Author's Note:

Oh wow… forty chapters! (So many)

More action? You got it!

The jacket-clad pirate captain fired a shot into the air, signalling to his crew before hurrying to the lower decks. The ship's alarms were activated.

"The ship's going down!" One of the pirates shouted. The pirate crew flooded to the lower decks while the rest of the honourable sailors remained on the main deck.

Rebecca hurried to Jim's side. "Jim!" She grabbed the young man's hand and looked into his amber eyes. "Stay with me, Jim, please!"

"Bones." Jim said while trying to catch his breath. "He's gonna take down the whole ship and everyone with it." He squeezed Rebecca's hand. "He's only got the one longboat for himself... You've gotta get outta here."

"I'm taking you with me, Jim." Rebecca squeezed back. "You're not leaving us."

Jim half-laughed half-gasped as he looked up into Rebecca's eyes. "Do you- think I would've been a good uncle, Rebecca?" He digressed.

Rebecca blinked. "You know?"

Jim nodded curtly, "I'm a little more observant than Johnny-Boy." He offered a weak smile. "Take care, would you, Rebecca." He gave Rebecca one last smile before his grip on her hand slackened.

"Jim…" Hot tears fell from Rebecca's eyes. Her companions –excluding John- rushed to the helm.

"Jim!" Juanita exclaimed, being the first to react to the aforementioned man's death. "Who did this? Where is that cutthroat?" She drew her sword. "I'll gut him from nostril to navel!"

"Juan, just calm down." Jarred set his hands down on Juanita's shoulders, looking sadly at Jim's body. "There's nothing we can do for him."

"But- he-" Juanita's voice broke as she held back tears and fell silent.

"What do we do now?" Martin asked through pants, his eyes darting from the blood soaked aft to his companions.

"Bones is taking down the ship." Henry shook his head gravely, his eyes closed. "There is nothing that we can do."

Rebecca glanced at the ship's scanner and noticed that there was only one longboat in the ship's hold. "Those pirates are going to be coming back up soon, when they see that Bones has beaten them to the escape."

"I can only imagine that they'll be quite angry." Martin stated, drawing his sword.

A silence followed, accompanied only by the ship's blaring alarms. It seemed that there was an understanding amongst the five companions that they were soon going to meet Jim's fate.

"What about John?" Rebecca exclaimed. She saw the loss for words in her companions' expressions as she stood up. "John! John? Where are you?" Rebecca called across the body-riddled deck.

The only answer was the ship's blaring alarms.

"He was right beside me before Bones sounded the alarms." Martin stated. "After that, I haven't a clue."

There was a deafening roar of the enraged pirates below their feet as Rebecca searched the main deck for John.

"The pirates are coming back!" Jarred exclaimed.

"John!" Rebecca blindly ran for the lower decks, ignorant of the approaching pirates.

"Rebecca!" Juanita shouted, making a move to go after the young woman.

Suddenly they heard the thrusters of an oncoming ship off the port side. The HMS Aurora haphazardly flew alongside the Black Arrow, colliding with the side of the ship as it came to a stop.

"Hop on!" Scroop called from the helm of the ship.

Two pirates were tied up in a web of ropes and ratlines off the portside of the ship. The young arachnid looked to have grown twice his height, judging how he sized up to the wheel of the ship, and his exoskeleton was back to its normal colour.

Martin laughed aloud. "Nice job, kid!" He scurried up the ship, followed by Henry.

Jarred walked to Jim's body and hoisted it over his shoulder, his expression hardened from sadness. The male Shikaran then handed Jim's body up to the main deck, before climbing up.

"Come on, we've gotta get outta here!" Martin shouted.

"Rebecca, come on!" Juanita urged.

Their ship suddenly booted up -preparing to launch- as Scroop shoved Juanita back onto the main deck of the HMS Aurora and leapt onto the main deck of the Black Arrow.

"Two minutes." Scroop stated curtly, "Don't follow me." The arachnid hurried to the lower decks.

"John! Where are you?" Rebecca called.

"Rebecca?" A familiar voice came from a hallway nearby. Rebecca ran towards John's voice. "What in blue blazes are yeh doin' 'ere?" John exclaimed.

"John!" Rebecca ran into the young man's arms.

"We're far from safe, Rebecca." John stated. "We've gotta find a way outta 'ere."

"There is none." Rebecca looked into John's eyes. "I just needed to find you."

John looked down into the young woman's eyes, sensing her hopelessness. He sighed, "I suppose this is possibly the worst time teh tell yeh that I love yeh, Rebecca." He said sincerely.

Rebecca gave him a watery smile. "I love you too, John."

"John! Rebecca!" Scroop called from the end of the hallway. "We don't have much time, come on!" He gestured to the upper decks.

"Scroop?"

The young adults followed the arachnid to the upper decks, taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the HMS Aurora.

"We can't delay this any longer; the Black Arrow's going to explode and we've got to get as far from it as we can!" Martin called over the blaring alarms and humming of the HMS Aurora's thrusters.

"We're about to launch!" Henry called from the helm of the ship.

"Come on!" Scroop urged, climbing up onto the main deck of the Aurora. John followed and offered his hand out to Rebecca, who climbed up onto the railing of the Black Arrow.

Rebecca reached for John's hand when suddenly a snake-man slithered up behind her and grabbed her by the back of her jacket.

"No!" She screamed, falling to the deck of the pirate ship.

"Get off her!" John snarled, leaping off the Aurora to tackle the snake-man, his family's dagger in his hand.

Rebecca scrambled to her feet and hurried up the side of the Aurora. "John!" She shouted as the HMS Aurora began to power up for its launch. She reached out to the young man.

The HMS Aurora launched from the side of the Black Arrow. The force of the launch sent Rebecca back-first onto the deck. She scrambled to her feet and hurried to the stern of the ship, watching as the Black Arrow began to shrink on the horizon.

"JOHN!" She screamed as the Black Arrow was torn to pieces by a colossal explosion.

The HMS Aurora shuddered from the aftershock of the explosion, before finally slowing to a stop. All that remained of the infamous Black Arrow was rubble and fire.

"No!" Rebecca fell to her knees. "John…" She sobbed into her hands.

Author's Note:

Thank you very much, Whisperwings!

MG#6