Author's Notes 3/26/02:
Ack! I'm sorry for taking so long with this Chapter. It wasn't the easiest to finish, let me tell you! I hope you all like it, and feed me more reviews so I can continue to spit out chapters!
~Windresss
Disclaimer: Hey, I thought of something in this Story I can Claim!!! The big nasty (and now dead) Scorpion-Bull Man! yep, he's all mine (and I'm proud?). Oh, and the Cactus is mine! (Read the Chapter, you'll understand)
Never Say Forever.
Chapter 4: Forever is a Long time
~~One Day Ago; NoseDive Flashblade's Room~~
Bare Feet stumbled on a Captain Justice Action figure, and the injured limb was instantly cradled in feathered hands, followed by a soft oath in the darkness.
NoseDive carefully re-lowered his foot, continuing to sneak about his room with rushed stealth.
After making his decision to root out his bro, Dive felt immensely better. Deep inside, he knew he was making the right decision, no matter if the others didn't believe him.
'I don't need their help anyhow.'
The teenaged duck stuffed a few comics, three shirts, another pair of ripped jeans, two sandwiches, and a triple spicy taco he found in his drawer into a large duffel bag with the teams logo embroidered on the front. After a moment's consideration, a pair of underwear and a few more comics followed the rest of the supplies, the zipper closing with a soft hiss.
The youngest team member of the Mighty Ducks checked his watch, squinting in the semi-darkness, '3:00 AM....I'm going to have to be careful..'
He slipped from his room, creeping down the hall with a silence that would do Duke proud. Sneaking into the hanger, he dropped his bag onto the back of the remaining duck cycle, then kicked up its kickstand, wheeling it to the hanger doors.
It took some effort to open the hanger manually. Tanya had, of course, made it an option just in case they lost power, but she hadn't said it would take the whole blasted team to do it. The blonde duck panted as he worked, "When I get back, I'm going to have to tell Tanya about this...its just ridiculous."
At last, he breathed in the soft breeze of the early morning. Pushing the bike to the side of the road bordering Anaheim, Dive started it up, suddenly filled with fresh excitement.
A little fiddling with the cycle's computer and Dive had it picking up the tracking device on WildWing's bike, surprised to find that it was in some no name valley in Mexico.
"Whoa, now I -know- something is up," The duck slung his leg over the vehicle, eager to get on the road.
"Big Bro, here I come!"
*****
Sweat rolled down NoseDive's Spine, making his already sticky T-Shirt cling to his back beneath the oppression of an early afternoon sun.
'Geez-louise, is everything just naturally hotter in Mexico or what?' The young duck squinted from behind his goggles, trying again to wet his parched beak. Lucky he wasn't out of gas, he'd be hard pressed to find any in this wasteland.
The haze of the road before him looked exactly like that of the blacktop behind him. Nondescript, and completely barren of life.
He'd been driving the Duck Cycle through a perpetual dust cloud for the last four hours, and was beginning to wonder if it would ever come to an end. He considered stopping and breaking open a map, but the consistent blast of hot wind was the only thing keeping him from evaporating all together.
For the millionth time since he'd given up wiping sweat from his brow, NoseDive had to wonder, 'Just what the heck is WildWing -doing- out here??'
He finally sat back slightly on the cycle, easing off the throttle to coast the machine to the side of the road, hoping that he could at least avoiding te rising heat of the pavemented highway.
'...man am I thirsty...' The blonde duck chided himself for not thinking to pack any drinks, grabbing up the final half of a ham sandwich, munching on it gingerly. Everything tastes like sand after you eat enough of it.
He quickly punched a few buttons on his bike's computer, checking the tracking device to WildWing's own vehicle.
Abruptly, he stopped chewing, surprised to see that he was all but on top of the bleeping dot that indicated his brother's location.
"What the..." The teenager glanced over the empty stretch of highway suspiciously. He saw a cactus, but nothing else for miles.
Leaning over the small computer, his fingertips tapped the screen, rechecking the coordinates. The bleeping remained steady. "Humph."
A moment passed in silence, NoseDive scratching at his beak.
"..well, as long as I'm here..." The blonde duck's gazw swiveled to the lonely looking plant a distance form the road. He remembered seeing something on the Discovery Channel, which he occasionally watched for laughs, about cacti retaining water during the day.
Surely, he could find a way to -get- that water, right?
Swinging his leg from the bike, Dive lowered the kickstand and strode towards the lone silhouette of the cactus. He decided to go for the direct approach, pulling out his puck launcher and taking aim.
