"Dammit Sidon!" Silver roared. He slashed his sword through the undergrowth and followed the faint scent trail.

When the Zora had taken off with Jim, he and Timetra and William had initially just stared in shock after him. And then it was a mad scramble to follow them. The Zora was damn fast though and quickly they were so far behind that Silver worried he'd lose their scent and they'd be searching blindly.

"What is he thinking?" The bite of anger in Timetra's voice was palpable. "Where the hell did he go anyway?! He went the opposite direction of the ship!"

William was quiet. His eyes downcast and wide, face pale, and occasionally he would mutter something inaudible and guilty sounding.

The scent wasn't so faint anymore. Silver grimaced. It smells like sex. While that in itself was concerning and made his stomach twist with emotions he wasn't exactly sure how to process, there was a second smell that bothered him even more, but he couldn't place it.

His heart skipped a beat.

It was blood.

Morph chirped and squeaked at him, darting from wherever he'd zipped off to, his little 'arms' moving excitedly. The little blob shot off again and Silver followed, leaving Timetra and William behind.

He crashed through the undergrowth, eyes searching harder for any sign of either Jim or Sidon, following the source of the scent, his organic ear turning every which way to pick up every little sound. A snarl was on his lips when he came through the trees and he laid eyes on the Zora. Sidon sat on the ground, back against a tree, legs folded underneath himself. Jim lay cradled in his arms, head tucked right under Sidon's chin, seemingly fast asleep. He was clothed, but his hair was in disarray, face flushed, blood soaking through the left shoulder of his shirt.

"Sidon, ye son-o'-a-bitch-"

"Leave my mother out of this," Sidon looked up at him slowly and tilted his head a little. Silver chose to ignore the casual tone and he spoke again, trying to withhold his anger even the slightest bit, "What're ye doin' te Jim?"

The Zora glanced down at Jim. The man's blue eyes fluttered open and he turned his head sleepily, "Oh hey."

"Wha- what the fuck Jim?!" William yelled from behind Silver and he jumped at the sudden shout. The man's face no longer held any of the shame and guilt it had before, and now was a mix of anger and betrayal, "How could you?!"

"Oh, you're one to fucking talk," Jim shot back before Silver could. He was still pissed about how they'd found William on top of Jim. He'd been so close to beating the ever loving shit out of William, but then Sidon had just run off and he'd had to stop to chase him down. But even with how angry he was at William, he was angrier at himself. All the signs had been there that William didn't respect Jim's personal space; the way Jim flinched and jerked away, William's insistent touching, the unease coming off Jim- And I just ignored it all like an asshole!

Sidon started to snarl and posture up as if he were going to attack William the instant the man came into the clearing. He set Jim down and was on his feet, putting himself between the two humans, face alight with a rage Silver had never seen before. It was as if William didn't even see him. He whipped around to direct his anger at Silver, "You promised you'd keep them apart!"

"What- John?!" Timetra barked, but he wasn't concerned with the anger in her voice. He wasn't even concerned by the look of unbridled hatred Sidon had turned his direction. His eyes were on the hurt expression on Jim's face.

No words were spoken, but the look in Jim's eyes screamed how could you?

"Don' ye give me tha' look, Jimbo, wha' was I 'sposed te do?!" No one else mattered right now. He had to explain himself. Jim would understand. He would understand. He'd have to…"I've been dyin' over here tryin' te figure out a way te get ye someplace safe without havin' me crew turn on me-"

"WHAT?!" Timetra butted herself into the conversation, "Dammit, John! You know they won't! YOU KNOW IT! Just fucking get over whatever stupid problem it is you have and fucking tell everyone!"

He only vaguely heard her.

"Why didn't you just talk to me?" Jim was standing in front of him now.

The words came out harsher than he meant them to, "Oh, now yer one te talk, James Hawkins! Why didn' ye tell me 'bout whatever it is the two o' ye got?!"

"WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU?!" Jim screamed.

Silver bellowed right back at him, "THE TRUTH!"

