The moon had risen, full and bright, illuminating everything in a soft white glow. Numbly, she glanced below to the ground that was so far away. She supposed she should return to the rec room, she was sure Tanya was out of her mind looking for her; but she couldn't move. Or wouldn't.
"Nice night."
She nearly fell off the roof of the building from being startled. Duke was standing behind her, his hands in his jean pockets. He walked toward her.
"How did you know I was here?" She knew she sounded accusatory, but she realized she didn't care.
He glanced at her, taking the railing he and Grin built just a short time ago to lower the chances of falling off the roof, in his hands.
"Because I knew this is where I'd go if I wanted to escape an insufferable existence."
She avoided his gaze, her face heating up.
"Why don't you come back downstairs? It's a little cold tonight."
She ignored his hand and paced away. "Why are you all doing this? You know the Lord will find me and kill all of you."
Duke took a breath. "It's a chance we're willing to take. You're one of us."
"I'm Lu's sister, I'm not one of you. I'm a freak, like her."
Something passed in Duke's face. "Lucretia's the freak, not you." She started to dismiss his statement but he grabbed her arm when she tried to turn away. "Give yourself a chance kid."
She looked at her arm in his hand and then at his face. "Why?"
"Because you deserve it."
…...
"Oh good you found her." Nosedive was first to see them come in from the roof hatch. "Hey! Duke found her!" One by one, the other ducks trickled into the stands of the hockey rink.
"What were you doing up there? It's too cold out for you to be dressed like that," Tanya scolded.
Airika glanced down at herself, her short sleeves and loose shin length skirt were definitely too summer-like for the cool April night but she found she didn't really care.
"Well, she's here so let's get her room set up," Duke said rather brusquely. He grabbed Nosedive and hauled him away from the group. Grin followed.
Wildwing was silently happy his mask was on to hide his true feelings on the situation. "Tanya can you get her some food."
"Yes. Come on." Tanya towed Airika by Wildwing and Mallory, who both watched them go.
"What do you think she was doing on the roof?"
Wildwing took his time answering, "if we don't trust her Mallory then she doesn't have a place here."
Mallory stared at him. "I know." She sighed. "I suppose I do trust her. I mean how can you not…she's so-" She trailed off unable to find a word good enough to describe the female duck.
"Submissive? Beaten down?"
"Wing." Mallory snapped. "I get it."
Wildwing hid a smile. "Come." He took her hand and wandered towards the elevator to return downstairs.
…..
The Raptor: a few days later
"Well lookey lookey here," Seige sneered. "She almost looks like that mangy prisoner."
"What do you mean almost?" Lucretia snarled. "I am its twin."
"Yeah, but something's missing…" Seige tapped his chin. Next to him Chameleon shape-shifted into Airika, dramatically cowering at the large saurian.
"That's right, you're not weak enough."
Lucretia fumed silently. "Shut up, both of you."
"Hey." Seige stood up abruptly, his bucket sized hand closing around Lucretia's neck. "You will respect us duck, you may be valuable to the Lord but to us, you are a traitor. I haven't forgotten the proteus chip incident."
"That wasn't me!" Lucretia balled her fists.
"Enough!" Dragaunus walked into the room. "Why haven't you dyed your hair? We're losing time."
Lucretia scoffed. "I-"
Dragaunus's nostrils flared. "You need to do it Lucretia."
"Damnit," the purple haired duck growled. "I worked hard to get it this color."
"Clearly," Dragaunus muttered as he watched her stomp back to her room.
...
"GOAL!"
Above their heads, the announcement boomed over their heads. Damnit, Duke thought as he watched the time tick down towards the end of the game. All around the humans were yelling, cheering. Then his gaze landed on her, sitting next to Phil, bundled in a coat and thick leggings.
"Duke, Duke, DUKE."
He glanced towards his teammates, mainly Nosedive who had called his name.
"You ready?"
"Yeah," he skated into his spot. "Yeah, I'm ready."
….
The pizzeria was almost empty when the eight ducks found themselves eating Italian food. Nosedive was recounting a blow-by-blow description of the game with Grin who was more actively listening than speaking.
Airika had seemed almost at ease, sitting by Duke, across from Mallory when she gave a start, her eyes zeroing on something behind Mallory and Wildwing.
"What's the matter?" Mallory asked. Over the last few days she had begun to warm up to the new duck.
"Nothing." She looked away, staring out the window.
…..
Later at the Pond, Airika laid down on her bed. Trying to sleep. But the biting pain in her foot kept her awake. Sniffing she shut her eyes and willed herself to sleep.
…..
The Next Day
"Where's Airika?"
"In her room I think," Nosedive's eyes didn't leave the tv screen as he hammered the controls of his video game controller.
Mallory crossed her arms. "Don't you think it's odd she hasn't been out all day?"
Nosedive hit pause, glancing at her. Mallory left his doorway, "Damn," Nosedive whispered and threw his controller to the side and ran out of the room after her.
"Airika?" Mallory called, knocking on the door.
No answer.
Without further words or knocking, Mallory punched in the key code and stepped back as the door slid open. The girl wasn't in her bedroom, though the glow of the bathroom shone under the door. Mallory drew towards it slowly.
"Airika?"
She pushed the door open and froze, the scene not making sense to her. Airika sat on the floor with one of Tanya's multi-tooled gadgets next to her, only it was covered in blood. A large thick gash ran the length of the girl's foot. The one Mallory realized she had showed them a week ago, with the Saurian script on it.
"What did you do?" Mallory exclaimed, grabbing a towel and quickly wrapped it around her injured foot.
Airika didn't act like she had heard her or like she was in pain. Her face was puffy from crying, her eyes red, but that was it.
"Nosedive, get your brother!"
Nosedive stumbled out of the room.
Mallory turned back to Airika and then her hand, which was quickly staining red. She ran her other hand through the girl's hair. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise."