great care. She sighed, thinking about the battle that was fought the previous evening that led well into the wee hours of the morning. Amelia shivered at the fact that Aeneas had kissed her; she had never thought about her past relationship after the day they had broken up over ten years ago...at the time they were fairly serious, however she went on plenty of dates with fellow Academy students before without getting caught, yet none of them ever started stalking her everywhere she went. Amelia stood next to him and intertwined her fingers with his. Amelia looked at the clock and gasped, realizing treating his wounds took a lot longer than expected.

"We should go explore before the sun goes down, after-all that is why we came here right?" Amelia said excited.

"Not exactly, you came here to find out about these missing people and I came here to explore." He said smartly.

"That's not what I meant, but fair enough... Delbert, darling, I fear I am to leave you in charge. I will be taking a small search group out look around; maybe we can find some clues along the way. Mr. Boris, Mr. Cornelius and Mr. Quinn shall accompany me; along with a few others. However if you should run into any troubles...protect the Legacy with your life." She retorted his previous statement with a serious look of passion as she handed him a plasma pistol. She pulled him closer to her and gave him one last kiss before heading out.

"You don't think what we did was..." Delbert started awkwardly.

"Shall we go then?" Amelia said quickly without any second thought suddenly realizing she was talking about the two of them. Delbert made a face as he had noticed this sudden change suddenly smiled as he ran a cool finger along the line of her jaw. She gulped and mentally scolded herself for her slip of the tongue. Delbert drew her closer, nuzzling her cheek softly.

"A-hem, Shall I-I go then?" Mentally pushing him away, Amelia jumped at a knock on the door.

"Captain, are we ready to go?" Mr. Boris stated from the other side of the stateroom door. Amelia took a deep breath and pleaded Delbert with her eyes.

"I shall be out in a moment Mr. Boris, thank you for your concerns."

"Delbert, I am afraid I must go." Amelia insisted putting her plasma pistol in its holster. Delbert nodded, his expression drooping slightly...too afraid to go back to what he was thinking before. The pair stepped professionally, however to keep up appearances, she had to look like she knew what she was doing leaving her ship in the hands of the good doctor. She cringed at having to treat him like a crew member with her search party on the other side of the door, well in earshot of the conversation.

"And Doctor, if I return and there has so much as a scratch on the Legacy, I will confine you to the brig for the remainder of the voyage until I can find a suitable punishment for you, understood?" Amelia said smartly as she rallied her crew members, to find a new discovery on this luscious green planet. Delbert let out a nervous sigh and bid goodbye to his wife's retreating back for the time being. Either way he looked at it, he was dead if anything happened to the ship. Then again, that suitable punishment sounded rather-tempting at the moment…he had always known Amelia as a wild cat when it came to secret physical intimacies.

"This could be fun." He thought to himself. "Delbert, old boy, you are quite the raunchy fellow aren't you?" he sighed as he looked around, finding the majority of the crew were continuing with their chores. In place of the cabin boy, who went with the captain for some reason, a large burly crew member took over his duties in swabbing the deck. The ship's lookout was up in the shrouds checking for damage from the fire fight. He delighted in the thought that he could handle himself and proceeded to walk around deck to watch the crew carefully.

"I can do this." Delbert thought to himself as he watched the ship. A crew member dropped a spyglass out of his pocket by accident which fell to the deck with a low thud.

"I can't do this." Delbert thought out load as he told the aforementioned person to be mindful of his things, receiving, in response an "Aye, Sir."

Meanwhile:

Amelia had set out with three of her most trusted men, her first mate Mr. Boris, her gunman and trail guide Mr. Quinn, and her stealthy cabin boy raising up in the ranks Mr. Cornelius. Each had their past endeavors and voyages, Stripe Cornelius came from the Cygnus Cross galaxy, specifically the planet Tryankin where wild gyro bushes grow. He used to walk along the Nigale River every summer, just the right time of year for everything to be in perfect bloom. Steven Quinn or as he preferred just "Quinn," came from Quytar, a heavily forested planet with plenty of wild game and animals to hunt. He simply enjoyed the hunting he partook in with his pack. Matthew Boris came from Khoras, a strange planet full of odd creatures big and small, much like Montressor. What he most enjoyed was his family.

