I would just like to inform those people that have been reading this story that writing new chapters has been harder to get to that expected. I can't do anything for more than five minutes without someone in my house needing me to do something or when there are days with nothing to do someone outside my house needs my help. I think I'm just going to write after everyone goes to sleep; it's about the only time I can find.
Disclaimer: Everything from the original Treasure Planet movie belongs to Disney.
The hardest part in life is trying to show the smile you know is fake and to hide the tears that won't stop. –Unknown
Chapter 5: Coming Apart
The fleet had been in space for more than a month now and everything was moving smoothly. Of course that also meant that it was boring. It was a Navy sanctioned fleet, not a cruise. Those were the words that the Captain told him almost every day. Darren wasn't looking for some fantastic rock climbing adventure or a hot tub to lounge in. At this point he would settle for some crayons and paper. The most exciting part of his day was the morning meetings when all of the ships were docked together. After the meetings would start he would cross to another ship just for the change of scenery. He didn't care if it made his chores run later than everyone else, it's not like they did anything afterward.
He felt really bad for Jeremy thought, at least when he was done Darren had five other companions to talk to, Jeremy didn't have anyone his age with him on his dads ship. The poor twelve year old could only listen to older crew members reminisce about the past or talk about things no preteen has any interest in. That's why Darren and Dylan tried to spend as much time with him as possible. It was nice for the two of them to hang with him because then they could play things like hide and seek and have a good excuse. His older siblings thought they were to mature to be play games like that. Truthfully, Darren knew they wanted to play, but they didn't want the crew to see them as kids.
His favorite company though had always been his twin. Nobody knew him better than Dylan and he knew Dylan better than anybody else. But lately his best friend had been growing steadily more quiet and withdrawn. At first Darren thought he was just home sick because he wasn't much of a spacer or thrill seeker, not that this experience had been particularly exciting, but then it seemed to get worse. Dylan hardly said anything anymore. He only talked when it was absolutely necessary and even then he spoke with as few words as possible. At the end of most days he would go to bed early because of a head ache that he would never take medicine for. Darren knew his parents were concerned but as busy as they have been he was sure they didn't know exactly how bad he had gotten. He tried to do everything he could to make him happy and, even though it didn't seem to work, he would continue to try.
"Hey Dylan, want to head over to the Fire Rider?"
"Sure." Darren mentally sighed. That single word and a shoulder shrug was the most he was going to get. The worst part was the lack of emotion and conviction he spoke with.
"That's all you're going to say," he said a bit angrily.
"I guess," he replied quietly and like he hadn't noticed the anger his twin had displayed.
Darren was going to say something else but then decide to let it go because it wouldn't make much of a difference either way.
"Come on." He walked across the deck and on to the gang plank with Dylan following suit.
Jeremy seen them coming and decided his work could wait a little so he put the mop down and went to greet his friends.
"Hey guys, what's shaking?"
"Jeremy, no matter what you do, those phrases will never come back into style."
"I can try. Hey Dylan."
"Hi."
Jeremy looked at Darren as if to ask what was wrong and Darren just shook his head.
"So anything particular you guys had in mind."
"No we were hoping you would come up with something this time."
Before the boy could speak, a certain mischievous pink blob interrupted. He flew around their heads so fast it made them dizzy and then proceeded to steal Darren's ski cap right off his head. It was really to warm for one but never took it off.
"Hey!"
"Hey!" Morph mimicked before cackling and flying below deck toward the long boat bay.
"After him."
They took pursuit of the miniature thief down the stairs but when they made it to the bottom he was nowhere in sight.
"Let's split up," suggested Jeremy.
They took off in different directions. Dylan didn't have much interest in it but helped them anyway. He made his way down the hallway while the other two went around the corner the other direction. He looked in all of the small spaces and kept an eye out for anything that looked out of place. He made it half way down the hall when he noticed the door to the engine room stood cracked a couple of inches. When repairs weren't being done nobody was in there and the door would be closed. Morph was most likely the cause so Dylan looked around to make sure no one was watching and then slowly opened the door.
He instantly knew something was wrong because the room was trashed and tools were slung all across the floor. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end and he felt a shiver crawl up his spine. He took a couple more tentative steps into the room and smelt something fieghtly metallic.
