Author's Note:

So, let's see some stuff happen! (Gee, don't go into so much detail, bub…)

"Lady Clarke?" A robotic surgeon came out of the operation room.

"Yes?" Rebecca looked up from her hands. She had had very little sleep since John was sent in to the operation room to be treated for his injuries.

"Mister Silver is in a stable condition, but..." The robot seemed uneasy of how to break the news to her, which was unusual for an unfeeling robot. "…But because of the injuries that Mister Silver sustained, we've had to amputate his useless limbs and install mechanical replacements."

"Oh." Rebecca was shocked by this news and bit her lip, "So he's… a cyborg now."

The doctor replied with a nod.

"But…" Rebecca bit back tears. "But he's going to be all right, isn't he?"

"Yes milady," the surgeon stated. "Mister Silver's body has adapted well to accompany his mechanized body parts and he will be well enough to sail within the week." The robot paused. "It may take him a while to get used to the additional hardware, but you'll find that he'll be able to function as well as –if not better than- any other sailor." The surgeon gestured to the operation room. "We've stabilized him enough that he can sustain visitors, but only one at a time, please."

"I see…" Rebecca sighed with relief. "Thank you, doctor."

The robot nodded in acknowledgement and left the young woman and her companions to attend to another patient.

Rebecca looked up at her companions, being Martin and Henry. Juanita and Jarred were elsewhere and Scroop was having his exoskeleton examined to determine if he had grown properly for his age.

"Go ahead Miss Rebecca." Martin urged.

"We're just about to retire for the evening." Henry assured.

Rebecca mutely nodded, standing from her chair and entering the room. She braced herself for was she was about to witness.

Rebecca looked into the operating room. John lay on a hovering gurney in the middle of the room, the right half of his body covered by a white sheet and a sling suspending his covered arm. Rebecca slowly approached John's right side and reached forwards, grasping the sheet. John stirred a bit, but soon resumed his slumber. Rebecca paused and slowly pulled off the white cloth.

Her pale green eyes widened and she dropped the sheet to the floor when she looked upon John. His right side now accommodated a mechanized leg and arm where their organic versions used to be. John had an array of whirling gadgets installed into the right side of his face where his ear used to be and it appeared that he also had a mechanical eye.

Rebecca held back tears as she sank into the nearest chair, looking at her beloved friend in shock. 'It's my fault that this happened to you, John.' The reality of what had happened to John sunk in and a tear slipped from her eye as she struggled to hold back her sobs.

"I'm so sorry." Rebecca cried into her hands, unable to look at John any longer.

John groaned lightly. "R- Rebecca?" He whispered.

Rebecca leapt to her feet, hurrying to John's left side and clasping John's hand. "I'm here John." More tears fell from Rebecca's eyes. "I'm here."

John moaned gently. His mechanical arm hung in a brace alongside the bed because of its substantial size. "What happened teh me?" He looked up at Rebecca with his good eye.

Rebecca pulled a chair up to the left side of John's bed and sat down. "Bones tried to kill us all." She gently stroked the back of John's hand. "It's a miracle that you survived."

John gave Rebecca a half-laugh. "Well, 'alf of me survived." He moved the fingers of his mechanical arm experimentally.

Rebecca was silent at this, overcome by guilt. John strained against the weight of his mechanical limbs to sit up and finally gave up, glancing at Rebecca. This didn't help Rebecca's guilt and fresh tears sprouted from her eyes.

"Rebecca." John said softly. The tenderness of John's voice granted a sob from Rebecca, who buried her face into John's chest and began crying.

"I'm so sorry, John…" She wept, her voice muffled in the folds of John's shirt. "I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you. There's no way in the Etherium that you deserved this… all of this is my fault."

John was speechless. He looked at Rebecca, slowing becoming accustomed to just looking through his mechanical eye. It analyzed everything in the operation room, from the discarded sheet upon the ground to the machines that he was hooked up to.

The young man wiggled the fingers of his mechanical hand and rolled his shoulder, watching as the arm moved accordingly. The mechanical arm wasn't as heavy as it size suggested and John slowly lifted it out of the brace.

Rebecca stopped crying and looked up from John's chest at what the young man was doing. John was completely focused on controlling his arm. A red beam shot out from his eye, scanning his mechanical arm as he set it down beside him on the hovering gurney.

John glanced at Rebecca, his mechanical eye accordingly scanning her wide-eyed expression. He blinked and looked away, the red beam now turned off.

"How did you do that?" Rebecca asked.

"I just…" John lifted his mechanical hand up and stared at it, the red beam shot out from his eye, analyzing its contours, "focused." He blinked and looked back at Rebecca, resting his mechanical hand at his side.

