Open Up Your Eyes
AKA
Welcome to the First Day of Your Life
Author: Final Chapter of Ryann's fic. Thanks to everyone who had found me on Deviantart & here as well.
The title comes from the Daughtry song Open Up Your Eyes, as do the lyrics at the end. I own nothing &
no one but Kit, Ryann, Briana, Micheal, Zenath & the Blood Trial. If you'd like to see my artwork let me know.
"I swear to Ducaine I will kill whoever or whatever set off Drake One at 5am." Mallory cursed as she, Tanya and Grin walked up the stairs to the giant computer. Wildwing already there looking semi-rested while Duke, Kit, Ryann, Briana and Nosedive looked fairly awake. It was, after all, their watch.
"It's not teleportation energy, we can tell you that." Kit said.
"No but it does look like some sort of, you know, dimensional gateway." Tanya said.
"Those have been popping up for months." Mallory yawned.
"Yeah but it doesn't look like anything living came through it." the blonde tech duck told them.
"You want us to go check it out?" Duke asked, looking at Wildwing.
"We'll all go. There might be something Tanya would need to look at." the white drake told him.
Twenty minutes later the Migrator came to a stop in front of what looked like a storage building full of old oil drums. Kit sniffed the air as they all stepped inside. "There's definitely traces of the gateway but I don't see anything else but these oil drums." Wildwing said, peering through the Mask.
Ryann took a step back and whispered, "Come to me." The shadows began to swirl around her, gliding past the rest of the team on their way to their mistress. Duke has given her permission to use her power over the shadows provided she didn't hurt anyone with them. "Reveal anyone or anything hidden." she hissed as they coiled around her, caressing her hair and feathers. Immediately they slithered through the room, searching.
Wildwing jerked his head to the side as something raced across the Mask's line of sight. "Heads up we've got...!" he began to shout before a knife flew past his face.
"Wildwing!" several voices shouted as he dropped to his knees. Sparks of pain raced from his beak and cheek, making stars explode in his vision. Several sets of hands touched him gently, trying to soothe the pain away and stop the hot blood that was staining his cheek red.
"Wildwing, Wildwing. Look at me, we gotta get the mask off yah." Duke's thickly accented voice told him. He whimpered softly and forced his eyes open so he could see. Everything was extremely blurry but he could make out his various team mates surrounding him.
"Get his gauntlet off and someone use it." Mal said.
"We need to get him outside so we can get the mask off and take care of him." Kit muttered.
"To the Migrator." Wildwing whispered.
"Ryann can you make the shadows tangible?" Briana asked.
"They'll do whatever I want them too." the jet black duck said.
"Then do it. Dive get on his left side so we can get him outta here." Duke snapped. The older drake told command easily since he was not only the oldest but had the most experience.
Once at the Migrator, they set Wildwing down and Tanya brought out a towel and water bottle to start cleaning him up with. "The Mask will need to be repaired." she whispered.
"After we get it off him. Someone hold him still." Duke whispered. Grin put his hands on Wildwing's shoulders and Nosedive held his brother's head so he couldn't jerk away.
"Let me." Briana told Duke. The charcoal drake let her take his place and watched as she gently removed the mask. Wildwing cringed when the warm night air touched his face.
"This is gonna scar." Tanya whispered.
"His feathers will grow back over it in time." Duke assured her then added "But that scratch in his beak won't grow back."
"Guys, I hate the change the subject but where's Ryann?" Mallory asked.
"Keep gauze on that." Duke told Tanya as he got up. He, Kit, Briana, Mallory and Grin hopped out of the Migrator to search for the wayward duck while Nosedive and Tanya stayed inside with Wildwing.
After a few minutes of searching and coming up empty handed, they regrouped to find Tanya staring towards the storage building. "I think I found her." she whispered. Shadows had surrounded the building and Ryann stood right in the middle of the them.
"Ryann?" Mallory shouted. The black duck didn't move as another figure came into view. This one was about Tanya's height but was built like Wildwing.
"Who's that?" Dive asked.
"Micheal, it's gotta be." Kit whispered.
"Her adopted older brother?" Nosedive asked.
Duke and Kit both looked at him curiously. "She told me everything from the time she was born till after you found her." the young drake said, looking into the darker drake's eyes.
"Who?" Mallory asked.
"Long story." Briana assured her as Micheal's laughter echoed around them.
"Fearsome but not fearless Ryann?" he asked.
Ryann stood frozen in fear. He looked exactly like his father now that he was grown up, so much that she was remembering the days of being his father's victim. The memories had been tolerable when she had told Nosedive her story weeks ago and in the following days because he had been there to hold and reassure her she was safe. But not now that she stood facing her fears alone.
Nosedive felt his heart skip a beat when he remembered Ryann telling him that Micheal would probably look like his father as an adult. "Ryann!" he shouted. Duke grabbed him quickly around the waist when he tried to run for her. "Let me go!" he snapped at his mentor.
"This is her fight kid." the older drake said as he wrestled the kid to the ground.
"She's scared of him, he looks just like his dad." Dive shot over his shoulder.
"Then help her fight her fears but stay here." Kit said.
"The shadows are dangerous without her commands and they will attack you." Briana added softly.
Nosedive shot glances at Kit and Briana but glared up at Duke, who cocked an eyebrow at him before turning his gaze back to Ryann. "Ryann! Micheal just looks like Zenath!" he shouted.
