Letting the Cables Sleep

Written by Zelda

 

Author’s note: Not a songfic, just titled the same as a great song by Bush. Listen to it if you can get your hands on a CD or MP3, it makes a great soundtrack to certain scenes, particularly the one where Wildwing is sitting alone in the Ready Room with Drake 1’s monitor. You’ll know it when you come to it. Enjoy!

 

                “Can you top that? Come on, I’m asking you! Tell me if you can top that!” Duke jabbed his leader with an elbow as they trampled off of the ice in their skates, his voice barely audible above the roar of the crowd that they were leaving behind.

                “Heh… I’ll get back to you on that one, after I get my breath back…” Wildwing admitted with a tired sigh. He had been the savior of tonight’s game, holding off an insane flurry of offense by their opponents within the last few minutes of regulation time. The entire team had been caught unawares, growing tired as the game wore down, and unable to do much to respond. It was Wildwing’s vigilance in goal that prevented a come-from-behind defeat.

                “That’s my big bro!” Nosedive gave the goalie a playful shove, sending him into the locker room, to join the rest of the team.

                “Hey, three cheers for our star goalie tonight, huh?” Tanya raised a water bottle to toast him before taking a swig.

                “Bet the other guy between the pipes down there was real jealous.” Mallory laughed. “I wish I coulda seen their coach’s face! Having him see what real all-star material is!”

                “Our opponents had strategy and desperation on their side tonight.” Grin tisked her lightly. “We would have been unable to keep up, without Wildwing to keep us in the game.”

                “Agreed.” Tanya sat on the bench, out of breath. “I’m glad some of us still had the energy to answer what they dished at us in those last few minutes. And that was highlight reel stuff tonight Wing, you’ve got nerves of steel, I swear.”

                “Thanks guys.” he nodded, slumping down on the other end of the bench and starting to slough off his padding. “But man, were their shooters good tonight. My legs feel like jell-o.”

                “We all need rest.” Mallory said. “What, with games all this week, and that bank robbery we stopped the other day?”

                “Can’t the criminal element take a day off?” Nosedive smirked, questioning rhetorically.

                “You know what I mean.” Mallory rolled her eyes, smiling.

                “I believe you are right.” Grin rumbled, nodding. “Rest is well deserved.”

                As he finished speaking, a new bolt of enthusiasm entered the locker room in the form of a purple ball of bouncing scales. Exhausted and panting with the effort of boardrunning all night, Zelda had found a new well of energy in the celebrating crowd. “Do you hear them out there?” she laughed. “Sheer adoration! I tell you, it took a little while for these people to wake up, but they sure do love their Ducks now.” Giggling, she leapt up onto the bench, and then Wildwing’s shoulder, causing the goalie to nearly fall over.

                “Hey, watch it!” he chided lightly, pushing her off along his arm. “You’re likely to break something, at this point.”

                Zelda’s expression softened instantly in apology. “You’re really that spent?” she asked. “Didn’t look like it out there tonight, you were in top form, big guy.” She patted him on the shoulder, nodded, and hopped off the bench to go congratulate the others.

                The team’s leader couldn’t help but grin after her, before he threw the last of his gear into his locker, and pulled a clean towel behind his neck. Even standing, he could feel his leg muscles protesting. At least he hadn’t pulled anything tonight, then real disaster would be looming on the horizon.

                “Come on guys, who’s up for ordering a pizza and reveling in the post-game highlights?”  Nosedive asked.

                “Eh, count me out tonight kid.” Duke shook his head. “I think I’m gonna fall asleep to the tape, heh.”

                “Bo-ring!” his younger winger rolled his eyes. “Come on, don’t any of you have some life left?”

                “Ahh, to be young again.” Tanya smiled, pushing open the door to the hall. “Come on kid, I know you’re beat too. And Phil won’t be able to handle all the press tonight.” She gestured out the door to some flashbulbs that were lighting in the distance. “I say we leave while we can still stand.”

                “Whoo, you sure do make a good point.” Nosedive cringed slightly. “Alright, but I’m still gonna kick it in the galley for a while, if anyone wants to join me.”

                With that, the team started to file out of the door and into the long, cinder block hallway that was painted in their team colors. Farther up the hall, a few members of the press spotted them and tried to pull a few quotes for the news, but were interrupted and corralled by Phil. A few managed to slip past him, though.