Without warning his head started to pound. This was the worst time for him to have one of his headaches. They always hurt so bad they made his vision swim and blur and more often than not it was enough to make him see things that weren't there. This hurt more that any he had gotten so far, he could practically hear the blood rushing to his head. The pain was so bad he almost let out a scream but then it stop instantly. When he finally opened his eyes everything was spinning in all different directions. Even in the mess of swirling he was experiencing he could see something in the darkest corner of the room. He thought it was two red warning lights indicating a problem but when the room slowed down enough he realized they were eyes watching him; mocking him.
No! It wasn't real. It was the headache making him see things, it had to be. Hundreds of different species of intelligent life existed in the galaxy and not one of them had red eyes. They were so far off the ground and so far apart that whatever he was seeing was at least four times his size. They were so cold and maniacal and full of blood lust. It just couldn't be real. All he had to do was be calm and walk back to his room and go to sleep, sleep always helped him. He took one step back followed very slowly by another. He was going to take another but he felt something drip on his right cheek. He toughed it with his finger to see what it was but it was too dark in the room. One more drop fell on his forehead and he realized it was warm and sticky. The drops started to fall quicker on to his face before it was like standing in the rain. He didn't need to see it now to know what it was. It went it his mouth and he could taste the sickening combination of iron and salt.
He looked up with just enough light from the hallway coming in through the door that he could see the body of a cadet in training to be and engineer broken mauled and bleeding, plastered to the ceiling, staring back at him with dead eyes.
He couldn't take these hallucinations anymore; they were too strong and terrifying. Dylan collapsed to his hands and knees as he wrenched vile on to the floor over and over again. He gasped for air and choked between each one while tears ran down his face. Finally, he stopped throwing up and proceeded to breathe deeply to calm and cool down. Dylan felt like he was in a trance, he stood up and walked out of the room and then wander aimlessly around the lower part of the ship. He couldn't walk anymore and collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor next to a crate. He heard voices but they sounded so far away. He didn't pay any attention to them, he had his own problems.
He sat motionless against the wall unable to move. Then he felt something grab and shake him and the only thing he could think was that someone was going to kill him. So with the last of his strength he began to fight back.
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It had taken forever, but Darren finally found his hat. Normally it agitated and even pissed him off when Morph hid things, but today he was glad for the little game of lost and found because it had given him something to do. He found Jeremy looking under a tarp still searching.
"Found my hat."
"Did you find Morph?"
"No, but he's around here somewhere. Come on, he'll find us when he tired of hiding."
They walked back down the corridor looking for Dylan to tell him they had found it. He walked a little but didn't see his brother anywhere. Darren started to turn around when the open engine room door being open caught his eye. It wasn't normal for the door to be open unless someone was in there. There couldn't have been because the light was off. He went to check it out but was far more disturbed by the blood foot prints leading out and in the opposite direction. There was no trail to follow because there were only four sets of prints. There wasn't enough blood to leave a longer trail. He walked beyond the prints and then made a left. He was about turn around and go back to Jeremy, thinking Dylan had already gone back up, when he seen what looked like someone sitting on the other side of a crate down the hall.
When he got there he found his brother sitting in the floor covered in blood and vomit looking completely hysterical.
"Oh god, Dylan! Dylan! What happened?"
Nothing, his twin didn't answer or even look at him.
"Answer me!"
Still nothing. Darren bent over and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and shook him.
"Snap out of it god damn it and say something."
He finally received a reaction but not the one he was looking for. Dylan began to struggle with him while going into hysteria and screaming.
"NO! please let me go. Make them stop."
They struggled with one another and Jeremy watched, horrified from the end of the hall. Then he decided that he needed to get help, there was far more wrong with Dylan than anyone had thought. He ran as fast as he could to the meeting. He was so afraid for his friend that, before he made it to help, tears had started rolling down his face. He didn't bother knocking, just burst right through the door. The entire table had gone silent and looked right at him. Jim was about yell until he saw the tears on his face. Amelia watched as Captain Hawkins went over and tried to calmly talk to his son.
"Jeremy?"
"Y-you have to come quick."
"Jeremy, what wrong?" She heard Jim ask in a concerned voice.
"I- I don't k-know. He was f-fine one… minute, and then he wasn't," he said chocking and coughing.
