Disclaimer: I own nothing but me bloomin' mind . . . and not even that is really mine. *LOL* I finally am getting inspired to write something new.

Notes: The official final chapter in the ongoing Pylea saga. I still have good chapters and story twists ahead, so stick around! Now without further ado, I present to you, NEW MATERIAL!

"Kitty" Year-Round

Part XV: The Path of Totality

By Mia LeighArc

Aeneas woke up in a deep sweat, but his head didn't feel as heavy anymore. The bounds keeping him there, had been removed and he could now move freely. Outside of the room he found himself in, he saw Scarlet. He quietly went over to where she would be able to hear him and whispered to her.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where in the hell I am and who you are? I don't know if I caught your name, but for someone as pretty as you are, I would expect to keep it in mind." He said slyly as she turned around suddenly to face him. She simply laughed and turned to face him.

"You must've hit your head harder than we originally thought. My name is Scarlet, I've been taking care of you since you were attacked by Navorka." Scarlet said sweetly. She opened up the door and stepped inside.

"Who is that?" He said with a puzzled look on his face. She calmly explained what had happened the past two days to bring him up to speed. He allowed her to sit next to him on bench.

"What were you doing in those caverns anyway?" She asked him. He said nothing and urged her to come closer. She followed suit, but cautiously at first. When they were mere inches apart, he pressed his lips lightly against hers and wrapping his arms around her. When he had her in his grip, he heard someone in the hallway. One of his hands went up to her neck to pull her face closer, the other slipped the dagger she kept at her side quietly out of it's sheath. Mozaic came up towards the door addressing Scarlet in a questioning tone. He was about to knock on the door, when he saw it was slightly ajar.

"Hey Scarlet, how's our little friend-" Mozaic didn't even get to finish his sentence when he saw what was going on, the two then broke apart and Aeneas quickly spun her around and held the dagger to her throat. Mozaic remained calm, he didn't want any more of his crew members to get hurt in this place.

"Who are you people? Why am I here? Where is Amelia?!" He screamed at he crept towards the door with every step. Mozaic stood his ground. He went to answer, but before he could open his mouth, Aeneas then flung Scarlet towards him and ran out of the door towards the cavern. Mozaic went to race after him, but Scarlet told him not to bother.

"Her life was more important than his anyway." he kept said to himself.

It was the next morning when Amelia eyed one of the clips of silver plasma that Mozaic had given her. She was expecting him to come back to the ship soon so that she could meet his crew. She took the clip and inserted it in her plasma pistol. She held it in her hand for a moment, thinking how this mission how this mission has gotten to become more and more dangerous. She simply wanted to find the survivors and go home, however something about this place left her feeling very curious. Why did anyone from the academy come here in the first place? As if answering her unasked question, she heard Delbert getting up in the next room. He had been resting after his ordeal with the cravenwolf.

"What time is it?" He asked hoarsely. She smiled slightly as he put a loving hand on her shoulder. Amelia reached up to touch his hand and he placed a kiss on her temple as she holstered her pistol.

"It's almost time for Mozaic and his crew to be here." Delbert nodded, he had been out for a long time.

"Oh yes, that's right. Our mysterious friends and the survivors of that Academy mission." He looked down at the healing scars from the previous night.

"How are you feeling, Delbert?" She said in almost a whisper as he gently turned her to face him. He placed his other hand on her shoulder, gazing into her eyes. How he had grown to love looking into those sparkling pools of emerald green.

"Much better knowing that you're safe here with me." He said pulling her into a loving embrace. Amelia let out a sigh, getting caught up in the moment. She smiled resting her head on his chest. He ran a hand through her hair, no real words to describe how happy he truly was to be alive. He almost lost the best thing that ever happened to him and she couldn't blame him for the mutual feeling flowing over both of them.

"I don't know what I would've done had I lost you." Amelia admitted in almost a whisper. Delbert lifted her chin to look him in the eye and kissed her sweetly. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck as his hands slipped around her waist. They broke apart for a moment to catch their breath, their noses touching.

"I love you so much, Amelia." Delbert finally said, breaking the silence.

