Heart:
Electric bars held us in our shared prison. It wasn't anything like we had seen thus far in any realm. I soon realized that my usual tools gifted to me wouldn't be much help this time. I then turned on my heel, glaring at the one that had locked us in such a place with her. Beside me, Wildwing was taking in our surroundings before joining in my anger it seemed.
"So did you get what you wanted?" I questioned, "You have us trapped here, and look where it got you!"
LuCretia, after barely regaining her composure, smirked, "Well at least I have the two of you here; their precious team captain, and the soon to be forgotten human. Even with the spell wearing off, they'll forget you now that you're gone!"
"They couldn't forget even with that spell! This shows that!" I snapped.
"Don't waste your breath on her," Wildwing mentioned as he shook his head and walked over to the electric bars keeping us inside with her.
Realizing he was right, I joined my brother in his attempt to look down along the narrow hall lined with similar cells to our own.
"Any ideas?" I asked, catching now how our voices echoed a bit in this realm that existed and didn't all at once.
"Get out," he attempted a chuckle, shaking his head as he did.
Glancing at the white feathered drake, I found myself venturing, "Do...Do you remember Wing?"
He gave a quiet nod at first, as though making sure, and then said, "I did...when I saw you in trouble. Something in me just said, "I need to protect my sister", and so I followed that order."
With some attempt at comfort and humor, he rustled my very loose hair, "If only you'd stay out of trouble in the first place."
We both glanced at our innmate, and he added, "Though I can see it wasn't exactly your fault. We should have been more alert with her around."
"I hope the others are okay," I mentioned in response to this.
"I'm sure they are, but the only way to see for ourselves is to get out," Wildwing assured me.
"Did your hearing go with your senses already?" LuCretia scoffed from behind us, "There is no getting out of here! You both are stuck here for all eternity!"
"You got out didn't you?" Wildwing mentioned, "So it can't be all impossible."
"How did you get out of here before?" I questioned.
"That tear sealed up a while ago," she said with her arms folded defensively over her chest, "It showed up, served it's purpose for me to escape, and sewed itself up."
"A tear?" Wildwing asked.
"Yeah, it broke through the back of my last cell a few months ago. It matced the cooridnates Dragonus had used to get me to Earth in the first place. So I went through, and I waited until the time was right to come after you."
"How kind of you," I retorted dryly.
"So sour. Is it because I showed you how easy it was to remove you from them? To swap places with you?"
"If anything, you showed how hard it was," Wildwing stated, "Once Tanya started putting the pieces together to show us, it became rather clear what had happened. Why would we have had a room and seats ready in places needed if you weren't there to begin with like Heart was?"
"What about the drake that I had wrapped around my finger so easily again?" she taunted in a bite back.
"You mean the one that didn't trust you enough to really let you in? The one you convinced was on his own on a night he wasn't?" I pushed back sharply, "Clearly."
Driven near speechless once again, she looked away from the both of us. The last thing we heard from her was, "Well at least I seperated in pulling you both apart, and I got their leader locked away in here to with you! Not bad if you ask me!"
Again, I turned away from her and tried in vain to search for a way out. Lockpicks would only fry in my attempts to get the gates open. Wildwing hadn't placed his gauntlet wearing hands on the bars of energy, knowing the seering through that would happen if he tried. However, as I looked down the hall, out of instinct I placed my hands against them. To my alarmed attention, I found that this didn't hurt. I pulled back out of shock at first, but then grasped at the bars to find it hadn't been a malfunciton or trick of the eye.
"How are you doing that?" Wildwing asked.
"I...I don't know?" I replied while testing it a third time to be sure.
"Wait, you wield electrcity don't you?" Wildwing thought quickly aloud.
"Y-Yeah?" I started to follow, quickly connecting the dots along with him as disbeilef wore off.
"Maybe you can short circuit the bars?" Wildwing suggested, "At least long enough to get us both out? Then we can see if there's a control room. If they are pulling in prisoners, there must be a way for them to open a gateway. If we can find the coordinates for our Earth, we can get home!"
"I...I can try," I nodded along.
"You can do this, sis. Think of the others waiting for us to come home," he insisted with a pat of his hand against my shoulder.
"Alright," I said while taking a deep breath and trying to focus on the bars I grabbed onto.
