Notes: Okay, BIG EXCUSE for the delay! This chapter was getting out of hand, so I decided to post the first part before you all kill me. I know that I'm very late with this*people start throwing tomatoes* Yes, yes, I know that I earn it*splash* .....BUT NOT IN THE FACE!!! *coughs*I just thought that it was so.....interesting to torture Wildwing*beams* Hopefully Part B will be finished soon!....Do you know how difficult it can be to write about snow, ice and freezing when it's so hot outside that you sit in underwear in front of the computer???

^^A big hug to Dolphy who corrected some of my spelling mistakes and with whom I am writing a mighty Ducks story! Beware, people! Crazyness ensues! And a big huh to all the other MDA's!! Weirdness rules!

You know

that the others need you

you feel

that they trust you

And then

you let them down.....

To Face the Fears

by Kaeera

Chapter 7(Part A): Letting you down

The first thing he felt was the cold. An immense cold. His fingers were numb and his whole body was shivering uncontrollably. Wildwing cracked one eye open and noticed a white sky over him. Slowly his brain started thinking while little pieces of cold met his body, causing him pain.
Although he had been born on an ice planet, he had never felt such a... cold weather before. It was far behind cold, it was freezing.
He opened the other eye and tried to collect his thoughts, which was a great problem. It was snowing.
The duck wanted to say something, but his beak was frozen together. So he just stumbled up on his knees and hugged himself. It was so damn cold...

Where am I?

Wildwing looked around, but all he could see was white. Snow, Snow and ice, not even trees or rocks. Or at least he didn't see them because of the snow. The countryside was flat. The duck massaged his face with his hands until he could finally open his mouth. "Nosedive?", he wanted to shout immediately, but he could only croak a weak '....dive...', He coughed and stood up, swaying unsteadily on his feet. Thousand tiny needles of cold pierced into his face, his body, torturing him. He cursed slightly that he just wore his normal fighting outfit. The weather in Anaheim was nice and warm.

I'm not in Anaheim.

The realization sank slowly into his head. Wildwing wondered why his brain was working so slow, but shoved it aside as a side effect of the cold. He wasn't in Anaheim, that was sure. The area more resembled the north pole or something like that.

And where are the others?

He scanned again the landscape, but couldn't discover much - which didn't mean anything. Due to the snow, he could only see three meters far, not the best qualifications for a search. Nevertheless the duck started to walk through the icy storm, determined to find his friends, and, if possible, an explanation for all this.

His only problem was that he probably would freeze to death until he reached anyone...His fingers were already numb and starting to become blue. The same with his face, not to speak from his feet.

That's my luck....stranded in a giant fridge with clothes for a nice summer day...no clue where the others are and how I got here.

Wildwing bit his teeth together. Now wasn't the right point of time to complain. He had the responsibility for the others; he was the leader. Maybe they were in danger, or they wandered around like him, lost and freezing. Then it was his job to reunite them. After all, Canard had given him the responsibility along with the....
The mask!

Wildwing groaned. How could he have forgotten it? With the mask it would be easy to scan the area for any living forms. How stupid that he hadn't thought about this before....

Now the only problem was that the mask wasn't there.

The duck couldn't believe it. His mask...Canard's mask....the precious item....had disappeared?? He looked around, hoping that maybe it would appear out of nowhere, but all he could see was white, white and...white. Wildwing stared to the ground. He had known it, from the beginning. This situation was totally impossible, cruel and...hopeless.

Tears ran down his cheeks, tears of pain, and froze immediately into tiny little ice balls. Hell, cold could really hurt! With a great effort, he started walking again. He needed to find a shelter, or he would die.

Dying! No! I can't do that to Nosedive! He would suffer. And the others are probably depending on me....I can't die!

The image of Canard came into his mind. His friend, throwing himself into the dimensional limbo only to rescue them. And trusting him, Wildwing, to lead the team to safety and to win the war against Dragaunus. The last look on his face when he slowly fell down, and the deafening scream out of Wildwing's throat. Even now this scene was hunting him in his dreams, bringing back the painful moment over and over again.
He shook his head. This was not the time for melancholic thoughts. He had to do something. He couldn't freeze to death, could he?