"I love you too, Delbert." Amelia replied with a smile. A knock came to the door as the couple broke apart startled by the sound. Amelia walked over to the door, slicking a hand through her hair as she opened it to reveal Mozaic.

"Mr. Mozaic, won't you please come in. We were beginning to worry about you, weren't we Doctor?" Amelia said coolly, noticing Delbert's slight grimace of her sudden formality. He understood her need to do so of course, the whole thing just left him wishing that she could just drop down her guard sometimes and bravely show her crew the side of her he had grown to love and admire. Amelia noticing him lost in thought, decided to ease him back into the current situation.

"Doctor?" She urged him in a firm, but caring tone. He gulped and began to stammered slightly, something that Amelia adored about her husband.

"Err—yes, yes of course. We were just talking about it before you came in." He replied, blushing somewhat at his failed attempt to cover. Mozaic just chuckles lightly and walks in the door with his crew. Behind him walked in Scarlet and Draconia. Scarlet was about average height for her species with shoulder length blonde hair and an all red academy scouting uniform (similar to the outfits worn by Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing.) Draconia was slightly taller and more elegant looking with her luxurious long auburn hair wearing a black version of the same uniform with heavy metallic shoulder armor detailed gold the emblem of the Academy. Mozaic was also wearing the same outfit, but the color white with black straps and a royal blue overcoat with gold trim. They all had a pair of plasma pistols holstered at their hips and Draconia had a holster across her back containing two plasma rifles while Scarlet had her a pair of daggers holstered right next to her pistols. All their weapons had been equipped with the silver plasma of course. With them they each had a backpack and a large bag with ammo and weapons filled to capacity. They set their bags on the floor near the door as they came in. Walking slowing into the stateroom, the trio drink in their surroundings. Mozaic was the first to speak addressing the captain.

"Thank you for having us, Captain Amelia. We made it here safely lucky for us." Scarlet turned her head for a moment remembering how Aeneas had referred to an Amelia as he was hallucinating.

"So you must be the beautiful woman that poor delusional guy was talking about." Scarlet says perhaps a little naive of the history between the no-nonsense captain and Aeneas Scott, the hooligan of a pirate captain. Draconia glares and her and Mozaic merely shakes his head and the girls boldness with a complete stranger. Amelia shot her a quite puzzled look as well as Delbert, who returned the same look.

"I'm sorry young lady, but I don't seem to recall what on earth you're talking about." She said as politely as possible ignoring the fact that the girl had called her a beautiful woman. Scarlet turned an aptly named (much like her own name) shade of red, realizing that the captain wasn't informed about their run in with Aeneas earlier that day.

"I'm so sorry, I thought Mozaic might've told you we found some guy in the caves. I found him snooping around in one of the underground lakes. He was being chased by Navorka, the leader of the Cravenwolves, whom I've heard you've had the misfortune of running into out there." Scarlet said apologetically.

"That's quite alright, but what has any of this got to do with me?" Amelia asked, still confused.

"Well he started hallucinating and he kept talking in a funny way, I haven't heard anything like that since we studied what's his face in English class...oh yeah, Shakespeare." Upon hearing this, Amelia already knew of whom she spoke and touched the bridge of her nose with her right hand.

"Oh bloody hell!" she thought to herself as she shot her husband a knowing glance. He also knew who they were talking about.

"So where is he now?" Amelia asked not really wanting to know, but more for general information. Scarlet nervously chuckled, the other two just glared at his memory.

"Well when he was lucid he saw Mozaic come in, he put a knife to my throat asking who we were and 'Where is Amelia'...when we didn't answer he bolted." Amelia first let her anger show, then rolled her eyes at this, she is surprised at nothing. The man would put anyone in harms way to get her back into his life again. Mozaic then decided to add his views on the man's behavior.

"Captain, he had a crazed look in his eye, I thought he was going to harm myself or my crew. I hope this won't hinder our trip back home. Do you know him?" Amelia sighed, she knew this question was coming at some point. Taking a deep breath, she decided to tell them only what information would best suit them at the time. There would be no need to over indulge them in everything that happened between them.