                Zelda smiled and nodded to them, shooing the rest of the team on with a wave of her tail. “I’ll be along guys.”

                “Dunno why she does that.” Mallory shrugged as she watched the dragon trot off, to start chatting with a few sports reporters. “Guess she’s still just more used to humans than we are.”

                “We’re not newcomers here anymore.” Grin spoke. “She’s proud about how we played tonight. I think she just wants to brag.”

                “Really?” Wildwing raised an eyebrow at him. “Then why does she talk to the press after losses too?”

                Grin shrugged. “Damage control, perhaps?”

                “Best way to nurse a wounded ego is to shield it, I guess.” Duke nodded, and kept walking.

                Passing through a few sets of double doors, the team reached a secret elevator tube, another option to them taking the elevator down from the locker room. Ever since Phil had started letting the press into the access corridors, the team had to be ‘seen’ exiting the locker room, to act as a cover for the headquarters that lay below. It really wasn’t a matter or real importance that the team kept the base a secret anymore, quite a few people knew that it existed. But it didn’t hurt to keep up appearances, and as long as the public didn’t inquire too much, nobody knew the wiser. Less press about their headquarters would probably keep the Saurians in the dark, as well.

So the team took the elevator down and scattered into their various bunks. Nosedive settled for a post-game shower to pass the time before he ate his pizza, and in the end, fell asleep before he could leave his bunk again. It was Wildwing who met the delivery boy at the Pond’s doors. In the end, he was glad for his younger brother’s foresight, since he was hungry enough to need the midnight snack, when it did come. Pizza box and bottle of Vanilla Coke in hand, he retreated to the Ready Room alone, with the rest of the team asleep. He winced a little at Nosedive’s choice of anchovy and pineapple toppings, before he yielded to his rumbling stomach and gave in to a slice, settling down in front of Drake 1’s massive screen with the evening sports show. Munching and sipping in-between yawns, he couldn’t help but smile a little, watching the highlight reel from the night’s game. He had come up with a few really key saves. It felt good to know, to see, and to be able to feel that he was doing something right on the ice. With all of the running around that the team had been doing lately, the truly good rewards were coming few and far between. Sighing, Wildwing set down a crust and leaned back in a console chair, thinking. Thinking about how he hadn’t felt this way in weeks. Things were always unpredictable around here, but it hadn’t been easy for him lately. Things were just… wrong. Things nobody knew about. Things that he purposely had buried in his mind so deeply, that not even Zelda or Grin suspected anything. Things like his nightmares, nightmares that had the feel of battle-sore muscles, and were stained with the color of congealed blood. Wildwing felt his stomach souring with the thoughts in his head, and he quickly shook them away both mentally and physically. Taking in a breath, he set the pizza box down on Drake 1’s console, and inadvertently pushed an odd button. He was startled as there was a loud hissing behind him, and a section of the floor started to push up. This was where the team had stored a lot of items they’d managed to collect over time. A mini-museum of curious rested in their cubbies. B.R.A.W.N.’s robot head sat in a recharge mode. The magical Star Sword gleamed in the light from Drake 1’s screen. And in the next cubby were the fragments of Asteroth’s amulet, the fractured source of the wizard’s now-defunct power. The movement of the flooring had shaken one of the fragments out of its cubby and onto the ground, and Wildwing stood to go put it back. Out of curiosity, Wildwing turned it over in his hand as he picked it up, watching as the light refracted off of the facets. Light flashed off  of a certain surface, a flat cut that had been made by the Star Sword, and Wildwing saw something that caused him to frown. “What the…?” he muttered, turning the amulet again to have another look. There- a flash of light, an image somehow created on the surface of the gem. Wildwing was a little stunned to find that he recognized what he saw in that split-second flash. It was an image that he had seen before, behind his closed eyelids, in his nightmares. Twitching the amulet back and forth, the image flashed again and again, but a little different each time, like advancing frames in a film. He stood, becoming increasingly frightened, as he watched fragments of his nightmares play out on the tiny facet of a crystal shard. And most importantly, the face that the crystal was reflecting was not his own. How was this possible?

 

“What’s up with you, bro?” Nosedive frowned up at him. “It looks like you didn’t sleep a wink last night. And Tanya’s gonna be mad at you for leaving that pizza in the Ready Room!”

“Yeah.” Wildwing rubbed the back of his neck. “I probably didn’t sleep thanks to that pizza, little bro.”

