Disclaimer - I don't own 'em, but seriously the people who do aren't going
to be lurking around on FF.net.
Author's Note - Okay folks, this is the last real chapter for this. I don't really know anything about Saurian anatomy (who does?!?), so I'm kind of making this shit up as I go along. I'm going to have one little epilogue thing after this, but that's not really a big deal. Enjoy this next installment! *Waves* Oh, and by the way, special thanks to Lady Silver, who's been helping me out with my other fic ideas, you rock Jen! And yes, we are starting the revolution, and we *will* win them over.
For the Love of Life - Chapter Nine
Mallory sat crouched on one of the hard, uncomfortable waiting room chairs inside the ER unit of the Anaheim Regional Hospital. She sat with her legs drawn up against her chest, and her forehead resting on her knees, her arms encircling her legs and blocking her face from view. She lifted her head, surveying her teammates, they all looked weary and exhausted, and they all carried and expression of premature grief on their faces. Wildwing was holding a trembling Nosedive, the younger of the two Flashblade brothers crying openly into the elder's comforting embrace. Wildwing had shed a few tears as well; the tracks they had left behind had dried many hours before though. Occasionally Wildwing would look up from his fixed position on the floor in front of him and steal a quick glance at Mallory, but it was no way in the least worth any substantial amount of comfort. Grin sat in a chair to the right of Mallory, his face was stone cold and emotionless, but all that passed him by knew that he was grieving inside. Mallory rested her down on her knees once again and repeated the chant that was her only salvation from breaking down into tears.
'Soldiers don't cry...soldiers don't cry...soldiers don't cry...'
Several hours later, a very disheveled and morose looking Duke walked drudgingly into the room. All four team members residing in the waiting room looked up at his presence.
"They gave her drugs to induce labor," began Duke, with the rest holding their breath, "the twins were stillborn, a boy and a girl. God damn those Saurians, why did they do this to her, I thought they were dead!"
Duke was choking back tears at his own words, crumbling the surgical mask that he had been forced to wear during the entire process of Tanya's labor. He threw it to the ground and began to sob, slumping against the cinderblock wall and slowly sliding to the ground. Mallory looked up once again, and got up from her seat moving over to Duke to try and offer him, at the very least, a shoulder to cry on. She was never good at comforting those in pain, but for all of the bullshit that she had put him through over the past couple of years, this was the least she could do for him. Duke readily accepted her offer, as soon as she sat next to him he collapsed into her body, sobbing hysterically and shaking as hard as he was crying. Mallory knew that this was affecting him deeply; normally he was reserved and very secretive, now he was openly mourning for world to see, and Mallory became genuinely worried for him. After a few minutes, Duke stood up, forcing his sobbing to stop, tearing himself away from Mallory.
"I gotta go back in there, be strong for Tanya." Duke wiped away his remaining tears, his chest hurting from the unreleased tension and grief that he could not expose.
Duke's figure retreated around the maze of hallways, and everyone watched him leave until he could no longer be seen.
Wildwing looked down at his brother, gently napping in his arms after his long fit of tears and sorrow. There were many questions running through his mind, leaving him restless with curiosity and itching for the answers. After some deliberation and several hours of just uselessly sitting in the hospital waiting room, he decided that it was time to go back to the Pond, he knew that he would find all he needed there. Picking up his now sleeping brother, Wildwing got up and handed off Nosedive's thrashing, unconscious form to Grin.
"Watch over him for me, I'm going back to the Pond."
Grin only nodded silently and reached out his arms to take Nosedive. Wildwing walked over the corner where Mallory still sit, unable to move from the spot where Duke had laid against her, sobbing. Wildwing crouched down to her still form and offered her his hand.
"Come on Mal," he said gently, "I want to go back to the Pond and I want you to come with me." He laid his beak right next to her ear, whispering, "We can be alone there, you can cry, and we can be together."