Releasing that bit of air, I focused the energy flowing through my veins into the electrified doorway. The confining room we stood in began to flicker in and out with unnatural light. The scent of ozone filled the air as I attempted to overcharge the bars. In defiance, the door grew brighter, as though simply absorbing the power being provided.
"Come on..." Wildwing urged from behind me.
Then I thought, "Well...what if I tried taking that power instead?"
Before Wildwing could protest, I dug my nails into that energized bar and focused again. It made sense that if I could provide the energy, then maybe I could command it as well? At first it didn't seem to budge any differently. Until I noticed the bars thinning out before us, that is! Treating myself like a conductor of electrcity, I pulled it into my racing bloodstream in some fashion, until the doorway at last flickered out before us.
Not giving it a chance to power up another set of bars, I followed Wildwing's lead, "Let's go, sis!"
The two of us bolted, leaving a dumbfounded LuCretia watching after us. I didn't stop to see if she would follow. Shortly after I heard the zapping arrival of fresh bars replacing the one's I'd tapped out.
However, it seemed our own racing steps would quickly betray us. Sensing unauthorized steps hurrying along the hallways, an alarm ripped out of nowhere to alert those on patrol. In seconds we could hear the mechanical marching of heavy feet coming up behind and ahead of us.
In our year with him on Earth, we had forgotten just how militant B.R.A.W.N. Had originally sounded, "Escapee! Escapee! Must return to cell! Locate and return at once!"
Without knowing where to turn, Wildwing and I slid to a halt at the end of another hall we'd run down. Before us was one of the golden metallic bots, taking aim at us both once we were in his sights. Behind us we could hear another following this order.
"It was worth a shot," I sighed while trying to figure out what to do next.
"No! We are not staying here!" Wildwing snapped while raising up his ice shield, "We have a mission to complete! We can't do that here!"
"Return to your cell! Drop your shield or we will be forced to fire!" another robot ordered.
"We aren't prisoners here! We were wrongly sent here by one of Dragonus's goons! Please, help us get back to Earth so we can send him back here, where he belongs!" Wildwing attempted with me behind him and his shield.
We both knew that this display of brotherly protection was wasted on the fact that we were surrounded. Nevertheless, his shield remained up, and I stood back to back with my own defense sparking around me now, "We have others waiting for us to come home!"
"Return to your cell, and we will investigate your plea in due time! We must follow protocal!"
"That's not good enough!" Wildwing shouted, before erupting further, "Is this why Canard is still lost in here?!"
I looked over my shoulder to see him now glancing around the paths that seemed to be at every possible side. It had clicked where we were, and who else could be here as well.
"Canard Thunderbeak is not here!" one of the droids then stated, after registering Wildwing's statement.
The shock that struck my brother dug deep into his core, "Not here?! What do you mean he isn't here?! One of those worms brought him here! I watched it happen!"
"Canard Thunderbeak is not here," it simply repeated.
"Then where the heck is he?!" Wildwing demanded.
"That is not for you to know. What is required, is that you return to your cell and wait for us to investigate your claim!"
"Where is he?!" Wildwing charged forth, ignoring the bots counting down in warning.
"Wildwing!" I cried out as he managed to knock down one of the golden robots with a check of his shielded shoulder.
"Where is my best friend?! Is he alive?! Did you ignore his plea like you're ignoring ours?! We told you that we have to go back so we can bring Dragonus back here! That should be enough!" he continued, deflecting another shot with his shield that would have hit me had he stepped out of the way instead, knocking the shot into the nearest wall and leaving a small crater in it's structure.
"Stand back, or we will be forced to use higher measures!"
"Try me! I can take anything you can dish out!" Wildwing pushed back, showing a rare anger.
"Wing...?"
"Last warning!"
"Wildwing!" I cried out as they fired, not hearing another voice doing the same as smoke and blasts filled the air.
In that instant, something flew by, whizzing past my ear, and then bursting into a protective bubble around Wildwing and myself as I'd run up to try and help him. The blasts barely dented the case we found ourselves in. Our voices echoed in it's walls, "What in the world?"
"Sorry about that," an older voice half laughed in vague disbelief, "I go away for a few days and this happens?"
The smoke cleared. The B.R.A.W.N.s paused in their attack, and awaited further instruction. Then we turned around as the same voice chuckled out, "I can't believe it. What are you doing here Wildwing?"
