Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet

No Turning Back

For luna-proeliator

Marianne was looking at the window looking up at the stars when the though occurred to her. She watched the stars a lot and wondered whether Cassandra did too. Sometimes when she was looking up at the stars she was wondering whether she was watching them at the same time to her and they would act like a bridge between the two of them, even though they were on the other side of the galaxy they could still be connected. But when she looked up sometimes she was wonder whether someone was watching and being mindful of her rather than the other way round.

She thought about how Xavier could still be watching over her and no matter what she did he would always know that she had broken her promise. She remembered making her promise under starry skies. The last thing she could remember on the night which sealed and tied the connection with Xavier and Cassandra was looking up at a cluster of stars. Then again even though he would know there would be nothing he could do about it.

When there was such a conflict between two people the biggest problem with coming to a compromise or an agreement was that none of the two were able to fully understand the experiences or the feelings of the other person simply because it was impossible to be inside the head of the other person all the time. But now it might be so bad when he was watching her every move. Maybe she would not feel so guilty because perhaps he could understand why she was doing this.

Just before she was about to decide to go to their room Marianne saw something rustling in the darkness of the woods. Other times she would have dismissed it and thought it was just the wind but there was a sharp spark which sliced through the air which made her think twice before making presumptions. She narrowed her eyes and leaned closer towards the window and her eyes widened when she saw shadows approaching the inn. Yet again, most people would think this was no reason to panic but when she saw the symbol of Orion which the Duke always had his men bare upon them she knew it was no coincidence that they were here.

She rushed over to Murat and grabbed him by the hand. "We have to go."

"Why? What's wrong Marie?"

"The Dukes men are here we have to go." She hissed as she ran out the room. She ran down the corridor and banged on the door.

"Hawkins! Cassandra!" She cried as loudly as she could without causing a disturbance.

She waited for as long as she could until she realised that they weren't in their room and slowly turned in the direction of stairs with a look on horror on her face. She swiftly ran towards the stairs and raced down them and leaned over the banister and scanned the room. It was so dark that was difficult to tell whether they were there are not. There were so many couples nestled in one another in dark corners that it was difficult to tell who was who.

Her eyes darted in the direction of the sound of a door opening abruptly and a squad of soldiers marched into the inn.

The innkeeper looked a little concerned as she approached the counter. "What can I do for you gents?"

"Madam we wish to search the premises as we believe some fugitives may be hiding here."

"No one shady's been coming in here last time I checked." She replied defensively.

"We know you wouldn't allow a fugitive to seek sanctuary knowingly, Miss. We simply wish to check if they are here. Although, if you did perhaps know we may not have to cause you any trouble if you can point us in the right direction. We may even pay you handsomely for your information."

The landlady glanced towards the stairs as if she knew that it was Marianne and the others who were the fugitives and turned back to them.

Marianne reached to gun in her side and slowly pulled it out. "How many did you say there were?"

"A couple. A man in his early to mid twenties, brown hair, blue eyes, six foot tall, medium build and a young woman no older than twenty with black hair, green eyes and a pale complexion. Did anyone of that description come in?"

Marianne gently placed her finger on the trigger and backed into the shadows as she aimed. She watched the woman consider this.

"There was someone who came in that fitted that description." She replied in a hushed tone. "They're not in their room though."

"Point them out to me."

The landlady turned to the dining area and walked out from behind the counter casually and walked closer and looked around. A frown appeared on her face which suddenly turned into panic.

"What is it?" The man hissed.

Her eyes darted about the room. "They were here a moment ago."

The man pulled out a gun and pressed it into the landlady's jaw. "You better tell me, right now, otherwise you're getting a bullet-"

Marianne fired shooting the man in the neck. He cried out and pressed his hand against the wound although lost so much blood in a matter of seconds and died as a result.

The rest of his men fired in the direction the shot came from and after a while stopped and waited in silence for any sign of movement.

Marianne jumped to her feet and fired, alongside Murat at the rest of the men remaining until all of them were dead. They walked down the stairs into the dining area ignoring the shivering landlady.

"Where did they go?" Murat asked.

Marianne was about to reply until she caught a door near the kitchens left opened and smiled. "Just got away in time."

~ (***) ~

Cassandra held onto Jim's hand as they dragging their legs through the forest as quickly as they could. She occasionally looked over her shoulder to check if they had been followed. She eventually stopped worrying whether they were being followed. They even stopped running after a while and were just walking through the woods as if they were a normal young couple taking an evening stroll.

She scoffed at the idea. Normal couple. How were they ever going to be normal? How were they going to get out of Orion? She never wanted to be back home so badly. She thought she was going to enjoy this trip, to a certain extent (which was originally shortened because of the fact that her best friend was practically committing herself to a life of purgatory). Now there was a completely different reasoning to the lack of enjoyment of this trip.

"Do you think we lost them?"

"I heard gun fire a while back."

Cassandra turned to Jim with a look of panic in her eyes. "Do you think Marianne and Murat are alright?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think anyone could mess with either of them. They'll be fine."

She looked a little unconvinced but still nodded. He wrapped an arm around her they continued walking till they reached the road.

"What are you doing? They'll be checking the roads."

"We need to get a ride." He explained.

"You think that's the only squadron he would have sent out. Jim their going to be checking everywhere. Especially the roads. He knows that we're going to want to get out of Orion as soon as possible."

Jim stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing. "You're right you should be a Space Captain."