“Hey, that stuff’s the best!” Nosedive crossed his arms. “And you ate a good fourth of it.” Pouting, he shuffled off further down the hall, towards the galley for breakfast.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to polish that off now, either!” Wildwing called after him, but there was no reply. The leader sighed, and shook his head a little. How old was Nosedive now? And he still needed someone to serve as nutritional counselor. Wildwing turned in the corridor that he was walking through, proceeding back towards his bunk. He decided to skip breakfast this morning, just not feeling very hungry at all. He was just tired, just very tired. After what he had seen in the early hours of the morning, standing alone in the Ready Room, he couldn’t find it in him to sleep. He only remembered putting the amulet fragment back in its cubby, sinking the storage rack back into the floor, and returning to his bunk to spend the night tossing and turning in bed. Reentering his bunk only made him think more about what had gone through his head in those previous hours. He felt stuffy and uncomfortable.

“Morning, fearless leader!”

Wildwing was nearly startled by Zelda’s voice, and familiar claw-click noises on the metal floor as she came pacing up to him from the hallway.  “Oh-- hey there girl.” he turned and leaned on the doorframe to look out at her. “What’s up?”

“Not you, from the looks of it.” she cocked her head at him. “Sleep badly?”

“To say the least…” he sighed, and walked back into his room.

Hesitating slightly in the doorframe, Zelda twitched her ears and watched him go. “Anything I can get you?”

“Nah…” Wildwing shook his head, thinking it over as he spoke. “I dunno, I guess I’m still tired from yesterday. Do me a favor, tell the others they can rest up too, we’ll push practice back a few hours.”

The dragon nodded, still watching him. “I’ll tell them. Go take a nap, Wing, looks like you could use some extra shuteye.” She retreated from the door, and it slid shut behind her, leaving the goalie duck in relative darkness.

In the silence, Wildwing grumbled slightly. Didn’t he just say that he was going to get some rest? Eh, he was only frustrated at himself. Zelda always meant the best for the others, she did a good job of looking out for the team when its members were too busy to do that themselves. It was handy to have her around, because right now Wildwing was far too distracted with the previous night’s events. He climbed back into bed, but never lay down. He sat in his bunk, staring at the floor, playing over and over in his mind what he saw. Did he really see it? Or did he imagine it? How much of last night was reality, and how much of it was just his old nightmares? He ran a hand through his hair and felt rather helpless. Tired as he was, there was no way that he’d get to sleep at this rate. With a sigh, he hopped off of his bed and ambled into the bathroom, hoping that a shower would clear his mind.

 

“Mr. Wildwing Flashblade…” a warning tone greeted him as he entered the Ready Room.

The leader duck cringed for a moment. “Yeesh, you sound like my mom.” he smirked.

“Well if you don’t want me to keep sounding that way, you’ll pick up after yourself.” Tanya wagged a finger at him from Drake 1’s console. “Leaving food around all night, it’s a wonder we don’t have rats in here!”

She was obviously joking, and it made Wildwing laugh sincerely. Perhaps she’d taken his tired state to  heart. “Too funny, Tanya.” he grinned, walking up the platform and staring up at the screen. “Anything triggering the alarms today?”

“You would have heard it if it did.” she shook her head. “Nothing, aren’t we lucky? Hey, are we gonna have practice at all today?” She looked up at him. “It’s getting kinda late.”

Wildwing checked the watch in his com, and sighed. “It is, isn’t it? Well, you know, I hate to call one off just for that reason, but I’m still not feeling myself. If you guys want to go ahead and skate, I’ll watch.”

“You didn’t pull anything, did you?”

“No, thank goodness.” he replied. “I guess we’ve just been through a lot in the past couple of days, maybe I’m letting it get to me too much.”

“Fssh, well, if I put up a playoff performance like you did last night, I’d be tired too!” Tanya smirked. “I bet we could use your insight from the bench, for once. Get Zelda to stop running around on the boards like a chicken with her head cut off.”

“Are you sure that isn’t Nosedive?” Wildwing grinned. “He’s usually the one to burn himself out early.”