"Yes, unfortunately I do. He and I dated for a while when we went to the Academy together. I know it's forbidden for cadets to date while in school, but we were both so young and rebellious at the time." Amelia said recalling that dark part of her life. Her mother had just passed away and she was so filled with anger and resentment towards her father that she would do just about anything to push his buttons Including her relationship with Aeneas; the fact that she forced him into family functions whether her father liked it or not and spent almost no time with her father when she came home for holidays. What could she say, she was an average angry-at-the-world teenager. Aeneas was a handsome older and worldly cadet who showed her ways to express her anger. She would not trade those life lessons she learned during that time, but when she feel more in love with the etherium than him, he got crazy. She wished sometimes that that horrid event on her graduation day hadn't happened, but it did and she would have to live with it for the rest of her life. Mozaic was still a little confused about something.

"So captain, tell me, why is he so intent on knowing where you are? Scarlet told me he was talking about you. I didn't think much of it at the time because he had been hallucinating."Amelia let her head drop slightly. Mozaic was not going to let her fly under the radar on the subject.

"He tried to propose to me on our year anniversary. I said no and had to break it off with him. He was devastated. I felt bad for him at first, however he started stalking me after that and has ever since." Amelia said with a sad face. Delbert went over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't even care about keeping up with her captain mentality in front of these strangers. Delbert kissed the top of her head and soothed out her hair as she fought back tears. He shot the others a stern glance, feeling his own anger rising. Forcefully he addressed Mozaic, something Amelia was always amazed to see.

"Are we quite done discussing this lunatic? He has brought more trouble to her life than needs to be brought up. Now if you don't mind, why don't we focus our attention on how we're going to get out of here!" Delbert exclaimed with a huff. Mozaic was taken aback by this and shut his mouth. The Scarlet looked away and Draconia swatted Mozaic on the arm.

"Very sorry sir, I won't bring it up again. Anyway, we have taken the liberty of packing up the remainder of our equipment to be brought back home just inside of the caverns we were taking shelter in. We could only carry the ammo we had stored up. If you both would accompany us, we would be glad to bring everything back to the ship so we can leave here immediately. Would that be too much trouble?" Mozaic asked with a sincerely apologetic smile. Amelia spoke up this time, winking slyly at her husband for his show of bravery.

"Yes, that would be fine, Mr. Mozaic. We will gather a group of my men immediately and follow you out there. However we shouldn't waste any time, the sun shall undoubtedly be going down soon." Mozaic nodded and his company followed suit. The trio started for the door, so that Amelia could gather a group of men together. Amelia opened up the door for them and her and Delbert each shook the hands with their new friends. They left a bag with some pistols for Amelia's group to equip themselves with

"Well my friend, we shall meet you on deck momentarily." Amelia said with a confident tone.

"Thank you for your help, Captain." Mozaic added. Amelia smiled warmly back at him.

"Likewise, Captain."

Once they were out of the door and Amelia and Delbert were alone once more, she turned to him with a guilt in her eyes. He surely was not going to like this.

"So we should get a group together. Do you have everything you're going to need?" Delbert said as he grabbed a plasma pistol and put it in his pants pocket.

"We're both going to need at least one of these." He said indicating the plasma pistols with a hand gesture. Amelia sighed slightly. This decision was killing her inside unlike the other day when she made the exact same choice. Delbert lowered his head slightly as he looked at her curiously.

"Amelia?" He said quietly, with a tense silence to follow.

"Delbert, I need you to stay here and guard the ship for me." Delbert dropped down into her desk chair with his hands on his temples, offended.

"Amelia, this mission is just as important to me as it is to you. I should be by your side, like a good husband should be. I can keep you safe."

"It couldn't possibly be that important to you. This mission is a direct order from the Academy for whom I am employed. You are not in charge here and in case you forgot, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You can't even keep yourself safe, how in blazes are you supposed to do so for me? Honestly Delbert, I have to wonder at times what sort of fantasy world you're living in. You are staying and that is final!" Amelia declared putting a little too much emphasis on the word 'final.' Delbert let out a frustrated growl and turned away from her.

