Never did we know

What the future would hold

We'd be bought and sold

Chapter 9: Chaos

His eyes glanced toward the ceiling of the senate room again as Grin paced back and forth then his eyes settling on Katie who was just pushing something out of the way again to what looks to be one of the main doors into the senate room.

"I think I've almost got it!" She yelled to him. "Is there any way you can come here and move this last piece?"

The piece in question was a metal piece, probably a support beam when it was still usable for the balcony now it was just a big thing in the way. It was heavy looking and he was pretty sure that no one in the room at the moment besides him could even attempt to move the thing. It was the reason they had tried the other door first. That was the reason and the fact it seemed a lot more blocked then the other door.

"I think I can try," Grin said moving about the rock, rubble, and tipped over desks of the room. What the humans probably couldn't see was the break of light he was seeing at the top above the support beam. It was light and that meant that something was free on the other side to let it through. Light always shown as an odd blue color in his visor so he knew it well.

Finally reaching the beam he touched it gazing up at the pieces of balcony above them. Another factor in why he had chose the other side of the room was because he wasn't sure if the beam was holding anything up above them and to try and move it would risk another collapse on them.

But…

Moving it back and forth it seemed that it wasn't attached or holding the balcony above them at all which was a very good sign. All he needed now was to get it moved past the door without hitting the balcony to much.

It probably wouldn't handle that too much with that crack continuing to add onto itself.

Everything would be a lot simpler if his comm. hadn't broken during one of his removals of debris in the isle. If he had realized how difficult it was becoming and how dangerous it truly was he would have told Tanya to send someone to help them or have someone come get them.

He was sure there were police, firefighters, and paramedics were waiting on the outside and trying to get in the Senate room but by the time they got there it might be too late. That roof was going to come down, Grin was sure of it.

He just didn't want him or the others under it when it did come down.

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"Hey Tanya have you heard from Grin since he called?" Duke's voice grunted as he carried Dive carefully into Tanya's extra room that Wildwing had been using. The fact the most stable of the ducks hadn't called in quit a while started to bother Duke. From what Tanya said the capital of the United States had been hit especially hard where Grin was working at.

Well at least he had called before so it meant Grin had survived the first blast.

"No I haven't," Tanya yelled in the other room as she was digging through some of her cub boards for her med kit she kept at her apartment just for an occasion. His wrists needed bandaging badly or else he may very well get his wish.

Damn that boy.

"Duke, Tanya, I'd love to stay and help Dive but I think I should probably head to the capital and check on Grin since his comm. doesn't seem to be working at the moment," Mallory said looking toward the extra bedroom door at Duke. "I just checked it."

"Fine," Duke said walking out of the room and kissing her lightly on the beak. "Hurry there and back? Bring Grin with you when you do find him." Mallory quickly nodded and turned to Tanya who was digging in a cub board.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Mallory said. "I think once Dive awakens we'll all need to be here. This is something we should all be here for." Duke again nodded and watched Mallory walk out the door.

"Now calm down Darlin'," Duke said kneeling down slightly at Tanya. "He won't pass away in the few seconds it takes to properly look for the med kit and I'll help you." Turning he went to the other side of the small kitchen and noticed a broken glass on the floor and some blood on the tips of some of them.

"Yo Wing!" Duke shouted in the apartment instantly hearing a shuffle from the living room.

"Yeah Duke?" Wildwing said after getting closer to the kitchen.

"Did you break a cup?" Duke asked quickly picking up the rest of the glass so nobody cut themselves on it more.

"No…I figured it fell with an aftershock of the explosions. I probably set it to close to the edge of the counter. I tried to clean it up. It was the oddest thing though right before it fell."

"Oh?" Duke asked throwing the glass away and then starting to dig in the cub board next to the trash can.

"I was sure the door was closed when we came back. Closed and locked but right before the glass broke I could swear I heard the door open. Then when I went over to check, I cut my foot on the glass and found the door open but nobody was around." Wildwing explained.

"I'll look at your foot once I'm done," Tanya said still half shoved under her cabinets franticly looking for that damn med kit. Her voice was shaking pretty badly now, bad enough to make Wildwing worry.

"Did something happen? Who's hurt?" He asked standing there. "You're looking for the med kit right?"

Duke came out from under another cub board watching the duck. This wasn't something they should lye to him about. Hell look what it had done to the twerp of a kid in Tanya's spare room. From hearing what Wing had told them and the condition Dive was now in he pieced it together pretty easily.

"It was Dive, Man, you heard come into Tanya's apartment. Miya told him about what had happened and he flew off the deep end. He came here obviously and saw you, running outside he didn't get very far from the door. He was in the alleyway when we found him."

"Where is he now," Wildwing asked his voice kind of shaking. Normally Wildwing could take any abuse. When he was locked up at Dragonuas's cell for so long it didn't bother him so much.

