I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Left Behind

Chapter 4:

The world was swaying around her. She felt a breeze on her hot face as her eyes tried to take in her surroundings. Why was she so dizzy? What was wrong with her? She was lethargic too. She could see the ground moving under her as and booted feet carried her away. Why was she looking at the back of someone's feet?

Not caring she closed her eyes and fell back into slumber. See was so tired that she didn't even bother to ponder what that beeping noise was?

…..

Pain.

Oh stars make it stop! Her leg was being cut into. What was going on?! Was someone trying to eat her?! She went to smack whatever was attacking her but her hands were restrained.

"Stop Mallory! Or I'll have to tie you up!"

"No! Stop!"

"You'll get sicker if I don't!"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cutting away the dead, rotting flesh that's been infected. So stop fighting."

Mallory sat up to stop the assailant again. She was so weak and delirious from fever that she couldn't comprehend that this being was trying to save her.

"You've given me no choice." One hand grabbed the back of her neck and squeezed a pressure point, she was out before she knew what happened.

…..

It was dark when she awoke again, her vision was blurry at best and her body was hot with fever. Her leg screamed mercilessly at her from whatever happened to her earlier. She went to sit up but two hands pushed her back into the ground.

"Stay down." A male voice, whispered.

"Who are you?"

Said being snickered. "Don't recognize me." He asked, slowly he brought his head down. Once in her vision she realized that he was a duck.

"I can barely see." She groaned. A hand touched her head and she moaned at the contact. His had was so cold, it didn't feel good.

"I'll be right back. We need to bring your fever down." Said being got up. She laid there her sluggish brain not understanding what was happening.

She could hear footsteps coming back. They sounded different. A smaller hand touched Mallory's head making her shift away from it. The blurry being had purple surrounding their head. "Lucretia." Mallory mumbled. She could see her nodded then lean over and with surprising strength lift Mallory up and threw her over her shoulder.

"Put. Her. Down." A gun cocked behind them and Lucretia turned to find a very handsome duck standing at the caves entrance, gun pointed at her.

Lucretia did as told and raised her hands in the air. "Look handsome, I'm her friend. I was just worried for her. I didn't know if you were going to try and hurt her. There's no need for the gun baby. I would have no problem surrendering myself to you if that's what you want." She took on a seductive tone.

"Please. I'm know who you are traitor. I learned who was traitors to Puckworld when I went into the resistance. You were one of the worst. I should shoot you right now." The being growled.

"Oh the resistance. Funny. I don't remember your face. What's your name?"

"Canard Thunderbeak." Mallory gasped as hearing his name. He was alive!

"Aw. The one that got stuck here chasing Dragaunus."

Mallory could hear Canard growl at Lucretia. "Canard." Mallory called to him, getting his attention. This gave Lucretia the chance that she needed. She knocked his gun out of his hand and kicked him in the gut. Dashing out of the cave she yelled at him as she ran. "So long sucker!"

Canard cursed but didn't bother giving chase. "Bitch." He mumbled. Grabbing the leather sack of water that he placed on the ground when he saw Lucretia was there. Walking over to Mallory he got on his knees next to her. "We need to bring your fever down. I'm gonna pour cold water over your body." Mallory didn't really respond, she was fading into sleep again."Guess I can't leave you alone for a second Mallory."

He poured the cold water on her, Mallory yelped at how cold it was. "Are you trying to freeze me to death!" She jumped but Canard pushed her back down. She was very awake now.

"No the water's not that cold, your just that hot." Her body shook, at the sudden drop in temperature. It was then that she realized her clothes were gone.

"W-what happened to my clo-clothes?" She shivered so hard her voice shook.

"I took them off to care for you. Did you really want to walk around in wet clothing?" She didn't respond again just shook. "Sleep Mallory you need it to heal." He placed a hand on her forehead. "Huh. Look at that, the fever is already coming down."

Mallory drifted back to sleep, comforted by Canard's hand on her head.

…..

"Hey wake up." Someone was poking her and she didn't like it. "You've slept for three days. Get up."

"What?" She grabbed the offending finger but didn't let go.

"You've slept for three days." Mallory opened her eyes to find Canard staring down at her.

"Canard." She whispered his name in astonishment.

"Yeah I'm still alive. Wonders never cease." He smirked at her. "It's good to see another face. Especially one of my teammates, though I'm not happy to see that your here."