Rebecca wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks. "You must be exhausted from the operation, John. I should leave…" She stood up and began walking towards the door.

"Rebecca…" John called weakly. The young woman turned around and looked at John with concern. John cleared his throat. "Thank yeh," he paused, "for coming back for me."

Rebecca gave John a weak smile. "I wasn't about to leave you out there, John." She opened the door and returned to the vacant hallway of the infirmary.

Tears welled up in Rebecca's eyes as she tried to hold back her sobs. She didn't want John to hear her cry again, but the look of helplessness that he had on his face was almost enough to bring her to her knees.

'Why did such a horrible thing have to happen to him?'

Rebecca closed the door behind her and sank against the wall, fresh tears falling from her eyes as she balled her fists up. It took all of her willpower to hold back her sobs.

'To have to go through so much pain…' The young woman didn't want to even imagine the operations John had to have gone through.

"Rebecca?" A familiar voice came from her side.

The young woman looked up at the young arachnid, who had a bandage wrapped around his right upper arm. "Scroop, what happened?" She asked.

Scroop glanced at the bandage indifferently and shrugged. "One of the pirates shot me with a pistol when they commandeered our ship. Apparently my exoskeleton hadn't fully hardened, so it left a mark."

Rebecca looked up at Scroop. "I never did properly thank you for saving us all." She gave him a half-smile. "Without you, there's no way we'd all be living."

"But we aren't all living." Scroop stated, looking down the hall.

Rebecca bit her lower lip. Down that hallway was where Jim's body was being stored for the time being. Her hand balled up into a fist. "I- I shouldn't have called out to him."

"What?" Scroop looked back at Rebecca, noticing that more tears had formed in her eyes.

A tear escaped Rebecca's right eye as she sniffled. "If I didn't call out to Jim when he was fighting Bones, then he wouldn't have turned away and been stabbed." Rebecca wiped away the tear. "Then he would've been standing here with us." Her voice hitched as she tried to control her sobs, more tears following. "It's my fault he's dead... and that Giles is dead. If it wasn't for me, then my family wouldn't have been killed and John wouldn't be so badly injured." She furrowed her brow as she tried to keep her composure. "None of this would've ever happened if it hadn't been for me."

After a moment's pause, Scroop stepped forwards, leaning down to Rebecca and offering a pincer out to her. "Come with me, Rebecca." He stated.

Rebecca looked up at Scroop, her watery eyes wide with confusion. Scroop rolled his golden eyes and lightly picked up the young woman in his arms as if she were made of feathers. Rebecca was shocked at Scroop's feat of strength, considering his age, and instinctively wrapped her arms around his torso.

Scroop walked with Rebecca in his arms, down the polished hallways, to an atrium in the centre of the hospital. He set Rebecca down on her feet as she examined the atrium.

The roof of the atrium was made of glass, allowing the stars' light to flood inside against a silver fountain at its centre. In the fountain there was a polished marble statue of a robed angel releasing a crystal Mantabird towards the heavens with shimmering water bubbling at her feet. On a bronze plaque at the fountain's base was the word 'Hope' engraved.

"They're in a better place, Rebecca." Scroop stated.

Rebecca looked back at Scroop, speechless. She offered him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Scroop." She said. "For everything."

Scroop shrugged. "You saved me from certain death, Rebecca, I'm just returning the favour."

Rebecca set a hand down on her stomach. She let out a short gasp as she felt an unexpected pain. Her eyes widened as she drew her hand away. 'There's no way that the baby's coming… it's far too early!' She felt the pain well up in her chest.

Scroop noticed Rebecca's forlorn expression. "Rebecca?"

Rebecca's breathing increased as a panic began to build. She suddenly sat down on one of the stones at the fountain's base, one hand at her chest and the other shaking as it tried to support her body's weight. 'I don't want to lose this baby; I don't want anything else taken from me, please!'

Scroop hurried to Rebecca's side, noting an unusual paleness to Rebecca's face, as he set his pincers on her shoulders. "Rebecca, look at me."

Rebecca's eyes darted up to Scroop's. The young arachnid could see the fear in them as well as a failure of knowing what to do. Her lower lips quivered as she looked away.

"Rebecca, what's wrong?" Scroop demanded, trying to keep Rebecca alert.

"I-" Rebecca's eyes filled with tears. "My- my baby…" She shook her head as tears escaped her eyes. "It hurts."

Scroop nodded curtly, understanding the dilemma that Rebecca was going through. He spotted a mechanical nurse roving the atrium from the corner of his eye. "You." The robotic nurse chirruped in response. "Come here." He ordered the android.

Author's Note:

Thank you, Whisperwings… and you guys (the readers), who I appreciate for reading this far in the series. (Bows)

MG#6