Author's Notes I: So sorry for the delay. Life has been crazy and my muse has been stubborn.
Wildwing walked out of the restaurant with a bag of food hanging from his wrist and a cup of coffee in each hand. He was relieved to see that the Migrator was where he had left it. Then he saw that Ruby was no longer sitting in the front seat.
Afraid that he was going to have to hunt her down again, he sprinted across the parking lot. His feet barely touched the steps as he charged into the van. He brought himself up short as soon as he made it past the doorway.
Ruby was slightly crouched down, her hands were up in a defensive position and her eyes were glowing blue. It took her several seconds for her to slowly lower her hands and stand upright. It took even longer for her eyes to stop glowing.
"Was there a reason you came charging in here and nearly scaring the feathers off of me?" Ruby demanded.
Scaring her? Wildwing was still trying to get his heart out of his throat!
"Here's, uh, your coffee," Wildwing stammered as he tried to hand her one of the cups only to discover that some of the contents had spilled out during his mad dash across the parking lot.
"Because giving caffeine to a stressed out mage is such a grand idea," she sarcastically retorted.
"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" Wildwing snapped back. "I'm trying to be nice here."
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and bowed her head. He could see her force herself to relax a bit. She let her breath out in a long sigh and looked back up at the drake.
"I'm sorry," she replied contritely. "I guess this whole mess with the Forest Lord has really got me on edge. I shouldn't take it out on you."
"I understand," he responded as he put the food and drinks down at one of the stations. "I think we have some water if you don't want coffee."
"That would be nice, thank you," she softly said.
They stood there staring at each other for several seconds, neither one moving.
"I, uh, have to get past you to get the water," Wildwing mumbled apologetically.
"Oh, sorry," Ruby chirped.
They stared at each other for a few seconds more and then she moved to her right as Wildwing moved to his left. In shock, they paused before both moving in the same direction again. They went back and forth a few times before Wildwing grabbed Ruby by the upper arms, picked her up and moved her out of his way.
She let out a startled squeak and the look on her face was priceless. Wildwing did his level best not to smile as he quickly turned away. Without a word, he went to the storage cabinet to get a bottle of water, his beak clamped shut to keep any sniggers from escaping.
Ruby stared at his back, her brow wrinkled in confusion. When he had grabbed her, it was like her entire body had come alive. Now all she wanted was for him to touch her some more.
What was wrong with her? Why was she suddenly attracted to a drake that had every reason in the universe to hate and fear her? She guessed the old adage was true. You only want what you can't have.
She went and sat back down, lost in thought about her reaction. She barely noticed him as he sat next to her.
"I'm afraid the Migrator doesn't have cup holders, so you're going to have to hold the bottle in your lap or put it on the floor," Wildwing explained as he handed her the container of water.
"Thanks," she softly replied as she took the bottle and put it on the floor next to her feet.
"You ok?" he asked while he went through the bag of food and sorted out their orders.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking," she answered, taking the container of oatmeal from him. "Tell me about the harpy."
"Didn't the dragon tell you?" he questioned, surprised by the sudden query.
"I want to hear about the harpy from your perspective," she responded, not bothering to tell him that she hadn't had a chance to ask the dragon before he left.
Wildwing looked at her in surprise for a few seconds and then with a shrug, told her what happened. He buttered his pancakes and poured the syrup over them as he relayed the story. When he got towards the end, the look on her face was even better than the one she had when he picked her up.
"Duke protected me?" Ruby nearly demanded, disbelief clearly written across her face.
"Duke's a good drake," Wildwing retorted. "Why wouldn't he protect you?"
"Oh, I don't know," she mused as she stirred her oatmeal. "Maybe it's because he dropped a house on me."
"People can change for the better, you know," he grumbled as he balanced the Styrofoam container on his lap so he could cut up his flapjacks.
She just gave him a look of disbelief before turning back to her breakfast. They ate in silence for a while, neither one sure what to say.
"Tell me about the phoenix," Wildwing quietly requested when he saw she was done eating.
The look she gave him was part fear and part stubbornness. He could tell she didn't want to talk about it, but he had to know. Was the dream he had a few nights ago a fluke or was it what really happened to her? How could he have any idea of her life before he met her?
He had a sinking suspicion that that strange spark had somehow connected them. He wanted to tell her about it, but was afraid of what he might find out. Did he really want to know that they were permanently bound to each other? He wasn't sure if he should be worried or just out and out terrified if that was the case.
"I don't want to talk about it," she softly grumbled.
"Ok, then tell me about spider silk," he countered.
He wasn't sure why he cared about the strange material, but he asked and now he hoped for an answer.
"Not much to tell," she replied with a shrug. "It's fire proof, nearly indestructible, dirt proof, wrinkle resistant and absorbs water like a sponge."
