An awkward silence filled the bridge after the spaceship flew into hyper speed. "Like in good old times." Those words echoed in Hawk's mind on repeat. More old memories flooded back in. Memories from long ago. Some images ran in Hawk's mind of his past crew. No one could break the silence. Standing beside Captain Pitch made him feel insecure. He knew that Pitch had changed for the best by now, but his family was on board the Blackcrow. He didn't want to bring Moon and Starla into any unnecessary danger.
Whilst Hawk was distracted with his own thoughts, Moon noticed how Saros decided to magically vanish from his workstation. It seemed like he needed a moment for himself.
"Hawk? Would it be okay with you if I check on Saros real quick?" She asked and Hawk and Pitch both turned around. They looked up at Moon and realized that Saros was gone.
"He seems to be under a lot of stress lately," Hawk assumed. "Alright Moon, go check on him."
The cyan mother nodded and took the opportunity to slowly walk out of the main bridge. She gave Zipper a slight nod as a gesture that he should take over the navigation for now. Captain Pitch wasn't too focused on the situation. He was more focused on the mysterious material and the mission itself, which is why he didn't interfere.
Moon walked a few meters outside the corridors near the bridge, where she spotted a red bean leaning against the walls trapped in his thoughts. Seemed like Saros didn't teleport too far away, which Moon wondered about. As quietly as she could, she stepped closer to him. He looked frustrated, saddened, and unsure. The wizard finally realized that Moon was near him, and he vanished again. Moon didn't have any chance to start a conversation with him. She started to walk a bit ahead to search for him in the halls.
"Saros?" She whispered his name in hope that he would listen. He might have vanished, but Moon could somehow feel his presence was still nearby. "I care about you. Please- Tell me, what's on your mind lately? You can trust me, I promise."
"Can I truly trust you?" His voice then said, his body was invisible. Tiny sparkles appeared in front of Moon and circled around her. Those glowing particles belonged to Saros. Saros was gesturing for her to follow him. She followed him down the corridor until they reached his sleeping quarters. He used his magic to open the door and she went in. The room was completely dark. The glowing particles floated towards the couch, where Saros finally appeared again and turned on the light. He looked saddened and frustrated with himself. He had his back turned to Moon, his body language clearly expressing how he felt. He didn't even dare to turn around.
"Saros, I noticed that you aren't feeling well. We all have." She said quietly. He was aware that Moon wanted to help him, but he was certain about something else.
"I doubt that, Moon." He answered back and Moon remained silent for a while before she spoke again. Why would he question it?
"I'm sure they did." She said with confidence, knowing that Hawk told her that he found out that the wizard was under a great deal of stress a few minutes ago. But Saros slowly shook his head in disagreement. He refused to believe it.
"Didn't you see how careless Pitch was after I tried to warn him?!" Saros's erratic movement caused Moon to sink in fear. He turned around suddenly as he said that to her, angered that Pitch was so careless. The wizard started trembling out of frustration.
As Moon finally calmed down from Saros's sudden movements, the cyan mother carefully walked toward him. The only thought she had in her mind was that Saros was processing something in secret. Saros was indeed something else and to avoid infuriating him any further, she had to be sneaky with her words. It's not like she already tried her best to be gentle with him.
"I'm sure Pitch does care about it, Saros." Moon replied with a soft undertone, doing her best to soothe him.
"No, he does not!" Saros yelled furiously. The gentle undertone didn't help like Moon hoped it would. The wizard clenched his fist and walked toward Moon with a red, angered, glowing visor. Sweat drops were seen on the cyan bean as he stood in front of her menacingly, but she was brave enough to not run away out of fear. Instead, she kept her position and looked at him directly into his visor.
"He doesn't care about my warnings..." He quietly repeated.
"But why wouldn't he? He cares for his crew, Saros. After all, even you are aware that he has changed for the better." Moon reminded him.
"As if. He completely disregarded what I had to say." He retorted to the cyan bean.
Frustration filled Saros. Something else, however, made his visor turn back to a normal shade of blue. He felt his body become heavy and rested a hand on his chest. His heart was racing. Moon worried about him even more. It didn't seem like he wanted to tell her what's been bothering him. There must be something else that caused those thoughts in the first place. But then again, she realized that forcing him to tell her wasn't the right thing to do either. Begrudgingly, she understood his wish to be left alone.
