Chapter 7

Hearts Open

Later that night it came down to just the girls hanging out in Talon's room. They had a heated game of truth or dare, well it was mostly dares. Duke and Dive really got into it and had everyone doing crazy things. The boys finally decided they had enough and crashed about an hour ago. It was now about three in the morning. Tanya was sitting cross legged reading a book, May was lying on her stomach while watching Mallory sitting behind Talon braiding her hair, all were on the floor. "Come on, Talon."

"Why are you so obsessed with this game?" Talon asked. May was still harping at her to pick truth.

"It's a fun game! Come on! Just pick truth!"

"If you've got something to ask just ask." Talon kneaded her eyebrows at her friend. May returned it with a puppy pouting look. Talon sighed. "Truth."

"Yes!" May did a mini happy dance before asking her question. "Do you have feelings for Wildwing?"

Tanya lowered her book as Mallory tied off the second pigtail braid. Both wanted to know the answer. Talon stared straight forward as Mallory moved to her side, so she could see her face. Talon's expression was blank. "What do you mean?"

"Do you love him?" May pressed.

"Love?" Talon cocked her head to the side then answered with complete sincerity. "I don't know…what love is."

"Huh? What do you mean? How could you not know what love is?" May pushed up to her hands and knees then pulled her legs underneath her so she was sitting on them.

"My parents…died when I was just a kid. No one wanted me so I lived by myself." Talon wrapped her arms around her knees. "I distanced myself from people because of my power. I never allowed myself to get close to anyone."

The three girls exchanged looks. "I don't know what..."

"Don't know what?" Mallory asked.

"You know you can tell us anything." Tanya added.

"Nothing." Talon shook her head. "It's nothing."

They had no choice but to drop it. Soon after that the girls settled down and went to sleep. Talon flipped and flopped in her sleep as her dreams turned to nightmares. Tears began to stream down her face as her breathing picked up. "No…don't…please…"

Talon ran as fast as she could. She was in Anaheim but it was completely destroyed. Everything and everyone was gone. Except for the pond. It was still untouched. She had to get there. Ash's laughter began to echo through out her dream. Talon stopped out side the pond. Ash appeared on top of the roof. "Stop it! Stop it right now, Ash!"

"It will soon be stopped. All you have to do is give me the crystal."

"What crystal? What are you talking about?"

"Give me the crystal or else." Ash powered up and destroyed the pond.

"No!" Talon dropped to the ground and pounded her fists on the ground. Ash appeared in front of her. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"That's it get mad. Show your true emotions."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Not enough, huh? How about this?" Ash snapped his fingers and Wildwing appeared behind him, unconscious. Wing's arms were bound by chains protruding from an unseen source. Talon balled up her fists when she saw Wildwing. She began to glow gold again. She threw her fist at him, scratching his face.

"Leave him alone!" Talon turned to punch at him again. But he was gone. His laughter began to echo through her dreams again.

"Give me the crystal or else." Ash's laughter was replaced with cries of pain from Wildwing.

"Wildwing! No!" Talon ran over to him. She tried to grab him but her hands went right through him. She tried again and again to help him. "No! Stop it!"

"Wildwing!" Talon shot up from her sleeping bag on the floor. She slowed down her breathing a bit as she realized she was back in her room, safe. Her scream didn't wake the girls so she quickly got up and quietly left the room. She looked down the hall and made her way to his room.

She quietly opened the door and slipped inside. She had to know he was ok. He was. He was sleeping peacefully with Drake Duncan's journal. Obviously he fell asleep while reading it. Talon took the book off his chest and placed it on the nightstand by the bed. He still hasn't even made it a fourth of the way through the hefty book.

So far nothing of importance was in the journal. It just talked about Drake's journeys and his friendship with Talon's family. Talon's birthmark began to glow and so did the mask. She touched the birthmark then Wildwing's forehead before slipping back out of the room.

Duke walked quietly down the hall, he had gotten a drink of water and was heading back to his room. He passed by the training room, covering a yawn, and found Talon inside going through some training moves. He watched her for a few minutes before making his presence known. "Really nice, sweetheart."

"Duke?"

"Sorry to interrupt."

"It's ok." Duke took a minute to study her face.

"Something on your mind?"

"Nothing really." Talon glanced over at some fencing swords. She used her powers to pull them over to her and Duke. "Wanna spar?"

"Sure." Duke took the sword, with a look on his face saying he was surprised she asked him to spar, and stood ready.

The two ended up fencing for about two hours before stopping. "Not bad, sweetheart. You're a natural."

"I really could have used you back on Puck World in Brotherhood of the Blade. Then, I guess, it wouldn't be the Brotherhood. Maybe….Siblinghood of the Blade?" Duke joked. Still she didn't reply. He went quiet after that.

"Duke?"

"Yeah?"

"What's love?"

"Huh?" Duke looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"How do you know if your in love? What does it feel like to have someone to love who loves you?"

"That's kinda...uh...hard question to answer, sweetheart."

"Haven't you ever been in love?"

"Yeah." Duke's face suddenly went sad.

"What was she like?"

"A lot like you, actually. Strong, independent and very stubborn." Duke gave a light chuckle.

"What happened?"

