Chapter Text
Alarms blared as Jimmy trailed behind Pearl and Grian. “Where the fuck are we even going?” he shouted.
“We’re going to the ship hangar. We need to get away from here and don’t swear, you’ll get in trouble,” Grian replied.
“We're already in trouble!” He yelled back as he sprinted away. Pearl looked back and gave Jimmy a look that he thought was supposed to be reassuring. Voices shouted from every direction ordering the group to stop. Jimmy wanted to stop and prove his innocence, but Pearl and Grian thought that escape was the best option for him. The group had been accused of thievery from the Galactic Fortification Corps, GFC for short. The organization was the workplace for the trio, so it pained Jimmy to have to leave.
“We’re almost there,” Grian called out. Jimmy pushed himself to run faster for a little while longer. Grian quickly clambered into a ship with Pearl trailing behind him. Jimmy scrambled into the ship and slammed the cockpit door behind him. He forced himself to calm down and take some deep breaths.
“Why did you ever think this was a good idea? Now we seem even more guilty of a crime we didn’t even fuckin' commit!” Jimmy yelled.
“Calm down, Jim. With our low status, we probably would not have gotten a trial and we would have just been sent to jail. Escape is our best bet right now until we can prove our innocence,” Pearl explained. Jimmy grumbled, but he did not argue any more. He sat in one of the chairs. The plush leather of the seat felt comfortable to Jimmy after all of the running. He noticed Grian and Pearl staring at the consol intently. Jimmy shifted his wings into a more comfortable position. A few yellow feathers fell from them as he repositioned them.
“Is everything okay?” Jimmy inquired.
Grian glanced back at Jimmy, “Uh, Jim, any chance you know how to fly a ship?” Jimmy stared at Grian dumbfounded.
“I thought you knew!” Jim exclaimed in disbelief.
“Yeah, uh, neither of us know how to work this thing,” Pearl stated. Jimmy stood up and started to rummage around the ship for an instruction manual. After a few minutes of searching to no avail, Jimmy sat back down, defeated.
“Flying a ship can’t be any more different than flying with wings, right?” Jimmy said. Pearl and Grian seemed to consider his statement for a moment. A bang was heard on the door.
“Open up! You are under arrest for-”
The voice was cut off as Grian interrupted, “Let’s just figure this out as we go.” The two sat down at the seats closest to the consol. Jimmy carefully scanned all the buttons looking for a label. “I think this is probably the start,” Grian decided as he pointed to a giant red button.
“Grian, wait don’t-” Pearl began to say as Grian excitedly slammed down on the button. The scenery rushed past Jimmy as the ship sped off into the depths of space. Noise from the engines erupted into Jimmy’s ears. Jimmy flew out of his seat and slammed against the window. He had forgotten to fasten his seatbelt, so the acceleration of the ship caused him to be flung out of his seat.
His head throbbed as he screamed, “Grian shut this thing off!” Grian scooted his seat towards the controls once again.
He was about to press the button, but Pearl yelled, “Let me handle this!” She grabbed the steering controls with one pair of her arms and swerved the ship to the left. Jimmy was tossed into a wall again. He heard a loud crack as his wings hit the wall. He felt a throbbing pain in his upper left wing.
“Guys,” he croaked, “I think my wing broke.” Pearl and Grian could not hear Jimmy’s weak plea over the loud roaring of the engines.
“We’re getting low on fuel due to our speed, I’m going to have to land this thing somehow!” Pearl yelled. Jimmy gave her a thumbs up and turned his attention back to his broken wing. The bone had not punctured the skin, so he wasn’t bleeding at the moment. Yet, this did not negate the fact that his wing hurt like hell. Jimmy tried to take his mind off of the pain by watching out the front window of the ship. Pearl was somehow managing to steer the ship towards a desert planet nearby.
“I know this place. It’s called Ceonia. I made a friend here when I was young. My parents were here because they have a huge market area that has vendors from across the galaxy,” Grian explained.
“That’s nice, bud, but can we get there so we aren’t stranded in the depths of space?”
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” Grian replied. He grabbed the set of controls in front of him and helped Pearl to steer the ship further to the left and towards Ceonia. The desert terrain neared the ship as they descended.
“Guys, I think we’re going down too fast, we’re going to crash!” Jimmy hollered. Pearl yanked the controls up to try to slow the ship’s acceleration. The ship spiraled downwards and tossed Jimmy around the ship in every direction. He heard another sickening crunch as all of his body weight pressed onto his already broken wing. He felt blood seeping out of a small gash near the broken bone. Jimmy tumbled onto the floor of the ship as it crashed into a dune. Sand sprayed in every direction and the front window of the ship was completely covered in sand.
“We made it,” Grian muttered happily. Jimmy looked at him with a weak smile and then promptly collapsed.