"Huh... Wildwing knew you were alive. Nobody believed him."

Canard smirked at hearing this. "That's my best friend. He was always optimistic. So what happened? How did you get here?"

"Same way you did... sacrificing my life for my friends." She smiled up at him.

He cringed but nodded his understanding. It wasn't a good memory for him and he doubted that it was a good one for her. "How is Wildwing? Is he a good captain?"

Mallory smiled up at him. "The best. I don't even you could have done a better job keeping that flock as a functioning unit."

Canard chuckled at that. "He has a surprising way of making others work together. What about Nosedive? Is he a good addition?"

"He is. He's saved our lives on many occasions."

"Nosedive? Huh, I thought he would have been a burden."

"So did I but he's not." Mallory looked off into the darkness of the cave, thinking about her team, wondering if they mourned her like she would have them. "How did you survive Canard?"

"The electromagnetic-worm dropped me and I landed in a lake. I was lucky." He looked out of the cave at the landscape beyond. "I guess."

"It just dropped you? Don't they need to consume some sort of matter?"

"Yeah and it did. One of my guns." Canard laughed remembering when the worm dropped him in a lake. He had been surprised and then just outright pissed. Damn thing couldn't even finish the job.

"Have you seen others since you've been here?"

"Yeah couple of Brawns and many different... species but not really any other ducks, besides you and that traitor." He sneered while talking about Lucretia. "Did you know she is responsible for the death of at least five thousand Puckworldian's from her spying for Dragaunus?"

Mallory gasped hearing this number. "Five thousand!? I should have shot her when I had the chance!"

"Trust me I was tempted to as well but I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Would've been worth it to take her out." Mallory growled.

"Not to me." Canard stared down at the angry duck. Mallory calmed herself, knowing that she was letting her temper get the better of her.

"Your right. I'm just... grumpy. As I'm sure you know, it hasn't been easy." She motioned down to her leg.

"Yeah well get used to this cause I haven't been able to find a way out."

"I might have one." Mallory sat up, using her arms to hold her upper body up. "The Brawns. They can get in and out of limbo as they please."

"Yeah but going near any of them is certain death. Trust me I've tried. I almost got my head blown off." Canard crossed his arms, thinking about the indecent that almost killed him.

"Yeah they are aggressive... if they don't know you."

"And you know them?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Mallory smiled.

"How?"

"From back on Earth, when Dragaunus sent a Brawn to-"

"Earth?"

"Yeah where we ended up after chasing Dragaunus through limbo when we lost you. Now let me finish. Dragaunus captured a Brawn and reprogrammed him to attack us instead. We finally were able to knock him out and re-reprogram him so that he would go back to capturing Dragaunus. One thing led to another and we stopped Dragaunus but Brawn's body was destroyed. We kept his head which was still functioning. I would go grab him and talk to him." Canard raised an eyebrow at that. "I was curious. Anyway don't give me that look cause if I wasn't so curious, we wouldn't have a possible way out of here. Anyway, I asked about other Brawns and it turns out they share minds. It makes them a more effective unit. Even then when I was talking to him he said he was still sending information back to the others in limbo. He said that if I were to ever approach them, they wouldn't attack like they would with most. So there is a good chance that we can get out of here with their help."

"I almost got killed approaching them but if you believe that it will work then it's worth a shot. But we need to have a plan in case they do attack you. I won't risk you getting killed."

"Alright. I can't argue with that." Mallory smirked. "Do you happen to know where the Brawns are?"

"Yeah they have several stations and prisons here. There is one a weeks walk from here. There's only one problem... with your injured leg, moving quickly will be an issue so it's going to be more like a week and a half if we're lucky."

"Yeah but it's better then not getting there at all." She looked at Canard and studied his handsome features. He really was a handsome duck, she had never noticed before. His bangs were hanging just over his dark brown eyes, giving him a rugged look.

"Alright if you say so. We'll give it a try." Canard went to lean against the wall across from Mallory, that way he could keep an eye on her and make sure Lucretia doesn't try to come steal her again. "Drink some of that water next to you. It's clean." Mallory nodded and grabbed the cup. She trusted Canard completely so she had no issues eating or drinking anything given to her. Not that she needed it here but while injured she would need it to regain all of her strength faster."