"There is one thing, however." Before Moon could turn around, Saros decided to finally speak. His voice was quiet, cracking, and heavy. His visor was almost completely closed, as if he was tired, "One thing I don't understand."
"Yeah? What is it?" Moon asked carefully.
"Every time I am near Pitch, my feelings are chaotic," he explained. He was unsure of how to describe it better, but he tried, "I've never felt something like that before in my entire life. I don't understand what it is. I can't describe that odd feeling."
"Do you care about Pitch, Saros?" Moon asked curiously. The question shocked Saros. He needed time to think about it before jumping to conclusions.
Soundwaves were heard near the reactor. A spiral staircase provided a clear path for a better view of the Blackcrow's core. The reactor itself was big, a rounded ball, which rotated on its axis. A strong material slowly rotated around the ball and protected the machine. The electricity inside the ball was glowing in various hues of orange, purple and blue. Inside of it was the main core, a smaller white-hot orb. Underneath the reactor were the engines, which had just been refueled.
Banisters surrounded the entirety of the reactor. Looking down, there was a clear view of the engine room just a few meters below.
The brown member, Bane, rested his hand on one of them after he finished refueling the engines. Flash observed him nearby, making sure he actually did his task this time. The yellow bean looked at Bane with a stern expression, wanting him to know that the crew didn't take kindly to his disobedience. Captain Hawk assigned that particular task to Bane and expected him to do it right.
"It's as simple as that, Bane. Why didn't you do it?" Flash asked and Bane made a muffled growl. He couldn't come up with a valid excuse and decided to remain quiet.
Shepp and Nero were a few meters above the engine room. Both were checking on the reactor, but they were locked in an argument. The members stood in front of the main systems the reactor was attached to.
"Get away from my workstation, you mutant fish!" Shepp mocked Nero and he responded to the orange bean, clearly dissatisfied, "Captain Hawk gave me the task to watch over the reactor, not you."
As Shepp tried to reach the system buttons to check on the core, Nero slapped his hand away before he could touch them. "Joke's on you, Captain Pitch gave me the exact same task. Out of my way."
Nero forcefully shoved Shepp away from the station so he could take over the systems. Shepp almost fell backwards from the push, but he regained his balance quickly.
"The reactor has always been my workplace, Nero." Shepp reminded him, "Let me do it instead."
Flash and Bane watched the heated-up tension between them from below. It's not the first time that Shepp and Nero have acted that childish. They were just like Queen and Davy. Memories of them popped up in Flash's mind and he rolled his visor in an annoyed manner. Who thought it was such a great idea to work together with former impostors again? All they ever do is cause trouble.
"No. Never. You've pulled the wool over my eyes long enough by now, Shepp," Nero insulted him back.
Both were still fighting over the control panel until Shepp accidentally turned the dial that controlled the temperature. Shepp's claw caused it to roll up to one that would overheat the core. A warning sound came from the system, Nero and Shepp stopped fighting, and realized what was happening.
The intercom gave a warning:
<< Warning, reactor is over the recommended temperature. >>
Everyone on board the Blackcrow heard the alert. It even interrupted the conversation Moon and Saros were having. Both became concerned after they heard it, as well as Captain Hawk and Captain Pitch.
Shepp and Nero continued fighting instead of repairing the issue, but this time over the matter of who should fix it.
"That'll be fun when I report to Captain Hawk about your accident, Nero." Shepp was still teasing around and pissed off the green one even more.
"Shut up, you sheep! Captain Hawk is not my captain!" He yelled out of frustration and pressure.
"But he is now. Deal with it, you mermaid!" Shepp countered and blocked his punches which kept him from accessing the switch.
"Mermaid?! I'm not a mermaid, you jerk!" Nero was disgusted. The alarm got louder in the background.
Panic and annoyance built up in Flash as they kept arguing. He ran upstairs to push the two bickering crew members aside and solve the problem on his own. Fortunately, Flash changed the reactor's temperature back to normal before it fully overheated. The ball was rotating faster, but it calmed down after the yellow engineer switched the dial back to its original setting. He was furious with Shepp and Nero for the incident. They almost blew up the reactor!