Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, important things popped up and I didn't really have that much time to write this. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: Morning After
Nosedive toss and turned in bed, his semi peaceful face was replaced with one of terror. Gibberish was spewing from his beak as he talked in his sleep.
Dreamscape
The street was deserted as three teens casually walked together, chatting amongst themselves. "…man we have to do this again sometime," Nosedive spoke to his two friends.
"I hear ya," Responded Thrash.
"Maybe we can make it a double feature," Replied Mookie.
"If my brother lets me stay out that late," Nosedive commented.
"Man why does your brother make you come home so early, that's just not cool."
He just shrugged as he answered, "I'm all that Wing has left, I just take it as a sign that he cares and doesn't want anything bad to happen to me."
Little did they know that once they walked past a darken alley a figure emerged and started to trail them. His footsteps were silent to the trio as he pulled something from his shirt, which shined in the moon's light.
"But still he could at least give you some more freedom," Thrash commented.
Nosedive just sighed as he heard his friend, "I'll talk to him, I just hope, Ah!" He yelped as he felt something sharp press into his back.
"Keep walking, don't say anything!" A voice hissed at the three, they could only comply with the order.
Reality
Nosedive's eyes sprang open as he sat up in a cold sweat. His breathing was a little heavy as he looked and found himself in his brother's bed. He sighed in relief as he thought it all was a bad dream, but he then looked down at his bandaged hand. Memories of last night's events flooded into his head as he remembered what he did. His body started trembling as he brought his knees to his body and wrapped his arms around them. Eyes squeezed shut as the whole event replayed in his mind again, watching himself as he took the man's life over and over again. "Dive!" He heard a voice shout. He opened his eyes to see his brother walk from the bathroom door and right next to him. "Dive you ok?"
He looked into his brother's eyes and could see he had a concerned expression. All Nosedive could do was wrap his arms around his brother as his body shook. "It wasn't a dream…wasn't it?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.
Wildwing responded by wrapping his baby brother in a comforting embrace, "No…I wish it was though." The older mallard honestly didn't know how to comfort his brother any further, but he had to try in any way. "Are you ok?"
"I can still see it…It won't stop," he responded, tightening his hold. "Please make it stop."
Wildwing returned it as he heard the plead for help, all he knew was that he need to get his mind off of the incident for a little while. "Come on, get dressed and let's get some breakfast." Without saying anything else Nosedive nodded and sat up with his brother's help.
A few minutes later the two entered the kitchen, which everyone else were in now. All their chatter suddenly stopped once they saw them enter the room. By the look of dread on Nosedive's face they could tell he is still haunted by what happened last night. They all watched as their leader guided him to one of the chairs. "Kid…you ok?" Duke was the first to ask.
He just shook his head as a response. Wildwing then put a bowl of cereal in front of the teen, "Thanks," He spoke softly as he started eating.
They all watched him; all sadden at the state he was in. Nosedive was always in a cheerful and energetic mood, always making others laugh and being the cheerful one around, but now to see him in the state he's in was something they thought they never see. It was as if all the life was drained out of him. He barely ate anything before pushing the bowl away. "Something wrong?" Wildwing asked.
"Not hungry," He responded as he sat up and walked out of the room.
After the door's closed Wildwing sighed heavily as he hung his head, the others saw their leader's discomfort. "You alright?" Mallory asked.
"I just don't know what to do…" He responded as he turned to face everyone. "I never thought something like this would happen, I don't even know how help him through this."
"Believe us when we say that uh…none of us expected this either," Tanya spoke.
"But what can we do to help him? I mean it's not like we can talk to him about it since as far as I can tell none of us has experience a first kill."
It was then that everyone looked in Duke's direction; the mallard in question raised his eye as he met everyone's gaze. "What? Oh come on you can't expect me to have killed someone can you?"
"Well you are the only one with a mysterious past," Mallory responded. "So have you-"
She was silenced as Duke held up his hand, "I'm neither going to deny or confirm any of this. What I am going to say is that the kid needs someone to talk to him about this."
"Bottled up feelings will soon build up till it will needs to burst," Grin added. "When that happens unquestionable action may be taking place."
"Well he sort of vented some of his feeling to me last night," Wildwing said, after understanding what Grin meant.
"What do you mean?" Mallory asked.
He then retold every single detail about what happened after Nosedive's scream woke him up, and finished up with how he broke the mirror. "Poor kid," Duke responded after the story ended.
"I would have never thought he would go that far," Tanya added.
It was then the door opened and they all looked to see Phil walk in. "Hey…"
"Hey Phil," they all responded.
"How's Nosedive doing?" Phil asked.
"Still not good," Wildwing responded.
He sighed as he heard this, knowing what he had to tell wouldn't help, "I just got off the phone with Captain Klegghorn, he really needs get Nosedive's statement on what happened."
Wildwing winced at the piece of news, this was something that they didn't need right now. It was hard enough trying to convince Klegghorn last night that the teen was in no condition to recall what happened.
Flashback
Wildwing held his brother for an undetermined amount of time, he didn't care he needed to calm his brother down. Sirens soon hit their ears as they realized that the cops must have been informed. Soon the cops and a couple of ambulances arrived at the scene and it was closed off. The body was covered and both of Nosedive's friends were loaded in and on their way to the hospital. Wildwing finally managed to get the teen to stand and started walking him back to the Migrator. "Hey hold it!" A voice shouted.
He turned and saw Klegghorn walking up to him, "He can't leave yet," He responded by pointing at the teen. "We still need to get a statement on what happened here."
"That's not a good idea captain, he's still in shock."
"We have a dead body; we can't exactly call this manslaughter or an act of self-defense unless we get a statement!"
"He can barely move, let alone talk about this!" He responded. "He can give you your statement, but not right now. At least give him time to get over this type of shock."
He watched as the captain grunted, only to turn and walk away, "Fine, but you will hear from me about this."
Wildwing looked as he realized that Nosedive probably didn't hear anything. He sighed as he walked his brother to the Migrator."
End Flashback
"What did you tell him?"
"I covered by saying that he wasn't really talking, may have not been enough but it should buy some time."
"Thanks Phil," Wildwing responded as he walked out of the room. He made his way to the REC room and found Nosedive inside, on the couch flipping through the channels of the TV. Walking over he sat down next to the teen. "Hey Dive."
"Hey…" He responded, his voice deprived of life. He kept his eyes on the TV as he flipped through more channels. He stopped when the local news popped up.
"…Late last night the police were call to a crime scene where local NHL player Nosedive-"
Wildwing immediately grabbed the remote and turned the TV off; knowing a report of last night would make things worse. He looked at his brother's face; a look of shock was present, "Turn it back on…"
"Wha-"
"Turn it back on…Please."
He didn't know why but he did what he was told, confused by Nosedive's actions. A dread feeling was building up to him as he turned the TV back on."
"…Officials haven't reveled any more details. The man was identified as Carol Bates, A local construction worker. Mr. Bates leaves behind a wife and two kids."
Nosedive shut the TV off as soon as the report ended, mortified at what he learned. His body started to shake as it all fully sank in. "I-I-I…took away a husband….and a father…Oh no." Tears whaled from his eyes as his head planted right into his hands. The guilt from earlier increased dramatically.
A/N: Hope you like, the news report may have not been that long, it's just that I have trouble with that kind of stuff. I'll try not to take long on the next one.
