A/N:

Family over for the holidays complete chaos to my spare time. Just to add to all that crud I've been sick total writer's block. Sorry 'bout the wait, I tried making this one a little longer to make up for the wait, and I thought the fluff would make up for some of it too. But anyway, this is where I take the original plot for a spin. The next two or three chapters are all my own, well, only plot-wise.

Disclaimer: I don't own Treasure Planet, or any of the characters in the movie. But, sadly, I do own Grant. Shudders He's my character and I don't even like 'em

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The rigging swayed back and forth and the ship creaked loudly. The sky was growing dark and Silver's footsteps could be heard as he made his way over to the side of the ship, whereupon he stopped and rested his hands on the railing. Fingering his pipe, he spoke to the young man sitting in the shrouds.

"It weren't your fault, you know?" He tried to ignore Silver whilst holding a piece of rope in a failed attempt to tie it. "Why, half the crew would be spinning in that black abyss if not for-"

Jim threw the rope as hard as he could in pure frustration. "Don't you get it?" He jumped down from the shrouds, his boots landing loudly. "I screwed up! For two seconds I thought maybe I could do just one thing right, but- Aagh! I just-" Jim shouted and leaned against one of the masts. "Just forget it. Forget it."

A ghostly figure hung in the shrouds, hanging on soundlessly. They watched on, almost swaying with the headache they now had. With each word spoken by the boy a new wave of guilt washed over them. And as Sora hung on, she felt for the first time, ashamed of what she was. A pirate. A pirate was the one who condemned Mr. Arrow. And now Jim was suffering for it.

"Now you listen me, James Hawkins," She heard Silver say, turning Jim around to face him. "You got the makings o' greatness in ya. But you got to take the helm and chart your own course."

The end of his pipe poked the young man in the chest. "Stick to it, no matter the squalls! And when the time comes to really test the cut of your sails and show what yer made of…" Silver seemed to look off into the distance, as if seeing into the very future. "Well, I hope I'm there, catchin' some of the light comin' off ya that day."

Sora's keen eyesight caught the tears in Jim's eyes as he leaned against Silver. This side of Silver was rare, if not unheard of, and seeing him show this side to this boy as he returned the embrace made her heart warm. "Now," Silver coughed and they both stepped back. Men. Sora shook her head. Can't stand showing any compassion. "I best be getting about my watch, and you best be getting some shut eye."

Jim walked to the entrance of the crew's quarters. He paused to turn back to Silver, and gave a small smile before going down the steps. Silver still stood in the fading light, turning into darkness. Morph flew in from nowhere and rubbed up against the cook's cheek. "Gettin' in too deep here, Morphy. Next thing ya knows, they'll be sayin' I've gone soft." Rubbing the back of his neck, he left silently.

Sora, too, left; off to the crow's nest for her watch. She was unaware of the shadowed figure on one of the nearby yardarms.

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All day; All day he had been working and he thought that were he to work for one more moment he would collapse in exhaustion. The kitchen was terribly hot, and though the water he washed dishes in was cool, he felt the heat would surely kill him.

Hs eyelids drooped and… No! Jim jerked back awake, the plates crashing a bit loudly. He realized, while he had nearly fallen asleep, Grant and two other men were in the galley, sitting upon the benches. He caught only bits and pieces of what they were saying, but if Grant had any part in it, it couldn't have been good.

"…I just can't imagine her…" He couldn't catch enough to know whom they were talking about… at first. "…You got no chance, man."

"…As changing as a solar flare… as full of-"

"Rage? That is, when she hears you." One of the men interrupted Grant, and as this was said the room was filled with the two men's laughter.

"Strength, actually." Grant continued. "As much as a supernova… and-"

"Don't quit yer day job to be a poet, Grant. You suck." He roared with laughter along with the other man.

He wished he were unable to hear them, yet here he stood, being forced to hear the crude comments and obscene thoughts about her that they continued to say. It was unbearable.

Jim could feel the anger inside of him boiling up. He said nothing, and did nothing, but the plates he was washing did crash a bit louder than he meant for them to. Grant lifted his head to look at the cabin boy. "You got a problem?"

Biting his lip, he forced himself not to respond. He wasn't going to get himself beaten up by this guy, especially when he had come pretty close last time. But his anger boiled over and he couldn't help it.

