GAH I'M SORRY! Please don't hurt me! *dodges bricks*

Yeah, so, enjoy. ^.^;;

It would've been easier for him to escape if he didn't have that glow-in-the-dark suit feature, he reflects.

Because, really—with all the official and dangerous work Space Rangers do—wouldn't it be more reasonable to blend in a bit more?

Because as soon as he leapt from the rocks, he was attacked—by a charming troupe of five of those dumb monkeys. Killing all of them had been easy enough, but still—it was a lot of time he still feels was unnecessarily wasted.

Now it's about ten minutes later, and Buzz is pretty sure he's been traveling in circles for the past five minutes. The mist is just as dark, he sees just as much (which, counting his glowing suit, still amounts to zero) and a cut on his leg from the fangs of one of those creations is bleeding quite heavily. His laser doesn't help, Star Command's systems are down on this planet, and he can't stop worrying about Jessie.

So much for the greatest Captain the Galactic Alliance has seen in the last fifty years.

He sighs, becoming frustrated with his lack of progress. He continues to walk forward and promptly crashes into a stretch of rock that is a least taller then he is. At least his head wasn't injured. His helmet was up, as it had been ever since those blasted minions decided he would be rather tasty. He rubs an aching arm and suddenly hears a shriek.

A bloodcurdling, horrifying, high-pitched and agonized scream.

His heart stops. He can't breathe, or see anything, and all his brain is processing is the tortured noises coming from his left. Because he knows who it is. Even if he's never heard her scream like that (and oh God never let her scream like this ever again, I swear…) he knows.

Jessie.

He feels almost like he's flying, because he's moving so fast. He's never moved this fast in his life, all thirty-three years of it, because nothing has ever mattered as much as reaching his Jessie now.

He trips and doesn't notice, only get back up and run faster then before. His pain is nothing. Hers is the world.

It seems like forever stretching out in front of him, and he's taking so long, too long, and it's got to be getting too late, who can scream for that long and survive? And suddenly the infinite blackness covering his eyes lessens slightly and he sees it, he sees her, and she's not okay, NO!

Her screams are raw and desperate, and she's thrashing on the ground and dying, he can see it. She's covered in scarlet blood, and it's dripping and pooling beneath her tiny body, and he realizes with a sickening jolt that it's all hers, it's her blood that leaks from thousands of deep grazes in her skin, and her skin's not porcelain but nearly all ruby red and glistening.

He only processes this for a moment, and then he lunges at her, the evil witch who did this to her. He doesn't care if he dies trying because he's going to kill her. He's never killed a woman, never, and he once swore to himself he never would. But she's not a woman. She's a monster. The monster that's killing his girl right in front of him.

He lunges for her but misses, because she's moved and he crashes to the ground. He's up almost immediately, pointing his laser at her, fully prepared to strike and not caring about the consequences. Her evil and inhuman grin nearly makes him press the button without even asking questions.

"Buzz Lightyear," The evil witch simpers, "It took you long enough. I was wondering if you would even show up."

He's gritting his teeth. "Let. Her. GO."

Dolly pretends to consider it. "No, I'm afraid I won't. Peter's been waiting for this opportunity for such a long time now. Shame to let it all go to waste."

"I WILL KILL YOU! I'LL SEND YOU BACK TO THE PITS OF HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!"

Dolly sighs theatrically and snaps her fingers. Jessie's screaming subsides, and she lies still. Buzz moves to go towards her.

"No, Buzz. Unless you want me to start it up again. Besides, I still have you to take care of."

Buzz completely ignores her and barrels towards his girl. And invisible forcefield stops him in his tracks. It sends 1,000 volts of electricity screaming through his body. Buzz manages to stand, wincing.

"You see?" Dolly sighs again, "Now, Mr. Lightyear, over here, please…"

Buzz does not comply. He's so enraged that he doesn't even register the lack of proper title to his name.

"You give her back to me."

"We've been over this," Dolly's looking annoyed now, "No. She's going to die anyway. Peter's already taken care of Woodrow. The tiny blonde one was certainly easy enough to dispose of. The only problem is you."

Buzz knows not to listen to minions of Zurg when they sprout stories, but regardless, her words send a shudder through him, which he does not allow her to see. He knows she's probably lying, but it doesn't make her statements less horrid.

"I'm not going to let it get that far."

Dolly's brow wrinkles in confusion at his strange statement, but Buzz's laser gives her no time to react or foresee anything within the next minute. He aims it at her, and precisely hits her heart; the powerful laser dissolves the flesh. He carves a hole in her chest, and her heart is severed, dangling from her rib cage. Dolly falls, having already been dead for a full three seconds, the process being so quick that she didn't have time to scream. Buzz ceases using his laser and kicks the body to roll it onto it's back. He aims it at the body again and cleanly slices the head off in one stroke. Buzz reaches down and tugs the already loose heart from the ribcage. He glares at the corpse and quickly turns checks Bo over.

She's breathing, thankfully, and she is not bloody. Buzz leaves her within fifteen seconds and rushes over to Jessie.