 

Tanya wasn’t correct, at least not entirely. Wildwing tried to stifle a yawn from the eighth row of seats on the Pond’s lower tier, opting for an audience-eye view of today’s practice. Zelda did run around a lot, but it was calculated. She’d made great progress from when the team had first started playing. She knew very little about the sport then, and had invented boardunning out of a combined desire to cheerlead and to keep a close eye on players at risk. But she overran herself, tiring quickly, letting the game push her beyond a sustainable pace. Now she’d developed it into an NHL-approved part of the game, with its own special rules and equipment. Combining her discipline as fighter with the skill of the sport had made her a wizened coach, one that could lope right along and shout orders in the ears of the intended. And because the Ducks understood her so well, those commands could often come in simple snarls and barks, tosses of her head and wheeling paws, translated from his own suggestions. He and Zelda stayed well attuned during games. Something as insignificant as his body language would set her off to the game’s mood and pace. She worked through him to control play as he wanted it, to help him expect what was coming and to keep the team updated on that was going on behind them in goal. To say the least, it was helpful. Now, even without him on the ice, she was doing good work to corral a rather reckless Nosedive on an odd-man rush. Smiling slightly at his brother’s stubbornness, Wildwing leaned back in the padded seat. As his eyes wandered up to the rafters in the ceiling, his mind drifted from the game below. As they had so many times before during the day, his thoughts went back to the previous night, to the Ready Room. What he had seen in that crystal had troubled him greatly. He had reached the point where he started to doubt his eyes. Had he really been seeing things? There was only one way to be sure, and when the light had grown late and everyone else was sound asleep, he would prove himself true or false. He would go back and look again, into the fractured gem.

 

Night and solitude. One was welcome, the other was not. Wildwing needed to be alone, to go back and verify what he had seen the night before. But he had been awake for nearly the entire day. His tired body was fighting with his troubled mind, a tug-of-war that pulled him towards or away from his bed. But the leader duck shook sleep off, pacing back to the Ready Room after he was sure that everyone, even Zelda, was fast asleep. The last thing he needed was to be interrupted by one of her late-night cycles of rounds. The room itself was darkened, as was most of the underground Pond during the night. It seemed to take him forever to get around the hulking frame of Drake 1, listening to its low droning hum as it ran idle. He couldn’t remember the last time that Tanya had actually turned the machine off, save for when it was simply hacked to pieces during a Saurian invasion of the Pond. But he was grateful for that. While he couldn’t stay up day and night to scan the city for teleportation energy, the machine could. Now, he reached that machine’s console, tapping in a few commands and an authorizing code. He winced as the activity caused the computer to come out of standby. The screen flashed on and cast a greenish white florescence into the room. As it had done the night before, the storage chamber slid up from the floor. And as he had been the night before, Wildwing was presented with four pieces of jewel, glimmering in the shifting light of Drake 1’s screensaver. With tired eyes, he picked up a shard and sank back into one of the console’s chairs, looking it over, watching the false light glitter off of its faces. Though his mind was intensely curious, his body was starting to nag him again. With a sigh, he realized that he should probably have just gone to bed. Thinking this over with a clear head would be much easier, and it seemed that he could afford to wait for one night. Even a few hours sounded good… Slowly, he stood again, and reached a hand out to put the piece of the crystal back in place. But just barely before his hand touched the metal floor of the cubby, a wave of cold overcame him, washing over him like a tangible blackness. And as suddenly as it had come, it was gone, and he was back with the looming computer, and the glittering gems before him. Wildwing backed away, nearly dropping the crystal shard in pure shock. He suddenly knew things, things that he didn’t know just a moment before. Confusion closed in thickly around him. How did he suddenly know? Did the crystal automatically impart such things into his head? With shaking hands, he set the fragment back in its cubby, by its three relations. He recalled what he had just learned, running it over and over again in his head. There were four shards of the crystal, and if he made a wish upon them, a random one of the four would grant it for him. But there was a risk, a price involved. One of the shards would grant his wish without any other actions, and aside from the effects of the wish, his world would remain otherwise unchanged. One of the shards would grant the wish, but automatically end the existence of one thing he held dear. What was that thing? Would it be someone, or an object? The Mask or his little brother? Another shard would grant the wish and eliminate half of what he loved, while the final shard would destroy everything in fulfilling his request. Like the most twisted game of dreidel that he’d ever played. He had come here in the dead of night looking for answers, and he’d found them. Now he was left with a sickening, hollow pit in his stomach, and the even greater question of what to do next.

 

“That’ll be $7.50.”