"You shouldn't talk about her like that! She's not just some girl you can have your way with!"

The bench made such a racket when Grant stood up from the table. Reptilian eyes gave a glare formidable enough to match Sora's and again the boy considered the fact he really did need to learn how to pick his fights.

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Sora pulled her coat over her head, turning over in her hammock. What in the etherium could be making that infernal racket? Reluctantly, she got up and stepped out into the blaring sunlight.

With her hearing she couldn't block it out, though no one on the deck was disturbed by the noise coming from the galley. Skipping every other step, she made her way to the source of the racket. Her ears rang from her own yelling. "Will you all shut up in here for one minute! How am I-" Her words trailed off as she laughed in disbelief and tried to suppress a smirk, as did the other two men who were watching.

Grant had a bloody nose, thanks to Jim. And Jim, well he had more scrapes and bruises already than Grant did. His lip bled slightly and his shirt was a bit bloody. It was pretty humorous, to see the two of them in a fistfight. But, her laughter died away as she realized that they weren't just trying to get a good punch at each other, both of them were hell-bent on killing one another it seemed. In an instant, Grant had Jim pinned against the wall, both of them still cursing, with his knife pressing into the boy's neck.

Sora let out a sigh as she slapped Grant on the side of his head. "What did you do now, Grant?"

Jim fell to the floor as he jerked away. Jim rubbed his neck trying to breath again. Looking up to Grant from the nearly suffocated boy, her eyes flashed with annoyance. She rolled her eyes. "What did you do, Grant?"

"Me?" He said, gesturing. "It was your little boyfriend who started it."

"What?" Sora and Jim both shouted at the same time; Though, Jim's voice seemed a bit scratchy.

Sora shook her head, sighing. "What were you fighting about? I could hear you two imbeciles from across the deck!"

Grant said nothing, but merely turned around to Jim. "Go on, cabin boy, tell her. I dare you." Jim remained silent and wiped the blood from his lip.

The two men behind them were snickering, and it could only be heard louder as Sora slapped Grant upside the head. "Idiots!" She mumbled and turned to walk up the stairs, trying not to laugh at his expression when she hit him.

"Insufferable wretch." Grant muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Her fist shot through the air to his face, but he caught it quickly; He wondered if she was losing her touch, but this was what she had intended.

A dark black boot collided with his head as she swung her leg up. He lost balance and fell to the ground where Sora bent down to meet his face. Her eyes burned with hatred as she talked to him.

"He's not my boyfriend."

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Sora stepped out onto the deck and found Jim was only a few feet ahead of her. "Do you know how embarrassing that is?" Jim threw his hands up in frustration. "To have a girl get you out of a fight is just, ugh!" He said, completely forgetting the reason the fight was started. He then turned around and stormed off.

"Well excuse me for helping!" She called after him, clenching her fists. "Next time- 'cause there's bound to be a next time, seeing that you still can't pick your bloody fights- I'll be sure not to care what happens to you!"

Sure, she may have embarrassed him a little, but knowing Grant and his 'abilities', Jim could have gotten himself killed. But, noticing his shoulder, where the cloth was ripped revealing some nasty cuts, she felt a bit bad for yelling- and guilt was the last thing she wanted to be feeling now.

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Still angry, Jim sat down on the railing of the ship, one leg dangling on each side, he laid his head against the cold metal piece of the shrouds. He rubbed his throbbing shoulder and received a lot of pain doing so. Withdrawing his hand back, there was crimson blood on his fingertips.

"He's an idiot for using his knife, you know." Jim didn't have to turn around to know who it was, her regular monotone and accent gave her away. "He's a cheat, anyway."

He snorted, and nodded, still not turning to her. Hardly noticing she sat down behind him, he jumped when she gently touched his shoulder. Jumping, unfortunately, only made the pain worsen, and so did turning around to question her actions. She held some white cloth and a rag, and other various items one would find in a first aid kit.

"What're you-"

"Just shut up and stop moving." Giving his arm a shove, she caused him to turn back around. It took everything not to cry out as she wiped away the blood and cleaned his cuts. Wondering if it would have been less painful doing it himself, he groaned softly. Too late- she heard it. "Hold still- Oh come on, it's not that bad."

"Why are you helping me, anyway?" He said, through gritted teeth. "I kinda got the feeling you hated my guts."

