I don't own the Mighty Ducks.
AN: I realize there are mistakes in this. Like, if the medicoms can heal than why the hell did Mallory choose to heal herself the hard way in the very first chapter and the answer is that I started writing this two years ago, stuff was missed. We're gonna skip over that incident until I can figure out a good solution. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. There are probably going to be some mess ups like that but I'll try to make sense of it as I go. This is what happens when you leave a story sitting for too long.
…..
The next day Canard remained silent, refusing to speak or even look at anyone as the team took turns on their shifts. Duke had just finished his and was waiting for Grin to take over for him as he sat in the chair beside the bed with his hands resting behind his head like a pillow. Whistling a tune and hoping to get reaction out of Canard but nothing seemed to work. The duck either had tuned him out or was very good at hiding his irritation. The door slid open and Duke watched as Tanya walked in with Grin following close behind. "Tanya? Sweetheart, what are ya doing walkin' around? You should be resting." He stood up, looking at the blond in concern.
"I'm fine. As long as it's nothing too strenuous." She stood in front of the medicom controls, activating the machine Canard laid on.
"What are ya doing?" Duke stood on her other side that Grin wasn't hovering over. "You taking over Grin's watch? I don't know if that's a good idea." He glanced at Grin, wondering why he had been so attached to Tanya's side as of late.
"No, I'm gonna be working while Grin is on watch. Per Wildwing's orders, anytime I'm in the room with Canard, I need to have someone with me."
Duke nodding, knowing that Mallory had been adamant about Tanya not being alone near Canard. Wildwing had most likely agreed to get her off his back. Things between the two had been rough. Duke didn't know what exactly caused the change but he knew it had to do with Canard. "Alright. Well, call me if you need anything sweetheart." He winked at Tanya, who blushed a little and left, not seeing the annoyed look Grin gave him as the door closed behind him.
Canard slightly observed the interaction between them, trying to find whatever he could to use against them.
As he laid on the bed, strapped down he was starting to notice that he was beginning to feel funny for the past couple of hours, like a buzz was wearing off or something. Shaking his head, he tried to think of his past and his plans but his mind was getting confused easily, his thoughts were jumbled as he latched onto the memory of Wildwing dropping him out of the Areowing into dimensional limbo. Holding onto the memory was the only thing that was keeping his priorities straight.
The door opened again, Canard glanced out of the side of his eyes to see who it was. Seeing Mallory walk in, a small smirk titled his mouth as he fully turned his head for the first time to look at her. Grin raised an eyebrow at this but kept it to himself. "Hey Tanya. I came to check on you." She looked over at Canard, her eyes narrowed into a glared at the smirk he sent her way but looked away quickly. Tanya didn't seem to notice.
"Ya, I got Grin with me." She typed orders into the medicom controls and it came to life, scanning and assessing the drake that was tied down. "P-per Wildwing's orders, when I'm near Canard I need to always have someone with me." Canard mentally cursed to himself, this only made capturing Tanya more difficult.
"Good." Mallory glanced over at him to see him just staring up at the ceiling. Her forehead scrunched in thought. It was odd. Only the last time she had a run in with Canard was he going after her. The last couple of times, it seemed like he had a different target in mind. She looked at Tanya who was back to working over the medicom controls. "The first time I ran into Canard he was trying to kill Klegghorn. The second time, he kidnapped me to get the others to follow into a trap. The third it seemed like he was going after Tanya. Then he attacked me at the ball but didn't kill me when he had the chance and he attacked me in the rain. I can't tell if these attempts are planned or random." She thought. "Who will he go after next? He almost killed Tanya. I have to assume it's just random for right now."
"He's got a co-couple of wounds that need to be better healed." Tanya spoke, snapping Mallory out of her thoughts.
"What?"
"He has wounds that need to heal." She pointed at the screen. "Look."
Mallory and Grin walked over to see what she was talking about. Mallory instantly recognized some of the wounds. The bullet hole in his leg was curtesy of her, drawing a little smirk across her beak and the head wound was taken care of but there was one across his stomach that she didn't recognize. I wasn't a wound as much as it was a very large scar. She briefly wondered in her mind what would have caused that, it almost looked like a burn. "I think he'll be fine." Mallory didn't want to heal him.
Tanya gave her a disapproving look.
"Though he has hurt us, he was once a teammate." Grin spoke up.
Mallory only shrugged. "Do what you want. Just be careful." She left, seeing that she wasn't needed.
Tanya watched Mallory leave curiously but kept her thoughts to herself. Looking back at the screen she saw something on his brain scan that made her do a double take. "Wow." She whispered.
