Chapter 14

When to Let Go

Talon's head was pounding hard as she ran through the city and into the park. Everything around her was a blur. She noticed nothing. She knew where she was going. She was going to him. When Talon's mind finally came back to reality she was standing in the park. There was no one around. The sun was setting and everyone was heading home for the evening.

"I knew you'd come," Ash smirked at Talon. She slowly raised her eyes to him.

It was going to end now. One way or another.

…..

"How?" Mallory asked as her knees went weak and she sat down.

"How is it possible that Talon is the granddaughter of Drake Ducaine?! He's been dead for years! Decades!" Nosedive demanded though no one had an answer for him. "And Talon's not exactly a duck!"

"Well, Talon is obviously a magical creature. Maybe she ages differently or something?" Duke offered. "And Drake said in his journal that his son changed, he became one of them."

"There are many things unknown in all of the universes out there," Grin stated.

"So, what do we do now? We need to find Talon, but there's no way of tracking her now that she left her wrist com here," Tanya said.

"Maybe Captain Klegghorn can put an A.P.B. on her? Or maybe we could split up and look for her?" Nosedive rambled. He looked to his brother, who was surprisingly calm. "What's up with you? You're the one usually freaking out about Talon."

"She's facing off with Ash," Wildwing replied.

"What?!" Everyone yelled.

"Where?!" Nosedive asked. Just then the mask began to glow. "What the feathers?"

The mask shot out a stream of golden glow towards the hanger bay. They all immediately followed the glow. It lead them to the migrator. They climbed in. Nosedive took the wheel and followed the direction the glow was leading them.

…..

Talon gathered her energy into a ball and fired it at him. Ash blocked it easily, but Talon immediately followed behind the blast and slammed her fist into his face. Ash was shocked as he went flying several feet away from her. He picked himself up and stared at her. "Looks like your time with those creatures wasn't lost on you. Won't matter. You've sealed your fate by running away from them."

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with them! I've had it with you and I'm going to end this!"

"My dear, it has everything to do with them," Ash smirked and stood up. "You still don't remember and you never will. Come! Attack me again!"

Talon gathered her energy again and fired another blast. The blast fizzled out before it even got halfway to Ash. Her face was covered with confusion. She tried it again. Nothing happened this time. She couldn't even gather her energy at all. "What's happening?"

"I'm winning. That's what's happening," Ash began to walk up to her. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him. He smirked as he placed his other hand in front of her stomach and let a power blast knock her away. She flew back several yards. "You've gotten so pathetic."

"Winning what? What will you gain from this?"

"I'm gaining a lot. You've destroyed my family so I destroyed yours. The only one left is you."

"What are you talking about?! I don't even know your family!"

"You knew them! You killed them! That's why I'm going to kill you!" Ash raised his hands and fired another blast at her. She crossed her arms to block it but it knocked her down anyway. He continued his assault on her, blind to the world around him. His hate controlling his actions. "I did love you. But you refused to return my love. Now you're in love with a duck of all creatures."

"I'm…not in love with Wildwing," Talon panted as she struggled to raise up to her hands and knees, trying to summon her powers. But they refused to obey her.

"You are. You just won't admit it," Ash walked up to her and started down at her with his dark eyes. He raised his right hand to her, gathering his power for the final attack. Talon could feel that he was completely consumed by the darkness within him. She has no clue of anything anymore. She could feel something tugging on the back of her memory, but it was refusing to let the light shine on it. Refusing to let her remember…something. A lot of somethings. She closed her eyes and shoot her head. There was no point in trying to figure that out now. It was truly the end. She couldn't defend herself anymore. Her powers had betrayed her.

Suddenly her memory opened and everything came flooding back to her at once. "B-But why? Why…"

"Do you know? Why your powers don't work now?"

"The ducks…"

"That's right. The ducks."

"I protected them. My powers…we're because of them. I gained control over my powers because of them. My powers didn't betray me…I betrayed my powers by walking away from the ones I love."

"You got it, Princess," Talon could feel Ash pushing his final attack at her. She wanted to move, but couldn't. She had sealed her own fate by leaving the ducks. Tears poured down her face. She thought she was protecting them. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her. Now it looked like she was going to hurt them once more by dying.

Talon's eyes widened as a solid white force knocked Ash away, causing his attack to go flying off into near by trees. A hand placed itself on her left shoulder, she turned to it and stared blankly at Duke's light expression as he spoke softly to her. "You are a stupid, selfish idiot."