Pylea was the perfect example of a natural rainforest or tropical jungle containing miles and miles of water, (lakes, rivers and waterfalls of all sizes). Among the soothing sounds of the rushing water was the cry of Pylea's natural beasts, the Cravenwolf. Cravenwolves are raven/wolf-like creatures that eat decaying plants and animals. They are called Cravenwolves because of their constant craving of human flesh. Cravenwolves usually hunt in packs and trans-locate, looking like a puff of smoke whenever they move from one place to another. They take the form of a shadow wolf with piercing red eyes. As far as the eye can see, trees, plants and shrubbery grew like weeds and corn stalks grew to the sky it seemed; everything was tall, voluptuous and green, with just enough room between the bushes to walk through. With a puff of smoke the alpha Cravenwolf appeared in a nearby bush. He saw their direction they group was going and went back to his meal. He would likely find them later, but they weren't even supposed to be here.

The group looked around as they came deep into the luscious forest of Pylea. Amelia with her keen eye looked around for anything suspicious that the others might've missed. Seeing nothing in particular, she turned to Mr. Quinn the wolf-man explorer of the group.

"Well my wolf friend, care to scout ahead if you please?" Quinn did as he was asked with eager glee as he pranced in the general direction they were going, obviously in his own element. He slowed slightly coming to a log crossing over the river, but skillfully walked over the "bridge" in mere seconds. He started sniffing around. Wild Tylian Lilac he recalled with a few sniffs of the air around him. A brief flash come into his peripheral vision, but was gone once he had turned to see what it was. He suddenly got a strange, uneasy feeling and looked behind him, but saw nothing. Quinn knew something was now amiss.

Mr. Quinn spoke calmly to the others from up ahead, although none of them could hear him.

"I can feel them all around us, these strange creatures that feed on darkness...We should be careful Captain...I sense these creatures are very hostile." Just then a rustling came from behind him, then as he stopped and went to the origin of the noise, he looked around again until he saw an eerie pair of red eyes staring back at him. He jumped at what he saw and soon found himself surrounded. Ghostly howls followed as he tried to fight them off, but he was outnumbered. The captain was growing restless.

"The boy has been gone a long time, Captain. He's probably off gallivanting amongst the trees. What should we do Captain?" Mr. Boris had stated carefully. Amelia looked him strait in the eye and smiled. Looking sternly, but rather sympathetically at Mr. Quinn's direction she said,

"Why we carry on of course..." Mr. Boris nodded.

The group wandered hopelessly around without their guide, Mr. Quinn. After a moment's rest the group started exploring again...With Amelia wearing a stern, but rather concerned face, the group came to a clearing of nothing but trees and bushes as far as the eye could see. Finally deciding on going to the left, the group soon found that they were going down a steep hill, but the sounds of water keep the ground going. Amelia looked back for a moment to see if anyone was following them...she saw a lone wolf from a distance just staring at them. But what she didn't expect was the wolf started to howl (which is a mixture of a Ringwraith scream and a wolf howl) in it's eerie ear-shattering tongue. In response, all of the other Cravenwolves also began to howl which practically shattered their ear drums. Holding their ears, the group fell to the ground like dominoes from the sound and began rolling down the hill, causing them all to stumble and soon they all met at the bottom of the hill, just at the edge of a small lake at the foot of a waterfall.

What do you all think of that? Say, I'm sorry I haven't updated in like . . . FOREVER, but here's the second part of the chapter about Pylea . . . more to come A.S.A.P! Tune in next time and R&R or YOU=RE A MONKEY!