A Hard Rains A-gonna' fall
By: Dreamy Eyes
A/N: This fic uses and was inspired by the song 'A hard rains a-gonna' fall' by Leon Russell. It's rated pg-13 because it is kinda' dark.
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
Wildwing awoke, groggily shaking his head. Something had awakened him, as it was still midnight. It hadn't been his dream, as it had been a pleasant one about winning the Stanley Cup next season. And no one had entered his room, so that hadn't been it either. Then he remembered. It had been a sound. A rather distressed sound, a cry of fear and pain. And he knew right where it had come from. Getting out of bed he ran quickly down the hall, and was joined part of the way by Duke.
"You heard it to?" Duke asked, quickly falling into step with him.
"Yes I did. And I think I know from whom, and why to." He came to a door and quickly it opened. The room they entered contained nothing but teenage things, and one fitfully tossing sleeping teenager. Wildwing walked over, and gently took Nosedive by the shoulders.
"Nosedive wake up!" Gently he shook him, Duke looking over his shoulder. "Nosedive wake up right now! It's me, Wildwing?" The teens green eyes fluttered open. Duke saw the panic in those eyes before they focused on Wildwing.
"Hey Wing." Dive muttered, his voices hoarse and a trace of panic in it.
"You okay Nosedive?"
"Yes." But both Duke and Wing knew he was lying. Wildwing gently helped Nosedive sit up, and then sat on the end of the bed. Duke grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed, allowing Nosedive to steady his breath.
"What was you're dream about Nosedive?"
"Those three years in the camp Wing. I just relived the worst three years of my life."
"Wanna' talk about. Might make you feel better." Nosedive nodded, and began his tale.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
"You'll be in here duck!" The overly large saurian tossed Nosedive into one of the cells at the camp. He skid on his stomach across the hard metal floor, scrapping the bottom of his beak. "Have fun you worthless piece of slime!" Nosedive got to his knees, one hand holding onto his beak. He looked at the back of the cell, and gasped. There was a body there. It was bruised, and still bleeding, it's clothes torn. It was the form of a dead child with its blue eyes wide open. It looked starved and broken. He gasped once more and scooted back further.
"She's only been dead two hours, little one." A hoarse voice said. Dive whirled around and focused on a drained and bloody face of an old man. "She was one of the first the Saurians captured when the invasion began three days ago. Her name was Jade, she was twelve. They tortured and killed her for no reason." Nosedive's eyes widened. "What's you're name."
"N-n-nosedive. Nosedive Flashblade."
"Well little Flashblade, I hope you've said all you're good byes. These Saurians don't take kindly to children. They get sick to easy, and can barely pull their own weight. And one duck is just the same to them." Involuntarily Nosedive shuttered.
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
"Aw Dive. That was just the day you were taken wasn't it?" Nosedive nodded, pulling his knees up to his chest. Duke couldn't get over how small and pathetic he looked right then. Like the small child they all seemed to mentally regard him as, no matter what they tried to change. He was still the little kid they all seemed to look after, want to protect, kid around him. Seeing him so frightened was somehow disturbing, and Duke had to fight the urge to reach out and hug Nosedive. That was Wing's job, and the kid might no take kindly to that.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
Wildwing gently took Nosedive's hand in his, remembering the haunted look he'd had on his face when he'd first been transferred to his camp. After spending time with each other, the look of mental torment had vanished and the Nosedive of before the invasion returned. Everyday Nosedive laughed, was happy, and was the kid he didn't get to be before it made Wing happy.
"What else did you see Nosedive?" The teen shuddered, looked from Wing to Duke pathetically, and continued.
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it,
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
"Hey kid." Nosedive looked at the boy, maybe ten years old, who had occupied the cell he'd just been shoved into. It was a cell for troublemakers and upstarts. The boy looked at him with dull, dark, eyes his brows furrowed.
"Name?"
"Uh…Nosedive."
"I'm Jamie, break out specialist. What are you hear for?"
"I wouldn't let one of the Saurians beat a little girl for crying over the death of her mother. So I got beat instead…then they killed the girl." Nosedive turned his face to hide his tears, partly for the girl and partly for himself.