It's horrible. She too, is still breathing, but it's faint and erratic. She's sticky and red, her body raw and broken. Buzz forces himself to do a medical scan quickly, and sees that no bones are broken, but the amount of blood she has is so, so low. Her heart beats, but like her breathing, it is faint and irregular. His own heart hammers.

He gathers her up into his arms, ignoring the blood, and cradles her to his chest. Her eyes flicker open, slowly. Buzz gazes at her, and notices how glassy and unfocused they are. He places on hand on her cheek. She blinks several times.

"Bu—Buzz?"

"No, no, don't," Buzz says gently, "You've lost a lot of blood; you're weak. Save your strength."

Her eyes slide in and out of focus alarmingly. Buzz makes a decision.

"I'm going to have to move you. I'll try my hardest not to hurt you, but I might accidentally. Okay?"

Jessie groans in response. Buzz lifts her, carefully, but despite his attempts, she shrieks when he moves her. His heart clenches, but he continues to do what he knows he must do for her. Even if it causes her pain.

The first thing he's aware of is a low humming noise. It seems to radiate from everywhere, all around him. Buzz is unaware of how he got to this place—wherever it is—and he notices he doesn't seem to have a body. Just ears, apparently.

Seeing as he seems to lack a body, Buzz has no choice but to float in darkness and listen. The humming is vaguely familiar, but he can't place it. It reminds him of something…

He strains his invisible mind and comes up with nothing. He sighs a nonexistent sigh, and listens more intently. The humming seems to throb more, almost like some sort of engine. Engine? That's odd. Why would there be an engine…

And then it all comes rushing back to him, Jessie, that evil witch that cursed her, her screams, her broken body…

His body returns to him in a flash, and he bolts upright, hardly aware of anything but the thought of her. He realizes he's in the spaceship—hence the engine—and yet, he barely registers this too. Because he sees Jessie, next to him, lying very still in the bed of the hospital room. He doesn't care about why he's there, even though he remembers the cause. Blasted monkey…

He attempts to stand, but pain shoots through his leg, and he curses it. The evil red creature not only sliced through his skin and muscle (straight to the bone, it turned out), but left a tiny, needle-like tooth lodged in the wound, which secreted poison into his body for the who knows how many hours he was out there. The result was an emergency surgery and Buzz's forced sedation. Jessie had been taken from him, and he had been loath to cooperate.

He sits up, unable to stand, and studies her. Her eyes are closed, and her skin is unusually pale. She's breathing at a steady pace, strong and deep, and she's been cleaned of the blood and dirt that covered her. Her hair is down, framing her face, making her look even whiter compared to its fiery color. She looks better in general, but the gashes on her face have yet to fully heal. Buzz wonders about the rest of her.

"Captain Lightyear!"

Buzz jumps at the unexpected voice and looks up. An Alliance doctor is hurrying to him, looking surprised.

"We hadn't expected you awake yet! More resilient than expected! We'll need to check your vitals, of course, but you'll be good as new! Now, the injury…"

Buzz barely registers what he's hearing. He just waits until the doctor is done blabbering to ask his question.

"And how is she?"

The doctor stops. Oh. Apparently he wasn't done.

"Sorry?"

"How is Jessie?" Buzz says rather tensely, gesturing to the bed next to his. The doctor's eyes widen and dart back and forth.

"You care to know about the prisoner?" He asks cautiously. Buzz is losing patience.

"Yes. Regardless of the fact that she is a prisoner, I did risk quite a bit to get her back to safety. I feel it is not unnecessary to ask about her health."

The doctor looks slightly apprehensive. "Very well. She has an extensive amount of damage to the dermis. The gashes will take some time to heal. There's no telling if there will be scarring. She lost a lot of blood, but that has been remedied. She was slightly delirious when she was brought here, and feverish. The reason she is so pale now is because of her body's reaction to the blood transfusion. Her blood is like nothing we've really seen, so we gave her the blood of an Argain humanoid; she responded well enough. A chemical was inserted to keep her body from attacking the new blood, and another was administered to evolve to the blood into her own. That might take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Is that what you wanted to know?"

The doctor looks annoyed. Buzz nods, not taking his eyes from Jessie's face. "Yes, doctor. Thank you."

The man opens his mouth to speak, then decides against it. He tries again. Buzz notices none of this.

"You cannot save her, Captain. She is a prisoner of the Galactic Alliance."

"I'm aware of it," Buzz responds tersely, "Now what can you tell me of the two who were with her? The blonds one, and the cowboy?"

The doctor blinks. "Uh, they're both fine. Healed of their injuries."

"They're at the prison bay, yes?"

The man nods.

"Thank you for all your help, doctor. Now, feel free to check the vitals and so on. I'd like to be out of here as soon as possible."

His vitals are fine, his leg is healing well, and the doctor proclaims with a shot of steroids and Super-Healer (Buzz always thought the name was stupid), he could be out of the bed in approximately sixteen hours. Buzz accepts this, and is left to contemplate. What happened to Stinky Pete? Zurg? What about the curse? And what would happen to Jessie and the others, considering the fact that they were still prisoners?

ALL (or nearly all) TO BE ANSWERED NEXT CHAPTER, I PROMISE.

I LOVE YOU GUYS.