Help_9

*gasps* And here....THE LAST PART! I can't believe it....I finished it!*sobs* And now it's over...*sighs*
Sorry for letting you guys wait like this*blushes* I know, I'm evil. Yes. Honestly. I am an alien and they sent me...okay, forget about this. I am talking rubbish, like always.
I think they end is a little bit lousy, but well...read it and tell me what you think about it!

Yeah, and PapillonStar...it's your turn! HA! And I am ready, so you have to finish, too....*evil laughter*
Oh well. I don't know what I will write next. Maybe I'll turn back to Digimon*smiles*
But first I'll make a break.*happy smile*

Hey, this was unafir....I've finished this chapter on saturday morning, and then ff.net was down*grumbles* It really gets annyoing, huh? Well, hope I'll have a chance to upload this sometimes.




Help

by Kaeera



CHAPTER 9:


Awakening


At the Pond:

The silence in the pond was unbearable. It was funny, Duke though sarcastically, while wandering around. He used to like the silence. It was so peaceful, and you could think a lot about various things.
But this silence was awkward. It was depressing. Yep, that was the right word. It wasn't a 'every-thing-is-okay' silence, no, this silence was the lost of any noises which should be there – like the loud music of Nosedive, for example.

Of course, he could go into his room and switch on the music, but that wouldn't be the same. It was not alone the music which was missing – it was his younger team-mate with the lazy attitude.

Duke sighed. He, in fact, cared a lot for the blond duck. It was like having a little brother.
Family was something very strange and new to him, but he had always enjoyed the feeling of having somebody to worry about. Somebody you could feel responsible for.
He didn't know why – hell, right now he was _sick_ of worry, but he wouldn't want to have it another way.

Slowly he walked towards the tv room and peeked through the door. There was Grin, sitting in a chair, meditating and eyes closed. The tv was on, the ex-thief noticed and looked on the screen. The scene there made him smile: Barney the Bear, Nosedive's and Grin's favourite tv-show. He had never understood what they found so fascinating at this show, but had accepted it as another unsolved secret of life.
"Hey, what's up, big guy?", he asked, faking a grin on his lips.

"Searching.", was the calm answer.

"Searching?", Duke repeated, confused. "What?"

"The lost soul."

"Uh-huh....do you mean Nosedive?"

"Right."

"Aha.", nodded Duke understanding, although he didn't understand a single word. Well, that was normal with this guy. He was one of the big mysteries of the universe, too.

He settled down beside his huge friend and stared at the screen, thoughts whirling through his mind. 'We are all becoming insane!', he thought bitterly, 'Mallory's hot temper has vanished without even a 'pouf', Tanya doesn't invent anything, Wildwing is never leaving the infirmary and Grin is searching for a soul...'
And he himself? He didn't know.

"Don't worry." , the sudden voice of Grin interrupted his self-statement.

"You startled me!", he complained and shook his head, "How am I supposed not to worry? I am sure you worry a lot!"

"I do. But his soul has found the right way. Now he just has to go it."

"What do you mean with that? How can you know anything about Nosedive's soul when he's lying in a coma??", the older duck wanted to know.

"I don't know it.", Grin opened his eyes. "But I feel it. Spirit is everywhere. You just have to open your heart."

Duke just stared. "That's....illogical!"

"Maybe it is.", Grin replied and a soft smile crossed his face. "But is life logical?"

Duke wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. Maybe he wasn't wrong. After all, the world was a strange place. Who would have thought of such strange creatures like human beings? Duke never! And they played ice-hockey...

So why not spirit in the air?


* * *


Nosedive shuddered. This place was creepy and damn cold!
He had lost the voice of his brother long ago and was now struggling along the corridor which seemed to vanish in the nowhere. No doors, and no end in sight.
'
You owe me a big one, 'bro', he thought sarcastically while he continued his way. 'Like....let's think....every comic I want? And _no_ training in the early morning!'

Oh well. Right now he would be happy about training, he had to admit. It was far more comfortable than this weird dream here.

GREY!!! One thing was sure, he would never! paint any room, any corridor, any SHOES in this color. He had seen enough of it for AGES!