Mallory perked up ever so slightly at his suggestion. Ever since the Saurians had teleported out and left Tanya in a bleeding mess on the floor all Mallory had wanted was for Wildwing to be there for her, giving her the comfort she so desperately needed. She lightly placed her hand in his, letting him pull her up, and together they walked out from the hospital. What they saw as they exited was appalling. The paparazzi and the media were everywhere, flooding the hospital's main entrance, their flashes and questions going off as Mallory and Wildwing stepped out of the door. They both placed their arms over their eyes to block the blinding light from the countless amount of cameras going off around them. Wildwing was the first to speak up, firing a puck into the air to silence the massive crowd, a trick that he had learned long ago from Mallory.
"We have no comments for any of you, nor will we ever. This business is between our friends and ourselves, the details of our personal lives does not involve the public, or any of you, in any way.
The crowd picked up their questioning within a heartbeat of Wildwing's ending words. Furious, Wildwing grabbed the wrist of a rather enraged Mallory, preventing her from lashing out at anyone while in extraordinary emotional turmoil. He signaled her to just move forward with his hand, and together they barreled through the crowd and shoved people aside until they had reached the parking lot. From there, they ran in one random direction, trying to outrun the media and find their vehicle all at the same time. Finally spotting the Migrator, they hopped in, started up the ignition and drove off. Mallory curled up in her seat, watching the road and random objects near it pass by in a blur, the unshed tears in her eyes clouding her vision further. Wildwing saw Mallory's trance like state and pried one hand off of the steering wheel to lay it on her shoulder. She leaned her head on it and watched Wildwing drive until they arrived at the Pond. More paparazzi blocked the entrance to their home, and all of Mallory's anger exploded all at once.
"Oh, this is just too fucking much!"
In her fit of fury, Mallory grabbed a puck bazooka and exited the Migrator quickly, before Wildwing could slow her down. She came into view of the large crowd of media, and aimed the bazooka directly at the middle of them.
"Alright you little shits, listen up. We have absolutely nothing to say to any of you, now get the fuck away from all of and stay away before I blast all of your asses to kingdom come..."
She was interrupted by Wildwing grabbing her wrist and wrenching the bazooka away from her iron grip.
"Sorry about that folks, we're all just a bit tired, but we really would like you to leave, please. If you don't, we will call the police and have you all fined and removed from the area. It's your choice."
The already silent crowd dispersed and Wildwing, with his grip still on Mallory, dragged them both inside the Pond. Once he had them both in his bedroom, his scolding of her actions began.
"Mallory, what the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just go around threatening people like that, it could be grounds for them all to sue..."
"You just don't get it, do you?" She screamed as silent, fat tears began streaming down her face, "Tanya just lost her fucking kids, Wing, and the damn media are just showing up everywhere trying to create some dramatic, emmy-winning story out of all of our misery!"
Wildwing stepped forward, holding out his arms to her, not only as an apology, but a source of comfort as well. She collapsed into him, finally crying openly, clutching onto Wildwing as if her life depended on it.
Wildwing whispered softly into her hair, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't yell at you, I..."
"No", said Mallory in between sobs, "I shouldn't...have done that...I'm sorry..."
He carried her over to his bed and they both laid there, sobbing and seeking comfort in the love that they carried for each other. An hour later, Wildwing and Mallory laid in the same spot, only now instead of crying they were resting, letting their bodies recuperate from their emotional outbursts, and taking some much needed time to be alone with each other. Wildwing was the first to rise, reaching out for Mallory to come with him.
"Mal, I have a couple of questions about this whole thing that I think I can find the answers to, you want to come and help?" His tone was gentle, and the grasp he had on her was loving.
"Yeah", said Mallory weakly, "I'll come."
He picked her up off the bed, and began to carry her out the door.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking, you know."
"I know, but how often to I get the chance to carry you? You know, the whole 'Knight in shining armor' bit."
"You're always my knight in shining armor."
Wildwing had no other response to her comment than to kiss her deeply, letting his grip on her tighten and his heart burst with love. For this moment, all the tragedy that surrounded Mallory and Wildwing vanished, leaving them surrounded by the deep affection that they shared. The moment languished, as did the kiss, and Wildwing let Mallory rest in his arms while he walked to Tanya's lab. Several moments later, they arrived at their destination, both exhausted, but on a mission to search for answers.