"Wait a minute," he interrupted. "If it absorbs water like a sponge, how come you're not at the bottom of the river right now?"
"I may be useless on the ice, but I can swim," she shot back, irritated. "Hockey isn't the only sport in the universe, you know."
"What about the spiders?" he asked as he finished off his breakfast. "What are they like?"
"They're something out of the nightmares of someone who has arachnophobia," she answered. "On average, they're about the size of a dinner plate and are the nastiest beasts I've ever met. If they think you're a threat or food, they'll attack. They're one of the most venomous and aggressive spiders on the planet. On the plus side, the rodent population isn't really a problem at Twin Beaks."
"They eat rodents?" he questioned in horror, not sure if wanted to know any more.
"Rodents, sometimes they manage to catch birds, though we do try to keep them separate," she responded. "The spiders are pretty sneaky and often get in places you'd rather they not be."
"Such as?" he prompted a bit worriedly.
"The bathroom is a popular spot," she told him. "Not sure why they like it in there, but at one time or another, everyone's had a silk spider jump on them while taking a bath. Good thing they can't hurt us. I nearly shot right out of my feathers the first time it happened to me."
"So, are all of your clothes made out of spider silk?" he inquired, desperately trying not to think about her taking a bath.
"No, we've got cotton, linen and wool," she said. "We have some leather, but it's used only for shoes and coats. The spider silk takes a long time to work with and for the most part, it's just kept on giant spools of thread until it needs to be woven into something. Since it's so hard to cut, the threads are woven into the garment directly instead of sheets like regular cloth. That's why there are no seams."
"Is that why you said it would take a couple days to redo the bottom of your dress?" he asked.
"Exactly," she confirmed. "I imagine the making of this dress probably took a couple weeks."
"That's a lot of time on one piece of clothing," he mused.
"That's why the pieces of spider silk that can be found around Puckworld are usually small, simple pieces," she stated. "Did you know that at one time spider silk was the material of choice for cleaning rags?"
"Seriously?" he demanded.
"Yup," she replied with a grin. "They're perfect for cleaning. They don't get dirty, they're next to impossible to destroy and they hold water like a dream."
"So, all of those pieces of spider silk that people have specially framed used to be someone's cleaning rag?" he laughed.
"Pretty ironic, isn't it?" she chuckled. "Someone's rag is now hanging on some rich duck's wall or in a museum as art."
"Can I…" he started after a few sniggers.
He stared at the empty container in his lap, embarrassed about what he wanted to ask.
"Can you what?" she prompted.
"Can I," he tried again. "Feel it?"
"Sure," she replied as she held her arm out to him.
Tentatively, he reached out and touched the edge of her sleeve. When nothing bad happened, he got a little braver and pinched it between his fingers. He was half tempted to see if her feathers were as soft as the material as he rubbed the silk between his fingers. He gave himself a swift mental kick and let go of the sleeve.
"It's very nice," he hastily said as he started to put the garbage in the bag their breakfast came in. "Are you done?"
"Yes," she answered as she handed over the empty container. "Thank you."
He got up and put the garbage away before retaking his seat with one of the cups of coffee. He sat there, staring out the windshield and not saying a word. He could see her out of the corner of his eye trying not to fidget.
"What do you think the Forest Lord wants?" he asked before finishing off the cup.
"I don't know," she answered as he turned to look at her.
"When I went up with the team to finish cleaning up the meadow, he showed up," Wildwing told her.
"What did he want?" she inquired.
"He said that I should come with you back up to the meadow and that you should wear something fireproof," he answered. "He said that he needed your magic for something. I don't know what."
The look on her face was somewhere between fear and being physically sick.
"Are you ok?" he softly questioned as he felt like a vice grip was around his heart again.
She could only shake her head 'no' and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Tell me about the phoenix, please," he quietly pleaded. "How can a mythical bird of fire be part of you?"
"She's no myth," Ruby softly started. "What do you know about The Phoenix?"
"It's a bird of fire that dies and is reborn," he replied.
"Close," she said as she continued to stare out the windshield. "The Phoenix is a fire Elemental that every five hundred years builds a nest, sets it on fire as the sun sets and dies in the flames. When the sun light first touches the ashes in the morning, she rises from the ashes."
"Ok, that doesn't explain how you're somehow bonded to one," he pointed out.
"The two times a Phoenix is at its weakest is just before it dies and as it's being reborn," she told him. "Saurian wizards found a Phoenix nest just before she died. They waited and when she was rising from the ashes, they trapped her in a magical medallion."
"What happened after that?" he prompted when she was silent for several seconds. "How did you end up with it?"