"How could you just leave us like that?" Talon said nothing as she turned to her right and saw Nosedive was the one to speak and had a slight hurt look in his eyes. The other ducks were standing behind her, but for Wildwing, who was in front of her, with his eyes fixed on Ash. He was gently rubbing his injured shoulder. but showed no real sign of being physically hurt.

"I'm sick of you ducks interfering in my plans!" Ash hissed jumped to his feet and charged at Wildwing. Talon watched as Ash's attacks were filled with his powers. If it came in contact with Wildwing's body it would kill him. She had to do something. Wildwing was still injured from Ash's last attack. There's no way he would survive another attack from Ash.

"No!" Talon screamed. She reached down deep inside of her. She had to pull it together. She won't let Wildwing die. He has done to much for her. It was time she did something for him. Talon was engulfed in a golden aura. She stood up and her powers returned to her, flaring up in a rage that it has never done before. Her street clothes began to switch with another set of clothes. The top was a strapless mid drift with a blue flap hanging down the front of her chest with a matching red skirt that also had a blue flap hang down the front of it. Two slits all most all the way up to her hips revealed her thighs.

The ducks, include Wildwing and Ash, watched as Talon's clothes continued to switch between her street clothes and her new outfit. Talon's power flared up again, setting her clothes to the new clothes. Ash screamed. "No! I won't allow you to transform!"

Ash charged at Talon. Wildwing stepped in his way. Ash screeched and went to hit Wildwing with a mega power punch, but Talon appeared in-between them. She released a power shock wave, knock Ash away from Wildwing. "Don't. Touch. Him!"

Wildwing stared wide eyed at her. Her body had changed. Her hair was golden, her skin was darker and her eyes were crystal blue, almost white. She also has transparent blue, dragon fly shaped wings coming from her back. He remembered seeing her like this before, though the wings were new, back at the campsite. He thought he had just imagined it then. A sadness came over him. She didn't feel like the same Talon. "T-Talon?"

"I'm alright. It's still me," Talon said, knowing exactly what was on Wildwing's mind. Talon stared, glaring at Ash. She could clearly see that this wasn't what Ash had wanted. This transformation was what he was trying to avoid.

"No, no, NO!" Ash screamed.

"It's over, Ash. You won't hurt me or anyone I can care about again," Talon engulfed Ash in her powers. He screamed.

"No! I won't let you take my life!" Ash shrieked and powered up once again.

"Stop it! What are you doing?!" Talon screamed.

"I will die, but not by your hands!" Ash replied before using his powers to take his own life.

"W-What just happened?" Nosedive asked.

"He killed himself," Mallory choked.

"Such a sad soul," Grin shook his head.

"Driven by the greed of power," Duke said. "Then when that power was out of his reach…"

"He just ended his own life," Tanya finished Duke's sentence.

Talon stared at Ash's lifeless body for a few seconds before turning around. With her head lowered she walked back towards Wildwing. She only got a few steps before dropping to the ground and covered her face with her right hand and cried. She couldn't help but cry. Everything that happened was just too much and her mind was clouded with memories of the past that she couldn't process at all. It was going to take some time to filter through all these memories and she wasn't sure she wanted to do it. But at least it was now over. Ash was dead. She knew she or Ash would die, but there was no way she could prepare herself for either outcome. She had no clue what to do now.

She jerked her head up when a hand placed itself on her shoulder. It was him. She would always know his touch. It was so gentle, so caring. She slowly raised her crystal eyes to meet with Wildwing's worried one. Fresh tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry. I could take it…"

"Shh," Wildwing placed a finger over her lips to silence her. "No apology needed. Let's go home."

Talon rubbed the tears out of her eyes and stood up with him. They only gotten a few feet when they both felt something behind them. They turned around in time to see something slitting open. It was like the air itself opened up. Two of the monster creatures stepped out of the rip. Wildwing went to step in front of Talon, but she held up an arm to his chest to stop him. He looked down at her. Her eyes were on the creatures, but she wasn't afraid of them.

Suddenly the two creatures bowed down to Talon and they began to change. There monster bodies shrunk down until they appeared in human type forms, one boy and one girl. Only they had wings sprouting out from their backs and there outfits looked like something that belong in the other magical Anaheim. The boy had midnight blue hair and the girl's hair was a dark shade of orange. The boy was the first the raise his head, revealing his eyes to be the same color as his hair. He smiled at Talon before jumping up and running up to her.

He pressed his lips to her, shocking everyone. Talon jerked away from him. She backed into Wildwing, turning herself into his body as she stared at this boy who dared to kiss her. Wildwing glared at this new boy. The boy looked confused. "What?"