She laughed softly, and it made Jim's stomach twist and turn; he'd never heard her laugh before. "You stood up for me." She pointed out. "Despite… everything."

"I still thought you hated me."

"Well," She set down the rag and picked up the clean white bandages. "I suppose you're not that bad."

"You're pretty misleading." He said. It reminded her how he'd tripped her, and yelled at her, but then, despite all that, she was helping him. And even though she punched him, and also called him things he wished he'd forget- he had stood up for her. But one kind act wouldn't change anything, she reminded herself. They were still enemies in Sora's eyes, and certainly not good friends in his.

"I suppose, but then again, so were you. Fighting him was one of the dumbest things you could have done, but it was pretty funny."

Jim smiled though she couldn't see it. "Nice kick, by the way."

"I've had a lot of practice. By the way, um, do I want to know what he said about me?"

Jim swallowed. "Well, he didn't really say anything too bad- at first. You probably don't want to know."

She shrugged her shoulders, unseen by him. "It's not like I haven't heard it all before."

"If he hits on you all the time then why did he talk about you like that? Am I missing some logic here?"

She laughed almost inaudibly. "He just has no respect for women. Although, it is getting annoying, kicking his butt for it every time."

"I'm sure he enjoyed it." Jim muttered, right before feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder. "Ouch!" Though he was facing the other way, he could sense her smirking.

The girl carried on making not a sound and again it seemed they were thrown into an unbearable silence. Jim wondered why every time they spoke he couldn't keep the conversation going. What was it about her that made him so on edge?

"There you go." She said, hoping the bandage would hold and his shoulder would heal; she didn't want to add Jim's injury to her conscious.

"Uh, thanks." He rubbed the back of his neck almost nervously as he turned around. Nervously? Why would he be nervous? So, perhaps she wasn't as mean to him lately, but it wasn't like- no, that thought was just idiotic. Best to drop it.

He pulled back his hand and again it was a blood red color- so to speak. "Good grief, Hawkins." Sora caught his hand in a matter of seconds. "What did you do? Back up against the cutting board or something?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Probably." She gave a small smile that he almost missed; Her face was kept down, examining his hand. "Hang on, Hawkins? What, no more Newbie?"

Their eyes locked. "Seems you've been here long enough." She said, smiling again. He would spend more time trying to uncover that smile of hers, he decided as she started to bandage his hand.

"So, are we going to talk about something or what?"

"Like…?"

Jim had to think for a moment. "Like your jacket."

"My… jacket?" She said, pausing a moment to wonder if he had lost his mind.

"Yea, 'cause why do ya always wear it?" She tried to ask him if he had truly lost his mind but he continued. "Are you trying to ignore the fact that you have a figure?"

He had only a split second before she responded and in that split second he realized he really shouldn't have said that. Sure, it had been meant as a compliment but, knowing Sora, she would take it as sarcasm. You have to understand though, Sora (Just like Silver) was a bomb waiting to terminate. Light the fuse, and you're screwed. Both of their tempers were their less charming characteristics.

"Excuse me?" She said, her voice rising.

"Uh, nothing. I didn't mean it-" She glared at him. "No! No, that's not what I meant- I…" He then realized she was smirking at him, tripping over his own words. "Oh, you're enjoying this, are you?"

She did her best to suppress her laughter and nodded her head. "Very much."

Jim sighed from relief. "Good 'cause for a moment there I though you were going to kill me." He said with a laugh.

"What? Do I suddenly have a reason not to?" Her anger was rising.

"Well, I thought since- well, I just thought that maybe- you helped me so…"

"Do you think I like you or something? That I think of you as a friend? Because I don't, nor will I ever!"

"Sorry then!" Jim shouted back. "I just thought I knew you well enough to know you wouldn't really hurt me- or at least not badly! Couldn't I expect that of you since you kinda helped me out back there? I think there's something about you I'm not understanding 'cause- I just… Aagh!"

"You don't know anything about me, ok?" Standing up and then walking away from him, Sora buried her hands in her pockets. "How could you possibly understand me?" She tried to walk away quickly before he could respond, but she did so without prevail.

"You're right."

Stopping dead in her tracks, she turned to look at him. "I- what?"