“Huh?” Wildwing snorted slightly, shaking himself fully awake. There was a familiar scent in the air.

“For the double mocha-latte.” Mallory smirked, pushing it under his beak. “Just kidding of course, it’s the regular stuff from the galley. But drink up anyway, you look like you’ve been put through the wringer! Didn’t you get any sleep last night?”

“Coffee at the console like this?” Wildwing smirked as he leaned back in one of Drake 1’s console chairs. “What would Tanya say?”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Mallory reminded him with a smile.

Wildwing waved it off. “No.” he sighed, then taking a long sip of the hot drink. “That does really hit the spot though.”

“Wow, well that’s not good.” Mallory frowned slightly. “What a time to get insomnia eh? You know we’ve got a game today.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t you worry about me.” Wildwing smiled. “Besides, it’s just against the—“

“Now where do you get off with that kind of talk?” came a loud snarl from the distant corner. The two ducks turned to find Zelda trotting with an angry pace towards them. Eyes set in a mock sternness, she hopped up onto the back of Wildwing’s chair, bringing her snout close to his face. “Am I not looking at the same Duck who insists that we play at our best, regardless of the skill level of our opponents? That it’s only our will that separates us from them? How dare I find you downplaying tonight’s visitor.”

“You make one evil cheerleader girl.” Wildwing smiled petting her neck. “And you’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t be dismissing them.”

“Practice today?” Mallory asked.

“I don’t think so.” Wildwing started. “And I’m not taking the game too lightly, Zel. I think you guys all got a good workout yesterday, we shouldn’t push it this morning. And me? I just need a good nap.”

“Then cut the coffee.” Mallory grabbed the cup away from him. “And get to bed!”

“Alright, alright!” Wildwing conceded, chuckling. “Just lemme run a few more things through the computer, wanted to cross-reference some news stories with last night’s scan readings…”

“Always got Saurians on the brain. I suppose that is our job.” Mallory nodded, patting his shoulder. “I should be off myself, Tanya wanted some help with the ‘Grator. Seeya around!” With a wave, she started off for a side exit door.

Wildwing sighed, turning back to the console and leaning back in his chair, pinching Zelda’s claws against the backrest.

“Yow!” she hopped to the ground, shuffling her wings on her back with a feigned offended snort.

“Heh, you gotta trim those nails girl.” Wildwing glanced down at her for a moment with a quick grin.

“These ‘nails’ have gotten me out of quite a few tough spots, and you too, if I remember right!” she huffed back up at him. “It’s that bill of yours that needs some sanding down!”

“Beh.” Wildwing waved her off with a tired swipe. “With all of that click-clacking around here, how do you expect us to get any work done?”

“Haw haw haw.” Zelda rolled her eyes. “At least you don’t go around making me wear those horrible little dog-booties. Should I leave you to your cross-referencing then? Looks massively captivating.”

“Hm..?” Wildwing looked at her, confused.

“Didn’t you say you had to reference news reports with last night’s scanner activity?” Zelda cocked her head.

Wildwing mentally kicked himself. That’s right, he’d forgotten. There really wasn’t much of anything to look into, but he wanted to look like he was keeping himself busy. “Oh, hah, yeah! Now you’re gonna tell me how much I really need a nap, right?”

Zelda shook her head at him. “You really are beat. Are you sure you’re okay? Doesn’t seem like just the game the other night is what’s getting to you.”

Wildwing snorted in a false defense of being offended. True, none of the team were so bold as to tell other members they believed they weren’t getting the straight story from them. Was she insinuating that he was covering something up, that he had a reason to hide something from her? Even though she had hit the nail on the head, he had to put up an expected rebuttal. “You worry too much girl.” he nodded to her.

But Zelda didn’t seem to be listening, hopping up on the console next to him to a more level point of view. Zelda frowned slightly, peering into his eyes.

He realized that he must look pretty haggard, his eyes were probably bloodshot from the lack of sleep. And she could see deeper than mere physical appearance. Grin probably could too, but her attenuation to him, the skills she had learned from him on the ice, gave her an even deeper perspective. Wildwing tried his best to present an emotional stonewall to her. But strangely enough, he saw something in her, probably as much as she was trying to see something in him. He carefully watched the muscles around her eyes tense to raise her brows just slightly, the skin around her nostrils flare as she exhaled an inaudible soft snort. Concern, she was concerned about him. Wildwing let out a heavy sigh. This was getting far too complicated for his taste. “It’s alright girl.” he started, offering her a small smile. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“Forgive me for tailing you like I have been lately, I guess I just don’t understand.” Zelda blinked back at him. “I’m not used to that sort of thing.”