"Delbert you must realize, I cannot and will not let you put yourself in danger again. You mean far too much to me." Amelia said as she opened the door to her stateroom, picking up the bag of weapons sitting there. She tried to fight the guilt as she noticed his blank expression as she closed the door behind her. She would have to make it up to him when they got home. She felt bad about having to be so direct, but it was for a good reason. Wasn't it? She tucked all of her thoughts of doubt down in order to focus her attention to the mission.

She gathered her first mate Boris, Mr Quinn, Stripe Cornelious, and a couple other strong men to carry the equipment needed back to the ship. They started down to the longboats, everyone equipped with a silver plasma pistol, some with two for good measure. The sky was starting to grow darker around them. They would have to get moving if they were to get back before dark. Once they were all in the longboats, they headed towards the strange planet.

Once they got out of the boats, they made their way to the caverns as quickly as possible. The night was closing in on them and the danger of the situation was creeping up on them like a musky smell They carefully went through the brush, hearing the occasional rustling. They stayed close together this time to prevent any mishaps. Out of the brush, came a puff of smoke. Evil red eyes watched them. Quinn instantly sensed they were being watched. Amelia saw him react out of the corner of her eye.

"Mr. Quinn, what is it?" She asked in a low voice. He motioned to where the eyes were watching them, but there was nothing there to be seen. He slowly took a glance in both directions. He replied in but a whisper.

"We're being watched Captain."He said as he drew out his pistol from its holster. The captain already had her drawn and ready. The rest of her men and the Mozaic's crew had also drawn a weapon.

"Here Captain, you might need this." Draconia offered as she handed one of her plasma rifles to Amelia. Who took it with her other hand and wrapped the strap around her shoulder for the time being unless this endeavor should get ugly.

"Thank you." Amelia said with a weak smile. She was hoping not to need it, or her other weapon for that matter. They stood motionless for a moment, feeling the eyes watching them, however they kept their weapons out for the time being while they pressed on without a problem.

They reached the caverns to see that a man had been killed there some time ago, but still within the last few days. His body was beginning to decay and smell rather foul. Without much hesitation, the group began gathering the equipment and bringing it back to the longboats. They had made two trips and only had one more to go when another puff of smoke appeared right in their path. The group froze instantly.

Back at the Legacy, Delbert was watching the night unfold before him. He all together couldn't help looking down toward the planet and hoping his wife was handling herself. His feelings were hurt by what she had said before she left. He sighed as the echo of a soft wind blew across his features. He would have to go back upstairs for his over-coat. He held the man in the crow's nest in charge while he went up to collect it. He heard a slight creak as he headed up the stairs to his wife's stateroom. He turned to follow the noise, figuring it must've just been the wind in the sails. He finally got up to the door, hearing the sound again, but closer this time.

"Well that's odd." He thought as he opened up the door to reveal Aeneas Scott in his wife's chair with his muddy feet up on the desk. Aeneas gave a confident smile as Delbert walked in the door.

"Well well, if it isn't the noted Astrophysicist Dr. Delbert Doppler. So nice for us to finally meet." Delbert glared at him and upon closing the door behind him, slammed down his hands on the desk.

"Now see here you, I don't like you any more than my wife does. You leave her alone!" Aeneas smirked to hear these words coming from the bumbling doctor.

"And why prey tell would I want to do that, Doctor?" He replied definitely. Delbert felt his patience running thin and his rage rearing its ugly head.

"Because if you don't leave now and leave us alone, I can't be held accountable for what I do to you." Delbert said with a bit more confidence than he was expecting. His wife's habits must be rubbing off on him after-all. Aeneas laughed out loud. Delbert reached for his pistol and prepared to drawn it if necessary. Aeneas noticed this and stood up to address the doctor eye to eye. He showed no signs of concern over the doctor's words.

"And what are you going to do, Doctor? Shoot me? Why do I doubt that?" Aeneas said with a confidence that just breeds contempt. He took a step forward and that's when Delbert drew the gun and pointed it at him. Delbert's hand shook a little as he held it. This man had absolutely no fear of him at all and that was a dis-concerning fact for him. His aim had improved, so Delbert could very well hit him easily if he wanted to. Why was he not concerned? Aeneas continued with the same line of thought.