"You're right." He said again, softly, and then caught her gaze and looked down, suddenly finding interest in his scratched up hand. "I don't know a lot about you, but I have the feeling that I was the first one to try."

After a few moments of nothing but the sound of the creaking ship piercing the silence between them, Jim looked up; and… there she was. Standing by his side, the wind slowly pushed a few more strands of hair in front of her face. "I- um…" She picked up his hand and fingered the edge of the cloth and sat down next to him. "…Should probably help-"

Sora kept her eyes cast down, refusing to look up at him. Perhaps, it's better to say inside she was trying to deny the real reason she was still there. It was- it was because of… guilt? No, no, maybe it was just because she finally got to hang out with someone her own age, right?

Jim watched her as she bandaged his hand, still not looking up at him. He studied her face, the way some hair fell perfectly in the middle of her face, some on the sides. This was when, for the first time, he noticed her deep green eyes. Even as it was growing dim, the remaining light caused her eyes to look golden around the iris of each eye. He knew that behind them was an endless abyss of mischief and mayhem, just waiting to come out.

"Where did you get that?" His voice rang out loudly in the dead silence and startled the girl pretty badly. Her head jerked up, and she noticed he was holding her necklace with his good hand. Sora looked down at it, and realized she had forgotten she was even wearing it. "A shark's tooth, right?"

She nodded. "Yes- I got it… well, I got from a marketplace 'round the Seas of Oril."

"You've really been there?" Sora should have known his eyes would widen at that.

She nodded once again, this time blushing. "You travel a lot when you're a- um, part of a crew." It was then she seemed unsure of what to say next as she was done bandaging his hand.

"Um, would you like to take a walk?" Sora asked knowing most of the crew would be heading to supper about this time, and it was unlikely they would be spotted in one another's presence.

He smiled at her and the strangest sensation hit her. It was like the feeling you get when you're embarrassed but it was mixed with the urge to smile back at him. Had she asked that without realizing it? It seemed pretty stupid, just talking to him, anyway. Her cheeks flushed as he responded. "Sure."

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The etherium's stars lit up and shone brightly as night threatened to draw ever closer. Colored clouds drifted by and were pushed back by strong winds when the Legacy sailed past them. Her rigging swayed and the ship moaned as she picked up a bit of speed with the winds. The ship seemed to float in the very clouds she sailed over.

To some, the ship in this beauty was still just a means of transportation. A way to get from A to B and nothing more. But, to the young pirate who walked along the railed ship's sides, not a care in the world, it was everything. A ship could have many definitions to her; it all depended on the timing. One, being an escape, sometimes literally, especially when trying to escape the gallows. Another being an actual home. A place to lay her head, someplace familiar to her.

Her strongest definition was one of the hardest to explain. There was just something about seeing this ship, any ship, and knowing that whatever waited ahead of their bow contained mystery, adventure, and a life to be lived. It meant freedom, in easier terms. It was knowing you might be the one behind the wheel and it was that you were the one planning the coordinates to wherever in the universe you wanted.

Words flowed effortlessly off her tongue and Sora realized she liked talking to him. Him, the skinny little teenage boy who walked on the deck beneath her. She told him everything, the places she'd been, the tales she heard when she was there. Though, she forgot to mention she had heard theses tales in old bars from pirates older and more falling apart than the creaking tubs they captained.

Hating that dead silence that seemed to lurk around the two of them, she continued her tales. And she was very surprised to find- he listened. Jim simply hung on her every word like it was the very air he breathed.

And then… it was back. It felt as if they were now drowning in the impenetrable silence that overtook them once more. It had jumped out from nowhere, now that Sora had finished her story. Her throat felt numb from all the talking and it felt she hadn't stopped for eons.

Still keeping balance, she walked along the side. The wind tugged at her hair, and she started to absentmindedly braid her hair like it usually was. That is to say, when they weren't trying to make a good impression on the captain and first mate. Grant had mentioned she looked like a gypsy with her hair like that and her overly large hoop earrings she had back then. 'Round the spaceport gypsies weren't known as fortune-telling women, talking to you about your future, and all that. Most were thieves, so, Silver made her take most of it out.

She didn't really care now; she liked it braided, up and out of her face. Lost in her thoughts, his voice once again defied the quietness of the evening and made her jump.

"It's amazing that you've been to all those places."