Wildwing:
My eyes shot wide open as the last of the smoke disappated, and revealed the tan feathered drake approaching us. Dressed in patrol garb, complete with several badges and metals to adorn his shoulder, stood the very confident drake I'd known so well while growing up.
"Canard?!" I pushed my voice out to exclaim, before my throat could dry up.
"Hey there, buddy," Canard replied with a friendly, familiar smile on his beak, "Let's get you both out of here, okay?"
With a click of a switch on the device he held, the bubble around us disappated. In this instant freedom, I hurried over to my childhood friend and pulled him into the strongest bear hug I could muster, "Canard?! What happened?! I can't believe you're...I mean...I'm glad you're okay!"
Realizing their threat was non existant, the armed metallic soldiers lowered their weapons. Canard looked to the wall now standing with a large hole in it, "That was impressive, Wildwing. I knew nothing could get passed you, but these B.R.A.W.N.S aren't your run of the mill droids."
"I've learned a few things since we saw each other...last," I said in near disbelief as I tried to convince myself the nightmare was over.
"I can see that," Canard said, but then asked with sudden concern, "Where's the mask?"
"I left it with Duke until we can get back," I replied, "I figured it would be safe with him."
From beside me I could see Heart seeming to ponder this statement, chuckling to herself before deciding with a nod of her head, "As long as there aren't any plant monsters this time around."
"How did you both get here in the first place?" Canard inquired next.
"LuCretia DeCoy. She escaped from here during some sort of security breech when a gateway opened up in her cell. Even though we weren't the ones to send her here in the first place, she apparently blames us," I explained.
"I feel that's only the tip of the iceburg on what I've missed," Canard replied in his own partial bewilderment.
"A lot's changed since we lost you in that gateway, my friend," I assured him.
Canard then turned to Heart, "I see you're still with them, and you've seemed to grow in your own strength?"
He then glanced at her left hand, as did I, as a ring materialized itself on her finger. Heart took note of this as well, sighing with relief as I mentioned, "It must have worn off by now."
"At least for him," she agreed while clutching her hand close to her heart.
"Try your comm?" I suggested, prompting her to find an actual switch this time and change into her battle gear.
"So, who's the lucky guy?" Canard asked.
With a light pink shade touching her face, Heart answered, "Duke."
Canard laughed, "Why am I not as surprised as I should be?"
Her face turning red from blushing, she said, "He and I sorta found our path to each other a few months after ariving on Earth."
"Earth?" Canard asked.
"That's the planet we sorta call home now," I replied, "It really has been quite a ride since the invasion."
Heart and I began to try and fill in gaps together as we walked alongside Canard now. In turn, he attempted to explain what had happened to him after his disapearance nearly two years prior to now.
"After I found myself locked away in one of these halls, I had to plead my case to one of the B.R.A.W.N.S. They were actually fairly quick about looking into my claim, and saw me as a war hero for my attempt to lead an attack against their escaped prisoner. They offered me a position here in protecting the gateways and guarding the inmates that come here. Funny, LuCretia never mentioned much when I saw her, at least not to me."
"It would be hard for a planetary traitor to plead anything, even if Dragonus did send her here," I mentioned.
"That does make sense," he replied.
"So then, you've been here ever since?" Heart asked.
Canard shook his head, "While my main occupation is here, I have been able to go back to Puck World and help in rebuilding some of it. I had hoped you'd ended up back there, but it seems that wasn't the case."
"You've been home?!" I exclaimed, "How is everyone? Has there been anymore trouble since we left? Do you need our help?"
"Slow down, Wildwing," he chuckled, "And no, everything has been fine since Dragonus left. We've been able to rebuild quite a bit in the last year or so. Though better security is being put in place to prevent such a disaster from occuring ever again."
"That makes sense," Heart said, "and I'm glad it's been able to thrive since Dragonus's defeat back home."
"However, it sounds like he's still loose from what you've told me?" Canard inquired.
I gave a reluctant nodd, "I'm afraid so. We've been able to prevent him from doing the same damage to Earth, but he tends to hideaway with every battle won against him. He's also hard to find once he retreats."
"I'm certain you'll complete this mission, Wildwing. Don't lose that will to fight you had back there, and you'll be just fine," Canard said with a firm hand patting my shoulder.
"We won't give up until Dragonus is captured, and sent back here," I reaffirmed, glancing at my sister with a shared smile, "No matter what it takes."