Ryann blinked once and glanced over her shoulder at him. Her dark eyes were glazed over with fear.
"He's not his dad!" Dive shouted at her. He had quit struggling against Duke and accepted that the older drake wasn't going to let him up anytime soon.
She gave her head a violent shake and glared at Micheal. "You're father was a bastard." she hissed.
He narrowed his eyes and said, "You were a whore even as a kid. Then I heard the rumors that you were sleeping with Duke."
Kit hissed at Micheal as Duke grabbed her arm. There was guilt in his eyes when she looked at him. "I never cheated on you. It was only when we were fighting but I won't deny I slept with her." he said.
"We'll discuss it later now get off him." she hissed nodding to Nosedive.
Duke didn't answer but did as she said, letting Dive off the ground. The younger drake gave his mentor a sympathetic smile before turning back to the fight at hand.
"You son of a bitch!" Ryann shouted, leaping at him. Her claws dug into his chest, ripping clear through his armor and clothing as she vaulted over his shoulders. Upon landing she spun, sinking her claws into his back to leave four horizontal slashes there.
"Alright!" Nosedive shouted, before Mallory smacked him upside the head.
"Let me guess... the cat brood taught you to fight." Micheal growled.
"Do no insult my Master and his Lady." she snarled as the shadows began to lash out at him under her silent command, ripping open new wounds with every touch. Finally he fell to his knees. "You were blissfully ignorant of what your father did to me, you attempted to take my life because I took your father's, you threw that knife that injured my lover's older brother and you insult our leaders. I should kill you for those things, but that would make me as bad as your father." she said, standing over him.
"Perhaps but you still have the right to call Blood Trial." Kit called.
"Blood Trial?" Dive asked.
"It's for when someone has wronged another member of the 'Hood badly or someone of either person's blood family. She can chose to call it because of what his father did to her." Duke said.
"Could you do that with Falcone?" Nosedive whispered.
"Yes but Briana has more right to it than I do." he muttered.
"Why is it called Blood Trial?" Mallory asked.
"Because for the most part it involved the accused shedding as much blood as their victim shed at their hand. More recently the punishment was decided by a vote." Briana said.
"I call Blood Trial for the crimes of rape, sexual and physical abuse against me at the hands of Micheal's father. Would anyone deny me this right?" Ryann said.
"No." Duke, Kit and Briana said while Nosedive shook his head. Ryann turned to Tanya, Grin, Mal and Wildwing, the last of whom was patched up. All four shook their heads.
"I will leave the punishment to a vote." she said.
"Find some paper, pens and something to put the votes in." Duke said. Tanya wasted little time finding paper, pencils and a hat. Everyone wrote down their vote and put it in the hat. "Princess?" Duke asked, offering her the hat and the chance to read the results
"Six for death, one for turning him into the cops and one for taking blood for blood." Briana announced.
"I've no objection." Ryann growled, glaring over Micheal. The shadows followed her silent command, wrapping around him. He tried to fight them but they surrounded him completely and then he started screaming. Nobody, not even Ryann, knew what happened when someone was wrapped up in those shadows and not one of them was in a hurry to find out. After a minute or two the screams ended and as the shadows disappeared, there was nothing left behind of Micheal.
"Wow." Mallory and Tanya whispered.
"Leave." Ryann hissed, flicking her wrist. The shadows flowed away but not before a few tendrils stroked her back where a select few of her teammates knew she had scars. Slowly she turned and walked slowly back to the team. Kit pinned her with a glare and she dropped her gaze to the ground in submission. She wouldn't deny that she had been Duke's lover on rare occasions on Puckworld.
"Let's go before Kleghorn or someone else shows up." Wildwing said, flinching slightly at the pain in his beak. The tone in his voice made it a command and not up for debate.
"Yah gonna be alright?" Duke asked the white drake as they settled down in the Migrator.
"It won't heal?" he asked, meaning the cut in his beak. Duke shook his head sadly. "I'll be fine." Wing muttered, turning to the control panel.
About twenty minutes later they all sat in the Infirmary, chatting quietly while Tanya checked Wild-wing's beak again. Ryann reached back to touch her back and noticed it felt strange. "Tanya will you look at my back?" she asked.
"Um.. yeah sure." Tanya said, peeling off her gloves to put on new ones. Ryann pulled off her jacket and pulled her shirt up. "What am I supposed to be looking at, there's nothing there." the blonde said.
"What?" Ryann asked.
"There's nothing there, just feathers." Tanya told her, confusion lacing her voice.
Ryann went over the small closest where everyone kept a spare change of clothes in case they had to stay in the Infirmary overnight and looked at her back in the mirror. There was nothing but slick black feathers, not even the slightest scar. "That's impossible." she said.
"Your scars are gone." Dive whispered in amazement as he ran his fingertips over her back. The feathers where the scars had been were soft and fluffy like they had just grown in and the skin underneath was tender but unbroken.
Ryann slowly let down her shirt and whispered, "I killed the last link to my past tonight and the shadows must have healed my scars."
Mallory gingerly reached over and turned the radio up.
For the first time you can open your eyes
And see the world without your sorrow
And no one knows the pain you left behind
And all the peace you could never find
Is waiting there to hold and keep you
Welcome to the first day of your life
Just open up your eyes