"Raja! You idiot!" The girl ran up and slammed her fist into the boy's head. "You can't just go around kissing her like that! Has some respect for our Queen!"

"I do respect her, Rana! You know I do! I just missed my fiancee!" Raja pouted at Rana.

"Queen?!" The ducks asked. "Fiancee?!"

"Well, not Queen yet. She will be once the ceremony has taken place," Rana turned to them. "She's still our…"

Rana stopped talking when she noticed something in Talon's eyes. Rana stepped closer to Talon, leaning close. Wildwing put his arm around Talon and held her close, glaring at this new girl for getting so close. Rana pulled back. "Oh dear."

"What's up, sis?" Raja asked.

"You do not remember us, do you, Princess?" Rana asked. Talon didn't answer but blinked in confusion. "I do not understand. She should have her memory back by now."

"Excuse me, but who the feathers are you?" Wildwing asked.

"Sorry for the lack of introductions," Rana looked at him then bowed. "My name is Rana Sitar Amid Aasen. I am Chief Guardian of Princess Celestin. This is my twin brother, Raja Sitar Amid Aasen."

"Fiancee of Princess Celestin," Raja said pointedly.

"And you're here because?" Mallory asked.

"Oh…well…," Rana looked at them with guilt in her eyes. "We're here to take the princess home."

"What?!" The ducks gasped.

"Look…it's really important that we leave immediately," Rana said.

"Come on! Let's get home! We have so much to do in repairing," Raja grinned.

"Will you calm down! We can't just rip her out of here like that!" Rana turned to her brother with her hands on her hips."

"What are you talking about? Of course we can! She's own princess and we have to get back home before it's too late!" Raja snapped. The two continued to argue back and forth. The ducks just stood there, unsure of what to do or say. "Please excuse my brother. He's a bit…um… ill mannered. If you please, princess, we don't have much time. We need you to come with us."

Rana held out her hand and stepped forward. "No! Stay back!"

"Uh," Rana pulled back and stared at Talon, confused. "Princess, there's no time to…"

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Talon shouted. She grabbed Wildwing's arm and pulled him towards the migrator.

"Princess, please!" Rana once again stepped towards her. She stopped when the ducks formed a line.

"I don't know who you are, but it's clear that Talon wants nothing to do with you," Mallory said.

"You'd better back off!" Nosedive said.

"You have no right to…," Raja advanced on them. Rana held out her arm to stop him. "Rana."

"We can't force her to do this, Raja. We have no choice but to let her go for now," Rana replied.

The ducks, but for Duke, headed for the migrator. Duke remained where he was and stared at the two creatures in front of him. Rana locked eyes with him. Raja looked back and forth between the two. Nosedive's voice broke their eye lock. "Come on, Duke! Let's get going!"

…..

Later that night in Wildwing's room, Wildwing was sitting up watching Talon sleep. She was still in the same form she fought Ash in. Her wings were folded up, pressed against her back. He rubbed his forehead and got ready to lay down himself to try and go to sleep, but a slit opened up in his room. He quickly stood up and readied for an attack.

Rana and Raja stepped through the slit. "How did you get in here?! Did you open a portal?!"

"No one but the royal bloodline can open portals," Rana replied.

"Then how did you get in here?" Wildwing asked.

"Through a slit or a rip," Rana replied.

"Where here to take our Princess back," Raja narrowed his eyebrows at the large duck.

"Raja, please!" Rana hissed.

Talon gave off a light whimper. Wildwing turned back to her to find an uncomfortable look on her face. He wondered if she was having a bad dream or if it was the presences of these two causing her discomfort. He sat back down on the bed and stroked her hair. She relaxed at his touch and began to sleep peacefully again. "I'm not forcing her to go anywhere she doesn't want to."

"We know that. But we didn't come here for her, this time," Rana's words made Wildwing snap his eyes back to her. "We came for you."

"What are you…" Before he could get his question out, Rana and Raja had him wrapped up in a magic energy bind and was pulling him through the slit.

There was a bright light, causing him to close his eyes, while passing through the slit. When he felt himself not moving through the air anymore, he opened his eyes. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but when they did he found himself sitting in a destroyed forest, with a cliff not too far off from where he was. He heard a finger snap and the bind released him. He stood up and glared at his two duck nappers. "What's the meaning of this?!"

Rana only pointed in the direction behind Wildwing. Wildwing turned around and walked over to the cliff. His eyes widened and his chest tightened. Rana and Raja had brought him to their world to show him the devastation Ash had caused. It was worse than Puck World. If there were any buildings in this world, there was no sight of them. The flora has been completely burned to black ashes, all the animals were no where to be found, and Talon's fellow magic beings were all injured. The injured were literally taking care of the injured.