Freeze.

The voice echoed in his head, strangely clear and loud through the noises of the snowstorm. It was a creepy, deep voice which didn't sound like it came from any living-being. It was so...cold. Untouched. No feelings. Wildwing shivered, both of fear and of the cold. He couldn't do anything against it. This word, this single word was crawling into his head, entering his thoughts and causing an immediate fear.

Freeze. And never come back.

It laughed. A cruel and evil laughter, yet so cold that it seemed the words would break of the cold. It came from everywhere, from outside and inside his head, it echoed through the snow, came through the ground and from the sky. Wildwing shook his hand and started to run.
He was slow at first, his feet frozen and his body stiff, but after a few seconds he managed it to regain the control and speeded through the high snow. He wasn't very fast, but that didn't mind to him. He just wanted to get away, although he knew that running wouldn't help him - the voice was everywhere, so where to escape?

Fortunately the running had at least one good point - he became warm from it, and it cleared his mind a bit. Wildwing panted heavily and tried to calm down. Freaking out wouldn't help. It was just a voice, after all. It could neither hurt nor attack him. It could annoy him to death, sure, but he wouldn't let that happen. After all, he had suffered 17 painful years through all of Nosedive's pranks and jokes....if a man didn't get stronger from that, then what? Although he had to admit that it was kind of funny, now when he was just watching it, for Mallory was Nosedive's latest victim (and Phil).

The memory of his brother's latest prank made him smile. He even imagined hearing his voice....wait a moment! Didn't he really hear that? Wildwing listened carefully. There had been a weak shout, nearly unaudible...what if.....there! He had heard it again. Someone was crying out there. The duck couldn't make out the words, but the knowledge that another person was out there relieved him greatly.

"Hello?", he shouted back, waiting for a response.

"Ha...l.....e....l.....he.....", was all he could hear. With the howling of the wind and the snow in his ears it was nearly impossible to hold a conversation.

"Who's there?"

"He...l...p...."

The voice was coming from his right side, so the leader of the Mighty Ducks determined marched to the source of the voice. The snow took him every side and blindly he struggled through the whiteness, concentrating alone on the noise and nothing else. His heart was pounding.

And suddenly the storm stopped. At first he didn't realize what had happened and blinked a few times in confusion. Looking around he saw white and icy walls, and when he turned his head he could see the storm outside. He was in an ice cave. Gratefully for the change he rubbed his face free from the ice and the cold and enjoyed the feeling of being able to see again.

"Help...", came the voice again. "Who's there?", Wildwing shouted back and walked into the cave. Although not much light was coming from outside the walls glittered and illuminated the scene in a grey light. The air was cold and chilly and he still shivered, but at least he could see and walk without problems, although the floor was quite slippery. Walking around a corner, he found out who had called.

His breath stopped for the shortest of moments and his eyes became wide. In front of him was a large cave, maybe 15 meters high and at least 50 meters long. The walls were made of immense ice blocks, gigantic and shining in a mystic light. Somewhere had to be a hole, because a thin sunray was shining on the middle of the cave, lightening the darkness and revealing a person who was hanging there, head pointing to the ground, the feet tied to a thick rope.

Wildwing's eyes recognized the familiar figure, saw the red hair, now thick with ice and snow, saw the well-known fighting outfit.....he gasped.

"Mallory!"

The female duck cracked weakly one eye open. She tried to focus and could finally see her leader. A small smile formed on her lips.

"H'lo...Wing....", she coughed softly. Her face was blue. How long had she been hanging like that?

"Mallory!", Wing repeated again, this time with more force in his voice. "What happened?" Then he remembered that he maybe should free her first and then ask questions. He hurried towards the middle, sliding on the idea and nearly losing his balance. "I'll help you!", he promised and searched frantically for a way, a mechanism to help his friend. But he couldn't see anything! No rope, no ladder, no rocks to climb on, nothing!

"It's....too late....", Mallory stated with sad eyes and looked directly at Wildwing. There was something in her face, something....as if she had accepted the unacceptable, had given up, had lost her spirit....lost....A small tear dropped down her face, fell through the air, immediately freezing to ice and shimmering in the light like a shooting star. It broke on the ground.