Oh god, Amelia thought, don't let it be…
"Th-they're in the lower corridors, d-down the left hall past the e-engine room."
"Who?"
"Darren and Dylan," he said taking a deep breath. "There's something wrong with Dylan," he sobbed.
Amelia felt like all of the air had been sucked out of her. Without a second thought, she slipped out of her Captains façade and let the fear take over. Both she and Delbert were out of their chairs and running toward the corridors with Jim and Elizabeth close behind. When she found them Amelia felt like time had slowed down. She could see Darren standing over Dylan yelling at him while he was in the corner with his head buried in his knees and his hands over his head.
"Stop this Dylan, please get up!" he pleaded. He remained in the floor.
"It wasn't real. None of it was real. Red eyes aren't real. It can't hurt you if it's not real."
Darren was about to resume his shaking when Delbert through his arms around him and held him back. They watched Amelia bend down and try to calm him. He continued to cry and sob things that didn't make sense. Darren tried to break free from his father's grasp but Delbert held on tightly.
"Stop, let your mother talk to him." He wanted to do something but he didn't know what, so he stopped. After about five minutes Amelia had calmed him down. She pulled him up and half walked half dragged him back to the Legacy with Delbert doing the same thing with Darren behind her.
"What happened?" asked Derek and her daughters.
"Go back to your cabins and stay there until one of us comes down."
"But…" they started to protest.
"Go! Now!" she demanded harshly. They practically ran back.
They took them to Amelia's state room and closed the door behind the four of them. She gently sat Dylan down in a chair.
"Dylan, love, can you hear me?"
She received no response.
"Baby, please, answer me."
Still nothing. The vacant look in his eye told her he wasn't even there with them.
"Amelia, let me take him and clean him up."
"Okay."
He lead his son to the bathroom and turned on the water. Amelia took Dylan and sat him down on her bed.
"Tell me very slowly what happen."
Darren took a deep breath and nodded before painfully recalling everything he knew. After that she pulled him close and they sat in silence for a while.
"Is he going to be okay."
"Oh, I hope so love, I hope so."
Dylan was so exhausted that by time Delbert had taken the boy to his bed he had fallen asleep. Delbert had explained to Derek what had happen while Amelia told the girls. Then they told them that at least one of them was to be with him at all times. Everything else that day seemed to happen in a blur. The two of them didn't attend anymore of the meetings; they stayed in the stateroom and checked constantly on the twins. The only person that talked to them the rest of the day was Amelia's first mate to tell them that someone had been found dead in Captain Hawkins' engine room.
Amelia knew something was wrong with him lately and finding this body must have sent him over the edge.
Night finally came and Amelia and Delbert were both tired and upset.
"Amelia, come to bed. We're both in dire need of sleep."
"I think I'm going to take a shower first."
She let the water get really hot and then she climbed in and let the hot water ease the tension in her aching muscles. The day was finally catching up to her. Her son needed help and there was no way to get that kind of help out here in space. How long had he actually been feeling like this? She hadn't even noticed how bad it was. Amelia had been holding in her emotions all day but she couldn't anymore. She curled her fist into a ball and punched the wall so hard it tore the skin off her knuckles and then she bled. The next thing she knew she was sobbing. She hated what was happening to Dylan, but more than anything she hated herself for not seeing it. When her children were first born she made a promise to herself that being a Captain wouldn't interfere with being a good mum. She had been good one her promise until now. Amelia made up her mind right there, this was it. This was her last mission.
She climbed out and put on pajamas and left the bathroom. Delbert was sitting on the bed looking at her as she sat next to him. Silently he lifted her bleeding hand and without saying a word grabbed a first aid kit to fix her hand. When he was done they climbed into bed. Delbert took Amelia into his arms and pulled her back to his chest, putting his head in the crook of her neck.
"Delbert."
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you so much, Amelia."
She felt his tears on her neck just before she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
I have always thought that the moment when Spike first found out Buffy wasn't dead anymore in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the best Spuffy moments in the show. Her knuckles were bloody and he was very tender about fixing her hand. But the gesture of cleaning her hand was a metaphor for comforting someone who they themselves were broken. Not, only that, but it was a statement that even people who seem to be the strong ones aren't perfect and need help sometimes too. I thought that it was a nice parallel that fit well here.