Chapter Text
On the clearest of nights when the winds of the Etherium were calm and peaceful, the great merchant ships with their cargoes of Arcturian sura crystals felt safe and secure. Little did they suspect that they were pursued by... pirates.
And the most feared of all these pirates was the notorious Captain Nathaniel Flint.
“Fire!” He ordered and his crew did not wait long before assaulting the other ship with canons. Everyone aboard screamed at the attack, the sailors of the merchant ship immediately shooting back to protect them.
Like a Candarian zap-wing overtaking its prey--
“Oikawa Tooru! What do you think you're doing? I thought you were asleep a while ago. Won't you be tired to visit Keiji-chan tomorrow?”
Tooru's mother stood in her nightdress, hands on the hips, an authoritary yet playful tone in her voice.
“But muuum, I was getting to the best part... The pirates!” Tooru replied. “Can I continue it? Please?”
Tooru pulled his mouth in a pout, big brown eyes wide and glistening like the glowing stars above his bed.
“Would I be a bad mother to say no to my favourite son's perfect eyes?”
“Am I not your only son mum?” asked Tooru with a candid voice, a victorious smile on his lips.
“You are.”
Tooru moved to the side to give his mother some room on the bed. He reopened the book of which illustrations came to life again, floating outside of the pages.
Like a Candarian zap-wing overtaking its prey, Flint and his band of renegades swooped in out of nowhere. Flint broke down the lock of every chest he found, laughing like the devil, caressing through all the gold and jewelry collected. And then, gathering up their spoils, they vanished without a trace.
Tooru and his mum made an admirative “Wooow!” staring into each other's eyes with a childish complicity. They turned the page and Tooru burried his nose in the galaxy clouds growing out of the new image in front of him.
Flint's secret trove was never found but stories have persisted that it remains hidden somewhere at the farthest reaches of the galaxy, stowed with riches beyond imagination, the loot of a thousand worlds...
“Treasure Planet,” Tooru said aloud along with the narrator.
“Right,” his mum said, closing the book and putting it away on the bedside table. Tooru escaped from where he was nestled against her and climbed on his headboard.
“How do you think Captain Flint did to swoop in out of nowhere and vanish without a trace?”
His mum tried to catch him in the air when he jumped from the headboard but she missed, letting tiny Tooru crawl under the plaid atop his blanket, a perfect hideout, just like the one the pirates would find in his favourite stories.
“I've got no idea...” His mum said while sneaking near him... Before she caught his ankles, drawing her child out of his hideout, and bringing him on her lap to tickle him. Tooru tried to get away from her arms, laughing.
“Come here, you little-”
She blew a raspberry on her son's belly, making him shriek with laughter.
“Ok, let's stop. It's time for my little spacer to go to sleep.”
She tucked him in, giving him a toy stuck behind his pillow.
“Do you think somebody will ever find Treasure Planet?” Tooru asked with interest, his eyes cloudy with dreams.
“Sweetheart, I'm not sure it exists... I think it's more... like a legend!” His mother said, shrugging.
“Keiji-chan says the same thing... But I know it's real. Maybe I'll even be the one to find it!”
His mum chuckled with a proud smile, tucking away her son's soft fringe.
“You're right, Tooru, it's real.” She kissed him on the forehead.
“Nighty-night, mum.”
“Nighty-night, sweetheart. I love you.”
“Love you too, mum.”
His mother closed the door with a click. And although he was all cuddled up in his warm blanket, Tooru remained a while, eyes still wide open on the glowing stars pinned on his wall. He couldn't stop thinking about Treasure Planet and the other pirate stories that his book kept. He sneaked an arm out to catch the book on his bedside table and hid back under the blanket to read a few more stories...
There are nights when the winds of the Etherium, so inviting in their promise of flight and freedom, made one's spirit soar.
… Without ever doubting of what adventure awaited him years later.