"What do you mean by that?", the duck asked horrified, for he had never seen the fighter girl in such a state before, and it deeply frightened him.

"You...came too late....", came the weak reply, and again the knowing stare pierced through him. "It...It's over...", the corners of her lips were curling slightly, as if she tried to smile.

The rope cracked. "No!", screamed Wildwing, as Mallory started to fall down, falling down towards the hard, icy ground, head first. He jumped and raced, trying to catch her, trying to rescue her, but his feet slipped on the ice and he fell on his nose. All he could hear was a sickening 'Thumb' and then....Silence. Trembling he tried to stand up, eyes fixed on the crumbled body, on the trail of blood which was freezing, too, forming red crystals. He crawled to her, shook her, yelled at her, but her white face remained motionless.

Finally he felt for a pulse. His numb fingers didn't feel anything, but he pleaded that it was because of the cold and not because Mallory was....no, he didn't want to think of that. He listened for her breath, any life-sign he could get, but....Silence. Overwhelming silence. Just the howling of the wind, outside, the snow-storm. Slowly he dropped her hand and buried his head in his arms.

I could have helped her. If I had hurried a little bit more....if I had been a little bit faster....then she would still be alive. It's my fault, my damn fault and I...I....she will never smile again, will never hunt Nosedive down the corridors again....she was a friend, a team-member....I can't believe it....

He started to cry, his tears splashing on her face, freezing immediately and leaving traces of ice on her white cheeks.

***********************

"They were moving! I told you that they were moving!", Chameleon said to Siege. "I was standing guard, and suddenly one of these ducks moved his hands!"

"You must be stupid.", Siege growled back. "Our lord told us that they can't wake up, whatever happens. They are prisoners in their minds, and there's no way to escape. You were hallucinating."

"Am not!", the small saurian shot back insulted. "I know what I saw. What if they wake up and kill us while we're sleeping? Or what if they conquer our ship?", he waved with his arms, scared by the numerous possibilities.

"Argh!", Siege rolled his eyes and grabbed Chameleon. "We'll see if they are moving or not." The two saurians walked into the large room in which the Mighty Ducks were 'resting' in the strange liquid-filled glass boxes. He glanced at the bodies who seemed to be death and cold. "D'ya see anyone who's awake here?", he asked.

Chameleon looked around. "They did it, I swear!" Slowly he wandered through the room. "I was standing here and then I saw it...."

Siege laughed. "Weakling! Even when they wake up, they can't free themselves while they are in this boxes. The glass is unbreakable!" He chuckled and turned around. "Come on, you should stop watching this human television. It's not good for your eyes!"

"But...", Chameleon still wasn't sure and nervously rubbed his hands.

"No buts!", Siege took the smaller saurian by the shoulders and let him out of the room. "You're lucky that Dragaunus doesn't know about this. He would grill you, no kidding.", Their voices became softer and softer as they walked away from the room. Once again it was silent in the wet prison of the ducks.

Mallory's hand twitched.

*********************

He had tried to bury her corpse, but it had been impossible in the ice. The only result he got were his bleeding and hurting fingers. With a heavy heart he had left her in the cave, realizing that it was impossible for him to carry her through the snow and promising silently that he would come back and take the body to a proper grave.

Now Wildwing was continuing his way through the snowy desert, once again freezing and cursing his destiny, hating the world for putting him in a situation like this one. It was even worse now; he was being hunted by the idea that it was his fault and that he, as the leader of the Mighty Ducks, should have been there to rescue her.

They trust you

Give you the responsibility

And you fail them

let them down


His lips were pressed together, making his face unnaturally old and giving him a strict touch he didn't have before. Maybe it had been his fault, okay. But Mallory was dead, and his worrying and wailing in self-pity wouldn't help her. He still had the responsibility to bear for four other people, one of them his younger brother, and he deeply wanted to fulfil this task. Even if it cost his life.