Heart beamed with pride to hear our team montra.
"Well then, I guess the next thing to do is send you back to this Earth?" Canard laughed with his own proud approval, his hands on his hips in his stance.
"Why don't you come with us Canard?" I asked with a bit of reluctance creeping up in me.
Taking the lead as we walked down the hall some more, Canard shook his head, "My mission is here now. Besides, I appointed you leader, and I have a feeling our team wouldn't have it any other way by this point?"
I started to protest, until Heart slipped from Canard's left side to my right. She then rested a hand on my shoulder and said, "Wing was meant to wear that mask."
"Are you that worried Duke will charge forward like he did again?" I asked her with a bit of disbelief in my tone.
Heart shook her head, "Not really, because I know why he handled things the way he did then. We needed you there to lead us through, and you needed to see that yourself. Wildwing, you've been an amazing leader, and we really wouldn't have it any other way."
"A leader that hasn't been able to make sure we complete one mission," I mentioned.
"A leader, who thinks of our safety above all else. Wildwing, I don't know where this is coming from, but you've lead us to many victories over the last two years, and not just ones over Dragonus!" she pushed back firmly, "Today you showed us just the sort of leader, and brother, you've always been, didn't you?"
Hearing this, I glanced around the countless halls in this strange prison and said, "I just didn't want to lose anyone else to this place."
"So you did what you felt was right, and made sure the mask, and our team, were left in good hands in your absense," Canard chimed in with me between them now.
A bit of pride began to stir in me at hearing all of this. Though I did say, "I guess I always thought that when we found you, that I should return the title to you. You started all of this by pulling us out of that line, you formed the team, and lead us into the start of this war. I thought if we found you, that you should be the one to finish...but..."
"You need to be the one to finish this mission now, with the team you've been there for ever since. I might have started things out, but from what I can tell, you've carried them much further than I could have. You've become heroes on this new world under your lead, and have taken on so much more than Dragonus," Canard stepped in, not allowing me to pull back.
"I guess in a way, I was afraid of admitting that to you," I realized.
"Don't be. I'm proud of how much you all have grown together, including you, Wildwing. Someday soon, I hope to hear how you defeated him and can come home," he assured me with a hearty pat on the shoulder, "Until then, we'll keep protecting things the best way that we can, right?"
"Of course," I said with a smile breaking through.
"So let's get you back to this Earth then?" Canard prompted as we entered the commander center of the limbo prison.
He then began inputing information into the computer system. A few B.R.A.W.N.S stood guard at the door in case anything tried to break in or out.
"This place keeps a record of every portal opened, so it should be fairly easy to...There!" he declared with a triumphant laugh.
After reading aloud the coordinates, he began opening up a few files to operate the metallic gateway we soon realized stood in the room. It began to spark with life, charging up to open the doorway back for us.
"That should do it," Canard stated as he pushed one last button.
The spiraling doorway began to swirl.
"Wait, what about the Saurians Dragonus tried to break out a year ago? Are they here?" Heart then inquired.
Canard shook his head, "We haven't been able to locate their ships. Like Dragonus's, they have cloaking devices to keep us from locating them through limbo. The B.R.A.W.N.S patrol for them still. At least they can't escape without a doorway out of this realm. They're stuck whether they're imprisoned in this space or not."
"I guess that's somewhat comforting," I half laughed.
"You just worry about the one that is out there, and send him packing so we can lock him away again!" Canard insisted.
"We will," I promised.
Stepping up to the doorway with Heart beside me, I paused and turned to my best friend once again.
"Next time I get some days away, I'll try and visit, now that I know where all of you are," he assured.
"Be careful, Phil might try to keep you there," I warned in good humored jest.
"Hmm, maybe I should stay far away then!" Canard laughed.
"It was good to see you, and that you're doing well," I said, not daring to be betrayed by the tears forming in my eyes, even if they were happy ones.
"Same to you, my friend. Please tell the others I wish them well," he requested as he walked over.
I nodded my head, as a reluctant and awkward laugh escaped my beak. Seeing this, Canard pulled me into a bear hug of his own and said, "You've got your mission, team captain! Go finish it!"
Reciprictating this brotherly love, I held on just as tightly for a moment, "You too, my friend!"
I then stepped back, watched as Canard rustled Heart's hair as I often did, "I knew you had something special in you too. Keep growing stronger with it, and never forget where you stand with it?"