Firing a round, he gave a yelp and, true to his namesake, dove for cover in the dirt as the puck ricocheted off the plant, which, oddly enough, clanged metallically.
"Whoa..."
Sitting up, the young duck wiped grit from his goggle's and peered at the uninjured cactus, his eyes narrowing. He rose, walking closer to it.
'Looks normal... but I've tangled with Chameleon enough to have learned my lesson about appearances.. and I'll be a Human's Uncle if this isn't somehow connected to Wing's disappearance'
Tentatively, NoseDive reached up and rapped on the plant. it again clanged hollowly, its surface deceptive of what lay beneath. 'Not real?...then...'
The Mighty Duck spent the next 20 minutes searching the cactus carefully for any buttons, knobs, or...well, -any-thing that would resemble a "on" switch.
'No one would just put a metal cactus out in the middle of no where.... there's -got- to be something here!'
He stepped back with a grumble of frustration, feathered fingers running quickly through his blonde mane. 'This isn't working...'
"Stupid Cactus." Dive glared at the inanimate object, "Give me my Brother!"
He raised a booted foot, rearing it back and kicking the metal form as hard as he could. To his surprise, it groaned, its wide base tilting slowly as if on hinges. Then is simply...fell over.
NoseDive blinked, peering at the hole in the ground where the cactus had once stood. There was a ladder in the hole, leading down...
"Well, then..."
~~Present Day; Underground Prison~~
Rust-stained fingers slipped from bloodstained ones
… Falling... falling...
Before being once again caught in a large, feathered palm.
"Dive...Dive look at me...open your eyes, bro..." The voice called from so far away, it was a wonder he heard it at all. Even if he yelled, NoseDive doubted his voice would reach the familiar presence calling him.
Panic shook WildWing, his eyes flaring wide as he was met with nothing more than an eerie silence, "NOSEDIVE!"
Heavy eyelids slowly eclipsed the dilated orbs of the blonde duck's pupils, gazing at WildWing with momentary disconcertion. Nonetheless, the elder duck released a sigh of relief he hadn't been aware he was holding...
Keeping the slack hand tight in his own, he reached with his other palm to brush his thumb over his little brother's cheeks, wiping gently at salty tears, his face leaning close, "Dive, stay with me...concentrate on my voice...."
When the younger duck's gaze regained clarity, Wing felt heartened, "Baby Bro..." He felt at a loss..
'Just tell him how you feel..' His mind reminded him of all he hadn't said, and the white headed duck again found his voice...
"Stars, Dive... don't be sorry..."
His beak tightened, swallowing quickly, "I never want you to feel that you burden me, ok?... Not in the past, not now.... and not in the future..."
"..You...You are the only family I have, the only person I would ever wish call my family." The team leader continued to stroke his brother's face as he spoke.
"When we were little, you were the reason I got up in the morning...the reason I tried at all. When Dragonaus invaded Puckworld, your vivaciousness in the face of all that pain and suffering gave me heart...kept me alive..."
WildWing's eyes held NoseDive's, glinting with unshed tears and unspoken fervor, "And now, everyday, your support convinces me that I *am* worthy of leading the sole resistance against those that threaten our planet...that I can make a mistake and still end on top..."
His voice roughened, growing thick with the weight of emotion, "Stars, Dive.... forget Canard. Forget the Team. Forget them all...I don't want them...and I sure as hell don't need them...
...not like I need you, baby bro....'cause I love you more than I do my own life..."
Nosedive's lanky body, so deformed by injury, shuddered with his quiet, painful sobs, his fresh tears dampening WildWing's fingertips.
In the silence that followed, broken only by senseless crooning thrummed in the older duck's throat, the heavy breathing of the Dive's crying hitched, then eased, growing slow and far between...
Smaller fingers tightened, linked in large ones. The strength behind the effort was feeble, fading even as the blonde duck spoke.
"...n..needed...to...to hear..that..."
The screaming inside WildWing intensified, his head slowly shaking, neck moving mechanically...
"...Love.... you...t-too..."
Whispered words, and the light in ND's eyes flared with supernova brilliance, then dimmed slowly...into darkness..
And then the Screaming broke free, torn agonizingly from a raw throat on a broken wail, its chord weeping of grief impossible to contain..
...Rust-Stained fingers slipped from Blood-stained ones...
...Falling... falling...
*** ::Hands out Tissues, taking one for herself:: You all have no idea how difficult it was to write this Chapter...but you know what we all have to look forward to? THE NEXT ONE! That's right, this isn't the end. Not by a Loooooooooong Shot! ***
Ack! I'm sorry for taking so long with this Chapter. It wasn't the easiest to finish, let me tell you! I hope you all like it, and feed me more reviews so I can continue to spit out chapters!
