Y/n- Your name

M/n- Mother's name

~~~~

 After you talked to your mother, you headed to the only place you knew Jim would be to calm down: the roof of the Benbow. As you climbed up to it, you heard little tings on the rooftop as you saw pebbles dropping off the roof, thunder rumbling in the distance. Jim didn't acknowledge you as you sat down next to him, a deep frown apparent on his face.

 You took your spyglass off of your belt and held it out to Jim. He just pushed it back to you. You frowned. He always liked to look at the images through it. The two of you sat in silence, until you two overheard Sarah, Delbert, and your mother talking from inside the Inn.

 "I really don't know how you two manage it, Sarah, M/n," Delbert started. "You, Sarah, trying to run a business all by yourself without as much help from Y/n anymore, and you both raising felons like-felon-fellow-fellows like Jim and Y/n."

 "Managing it? I'm at the end of my rope," Sarah told him. "Ever since Jim's father left, well, Jim's just never recovered."

 "Same with Y/n," your mother said. "When her father went missing, she's been more distant from me, and ignoring her work."

 You could remember the change Jim went through once his father left. He went from such a carefree, fun kid, to a rebellious teen. You could also remember what happened to you when your dad disappeared, a while after Jim's dad left. You used to be so imaginative, and focused on whatever task you had in front of you. Now, you realized you were becoming more like Jim. You didn't try with your schoolwork as much anymore, and found yourself often skipping school with Jim. You even stopped believing that when you looked through your spyglass, you could see the far reaches of the galaxy.

 "But you know how smart Jim is. He built his first Solar Surfer when he was eight!" Sarah said, and you could hear how proud she was of him in her voice.

 You could see a ghost of a genuine smile grow on Jim's face.

 "And yet, he's failing in school with Y/n following not far behind, they are constantly in trouble, and when I talk to them, they're like strangers to me," Sarah said, exasperated, and Jim's face turned into a frown again, along with yours.

 "I've tried to get Y/n to help you out in the Inn more, Sarah, but she's been out with Jim so much," M/n said. You could practically feel her frowning.

 "I don't know, Delbert. We've tried-"

 You didn't hear the rest of Sarah's words since a giant spaceship passed by the Benbow, crashing at the end of the port landing. Immediately, you and Jim slid off the roof, dashing off towards the broken ship. 

 "Hey, mister?" Jim called out as the two of you approached the ship. "Mister, you're okay in there, right?" Jim knocked on the large, round window.

 A giant claw hand suddenly pressed itself against the glass, startling you and Jim away from the glass. The glass flipped open, and a tortoise-man fell out with a chest, coughing as smoke poured out of the ship.

 The tortoise guy grabbed the front of Jim's shirt, pulling him in close. "He's a-coming. Can you hear him? Those gears and gyros clickin' and whirlin' like the devil himself."

 "Uh, you hit your head there pretty hard, didn't you?" was all Jim's only response as the tortoise-man waddled to his chest.

 "Do you need a doctor or...?" you slowly asked.

 "He's after me chest. That fiendish cyborg and his band of cutthroats," the tortoise guy declared, hoisting the chest onto his shoulder. "But they'll have to pry it from ol' Billy Bones' cold, dead, fingers afore I-" He suddenly dropped down, hacks coming from his mouth that sounded painful.

 You and Jim stood there for a moment, taking it all in, before the two of you went to either side of the tortoises'-Billy Bones'-sides.

 "C'mon, give us your arms," Jim said as he lifted Billy Bones' right arm up and around his neck as you did the same with Billy Bones' left.

 "That's it," you said gently.

 With the help of Jim and you, the two of you hoisted Billy Bones to his feet, helping him make the long walk to the Inn. And just your luck, too; it had started to storm, lightning and all.

 "Mom's gonna love this," Jim muttered sarcastically. 