"Very noble." The kid stared at him, eyes to serious for someone so young. "But nobility is a waste. It'll get you killed." Nosedive stared at him.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What it sounds like." The boy pulled a lethal looking gun out of his pocket, and Nosedive took a step back.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you." Before Nosedive could react the kid turned the gun on himself, pulled the trigger, and shot himself in the chest. Nosedive let out a terrified cry as the kid fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
Duke stared at the kid, his eye wide. Had he really seen that, right in front of his eyes? To young kids dieing, with him powerless to help. Had he really just relived it? In all his many years he'd seen horrible things, some things worse then that, but not at the tender age of fourteen through seventeen. No wonder they kid was having nightmares! How bad must he have wanted to save those kids? How many times must he have seen the haunting eyes of those two children, and countless more? Wildwing took his brother's shuddering form and held him a while longer. He didn't want to press for more, fearing that Nosedive telling was doing more harm for him then good. But Nosedive seemed to think the opposite, and continues.
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Nosedive heard his stomach rumble, felt the hunger pains, but ignored it. He couldn't get the face of the mother duck with a baby in her arms. The mother was so thin, and her baby was in sad shape. But she was trying to feed it, trying to get the sickly thing to eat. He looked at his bread and watery soup. It might have been some of the worst food on the planet, but he couldn't eat it when there where people who needed it more. He walked up to the woman.
"Um, excuse me…" She looked at him with dull eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"Um…here." He handed the soup to him. She looked at him with shock, then gratitude.
"Oh no I couldn't. You're so small yourself…"
"Take it." He looked at her thankful smile, and left. That was all the gratitude he needed. It was two days later that he found out that that night the mother had killed herself and her baby.
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
"I never knew." Wildwing whispered, stroking Dive's hair gently.
"For a reason. I didn't want you to worry about me twenty-four seven. But you had to find out sometime…"
"Nosedive…"
"That's harsh kid. That's really bad. But you know it was the kids like you that inspired me to turn away from my life of crime." Both looked at Duke, seeming to have forgotten he was there at all. Duke leaned forward, looking Dive directly in the eyes. "I saw many kids like you behind those fences. A zombie with no direction, but somewhere in their eyes was hope. I saw many selfless acts while looking from the outside in. Starving teenagers making sure that the women and children, and everyone else, got the food I brought. Often there was nothing left, and on my next visit the kids had died as a result. Many times I saw that Nosedive. Many times. You're lucky."
"No I'm not." Was his answer, even those his eyes expressed gratitude for Duke's input. "I have to live with these memories."
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
A much larger, older duck shoved Nosedive down, bruising his already aching side and creating a large gash on his forehead. The duck quickly gulped Nosedive's food and then stepped on his chest.
"You're a waste of flesh and feathers, you know that kid? Always doing what's good and right, living up to what you've been taught." He sneered down, leaning his weight on Dive's chest. "It's a duck eat duck world out here. And if you don't watch it, you're gonna' be killed. If not by Saurians, by someone like me." He smacked Nosedive down. "Pathetic little fool, you'll see someday. But by then it'll be to late." Someone to Nosedive's right stood up.
"Get off the kid you loser."
"Oh and what are you going to do about it?"
"Get off of him!"
"Make me!" The duck that'd stood up for Nosedive tackled the other, and the wrestled on the floor, both drawing knives. The Saurians just laughed and pointed, hoping they'd kill each other. Which is what happened, leaving Dive soaked in blood and quilt.
Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
"Situations like that'll bring out the best and the worst in people kid. But you must' understand what they did wasn't your fault." Duke bent his head to make sure Nosedive was listening to him. "You understand that kid? What those people did to each other was not your fault." Nosedive turned away from him.
"It's true Nosedive. You did what you could, and what happened to you was directed to by some greater force. You weren't in control, you did what could. These things are always going to haunt you Dive, but you've gotta' carry on. That's all you can do. What's past is past. We can't forget it; we learned that from this invasion. To forget you're past is to repeat it. But we can't dwell on it, or fix it. We've just gotta' look toward the east, were a new light is shining." Dive looked from one duck, to the other, and broke into a grin.
"You're right. I think I understand that now. Thanks you guys." Wildwing gently patted Dive's shoulder.
"Any time baby brother, anytime." Duke ruffled Dive's hair affectionately, almost like a second older brother, and chuckled when Dive swatted him away.
"Just remember Wing and I are there whenever you need to talk kid. We're always there to listen, and willing and able to help. You come talk to us when things get over bearing alright?" Dive grinned and shook his outstretched hand. "Alright."