"Are you going to answer my, Doctor?" Aeneas asked. Delbert readied the pistol to be fired. Aeneas didn't budge at all.

"Don't make me do this the hard way." Delbert said in almost a growl. Aeneas still was rather unmoved. That's when Aeneas came charging towards Delbert, knocking the gun out of his hands. The men fell to the floor, Delbert hitting his head on the hard ground. Aeneas was hovering over him with his hands around Delbert's neck. Aeneas heard footsteps and voices from the longboat bay and reached for the gun, it was just out of his reach. He made the mistake of letting go of Delbert's throat, thus freeing Delbert to defend himself buy leaping with gusto on top of Aeneas to get the gun for himself. The two struggled for what seemed like hours when it was mere minutes. Footsteps started to be heard on deck and Delbert knew that if he was going to gain the upper hand before Amelia got back, it would be now. Delbert turned Aeneas to face him and pushed him as hard as he could in the face. Aeneas was prepared though and moved out of the way at the last second leaving Delbert to slam his hand onto the hard floor. Cursing aloud, he shook his hand in the air, feeling pain coursing through his entire arm. Aeneas came charging again, this time trying to get closer to the door, should he need to exit. He pressed Delbert against the wall next to the door, lifting him up so that his feet couldn't touch the floor anymore. Delbert was having a hard time breathing. In fact, he was starting to feel his asthma kicking in. His vision was starting to blur and he felt himself losing consciousness. Voices from deck were getting loader as the people seemed to be unloading something heavy. Aeneas let go of Delbert, letting him fall to the floor with a loud thud. He opened up the door, running towards the side of the ship, motioning to an unseen schooner next to them with his crew on board. He jumped aboard of the other ship and in a flash, they disappeared into the depths of the etherium. Amelia heard the sound, but at the time thinking it was just from moving the materials around, she didn't equate it with any imminent danger at the time. Once everything was on board, they started making preparations to launch. Little did they know, that the leader of the Cravenwolves had snuck a board the ship and was making her way towards them. Captain Amelia called to her first mate.

"Lets get out of here, Mr Boris, as quickly as she'll take us if you please." Mr Boris called down to the turbo speed operator through a device on deck.

"Take her away." Amelia smiled remembering how Arrow used to say the exact same thing. The ship jolted forward, causing the leader of the Cravenwolves hurling towards the back of the ship. One of the machinists heard this and went to look around. He looked around, but all he could see by the time he got there was a puff of smoke.

"Hmm" He thought and went back to work. Once they were on course for Cresentia, Amelia went up to her stateroom for a nice cup of tea. She was long over-due and she wanted to see if Delbert was up there because she had expected him to be waiting for her when they returned. When she opened the door, she found a heartbreaking site. Her husband was laying motionless on the floor, his eyes bulging. She ran to him, feeling terrified that he was actually gone this time. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sobbed uncontrollably.

Amelia shot up in bed, sweat dripping on her brow. She was at home now and the side of the bed Delbert usually slept on was empty. It wasn't just a dream. She felt herself fighting back tears as she heard movement in the bathroom and grabbed the pistol she kept hidden in her nightstand. The opened to reveal a very confused Delbert. He yelped to have the gun pointed at him.

"Blast it, you scared me, Delbert!"

"Amelia, what's the matter?!" He yelled as she dropped the pistol instantly on the nightstand and ran over to him, hugging him all too hard for his comfort. He groaned a little as she hit his hand, but wrapped his arms around her as well.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She exclaimed with tears rolling down her face. They sat down on the bed and as Amelia put the pistol away for safe keeping.

"What happened, Amelia?" He said running his uninjured hand along her shoulder.

"I dreamt that you were dead, I had gotten there too late and there was nothing I could do." Delbert hugged her lovingly.

"There there, its okay, I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere, I promise." He said as he planted a kiss on the top of her head. They laid down again, getting comfortable once more.

"It was just a bad dream, now lets go back to sleep, Amelia." He said soothingly. She nuzzled against him, feeling a wave of relief that it was indeed just a bad dream.

"...just a bad dream..." She thought to herself as she found herself falling into a peaceful sleep in the arms of her husband.