Memoria Defluo

Parts of this story was written fifteen (yes, FIFTEEN) years ago, when the series was still slightly relevant. I came across it and decided to give it a bit of a overhaul. I'm sort of crazy like that.

Obvious out-of-character-ness among all, as I always enjoyed adding a bit of seriousness to the show. Also blatant M/W with hints of T/D, so rated T for that, some minor language, and just general elements.

Mighty Ducks copyright Disney. Elaborations of Puckworld, the characters and their histories are a conglomerate of individual creation and accepted fandom consensus, such as the term "Old Ways" in reference to ancient Saurian magic. I wish I could remember who came up with it all those years ago.

Ah well. To those who still enjoy basking in the nostalgia of a very old series, I hope you enjoy!

"He's here?" she asked almost too anxiously. Nosedive was behind her and looked just as eager, however.

"I'm sorry. You are?" The male duck asked, his arms crossed in front of him. His dark feathers and light brown hair were a stark contrast to each other that would be considered handsome, if it wasn't for the thick scar that had cracked the top of his bill a good two inches.

And he definitely was not a native of this land. The area they were in was remote, and the traditionalists here maintained a culture with very little technology. This male duck wore more civilized clothing and had a COM unit equipped to his wrist.

Here the native ducks would frown upon such innovation, preferring to stick with the ancient magic rituals of their ancestors. It was similar to the tribes back on Earth, though here they were far larger and more of a community than a small settlement.

Mallory sighed as she realized this male duck was going to be difficult. "I'm Mallory McMallard-Flashblade, this is Nosedive Flashblade. We're looking for Wildwing—I'm his lifemate and this is his brother."

The male duck did not look convinced, his nearly-black eyes frowning at the two. "I'm supposed to believe you?"

Nosedive rolled his eyes. "Jeez, haven't heard of the Strike Force Six have you?"

"Oh, I've heard of them."

Nosedive raised his eyebrows, waiting for the male duck to elaborate.

The male duck dawned a look of mock surprise. "I'm sorry, I'm supposed to believe you two are members of the Strike Force?"

"Dive, we're not suppose to say anything," Mallory warned, though there was no real concern in her voice.

Nosedive huffed a bit. "At this point I don't care."

They'd been back on Puckworld for a little over three weeks, now. Their return had been quiet, and when they announced their arrival to the Council—Puckworld's parliament more or less—the government officials quickly brought them into hiding until they could prepare.

It took nearly a week for the paperwork to be completed. Apparently bringing six ducks back to life required cutting through a lot of red tape.

It took nearly another week after that for the government to get all of their official statements regarding their time on Earth, as well as what had happened to Canard. Wildwing had been especially bent out of shape by their obvious suspicion of their stories, but when Tanya showed them proof of Earth and Dragaunas' death they became much more respectful of their tales.

When all that had been done the Council had wanted to contact all of their respective family members before telling the world they were back. By this point rumor had begun to spread rampantly that the Strike Force had indeed returned, but it was a rumor that had apparently occurred before.

Even who the actual members of the Strike Force were was a mystery to most of Puckworld, as their formation during the war had been kept so secret that, afterwards, the amount of missing civilians and soldiers more than protected the elite seven from ever being deduced by the process of elimination.

While waiting for the world's announcement they'd been treated like royalty and kept in a mansion on a government base to be served on daily. They weren't allowed to venture far for obvious reasons, but Mallory and Wildwing managed to sneak out for a walk a few days before the Council planned to send out convoys to collect their respective family members. From there it'd only be a day or two before the world would be officially notified of their return.

From that moment on they'd be treated like celebrities, and for once they both wanted to enjoy the anonymity that they hadn't experienced in so long. Between being aliens on another world and heroes on this one, it'd most likely be their first and only quiet walk together.

Unfortunately, karma had other things in mind for them. What they hadn't known about was a group of traitors known as Old Ways Worshippers. During the Invasion traitors had ratted out Resistance strongholds in return for their lives. They underwent binding spells with Saurians to learn the Old Ways—the ancient magic of the Saurian race—and used the magic to maintain communication with the lizards while undercover in the Resistance. But by learning the magic their souls had become dark, and even after the Invasion they still worshipped the ancient method and its king:

Wraith.

So when rumor began circling that the Strike Force was back and had defeated Dragaunas and his minions, the group of loyalists took it upon themselves to infiltrate the government-run base and find out for themselves.

