Aah...Finally after the long hours in hospital, I have returned. About bloomin' time, too. Anyways, here's Chapters 15 & 16!
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Chapter 15

Once you got used to it, traveling through space was an enjoyable, if perhaps a little dull. Of course sometimes this wasn't true, such as when your ship was slow or faulty, nothing was worse than spending several weeks traveling between systems in a rust bucket, except of course when the crew didn't take a liking to you. Joshua considered these things as he watched the blackness of space outside, along with how terribly cliche his life was and gave a tired sigh.

He was a well known and admired 'super hero' but the current situation just hammered home the point that no matter how hard he tried, no matter what he did, no matter how many times he 'saved the world' there was always something going on, always people in distress, always need, need, need. He wondered if King Jazz had the same problem, there were always turtles popping up with some mad scheme, even during Devan's imprisonment prior to now. It always seemed it was people who were mad, greedy or power hungry that the universe took a perverted joy in allowing them to come to power. It seemed you couldn't let anyone get away with anything around here without misery and suffering being the result.

He was angry, angry at the stupidity of the universe, the utility of good, anyone and everyone. The emotion burned deep inside him, reusing to leave, to diminish or be silenced, playing the stupid mistakes he had made, over and over, making him burn with shame. He'd let everyone down, everyone. They were probbably asleep or somewhere else in the ship. Aside from David, Seb and Shade, of course. THEY were onboard the StrongGale.

Well, Adis was probably the only one asleep. Zac would more likely using the 'Virtual Training' room to blow off steam and from the events that he'd gone through in the last few days, there was obviously going to take him a considerable amount of time to cool down but Joshua prefered that than finding most of the ship BADLY damaged. Dinah was probably thinking of something to complain about and he had no clue on what Sugar was up to.

It had been a long day; it was only 24 hours, but it felt like it had lasted months. Sometimes a single day felt like an eternity, stretching on for a long, painful time, while at other times time was far too short, passing in an instant. Of course, that was quite common, strangely enough. The fabric of time wasn't what it used to be, so to speak, it had been fragmented, twisted, warped and patched more times than was imaginable. Every living being twisted it to some degree, as did concentration of mass or power. Before you knew it there were ancient fish being caught in your nets, or rumors of giant lizards in distant lakes.

Time was complex, and those who had the insight, well, the lucky ones found ways to deaden the senses. Nostradamus had his wine, the oracles had the volcanic fumes and Agnes Nutter had her 'medicinal pipe.' The unlucky ones couldn't block out enough, and many were carted away by the men in white coats to a nice padded cell, they were also lucky, in their own way. The unlucky ones had just enough mind to keep going, to stay out of the madhouse and do some real damage. On days like this one, Joshua wondered if that was the case with him, if he'd finally slipped over the border that separated disturbance from true madness. Maybe he'd become like those he fought.

Especially since most are usually resorting to two 'major' plans. Either 'blowing up the planet' or 'taking over the world, galaxy, universe or whatever', hell, it seemed many a villain was intent on doing one of those, it seemed that being evil resulted in losing a lot of creativity and common sense, that or they're somewhat sadistic and enjoyed getting defeated repeatedly.

Still tired, yet unable to sleep, Joshua quietly made his way into the kitchen to see if there was any slices of that chocolate mud-cake left from earlier and couldn't help but smile when he saw two pieces left in the fridge, quickly grabbed them and raced out of the room before anyone else could notice, sat down in front of a large screen which showed the vast void of space before giving a deep sigh and taking a small bite into the cake...only to hear a loud 'squeak'. Plastic. Great, just great. Someone had beaten him to it after all. He just couldn't win and felt like taking a bite out of the plate in frustration.

A few minutes later, he nearly leapt out of his shoes when Sugar came from behind him and offered him a piece of cake and sat down next to him with a cheerful, yet slightly mischievous smile. Unable but to respond with a smile of his own, Joshua glanced down at his piece, finding it hard to believe that he was sitting there wondering why he hadn't been bombarded with questions; Sugar's silence was disturbing.

"How were things back home?" Joshua asked, breaking the silence.

"Everything was...fine." Sugar whispered quietly, looking away.

Strange, she'd been almost normal before, but now she was as straight faced as a poker addict. Something was up, she wasn't looking at him. It was clear that something was clearly indeed troubling her, but he wasn't going to force the answers out. Holding Sugar in his arms for a few seconds, unsure on what else he could do simply reminded her that he would always be here. Apart from that, there wasn't anything else said as they simply sat there until both fell asleep a few hours later.


* * *

Meanwhile, on the StrongGale David was feeling rather regretful. Regretful about putting that.. whatever it was in the hold, reducing the overall speed of the craft, it seemed heavier than possible. Regretful about that rabbit he'd rescued earlier who seemed to be totally naive. Regretful about even considering letting that stupid objectionable rodent onboard, she hadn't stopped complaining for the last three hours. And especially regretful about picking up that girl who hadn't even bothered to introduce herself yet and who was just sitting there in the hold, looking moody. And what the hell was Seb up to?

As far as David could tell he was just as bored, fiddling with little balls of projected fire, whizzing them about, colliding them, making ghostly butterflies in the air. He sighed and went to see what his passengers were doing. It HAD to be more entertaining than just sitting around and wondering about the 'what if's?'.Hell, nearly anything would be better right about now, besides if he was lucky, he could probably find something to take his aggression out on.


* * *

In her cramped quarters, from her viewpoint anyway, Shade sat with her arms crossed and fists clenched, staring angrily at the wall. It was cold and dark and barren, and everything she'd managed to acquire, her house, her shuttle, hell, that cute guy at the coffee shop who looked her way occasionally, everything was gone now. She was on the run and here with some sort of stupid invasion going on-

You will die. You're all alone and you will die.

-and she was stuck in a ship in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of possibly insane 'heroes' who wanted to save the universe. Great, just great, and things had been going so well, so very well, she'd-

Listen to yourself, complaining in the dark. You are nothing but a stupid, angsty, emo teenager, and you will die.

-joined the military just to spite her mother, and it had come back and bitten her in the butt. Of course, if she hadn't perhaps she'd be dead now, or perhaps some sort of mind slave, or maybe she wouldn't know anything at all, but it just wasn't fair.

Stupid girl, whose mind runs in circles, who wants someone to make it all better.

What, WHAT was a girl to do? No matter what happened, she was screwed, blown up, captured and courtmashalled, maybe taken prisoner by the turtles, either way, the best she could hope for was a painless death.

I can make everything better, I can think for you, I can think for anyone. Let me help you.

In the small room the shadows slowly closed in, creeping out from corners and beneath the door, whispering gently.

(continued next post)