Yeah, two chapters in one night. Whoo! I'm on a roll. So, here's more Duck and Fakir moments, as merwholock4ever wanted *cough cough my older sister cough cough*, I hope it's not too sappy or boring.

I kinda had this scene in my head for a while and I'm so glad I finally got it down on...my computer. (I was about to say paper. how dumb can I be?)

Hope you guys like it like the rest of my story. Can't wait to get out of tennis tomorrow so I can work on it so

Chapter 25

DROSSELMEYER'S BACK

"Herr Drosselmeyer," the King called through the empty throne room.

"You bellowed, sire?" Drosselmeyer asked, bowing deeply before the throne.

"I have found my daughter. She is near the Mountain Canyon and if what you have told me is accurate, then the Princess will also be there," the King said.

"May I ask as to how you found her, sire?"

"I have my ways," the King said, holding his hand out for a large black bird to perch. He ran his clawed fingers over the bird's head and said, "I want you to go to the canyon and bring me my daughter and the Princess."

"Yes, sire," Drosselmeyer grinned.

"Oh, and this time, don't fail me," the King sneered. "You made that mistake once, don't repeat it."

"I will bring the girls to you before you know it," Drosselmeyer said and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"You had better," the King snarled and summoned three more black birds. "Make sure he does his job. I want the Princess and my daughter. They will both pay for their insolence. Go! Bring them to me!"

The birds squawked as they leapt into the air and flew around the room, searching for an open window. The King sat back down on his throne, and evil smile spreading along his thin lips.

"Soon, I shall get my long awaited revenge."

The group made their way down the thin path that hugged the walls of the canyon and after about two feet, everyone understood why Charon said it was so dangerous. Not only was the ledge barely five inches wide, but also random pieces of the ledge would fall out from under their feet. The rock and dirt had been severely corroded over time and they all had to move at a snail's pace.

Like usual, Fakir led the way, Duck was right behind him, Altor behind her and so on and it was up to Fakir to find the safest way down. It was a bit more difficult to find a route that was easiest for the girls but somehow Fakir was able to do a pretty good job at it.

It was about an hour down the trail when a group of large crows appeared overhead, circling the opening of the canyon and cawing loudly. Everyone looked up to see the birds and Rue was so surprised and scared that she nearly let go of the wall.

"Rue, are you okay?" Mytho asked, holding her shoulder so she didn't lose her balance.

"It's my father. He's found me," she whispered. "He's coming to get me. I knew I shouldn't have come."

"They're just birds," Altor said cynically.

"No, they're spies for my father. He's sent them to find me," she said, her voice beginning to shake.

"We aren't going to let him take you," Fakir said. "Come on, let's keep moving. There seems to be a cave up a head. Maybe we can hide there for a while."

"I could just teleport us out of here," pique suggested.

"NO!" everyone, except for Lillie, cried.

"You haven't gotten your elegance back," Lillie giggled. "You're useless."

"Remind me why I hang out with you again?" Pique asked, wanting to cross her arms and pout but remembering to keep hold of the wall.

"We can worry about stupid trifles like that later. Let's just get to that cave," Fakir said, looking up quickly at the circling birds.

They went as fast as they dared to get to the cave and as they scooted along, the birds began to get lower, circling like a vulture about to eat a dead carcass. Rue was so nervous she could barely keep herself steady and Mytho and Femio had to keep her from falling.

Duck was worried about Rue. She had never seen her friend get so scared. It was Duck's just to be petrified, not Rue's, and she wondered if there was any way she could help. She looked up at the birds, studying them for a short time, when an image of very similar birds attacking people flashed through her mind.

She called out, grabbed her head and closed her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was being pulled down by the amazing force of gravity. She still didn't dare to open her eyes as she heard Fakir cry out her name in a frantic voice and she felt several of the black birds' sharp talons and beaks pierce her skin.