"Our people down there are the only ones who had survived Ash's rule," Rana said as she and Raja stepped next to Wildwing. "There are only about a thousand of us left. Everything has literally been destroyed. We have little food and our water is contaminated."

"Ash has about drained us all of our magic so we can't even heal the tiniest of wounds," Raja said. "We need our Princess back here."

"But…why bring me here?" Wildwing asked, even know he was sure he already knew the answer.

"Because, we can tell just by looking at the Princess that she has grown quite attached to you. You two have imprinted on each other. She finds you someone of habitual trust. There's nothing we can do to ever break that bond you two share," Rana said. "But we need her here. She's the only one who can heal our world. Without her this world will die and so will the remaining survivors."

"I still don't understand…"

"Wildwing, it's not just our world that's in danger. The magic forces in this world have become unstable and it's leaking into other worlds. That's how we were able to go to Earth without a portal. Slits are opening up in all kinds of dimensions. It could rip everything apart. Worlds could collide literally and figuratively. This will bring on wars off all kinds of proportions," Rana explained.

Wildwing look at Rana then at Raja who nodded. His turned his eyes back to the mess below him and sighed.

…..

Wildwing was fairly quiet the next day. He set it all up with Rana and Raja. They would be at the pond soon. He knew he need to let Talon go, but didn't know how to do it. He was suppose to tell her about this before now, but couldn't come up with a best way to do so. Talon was pretty much back to her happy self, but something was off about her. Wildwing wondered if she sensed where he had gone last night and knew what was to come.

"You're being kind of quiet. Is something wrong?" Talon asked. Wildwing looked down at the girl sitting beside him. Her crystal blue eyes staring up at him with innocence and complete trust. His stomach tightened.

The group was sitting around the tv. Grin and Mallory were playing chess, Tanya was reading a book while Duke was content to watching the tv as Nosedive searched for something to watch.

Wildwing passed a glance to all the other ducks. They seem to have noticed something was up with him too. He ran a hand over his head. He screwed up. He was out of time and he hasn't prepared any of them for this. "T…Talon…"

"Yes?" Wildwing's stomach tightened even more as he looked back into her eyes. Before either could speak again a slit opened up. Rana and Raja stepped through.

"What is this?" Mallory asked.

"How did you get in here?!" Nosedive added.

"You didn't…" Rana looked at Wildwing.

"I couldn't," Wildwing replied as his eyes dropped to the floor. All the ducks, but Duke, looked to their leader for an explanation. Duke just closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Couldn't what?" Talon asked. When Wildwing didn't answer, she grabbed his arm. "Wildwing, what's going on? Why are they here?"

Wildwing stood up and took a couple steps towards the twins. He clenched his fists, whipped around, looked directly at Talon with a blank face and said, "I want you out."

"What? What are you talking about?" Talon asked with a bit of humor in her voice, but that faded as reality slowly began to set in with all of them. "W-Why would I…I-I don't…"

"Dude, bro. What's going on? Tell me!" Nosedive demanded.

"Back off, Nosedive," Duke said in a stern voice. Nosedive looked at the older duck. The look in Duke's eye made Nosedive back down.

"Wildwing, I don't understand," Talon stood up and took a step toward's him.

"Get out!" Wildwing snapped.

"No! I won't leave! I don't have to go to that world! I don't belong there! I belong here! I belong with…"

Smack!

Everyone's, including the twins, eyes widened. Wildwing had actually slapped Talon. Talon's eyes were filled with shock and betrayal as she looked back up to him, holding her now red cheek. "You have responsibilities that you must face. So grow up. You're not a child anymore."

"Fine! Take this stupid thing back! I don't care!" Talon screamed ripped off her communicator and threw it at Wildwing's chest before storming passed him and right into the slit. Raja immediately followed her. Rana stayed behind.

"I'm sorry," Rana said.

Duke stepped up to the girl, place a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "It's fine. Just…take care of her."

"We will," Rana nodded before leaving herself.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Nosedive demanded of his older brother. "How the feathers could you have just yelled…slapped…Wildwing, are you insane?!"

"Knock it off, Nosedive," Duke warned.

"No! Talon's part of our family! How could he, and even YOU, just let her go like that?! I want to know! NOW!"

Wildwing clenched his fists and began to shake. He took a deep breath and just walked out of the room, leaving the other ducks with confusion and questions