Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Treasure Planet characters I refer to in this story. If I did, I would be rich and wouldn't bother with things such as school. The Doppler kids' names and personalities do, however, belong to me.
Author's Note- Despite the holiday stress and constant schoolwork, I've managed to find some time to write this. Thank you to those who reviewed. I'm sorry to say that time did not allow me to bake cookies for you all, but you can all have a candy cane in honor of the holidays.
On With the Story,
Jim could feel his heart hammering against his chest as he raced up the stairs two at a time. His head was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach. There was no way he had lost the kids, no way.
Yet, despite his insistence on having not misplaced them, the children were no where to be seen.
Crap! Anything could have happened to them. What if they've gotten lost? What if they're hurt? What if some old pirate kidnapped them and plans on ransoming them back to the admiral? His eyes widened at the last possibility. No, that can't happen. She can't find out. Still, what if…
The attack of the "what ifs" immediately came to an end as the young man was hit with a jet of cold air.
Cold air? The Inn's pretty insulated. Why would it be cold up here? Maybe I left the window open. He thought.
Jim stopped for a moment.
Wait a minute. Open window; top floor; the kids missing…oh no!
Everything seemed to freeze. The only windows on the top floor led to the roof, and if one of the windows were open, the frigid air would be entering the house. That would mean that someone would have had to open the window, and neither he nor his mother had been upstairs since that morning. The only other someone would be one of the kids.
Ha! Found you! He mused triumphantly. Who cared if it had taken him over two hours to find one of the children? The point was that he had discovered one of their hiding places.
Following the steady air stream wasn't hard and he had soon traced it back to its source: one of the guest bedroom windows.
He groaned in annoyance. His mother was going to kill him for letting the window remain open. The room was freezing and some snow had blown in from the outside world, leaving rapidly melting piles on the dark wood floor. The bed's cover was rumpled, as though someone had been sitting on it.
The kids had definitely been here.
Jim leaned out the window. He was assaulted by freezing wind and snow and had to squint to see.
The tiled roof was covered in white powder, making it seem like a frozen wasteland. The single chimney had smoke practically pouring from it. There were snowflakes blowing about in the breeze. But, there were no children.
Jim frowned. They had to be here somewhere, he was sure of it.
He leaned forward a bit, hoping to get a better view. Large, white snowflakes obstructed his vision, making seeing anything impossible.
"Stupid snow!" He cried, waving an arm in front of his face. Of course, his movements did nothing to clear the snow, but they were doing something else.
Cadet Hawkins could feel his body slipping further and further out the square opening in the wall, the momentum of his erratic arm motions pulling him outside. In a vain attempt to stop his forward movement, he braced his arms against the roof and began to push backwards.
His efforts proved to be futile as his hands hit a patch of ice and he went sliding forward, completely slipping through the window.
Jim lay where he had landed for a few moments, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
I've just fallen through a window…a stupid window. The kids are still missing and mom's going to kill me for not closing the window. Why am I even doing this? Oh, that's right, I have to baby sit those little brats. It's all their fault. He scowled at the last thought. His instructors at the Interstellar Academy had always told him not to blame his misfortune on others.
Still, this is definitely not my fault.
Deciding that he couldn't just lay there placing blame; he cautiously began to sit up.
So far, so good.
Then, he got to his knees. He could feel the snow shifting around him, but he ignored it.
Maybe things would turn out better than he thought.
Slowly, very slowly, Jim eased himself to his feet. He put his arms out for balance and carefully straightened his back.
The way the wind pushed against his upright body brought him back to the launch of the RLS Legacy. It had been the beginning of a life changing experience. He knew it was childish, but the breeze reminded him of that adventure.
The young man was torn from his reverie when he realized he was falling. A scream escaped his lips and he waved his arms wildly. It didn't help; the wind was too strong. With a grunt, he fell on his bottom, sending some white powder sliding off the roof.
He could picture his mother looking at the ceiling with a confused expression, trying to figure out what had caused the crash.
Jim almost laughed at the idea…almost. The reality of the situation was that he was sitting on his bum on a roof covered in snow and ice. He was freezing cold and still hadn't found those darn kids.
My life sucks. He thought miserably. Was there any way this could get any worse?
Yet, something was telling him that it was about to get even more unpleasant.
The feeling of the snow sliding under him confirmed the notion. He closed his eyes, knowing that there really wasn't anything he could do to stop his descent.
The white stuff flew into his face and mouth. His heart raced and his hair was blown back. He couldn't contain a shriek of terror as he went flying down the slanted roof.
This is it; I'm going to die. What a stupid way to go. I could've died a heroic death in battle, but instead I'm going to be killed by falling off the roof. And I've lost the game of hide and go seek.
Jim could no longer feel the solid roof underneath his rear and assumed he'd reached the end of the Inn's tiled top and was now falling through the air. He closed his eyes and waited to hit the ground and breathe what he was sure would be his last breath.
Thump!
Cadet Hawkins took in a steady breath and then let it out.
Was he still alive?
He mentally checked himself over and breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was he alive, but he was unharmed. His clothes were wet and he was freezing, but he was all right.
He sat up and scanned his surroundings. One of the Inn's large, front windows was to his left and he was surrounded by snow. He deduced that he must have fallen into one of the large piles of snow he'd shoveled off the walkway the day before. Who'd have guessed all that white stuff would be so helpful.
I'm never going to complain about having to shovel the walkway again. He told himself with a grin.
