Of Nightmares and Ducklings

By: Chaostheory89

Rating: -PG- (to be safe)

Category: Sweet, brotherly bonding type-dealie… erm, General.

Main Characters: Nosedive, Wildwing, and Canard.

Setting: Pre-Movie; Nosedive is six, while Canard and Wildwing are fourteen.

Summery: In which Canard spends the night and Nosedive has Saurians in his closet.

Notes: In my fics, Wildwing and Nosedive's mother left and their father was killed/mysteriously disappeared. Their grandparents, the Drakes, take care of them. There will be a story on all this at some point; it is all in my head and it has a working title of "I Am My Brother's Keeper". Suggestions welcome.

Disclaimer: "Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series" is the intellectual property of Disney. This is a fan work, and the author makes no claim to the characters or pre-existing ideas mentioned in this story. GameStation is an imitation of PlayStation, which the author also makes no claims to (those she does own one named King Bob II that launches himself off the TV at an inconvenient moment to warn people about the dangers of saving after beating a tough boss.)

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"So… what did she say?" Wildwing looked up at his friend, who held the other GameStation controller in his hand. He whistled when Canard, playing the Saurian, pulled off the very difficult twelve-hit combo on his own Drake DuCaine character.

"Who?" Canard asked innocent.

"Y'know. Sandra. What did she say?" He wiggled around to get a better view of Canard and the screen at the same time.

"Who's Sandra?" Canard played dumb, selecting the same character for a rematch. Wildwing squinted, and selected DuCaine again, who had the best moves in the game.

"You know what I mean! Spill it! She's your cousin!" Wildwing poked him. Canard faked recognition. "Oh, that Sandra. Yeah, she said you're cute." One duck pretended not to notice when the other threw himself on the carpet in ecstasy. "I knew it. It's destiny."

"You're so stupid, Wildwing. Only you would say something like that." Canard realigned himself on the bed, hitting the start button.

Wildwing played with sudden vigor, punching buttons and grinning like mad. "She thinks I'm cute. She thinks I'm cute. She thinks I'm cute," He whispered to himself, rocking back and forth as he played.

"Dude. I think you just beat Nosedive's high score," Canard noted. Wildwing quickly looked up. "No; that was my score. I just put his name in so he doesn't know."

"Aw. I bet she'd think you were even cuter if she knew you were such a mother hen," Canard cooed as Wildwing entered 'NND,' his brother's initials.

"Oh, very funny. Dad told me to look after him. I just do, okay?" Wildwing grew suddenly defensive. Because they had been best friends since they were fresh out of the egg, Canard knew when to stop.

"Yeah, I'm just sayin', girls like that. Kids, I mean," He added, rolling over and looking at Wildwing from upside down.

"Yeah. You remember that time those college girls came up to us at the rink?" The white drake giggled. Canard rolled his eyes. "Yes. My mother was 'scandalized' for weeks."

"And she told my Grandmother and exaggerated everything --"

"And we are no longer allowed at that rink." Canard finished. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Boys, lights out," Wildwing's grandmother informed them, poking her head in the door.

"'Night, Grandma." Wildwing hopped up to give her a light peck on the side of her beak. His grandmother kissed him on the head.

"Love you. Goodnight, Canard," She added, waving to her grandson's best friend.

"'Night, Mrs. Drake," Canard responded, automatically, as he pulled the air mattress from under Wildwing's bed.

"You want the mattress or the bed, 'Wing?" Canard asked.

"Ah, you take the bed. I had it last weekend." Wildwing pulled out a blanket from his closet and grabbed his customary pillow.

"'Night, Canard," Wildwing said when he was settled.

"'Night, 'Wing," Canard replied, rolling over and quickly falling asleep.

* * *

Nosedive didn't like it when Grandma told the stories. She didn't tell them right.

Only Dad and Wildwing told the stories right. But Dad went away, and Canard visited Wildwing, so the young drake was left to fend for himself with Grandma's lousy stories about princes and princesses.

Of course, he pretended to be happy. Grandma tried, after all. She just couldn't do it right. No one but Dad and 'Wing did it right.

So, the evening started out badly for Nosedive. It got worse when Grandma forgot to turn on the nightlight and fussed when he reminded her. 'Big boys don't use nightlights,' she told him, turning it on anyway. Then the stupid monster made noises in his closet again.

Of course, Grandma and Grandpa didn't know about the monsters; only Wildwing understood that there was an inner dimensional portal that brought Saurians into his room. 'Wing understood everything, and Canard messed everything up. Nosedive wondered why Wildwing liked stupid ole Canard, anyway. He didn't do much but play hockey good sometimes. 'Wing and 'Dive didn't need any stupid Canard.

Nosedive left his resentful thoughts of Canard when he uneasily slipped into sleep. Of course, because the Saurians were in his closet again, the nightmares came with sleep. Nosedive woke up, gasping for breath and sweating.

He quietly slipped out of the too-big bed and plodded down to the next door, where Wildwing and Canard unsuspectingly slept.

He went around the bed, where the air mattress and Wildwing lay.

Crawling carefully over a spilt bag of chips an avoiding an old sandwich, he crawled up to Wildwing's side, shaking him gently.

"Wing!" He whispered, impatiently shaking his brother. "Uh? What?" Wildwing said groggily, looking up into the worried green eyes of his brother.

"The Saurians. They're back. And Grandma can't tell stories and didn't turn on the nightlight and there were nightmares, because of the monster Saurians in the closet…" It became too much for Nosedive. He broke down into sobs.

"Shh, Nosedive. It's okay." Wildwing hugged his younger brother closer, rubbing him on the back and rocking him back and forth. "It was just a dream." Nosedive's tears lessened as he was lulled into a gentle sleep.

"Rock-a-by Nosedive, in the tree tops, when the wind blows, the nest will rock, and when the bough breaks, the nest will fall, and Wildwing will catch Nosedive, cradle and all…"

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Notes II: If short and pointless ficlets were outlawed, I would be a felon. ^^; Although I did come up with a cool idea while I was writing this - A Mighty Ducks/Stargate SG-1 crossover. Would that be spiffles or what? I mean, there would be Daniel, Nosedive, Jack, Wildwing, Mallory, Tanya, Carter, Teal'c, Grin… did I say Daniel and Nosedive? Yummy.