The next Deadeye remembered, he was falling. Surrounded by debris, he plummeted several feet down to hard rocky ground. He lay with his hands over his head until the metal stopped falling and then slowly got up.
"Ugh…damn toads and their cockamamie devices. Where in the name of Kanopis III am I?"
From where Deadeye was, all he could see were dark mountains and plateaus, set against an iron gray sky. Around him were debris and sparse foliage, but no sign of life.
"Jenny! Jenny, girl, where are ya? Answer me, lass!"
"Here! I'm over here!"
Deadeye followed her voice and found her lying on the ground with a large piece of metal lying on her leg.
"Thank the stars yer alright, lass!" Deadeye said as he lifted the debris up off of Jenny, allowing her to crawl away from it.
"It's good to see you too, Deadeye. Leave it to a toad machine to act in such a way."
Jenny tried to get up but then cried out in pain. Deadeye quickly dropped to his knees and examined her leg.
"Yer leg's busted up pretty good, lass. Here, ol' Deadeye'll handle it.
With strips of his shirt and several pieces of metal, Deadeye fashioned a crude splint for Jenny. He then picked her up and began carrying her across the barren plain.
"This really isn't necessary, Deadeye." Jenny said, blushing slightly.
"We gotta find shelter, lass, and I don't want ya walking around on that bum leg of yours."
There was a pregnant pause before Jenny spoke up again.
"Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Not a one, lass. That crackpot device coulda sent us anywhere in the aniverse. Our best hope is ta contact Bucky or find civilization."
Suddenly, dark clouds began rolling in. Thunder rumbled and rain began to fall.
"Aw, perfect." Deadeye griped.
He broke into a run, holding onto Jenny tightly, until he spotted a cave at the foot of a hill. The two headed towards it. Once inside, Deadeye set Jenny down and looked outside.
"This'll keep us dry, at least." Deadeye said. "Here's hopin' that our communicators weren't busted when we fell or that someone lives on this rock. If not, we'll be here for quite a while."
"We can't think like that, Deadeye." Jenny said. "We've been through far worse than this. We'll get back to the others, I'm sure of it."
Jenny brushed her long flowing pink hair out of her eyes. Deadeye couldn't help but become captivated.
"Oh, and Deadeye? Thank you for what you did for me." She said.
"Don't mention it, lass." He said, quickly looking away so that Jenny wouldn't see his burning face. "Just shipmates looking out for each other."
Later, as Deadeye slept, Jenny used her psychic powers to heal her leg. Once that was done, she removed the splint and attempted to contact the sisterhood back on Aldebaran. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get through.
'It's so strange,' she thought. 'Why can't I contact them? It's almost like something's blocking my telepathy. But what and how?'
Jenny gave a defeated sigh and looked over at Deadeye. As she did, she realized she didn't know much about him. All she knew was that he'd been a member of the Corsair Canards before joining with Bucky. Granted, she hadn't told him her origins (or anyone else, for that matter) but that was mostly due to the secrecy of the artificers. But given the circumstances the two were under, they'd have to depend on each other to keep their spirits up while waiting for rescue.
However, Jenny thought as she lay down to sleep, that's something that'll be easier said than done.
When morning came, Deadeye was suspicious at how Jenny's leg had healed so quickly but he didn't probe. The two had bigger things to worry about. Their communicators had been broken by their falls, so their only hope was to find civilization. For several days, the two crossed the barren landscape, eating the rations they had on them and whatever plants they could find, water they came across, and sleeping in caves. As time went on, their spirits became more downtrodden as it began to seem that the planet was uninhabited.
One night, when Jenny and Deadeye were seated around their campfire, Jenny noticed Willie's device in Deadeye's pocket.
"What's that, Deadeye?" She asked.
"Oh, it's Willie's music-playing thing." He said, taking it out.
"It plays music?" Jenny looked over the thin square curiously.
"That's what the lad said. Haven't tried it yet."
Deadeye took it back and began fumbling with it. Eventually, he hit the right thing and music began to play.
There's such a sad love/Deep in your eyes./A kind of pale jewel/Open and closed/Within your eyes./I'll place the sky/Within your eyes.
There's such a fooled heart/Beatin' so fast/In search of new dreams./A love that will last/Within your heart./I'll place the moon/Within your heart.
As the pain sweeps through,/Makes no sense for you./Every thrill is gone./Wasn't too much fun at all,/But I'll be there for you-ou-ou/As the world falls down.
