Title: The Lost
Rating: PG-13, I think. I'm not really sure that I remember.
Pairings: Wing/Mal. Duh. If you can't guess that by now, go beat yourself over the head with a stick.
Author's Notes: There's only going to be one, two chapters at most to finish this. I'm going to try and make it one, because I really hate this fic. Despite that, I'm finishing it anyways, I like completing things I start, and I hate it when people leave WIP's unfinished ::Makes a rather unsubtle hint to fic abandoners everywhere::, and I think that everyone deserves the common courtesy and decency of a finished WIP. Besides, I know how I want this to end, I'm not going to deprive you of an ending that I already have imagined up. That and the fact that the MD:TAS section of is DEAD. ::pokes at the rotting, grotesque corpse of aforementioned section:: Anyways, enjoy the writing, if that's at all possible.
The Lost – Chapter 6
"Happy almost anniversary, Wing."
Mallory's voice shook Wildwing from his thoughts as he stared out across the forest.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Mal?"
"You don't remember?"
"Remember what?" Wildwing stared at her quizzically as she sat down next to him on the gargantuan tree branch that Mallory and the other warriors had guarded their not-so-new home from more times than they could count.
"It'll be three years tomorrow." Mallory avoided his gaze as she continued, "We've been here for almost three years, Wing."
"You've been counting?" Wildwing stared at her profile, his eyebrows knitting in disbelief.
"Yup. Today is July 24th, to be precise. Tomorrow's it."
"Mallory McMallard, you surprise me every once in a while, did you know that?"
"Meh, I try my best." She winked at him and handed him his medicine bag. "Come on, it's late, I think it'd be good if we all just went to bed. I, for one, know that I need the rest."
She stood, helping him up along the way, his hand leaving a slight tingle across her skin. She inwardly smiled at the warmth she felt in his presence and touch, a feeling that had only grown stronger as their years together progressed. They walked through the thick foliage in silence, Wildwing stopping every once in a while to pick up a wild plant or two that he could find use for in his medicines.
"So," Wildwing began, "How do you keep track of the days like that? I mean, it's not like there's a calendar here."
"Well...I think all I needed was this..." Mallory reached into the pocket of her now faded, dirty and torn jumpsuit. From there, she pulled out a digital watch, still ticking away through the three years of torrent rains and blistering heat. "It's digital, so it keeps track of stuff like the date, it's got a stopwatch, that sort of thing. I knew it was going to have some use one of these days."
Wildwing looked at the tiny piece of plastic and metal in awe. It was the first item from their old life that he had seen in three years, besides the clothing on their backs. He rubbed his thumb over the display, dirty and scratched by the years of wear that had been inflicted upon its owner. "Wow...Take good care of this Mal, it's the only link back to our home that we have."
"I know. I'm so glad they missed this when they searched us that first day we were here."
Wildwing fiddled with the device a bit, astonished by technology that, three years ago, he wouldn't have thought twice about. Now, just mentioning what he remembered technology could do left him in a daze as he compared it to the primitive life he had been forced into. He took one last look at the device and handed it to Mal, a tiny surge of electricity passing between them as their hands grazed one another in the transfer.
They walked back to camp in a comfortable silence, after living in such close quarters for so long, talking was no longer necessary to fill the long periods of silence. One duck having the presence of the other was enough. They arrived back at their home after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the distance between their shelters and the guard post was one thing that the two had never quite gotten used to, it was still a struggle on the days that the trek was necessary and unavoidable. A few more moments of movement and they stumbled upon Mal's hut, their final destination. Wildwing insisted on walking her everywhere to serve as extra protection. Even though she originally she scoffed at the idea, she became more lenient on it after he explained all of the dangers that a rainforest environment had to offer. Mal had always thought that chivalry had long since been dead, her faith in such a concept had been renewed in the aforementioned and other actions of one white-feathered, insecure drake by the name of Wildwing. Always keeping this in mind whenever they were together, she smiled, and knew how she had reluctantly fallen for him in the first place.
"Well, I guess this is goodnight." Mal's voice grew quiet, as it was late into the night, and she didn't want to disturb the occupants of the other huts.
