HALLO. Well, we're coming to an end of this story...or are we?

P.S. Warning for some Duke OOC-ness...or maybe just something people wouldn't see of him...I dunno anymore...

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich


"Hey Duke, you awake?"

"Yeah Wing, I'm awake."

The leader of the group walked into the room, a smile greeting Duke. "So how're you feeling?" he asked. "Any better than earlier?"

Duke grinned a little. "Yeah, a bit," he answered.

Wing pulled up the chair that everyone was using during the day and sat backwards in it. "Something's…different about you," he said, after a few moments. "What happened today?"

"Not a whole lot," the ex-thief said. "Watched a movie with the kid, talked with Grin and Mallory about life, and did a crossword with Tanya."

Flashblade smirked. "Then why do you seem like you have had some kind of burden released from your shoulders?" he asked.

Duke grinned and shrugged. "I got to thank a few people and was able to spend another day of life with my friends," he answered. "I hadn't really thought about it until now." The ex-thief looked to Wildwing, his smile becoming more genuine. "Y'know, if you hadn't of let Dive donate blood, I wouldn't be he'ah right now."

Wildwing held up his hands. "Don't thank me, he volunteered all on his own," he said, smiling. He lowered his hands. "The thought hadn't even crossed my mind to stop him from helping. If it had, I probably still would've let him help you."

"One of the qualities that makes ya a great lead'ah," L'Orange said. Wildwing just looked at him oddly. "Helpin' otha'ahs, no matt'ah what," Duke explained.

"…I do what I can," Wing said sheepishly.

"I know ya do," Duke said, his smile coming down a bit.

A few moments of silence went on before either spoke again. "Hey Wing?"

"What is it?"

"Can…can I ask ya somethin' that's been on my mind?"

Wildwing looked puzzled. "I guess so," he answered. "What's up?"

Duke looked away before asking. "Did you guys really doubt me that much?"

The leader paused for a moment, not sure how to answer. "Are you asking if I doubted you or if everyone did?" he finally asked.

"Both."

Wildwing took a deep breath, then let it out. "I…I did," he admitted. "But I didn't think you had any ideas of changing sides until we found Nosedive and Tanya in that vault."

He saw Duke wince a little, and the leader knew it wasn't from any injury he had.

"But I still had the thought that you must've had something in your head," Wing continued. "Some kind of plan or something to find out what was going on."

Duke looked back at him. "Why's that?"

"Because the Duke I've come to know over the past year wouldn't have changed sides to work for Dragaunus," Wildwing said. "You're more than just an ex-thief; you're a friend, a great hockey player, and an even better fighter. Plus, you've helped out me and Dive more times than I can count. Someone like you wouldn't go back to a life of crime unless it was for a very good reason."

The former jewel thief let this sink in for a moment. He then smiled a little. "Somehow, that makes me feel a little bett'ah," he said. But he frowned again. "The oth'ahs thought I had turned though, didn't they?"

"Mallory did, but you knew that already," Wildwing answered. "Tanya only thought you had when she hot-wired the camera in the vault she and Nosedive were stuck in at the Pacific Museum."

"What about the Grin and the kid?"

Wildwing paused. "I think Grin knew from the beginning that you didn't have any real motive to switch sides," he said. "I only say that because the whole time he was saying stuff like-"

"-I had to make peace with my past?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Dive told me later that he had always thought that you hadn't gone bad and had some reason for doing what you did."

Duke smiled sadly, averting his gaze. "Nice to know the kid at least had faith in me," he said, more to himself than Wildwing.

The unmasked leader sighed. "I-I'm sorry Duke," he said. "I should've had the same kind of faith in you that Dive did. But…I guess I let my role as leader and the need to find out Dragaunus' plan was get in the way of that."

Duke looked back to his leader. "Like I said back at the clocktow'ah, I was hurt by the lack of trust, but I can't stay mad at you guys." He then smiled a little. "You're all the closest I got to a family. How can I stay mad at those who I consider family?"

Wildwing grinned. "It's nice to know that you feel that way," he said. "Because I think we all have that 'familial' feeling."

"It's kinda obvious with you and Dive."

"Maybe because we actually are brothers?" Wildwing suggested jokingly. "But think about it; no matter what's happened to any of us since we came to this planet, we've all taken on some kind of role. We've helped each other, on and off the ice. I mean, c'mon, Dive gave you blood because you had helped Tanya fix him up when he got appendicitis."

"That sounds more like he owed me or somethin'," Duke said.

"It's more than that," Wing said. "He looks up to you."

"He looks up to you more than me."

"I don't think that's necessarily true," Wildwing countered. "He looks up to me because I'm his older brother and we're pretty much the only family each other has. But he looks up to you because you're the cool, older drake of our group who's probably got a million stories about the Brotherhood or anything else."

The ex-thief laughed a little, but not without hurting his chest a little. He stopped, placing his right hand over his chest, a hint of pain on his face. "You alright Duke?" Wing asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright," the other answered. "It still hurts to laugh sometimes is all." After a few moments, he took his hand away. "So what oth'ah things make ya think that we have a 'familial' feel?"

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

Wildwing left a little later, heading towards the kitchen. It was almost dinnertime, and he was going to help Mallory carry whatever she made to Duke's room.

It had become a ritual since the ex-thief had woken up for the team to all eat together, since that was how they usually ate dinner. It had felt…weird when they had eaten at all odd hours of the evening when their injured friend was comatose, so they felt it only right if they ate with Duke after he had come out of his unconscious state.

The older Flashblade sighed. He hadn't thought about it before tonight just how hurt Duke had been emotionally about the team not trusting him.

But then again, he was an expert on keeping up facades when need-be.

So all Wildwing could do was try to make up for that one moment of doubt he had for their teammate. He would do anything he could in order to make Duke feel better about the situation if he had to.