"Mal, you want to help me, all the search is going to require is a scant bit of reading."
Mallory shifted in Wildwing's arms, struggling to stay awake long enough to help him.
"Sure, just put me down and I can..." Mallory's sentence was interrupted by a rather loud yawn, "help you out."
They both stood, looking at Tanya's vast amounts of books, many had been brought from Puckworld, containing some of their last links to their native homeland. Mallory leaned her body against Wildwing, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"So what are we looking for, Wing?"
"Saurian anatomy"
"Why the hell........."
"I'll explain later."
"Okay..." Mallory rolled her eyes suspiciously.
Around an hour later, Mallory and Wildwing had scoured the entire collection of books; only one had matched the criteria that Wildwing had been looking for. He and Mallory hunched over it, scanning through the pages until Wildwing had found the section he was looking for.
"Fatalities in Saurians", Wildwing repeated the title at the top of the page.
"Is this what you were looking for?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Wildwing trailed off as he read through the text, stopping as he saw the exact information he was looking for.
"Mallory, when you finally ran Dragaunus through your knife, back when we first thought we had defeated him, where did you get him?"
"Uh, let me think...Dead center, I should have pierced his heart."
"Oh no..."
"What? What is it Wing?"
"According to this, Mallory, you only got him in the chest cavity. It says here that male Saurians above 7 feet in height develop two hearts in their mid-teens. One moves to the far left of the chest, while the other moves to the far right. Apparently, both are necessary at that height to pump the massive amount of blood needed to run their bodies. It also says here that when approached with a threat of defeat and/or death in battle, Saurians will use their ability of feigning death in order to trick the enemy."
"So we never killed him that first time." Mallory's voice dropped in disappointment.
"His goons just played dead, when we left, they just teleported out of there and dragged Dragaunus back with them."
Both Mallory and Wildwing remained silent for a moment, knowing now that the only reason the Saurians had attacked the Pond again was because of their entire teams' inexcusable lack of knowledge about the enemy they were fighting. The silence was broken by a rather frustrated Mallory, slamming her small, delicate fist into the table with all the power she could muster.
"Damn it! We beat the crap out of them and they always just come right back for more. I'm so sick of this! It was fine back when it was just us six and the worst damage they did was a few flesh wounds. It's different now, they actually killed two of us Wing, they stole the lives of innocent children without any thought to it!"
Mallory's chest was heaving in anger, her breath becoming rapid and her face reddening.
"If you need me I'll be in the gym, I need to punch something."
Wildwing decided not to follow her, giving her some space to herself, but after an hour of not hearing a single word from her, he went to go make sure she was alright. He found Mallory, sitting on the middle of a gym mat, shaking and sobbing. He was scared for her, normally she never cried, death never seemed to have this kind of an effect on her. He sat down in front of her slowly, opening his arms to her, with tears beginning to track down his face as well. She readily accepted his embrace, and they both sat in the middle of the gym, a sobbing, heaping mess of misery and grief. After a while, they both had stopped crying, their energy drained and their minds filled with a strong mix of misery and anger.
"Wing..."
"Mmmmmmm?"
"Promise me, for the love of all the lives that have ever been and ever will be, that we will never ever make the same mistakes we've made in the past with these creeps. If they ever show up again, I want them dead for good."
"I'll make sure that I save Dragaunus's fatal blow for you."
"Thank you, Wing, that means so much to me."
Wildwing bent down, cradling Mallory's face in his hands. He kissed her passionately, tightening his grip on her as if his life was dependant upon her presence.
"I love you, Mallory McMallard, and with all my heart, I promise that I will always be here for you, and I will never, ever stop loving you, not for an instant."
"Wildwing Flashblade, you are the most romantic, sappy drake I have ever met, but I love you anyways. Thank you, for helping me to truly know what living is all about."
They kissed again, and this time, it was not out of comfort, but of pure, untainted love. They broke away and smiled at each other in pure happiness for the first time that day, and knew that somehow, everything would turn out alright, as long as they had each other.
