Hallo thar everyone! 8D After some thought (and some reviewers suggestions), I got a new story! One reviewer/writer by the name of ObscureWriter included a comment in their review for my story "Sleepless Nights" about how if something ever happened to Duke, then the Flashblade brothers would probably need lifetime prescriptions of Valium xD So, this story is kinda where that came from. Thanks Obscure!

P.S. There actually IS a place called Fredonia! (Remember, the last jewel that Falcone and Duke were after was called "The Sapphire of Fredonia") Several places by this name actually, but none of them sounded like it would match the cartoon version...Just thought you guys should know

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. I'd be rich if I did

Duke sat by himself on a corner-bench of the Aerowing, wrapped in a blanket that Mallory had found, as the team flew back to Anaheim from the clock tower in Fredonia. No one had talked to him in awhile, but it didn't bother him so much. He had plenty of time to think this way.

Stealing the two out of four of the biggest jewels with Falcone had brought back adrenaline that he hadn't experienced since before the invasion of the Saurians back on Puckworld. The rush of jewel heists from the old days were vastly different from the ones he got from fights with Dragaunus, his cronies, and other various villains of Earth.

Despite the fact that he had meant to con Falcone into finding out why he had been working for Dragaunus, he had actually enjoyed some aspects of the hunt for the jewels.

And for that, Duke felt ashamed of himself.

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Nosedive looked at the gray, older mallard sitting in the corner by himself. The teenager couldn't help himself from looking at Duke every few minutes; he had been seriously worried for a minute or two when Falcone had trapped him and Tanya in that chamber, but something deep in Dive told him that Duke had to have a reason for ditching the two and leaving them behind. That he hadn't gone bad and was still on their side.

And the teen was glad in the end for being right about that.

He looked at the mallard again, for what seemed like the millionth time, when he noticed that Duke was favoring his left side. Nosedive looked at the others to see if anyone else had noticed, but it seemed that the others were in their own world (except Wildwing, but that was because he was flying the jet.)

So, worried for his teammate, Nosedive got up and walked over to his friend. "Hey Duke," he said, taking a seat next to the ex-bandit. "Doing alright?"

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Duke was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his name called. He looked up to see the youngest of the team take a seat next to him. "Been better kid," he answered, pulling the blanket wrapped around him tighter, hiding the hand that was on his left side. When he looked at the kid's face though, he managed a grin, and said, "Relax Dive, I'm fine."

"But you don't look fine."

Duke took his hand from his side, pulling it out from under the blanket and poking Nosedive. "I'm alright kid, just some bumps an' bruises," he said, trying to reassure the teenager.

"…then why's there blood on your hand?"

Puzzled, Duke looked at his gloved, right hand. How on Puckworld did that happen? the ex-thief thought, confused. He knew his side was hurting, but he hadn't felt anythi-

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Nosedive watched as the gray drake wobbled, then started to fall forward. The teenager caught Duke before he fell to the floor. "Duke!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Mallory, Grin, Tanya, and Wildwing all looked towards the back. "What's going on back there?" Wildwing asked his brother from the pilot seat.

"Duke just passed out!"

"What?!" was the explanation from all as the others made their way to the back, Wildwing putting the Aerowing on auto-pilot before rushing back. Tanya got to Duke and Nosedive first, throwing the blanket that had been around the older one off.

"What happened?!" Wildwing demanded as Tanya and Nosedive laid Duke onto his back. "I think that might have something to do with it," Mallory said, pointing to Duke's left side, which was oozing blood from a long and rather nasty-looking gash.

"How did nobody notice that?" asked Nosedive, sitting on the floor across from Tanya as she looked at the wound. "That's a good question," Mallory said, going for one of the shelves nearby that held some first aid supplies. She brought them back to Tanya, who immediately dug through it for gauze.

"So what do we do?" asked Nosedive, watching as Tanya found what she was looking for, taking out bandages as well. "Well, nothing really until we, y'know, get back to the Pond," Tanya answered. "Sit him up Nosedive."

The teenager did as he was told and helped the passed out gray drake sit up. Tanya pressed the gauze to her teammate's side, then started wrapping the bandages around his chest. This caused a moan to emit from Duke, though he remained unconscious.

"Looks like we need to get back fast," Wildwing said. He went back up front to the controls, punching a few different buttons. "There. We should be back at the Pond in about an hour."

The others looked at Tanya. "Will he be alright until then?" Mallory asked.

She just sighed, tying off the bandages around Duke's chest. "Probably, unless he - uh - loses more blood," she said. "But I think the bleeding's slowing down."

Mallory looked to Grin as Tanya and Nosedive laid Duke back down and re-covered him with the blanket to avoid going into shock. "So, does this reflect upon Duke's karma?" she asked, since the much larger duck had yet to say anything.

The Zen-oriented drake shook his head. "But bear in mind this saying," he said. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything; what we think we become."

"…what?"

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Duke could hear voices above him, and he could feel the cold, steel floor of the Aerowing under him. What the heck? What happened?

He tried to open his good eye, but that proved futile since it felt like a slab of concrete was holding it down…actually, his whole body felt heavy, and he didn't know why. He could feel something wrapped around his chest, and something else on top of him as well. What was really odd to Duke was that he felt like he was hearing and feeling everything from a far-off distance, which couldn't be possible.

Is this what an out-of-body experience is like? he thought. No way, it can't be! If that was goin' on, I'd be seein' everyone and everything around me, including myself…wouldn't I?

"How much longer Wing? He doesn't look that great…"

"Another twenty minutes or so Nosedive."

Duke recognized the two voices as Wildwing and Nosedive. Why's the kid worried 'bout me? the former jewel bandit thought. I'm not worth worryin' over. I've had worse anyway…

Suddenly, he felt someone messing with his injured side. Unfortunately, he didn't even have the energy to emit any indication of pain as he felt something being pressed to his side.

"This isn't good guys," a voice that sounded an awful lot like Tanya's said.

"Why, what's the matter?"

Mallory? But she sounded really concerned…Duke must've been imagining it, considering the weird state he was in.

"It looks like he needs a - uh - transfusion when we get back. I've already changed his bandages twice since he collapsed."

A transfusion? Duke thought. But why? Wait a sec, I COLLAPSED? Why the puck did I do that? I felt fine!

"I'm just surprised he hasn't gone into shock yet-"

Just that second, Duke could feel something with a disgusting taste crawl up the back of his throat. Great Mother of Ducks, no!

"You spoke too soon Tanya!"

"Quick, roll him on his other side so he doesn't choke on vomit!"

Duke felt himself being rolled onto his right side as his stomach emptied itself of anything he might've eaten in the last day or two. When his stomach finally stopped rebelling against the rest of his body, he heard "Get us there faster Wing!"

And then he fell back into whatever state of unconsciousness his body and mind had fallen into.