"Do you want to flee?", a cold voice snarled.

He stopped and turned around. Of course, it was Wildwing again. Determined he remembered what his mother – or better, her ghost – had told him. About his brother. And himself.
"Yes.", he answered calmly, staring right into his opponents eyes.

"You know that we won't accept you. You aren't a member of our team anymore."

Other figures stepped out of the shadow behind his brother. Duke. Tanya. Mallory. Even Grin.

"You are lying.", Nosedive stated, forcing himself to be strong. "You aren't my brother. You are just imagination. My brother would never do that to me."

"So, and how do you come to think like that?", the imagination wanted to know.

"Because my brother loves me! And I trust him!"

"Oh, how nice", Mallory spoke in a strange, singing tone, "But you didn't trust him when you've been in the room, did you? What a big faith you have in your brother....loose it whenever he says something bad."

"Maybe that's true.", he said thoughtfully. "But that's not the mistake of my brother. It's MY mistake, do you understand? Wildwing did never do anything wrong. It was me who didn't told him when I was frightened, who pretended to be stronger than I was. It was all MY fault – and it was my fault that you appeared in this dream. I can't blame my brother, I only can blame myself!", he continued furiously.

"And that's the reason why I will leave now. I will go back and tell Wildwing that everything is okay, that he doesn't have to worry anymore. Maybe I lost my trust, and I surely will loose it again, but right now I _do_ trust my brother with every part of my heart, and that's why you can't and won't prevent me from leaving!!!"

He looked straight into everyone's eyes, surprised by his sudden outburst. But now that he had said it, he realised that it was true. It was his fault.
He had never been good in trusting. Of course, he had relied on his brother, but that was not the same.
In fact, he had always waited for the day his brother would tell him exactly this words: "I don't love you anymore...leave me and the team!"

But his brother would never do that. Never!
He had learned a lesson today. And hopefully he would keep it in his mind!

"So, do you want to keep me away?", he yelled, moving himself into a fighting position.

But the others weren't moving. Just Duke lifted his hand and smiled. "Well done, kid."

And then they vanished.

Nosedive gasped. He had expected hard words, fighting, screaming...but this? Oh well. Another proof that it as his weird brain which was dreaming.

He turned around to continue his lonely journey through the corridor of the corridors, but the corridor had vanished, too. Well, that was the first he could think of when he saw the shining colors. Then he noticed that it was the same corridor, it only looked much more friendly. A warm light was shining, although there was no sun, and the walls were now yellow and green instead of the pale grey.

And there was a door. Nosedive had to smile when he discovered that the door was full of childish paintings – paintings which, he realised, were drawn by himself, long time ago. Slowly he stroked over it.
Back then his life had been happy and peaceful. But that was the past, and you can't live in the past. You have to enjoy every single moment.
Problems are there to be solved. And he would do that.
Smiling, he opened the door and walked through.

For a moment, there was a shining light. And then darkness.

"I'm really happy that he managed it. I was afraid that he wouldn't make it"

"He's strong. And he's our son. We can be proud of him!"

"It was nice to see him again. Nice and sad...but he deserves it to live."

The voices were talking while Nosedive seemed to be floating, somehow, somewhere. He hadn't any clue where he was, or what has happened. Small pieces of the image of a grey room where in his mind, but too few to remember anything clear.

The only thing he knew was that he recognised this voices.

"Nosedive, it's time for you to go home.", the feminine voice said, and it sounded as if she was crying and smiling at the same time.

"Mother?", he wanted to ask, but he couldn't speak.

"My son, you mastered this difficult exercise." said the other, male voice, and the young Duck knew immediately that it was his father. "Wildwing is waiting for you, and so are the others."

"Father, don't go! I- I miss you!"

"We miss you, too, but you aren't ready for the death yet. There are so many adventures which are waiting for you and your brother..."

"Mom....Dad...."

He wanted to say more, wanted to say how much he loved them, but he couldn't. Darkness was coming again, but this time it was like falling in a deep hole where you can't see the ground. He screamed, but no sound could be heard, until finally....