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a- gonna fall
By: Dreamy Eyes
A/N: This fic uses and was inspired by the song 'A hard rains a-gonna' fall' by Leon Russell. It's rated pg-13 because it is kinda' dark.
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
Wildwing awoke, groggily shaking his head. Something had awakened him, as it was still midnight. It hadn't been his dream, as it had been a pleasant one about winning the Stanley Cup next season. And no one had entered his room, so that hadn't been it either. Then he remembered. It had been a sound. A rather distressed sound, a cry of fear and pain. And he knew right where it had come from. Getting out of bed he ran quickly down the hall, and was joined part of the way by Duke.
"You heard it to?" Duke asked, quickly falling into step with him.
"Yes I did. And I think I know from whom, and why to." He came to a door and quickly it opened. The room they entered contained nothing but teenage things, and one fitfully tossing sleeping teenager. Wildwing walked over, and gently took Nosedive by the shoulders.
"Nosedive wake up!" Gently he shook him, Duke looking over his shoulder. "Nosedive wake up right now! It's me, Wildwing?" The teens green eyes fluttered open. Duke saw the panic in those eyes before they focused on Wildwing.
"Hey Wing." Dive muttered, his voices hoarse and a trace of panic in it.
"You okay Nosedive?"
"Yes." But both Duke and Wing knew he was lying. Wildwing gently helped Nosedive sit up, and then sat on the end of the bed. Duke grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed, allowing Nosedive to steady his breath.
"What was you're dream about Nosedive?"
"Those three years in the camp Wing. I just relived the worst three years of my life."
"Wanna' talk about. Might make you feel better." Nosedive nodded, and began his tale.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
"You'll be in here duck!" The overly large saurian tossed Nosedive into one of the cells at the camp. He skid on his stomach across the hard metal floor, scrapping the bottom of his beak. "Have fun you worthless piece of slime!" Nosedive got to his knees, one hand holding onto his beak. He looked at the back of the cell, and gasped. There was a body there. It was bruised, and still bleeding, it's clothes torn. It was the form of a dead child with its blue eyes wide open. It looked starved and broken. He gasped once more and scooted back further.
"She's only been dead two hours, little one." A hoarse voice said. Dive whirled around and focused on a drained and bloody face of an old man. "She was one of the first the Saurians captured when the invasion began three days ago. Her name was Jade, she was twelve. They tortured and killed her for no reason." Nosedive's eyes widened. "What's you're name."
"N-n-nosedive. Nosedive Flashblade."
"Well little Flashblade, I hope you've said all you're good byes. These Saurians don't take kindly to children. They get sick to easy, and can barely pull their own weight. And one duck is just the same to them." Involuntarily Nosedive shuttered.
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
"Aw Dive. That was just the day you were taken wasn't it?" Nosedive nodded, pulling his knees up to his chest. Duke couldn't get over how small and pathetic he looked right then. Like the small child they all seemed to mentally regard him as, no matter what they tried to change. He was still the little kid they all seemed to look after, want to protect, kid around him. Seeing him so frightened was somehow disturbing, and Duke had to fight the urge to reach out and hug Nosedive. That was Wing's job, and the kid might no take kindly to that.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
Wildwing gently took Nosedive's hand in his, remembering the haunted look he'd had on his face when he'd first been transferred to his camp. After spending time with each other, the look of mental torment had vanished and the Nosedive of before the invasion returned. Everyday Nosedive laughed, was happy, and was the kid he didn't get to be before it made Wing happy.
"What else did you see Nosedive?" The teen shuddered, looked from Wing to Duke pathetically, and continued.
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it,
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
"Hey kid." Nosedive looked at the boy, maybe ten years old, who had occupied the cell he'd just been shoved into. It was a cell for troublemakers and upstarts. The boy looked at him with dull, dark, eyes his brows furrowed.
"Name?"
"Uh…Nosedive."
"I'm Jamie, break out specialist. What are you hear for?"
"I wouldn't let one of the Saurians beat a little girl for crying over the death of her mother. So I got beat instead…then they killed the girl." Nosedive turned his face to hide his tears, partly for the girl and partly for himself.