~Windresss
Disclaimer: Hey, I thought of something in this Story I can Claim!!! The big nasty (and now dead) Scorpion-Bull Man! yep, he's all mine (and I'm proud?). Oh, and the Cactus is mine! (Read the Chapter, you'll understand)
Never Say Forever.
Chapter 4: Forever is a Long time
~~One Day Ago; NoseDive Flashblade's Room~~
Bare Feet stumbled on a Captain Justice Action figure, and the injured limb was instantly cradled in feathered hands, followed by a soft oath in the darkness.
NoseDive carefully re-lowered his foot, continuing to sneak about his room with rushed stealth.
After making his decision to root out his bro, Dive felt immensely better. Deep inside, he knew he was making the right decision, no matter if the others didn't believe him.
'I don't need their help anyhow.'
The teenaged duck stuffed a few comics, three shirts, another pair of ripped jeans, two sandwiches, and a triple spicy taco he found in his drawer into a large duffel bag with the teams logo embroidered on the front. After a moment's consideration, a pair of underwear and a few more comics followed the rest of the supplies, the zipper closing with a soft hiss.
The youngest team member of the Mighty Ducks checked his watch, squinting in the semi-darkness, '3:00 AM....I'm going to have to be careful..'
He slipped from his room, creeping down the hall with a silence that would do Duke proud. Sneaking into the hanger, he dropped his bag onto the back of the remaining duck cycle, then kicked up its kickstand, wheeling it to the hanger doors.
It took some effort to open the hanger manually. Tanya had, of course, made it an option just in case they lost power, but she hadn't said it would take the whole blasted team to do it. The blonde duck panted as he worked, "When I get back, I'm going to have to tell Tanya about this...its just ridiculous."
At last, he breathed in the soft breeze of the early morning. Pushing the bike to the side of the road bordering Anaheim, Dive started it up, suddenly filled with fresh excitement.
A little fiddling with the cycle's computer and Dive had it picking up the tracking device on WildWing's bike, surprised to find that it was in some no name valley in Mexico.
"Whoa, now I -know- something is up," The duck slung his leg over the vehicle, eager to get on the road.
"Big Bro, here I come!"
*****
Sweat rolled down NoseDive's Spine, making his already sticky T-Shirt cling to his back beneath the oppression of an early afternoon sun.
'Geez-louise, is everything just naturally hotter in Mexico or what?' The young duck squinted from behind his goggles, trying again to wet his parched beak. Lucky he wasn't out of gas, he'd be hard pressed to find any in this wasteland.
The haze of the road before him looked exactly like that of the blacktop behind him. Nondescript, and completely barren of life.
He'd been driving the Duck Cycle through a perpetual dust cloud for the last four hours, and was beginning to wonder if it would ever come to an end. He considered stopping and breaking open a map, but the consistent blast of hot wind was the only thing keeping him from evaporating all together.
For the millionth time since he'd given up wiping sweat from his brow, NoseDive had to wonder, 'Just what the heck is WildWing -doing- out here??'
He finally sat back slightly on the cycle, easing off the throttle to coast the machine to the side of the road, hoping that he could at least avoiding te rising heat of the pavemented highway.
'...man am I thirsty...' The blonde duck chided himself for not thinking to pack any drinks, grabbing up the final half of a ham sandwich, munching on it gingerly. Everything tastes like sand after you eat enough of it.
He quickly punched a few buttons on his bike's computer, checking the tracking device to WildWing's own vehicle.
Abruptly, he stopped chewing, surprised to see that he was all but on top of the bleeping dot that indicated his brother's location.
"What the..." The teenager glanced over the empty stretch of highway suspiciously. He saw a cactus, but nothing else for miles.
Leaning over the small computer, his fingertips tapped the screen, rechecking the coordinates. The bleeping remained steady. "Humph."
A moment passed in silence, NoseDive scratching at his beak.
"..well, as long as I'm here..." The blonde duck's gazw swiveled to the lonely looking plant a distance form the road. He remembered seeing something on the Discovery Channel, which he occasionally watched for laughs, about cacti retaining water during the day.
Surely, he could find a way to -get- that water, right?
Swinging his leg from the bike, Dive lowered the kickstand and strode towards the lone silhouette of the cactus. He decided to go for the direct approach, pulling out his puck launcher and taking aim.