There was no way in hell she was going to open her eyes. She was too scared and she listened to the wind rush past her ears, waiting for her body to hit the hard rock floor of the canyon. However, (we all knew this was coming) after who knows how long, the sound of wind was replaced by what sounded like an engine.

She must have been hearing things, but no sooner had she heard the engine, she felt her body stop falling as two familiar arms wrapped around her waist. She opened her eyes slightly to see Fakir had grabbed her and was standing on the strange contraption Altor had made.

She turned her head a bit to see where they were going when a bird decided to go kamikaze and nearly hit her in the face.

"AHH!" She cried and hid her face in Fakir's shoulder.

He had quickly pulled out his sword with one hand and blocked the oncoming bird only to get more dive-bombing birds come in from the side. He steered the hoover board away from them but they still followed.

He looked around for some means of getting away when an idea popped into his head.

"Hold on," he said to Duck.

He didn't really need to tell her because she was already holding onto his coat for dear life and when he suddenly cut the power and they plummeted down, she let out a frightened scream. What the hell was Fakir doing? She watched as the ground drew closer each second and she just hoped that Fakir knew what he was doing.

He did know what he was doing. His plan was to get as close to the ground as possible then pull up quickly, causing the birds to kill themselves. He just hoped it would work. Birds were built to fly and Fakir had only just gotten onto the hoover-board. Good thing he was a fast learner.

The ground was about four feet below and Fakir timed his ascent so perfectly that all the birds weren't able to stop or turn in time, causing them to all go splat (sort of like in the movie The Birds).

Duck's eyes were closed once again and she didn't dare to open them again. Maybe that was a good thing because as Fakir tried go back up the side of the canyon, the engine began to sputter.

He looked down at it and grumbled, "Damn it."

He looked around for some place to land before crashing to the ground when he found a ledge not too high above their present position. He angled the board up and headed to the ledge, hoping the hunk of junk wouldn't completely fail before then. They were almost there when it let out one last spurt of speed, causing the front of the board to hit the bottom of the ledge and send the two passengers flying into the air.

Fakir didn't let go of Duck until they hit the ground and they both rolled until they ran into one of the rock walls. Fakir had hit his back on a rock and he groaned in pain, rolling onto his hands and knees to get Duck. She was curled up in a fetal position, her hands over her face, and she was shaking like a leave. He slowly, and painfully, walked over to the bird-girl and helped her to a sitting position.

"You okay, Duck?" he asked.

She only whimpered in response.

"Duck, are you okay?" he asked again, shaking her shoulders a bit.

"N…not really," she stuttered softly.

"It's okay, we're safe, you can open your eyes now," he said, his hand on his back.

"No. I…I'm too s…scared."

"Come on. You've been through worse," he said, exasperated. When she still didn't lower her hands he grabbed them and pulled them away from her face. "You've got to stop this, Duck. I know you were scared but you're perfectly fine now."

She looked up at him nervously and bit her lip.

"Fakir, d…did you know what…what you were doing?" she whispered.

"Of course I did. You know me better than that," he sighed, letting go of her hands. He got up slowly and went to the edge of the ledge (ha ha) to get the hoover board that had embedded itself into the rock. "It seems this thing only works for short spurts. When will Altor actually figure out how to make these things work correctly?"

He looked back at Duck who was silently holding herself protectively and looking at the ground. He rolled his eyes and sighed, walking back over to the girl and sitting next to her.

"Duck, I'm afraid we might be stuck here until I can find some way to fix this," he said, standing the board on its tail. From end to end it was about four feet long but it was able to fold in half for travel and Fakir was beginning to think maybe he should have helped Altor and Femio with it. He cringed as a sudden jolt of pain shot up his back and he put his hand on his back. "Damn it, this is going to complicate things."

"Huh?" Duck asked, slowly looking over at her comrade.

"I seemed to have hurt my back when we landed but it's nothing," he grunted. "It shouldn't be too much trouble, maybe a bruise at the most."