Author's Note - Okay folks, this is the last real chapter for this. I don't really know anything about Saurian anatomy (who does?!?), so I'm kind of making this shit up as I go along. I'm going to have one little epilogue thing after this, but that's not really a big deal. Enjoy this next installment! *Waves* Oh, and by the way, special thanks to Lady Silver, who's been helping me out with my other fic ideas, you rock Jen! And yes, we are starting the revolution, and we *will* win them over.
For the Love of Life - Chapter Nine
Mallory sat crouched on one of the hard, uncomfortable waiting room chairs inside the ER unit of the Anaheim Regional Hospital. She sat with her legs drawn up against her chest, and her forehead resting on her knees, her arms encircling her legs and blocking her face from view. She lifted her head, surveying her teammates, they all looked weary and exhausted, and they all carried and expression of premature grief on their faces. Wildwing was holding a trembling Nosedive, the younger of the two Flashblade brothers crying openly into the elder's comforting embrace. Wildwing had shed a few tears as well; the tracks they had left behind had dried many hours before though. Occasionally Wildwing would look up from his fixed position on the floor in front of him and steal a quick glance at Mallory, but it was no way in the least worth any substantial amount of comfort. Grin sat in a chair to the right of Mallory, his face was stone cold and emotionless, but all that passed him by knew that he was grieving inside. Mallory rested her down on her knees once again and repeated the chant that was her only salvation from breaking down into tears.
'Soldiers don't cry...soldiers don't cry...soldiers don't cry...'
Several hours later, a very disheveled and morose looking Duke walked drudgingly into the room. All four team members residing in the waiting room looked up at his presence.
"They gave her drugs to induce labor," began Duke, with the rest holding their breath, "the twins were stillborn, a boy and a girl. God damn those Saurians, why did they do this to her, I thought they were dead!"
Duke was choking back tears at his own words, crumbling the surgical mask that he had been forced to wear during the entire process of Tanya's labor. He threw it to the ground and began to sob, slumping against the cinderblock wall and slowly sliding to the ground. Mallory looked up once again, and got up from her seat moving over to Duke to try and offer him, at the very least, a shoulder to cry on. She was never good at comforting those in pain, but for all of the bullshit that she had put him through over the past couple of years, this was the least she could do for him. Duke readily accepted her offer, as soon as she sat next to him he collapsed into her body, sobbing hysterically and shaking as hard as he was crying. Mallory knew that this was affecting him deeply; normally he was reserved and very secretive, now he was openly mourning for world to see, and Mallory became genuinely worried for him. After a few minutes, Duke stood up, forcing his sobbing to stop, tearing himself away from Mallory.
"I gotta go back in there, be strong for Tanya." Duke wiped away his remaining tears, his chest hurting from the unreleased tension and grief that he could not expose.
Duke's figure retreated around the maze of hallways, and everyone watched him leave until he could no longer be seen.
Wildwing looked down at his brother, gently napping in his arms after his long fit of tears and sorrow. There were many questions running through his mind, leaving him restless with curiosity and itching for the answers. After some deliberation and several hours of just uselessly sitting in the hospital waiting room, he decided that it was time to go back to the Pond, he knew that he would find all he needed there. Picking up his now sleeping brother, Wildwing got up and handed off Nosedive's thrashing, unconscious form to Grin.
"Watch over him for me, I'm going back to the Pond."
Grin only nodded silently and reached out his arms to take Nosedive. Wildwing walked over the corner where Mallory still sit, unable to move from the spot where Duke had laid against her, sobbing. Wildwing crouched down to her still form and offered her his hand.
"Come on Mal," he said gently, "I want to go back to the Pond and I want you to come with me." He laid his beak right next to her ear, whispering, "We can be alone there, you can cry, and we can be together."
