DISCLAIMER: I do not, have not, and will not ever, never, never, ever own The Adventures of Tintin. The stories and characters are purely owned by Herge :)
******** approximately 3 weeks ago ********
Captain Haddock had never seen the sea so rough in all his long life as a sailor. The waves were dark grey in colour and were lurching and clashing against the dock without mercy in a menacing manner. A large sheet of sea spray saturated the Captain as he stood on the edge of a wooden pier, his eyes straining to find any sign of a vessel. A small white dog was barking and skipping around his heels, also staring into the roaring ocean. Another giant wave washed over the Captain as he crouched down, bracing himself against the raging water. He curled a whimpering Snowy in his overcoat as the pier creaked and moaned.
"Gee Snowy old boy, I just hope Tintin's alright" the Captain told the soaking fox terrier.
Meanwhile...
"Oof! You know I really cannot understand why you pride yourself on being Ultimate Commander of the sea, when you can barely keep your own boat from capsizing!" yelled a certain soaking ginger-haired reporter who was currently sliding along the floor of a ship control room, eventually colliding with the opposite wall. "Ow! And you could've had the common decency to tie me to a pole or something" he yelled over the sound of the roaring sea as he slammed into the other side of the room. Tintin, with his hands tied behind his back, was yelling at a middle-aged sailor who was struggling to keep a handle on the small, drug-smuggling boat, which was completely at the sea's mercy.
"Yeah well, if it ain't for me kid, you'd be at the bottom of the ocean right now, sleepin' with the fishes!" the man shouted, angrily, back. It was bad enough that the nosy, little reporter had stowed away on his boat, and discovered the illegal stash of cocaine he was smuggling, but he also had to keep the brat alive because the boss "wants a word with the young man". If ol' Steve had it his way, the ginger nit-wit would've been dead hours ago when he struck him with the wooden plank. But Steve knows his place and whatever the boss says, goes.
"Gah!" Steve exclaimed as a tidal wave of sea water surged through a broken window of the control room, knocking him off his feet and causing him to smash his head against the floor. The impact knocked the man out cold.
"Hey, get up. Get up! You have to steer the boat!" Tintin yelled as he struggled against his restraints. Steve had also tightly tied Tintin's ankles together, which really didn't help the current situation. If Steve doesn't wake up and take the wheel soon, or if Tintin doesn't free himself in time, they would both end up at the bottom of the ocean.
"Come on, come on!" Tintin said, frustrated as he pulled and tugged at the ropes. Eventually getting a hand free, he grabbed onto one of the two poles in the room and pulled himself to his feet. Managing an unimpressive hop towards the wheel before stumbling a little, luckily not falling to ground again, Tintin made his way to the ships wheel.
"Whoa! Ok, steadily now Tintin. It's just a little boat. No different to a plane! Easy-peasy" Tintin tried to reassure himself before the boat gave a great lurch and he was thrown forwards onto the wheel.
Now with a firm handle on the wheel, and the occasional sea spray saturating Tintin from head to toe, the young reporter guided the small boat through the rough seas until it came into view of the city of Brussels.
"Whoo! There it is!" Tintin exclaimed happily when he saw the dark, water logged piers of the dock. "Captain, I'm coming home- argh!"
A rough hand yanked Tintin off the wheel and he fell to the floor, twisting his left ankle on the way down. A sharp pain to his stomach came shortly after that as Steve kicked the boy in his side.
"Now stay down!" the man spat at Tintin who was now clutching at his side and trying hard not the move his ankles. "Knew I should've killed ya as soon as I had the chance! Know what? Screw what the boss says, your life ends here boy an- argh!" Steve was thrown backwards as the boat smashed into the dock and he rebounded off the wheel. The crook skidded across the floor until he hit the back wall. Tintin, however, was flung forward through the broken front window, and landed head first onto a pier.
"Argh!" Tintin exclaimed as his skull collided with the hard wood. The young reporter then slid, almost unconscious, towards the raging water below him. Tintin tried to catch himself on the ledge of the jetty but missed. Luckily the sleeve of his blue sweater got caught on a large nail. The last thing Tintin heard before he plunged into the cold, violent sea was the rrrrrrrrrrrrrrip of his sleeve as the nail tore right though his sweater. Tintin fought his hardest the return to the surface, but it was proven very difficult due to his clothes weighing him down, and his twisted ankle tied tightly to the other. After almost a minute of struggling, Tintin gave up all hope and allowed himself to gently sink towards to bottom of the ocean. His world went black.
Splash! A panic stricken sea man had broken the surface of the water as he dove in after his young friend. Though the strong waves kept pushing him and pulling him the Captain was determined to find Tintin and bring him to the surface. The current has stirred up all the sand and dirt from the ocean floor which made it extra difficult to see, but Captain Haddock's hands finally collided with another body and he wrapped his arms around Tintin's waist and kicked furiously, propelling them upward.
Spluttering and choking, the captain heaved Tintin's body out of the water and laid him flat on the dock. Taking a small pocket knife out from his coat pocket, Captain Haddock cut away the ropes from Tintin's ankles. Snowy trotted up and started to lick his master face, but the boy did not stir.
"Tintin! Tintin, can you hear me lad? Oh, please wake up Tintin!" the Captain shook the boys shoulders a little but no response came. Haddock lent down to check if Tintin was breathing and his blood ran cold when no breath came out of the boy's mouth.
"Oh God! Oh no, Snowy old boy! What do we do? What do we do?" the Captain, in his panic, forgot all his revival skills as a sailor until Snowy let out a rather loud bark, almost as if saying get a hold of yourself man!