Jim stood defiantly in front of him, hands shaking, eyebrows furrowed, eyes blazing, chest heaving with each breath. The anger on his face washed away to a look of deep agony, "Sidon and I are soulmates, Silver."

The air went dead around them.

Oh shit.

"Now you know. What are you going to do about it, huh?" Jim's voice held a bite of bitterness.

Silver's eyes darted up to Sidon's face, reading the grim expression he held, but they were dragged back to Jim when the man started talking again, "We can't do anything. I've gone through every damn possibility I can, and no matter what we can't be together…and it's not like I even could tell anyone! I'm in the fucking Navy! Will and I- we-"

A gunshot rang through the air.

He didn't see where it came from, but it didn't matter. Silver moved instantly, whipping around and catching Timetra's arm and dragging her into the cover of the forest again. He threw them down on the ground and looked around wildly. His eyes landed on William, less than twenty feet from them, back pressed to a tree as he tried to hide in the branches of a bush.

Silver didn't care about him though. He could die right now and Silver would probably congratulate whomever landed the killing blow. The target function on his mechanical eye wasn't locating what he was looking for-

Where's Jim?!

"John-" Timetra breathed, eyes turned back toward the clearing, tears slipping down her cheeks. Time slowed to a standstill as he spun to follow her gaze.

Jim stood frozen in the clearing exactly where he'd been before the gunshot, his face a mask of shock, and then he was on his knees next to Sidon on the ground. Blood seeped between his fingers as he pushed his hands over the wound on the Zora's chest. Panic filled his features, "SIDON!"

Silver could see just by looking at Sidon that he was gone. Where the wound was, how still he laid. He was gone.

But Jim wasn't giving up. He called Sidon's name again, raised a blood covered hand to search for a pulse at his throat, shook his shoulders. Silver saw the realization go across Jim's face. Saw the hope leave his eyes. He went expressionless, cold, lifeless, staring with those round blue eyes down at Sidon's face. Tears rolled down Jim's cheeks, but he still sat there, frozen. And then agony flooded over his face all at once and Jim doubled over with a heart-wrenching scream of anguish.

"John, wait-" Timetra grabbed his arm. She must have seen the look in his eye, the way he'd started to twist his body to stand up and go toward Jim. He pulled his arm free and jumped to his feet. It was an afterthought to point over at William, who'd moved out of cover and was staring at Jim with an unreadable expression, "Get him back te the ship!"

"But-"

"JUS' DO IT!"

She hesitated for only a moment before she caught William's shirt collar and started to run in the other direction.

"Jimbo!" Silver rushed back into the clearing. He knew better. Knew that going into the open could spell death, but it didn't matter. Jim needed him right now.

He yanked Jim into a tight embrace, and cradled his head against his chest. The smaller man's shoulders jerked and he let out a wailing sob. Silver rocked him gently, looking back over his shoulder for the threat he knew was still out there, "I'm sorry lad, I know- we needs te go-"

"No- W-we can't leave him! Silver, please- we can't-" Those big blue eyes turned up to him, anguished and desperate, and Jim clutched at his shirt. "D-don't make me leave him-"

Silver flinched when he heard the second gunshot. Agony bloomed across his back from under his left shoulder blade. He must have made some noise of pain because Jim stared at him with horror on his face, "Silver?!"

The clearing erupted with shouts and whoops, a handful of ragged looking men flooding out from the trees all around them, but Silver barely registered any of it. He slumped onto his left side with a grunt of pain. Jim's hands were balled into fists in his shirt, "No! NO! SILVER GET UP!"

"Jimbo…go…" he stared weakly into Jim's tear filled eyes. Each breath was a struggle. He could feel the tips of his fingers going cold, the feeling spreading up his arm.

A rope went around Jim's throat, his eyes flew wide open, hands scrambling to loosen the loop closing off his airway as he was dragged backward roughly. Silver tried to sit up. He still had life enough in him to kill the son of a bitch strangling Jim.

He howled in pain as a sharp-clawed foot slammed down on his chest and forced him back onto the ground.

"Look what we have here boys," Raith purred as she bent down to stroke a claw along Silver's cheek. "We caught ourselves an old rusty cyborg! And I thought we would only get the big fish!"