"I won't," Heart promised.
With that, Heart and I stepped through that spiraling doorway. Behind us, I could hear Canard giving the B.R.A.W.N.S their orders. As we stepped back through onto the roof of the pond, the gate between realms began to power down.
"No matter what it takes!" We would hear shouted out to us.
Then the spiraling space sealed shut as though it had never been there at all. Only now did those tears escape my welled up eyes. I tried to save face, and wipe them away in vain.
"At least you know now?" Heart offered with a gentle hand on my shoulder.
I nodded my head, before pulling her into a hug. A weight that had piled itself onto my shoulders two years ago lifted a bit, and a breath of relief escaped my beak, "That's true."
"Awaiting orders?" she attempted, causing me to laugh a bit.
"Let your big brother get a hug?" I chuckled as she did this.
It wasn't long before the others came running out of the roof exit. Nosedive lead the charge as he threw his arms around us both, "I thought I'd lost both of you! Don't ever scare me like that again!"
"Sorry Dive," I laughed while hugging both of my siblings as tight as I could without hurting them with my gauntlets.
By now the remaining four had gathered around us. It didn't take long for a certain drake to slip Heart from our grasp, clearly shaking his own fears as he embraced her now in my stead, "Thank the Great Mother you're alright."
He then loosened one hand to rest on my shoulder, "Both of ya..."
That was it as the others piled around into a group hug, with Heart, Nosedive, and I at the center of it.
"We were so scared we'd never see you again," Mallory admitted, glancing at Tanya.
Only now did I realize how tightly Tanya was holding onto me from my left, her head about burrowed into my shoulder. It was hard to ignore how the strength of her embrace matched that of the drake that held my sister.
"Tanya?" I attempted softly, "You okay?"
"I..I am now," she forced a chuckle, "Now that you're okay!"
"We weren't gone that long," Heart mentioned.
"That simply doesn't matter when it comes to our teammates," Grin insisted with a soft smile of his own curving his strong chinned beak, "No matter what evil tries to make us forget."
As we began to part, I noticed Duke slipping a hand into the satchel I now realized he'd swung over his shoulder. He then held out the mask to me, the setting sunlight caught in it's golden gleam, "Here, my friend."
Without question, I took it in my hands, and smiled with a great deal of pride returning to me. Then I placed it back over my face, feeling it power up in response to it's refound position. Looking to my teammates, and my two siblings, I said, "We still have a mission to complete, and others that have been added to it that need just as much focus. From what I've seen today though, I know we can do this."
"Did something else happen bro?" Nosedive asked.
At this, I informed them of who I had found, and how he was waiting to hear from us again soon. With this nightmare finally lifting, I had a new resolve forming within me. No longer worried I had failed him by taking too long to find him, or concerned I would have to pass the torth back in something I was already so invested in, I could now continue forward. The reasons behind this resolve may have changed, but it strengthened all the same.
"He's right," Duke then spoke up.
"He is?" I asked curiously.
"We wouldn't want you to give up being our team captain!" Mallory chimed in.
Nosedive pointed to the doors below, "That's your statue down there, bro; no one else's!"
"I told you," Heart gave a playful smirk from beside Duke.
Tanya gave a quiet nod to these statements, smiling with relief setting in.
"So, what are our orders then?" Grin prompted cheerfully.
"For now," I laughed as I waved for them to follow me back down to our headquarters, but paused looking out over the city with my teammates, "We remember why it is we're on these missions in the first place. Whether it's against Dragonus, Asteroth, or whoever else rears their ugly heads, we fight to protect this, and every world that we can!"
I looked to Heart, "We support each other through one another's individual journies the best that we can, and stay together so we can see this through as a team."
"I don't think we need that ordered, Wing," Duke mentioned.
"Then that makes my job much easier," I agreed with a proud smile as I took in the last two years of memories, and what had driven me to be standing with them all the way up to that moment.
"My next order then," I chuckled, "Is let's get a well deserved dinner for now?"
"That sounds like a plan to me, bro!" Nosedive chimed in as he about ran to the door to the roof, "I'm ordering some pizza, who's in on this?"
Listening to the others give their votes, mostly agreeing to this notion, I allowed the last of my worries to slip away for this brief time. For now, with them, I wanted to enjoy the end to this all but forgotten nightmare, and look to the future we had ahead of us from then on.