"What is it?" Grin placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned over her to see what she was looking at.
Tanya jumped a little but pointed at the screen. "Look at his brain waves and the electrical path that they are taking." She pointed at the image of a colorfully lit brain on the screen.
"So?"
"So! So, this is not how a normal brain looks! This is how a brain looks when it's been tampered with." Even Canard started paying attention. "This is proof that Dragaunus did something to alter Canard's mind. Most likely Wraith's dark ah, ya know, magic!"
"So?" He still didn't get it.
"That means that there is a good chance we can get Canard back to normal. Look." She pointed again to another part of the screen with a smaller image of the brain. "The medicom is showing that within a day or two, whatever was done to him will leave his system."
"So Wraith has been changing his memories for him with magic to make him hate us? Why not just put him under mind control and have him kill us that way?"
"Probably because it doesn't work on the strong minded." She was typing at a furious pace.
"It worked on Phil." Grin rubbed his beak in thought.
Tanya scoffed. "Yeah exactly."
"That is good news. Wildwing will be pleased."
Tanya looked over at Grin very seriously. "Yeah well, he will go back to normal but its not going to be pleasant. He's going to g-go through, ya know, withdrawals."
"Like an addict?"
Tanya nodded. "Ya, like an addict only he won't be craving the magic to be used on him again, he'll be confused."
Grin looked down in thought, realizing how ugly this could get. "This will not please Wildwing."
"Nope."
…..
For two days, everyone would take turns monitoring Canard's progress as he slowly fell into the withdrawals. Wildwing would check on his best friend and Canard would refuse to speak to him even though he was getting more confused by the hour. Now he had two different memories of what happened on the Areowing back when they were chasing Dragaunus through dimensional limbo. He growled shaking his head, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't.
Nosedive watched from the side, unsure of what to do. Canard was sweating, shaking, and muttering to himself. Tanya said it was a spell that wraith placed on him and that it would pass but it would take time.
Technically the side effects of the magic should have passed by now but he was still going through it. Approaching carefully, not getting too close, Nosedive spoke to him. "Canard man, I don't know if you can hear me but you're gonna be okay. You're safe now and we're here for you man. Bro's really worried and so is everyone else." He didn't mention Mallory or Grin's indifference to him. Though seeing the state Canard was in made Mallory pause in her thoughts on his situation. "You're gonna get through this. We're gonna help you, cause we're a team and that's what team's do." The tan drake didn't seem to hear him as he was sweating and shaking on the bed. Nosedive sighed, wishing there was more he could do for his friend but resigned himself to just standing guard over the suffering drake.
…..
Canard sat in the middle of the room, his old teammates surrounding him as he looked at each confused.
"Do you remember anything yet Canard?" Wildwing placed his hand on Canard's shoulder.
"No. I don't think so." Canard rubbed his head as if he had a headache. He looked at Wildwing and apologized for what had to be the tenth time. "I'm sorry Wildwing. I don't know how I could think these things but I did. I actually thought you dropped me into limbo for the mask."
"Canard you don't need to keep apologizing. I know this wasn't your fault. It's Dragaunus' fault."
He only nodded. Looking over at the dark mask he had been wearing. "I think he made it to mock you." Canard said, not taking his eyes off it. Wildwing looked over at the dark mask and narrowed his eyes. "We shouldn't be surprised I guess."
"No, we shouldn't but none of that matters now. You're safe and home." The team leader looked over at Tanya. "Is he cleared?"
"Yeah everything should be out of his system but we may want to keep him here for more analysis."
Wildwing looked like he wanted to argue that Canard had been through enough but before he could speak Canard agreed. "She's right. For precaution, I should be tied down as well. The last thing I want to do is hurt one of you guys." He glanced at Tanya briefly, seeing the bruising around her neck.
Mallory was off to the side watching him carefully. She didn't trust that he was back to normal or that he even could go back to normal but kept it to herself. Not once did Canard make eye contact with her. "Mallory." The tan drake saying her name made her tense. He looked up at her for the first time, serious but apologetic. "I tried to kill you a number of times. I'm sorry."
Her eyes widened slightly but she cleared her throat and tried to look unaffected. "Yeah. Thanks."
"I know things are probably going to be awkward between us because of everything but I want to try to be your friend."
"Yeah whatever. We'll see how honest you're being as time goes by." She kept her arms crossed.
"Mal come on! Take it easy on him." Nosedive came to Canard's defense.
"She has every right to be angry at me Dive. I tried to hurt her the most out of anyone here. I can't remember everything exactly but I remember that I hurt her pretty bad. I wouldn't trust me either but I'm still a little confused. For some reason, the past couple of months are just blank." He looked at Wildwing but Tanya was the one that spoke.