Firing a round, he gave a yelp and, true to his namesake, dove for cover in the dirt as the puck ricocheted off the plant, which, oddly enough, clanged metallically.
"Whoa..."
Sitting up, the young duck wiped grit from his goggle's and peered at the uninjured cactus, his eyes narrowing. He rose, walking closer to it.
'Looks normal... but I've tangled with Chameleon enough to have learned my lesson about appearances.. and I'll be a Human's Uncle if this isn't somehow connected to Wing's disappearance'
Tentatively, NoseDive reached up and rapped on the plant. it again clanged hollowly, its surface deceptive of what lay beneath. 'Not real?...then...'
The Mighty Duck spent the next 20 minutes searching the cactus carefully for any buttons, knobs, or...well, -any-thing that would resemble a "on" switch.
'No one would just put a metal cactus out in the middle of no where.... there's -got- to be something here!'
He stepped back with a grumble of frustration, feathered fingers running quickly through his blonde mane. 'This isn't working...'
"Stupid Cactus." Dive glared at the inanimate object, "Give me my Brother!"
He raised a booted foot, rearing it back and kicking the metal form as hard as he could. To his surprise, it groaned, its wide base tilting slowly as if on hinges. Then is simply...fell over.
NoseDive blinked, peering at the hole in the ground where the cactus had once stood. There was a ladder in the hole, leading down...
"Well, then..."
~~Present Day; Underground Prison~~
Rust-stained fingers slipped from bloodstained ones
… Falling... falling...
Before being once again caught in a large, feathered palm.
"Dive...Dive look at me...open your eyes, bro..." The voice called from so far away, it was a wonder he heard it at all. Even if he yelled, NoseDive doubted his voice would reach the familiar presence calling him.
Panic shook WildWing, his eyes flaring wide as he was met with nothing more than an eerie silence, "NOSEDIVE!"
Heavy eyelids slowly eclipsed the dilated orbs of the blonde duck's pupils, gazing at WildWing with momentary disconcertion. Nonetheless, the elder duck released a sigh of relief he hadn't been aware he was holding...
Keeping the slack hand tight in his own, he reached with his other palm to brush his thumb over his little brother's cheeks, wiping gently at salty tears, his face leaning close, "Dive, stay with me...concentrate on my voice...."
When the younger duck's gaze regained clarity, Wing felt heartened, "Baby Bro..." He felt at a loss..
'Just tell him how you feel..' His mind reminded him of all he hadn't said, and the white headed duck again found his voice...
"Stars, Dive... don't be sorry..."
His beak tightened, swallowing quickly, "I never want you to feel that you burden me, ok?... Not in the past, not now.... and not in the future..."
"..You...You are the only family I have, the only person I would ever wish call my family." The team leader continued to stroke his brother's face as he spoke.
"When we were little, you were the reason I got up in the morning...the reason I tried at all. When Dragonaus invaded Puckworld, your vivaciousness in the face of all that pain and suffering gave me heart...kept me alive..."
WildWing's eyes held NoseDive's, glinting with unshed tears and unspoken fervor, "And now, everyday, your support convinces me that I *am* worthy of leading the sole resistance against those that threaten our planet...that I can make a mistake and still end on top..."
His voice roughened, growing thick with the weight of emotion, "Stars, Dive.... forget Canard. Forget the Team. Forget them all...I don't want them...and I sure as hell don't need them...
...not like I need you, baby bro....'cause I love you more than I do my own life..."
Nosedive's lanky body, so deformed by injury, shuddered with his quiet, painful sobs, his fresh tears dampening WildWing's fingertips.
In the silence that followed, broken only by senseless crooning thrummed in the older duck's throat, the heavy breathing of the Dive's crying hitched, then eased, growing slow and far between...
Smaller fingers tightened, linked in large ones. The strength behind the effort was feeble, fading even as the blonde duck spoke.
"...n..needed...to...to hear..that..."
The screaming inside WildWing intensified, his head slowly shaking, neck moving mechanically...
"...Love.... you...t-too..."
Whispered words, and the light in ND's eyes flared with supernova brilliance, then dimmed slowly...into darkness..
And then the Screaming broke free, torn agonizingly from a raw throat on a broken wail, its chord weeping of grief impossible to contain..
...Rust-Stained fingers slipped from Blood-stained ones...
...Falling... falling...
*** ::Hands out Tissues, taking one for herself:: You all have no idea how difficult it was to write this Chapter...but you know what we all have to look forward to? THE NEXT ONE! That's right, this isn't the end. Not by a Loooooooooong Shot! ***