Chapter Ten:

It took effort to snap out of the stunning spell the black hole gave out bit I do so and proceeded to wipe my hands over and over onto my trench coat to clean them. I tug Jim's sleeve to get his attention before directing him to join up with Silver while I locate the Captain. I sprint across the deck, shoving crew members aside when they interrupt my path. Hastily I reach the helm and find the Captain wresting control of the steering column from a less experienced crew man.

Despite my shaking hands I manage to tear the cap off a spare bottle of my pills and swallow as many as will go down at once. I cast a furtive glance at the black hole, noticing how undeniably we're being drawn towards it. Captain Amelia screams at Arrow for the crew to secure the sails before the blasts of wind from the hole shred them. Jim runs up and presses a rope into my hands and ushers out the word "lifeline" before scurrying off to check the lines of the others. I attempt to help when I can but what good is a weapons specialist during an astronomical crisis? I stand unbearably idle by Amelia, wincing as she struggles to maintain her grip on the wheel. I tune out her voice when it seems like her and the Doctor are going to squabble for what could be their last time. Instead, he provides her with a moment of genius. As Mr. Arrow reports to the Captain that they've finished tying down the sails she astonishes them by saying, "Good man! Now, release them immediately!" much to the demurs of the crew.

I start forward eager to do something that aide in saving our lives. I run and then leap onto the nearest set of shrouds connected to the foremost mast of the ship and begin my ascent. Out of my peripheral vision I spot Jim as he double-checks the lifelines before he and Silver brace themselves against a post. Arrow and I are doing our best to unleash the sail when the ship lurches horribly once more. I spot Arrow as he is sent flying with only his lifeline maintaining his connection to the ship. Cautiously I move across the beam while my adrenaline rises and stress mounts with every step as I try to reach Arrow. My right leg is hit with sudden paralysis from the knee down and I realize I'm barely halfway to reaching Arrow. I grope my secret pocket for my medicine but it is sent tumbling into deep space because of my faulty fingers. I'm reduced to hobbling as carefully as I can across the beam when I see Scroop advancing on Mr. Arrow. Part of me claimed naivety as I prayed he would help Mr. Arrow. In fact it wouldn't take much for Mr. Arrow was already climbing his way back up his rope but had stopped when he saw Scroop standing above him where he had been just moments before. His animosity proved real as Arrow and I watched in horror from our various viewpoints as Scroop cut Arrow's lifeline.

Arrow yelled, Scroop chuckled evilly, and I shrieked in protest before I launched myself off of the mast to grab the remains of Arrow's line. I snagged the rope and bit my lip to stifle the barrage of pain that burst from the scorching the lifeline gave my hands. I worried briefly that Scroop had heard or seen my attempt at rescue and would slice my line too but it seemed he left to seek a safer and less compromising position. The milliseconds it took for this all to occur were nothing but faintly remarkable blurs as everything boiled down to this moment.

Mr. Arrow and I locked eyes as I tried to stay the burning rope in my hands. He shook his head and I shook mine in response, I would not give up so easily. I breathed through the agony in my hands and tried to pull him closer but to no avail, gravity was skewed due to the suction of the black hole. Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice was screaming for me to give up, that I had been beyond my limits and that it was pointless to keep pushing. I ignored the voice and painstakingly I stretched a hand to Arrow so that I could grip him better. My right hand found his right shirt cuff as and as I pulled I realized far too late how far my paralysis had spread. I screamed and swore and felt the first round of tears form as my hands began to freeze. All movement stopped except for the swaying of the two of us, floating away from the ship with only my lifeline as a connection.

"Kalena." Arrow spoke, his gravely formal voice aching like overstressed metal as he addressed me by my first name for the first time. "Let go."

'No, never!' I blinked furiously to drive away a fresh wave of tears and resumed to pull even as I felt my forearms numbing completely.

"Kalena, you won't be blamed. This is not your fault, but it is up to you now to uphold justice. Let me go or we will both die." I shook my head, tears freefalling ironically because even as the rest of my body caved in to the cataplexy the tears still had the ability to move of their own accord.