"Yeah, I'll, um, see you tomorrow, I guess." Wildwing shifted nervously as he calculated the opportunity before him. He had been planning to tell her of his growing feelings for some time now, his extended time of living with her had sealed his heart's fate. He knew now that his tiny crush that had started since he first laid eyes on her had grown into something much more indescribable and confusing. He could only think of one thing that could inspire such feelings in him; love. He had a hard time believing the revelation at first, but as the time had worn on, and as they had grown closer, the idea was becoming much easier to accept and embrace. What laid in front of him now was yet another span of time alone that he could use to tell her how he felt, another opportunity that he would let pass through his fingers, another moment wasted.
She pulled out her watch and tugged Wildwing on the shoulder.
"Count down with me."
"Wha-"
"Ten...nine..."
Wildwing suddenly picked up on what she was doing, and continued to count with her.
"Eight...seven..."
They both held their breath, in seven seconds midnight would be upon them.
"Six...five...four..."
Mallory's face beamed as she stared into the display, and Wildwing suddenly dawned upon an idea as he entwined his fingers with hers.
"Three...two...one!"
The watch beeped as midnight hit, and suddenly Wildwing kissed Mallory full on the beak as he gathered her up in his arms. They came up for air, and rested their foreheads against each other.
"Happy three years, Mal."
"Happy three years to you too, Wing."
She broke away from him, and tugged him on the arm, a 'follow me' look in her eyes. Wildwing didn't even think twice as they lay together that night and fell asleep in each others arms, content.
"Mornin' Duke." Tanya didn't have to look up at her teammate to know he was there, she had already heard the doors hissing open, and had smelled the scent of Duke's rather expensive cologne before his body had actually passed by her.
"Mornin'." Duke mumbled as he opened the refrigerator door and pulled out the orange juice. He poured two glasses, one for himself and one for the blonde, moping team tech across from him. "How's that...er...thing ya workin' on to find 'em?" Tanya's brows furrowed at the mention of her latest invention, and looked up at Duke for the first time that morning. He instantly sighed as he saw all the signs of fatigue from one of her typical all-nighters, the bloodshot eyes and her slumped posture were dead giveaways.
"I-It's hopeless Duke. We're n-neva gonna f-find 'em. That machine i-is a f-friggin' hunk o' junk."
"Don't say that sweetheart, you can do whateva needs ta be done ta bring 'em home. I know it." He sighed and walked behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, why don't you go get some sleep, eh? Ya look like ya could use it."
"N-No thanks, Duke. I-It's been three years to the day, a-and if they aren't d-dead, then I w-want them home. I-It's been long enough."
"Alright sweetheart, whateva you want. Why don't we go take a look at it together, walk me through how it's supposed ta work."
"O-Okay, I guess." As they made the familiar walk to her lab, Tanya inwardly thanked whatever Supreme Being that existed for Duke, he always knew how to simplify things for her, and how to help her logically think things through. She smiled and realized that if this helped her to make a breakthrough, that she would have to find some way to repay her best friend on Earth. "S-So, has Nosedive g-gotten any better? H-He hasn't shown much improvement l-lately to me."
Ever since his big brother had disappeared, Nosedive had locked himself away in his room, barely eating and never seeing the light of day, too depressed without Wildwing to do anything other than survive in the hopes that one day, Wildwing would come back. It had severely worried the team, who was knee-deep in despair as it was.
"I can't say he has either sweetheart,"Duke replied, "But he'll come around, eventually. He has to learn ta move on sometime, I suppose."
Duke and Tanya finally reached her lab, the doors hissing open and closed behind them. The two surveyed the small piece of equipment in front of them, Tanya silently going through her calculations in her head. Duke looked at the machine quizzically, more at a loss about what to do than Tanya. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"Hey, Tanya, tell me what's supposed to make this thing work..." He smiled inwardly, he knew how to keep the Pond's top tech distracted, if nothing else.
"Well, uh, lesse here..."
He snuck over to her workbench and picked up a wrench as she turned around, her finger questioningly resting on her bottom lip.
"Well, it's really l-like the tracers we use t-ta pick up COM signals. It'll pick up any electronic signals in the s-specified coordinates."
He quietly snuck back over to her machine, tool in hand, hoping that she didn't turn around in the mere seconds it would take to implement his strategy.