But…

But when it came to his little brother Wildwing couldn't handle much. He thought about him more then his own safety most of the time. When the saurian's attacked Puckworld and killed both their parents Dive had nobody but Wing and Wildwing had nobody but Dive for family. It was the constant in this hell hole of a war. There would always be a brother standing beside them, helping them, protecting him.

Dive was way too young to be drug in this war. Then again Wildwing wasn't going to leave him behind at the mercy of what was left of Puckworld. If Nosedive was with Wildwing at least he could act like a shield for his brother protecting him from most of the horrors of this war.

"He's in your room," Duke said in an unreadable tone. It was one of the few times Wildwing wished he could see lately. Duke was good at masking his emotions in his voice. He was also very good at a stone face but something told Wildwing that if he could see Tanya now he could tell what was going on exactly.

"What did he do?" Wildwing now demanded. "Or was it a saurian attack?"

"I wish it was man," Duke sighed his voice faltering for a moment. If Duke's voice faltered…

"Can I go in there?" Wing finally asked.

"No." Duke said harshly. "I know you can't see him and all but me bringing him up here may have caused more damage then good. Dive shouldn't be allowed to move, to be even touched. The gashes on his arms are deep so there would be no point in you going in there at the moment."

"He's my BROTHER," Wildwing's voice rose. It had been a while since Duke had heard that come from him. "I have a right to at least SIT in the room he's in!"

"Fine, but there will be no point. Tanny here is going to keep him sedated till some of the smaller wounds have healed over a bit," Duke said. "That'll probably take a few days Wing. That's if we're lucky and he doesn't pass between here and there due to blood loss."

"FOUND IT!" Tanya screamed pulling herself out of the cub board she had been digging in only to rush at it and hit her head on the top of it. Quickly she ignored the pain and ran past Wildwing and into the room shutting the door behind her.

Turning from watching Tanya bolt to the room Duke looked back at Wildwing to see a very disturbing scene before him.

It took Duke a little while to get used to the fact Wildwing had no eyes where they should be. Instead of eyes were two holes. It looked worse before Tanya had gotten to him. She had cleaned it up and did her magic around the eyes to prepare him for the surgery that was to be happening within a week.

It was the fact he was crying with no eyes that bothered Duke so much. It was a sight Duke wished he'd never have to see. Wildwing wasn't the type to even break down at the hardest moments. He had been a natural born leader giving decisions that would be even tough for him so Duke thought he would probably never see the duck cry.

But he was no seeing him cry.

"This is my fault…" Wildwing muttered rubbing some of the tears away. "I should have tried harder to get out sooner. I should have protected him more. He was too young…"

"And what was the other option?" Duke asked. "Leave Dive on Puckworld? I was against Dive coming at the beginning but you had no choice. Going into the unknown with you was better then leaving him on Puckworld in the chaos alone. I don't think the boy would have been able to handle it back then like he can't seem to handle it now. The only difference is that NOW he has you here. And Wing man, you couldn't have helped your situation at all. None of us blame anybody with what is happening. This is war. With War nobody is going to come out of it unscathed. Dive is included with that, so are you. Stop blaming yourself for this. Tanya will work her magic and he'll come out of it alive. That's what we need to be thankful for right now."

Wildwing nodded slowly, the tears stopping.

"You are right. Sorry. You know…sometimes I wondered if you should have taken up the mask instead of me back then. You're older and seen a lot more then I had. Why hadn't you fought for it? I'm sure you wanted it." Wildwing asked trying to get his mind off of Nosedive at the moment. It was a question he had always wanted to ask Duke and thought about a lot being in the cell of Dragonuas's.

"A good leader has something to fight for Wing. I didn't back then. Back then Canard talked us all into being in this team and we all thought he was crazy but most of us figured we had to try something to end the war. I was along to try and loot his ship. I didn't care about the war, about the lives lost. I had nothing to fight for. Hell I was tempted to actually join Dragonuas if it kept on much longer. I was a Thief. I only thing I cared and fought for was myself." Duke began. "When Canard fell, your best friend mind you, you were the most driven out of all of us. You had something to fight for. Something to kill Dragonuas for. You had Dive to protect. Nobody else did. We were all strangers before Canard threw us together.

THAT is why I didn't fight for the mask. I knew better. The better leader between us would have been and will always be You Wildwing."

"You have something to fight for now Duke," Wildwing said.

The comment from Wildwing's mouth made Duke laugh. Wasn't that the truth?

"Yeah Mallory is worth every cut and scar I get," Duke said a grin in his voice. "But I still don't want to be the leader. I know lately I have been a partial leader to the team and that's fine but I don't want the burden. If I really wanted the mask now I could have just taken it. It's just a mask after all."

Wildwing nodded.