"When do we move?" She asked. He was looking out over the landscapes beyond the cave, he looked lost in his own world. He looked sad and lonely, like he forgot she was there. "Canard?"

His head snapped to her and he blinked a couple of times. "What?"

"You okay?" She sat up and leaned on her elbows, watching him carefully for any signs that she needed to be worried about.

"Yeah... It's just..." His eyes traced her face, he seemed to be relishing in the company of another being. "Having someone here is all that I wanted and now that you are... I can't help but feel selfish at the thought that I'm happy your here with me. I'm happy your here in limbo with me because I was so lonely..." Mallory watched him with understanding eyes, it made him shift uncomfortably. "Seems pretty messed up, don't you think."

"No... Anyone in this situation would think the same thing. Hell even Lucretia wanted to make friends with me cause she was lonely and she tried to kill me back on Earth!"

Canard chuckled at that. "I guess your right."

"No seriously that girl is messed up. She tried to seduce me in a lake while I was bathing. She really must have lost her mind here to think that kind of thing would work on me." Mallory laid back down and crossed her arms, glaring at the ceiling. "Besides do I look like I'm into chicks! NO!"

"That's... weird." Canard wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Tell me about it." Mallory mumbled.

Canard didn't think really know Lucretia, he just knew about her. Generally he liked to gather more information about his enemies before he had to deal with them but in this situation with Mallory injured, he couldn't leave her alone. She was coherent now but that was after being unconscious for three days and during that time, Lucretia had always been lurking nearby. Waiting for an opportunity to grab Mallory, because of this Canard refused to leave Mallory's side for anything.

"So when do we move Canard." Mallory asked again.

"When your able." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, just taking a moment to rest.

"You can sleep if you want. I'll keep watch." Mallory realized he must have been tired, she wanted to help him in anyway she could.

"Thanks Mallory but for the time being I'm going to need to stay on watch. Lucretia is lurking around out there, waiting for the opportune moment to snatch you out from under me.

"Let her try! I'll blow her sky high!" She sneered, she hated that duck more and more everyday.

"I can't risk it. Your still feeling the effects of that wound. You might not be able to fight off the need to sleep. Besides, I don't mind. I've gone so long without a companion that I don't think I could sleep if I wanted to. I'm a little nervous that I'll wake up and you won't actually be here. That it was all just a dream."

Mallory didn't say anything to that. Canard had suffered here. That was clear. "Canard-"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Better then I've been in a long time." He smiled at her almost affectionately? She couldn't quite tell but chose not to think about it. It was going to be a hard journey. She wanted to tell Canard how happy everyone was going to be to see him again, especially Wildwing and Nosedive but she was worried that she might make him sad instead, so kept her thoughts on the subject to herself.

…..

She fell asleep without even meaning to. Canard had been right to not let her take watch. Opening her eyes she found Canard had fallen asleep,without meaning to as well. Poor guy must have been exhausted. He started shifting in his sleep like he was having a bad dream, suddenly he sat up and looked around frantically. Before his eyes could land on her though she closed hers again to make it seem like she was asleep. She didn't really know why she had done it. Listening to his frantic breathing, she told herself it was cause she wanted him to have a moment to compose himself, so that he didn't feel like he had been caught sleeping on the job. She could feel his eyes on her and his breathing finally evened out. The sound of rocks and pebbles scrapping under his boots, told her that he had stood up. He approached her quietly, pebbles crushing under his feet. He finally stopped next to her and squatted down closer to her level. Mallory kept her eyes closed and wondered what he was doing. Briefly she pondered opening her eyes to see what he was doing but chose against it. It was when she felt the gently and warm touch of his fingers on her cheek that she realized what he was doing, making sure that she was really there. His breath brushed through her hair as he leaned down towards her, examining her face as she 'slept'. She kept her body limp, trying not to give away that she was awake, she didn't want to embarrass him. Finally his fingers moved away from her cheek and he stood, walking to the front of the cave.

She could still feel where his fingers had been touching her skin. It was warm and gentle. She could almost feel his relief when his fingers had touched her cheek. Confirming that she was still here. "Poor Canard." She thought. Ducks were very social, they didn't do well on their own, so it was amazing that Canard wasn't insane from being here by himself for as long as he was. Not wanting to think about it anymore, Mallory drifted back to sleep, with her previous leader watching over her.

…..