Mallory perked up ever so slightly at his suggestion. Ever since the Saurians had teleported out and left Tanya in a bleeding mess on the floor all Mallory had wanted was for Wildwing to be there for her, giving her the comfort she so desperately needed. She lightly placed her hand in his, letting him pull her up, and together they walked out from the hospital. What they saw as they exited was appalling. The paparazzi and the media were everywhere, flooding the hospital's main entrance, their flashes and questions going off as Mallory and Wildwing stepped out of the door. They both placed their arms over their eyes to block the blinding light from the countless amount of cameras going off around them. Wildwing was the first to speak up, firing a puck into the air to silence the massive crowd, a trick that he had learned long ago from Mallory.
"We have no comments for any of you, nor will we ever. This business is between our friends and ourselves, the details of our personal lives does not involve the public, or any of you, in any way.
The crowd picked up their questioning within a heartbeat of Wildwing's ending words. Furious, Wildwing grabbed the wrist of a rather enraged Mallory, preventing her from lashing out at anyone while in extraordinary emotional turmoil. He signaled her to just move forward with his hand, and together they barreled through the crowd and shoved people aside until they had reached the parking lot. From there, they ran in one random direction, trying to outrun the media and find their vehicle all at the same time. Finally spotting the Migrator, they hopped in, started up the ignition and drove off. Mallory curled up in her seat, watching the road and random objects near it pass by in a blur, the unshed tears in her eyes clouding her vision further. Wildwing saw Mallory's trance like state and pried one hand off of the steering wheel to lay it on her shoulder. She leaned her head on it and watched Wildwing drive until they arrived at the Pond. More paparazzi blocked the entrance to their home, and all of Mallory's anger exploded all at once.
"Oh, this is just too fucking much!"
In her fit of fury, Mallory grabbed a puck bazooka and exited the Migrator quickly, before Wildwing could slow her down. She came into view of the large crowd of media, and aimed the bazooka directly at the middle of them.
"Alright you little shits, listen up. We have absolutely nothing to say to any of you, now get the fuck away from all of and stay away before I blast all of your asses to kingdom come..."
She was interrupted by Wildwing grabbing her wrist and wrenching the bazooka away from her iron grip.
"Sorry about that folks, we're all just a bit tired, but we really would like you to leave, please. If you don't, we will call the police and have you all fined and removed from the area. It's your choice."
The already silent crowd dispersed and Wildwing, with his grip still on Mallory, dragged them both inside the Pond. Once he had them both in his bedroom, his scolding of her actions began.
"Mallory, what the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just go around threatening people like that, it could be grounds for them all to sue..."
"You just don't get it, do you?" She screamed as silent, fat tears began streaming down her face, "Tanya just lost her fucking kids, Wing, and the damn media are just showing up everywhere trying to create some dramatic, emmy-winning story out of all of our misery!"
Wildwing stepped forward, holding out his arms to her, not only as an apology, but a source of comfort as well. She collapsed into him, finally crying openly, clutching onto Wildwing as if her life depended on it.
Wildwing whispered softly into her hair, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't yell at you, I..."
"No", said Mallory in between sobs, "I shouldn't...have done that...I'm sorry..."
He carried her over to his bed and they both laid there, sobbing and seeking comfort in the love that they carried for each other. An hour later, Wildwing and Mallory laid in the same spot, only now instead of crying they were resting, letting their bodies recuperate from their emotional outbursts, and taking some much needed time to be alone with each other. Wildwing was the first to rise, reaching out for Mallory to come with him.
"Mal, I have a couple of questions about this whole thing that I think I can find the answers to, you want to come and help?" His tone was gentle, and the grasp he had on her was loving.
"Yeah", said Mallory weakly, "I'll come."
He picked her up off the bed, and began to carry her out the door.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking, you know."
"I know, but how often to I get the chance to carry you? You know, the whole 'Knight in shining armor' bit."
"You're always my knight in shining armor."
Wildwing had no other response to her comment than to kiss her deeply, letting his grip on her tighten and his heart burst with love. For this moment, all the tragedy that surrounded Mallory and Wildwing vanished, leaving them surrounded by the deep affection that they shared. The moment languished, as did the kiss, and Wildwing let Mallory rest in his arms while he walked to Tanya's lab. Several moments later, they arrived at their destination, both exhausted, but on a mission to search for answers.