Falling./Falling down./Falling in love.
"This song-!" Jenny gasped. "It's gorgeous!"
She got up and began dancing and twirling around the fire, her long pink hair swaying and the firelight making her white fur glow. Her eyes were closed, completely lost in the music and forgetting her surroundings.
I'll paint you mornings of gold./I'll spin you Valentine evenings./Though we're strangers 'til now,/We're choosing the path/Between the stars./I'll leave my love/Between the stars.
As the pain sweeps through,/Makes no sense for you./Every thrill is gone./Wasn't too much fun at all,/But I'll be there for you-ou-ou/As the world falls down.
Falling/As the world falls down./Falling/As the world falls down./Falling./Falling./Falling./Falling in love/As the world falls down.
Deadeye sat completely awestruck. When the song ended, Jenny stopped dancing and realized what she'd done.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Deadeye, I shouldn't have gotten carried away like that." She said, sitting back down, embarrassed.
"Don't be, lass. Ye were phenomenal! You done that a lot?"
"Well…I used to. But then…other things got in the way, such as joining in the war, and, well…that's the first time I've ever danced in a long while."
"That's a pity. Yer a true vision, lass."
Jenny was not sure what to take from that, so she didn't reply. The two sat in silence again.
"Y'know, I was pretty directionless when I was a lad." Deadeye suddenly said. "Spent some time with the ninjas with my friend Kamikaze Kamo for a while and then left to join the Corsair Canards. But it didn't satisfy me for long. Neither seemed to be what I wanted ta do with me life. But then I met Bucky and he let me sign on with him. I've never told anyone about this before, lass, but being with you guys is the most satisfying thing I've done for a real long time."
Jenny was surprised. She never knew that Deadeye had felt so insecure about his place in life. Maybe that's why he was the more enthusiastic members of the crew. She wanted to tell him about her feelings too, but a lot of it involved the artificers and saying anything would break their secrecy.
"I never knew you felt that way, Deadeye." She said.
"Eh, well, it's not like I made it clear." He said with a shrug of all four shoulders. "Hey, Jenny, can I ask you something personal?"
Jenny tensed. "What is it?"
"Is there anything going on between you and Bucky?"
Oh.
"It's…complicated, Deadeye. Bucky has so many admirable characteristics but he's just so fixated on the war…"
"Well, war is something to take seriously, lass."
"I know that! But has he ever stopped to think that one day our luck may run out? Doesn't he think that it'd be best to spend whatever time we have with someone we love instead of ignoring those feelings and locking them away?"
Jenny's outburst stunned Deadeye. She'd always been a secretive girl but who could've guessed she'd been having secrets like that?
Neither felt like talking anymore, so they put out the fire and went to sleep. The next morning, Deadeye woke to find that Jenny was gone. He got up to look for her and came across a roaring waterfall. Excited, for he had not bathed in several days, he stripped and chucked his clothes aside, completely missing another pile of clothes. Under the pounding surge of the fall, Deadeye scrubbed at his grungy feathers and heard a sound that was nearly completely drowned out by the roar of the falls.
Deadeye followed the sound to the other end of the falls where a familiar silhouette was also scrubbing herself down: a soaking wet white cat, singing to herself with her long pink hair clinging to her body.
'Jenny?' Deadeye thought in alarm. 'Oh, screw me with a lizard's sword. I gotta get out of here!'
Deadeye attempted to quietly leave, only to slip on a rock and fall on his back. Jenny stopped singing and slowly approached to see what the noise was.
'This is gonna be fun.' Deadeye internally moaned, knowing how Jenny was going to interpret the scene. It also didn't help that a certain part of him was standing at attention, encouraged by Jenny's singing and form. Speaking of whom…
"Deadeye?" Jenny shrieked when she saw him, wrapping her arms over herself. All Deadeye could do was give her a sheepish wave and grin, while trying to cover himself.
"What in the name of Genus do you think you're doing?" She yelled.
"Hey, hey, I didn't know you was here, lass!" Deadeye protested.
"Get out of here!" Jenny yelled again as she began hurling rocks at him.
"Okay! Okay!" Deadeye retorted as he got up and fled. "It's not like I had anything nasty in mind! Unless, of course, ya wanted ta fool around…"
A rock came dangerously close to hitting Deadeye's head.
Song belongs to David Bowie