'No! I can save you! I will save you Arrow! Don't make me give up on you!' But I was beyond my limit. Mr. Arrow knew, he could read it in my eyes, could see it for himself in my body's rigidity, in the way my hands had gone from being red to almost white as the life behind them faded. And still I pushed against the barrier.

I broke. "Tell the Captain I-" Whatever Arrow's last words had been, they were lost to me. My strength was sucked away, my vision became that of the looming darkness bursting from the black hole, and the last sound I remember was one of tearing while a single word echoed around my head poisoning all of my willpower as it branded me as a failure.

xXx

Jim POV:

As the final tremor made contact with our sails we rode to safety, successfully escaping the black hole with the ship, and all of us intact. Thanks to some scientific fluke discovered by the Doc and the Captain we are alive! Jubilee replaced fear as we all exchange breaths of joy and praise. And then the roll call began.

Everyone was present and accounted for until the Captain called out for her second and third in command. My thoughts rang with concern for Kalena and I took off scouring the ship for her ignoring all of Silver's calls that demanded I return. All sense of mirth or joy was gone and twice I almost lost myself to an unknown but powerful ache I felt creeping through me. If I ever doubted how much I cared for her I surely didn't now, I couldn't even entertain certain thoughts without feeling like I was going to break down. Everything I left unsaid during those precious moments before the storm when it had just been us two alone in the hold hung over me like a gift that I was never able to give away. The words kept piling from all that I wanted to say and now they're crashing back down onto me, unspoken but not forgotten.

I found her hanging near the front mast. Her lifeline was taut and close to fraying despite how much excess rope I had provided her but it was easy to spot why. The post where the lifelines were connected was in the center and her rope stretched from there all the way to the front mast and over a beam connected to the bottom part of a solar sail. From there her rope descended halfway back down to the deck.

It was no easy feat to cut her rope and haul her down to the deck. I checked her pulse and was relieved to find her alive. She was unconscious and her body very stiff and despite my best efforts I could not revive her. I looped my arm around her waist and pulled her left arm over my shoulders before I began to pull her back to the Captain and waiting crew.

The Captain's face contorted as she went through a cataclysm of emotions, each one more ephemeral than the last. She collected herself and her face bore a severe mask of empty emotion that clashed as she fluttered over Kalena.

"Kalena? Kalena! Wake up, c'mon girl." It must be because of their deep-rooted bond that the Captain was able to reach Kalena in her subconscious and rouse her enough to stir. Kalena's eyes opened to half-slits and the little bit that showed was devoid of their usual fire. She peered up at the Captain with twin wells of dark emptiness before calling out to her.

"Amelia?" Her voice cracked on the last syllable and her final effort was to open her right hand that had been clenched since I rescued her. She collapsed into the Captain's arms as she slipped back into her forced sleep. In her hand was a torn piece of red fabric belonging to what had been someone's sleeve, and I had no doubt the Captain knew who.

"Mr. Arrow? Has anyone seen my first mate?" The Captain passed Kalena to me as Mr. Scroop approached through the throng of crewmates. I pulled back to Silver and wondered why the Captain kept restraining her emotions in front of everyone. Despite needing to be professional wasn't she allowed a little breathing room? It dawned on me that she probably still believed the crew was composed of pirates! Both she and Kalena are so stubborn. I glanced at Silver but his eyes were focused on the situation at hand, both were constantly flicking between Scroop and the Captain. His mouth was pressed into a hard line as he judged what the outcome of this turn of events might be.

Scroop looked positively saddened as he said, "I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost." He hands the Captain Arrow's hat that he must have discovered somewhere. "His lifeline was not secure."

His accusatory words cause all eyes to rest on me; the Captain's being the most dejected. "No! No I checked them all." I pass Kalena roughly to Silver before I run and check the post. There to testify against me was one empty slot. "I did, I checked them all. They were secure. I swear..."

My words died after being declared unbelievable in the air as the Captain proclaimed a brief eulogy about Mr. Arrow. I forgetfully abandon Kalena altogether and leave her with Silver. The Captain can watch over her and I'm shocked to find I don't care either way. Guilt turns to anger as I lose myself over and over in a messy turmoil of emotion. The evening passes in the most somber of moods possible and it is also eerily silent.