How long they'd been on them Mallory couldn't have said; being on Puckworld had lowered her defenses far too much, making the attack that much more unexpected.

Mallory had been knocked unconscious and when she'd awoken she'd found herself in the infirmary.

The sounds of a battle had alerted the others, saving Mallory from certain annihilation.

But Wildwing was already gone when they'd arrived.

During the fight Nosedive had managed to capture one of the traitors. With help from government officers they managed to get the duck to tell them that Wildwing had been accidentally casted away by a misfired spell.

It had been meant to freeze him so the loyalists could attack without mercy; instead, it had teleported him somewhere else in Puckworld.

That'd been seven days ago. Since then the Council had put official announcements on hold until Wildwing could be found. Without a COM they were without direct contact with him, so they had to wait and hope he'd find a way to contact the base they were staying at.

After two days Mallory and Nosedive couldn't wait any longer, however. They convinced the Council to let their team search for him using a government-issued airship, provided they refrained from alerting the population of who they were.

They'd begun in remote areas where finding ways of communication would be hard. They visited culture after culture with a picture and split into two groups: Duke, Tanya and Grin had gone north, while Mallory and Nosedive had gone south.

Today was day eight since her lifemate had gone missing. A local had appeared to recognize Mallory's picture of Wildwing here, however, and she realized, along with Nosedive, that she was prepared to deliberately break her promise to the Council if it meant finding him.

That same picture she showed the local she held up to the male duck in front of her now. "He's been missing for over a week. He's wearing a gold band, and if you look under it 'Mallory' will be carved inside. Mine says 'Wildwing' on it." To prove her point Mallory slipped off her glove and pulled off her ring, offering it to the male duck. "Please," she insisted.

The male duck didn't take the ring but looked down at it to see the engraved writing. He sighed and looked back up at the two. "Yeah, he's got the ring."

Mallory and Nosedive looked at each other and back at the male duck with anxiety. If he was here why hadn't he tried contacting them?

"Is he okay?" Nosedive finally asked, finding his voice before Mallory could.

The male duck shrugged, his early defensive demeanor completely gone now. "Sure, if you don't count the amnesia."

"Amnesia?" Mallory squeaked.

"Yeah, pretty severe I think. I'm sorry for being so suspicious of you guys, but this duck's been crazy paranoid since we found him unconscious a few miles from here. At first we thought he was a hiker that had a bad fall or something, but he's been having vicious nightmares about featherless and beakless demons, Dragaunas—but who doesn't, honestly; and a redhead that he can't tell is friend or foe."

The last part of the statement caused Mallory to furrow her brow.

"Like I said, his paranoia makes us paranoid, because it sounds like he's either got or had a lot of enemies. But it looks like the right ducks got to him first." The male duck offered his hand out to both of them. "Name's Frank Dulan, by the way. Local archaeologist."

Mallory and Nosedive shook the duck's hand, even as both of them remained rather stunned over what Frank had told them.

Mallory finally found her voice and asked, "Can we see him?"

"Sure." Frank indicated behind him and all three began walking further into the village, Frank leading them. "Though I'm not sure if he'll like seeing you," Frank added while looking at Mallory.

Again Mallory was caught off guard; the idea that Wildwing wouldn't remember them, or worse, fear them, was something that she simply couldn't imagine.

But she didn't want to take any chances.

"Nosedive," she said, stopping both him and the archaeologist in their path through the village. "Maybe you should go in alone, then. It doesn't sound like he's had any dreams about you…?" Mallory looked to Frank to verify her last statement and he nodded in response.

"He's mentioned other ducks, but he can't describe them. It's just the redhead in his dreams that he's unsure of."

Nosedive looked back to Mallory. "I'll go in first, but if he does have amnesia wouldn't seeing both of us maybe help jog his memory?"

"I'll go in, but only after you convince him I'm not the enemy. If he really can't remember who he is, I don't want to scare him so much that he refuses to come with us."

Nosedive nodded in understanding. He looked back to Frank. "All right, Frankie, lead the way."

"Don't call me Frankie."

"Sorry."

Frank shot Nosedive a less-than-bemused look but turned his attention back to Mallory. "You can wait in that hut over there." He pointed to signify the area he was talking about. "We'll come get you when he's ready."

Mallory acknowledged him but remained standing where she was as she watched the two male ducks continue further into the village.

They'd found him, that was all that mattered. He'd get his memories back.

Wouldn't he?