“I know, but nothing’s the matter, trust me.” he gave her a reassuring scratch under the chin. Predictably, the dragon purred back. “Just big stuff, complicated stuff. You don’t have to worry.”

“Doesn’t mean that I don’t anyway.” Zelda grinned. “But you know you have someone to talk to, if you want, right?” She pulled away from him for a moment, to look him in the eyes. “I’ll trust you if you want to mull things over on your own, but in return I want you to trust me, if you can’t find your answers. Or at least one of the team, anyway. Nobody should have to feel alone amongst us.”

“Well I certainly don’t, and thanks for offering girl.”

Zelda leaned back on the console with a light smile. “You deserve it, big guy. Now, were you really going to stay up just to cross-reference a bunch of reports?”

“Yes I was.” Wildwing nodded.

“Anything I can do to help?---“ Zelda’s offer was cut off by a bleep at the console.

Wildwing punched in a few commands to bring up Duke’s com feed on the screen.

“Hey, you down there Zelda?” he asked.

“I’m here, something the matter?” the dragon blinked curiously.

“There’s another pigeon stuck in the rafters, must have gotten in through the shipping bay doors this morning.” the duck sighed, shaking his head. “Wouldja mind shooing it back outside?”

“Not at all.” Zelda nodded. “Poor thing, I hate seeing birds trapped inside of buildings. I’ll be right up.” Wildwing closed the com link as Zelda hopped off the console. “Guess you’re left to the minutia alone!”

Wildwing grabbed at his heart as if he had been struck, and swooned in his chair. “Oh woe is me!” he grinned. “However shall I stand the boredom!?”

“Take a nap!” Zelda laughed back, half a suggestion and half an order, as she bounced out of a side exit.

The white-feathered duck released a loud sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. Finally, alone at last. Wildwing was going to stay at the console, but felt slightly guilty because those reports from last night were going to be left untouched. He was here to do research, dig up anything he could find about Asteroth’s stone. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, it might not even be productive at all. The stone had, after all, come from a completely separate dimension. People probably knew as much about it here as they had about the Ducks, the Saurians, and Puckworld, before they had all been transported here. But he had to try, and the internet was a good place to start. As he surfed and skimmed, minutes ticked by, and nobody came barging in. He hoped they wouldn’t, the last thing he needed now was another break in his concentration. The others would have seen him looking through some rather odd sources, to boot. Basic internet searches were turning up strings of websites either marketing gemstones or tilting bizarre about their mystical healing powers. He was looking for magic, yes, but his results bordered on a faux occult. This was useless… Taking a different tactic, he decided to go through a more academic route, searching through journal articles and encyclopedias. Here there was more mention of magic, but as part of ritual belief. Could he find something similar to Asteroth’s amulet? He was certainly willing to try…

 

 

Nosedive winced at the loud crack that sounded near his ear. “Yeesh Grinster! That is just creepy!”

The big duck at his side unlaced his hands and lowered his arms to his sides again. “My apologies.” Grin smiled down to him. “Meditating for too long in one position can result in stiffened muscles.”

“Yeah, we’ve kinda had a lazy day, haven’t we?” Dive scratched his head. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“It is a rather rare thing, isn’t it?” Grin nodded. “What do you plan to do with the time given to you?”

“What anybody my age should be doing nearly 24/7!” the young duck replied emphatically. “Video games on the big screen!”

Grin tried to check himself from rolling his eyes. “How productive.”

“Oh come on Grinster.” Nosedive huffed. “You were my age once too, you know. Didn’t you used to do the same thing?”

Grin sighed, remembering an arcade he used to frequent, years before he discovered his master and the Zen way of the game. Usually he’d been there to bully others out of their allowances, so that he could play until the place closed for the night. “In a way, yes.” he admitted.

“Then you know what I mean.” Nosedive grinned victoriously. “Come on, you are totally jealous that your hands have grown too big for the controllers.”

At this, Grin had to laugh. It was true! “Enjoy such war games while you can, little one.” he folded his arms. “Soon you will find things that are far more worth your time.”

