Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 43: Silver's Speech

Chapter 43: Silver's Speech

Metal coils shot from the darkness like snakes.

Jim tripped. Kicking the silver coils, he swatted a hand as Silver approached.

"Jimbo!"

"Get off!"

Silver retracted the coils. Ducking to avoid getting hit, he hauled Jim upright. A tiny screw popped loose under Jim's fist.

"Arrrrgh!" Silver threw Jim. Advancing, he cornered the boy against a backstreet wall. "Easy, Jimbo! Put yer bloody – !"

"—Beat it!" Jim swiped again. He cringed as Silver caught his fist and squeezed. Rotating painfully around his wrist, Jim pushed against the cyborg. "Leave me the Hell alone!"

"It weren't yer fault!" Silver roared twisting down Jim's arm. "What the Admiral said! It weren't yer fault!"

"Go away!"

"Why that lass wouldn't have made it te finish line had it not been fer yer – "

"LOOK! Don't you get it?"

Steaming with hatred, Jim threw his fist into Silver's chest. His hand cracked against steel as the cyborg abated his grip.

"I screwed up!" Jim screamed, thrashing away. His knuckles were red. Angrily, Jim pressed the bloodstained hand into his gut.

Words bled helplessly from his mouth without restrain, just like Wendy when she was nervous or Ariel when she was mad. The very thought made Jim angrier. "I mean for two seconds, I thought that maybe I could do something right –but –AAGH!"

Hatred burned inside him like acid. Jim grabbed his hair and ripped it back. He was boiling with anger but unable to explode. He wanted to scream, hit, kill, hurt. Darkness devoured his insides, leaving nothing but an empty cavity to despair and die. Like some sort of twisted, gruesome human sarcophagus.

"AAGH!"

The cyborg just stood. Just stood and watched as Jim tormented over the three most disgusting words ever scorched into his memory.

Son of Sinbad.

"AAGH!" Pain razed through Jim's body as he slammed both fists into the pavement. Shoulders bending and ribs heaving he knelt. "I just – I just – "

Jim sighed. The rattling breath bent his head to the earth. Like a criminal bowing before his execution.

"Just forget it." Jim breathed, squeezing his eyes shut. "Forget it."

Silence.

Silver gazed at Jim. Then, the cyborg took Jim's shoulder with a stern and steady hand.

"Now." Silver's voice trembled imperceptibly as he forced Jim's face into the starlight. "Now, you listen te me, James Hawkins."

Jim looked up, guided by Silver's hand. And whatever part deep inside the cyborg was still human, whether organic or spirit, it throbbed. Silver paused, disarmed by the agony in Jim's eyes.

Defenses crumbled and stripped raw, Jim stood. And behind the shell of bitterness Silver beheld a child, lost in his hopelessness. Lost...but fiercely resourceful, tougher than gravel, and intolerable to injustice. If only...if only he could find it...and take it...and set sail...

Clenching his grip, Silver stood Jim up and lifted his face. Like a man.

"Ye got the makings of greatness in ya! But ye gotta take the helm and chart your own course. Stick to it! No matter the squalls. And when the time comes, and ye get the chance to really test the cut of your sails, and show what you're made of...well..."

Silver opened his arms. Lifting his face, he smiled at the eternal, impossible heavens.

"...I hope I'm there." he whispered, closing his eyes. "Catching some of the light coming off ya that day."

And truly...he did. For looking at Jim Hawkins...he remembered another child...scared, hopeless, alone...and up against the evil world.

Silver sighed, breathing in the sweet starlight. He opened his eyes, letting them shine on Jim.

Tears brimmed across Jim's eyes.

Then, with the faith of a child, he laid his forehead against the cyborg. And softly cried.

Nothing could have scared Silver more. Glancing terrified to sky, he slowly placed his arms around the boy. And embraced.

"There, there. Lad, it's all right Jimbo." Warmly, Silver drew Jim against his metallic heart. "It's all right."

Silver smiled. He lifted an eye.

Flash. A black crow flew across the Wishing Star. It was fleeting, a shade of black against a starry midnight sky. But still...

Silver looked down. He realized Jim was clutched too tightly in his arms.

"Now, Jim, I um..." Silver cleared his throat. Hurriedly stepping back, he glanced up into the sky. "I best be getting' back to the rescue party. In the forest. And you best be getting some shut eye."

Gruffly he adjusted a wrinkle in Jim's jacket. "Get on then."

Wiping a stray tear, Jim headed down the street. Then, under a golden lamppost he turned back to the cyborg.

And smiled.

"Get on." Silver smiled. Weakly he raised a hand as Jim blended into the night.

Silver's hand slowly curled. An unsettling feeling swelled in his chest. "Getting in too deep here, Morphy."

Grimly, he stared at the spot under the lamppost. "Next thing ye know...they'll be saying...I've gone soft."

Morph followed Silver's gaze. Then, in a spurt of compassion, he cuddled against the cyborg's cheek.

Silver gently laughed. But the laughter only stirred his worry as the cyborg hunched after the crow and into the dark forest.