"Oh," she said and put her chin on her folded arms. They sat, silently thinking when Duck suddenly decided to say something. "Fakir, do you remember before we left, after I found the first part of Mytho's heart?"

"Depends. What day are you talking about?"

"Um, the night after I first returned his heart," she whispered, not looking at him.

His eyes widened slightly.

"Uh…yeah. What about it?"

"I had this strange dream," she continued.

Now he was surprised. That was the same night he had his strange dream. He looked at her from the corner of his eye, searching for some sort of tell-tale sign of where her conversation was going but not finding any.

"I…I was in this forest with a really pretty white dress on and…you were running from me for some reason," she said, her finger now tracing lines in the rock by her feet.

Fakir's heart started beating faster. It was her. He knew it. But…why did it take her so long to finally tell him?

"You seemed to be scared of me but…not completely and I…took some sort of light from your chest," she paused and looked up at him. "I said it was your doubt. What did I mean? I…I don't understand."

He looked at her for a few seconds before answering.

"I think…I think the same magic that allows you to return the taken objects also allowed you to…uh, take…things too," he said hesitantly. "I also think it turns you into someone else as you use that magic. It seems that way whenever you use your magic so it makes sense."

"But…I've only used it to return things," she said.

"Actually…you seem to be able to…hear what someone's…heart is saying," he said, a light pink blush forming on his cheeks. "I have been on the receiving end of it and it's…a bit confusing. It's almost like Rue's flash forwards."

"What else have I done that I don't know about?" she asked.

"That's all I know about but…oh, wait. Remember back at the circus when we were all locked in that lion cage?" he asked. She shook her head yes. "When he had chained me, he put magic around it so I wouldn't be able to get away but after you touched the chains…I was able to escape. Maybe that's another one of your powers."

"Oh," she said and thought about it. She watched as Fakir grabbed the hoover board to examine it when a strange question popped into her head. "Fakir, did you already know what had happened in my dream?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked over at her. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

"Yes. I knew what you were talking about because I had the same dream," he said.

She gasped softly. She wasn't expecting that.

"But…I didn't think two people could have the same dream," she said. "How is that possible?"

"I have no idea," he looked out over the ledge to see the shadows of the canyon get darker and he realized that in the canyon, it would get darker and cold far faster than on the top.

He got up and looked around for any sort of plant he could use to get a fire started. He spotted a small tree that poked out of the side of the wall from a crack and he grabbed several of the dead branches. He was about to grab more when he felt Duck come up behind him and take the branches from his arms.

She quietly put them in a pile closer to the wall and smiled weakly when she saw Fakir watching her. At that point, he really wished he could give her a reassuring smile, but instead he sighed to himself and grabbed the rest of the dead branches.

He walked back over and added his branches to the existing pile. They waited for a while until it got dark enough to actually start the fire, having pointless conversations, and once the sun finally disappear, the wind picked up and Duck began to shiver. Fakir got the fire started and before Duck could say thank you, he silently took off his coat and gave it to her.

"Thanks," she whispered, pulling the thick cloth further over her shoulders.

He just nodded. They were both exhausted and it was very soon that Duck fell asleep. Fakir sat there, thinking and letting the flames hypnotize him. He had no idea how he was going to fix the hoover board or where the others were. He hoped that that hadn't gotten attacked or hurt and he started thinking of the worst case scenario; they were all dead.

He shook that thought of his head and decided to let his mind wander so he could keep his sanity in check. It was tough but soon his eyes closed and he drifted into a light sleep.

By now, Duck had been asleep for nearly two hours and she was beginning to dream…but she didn't know that.

Duck woke up to find Fakir sitting against the large bolder, poking at the fire with a stick, and she yawned. He looked up at her and acknowledged her consciousness by lifting his head quickly. She smiled at him and was about to say hi when the world outside the ledge turned completely black.