"Mal, you want to help me, all the search is going to require is a scant bit of reading."
Mallory shifted in Wildwing's arms, struggling to stay awake long enough to help him.
"Sure, just put me down and I can..." Mallory's sentence was interrupted by a rather loud yawn, "help you out."
They both stood, looking at Tanya's vast amounts of books, many had been brought from Puckworld, containing some of their last links to their native homeland. Mallory leaned her body against Wildwing, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"So what are we looking for, Wing?"
"Saurian anatomy"
"Why the hell........."
"I'll explain later."
"Okay..." Mallory rolled her eyes suspiciously.
Around an hour later, Mallory and Wildwing had scoured the entire collection of books; only one had matched the criteria that Wildwing had been looking for. He and Mallory hunched over it, scanning through the pages until Wildwing had found the section he was looking for.
"Fatalities in Saurians", Wildwing repeated the title at the top of the page.
"Is this what you were looking for?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Wildwing trailed off as he read through the text, stopping as he saw the exact information he was looking for.
"Mallory, when you finally ran Dragaunus through your knife, back when we first thought we had defeated him, where did you get him?"
"Uh, let me think...Dead center, I should have pierced his heart."
"Oh no..."
"What? What is it Wing?"
"According to this, Mallory, you only got him in the chest cavity. It says here that male Saurians above 7 feet in height develop two hearts in their mid-teens. One moves to the far left of the chest, while the other moves to the far right. Apparently, both are necessary at that height to pump the massive amount of blood needed to run their bodies. It also says here that when approached with a threat of defeat and/or death in battle, Saurians will use their ability of feigning death in order to trick the enemy."
"So we never killed him that first time." Mallory's voice dropped in disappointment.
"His goons just played dead, when we left, they just teleported out of there and dragged Dragaunus back with them."
Both Mallory and Wildwing remained silent for a moment, knowing now that the only reason the Saurians had attacked the Pond again was because of their entire teams' inexcusable lack of knowledge about the enemy they were fighting. The silence was broken by a rather frustrated Mallory, slamming her small, delicate fist into the table with all the power she could muster.
"Damn it! We beat the crap out of them and they always just come right back for more. I'm so sick of this! It was fine back when it was just us six and the worst damage they did was a few flesh wounds. It's different now, they actually killed two of us Wing, they stole the lives of innocent children without any thought to it!"
Mallory's chest was heaving in anger, her breath becoming rapid and her face reddening.
"If you need me I'll be in the gym, I need to punch something."
Wildwing decided not to follow her, giving her some space to herself, but after an hour of not hearing a single word from her, he went to go make sure she was alright. He found Mallory, sitting on the middle of a gym mat, shaking and sobbing. He was scared for her, normally she never cried, death never seemed to have this kind of an effect on her. He sat down in front of her slowly, opening his arms to her, with tears beginning to track down his face as well. She readily accepted his embrace, and they both sat in the middle of the gym, a sobbing, heaping mess of misery and grief. After a while, they both had stopped crying, their energy drained and their minds filled with a strong mix of misery and anger.
"Wing..."
"Mmmmmmm?"
"Promise me, for the love of all the lives that have ever been and ever will be, that we will never ever make the same mistakes we've made in the past with these creeps. If they ever show up again, I want them dead for good."
"I'll make sure that I save Dragaunus's fatal blow for you."
"Thank you, Wing, that means so much to me."
Wildwing bent down, cradling Mallory's face in his hands. He kissed her passionately, tightening his grip on her as if his life was dependant upon her presence.
"I love you, Mallory McMallard, and with all my heart, I promise that I will always be here for you, and I will never, ever stop loving you, not for an instant."
"Wildwing Flashblade, you are the most romantic, sappy drake I have ever met, but I love you anyways. Thank you, for helping me to truly know what living is all about."
They kissed again, and this time, it was not out of comfort, but of pure, untainted love. They broke away and smiled at each other in pure happiness for the first time that day, and knew that somehow, everything would turn out alright, as long as they had each other.