* * *

Wildwing was just entering the infirmary when he heard the moan. He put the soda down and rushed to the bed.
But it seemed as if nothing had changed – Nosedive was still laying motionless in the bed, face pale. He sighed and decided that the moan must have been imagination; after all he hadn't sleep for a long time. And he would have believed that, if not exactly in this moment the eyelids of the younger duck twitched...

"Nosedive?", he asked, voice full of hope and worry.

* * *

Suddenly he could feel something under his hands. It was still dark, but it wasn't the frightening, unnatural darkness like before, no, it was the simple darkness of having the eyelids closed.
He was lying in bed, the young duck figured out, and for a moment he was confused.

Then the memory came back with shocking intensity.

He remembered the subway, the dream, the light....and the pain. And the pain was still there, a murder headache and something which he couldn't identify. He moaned softly.
Was this dream over? Or was it just another part of it?

If he was awake, then he should better try to open his eyes – he had have enough of darkness and dreams for the rest of his life!

But opening his eyes was a lot of more difficult than he had thought. First of all it needed much strength, and he felt deadly tired.
Well, Nosedive wouldn't be Nosedive if he wasn't as stubborn as a bull. So he tried.

And then, he heard the voice which made him nearly jump of joy.

"Nosedive?"

That was Wildwing! So he was back, was he? Fine! Now the only problem was to open this damn eyes....


* * *

Wildwing froze when he saw the eyelids twitching more in response to his question.
Nosedive was waking up! How long had he waited for that?
For a moment he wanted to yell of happiness, but then he remembered some of the facts Tanya had told him before.

"Even if he pulls through, there might be the danger of after-effects", she had warned him. "Many people who suffered through a coma lost their personality....they were totally apathetic, not speaking, not reacting. As if they were in coma again!
They had to learn speaking , had to learn to touch people...but the younger the person is, the more harder it is for him to regain is personality."

Suddenly the mighty leader was frightened. What would he do if his little baby bro' was....apathetic? It would be even more horrible that this, wouldn't it?

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realise that his younger sibling had finally managed it to open his eyes and stared at him with a kind of shock on his face.

Nosedive was stumbled. He had opened his eyes, and there was Wildwing, right in front of him, but it seemed that he was worrying about something. "Typical", he thought sarcastically. "Always worrying."
For the first moment he had seen his brother, he had felt fear. The memory of how the dream-Wildwing had abandoned him was still fresh in his head and hurt a lot.
But this wasn't the Wind of his dreams, he convinced himself. This was the right Wing; powerful, caring and hopeless boring.

And then the eyes of the two brothers met each other.


Wildwing's first impression was relief when he noticed that his brother looked at him.

"Hi Dive.", he said softly, afraid that this wonderful dream would burst into thousand pieces the moment he spoke.

And then he saw something which made his heart beat faster.

Nosedive smiled. Oh well, you couldn't call it smiling. It was more a 'grinning full of happiness and evil thought'. A typical Nosedive Grin!

"Whoa Wing!" (A/N: alliteration! Does anyone notice that?*laughs* Okay, on with the story!), Dive said, voice a little bit unsteady.

"I'm starving. You don't have a taco or something like that?"

Wildwing laughed. "Nope bro', I am sorry. Just disgusting hospital food for people who have been lying in a coma for over a week and worried their friends and relatives sick!"

Nosedive groaned: "I knew there was a reason I shouldn't have woken up!"

The both laughed, and Wildwing knew that everything would be okay. His brother was back, and he was not apathetic, he was....he was just Nosedive, and that was enough!


The End



I don't know....it's kinda short. Maybe I will write an epilogue, someday, somehow.(If you have ideas, then tell me! I would like to hear them!)
And THANKS A LOT FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! WildfireFriendship, Ottercup, Settiai(I've only read one of your stories so far...I am in stress...), PapillonStar, BecksMichales (did I write it right?), Wildwing98 and how you all call yourselves (I forgot the names*sweatdrops* Sorry! But I mean you! Yes, you! - If you have reviewed*g*)...It was wonderful to write, and I hope it was wonderful for you to read!

Maybe well 'see' each other in another story....I'm pathetic. I know.*puts hand behind her head*

Bye Kaeera