"Running a mob has its prices. She got mixed up in a battle between my gang and another. She…She didn't make it. She died in my arms." Duke looked at his hands, as if he could still see her blood on his hands. "We were inseparable. Kinda like you and Wing. I never told her how I really felt about her."

Duke's hands began to shake as tears formed in his eyes. "I never told her that I loved her."

Talon took his hands in hers. Duke looked up at her questionably. He noticed a different look in her eyes. They weren't fill with the caution, distrustful, harsh look they have come to know her by but fill with concern, tenderness, and a hit of trust and possibly…love? "I'm sure she knew how you felt."

"Thanks, kid." Duke closed his hands around hers and smiled lightly. "Just remember, if you do have feelings for someone you should tell them. Whether or not they return your feelings…at least you'll let them know that you love them. Don't be afraid of being rejected. I know that he would never do that to you."

"Huh?" Talon looked at the older duck. He? He who?

"Just tell him before you lose your chance." Talon gave Duke a questionable look as she cocked her head to the side. Duke chuckled. "You still don't see or understand what your feeling. It's ok. You will soon enough. It's still young between you two."

Duke pulled one of his hands from her and placed it on her head.

...

Wildwing stretched as he let out the yawn of a life time. He felt like he hadn't slept in three days. He was defiantly going to go to bed early tonight. He was so tired this morning that he didn't even change out of his pjs, he just didn't care what he looked like at the moment. Although, he did straighten up his shirt and messy hair before entering into the kitchen where he knew Talon would be then entered. "Good morning…uh…Talon?"

Wildwing paused at the scene before him. Duke was, standing right beside Talon at the counter near the stove, covered from head to toe in flour and looked like a ghost compared to his completely flour free female companion. Both were surprisingly still in their pajamas. On rare occasions he's seen Duke lounge about for a while in his pajamas…but Talon? Sure she's had her pajamas on in front of the other ducks but she's always wore her robe. She never wore just her pjs in front of anyone, except him.

"Are you sure I'm doing this right?" Duke asked as he continued to sir his mixture of pancakes.

"It's just mixing. How can you not be doing it right?" Talon asked with a bright smile on her face. She then grabbed a bag of chocolate chips and some cinnamon sugar. "Here. Add some of these."

Duke sat down the bowl and dropped some chips into it. "That's good. Now add some cinnamon sugar while mixing."

"This isn't so bad."

"Yeah, now that you won the battle against the flour." Talon giggled.

"Hey!"

"Well, that bag ain't no Saurian Overlord, but it did put up quite a fight." She began to laugh harder.

"Thanks a lot." Duke snorted but had a smiled on his face. "And here I thought you actually cared."

"Well, this is different." Wildwing said as he sat down.

"Morning, Wing!" Talon greeted cheerfully.

"Morning." Duke added, flatly, as he tried to brush off some of the flour clinging to his feathers. Talon quickly cooked up Wildwing a plate of pancakes, three slices of bacon and two eggs before setting it down in front of him.

"Thanks." Wing said before happily digging in. His eyes lit up as the pancakes reached his taste buds. "This is amazing!"

"It's one of my favorite pancake recipes." Talon smiled as she turned back to take over cooking the rest of the pancakes. "But the chef this time is Duke."

"Duke?" Wildwing choked on his bit of food. Never, for as long as they have been on Earth, before had Duke ever stepped into the kitchen to actually cook. "You cook?"

"Haha! Make fun!" Duke grumbled as he headed for the door. "I'm gonna grab a shower."

Duke paused, then turned to look at Talon. "Remember what we talked about last night, sweetheart."

Talon looked over her shoulder at him. An innocent but thoughtful look appeared on her face. Duke just chuckled and left. Wing waited until he was gone before turning back to the girl. She had returned to her pancakes. After a few minutes of watching her back, she turned and placed the food on the table. "You two talked last night?"

"Uh huh." Talon nodded, mindlessly. "Couldn't sleep."

"What did you talk about?"

"Not much. We sparred mostly." Talon moved her right arm behind her back and tugged on her shirt tail. "He told me about a girl he loved. Back on Puck World."

"Really? He doesn't really talk much about his past." Wildwing was a bit surprised that Duke opened up to her about that. He wanted to know more but wouldn't push the matter. If Talon want him to know, she'd tell him. He poked his fork into his eggs. Talon sensed a changed in his mood.

"I'm gonna go see if the girls are up." Talon said as she headed for the door. Wildwing muffled an 'uh huh' as she stepped around the table. He was bringing his fork up to take a bit of eggs when Talon stepped over to him and kissed his cheek. She bolted out of the door after that.

He didn't know how much time passed by before Tanya and Mallory came walking into the kitchen. "Alright! Pancakes!"

Tanya plopped down in a chair and gladly dug into her favorite breakfast food. Mallory was the first to noticed the look on their leader's face. "Uh, you ok, Wildwing?"

He didn't move. He still held his fork up to his mouth. Tanya and Mallory exchanged shrugs.

Author Notes: SORRY GUYS! Christmas break got in the way of updating as well as the rest of the holidays :P Well now that classes are back in session I can work on my fics again but I don't know how often I'll be able to update. I'm gonna have a pretty busy semester this year and I'm kinda freaking out a bit :/ maybe it won't be as bad as I think it will. Well, we'll see and I promise to try and update as often as I can. PLUS I fixed chapters 3 and 4 so they are not full body paragraphs.