"I suppose, well… it really is." Her face lit up like a supernova when she flashed one of her rarely seen smiles. "It's just, my father always told me stories about those places and now I finally get to see them."

Jim was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating something. "Sora?"

The way he said it, it just seemed like they were best friends or something. And… she realized she liked it that way. "Yes?"

"What-" He paused again. "What was your father like?"

Now this puzzled her more than anything else today. She felt this would have been a touchy subject with him; with the fact that his father left him and his mom, it should have been. She wanted to answer him, nonetheless, but found- she couldn't. Well, not at first, anyway.

"He was- Well he was just… " It was devastating to know that you hadn't seen or talked to the ones you loved in so long that it was difficult to remember them. She said nothing for a moment, but then it clicked. " … One of the kindest people you could ever meet." Which is ironic considering his former occupation. She thought with a smirk.

"He hated the thought of him and my mom getting the divorce. He couldn't have helped it though…"

Jim's eyebrow's furrowed. "What was your mom like?"

She laughed, but he could sense the bitterness behind. "You ever known somebody…" It was as if she saw before her some painful memory. "…Who tried to control every last bit of your life?"

"Somebody besides teachers?"

She laughed, and instantly the painful expression vanished. "Can't argue with ya there, Hawkins." Meanwhile, Jim's face turned crimson from his new 'nick name'. "Well, she was different from that. I think it was 'cause she was ashamed."

Jim was afraid to ask of whom, for he had the awful feeling he knew the answer already. "Of me and my dad. But, I guess some wouldn't blame her too badly, on account of where we lived."

"Where did you live?" Sora winced. She cursed herself mentally for letting that slip. Would Jim think her any different if she told him? Why should she care? When had she ever been one to care what others thought of her?

"Mardella." She said it as though it were poison upon her lips. Jim did nothing- he didn't react in the way she had expected him to. No gasp, no dirty look, nothing.

For Jim well knew that Mardella was a very racist planet, one of the most racist to 'aliens' in the nearby galaxies. 'Aliens' was a very old fashioned word. Used by the first humans to roam the galaxy to describe creatures that weren't- well, human.

"My mother got a job offer, one that my family couldn't pass up." She tried to explain. "My mom had a better education than my dad ever got but… we needed the money so, we moved there. I was so young that I couldn't remember much about our old home. But I do know that a while after we moved…"

She took a deep breath, it seemed to the boy listening that it was painful for her. "You okay?" He asked with sincere intent.

"Fine." Seems he almost lit the fuse. "It's the past. It doesn't matter."

"A person's past only matters if they want it to."

She gave him a puzzled look, not knowing him to say or even think about anything but stupid childish things; that perhaps he might not even have a deeper side. But, maybe she could be proven wrong.

"Well, anyway she started listening to her new stuck-up rich 'friends." She said with a shudder just remembering them. "I guess that's when they started fighting."

He thought perhaps she wanted to stop, that these memories were painful to her. Though, she'd never admit it or show it on her face, he could see it in her eyes as if they were windows revealing some of her hidden emotions and thoughts, but not all of them.

"I never saw my dad much after they split." She cast her gaze down to her feet, but her head sprang up as she had a happy memory. "My father was actually the one who told me some of those stories, ya know."

Jim smiled, happy to see her face had lit up once more. "He told some of the greatest stories ever. They were so good, you'd think he was there to see them." Which he probably was. "Pirates and sailing and treasure hunts- oh, he told me great stories about Captain Flint…"

"And Treasure Planet?" Jim asked, his interest growing even more.

"Actually, he didn't tell me a lot about that, just other stories 'bout Flint. But I suppose every spacer knows that story, right?"

Jim nodded. They continued to walk until they reached the bottoms of the shrouds, where Sora had to stop and creep along the edges. But as she came to the end, she kept both feet on the railing, one hand holding the ropes to keep herself hanging in front of him. Her face was only inches from his and she spoke softly.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?" He said with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"The story." She said as she jumped down onto the deck. Her hands on her hips, her head cocked slightly to the side, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Jim couldn't help but smile back at her. "Sure."

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A/N:

I had to cut this chapter a bit short just because I wanted to post it before I died of old age

Amity. Turns out, Jim has a much bolder side to him than he, or Sora, thought. But, could this be a good… or bad thing?