Treasure Planet Fanfic: a Home in the Stars

Selina Silver

"He saved my life," Jim said softly, looking past her, to something that she couldn't see. "He was the pirate captain that we fought on treasure planet, and he could've taken a whole ship full of gold, but instead he saved me. He protected me from the other pirates, he gave me the gold to rebuild the inn, he...he was like a father to me."
Selina's breath caught in her throat, joyful surprise turning to bitterness. Her father was a pirate captain like he'd always dreamed, and he'd had a son to go on adventures with, just as he'd always wanted.
"I let him go instead of turning him in," Jim continued, the corner of his mouth turning up in a slight smile. "He told me I was destined for greatness."
"So that's what swelled your head so much," Selina said out of habit as her mind tried to process what Jim was saying.
Jim chuckled slightly, a slow half smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I guess it did."
A series of indignant trills and chirps sounded from his breast pocket, making Selina jump. "Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot." Jim added, opening his pocket. A small pink blob flew out, and blinked at Selina with wide, round eyes. "Selina, this is-"
"Morphy!" Selina exclaimed. The little alien's eyes lit up in recognition as he shot at her, bouncing happily around her head in the form of a miniature her, chorusing in a high-pitched version of her own voice, "Morphy, Morphy, Morphy!"
She held out her hand and the little blob settled in her palm, shifting into a miniscule cat that purred loudly as it closed its eyes. Selina felt herself smiling, really smiling, for the first time in so long that she'd nearly forgotten how it felt.
"He knows you?" Jim asked, his smile widening in response to her own happy grin.
"Morphy was always my favorite part of dad's visits!" Selina exclaimed, lifting her palm to nuzzle her cheek against the slumbering Morph. "I missed you so much, little guy."
"Yeah, about that," Jim said, pushing his hair away from his face as he went to awkwardly rub the back of his neck. "Are you sure you're Silver's daughter?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Selina frowned, not sure where he was going with this.
"Well, he's just so...well, ugly, and you're so..." He gestured at her lamely. "Not!"
Morph flew from her hand and helpfully shifted into an only slightly exaggerated impression of Silver's face, then into a tiny version of Jim, mimicking in a squeaky voice, "and you're so not!".
Selina laughed and opened the door to her room. "Come on, I'll show you."
Jim warily followed her in, probably unsure what to make of her suddenly being nice to him. She just figured that if Morph trusted Jim, then he probably wasn't just the stupid teenage boy she'd first pegged him as. Maybe he was actually someone worth getting to know. Regardless, he could help her find her dad, and that was good enough for her to start tolerating him.
Her room was small and bare, with minimal decorations or furnishings, just the way she'd kept it. No point in getting attached to this place. She gestured for Jim to take the chair by the bed as she crossed to the simple dresser and picked up the one piece of decoration: a small picture frame.
She sat on the edge of the bed nearest him and handed the picture to him. She had looked at it so often that she could imagine it clearly in her mind without having to look. She noted the awestruck look on Jim's face as he gazed at it. It was a formal photograph of her and her parents, and there was John Silver, standing proudly behind the chair where her mother sat with Selina on her lap. Her mother's face was utterly human and breathtakingly beautiful, a significant contrast to Silver's large nose and small eyes. Their names were written on the bottom in the swirling letters that had been her mother's handwriting: John, Iris, and Selina Silver.
"I was six then," Selina explained quietly. "I was so naive, so trusting that life was going to stay exactly how it was and that nothing bad could ever happen."
Jim looked from her to the picture and back again. "You look just like your mother," he softly commented.
Selina nodded. "She was the most beautiful woman in the world, or so I'd thought. She was so full of life and joy...until he left and she was never the same again."
Jim's hands tightened around the picture frame.
"Does he know about her?" Selina asked quietly, dreading the answer. "Does he know that she's dead?" Morph landed on her shoulder and leaned against her cheek, as if sensing the emotional charge behind her question.
"I don't know," Jim said, handing the picture back to her. "He...never told me he had a family."
Selina swallowed around the lump in her throat and held the picture in tense hands. "Where is he now?"
"I don't know that either," Jim admitted, lowering his gaze. "Probably out in the galaxy somewhere, still being a pirate."
"Probably..." Selina sighed, then her tone changed to determination. "I'll just have to find out."
"Wait...what?"
She stood and returned her picture to the dresser. Morph danced around her, shifting into a sailing vessel that landed on her shoulder and shifted back to curl up against her throat. She turned and faced Jim, who sat dumbly in the chair, his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open.
"I'm going to find my father." She said, lifting her chin.
"Why?" Jim asked, seemingly unable to form a longer sentence.
"Don't you want to find him?" She asked, her whole body beginning to tremble in anger as her voice rose. "You said he was like a father to you, too. Is it so bad that I need to see my father again, if only to admonish him for choosing the galaxy over his family? Shouldn't I get that chance?"
"I don't think..." Jim started, but Selina interrupted him.
"I don't care what you think," she said firmly. "I'm going to find my father even if I have to spend the rest of my life looking for him, because at least then I'll know that I tried my best to recover the last piece of my family."
Jim was silent for a long moment while she dug out a trunk from under her bed and started packing her few belongings.
"I'm not going to be able to change your mind, am I?" He asked.
"Not a chance."
"Then I'm coming with you."
She froze. "What? Why?"
"Like you said, I want to find him too. And besides, it's not as if I can just let you go alone."
She opened her mouth to retort to his sexist notion, but thought better of it.
"Besides, there's only so long I can go without a little adventure now and then," he added, tossing his hair out of his eyes. "If I don't do something crazy soon, I'm going to explode!"
Selina laughed despite herself. "Fine, just don't expect me to be the one to tell your mother!"
Mrs. Hawkins had been surprisingly easy to convince once Jim - against Selina's wishes - told her that Silver was Selina's father. At that point, she fairly packed them up and sent them on their way, with many warnings and kisses for Jim and even a hug and a "good luck" for Selina. Even the Dopplers had something to say to her.
"I do hope you find your father, Ms. Silver," Amelia told her, her voice still as strong and commanding as it must have been when she was a captain. "And if you find him, let him know that there's a jail cell with his name on it back at the royal port." She then winked at Selina, adding, "fair warning".
Delbert hugged her and Jim, lamenting his inability to go with them, but was cheered up by one of his daughters tugging on his coattails, unintentionally reminding him why he was staying. Selina's jaw clenched as Delbert scooped the girl up in his arms, wondering if her child's eyes just hadn't been big enough or pitiful enough to convince her own father to stay. She caught Jim studying her, his head tilted to one side as he watched her reaction. Squaring her shoulders, she glared at him, daring him to comment on the thoughts he must have read on her face. He looked away first, just in time for Selina to blink the burning tears away before they escaped.
The four children were particularly sad to see Jim leave, and only when he promised to tell them all about his adventure the moment he got back did they agree to finally let go of his legs. Selina couldn't help gazing at Jim as they walked to the nearest port, wondering if she'd ever truly figure him out. Rash and conceited, yet very caring and playful around his family. She could sense the intelligence hiding behind those childlike eyes, and wondered what more there was to Jim Hawkins that she had yet to discover.