"Very noble." The kid stared at him, eyes to serious for someone so young. "But nobility is a waste. It'll get you killed." Nosedive stared at him.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What it sounds like." The boy pulled a lethal looking gun out of his pocket, and Nosedive took a step back.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you." Before Nosedive could react the kid turned the gun on himself, pulled the trigger, and shot himself in the chest. Nosedive let out a terrified cry as the kid fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
Duke stared at the kid, his eye wide. Had he really seen that, right in front of his eyes? To young kids dieing, with him powerless to help. Had he really just relived it? In all his many years he'd seen horrible things, some things worse then that, but not at the tender age of fourteen through seventeen. No wonder they kid was having nightmares! How bad must he have wanted to save those kids? How many times must he have seen the haunting eyes of those two children, and countless more? Wildwing took his brother's shuddering form and held him a while longer. He didn't want to press for more, fearing that Nosedive telling was doing more harm for him then good. But Nosedive seemed to think the opposite, and continues.
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Nosedive heard his stomach rumble, felt the hunger pains, but ignored it. He couldn't get the face of the mother duck with a baby in her arms. The mother was so thin, and her baby was in sad shape. But she was trying to feed it, trying to get the sickly thing to eat. He looked at his bread and watery soup. It might have been some of the worst food on the planet, but he couldn't eat it when there where people who needed it more. He walked up to the woman.
"Um, excuse me…" She looked at him with dull eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"Um…here." He handed the soup to him. She looked at him with shock, then gratitude.
"Oh no I couldn't. You're so small yourself…"
"Take it." He looked at her thankful smile, and left. That was all the gratitude he needed. It was two days later that he found out that that night the mother had killed herself and her baby.
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
"I never knew." Wildwing whispered, stroking Dive's hair gently.
"For a reason. I didn't want you to worry about me twenty-four seven. But you had to find out sometime…"
"Nosedive…"
"That's harsh kid. That's really bad. But you know it was the kids like you that inspired me to turn away from my life of crime." Both looked at Duke, seeming to have forgotten he was there at all. Duke leaned forward, looking Dive directly in the eyes. "I saw many kids like you behind those fences. A zombie with no direction, but somewhere in their eyes was hope. I saw many selfless acts while looking from the outside in. Starving teenagers making sure that the women and children, and everyone else, got the food I brought. Often there was nothing left, and on my next visit the kids had died as a result. Many times I saw that Nosedive. Many times. You're lucky."
"No I'm not." Was his answer, even those his eyes expressed gratitude for Duke's input. "I have to live with these memories."
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
A much larger, older duck shoved Nosedive down, bruising his already aching side and creating a large gash on his forehead. The duck quickly gulped Nosedive's food and then stepped on his chest.
"You're a waste of flesh and feathers, you know that kid? Always doing what's good and right, living up to what you've been taught." He sneered down, leaning his weight on Dive's chest. "It's a duck eat duck world out here. And if you don't watch it, you're gonna' be killed. If not by Saurians, by someone like me." He smacked Nosedive down. "Pathetic little fool, you'll see someday. But by then it'll be to late." Someone to Nosedive's right stood up.
"Get off the kid you loser."
"Oh and what are you going to do about it?"
"Get off of him!"
"Make me!" The duck that'd stood up for Nosedive tackled the other, and the wrestled on the floor, both drawing knives. The Saurians just laughed and pointed, hoping they'd kill each other. Which is what happened, leaving Dive soaked in blood and quilt.
Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
"Situations like that'll bring out the best and the worst in people kid. But you must' understand what they did wasn't your fault." Duke bent his head to make sure Nosedive was listening to him. "You understand that kid? What those people did to each other was not your fault." Nosedive turned away from him.
"It's true Nosedive. You did what you could, and what happened to you was directed to by some greater force. You weren't in control, you did what could. These things are always going to haunt you Dive, but you've gotta' carry on. That's all you can do. What's past is past. We can't forget it; we learned that from this invasion. To forget you're past is to repeat it. But we can't dwell on it, or fix it. We've just gotta' look toward the east, were a new light is shining." Dive looked from one duck, to the other, and broke into a grin.
"You're right. I think I understand that now. Thanks you guys." Wildwing gently patted Dive's shoulder.
"Any time baby brother, anytime." Duke ruffled Dive's hair affectionately, almost like a second older brother, and chuckled when Dive swatted him away.
"Just remember Wing and I are there whenever you need to talk kid. We're always there to listen, and willing and able to help. You come talk to us when things get over bearing alright?" Dive grinned and shook his outstretched hand. "Alright."
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a- gonna fall