Both of them jumped to their feet, surprised, and Fakir went to check out what was going on. He went to the ledge to find nothing everywhere.

"I don't see anything," he said to her. She was about to walk up to him when he put his hand up. "Maybe you should stay th…ah!"

Duck cried out as she watched him fall of the edge. She rushed over to see him dangling there, trying to pull himself back up.

"Fakir!" she cried, wanting to help him but finding it nearly impossible to move.

"Move away! Get away from the edge," he struggled to say.

Her feet complied even though her mind wanted to help him back up. She watched from the stone wall as he struggled to get back onto the ledge but the blackness just encompassed him and he disappeared, making Duck scream in fear.

She wanted to cry but no tears would form. She wanted to run but her feet wouldn't move. She heard laughter and her heart stopped. She knew that laughter. It was the same laughter as the man that had tortured her for nine years. Drosselmeyer. She frantically looked around for the source but the source decided to save her the effort and show up right in front of her.

There he was, Drosselmeyer, the horrible ringmaster that found joy in hurting innocent little Duck. Took a step back, against the wall, and gasped. He was even scarier than she remembered and far more threatening.

He stepped closer, cackling, "So, it seems I have finally found you, little Duck. Oh, and you're all alone and unprotected. How sad. Just what I've been waiting for."

"Leave me alone!" Duck cried.

"I can't do that for you see, you belong to me. I have a contract that says you are mine," he said, reaching his hand out and forming a fist.

"I…I'm not your p…property," she stuttered.

"Still scared of everything, aren't you?" he laughed. "Just as I planned. You will come with me and there is nothing you can do about it."

"No!" she yelled, tears falling down her cheeks.

"You have no choice," he growled, almost smacking her. "You belong to me."

She was about to say something else when an arm wrapped around her waist. She looked down in surprise. Sure enough there was an arm but…there was no way anyone could be behind her because she was pressed against the stone wall. It didn't seem to matter however, as another arm appeared and wrapped around her waist.

"What? What's going on?" Drosselmeyer asked angrily.

"I…I don't know," Duck sobbed.

The arms pulled her back against the wall. She thought they were trying to kill her but instead of feeling crushed, she felt her body slip through the stone. She watched as Drosselmeyer tried to grab her but she disappeared into a world of blackness before he touched her. She felt herself floating with the arms still tightly holding her.

She felt scared but relaxed. She closed her eyes as she tumbled through the nothingness and she felt one arm move to her shoulder, holding her back up. Soon she felt hard ground beneath her body and a torso attach to the arms then legs and finally a head.

"Duck," a fuzzy voice said to her.

She didn't respond.

"Duck, are you okay?" the voice said again, a little stronger.

Still she didn't respond.

"Duck, wake up!"

Duck's eyes flew open to find herself being held in Fakir's arms once again. He was looking down at her worriedly and confused.

"Duck, what happened? Are you okay?" he asked. "You must have one helluva nightmare. You started screaming and like tossing and turning and…crying. What happened?"

She was breathing heavy and as she rubbed her eyes she felt her cheeks were wet. She was also involuntarily shaking in his arms and rather instinctively, he held her closer.

"I…I had a dream about…Dro…Drosselmeyer," she stammered.

"Drosselmeyer? But we haven't seen him in weeks," he said.

"I know but…he…made you fall from the ledge and…and…I thought you were killed," she said and wrapped her arms around his neck, hiding her face again. "I was so scared. I don't want to lose you Fakir. You're my best friend."

"Wh…what?" he asked. "I thought Rue was…your best friend."

"Mmm," she mumbled into his shoulder.

He was very stunned. He wasn't expecting Duck to say that and he also wasn't expecting the looming figure of Drosselmeyer to suddenly appear at the lip of the ledge, chuckling evilly.

"Well, isn't this sweet? It seems you've finally found a friend, little Duck," he laughed. "Too bad he's going to die soon."

me more. Man, I've got so much more to do before this is done. I had better get cracking.