"Th-that would be because of the spell. It'll wear off eventually, I just don't know how long it will take for those memories to come back." She shrugged.
"In the meantime, we'll set up a room for you and get you sorted." Wildwing spoke authoritatively but smiled none the less. "It's good to have you back buddy."
Canard smiled back at his best friend. "Good to be back."
…..
A week of Canard being back and not once did he step out of line with anyone. Everyone watched him carefully and none more carefully than Mallory and Wildwing. Mallory because she still didn't know whether to trust him and Wildwing because he worried for him.
Canard played practice games with them all the time but when it came to a real game, they decided they should keep him away from the public eye for the time being. Phil was of course eager to get the drake out in the media but Wildwing had put a stop to it before Phil could even begin to spout his nonsense. Keeping Canard away from the public light was for his own protection. He didn't mind. He was still adjusting to the way things were on Earth anyway and when it came to missions, Canard for the most part came along.
He seemed to be getting along with everyone on the team, all except for Mallory. The two didn't talk. They weren't hostile towards each other, it was just quiet and awkward. There was a tension there that everyone figured was caused by Mallory's lack of trust. Truth was the tension was coming from both sides.
Canard was slowly remembering more and more about the past couple of months. He remembered the fights and everything that happened between him and Mallory, even the kiss on the roof. Canard's tension was coming from the fact he was attracted to her.
He wanted to talk it out but she avoided him at every turn. He realized that he needed to corner her. Probably not the best idea but its what needed to happen. He was tired of this game of cat and mouse she seemed to be unwittingly playing with him. The constant hiding and running away from him was getting old fast. Especially when he had so many questions.
…..
She was in the gym working out to help keep her mellow. After another fight with Wildwing she needed to work through her anger. Mallory finished her reps and placed the weights down when she heard the door open behind her. She looked back, wanting to see who had come to talk to her. Canard was standing there, looking stoic but almost acting as if he was waiting for some sort of permission to enter the room. Mallory watched him suspiciously but nodded to him, giving him the ok to approach.
Canard understood her suspicion. "I'm only here to talk." He brought his hands up to show he meant no harm.
"…Okay?"
Her stance remained on the defensive and he found himself a little annoyed but pushed it to the side. "I'm sorry about the things I did but I was under their control."
"Yeah I get it." Mallory grabbed her water bottle and stood up facing him.
"I know but I still need to apologize. I hurt you pretty bad." He really did feel horrible about it. He wanted to smooth things out with Mallory. It was causing tension, not only between him and her, but everyone. The whole team noticed it. He had caused enough trouble and wanted to make sure everything else was as smooth as possible. Also, he enjoyed what happened between Mallory and himself on the roof… a lot. Speaking of that…
"Listen, what happened on the roof?" Mallory froze and listened. The rigidness in her posture made him decide to take a different route. He was tired of trying to be delicate and her brushing him off. Time to throw her off her game. "Did you like it?"
She didn't know what to say. Of all the things he wanted to talk about, she was hoping he would avoid this one. "I…"
"I mean you did kiss be back so you must have felt something." A smirk grew, seeing her blush. "She looks cute with a blush."
"Listen, I think that was the heat of the moment kind of a deal. Let's just leave it at that."
"You really think that?" He watched her doubtfully. "How can you be sure?"
"I just am." Trying to keep her patience in check, she took another swig of her water.
"Alright. I'll buy it but I want you to prove it."
"Huh?" Her brows crunched in confusion, not sure how she would do that.
"Kiss me." Canard stepped closer to her, bringing his mouth closer to hers.
"No." Mallory went to walk around him but he stepped in front of her again. "Canard." She said his name in warning.
"I'm serious."
"So am I. Move."
"Make me." He smirked boyishly at her. Mallory found herself blushing again, much to her exasperation.
"I don't have time for this." She went around him but this time he let her. Turning quickly, he grabbed her hand and spun her back around. Mallory growled but stopped the instant his mouth was on hers. The same heated flushed spread over her as he deepened the kiss and she closed her eyes, kissing him back as his hands tightened on her arms, keeping her close. Almost as quick as it happened, it was over and Canard pulled back, his breathing a little heavier with the excitement. What felt like an electric spark had shot through him at the taste of her mouth, it was addicting. Smirking down at Mallory who looked up at him in confusion. "Yeah… you liked it." The smugness radiating off him snapped her out of her daze.
Realizing he was just making a point, she snapped. "You jackass!" Shoving him back, she stomped her way out of the gym. Canard knew better than to follow but the smile on his face grew, as he watched the fiery redhead go.
…..
