A/N: Back from the dead again. Still ignoring those new episodes. I watched Mid-Life Crustacean and Squilliam Returns the other night, and they both tore at my heart to get my butt in gear and write this for you guys. Flame me all you want, I truly deserve it.
But I have finally decided on the ending that I want to write, so hopefully the story will come to a closing where everyone is happy and I don't have to disappoint anyone anymore.
I still love you all, and I hope you are still reading this. It means a lot to me.
Disclaimer: I really don't know who owns Spongebob anymore, but I sure don't...
Chapter 10: Alive
Written by Lady Esca
Sandy slipped out from behind the rock and cautiously tiptoed towards the looming ship progressively rotting away, her boots sinking into the sand with each step.
Crawling through the yawning hole in the ancient vessel, the squirrel found herself in the hold filled with algae-ridden barrels and decaying chests. The place had a haunting sensation about it, and the frigid water chilled Sandy past her air suit and to her bones.
Spying a staircase illuminated by chinks of light in the shadows, Sandy headed towards it, and a few broken steps later, found herself in the galley of the ship. She nearly yelped in alarm when she saw the hulking figure of a green fish in the room as well, bent over a counter and shoving food down into his greedy gullet.
She crept behind a barrel of pickles and watched as the monstrous fish dropped food everywhere and nearly choked as he devoured it all. Sandy made a face in repulsion and her stomach growled, reminding her that it hadn't been fed since she ended up here.
Her heart almost stopped in fright when a booming voice rang out and came tramping down the galley stairs, fury and annoyance evident in his tone.
"Strangler! This isn't snack time, you load of shark guts! Git on deck!"
The big fish dropped the food at the sound of a gun cocking and sprang up the stairs as if he had already been shot in the tail fin.
RQ looked around the galley at the mess and snorted in disgust, holstering his gun and cursing under his breath.
At the sight of him, Sandy covered her muzzle and her eyes almost popped out of her skull. No… It wasn't possible… It couldn't be…
As he went through a door into the captain's quarters, Sandy silently followed after him and concealed herself amongst a pile of boxes atop rickety floorboards.
Spongebob awoke at the sound and rose to his knees, peering through a crack in the floor to see what was going on, but with no luck. It sounded as if two people were in the room, but nothing was being said.
Crouching behind the boxes, Sandy couldn't help but watch the creature lounging at a desk, his booted paws propped up onto the table. A longing tore at her soul as she poured over his body, seeing his bushy sienna tail, his tiny round ears, his gleaming buck teeth… And all this time, he was thought to be dead…
Down below the squirrel, Spongebob grew uneasy at the frightening silence and glanced about in the darkness, biting his yellow lip before deciding to investigate.
"Eep!" Sandy cried, feeling knocks from below the floorboards and leaping up a few inches.
"Hey!" RQ yelled, whipping out his gun and aiming it at the boxes. "Show yourself!"
Trembling madly, Sandy slowly rose to her foot paws and both squirrels gawked at each other in fear and shock.
"S-Sandy?"
"Retiq?" she whispered, staring at the gun trained between her eyes.
"Sandy?" came a weak voice from underneath the floor.
The female squirrel whirled around, her eyes wide.
"Spongebob?!" she shrieked, and dove at the floorboards, attempting to rip them up before she froze, feeling the gun press into her back.
"Sandy? Sandy! I'm down here!" the sponge yelled frantically, but was oblivious to what was occurring above him.
"Don't make another move, gal…" Retiq commanded feebly, trepidation choking his voice.
Turning around, Sandy stared up at the big squirrel and shook her head.
"You did this?" she asked in disbelief.
Retiq's paw shook uncontrollably as he held the gun on her, refusing to speak. The squirrel witnessed the tears in his eyes and turned back to the floorboards, her voice cracking.
"Sponge, I'll come back for you."
"Sandy…" Spongebob whimpered softly.
The male squirrel had no time to think when Sandy's boot connected with his arm and then his stomach, sending his gun into the water above and him staggering back into his desk. And in an instant, Sandy had burst through the decaying side of the ship and free-fell down to the ocean floor below, landing hard and feeling a sharp pain shoot up her leg before hobbling away as fast as she could.
Regaining his breath after the brutal kick, Retiq hurried over to the hole and looked out to see her limping into the darkness of night before being swallowed by it completely.
"Son of a bitch!" he yelled, kicking a box and glaring down at the floor.
Now that Sandy knew, she was sure to tell the police, and that would grind his scheme to an abrupt halt.
No… He would have her back. Nothing would get in the way of that.
An idea… An offer… suddenly struck Retiq and he looked back out into the darkness, smiling softly.
"Thank ye, gal. Now I can really git on with mah plan."
Stamping the ground above Spongebob, Retiq sniggered wickedly and slammed the door behind him as he left for the upper deck.
However, as grime and dirt rained down on Spongebob, he sat back and thought for a moment before chuckling quietly. That quiet chuckle became a guffaw of relief and joy, and he could have jumped and danced if he wasn't trapped with only a few inches of clearance above his head.
He was going to be saved! Oh… He was going to be saved… Thank Neptune…
A/N: I wrote a story a long time ago and it was posted on Tales From Bikini Bottom. Now a dead site, my story is no longer online, and Retiq was introduced in it. I'll try to get it back up on here, but Sandy should explain in the mean time.
I truly hope you enjoyed this. Once again, I love all my faithful readers. You guys keep on reeling me back in.