Jim pushed himself out of the snow pile and stretched his arms above his head. His muscles had tightened in his moments of fear and now needed loosening.
The event that had taken place only moments ago began to flash through his head and he laughed.
I must've looked ridiculous. Good thing no one was around to see that, especially my girlfriend. What would she think?
He then glanced to the window and stopped laughing. He was lucky that the Inn was empty, otherwise, the patrons would have had a show to accompany their meal.
The twenty-year-old made his way shakily to the door, attempting to relax his muscles. He supposed this would make a really good story some day.
The door swung open with a light creak and he stepped inside.
The first thing he did was stop dead in his tracks.
The Inn seemed to have gained a few customers since he'd been in the dining room, and all of them were staring at the window. His mother stood in the middle of the room, eyes wide, with a tray of spilled food at her feet. And, most infuriating of all, the three of the Doppler kids were standing to the side. Nikki was rambling on and on to a particularly fat alien who had all six eyes focused on the window.
"See, Melody, Uncle Jim's ok," Todd said gently, giving his sister's hand a comforting squeeze.
Sarah snapped out of her stupor and placed her hands on her hips.
"James Hawkins! What in the galaxy were you doing? You could have been killed!" She cried, her voice trembling with emotion.
"What was I doing? I was looking for those dumb kids!"
"Don't place the fault on others when you are clearly to blame. And why is it cold in here?"
"'Cause there's an open window upstairs."
"Jim, money doesn't grow on trees. Go shut the window and stop being so careless."
Jim said nothing and looked around the room.
The customers had managed to take their eyes from the glass-covered square in the wall and were now staring at him.
He felt his cheeks get hot with embarrassment. He needed to get out of there, and fast.
"Come on kids, let's go upstairs," he called, already heading towards the staircase.
"Jim, apologize to these dear children for making them watch your cry for attention. You've probably scarred them emotionally," Sarah said from the dining room.
"It's their fault this whole thing happened." He was losing his temper.
"We've been over this before. Do you want to be grounded?"
"I'm twenty! You can't ground me."
"I'm your mother. I can do whatever I want."
One of the patrons snickered.
"Fine, I'm sorry." Jim just wanted to get upstairs before anything else happened.
He could hear the kids hurrying to keep up with his quick stride, but he didn't stop. Within minutes, he arrived at the room he'd been in earlier. The window was still open and snow was still blowing in.
"You're really not very good at this," Elina said from behind him.
Jim slammed the window shut and spun around.
"I didn't ask for this. All I wanted was a nice day off and did I get it, no! Instead, I got you little monsters dumped on me. So far, I've lost the game of hide and go seek, my mom's turned against me, I've fallen off the roof and nearly died, and now you're telling me it's my fault!"
"Well, if you aren't to blame for losing the game, who is, Uncle Jim?" Nikki asked. It was a fairly innocent question, the kind a five-year-old would usually ask.
"And if you must know, we were hiding under the bed. I'm surprised you didn't find us," Elina put in, pointing at the bed. Her smirk was gone, replaced by a blank stare.
"Shut up! Just shut up! I'm losing my sanity. Don't you kids have anything better to do? Ah! I wish…I wish you'd never been born! All you've done is ruined everything!" Jim cried. He'd finally lost it.
There was a very tense silence that seemed to fill the room.
Then, he heard it. Soft sniffling sounds.
Melody had tears forming in her eyes and her small body shook with oncoming sobs. She brought a hand up to get rid of stray drop of salt water. Soon, there were more tears, too many for her to wipe away.
Todd held his sister in a protective hug, trying to calm her down. Nikki scowled up at him and Elina stared blankly, as though unable to believe that he'd just said that.
Jim's anger vanished.
What would my instructors at the ISA say? I'm supposed to help beings, not make them cry. He thought.
He knelt next to the blonde felinid.
"I'm sorry. Stop crying. Please stop crying."
The Admiral's going to kill me.
"What will make you stop crying?"
"Crescentia," Elina said, her smirk falling into place once again.
"What?" Jim asked.
"We've always wanted to go to Crescentia. If you take us, she'll be too happy to even think about crying."
Jim couldn't help but think that it was only the redhead's wish to go to the spaceport. But, nonetheless, Melody had ceased crying and was now only sniffling.
"Alright, we'll go to Crescentia."
Author's Note- All right, please review and let me know what you thought. I'm open to questions and chapter ideas. I realize that in my last chapter, I said Jim was twenty-one. He's actually twenty, it was just a typing error. I shall see you all next week. Now, it's time for some review responses.
Muriel Candytuft- Thank you for the review. Elina and Melody are the most fun to write. Yes, I was really bad at hide and go seek when I was a kid, too (I was always found first, no matter what). Come to think of it, I'm still pretty bad at the game.
Kaptain Kitty- Thank you for the review. Hopefully, Jim can keep those kids under control before Amelia steppes in. I was never good at hide and go seek to begin with, but I know what you're saying. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?
Jackie99- You are very much thanked for the review. I'm glad you like the story, it's really fun to write. I can't wait to read your story.
CrimsonCrome- Thank you for reviewing. Melody is very thoughtful and sweet. Yeah, the kids are pretty advanced for their age. But then again, many children are smarter than older people give them credit for. I can see where you're coming from, though. Hehehe, Jim makes himself miserable, doesn't he? I'm glad you like the kids and, yes, Todd is the protective brother.
Spellcaster Hikaru- I thank you for the review. I guess Jim jinxed himself with that line, didn't he? Hopefully, Jim will learn a lesson about underestimating children. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.