 You just sighed as you focused on getting the weak tortoise guy to shelter. Halfway to the Inn, Billy Bones collapsed in a fit of coughs, and dropped his chest. Without a word, you let go of Billy Bones' arm, and grabbed the chest. It was surprisingly light. You took up Billy Bones' arm again, and the three of you continued your walk to the Inn in the pouring rain. Once the three of you approached the door, it was suddenly opened by Delbert.

 "James Pleiades Hawkins!" Jim's mother shouted at the same time your mother shouted your full name, and both of them ran towards you two.

 "Mom, he's hurt," Jim said as he and you let Billy Bones down, and Delbert quickly closed the door.

 "Bad," you added, looking at the tortoise-man worriedly.

 Billy Bones opened his eyes, glancing at the chest you were still holding, and weakly reached a hand out to it. "Me chest, lass."

 You put down the chest next to him. Billy Bones then put in a sequence of buttons, and the chest opened up.

 "He'll be comin' soon." Billy Bones reached into the chest, and pulled out a small sphere wrapped in cloth. "Can't let them find this." He then looked at your spyglass with slightly widened eyes, recognition flashing across them. "Don't let them find that either, lass."

 You looked at him confused, then looked down at the said object.

 "Who's coming?" Jim asked.

 Billy Bones suddenly pulled Jim down to his face by the collar of his shirt. "The cyborg," he rasped. "Beware the cyborg..."

 Billy Bones took his last breath, falling slowly to the ground as he died. Everything was quiet. Suddenly, a bright light shone through a window of the Inn. Jim cautiously went to the blind-covered window, and opened them up slightly. Whatever he saw must have been bad, because he quickly closed the blinds.

 "Quick, we gotta go!" Jim said, grabbing his mother and running for the stairs. You trusted Jim's sudden hastiness, so you did the same with your mother, following Jim. You heard something break through the door, and Delbert scrambling after you.

 "I believe I'm with Jim on this one!" Delbert shouted.

 As you moved up, you could hear things breaking downstairs and multiple voices. Once you all made it as high up as you could in the Inn, Delbert opened a nearby window and looked down.

 "Delilah! Delilah!" Delbert called out below to some kind of slug steed that was attached to a carriage, jumping up happily at the sight of him. "Stay! Don't move!"

 Jim and you glanced behind your group to see shadows moving quickly up the stairs. You tensed, gripping tight onto your spyglass, and went over to the window.

 "Don't worry, Sarah, M/n," Delbert reassured the mothers as he helped them up onto the window sill. "I'm an expert in the laws of physical science. On the count of three. One-"

 "Three!" Jim suddenly said, pushing the four of you off the window sill, and jumped down himself.

 Somehow the four of you landed safely in the carriage, the cover flipping over your heads to protect you from the downpour of rain. Although, the bench was just barely big enough to fit all of you, so you were practically sitting in Jim's lap.

 Delbert snapped the reins. "Go, Delilah. Go!"

 Following his orders, Delilah bounded off away from the Inn. As Delbert kept urging her to keep going, Sarah looked back at the Inn. Curious, you did the same.

 You wish you hadn't.

 The Inn had flames clawing on the outside of the Inn from the windows. There was a huge, black smoke cloud billowing from the top of the Inn. You knew it wouldn't make it. You faced forward again with a devastated look on your face that matched Sarah's. Your mother tried to comfort Sarah as she put her hand on Sarah's. There was no other sound besides Delbert encouraging Delilah to keep going, and the rain pounding against the carriage.

 You felt Jim move his arm, so you looked over at him. He was unwrapping the small sphere that Billy Bones had given him before he had died. Once Jim removed the cloth, it revealed that it was hiding a golden ball with lines and circles etched into it. You and Jim looked at it in wonder.

 After admiring it for a few more seconds, Jim looked at you. "What did he mean by not letting...whoever they were, get your spyglass?"

 You took your spyglass off of your belt, examining it closely. It just looked like a regular spyglass.

 There's nothing special about this, you thought. It just has a slideshow of random pictures of space in it.

 "I have no idea," you whispered.