"Why?"

"Because you think like one."

"Now is not the time to be complimenting or teasing me, James. We have to focus. Can you focus for me right now?"

He threw back his head and laughed even harder. "Now you sound like my wife. You would definitely be good at juggling both those jobs."

She tried to resist smiling. "Can you try to take this situation a little bit seriously?"

Still chuckling but nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "But you are right we do need to get a ride if we're going to get to the docks as soon as possible."

"We can always go with my suggestion."

She stopped and stared down the road with a look of annoyance and frustration on her face. She was beginning to feel like she and Jim were married to one another. They were arguing like an old married couple. She knew that one way or another Jim was going to get his way. He had so far, well in most respects anyway. She had to admit sometimes, even though he had a plan which she had a feeling was going to work fine, that it was just so annoying admitting that he was right. He never went by the textbook and she could remember literally some parts of that textbook her father showed her when she was a kid.

"Fine." She replied.

"Okay." He held up his hand and gestured for a ride.

"You realise you look like an absolute idiot." She stated.

"And standing there with your hands on your hips isn't particularly productive. Besides I'm your idiot."

"Yeah I was given the best of the lot wasn't I?"

~ (***) ~

The docks were eerily quiet as Jim and Cassandra passed through and searched for a ship to board. They had no idea where any of them were going but they knew that if they didn't get onto one soon they were dead. Most of them were probably going to be leaving in the early hours of the morning so it would be best to board one now rather than wait until everyone comes flooding out of the inns and be spotted. No one ever frequented the storage rooms below deck so they knew that would be the best place to hide and once they reached their destination they would leave along with the rest of the crew.

Jim scanned the row of ships and knew that any would be as good as the other. They all had one thing in common. They were moving far from Orion and that was where they needed to be. He grabbed her hand and ran across in the night air to a ship climbed up by the rope holding it to the dock. Jim went first with Cassandra following after who did fairly well but needed a little bit of a hand at the end. He wrapped his arms around her and she held onto his by wrapping her arms round his neck. She blushed a little at their proximity which made him raise an eyebrow but made no comment.

She straightened her dress when he put her down and looked around the ship. It was fairly impressive for a space vessel and even had delicate little touches to the design with the gold-lined carvings and pure white paint.

"Jim." She said in a shaky voice. "I don't think this is a merchant ship."

Jim sighed. "Look it doesn't matter what kind of a ship it is. All that matters is that the next destination is as far away as possible."

She nodded uncertainly followed him down the stairs. Jim called over his shoulder a little too late "Mind your head." After she hit her head against the low ceiling.

"Awww. You okay?" He laughed.

"Yeah. I'm just too tall." She moaned.

Jim frowned and looked her up and down. "You're not that tall."

She raised an eyebrow taking the offered hand while still pressing her hand firmly against her forehead.

"Well not according to my teachers. Especially my dance teacher, since I was in the taller half of the girls I would always be the male part. Hence the terrible dancing."

"On the contrary I thought you were a natural dancer. The great thing about folk dancing is that there isn't really a male or female role in the whole dance."

She smiled. "Maybe that's why I liked it so much."

He brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. "That's because you are natural. It's what I like about you."

She rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. You said that."

He chuckled. "Did I?"

"Uh-huh."

He pulled a face. "Sorry."

"It's alright. It's just over the years at dinner and balls I would have tons of men complimenting me whether they were being genuine or not. In fact they were all probably lying since they probably knew more about my income than I did. In fact I didn't know about it until before we left."

He turned back to her and touched her shoulder. "You don't have to feel like that again." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's like what you told me about my Dad. You don't have to bring yourself down because of what other people may think of you."

She nodded. "Yeah. I know."

He gave her a look as if to say 'I don't think you do' when it actual fact that was more closer to the truth than what she implied. She had never been much for one to admit to the truth, not because she was concerned for what others would think of her but because of what she would be admitting to herself. She had been so confused and so lost for so long that now she finally decided to stop being lost and know where she was going to go. She had been running continuously from those questions she didn't wish to answer and simply avoided. Now when she stopped they were able to catch up with her and now she had to answer the call.

After you had given your testimony you were either free to go or you had to receive a prison sentence. Cassandra didn't have to pay her dues she could go free but then again there were still some things she had to deal with as all jury members had to. You always walked out that court room carrying a little bit of guilt. Sometimes directed at the family members involved and even the accused if they were innocent but were declared guilty or if not you still felt sorry for anyone else affected by all of this. If it was your life on the line sometimes you would walk out that court room feeling a little bit guilty for getting away with it. Or if not someone else paying for it.

There was someone always having to pay. This world was never fair all the time but eventually people got what they deserved. You had to go down rough roads but eventually you had to go off those roads and things got a little smoother soon enough. However you had to stop and think which direction you're going to take when before you had been carrying this vague idea of your destination and you have to decide what that first step is going to be. Eventually you had to decide where you were going to go. No one can never go through life being aimless successfully. But its not only that you have to find out whether its a hard or easy step or whether its a leap or whatever.

All these things are important when you're considering your future. No one knows what's going to happen to them but you can always guarantee its the most unexpected thing. For Cassandra it was now just matter of whether she was brave enough to take that first step or leap when it wasn't the one she intended to take. People who watched her thought she was brave but she wasn't even brave enough to ask herself what she really wanted. Everything had changed now, the rules had been modified slightly and she to play by them whether she liked it not.