Their eyes

Broken

Stare at you with this hurt look

And it's all your fault

Because it was your responsibility


Wildwing stumbled through the storm, which seemed to become more and more powerful with every minute that passed. Even the elements seemed to have to fight against him. Forgotten was the question where he was, or why, now his heart was burning with only one emotion: determination, the determination to find the others and to come back home, to safety.

He didn't allow himself to think of his frozen and blue hands, or of his feet which he didn't feel anymore. He didn't allow himself to wince at the piercing pain he felt every time the cold wind blew into his face.

Suddenly he fell to the ground, his feet stumbling over a small...something in the snow. It was dark, maybe a rock. Wing landed flat on his face and cursed under his breath. Slowly he tried to rose, when he saw something. For a moment his heart stopped beating. One part of the dark thing was formed like a hand, a motionless hand which was laying on the ground. His eyes followed the arm, wandered over the body, the body over which he had stumbled and of which he had assumed that it had been a rock. He crawled nearer and touched carefully the person, whoever it was.

Right then the storm stopped blowing for a moment, enough so that Wildwing could see a little bit more than just schemes. With a growing fear he realized that the person on the ground had a beak....it was a duck?

No....not another friend, please....

With shaking hands he turned the corpse around, stared into a blue and frozen face, looked into wide-open eyes, eyes which didn't see anymore, which were silent, lost, empty, dead. He saw the familiar muscular and giant body, saw the hair which was pulled up in a small little ponytail....and he started crying, again, for the second time this day. "Not you too, Grin....", he whispered sadly, his tears dripping on the snow. With a trembling hand he closed the eyes of his friend. This Grin would never watch TV with Nosedive again...he would never meditate in the kitchen, would never annoy the others with his Zen-Stuff, would never....live again.

It's just not fair....Mallory and Grin, they both didn't earn this. They should live peacefully at home, they shouldn't lie in the snow and be dead like that....it's so unfair!

Then he realized that there was another corpse which was laying beside Grin. For a moment he was too scared to move, he feared that it would be another one of his friends, another duck....and he knew that he couldn't bear that right now. On the other hand he knew that he couldn't just walk away like that. The questions would hunt him for the rest of his life, so Wildwing quickly stepped to the other body and examined in closely, although his heart was aching.

As soon as he saw the blonde hair and the familiar overall, he knew who it was. Nontheless he turned the head of the corpse to see her face. The eyes of the female duck were wide open, seeming to stare through Wildwing, at a point wide after him only she could see. Her long blonde hair was frozen and her beak was slightly opened, in a last scream. There were the marks of fear in her face, a fear of the death, fear of the one and only thing nobody wants to face.

Wildwing covered his eyes with his hand and sank on the ground. "Tanya....", was all he could croak. Suddenly he felt so very lost and alone. His friends, his family, they were dead, and he hadn't helped them. He had come to late, and now they died. He should at least have died with them - for him it seemed to be unfair that he was alive while they were....well, dead.

But life's never fair...the ducks back on Puckworld didn't earn the invasion either. We were a peaceful race. But they just attacked and so many died...so many friends...

"WING!", a shout let him jerk up out of his dark thoughts. His eyes widened as he recognized the all-too familiar voice, a voice which he would know under thousand elses..."Nosedive!", he jumped up and looked around, his eyes narrowing as he searched for a sign of the young teen.

"NOSEDIVE, WHERE ARE YOU?", he shouted and waited eagerly for a response.

"WING! HELP ME!", came the reply, full of fear and panic. Wing's feet moved without him knowing, and he realized that he was running towards the source, leaving the dead bodies behind. Now the first priority was to help his brother. He sprinted through the snow with all his powers.

"Wing...", Nosedive was basically in the same position Mallory had been. He was hanging in the air, under him a giant hole of which Wildwing couldn't see the ground. It had to be very deep, and if someone fell into it, he was surely a death person. Wing gulped and waved to his brother. "Nosedive! I'm here!"

Nosedive looked up, his blonde hair covering his eyes, and a relieved look crossed his face. "Man, Wing, it was time. I don't think that the rope will hold any longer." He motioned to the thin rope which was the only thing which prevented him from falling down.