"From what I read, the lead wizard joined with The Phoenix and used her power to try and destroy the armies of Puckworld," she continued. "They soon found out that The Phoenix isn't so easily controlled. As soon as the wizard let her loose, she went on a rampage, destroying everything around her, lizard and duck alike. The wizard who thought he could control her, died and when he did, she went back into the medallion. The wizards quickly learned that to use The Phoenix was a last resort and anyone who did, died. The mages finally managed to steal the medallion, but every mage who tried to use it ended up with the same grizzly result."
"Now you have it," he said, now getting an idea of why she was afraid.
"Now I have it," she confirmed.
"Can't you get rid of it?" he asked. "Just take it off."
"I wish it was that easy," she sighed as she turned to him.
She grabbed the collar of her dress and pulled it down enough for him to see The Phoenix's head which was almost to her collar bone. She got the satisfaction of hearing him gasp when The Phoenix moved.
"The more I use her power, the bigger she gets," she told him as she released the collar and sat back. "There will come a point where I will have to release her. Once that happens, she'll destroy everything around her and I'll die."
"That's it?" he demanded angrily. "You'll just die?"
"Unless I can actually control her and force her back into the medallion, I will," she responded. "Want to guess how many times that's happened?"
"If you can control her and get her back into the medallion, then what?" he inquired.
"Then I can break the bond between us and actually release her from her prison," she answered.
"Why do you have her?" he questioned. "Why not one of the other mages?"
"Because I'm a wimp," she laughed humorlessly. "Without her, I have almost no power. I wouldn't have been able to create the spell that brought Canard to Twin Beaks or gotten him out of the dimensional limbo he was in."
She decided it was probably best not to point out because of her being joined with the fire Elemental; she was able to trounce him and his team time and again.
"You were able to save yourself and Amber without her," he reminded her.
"Shields are the one thing I can do and do well," she said. "Other than that, you can pretty much forget it."
"So you decided that joining with a phoenix was a good idea?" he asked incredulously.
"HA!" she retorted. "The Elders who run the mages decided I needed a boost, so they threw me into a room filled with all sorts of magical objects and told me to pick one. I wasn't planning on touching any of them. However, The Phoenix had other plans. She chose me and now we're stuck with each other."
They sat in silence for a while, with Wildwing trying to come to terms with what she had just told him. The Elders, the room of magical objects and the phoenix picking her were eerily similar to the dream he had a few nights ago. While he was mulling it over, he felt the pull.
He looked over at her when she gasped.
"Do you feel it?" she softly asked and he nodded.
"Guess it's time to see what Turbo Bambi wants."
"Anyone seen Wildwing this morning?" Nosedive asked as he stepped into the kitchen.
"No, why?" Duke replied as he buttered his toast.
"Until I've had my coffee, I can't see past the end of my beak," Mallory muttered while she took a sip of her aforementioned drink.
"Perhaps he is searching for his inner peace," Grin put in as he mixed granola into his bowl of yogurt.
"Any particular reason why you're looking for him?" Tanya asked while she put the orange juice back in the fridge.
"Phil wants to talk to him," Nosedive explained.
"In that case, if he's hiding, I don't blame him," Duke retorted just before taking a bite of his food.
"The Migrator isn't in the garage," Tanya mentioned. "That would explain who took it."
"You know, for someone who told us that we shouldn't go out alone, he sure heads out by himself a lot," Mallory grumbled.
"She's got a point," Duke conceded. "Wonder where he's off to this time."
"And why did he take the Migrator instead of one of the Duckcycles?" Tanya wondered.
"The last time he went out alone, he had a run in with that blue beak," Mallory reminded the others as she finished her coffee. "Maybe we should check on him to make sure he doesn't need our help."
"Might be a good idea," Duke responded. "He got lucky last time. He might not be so lucky this time."
"I'll go check Drake One to see where the Migrator is," Tanya stated as she left the kitchen.
The others quickly finished their breakfasts before getting ready. Once they were done, they headed for Drake One and found Tanya almost done.
"What did you find?" Duke asked as he got to the top of the ladder.
"Wildwing left around five this morning," Tanya started. "He stopped briefly on La Palma and then he, like, stopped at that place on Orangethorpe with the really good pancakes. The Migrator is now headed for the hills. If I had to, you know, guess, I'd say he's headed for the meadow again."
"Didn't that monster deer tell Wildwing to bring Ruby to the meadow?" Duke asked.
"You're right, he did!" Mallory confirmed. "Now's the perfect time to catch her."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Nosedive readily agreed. "Let's get ready to par-tey!"
As one, the Mighty Ducks changed into their battle gear and headed for the Duckcycles. This time, they were ready for that slippery duck, Ruby.
Author's Notes II: As some of you have noticed, I change how I write some things. Like when Wildwing talks about the mask, I write it with lower case letters and when it's Ruby, it's capital letters. This is because of their perspectives. To Wildwing, the mask and the phoenix are just things. With Ruby, they're things to be respected. So, it's not sloppy writing, it's just me trying to emphasize how they see the same things differently.