She looked worse for wear, thinner than he remembered, her fur matted in places, the eye Jim had hit with the branding iron was covered with a bright green sash. Raith flexed her claws slowly as she watched him. Silver swapped his hand for his laser pistol. Jim had been lifted into the air and he was thrashing wildly, mouth gaping open as he fought for air. He had to kill the man holding him-

"Ah, ah, ah!" Raith pinned his mechanical arm down with her knee. She smiled over at Jim, who's struggling was getting weaker with each passing moment, "I've had enough trouble tracking this boy down, we're going to sit and enjoy the show for a minute."

"Raith, ye bitch! Let 'im go!" Silver tried to wrench his arm free.

She looked at him with her good eye as a cruel grin tugged at her lips, "Oh…is he important to you?"

"I'll give ye anythin'- jest let 'im go!" Silver fought her feebly, his eyes glued to Jim. His legs had stopped kicking. Fingers barely clutched at the rope anymore. Jim's eyes rolled back in his head. His body fell limp.

"NO!"

Raith purred smugly, "Aww, he stopped dancing."

"LET HIM GO!"

William tackled the alien holding Jim up and threw them both to the ground. Jim crumpled into a heap and relief washed over Silver when he heard his frantic gasp for breath. The blond crawled over to Jim and ripped the rope off his neck, clutching him tightly to his chest, face filled with rage as he snarled at Raith, "This wasn't part of our deal!"

"You never specified that I couldn't hurt him a little," Raith chuckled softly.

"Fuck you! This is more than 'a little'!" William gently traced the bright red mark around Jim's throat with his fingers. The only indication Jim was still alive was the violent way his chest rose and fell as he breathed.

If he hadn't already been numb all over, he was sure he would have felt his blood run cold. Silver turned his head to look over at William. His vision was going black around the edges and he could barely get his lips to work enough to speak, "Ye…yer workin' with 'er…ye snake…"

"Oh, don't act all high and mighty, you old bucket of bolts," Raith snickered and dug her talons into his chest. "Where's the man that used to boast about his nefarious past, hm?"

Raith snapped her fingers and two of her men rushed forward, one grabbing William and the other wrenching Jim out of his grasp. The blond thrashed and screamed and kicked as he was bound, "Fuck you Raith! I'll fucking kill you if you touch him!"

She was completely unaffected and just motioned at her rag-tag crew, "Come on boys, let's get out of here. We've got what we came for."

Silver watched with failing vision as Jim and William were carried off into the trees. No!

Her hand went to the pistol on her hip, unholstering it and aimed at Silver, point blank right in his face, "Better luck in the next life, Long John Silver."


Timetra clutched at her forearm, trying to staunch the blood from the deep cut. She was really starting to hate William and how every time they were alone she somehow got hurt. She ran back through the forest after him, "Where was he even keeping that knife?! I searched him!"

A gunshot sent a shiver down her spine. It was followed immediately by an agonized bellow.

John!

She had never run so fast in her life. It still felt like it took a lifetime to get back to the clearing, and she felt as if she doubled and tripled back more times than she could count. Her hand was already on her pistol, already had it raised and aimed when she broke through the trees. John was on the ground, Raith's gun pointed right at his head as she stood over him smugly.

Timetra pulled the trigger instinctively.

The Feliformid yowled in agony. Her gun fell, she clutched at her arm, and she whirled around to face the attacker. The barrel of Timetra's pistol met her gaze, and she must have thought better about fighting back because she ran. Timetra let her go. There was someone far more important slowly bleeding out on the ground.

"Get Demitria here now! " Timetra barely waited for the communicator signal to connect before she was barking orders at the crew member that picked up. They stared back at her wide-eyed for a moment before scrambling to follow her instructions as she barked the coordinates they were at. "Bring the whole ship! We'll need everyone to help carry Sidon and John-"

She slid her hand underneath John and felt around carefully, her fingers finding the bullet wound. He grunted softly but his eyes didn't open. Timetra leaned down to press her forehead to his, "Come on Balaav'a, hold on for me…hold on…"