"And there is something else you have something to fight for I didn't mention." Duke said that grin still in his voice Wildwing noted.

"What?"

"Tannygirl," Duke whispered. "It may be a war Wildwing but we almost lost you once. Even in war we have to find ourselves. If we just lived for the war it would be a meaningless existence. It was something I learned watching Grin. That man can seem to find himself even in the most horrible situations."

"That he can," Wildwing laughed.

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"T…thank you," Miya said sitting in the back of the black car with Canard and the man was driving them because he knew where Tanya's apartment was in New York.

"I'd be just as lost as you," Canard said. "This is the first time I've actually seen this strange planet that Dragonuas pulled us to."

"Really?" Miya asked. "Dive never mentioned you in our talks…but he really didn't mention much too far into the past. I asked him how we got here exactly but…well he just told me that Dragonuas pulled them along for a ride when he was trying to escape. He didn't like talking much about the past. Seemed to horrible to think about for him."

"You seem to have a knack for picking up on things others would rather not discuss," Canard said watching her closely. Tanya's reports listed things about her and how she had believed the child and the story she had told her, though one thing bothered him about the report. The girl in front of him was still hiding something. It may not have been how she got here on Earth. It may not have been what Dragonuas had done to her but she was hiding her past as well as Dive was. It was probably why the girl was easily reading Dive.

"Yeah I guess I do," Said with a smile holding her wrist close. "So you know him?"

"Well knew him in passing," Canard said. "I was friends with his older brother Wildwing."

A look passed over her eyes that he had a hard time reading. She was thinking about something that she wasn't very proud of was what he was getting from her face.

"Did something happen to Wing?" Canard asked trying to think back on the reports. He knew that she had found him in bad condition and that they had been keeping it from Dive because his mental stability was unsure at the moment and everyone had agreed that though they didn't know how bad Dive really was that seeing Wing that way would have caused him to crash.

"…No…I just…I told Dive about Wildwing and he ran off. I haven't seen him since," She said quietly.

"You told him?" Canard said. "Why?"

"Look around you Canard," She said pointing out at the streets and skyline. "He needed to know. I just needed the courage to tell him. If I had a sibling I was desperately searching for and this happened, well I'd want to know too."

"You've been around Dive for a while now. Tell me. Do you think he was able to handle such information? The reason Duke asked you to not tell him is that he might do something rash and stupid." Canard then responded.

"Then it'll be on me," Miya said a serious look on her features.

"Who are you really?" Canard asked.

"..H..Huh?" Miya said. "I'm Miya. I'm sure those reports you read told you that much. I understand that they did a check on me and I'm sure Duke went and checked out my story with his sources to make sure I'm not some sorta traitor."

"No no no," Canard said still watching her closely. "Who ARE you? Before this war you were someone's daughter. The reports somehow left that information out. I noticed that and how odd it was. For being so bubbly and mouthy about all your likes and dislikes you haven't said a word about your parents in the reports."

The duck flinched visibly with that statement. Canard knew he had hit a nerve on this sorta cheerful duck holding her wrist and bleeding from her arm.

"Who are you then?" Miya said now an angry look on her face. "I do not wish to talk about that with someone I've just met."

"Have you talked to Dive about this? Does he know what your past is?" He then asked

"No. He's never blatantly asked either," She said. "I think he picks up on the fact I don't want to talk about it either."

"You know you look oddly familiar…" Canard then mentioned noticing how her eyes were shaped and her beak was. It reminded him of…something in his past. It was something he definitely had seen. What was it and why did it seem important? He'd have to figure this one out on his own since the girl was hell bent on not telling him. "Fine, I guess everyone has something in their past they'd rather not discuss. I am sorry for bringing it up."

"Thank you," Miya said her face softened a little. "I can say this though comfortably, what I wish not to say doesn't matter anyway. If I did say what it was it probably wouldn't make much of a difference but it could as well."

Canard nodded dropping the argument with the girl watching the car stop. If it didn't matter all that much then she could have just told him.

So why?

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Wiping her brow she looked at her handy work on his arms. Some of them she had to stitch up because they were too big but other then that her work looked clean. All she could do is stare at the sleeping 22 year old duck. It bothered her a lot that she had to treat him for wounds he did himself. Not only wounds he did to himself but wounds he did to himself with the purpose of ending it all. It didn't seem like Dive at all. The dive that had grown up with them was a goofy fun loving duck who would much rather find a way to skip out of Phil's plans then do this to himself.

The Dive of four years ago would have tried to talk someone out of doing this same thing.

