Missing Scene from D&D
by Jamie

Archie thought he was dreaming when he saw Horatio
standing over him. He had dreamed of the Indy and Horatio
so much that the dreams were becoming nightmares. Archie
had given up on life after his last escape attempt, where
he was put in a hole in the earth with no room to stand up
or sit down. The oubliette broke his spirit. It did what
his brothers, Simpson and the sea could not and now Archie
wanted to be put out of the misery that he called life.

What seemed to compact issues was that his shipmates were
stranded in the same prison that he was. No doubt that
Horatio would want to try to escape from El Ferol, himself.
Horatio told this new man, Hunter, that he would only
escape if Archie was with them. Archie wanted to be left
alone, why would Horatio put another burden on him?

Archie had to admit something to himself -- he was jealous
of Horatio Hornblower. Archie was jealous when Horatio was
chosen over him to command the Marie Gallante. He was
jealous over how Horatio handled Simpson, by standing up to
him instead of cowering down, the way Archie had. Archie
admitted that he was jealous of Horatio's brilliance --
Horatio had brains and smarts that Archie could never
imagine. Everything seemed to come so easy to Horatio,
while it never did for him. Would it ever?

This new man, Hunter, what was his story? Archie laughed
to himself when he called him the *new* man, the man looked
to be about fifty years old. A fifty year old midshipman,
no wonder the man was so bitter. There was one thing that
Archie had wondered -- if his life kept up the way it had,
would he turn into Hunter? Archie imagined Hunter as an
exuberant youth, eager to please, yet a bit too headstrong,
therefore, he was consistently overlooked. Archie could
see that Hunter resented Horatio being his superior.
Hunter resented having that young pup sail them right into
a French fleet of ships. It appeared that Hunter resented
Archie, too. Archie wondered if Hunter would find a way to
aid in his escape from the world, thus, enabling Hunter and
the other men to escape the prison sooner rather than
later.

A woman came into their cell and took a fancy to Horatio,
but then, didn't all the girls want Horatio? Archie once
had a sweetheart in England, but she left him when she
discovered he had fits. Horatio and this woman, the
Duchess, went for walks everyday -- Don Messaredo called it
Horatio's parole.

When Horatio got back from one such walk, Hunter cynically
asked Horatio, "How was your walk?"

"Interminable," Horatio joked, as he looked over to where
Archie was sitting. Archie looked at him with disdain,
which concerned Horatio as he asked, "What is it, Archie?
Is anything the matter? You are looking at me like I am a
villain."

Archie looked Horatio straight in the eye and said,
"Things always go easy for you, don't they? Sometimes I
wish I were you."

"Archie, you don't know what you are saying."

"I don't? I have fits, I screw up and ruin missions.
Meanwhile, you go and promenade on cliffs having
conversations with beautiful women."

"Beautiful women? I don't think of the Duchess in that
manner. As for ruining missions, you didn't ruin the
mission with the Papillion."

"Only because you hit me. I woke up and was stranded in
the middle of the ocean and it is all your fault!"

"I am sorry I hit you with the tiller, you don't know how
much I grieved over that, but it was Simpson, who cut you
adrift, not me! Simpson shot at me and cut you loose. He
tried to kill us, Archie."

"Tried to kill us? He didn't succeed with you, but with
me, well. . ."

"You aren't dead, Archie, but Simpson is! Jack Simpson is
has been dead for over two years now and will never harm
you nor I again."

"Simpson is dead?"

"Yes, now will you even try to go back to the Indy with
me? The Indefatigable is not the Justinian. It is light,
where the Justinian is darkness. Get yourself better so you
can escape with me."

Hunter jumped off his bunk and rushed over to Horatio's
side. "Escape? Now, you are talking! When do we leave?"

"Not now, Mr. Hunter, we need a plan. When Archie gets
better, we will plan our escape out of this place."

Archie looked at Horatio and said, "I have tried escaping,
Horatio. There is no way out. You can't escape from this
place, you can't."

"We can try, Archie. There are more people this time, we
can make it this time. Let us try, Archie."

Try, to Archie, that word no longer had any meaning.
Archie hoped that Horatio cared, but as the weeks
progressed, Horatio spent more time with the Duchess and
less time with him. Archie thought that he would not be
missed, if he die. So, when Hunter asked for his ration of
bread, he gave it to him. Starvation, that could be one
way to die.

The duchess brought many niceties to the men, though there
was one present which Hunter didn't appreciate. Archie was
still too weak to leave his prison cell, yet watched from
the window as the Duchess gave the men fruit from the Don's
orchard. Archie forgot the last time he tasted fruit. He
hoped and wished that he could have a piece of that fruit.
Those hopes were dashed just like all the other hopes he
ever had. Hunter stamped on the fruit, while yelling
something about English beef and English beer. To Archie,
there was no hope anymore. He would continue in his plan
-- he would starve himself to death, so Horatio could
escape with his men.

Archie felt the life drain out of him slowly. One day it
rained, so Horatio could not take his walk. Archie
summoned all his strength and said to Horatio,
"No walk for you today, Horatio. It must be so nice to
walk with such a lovely lady."

Horatio only paid half attention to what Archie said. He
was concentrating on what to talk to the Duchess about when
he next saw her. Horatio wondered what Archie would say to
her and if Archie had ever had any experiences with the
fairer sex. Horatio asked Archie, "Do you have a
sweetheart in England, Archie?"

When Archie didn't reply, Horatio walked over to him. It
had looked as if death had Archie in its hands. Horatio
could not loose Archie now. Not after he found him again.

Horatio picked up Archie's limp body in his arms and
pleaded for help. Horatio felt responsible for what Archie
did to himself. He swore to himself that if Archie got
better, he would never ignore him again. Friends like
Archie, don't grow on trees. Horatio sat by Archie's side
and nursed him back to heath.

As Archie got better, he noticed that Horatio had not left
his side. They did escape the prison. While saving some
people, including the Duchess from a shipwreck, they
enabled themselves to be rescued by the Indefatigable.
Archie was a bit put off that Pellew didn't announce him on
board. He expected at least for him to say, "Kennedy, you
are alive!" However, the Captain did make up for his
slight in other ways. He had a private meeting with him
and they talked over what had happened in the last three
years.

Pellew got all the men together and made an announcement
that even though they were safe aboard the Indy, Horatio
had given their parole to the Don. The honorable thing to
do was to go back to El Ferol. At least that was something
that Horatio was going to do. Archie felt a responsibility
to his friend for saving his life, he was the first one to
volunteer to go back. Archie was going back to the prison,
where he had spent the last three years of his life. To
the place that he escaped from six times. Archie found it
ironic so much so, that he joked that going back to prison
was like going back home.

Horatio noticed this and realized his jovial friend
was back to being himself. The Archie, who greeted Horatio
with a "Welcome to Purgatory!", his best friend was back.
He was alive, he was well, and he was no longer alone -- he
had friends.