The Captain jumped at Snowy's bark, and pulled himself together. Then light bulb popped alight in the Captains mind. In order to save his best friend's life, he would have to perform CPR. Captain Haddock would never forgive himself if Tintin died on his watch. The Captain checked Tintin's pulse before placing his hands in a criss-cross fashion over the boy's chest. After closing his eyes, he pumped hard on Tintin's chest.
Ok, 1, 2, 3. He counted in his head with each pump on the almost lifeless reporter.
"Bah!" the Captain exclaimed as a whole lot of sea water exited Tintin's body on pump number 3 and spurted onto the man's face just as he was about to fill the boy's lungs with air.
Tintin coughed and spluttered to life as Snowy barked happily around his master legs, accidentally landing on the twisted ankle.
"Ouch! Snowy, please hop off my ankle!" Tintin said, not at all annoyed with the little dog. "Captain you saved my life; thank you" he said gratefully to a rather shocked sea captain, who was still getting water out of his eyes.
"Thundering, blistering, barnacles on a hot winters day Tintin! You gave me a right scare there lad!" the Captain said, relieved that his young friend was alive again. "You mind giving me a little heads up the next time you decide to die on me!" he said with a smile, as he pulled the boy to his feet. "Or maybe tell me in detail exactly what you plan on doing when going after no good crooks! Seriously, a little note on the table saying: "found a lead on a drug smuggler. I'll be at the wharf. If I'm not back by 9 o'clock, call the police". Not comforting lad, not comforting at all!" Captain Haddock was helping Tintin hobble to the row of shops near the wharf when they heard sirens blaring somewhere nearby.
Tintin laughed a little at his friend's worried rant. "Captain I'm fine!" he reassured the man. "Thanks to you of course. And I didn't have time to explain. Steve's boat was due to depart shortly after I wrote the message. So I'm sure you can see why- wait! Steve! Where is he? Captain did you see anyone else in the water besides me?" Tintin asked desperately.
"Steve, who in the blazes is Steve?" the Captain asked, a little confused. Tintin took that as a no.
"He must've gotten away. Either that or he drowned" Tintin said as he turned back towards the raging sea. Steve's boat was still beached on a pier, which was convenient as the police will be able to find the stash of cocaine, but no sign of Steve.
"Or", a coarse voice behind them said. "I could be standing right behind you, getting' prepared to shoot you both in the head! I'll start with you. The nosy little reporter who ruined my boat and my career in the events of one night!" he yelled, raising a gun, aiming it at Tintin's head.
"No!" Captain Haddock screamed as he heard the gun go off. He pulled Tintin to the ground and saw Steve running in the opposite direction to a police car that had just pulled up behind them.
"Phew" Haddock said with a sigh as he watched a couple of cops chase after the armed criminal. "Lad, I think we're gonna be alright" he said brightly, looking down. But the smile faded from his face quicker than it had come. For lying on the ground next to him, was Tintin, his breathing shallow and his right shoulder soaked with blood.
"Captain. Captain, did they get him? Has Steve been caught?" Tintin asked, his voice very weak, and eyes looking everywhere but his shoulder, eventually closing.
"Tintin! Oh god! Yes, yes the cops have gone after him lad. He's gonna be put away for a long time" the Captain tried to reassure his injured friend. He removed his blue overcoat and wrapped it around Tintin, making it especially tight around the wound. The bullet had just grazed his collar bone, and the boy was losing too much blood.
"Haddock, how good to see you oh-!" came a familiar voice from a short, plump British man swinging a cane and donning a black bowler hat.
"To be precise we- oh!" came another almost identical voice.
"Thompson, Thomson! Quit babbling and call a ruddy ambulance! Tintin's been shot!" the Captain growled desperately back. A small voice came from somewhere in the captain arms.
"I'm fine. Really I am. I just need a bandage and everything will be…fi- fine" Tintin said before blacking out completely.
"No. No, stay with me lad. Everything will be fine. Just like you said. Just like you always say" Haddock tried to reassure Tintin. "Look, Thompson…or Thomson, whichever one it is. They're calling an ambulance. We're gonna get you to the hospital, and, and they're gonna get you all patched up and, and everything with be fine" the Captain was now choking back tears as his best friend's body became limp in his arms.
"Tintin! Tintin, no, please wake up lad! Come one wake up for me, wake up for Snowy!" the Captain practically yelled at Tintin, though no response was received.
Tears rolled down the man's face as Tintin continued to lay motionless in his arms, whilst the sirens of a wailing ambulance approached the dock.
"Come on lad. Wake up. Please wake up?...I'm so sorry Tintin" the Captain said as he helped the medics lift Tintin into the ambulance. "I promise to never let you get hurt like this again!" he finished as the Thom(p)son's lead Haddock to their police car which followed the ambulance to the hospital.
Tintin was the best thing that ever happened to Captain Haddock. In the space of 6 quick and eventful months, the unlikely boy had become his best friend, and not a day went by that the Captain wasn't grateful for what Tintin has done for him.
******** back to the present ********
White. White was the only colour Tintin could see when he opened his eyes. After blinking a few times, he saw another colour blue. A blue and black something was in a sitting position next to where he lay. A few more blinks and Tintin saw that he was in a hospital room, with the Captain sitting next to him. For some reason his shoulder was killing him.
"Captain?" Tintin said weakly as he fully returned to consciousness.
Captain Haddock's head snapped up when he heard Tintin speak. This would be the first time in a full day that Tintin had given a measurable response.
All Haddock could do was breathe a long sigh of relief, almost as if he hadn't taken a single breath since Tintin has passed out.
"Captain. You've saved my life again. Thank-you" he said before falling into another deep, dreamless sleep.
"Anytime lad, anytime" the Captain responded readjusting Tintin's covers.