To his horror Wildwing saw that it wouldn't hold any longer, at one place it was as thin as a spaghetti. He had to hurry! He clearly remembered Mallory, and didn't want that the same happened to his brother. "Hold on!", he screamed and climbed to the other end of the hole. The rope had to be tied to something, and he had to find it.

"Hey, I'm just hanging here.", Nosedive joked and looked at his brother with trustful eyes. "Just waited for my personal super-hero."
Wildwing smiled, although his heart started bleeding when he heard these words. I am no superhero...I have failed three other friends....
A soft sound irritated him, and he saw that the rope was getting thinner and thinner. No time to think! Act! He took the other end of the rope and....didn't know what to do.

"Wing....", came the panicked question of Nosedive. "I don't think that it holds any longer." He looked up with frightened eyes. "Please hurry, I....", he was interrupted by the loud CRACK of the rope. His eyes widened as he started to fall down, and he stared at Wildwing with a shocked and.-...sad look on his face. Wing's mouth formed the word 'No', but no sound came out. Frozen he watched how his brother fell down, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Nosedive's mouth opened. "WIIIIIIINNNNNNG!", he screamed full of terror and stretched his hand out, but he fell into the gigantic hole, leaving Wing standing at the side with the - now senseless - rope in his hands.

The sound of Nosedive's scream echoed through the scenery. The duck was like frozen. Staring into the rope he listened for a sound, anything, but all he could hear was silence. The wind howled softly and a cold breeze let him shudder. "Nosedive...", he whispered out of dry lips. The rope fell out of his lifeless hands and he kneeled on the ground. "No. No. Nonononono.", he repeated over and over again, as if the words were a magical sentence which could bring back his brother. "That's not possible, this can't be, he can't be dead, Nosedive...", a single tear rolled down his cheek and froze to a crystal. It was all too fast for him....Mallory, Grin, Tanya...and Nosedive.

Why haven't I been faster? Why didn't I help him? Why couldn't I help him? He trusted me, dammit! He....he looked at me with these eyes of his, with this trustful look...and I? I failed him, I let him down....I didn't earn this trust. No....it was my responsibility. I'm the leader. I'm the leader and I am responsible for my team. They trust me, I care for them. Somewhere in this story I made the wrong decision...and now they are dead, vanished, and all because of me...

Wildwing wanted to cry, but couldn't. His eyes were dry. Slowly he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes. If the others were dead, he didn't want to live anymore either. It was just equal, wasn't it?

***************

"This duck seems to react very good.", Wraith commented. "I didn't expect that."

Dragaunus chuckled. "It's logical. After all he's the leader. Too much responsibility, and he's one of the sensible types. He thinks too much. Something you shouldn't do in an important position. You must accept that from time to time you can lose some of your soldiers.", an evil grin appeared on his face.

Wraith nodded. "How true, my lord."

"It's a pleasure to see my greatest enemy like this.", Dragaunus was in a happy mood. He was sitting in his gigantic chair and eating some popcorn - the only human meal he had learned to accept during his life-time on this planet. It was just perfect for watching anything, especially something entertaining like the mental death of a duck!

"I just hope that the others are safe and can't escape.", he shot a threatening glance towards the other saurian.

"Uhm....", Wraith stuttered. "They can't escape. There are the glass boxes to which they are tied. And they are still sleeping under the influence of medicaments. They shouldn't wake up during the next 48 hours."

"Hmpf.", the lord made. "I know these ducks. They always find an escape. I want you to control them every hour, understood?"

Wraith sighed defeated and agreed to this - in his eyes - totally senseless order. He had seen the glass boxes, the walls were thicker than his hands! And even when the ducks had managed it to escape his mental horror scenarios...they were still sleeping and there were many methods of torturing somebody...

"Hmm, maybe I will take a walk later and visit them in their glassy prisons.", Dragaunus roared of laughter. "Like animals in the snow, my personal freak show. What a triumph! What a pleasure!"

Wraith felt the sudden urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, master.", he made and looked on the ground.

Somewhere else, in the dark prisons of six seemingly dead ducks, the eyebrow of a grey-feathered duck was twitching slightly.

To be continued....