"And I-I've already programmed it to the area where they d-disappeared..."
He fiddled with a few buttons, not getting any results. He narrowed his eyes at the machine, raised the wrench above his head, and brought it down hard upon the side of the machine. Tanya instantly turned around.
"D-Duke!" Her face turned red as she grew more furious at the ex-thief by the millisecond. "What t-the he-"
She was suddenly interrupted, as Duke flipped on the power switch to the machine. It whirred, buzzed and flashed its lights as it came to life, Tanya stood mouth agape as Duke crossed his arms and smiled smugly.
"It's somethin' I've learned with things over time, if they don't work the first time ya ask 'em to, hit 'em. It's almost guaranteed ta fix the problem."
"D-Dear God Duke, with a philosophy like that, I h-hope you never have kids."
They both shared a laugh and smiled at the fact that Tanya's once defunct machine was now fully up and running. They were about to exit the room when a loud beeping sound emitted from the device, and Tanya's brows furrowed as she checked the machine over.
"D-Duke, uh, get the others...I have a reading! It could very well be them!"
"Are you serious?"
"N-No Duke I'm just messing around with you." She folded her arms and glared at him. "Of c-course I'm serious ya n-nimrod. Go!"
And with that, Duke left to go round up the rest of his teammates while Tanya pinpointed the location of the signal.
Wildwing and Mallory had awoken that morning, actually content with the situation at hand, a drastic change from their attitudes in the past three years. They had broken off early, Mallory to her hunting and protecting duties and Wing to the healer's hut, but not before a quick goodbye kiss. They both departed happy and carefree that morning; little did they know that the feeling wouldn't last long.
Wildwing had been sitting in his hovel for quite some time, he was guessing that it was mid-day, at least. All of a sudden, a mass of screaming and yelling became audible from the edge of the clearing that the village resided in. He ran out, attempting to find out what was going on, seconds later one of the village's female warriors came to him, panic-stricken and babbling on at a mile a minute, dragging him back inside the shelter. In the young girl's exasperated state, Wildwing couldn't understand a word of what was passing her lips.
"Alright, calm down, take a few deep breaths. What's going on?"
"It...it's Mallory, Wildwing. We were out on a hunt and...and...there was this snake. One of the other warriors stepped on it accidentally, and Mallory was in its range of attack. It...it bit her, Wildwing." Tears were now streaming down her face. "She's already sick Wildwing, she's..."
Wildwing looked horror-stricken as their conversation was cut short by two of the stronger warriors carrying in Mallory's limp body, resting it on the pallet on the floor. He had no time to ask any of the warriors in the room questions, as at that moment, the chief healer came storming out of his part of the hut, angry at the noise that had recently gathered in the front of his home. His angry expression silenced the room's occupants, they parted to allow the healer full view of Mallory, barely conscious and using what little strength she had left to grip Wildwing's hand; the young drake had moved to Mallory's side in all the commotion that the others had stirred. He looked at the two miserable ducks in pity, he knew that both of them had to be in extreme anguish right now, not knowing what was going on or what to do about their current situation. The healer got the information he needed from the warriors and told them to leave, shooing them out with a gesture of his hands and a sorrowful look in his eyes.
Mallory had slipped into unconsciousness in the time it took for the room to clear out, Wildwing furrowed his brows and bowed his head, his hand never leaving hers. The healer placed a hand on Wildwing's shoulder and motioned him to come into the next room. Wildwing did so, even with reluctance and a strong sense of foreboding. He could not look the older man in the eyes, and could barely focus on the words that he was hearing.
"I'm sorry, Wildwing. I've never seen anything like this before, the toxins are strong and are already running deep into her system. The others didn't know what to do with her, and made some wrong moves in helping to get the poison out of her system. In reality, they probably made the situation worse." The next words that Wildwing heard brought his life crashing down around him, "I'm sorry Wildwing, I don't think there's anything we can do for her. It's too late to help her." Wildwing closed his eyes and sighed, his brain unable to process what his ears were translating. He walked out silently, taking his place at Mallory's bedside once again, his hand taking hers. He sighed and raked his free hand through his hair as his mind focused in on one single thought that broke his heart into a thousand pieces. Mallory was dying, and there was nothing that he could do.