"Dive…" Tanya muttered touching the boys head. "I know that we've all been selfish and when Wing disappeared we probably put you in a spot you didn't deserve to be in. I…I just didn't know what to do…I don't think nobody did. We looked to you because you were Wildwing's little brother. Because the Nosedive that we hung out with before then would ease our troubles no matter what the pain it was. We didn't see…no let me correct that…we didn't WANT to see what was really going on with you because we had to much to deal with ourselves." She spoke that quietly more to herself then to the duck laying there because she knew he'd be out for quit a while and the fact that Duke had been right. Nosedive would have to stay asleep for a few days to give his body some time to recover. A lot of those wounds shouldn't be moving anyway.

Glancing up at his face she noticed how pale he really was and how thin he had become since she had really looked at him last.

Damn it.

"TANYA!" Duke's frantic voice made her jump. Glancing up she stood up and walked over to the door opening it.

"What is it?" She asked looking over toward the door to see Miya standing there with one of her scientists under her.

What Duke wasn't frantic about wasn't either of those two. It was the orange duck standing beside those two.

"…I…It worked?" She exclaimed as her feelings of dread and remorse were pushed off to see Canard standing there in the flesh and blood once more.

"That it did Tanya. I always knew that getting you on the team back in Puckworld was a good idea." He smiled at her. "Thank you."

The tears Tanya had been fighting the past two hours finally broke loose as she walked over there and hugged their long lost comrade in her arms.

"…o…of all the times…" She wept looking toward Duke and Wildwing. "I guess it is true what Grin used to say…when ever God does something bad he always does something good to counteract it."

"Bad?" Miya this time chimed in. "What happened?"

"Dive, when you told him, well he lost it," Duke explained once more. "He's unconscious in the room trying to recover from his self inflicted injuries."

"…Self…inflicted…?" Miya said her one hand coming up in horror. "…He told me he wouldn't do that anymore! He…told…me…"

When Duke heard that he looked in shock at Miya. "He tried this before?" He exclaimed which just caused her to nod franticly as tears came down her face.

"Well…it was…just a few…hours ago…" Miya cried. "I didn't have time to tell anyone!"

"What about your hand?" Tanya said this time being a little more forceful then she should have toward Miya's broken hand. This caused Miya to scream.

"These look self inflicted to!" Tanya said her joy now ebbing away fast.

"It's not what you think!" Miya said pulling her hand away. "…I…I know magic ok!"

"Yeah right," Canard sighed getting tired of the lies and games with this girl. "If you're suicidal don't go lying about it."

"No really watch!" Miya said grabbing his arm and a dim light began to surround her arms and his arm.

Canard flinched as his arm began to grow in pain. Blinking he glanced down at his arms now, one of them swollen and what looked to be a fracture and all around them were the cuts that he had studied on Miya while in the car.

It was true.

Duke also watched it in shock. It had been a while since he had come across a magic using duck not just because of the fact there were no other ducks around Earth but because magic was in old blood and old blood stuck with old blood.

And during the first wave of attacks the saurians took out ALL the old blood.

Well, he thought dryly, not all of the old blood. Miya survived.

"Take it back! Take it back!" Canard grumbled. Nodding Miya put her hands back up there and the cuts and broken arm transferred back to her. "Damn that hurt. How can you handle that?"

"I just have to," Miya said. "These cuts are Dives. I took them from him when I found him under the rubble. He told me he wouldn't do that again when he realized what I had done. I…I guess you guys were right with your assumption that Dive couldn't handle seeing Wing."

"Well I didn't know exactly how he'd react sweetheart," Duke said. "I didn't expect this though."

"Sadly none of us did," Tanya sighed. "I was starting to figure things out but…"

"Yeah," Wildwing sighed. "Tanya is it alright that I go sit with Dive now?"

"Yeah, there is a chair next to his bed. You'll be able to find it pretty easily." Tanya said.

With that the quiet Wildwing headed toward his room to sit with his brother.

"Now Miya, how about I fix that arm up for you?" Tanya asked.

"Please?" Miya said.

Tanya quickly left to get the med kit in the room with Wing and Dive and came back bringing her to her living room leaving Canard and Duke in the kitchen by themselves.

"I wish you had come at a better time," Duke finally broke the silence. "A good time when we could have properly celebrate you finally returning to us. Everything seems so chaotic at the moment to even be able to breath."

Canard just gave a light chuckle to the statement then nodding. "We'll have time to do that after everything is in the clear and settled with this."

"Of course," Duke responded.

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Wow I let this chapter sit a while. I had it written and what not for a long while. I'm really really sorry for the delay in updates. You see I made mention in the chapter previously that I had it nearly completed (and I sorta did) but when I got to a pivotal moment in the story it never felt right to me so I walked away for a bit. Today while I was at work I came to an idea that may work with how I want things to play out with this story. I'd tell you more but it'd be spoiling it for all of you!

Thanks for sticking with me and my sparatic updates. Hopefully I'll get the final 2-3 chapters out quickly since I've got an idea that I seem to like worked out.

Please review before you go too if you don't mind :3.