“Hopefully not before the end of today!” Nosedive smirked. “You’re takin’ up my precious game-time, my man!” He quickened his pace towards the end of the corridor. The door opened before them, and he walked ahead as Grin was catching up. Suddenly, Dive let out a rather devilish smirk, turned around, and put a finger to his beak. “Be vewy, vewy quiet!” he warned.

Curious, Grin frowned lightly and walked up, peering up towards the console. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll wake the baby.” Nosedive giggled, hissing through his teeth to contain his laughter.

Up at the console, still in his chair, Wildwing lay slumped over the keyboard, asleep.

“Goodness…” Grin started.

“Man oh man, where’s a camera when you need one!?” Nosedive hopped. “I bet he’s drooling! All over the keys! Tanya’s gonna be pissed!”

Smiling, Grin shook his head. “You should let your brother sleep.” he chided gently. “I’m sure he wouldn’t have picked the console, if he had the choice between that and his bed.”

“Pssh, spoil sport!” Nosedive pouted. “I guess he has been a little tuckered out lately. Alright, alright, I’ll go wake him up the nice way!” The young duck was off up the stairs, giving his older brother a gentle shake on the shoulder armor to wake him up.

Grin watched as Wildwing shook himself quickly, a bit embarrassed. Nosedive wore a smirk the entire time, and Wildwing stood with a nod. Before the pair walked away, Wildwing reached over and closed an internet window that he had active. As he saw it flash off of Drake 1’s screen, Grin was instantly curious about what had been on that page. But was it anything to be curious about? Wildwing was probably checking up on yesterday’s news stories, as he said he was going to do. Either way, it didn’t matter now. He started to walk up the stairs as Nosedive accompanied his brother to the side door, and saw him through it. After Wildwing had gone, he came back to the console and started flipping through a drawer of game cartridges, grinning from ear to ear.

“Fell asleep right in the middle of his work! Can you believe it?” he chuckled. “He’s gonna owe me one for not taking blackmail pictures.”

“What was he looking at, did you see?” Grin asked.

“Had some paper up in that window he closed, you know, like one of those journal article things?” Nosedive waved it off nonchalantly as he popped a cartridge into Drake 1 and plugged in a controller. “Them book learnin’s ain’t important ta guys like us!”

Chuckling at Nosedive’s overly heavy southern drawl, Grin nodded and turned towards the same door Wildwing had gone through. “I’ll leave you to your games then. More meditation for me, I suppose!”

 

Wildwing growled low in his throat as he kicked the corner of his bunk bedpost. The growl turned into a yelp as he stubbed his toe, squeaking higher in pain. He’d moved like a slug the entire game tonight! How could he have let his team down? Especially when they had fought so hard. Aware of his lack of rest, the others had all stepped up their game immensely, wearing themselves down in the process to scramble and make up for him nearly falling asleep in goal all night. Zelda had been pushing them hard the entire time, foaming at the mouth by game’s end with exertion and frustration. What an idiot he was! With the screaming crowd and the flashing lights, how could it be so difficult to keep his attention on the game? And to lose by only a goal, after his teammates had put in so much; everyone seemed a little deadened at the game’s end. He couldn’t remember if anyone had really said anything in the locker room afterward, everyone just stowed their equipment and went back below to rest. He had too, but not before he’d made an important stop off in the Ready Room. Now his legs felt like lead, his head full of cotton fuzz. All he wanted to do was sleep, to ignore all of the nagging thoughts that were tugging him back into the world of the conscious. Signing in resignation, he started to pull back the sheets on his bed, kneading his hurt foot with the heel of the other. He paused as he heard a noise, something coming from outside. There was a familiar click-clacking of claws coming down the hallway. Great… just what he needed now. Wildwing scooped the Mask up from its nighttime position on his bedstand, and slipped it over his face. Looking through his wall and door with the X-ray option, he could clearly see Zelda’s skeleton moving through the hallway. She was dragging her woven reed hammock in her jaws. This was a near-nightly routine for her. She didn’t have her own room, preferring not to sleep by herself. So she’d wander the bunk hall and pick a member of the team to spend the night with. In actuality, she didn’t sleep all that much, taking up most of the night hours with the odd habit of patrolling the Pond’s various levels. But she often chose to stay with those she knew were injured or otherwise in trouble, thinking they might like the company. Often, that was indeed the case. But she was going to head for his bunk tonight, and he did NOT want her there. More questioning, more poking and prodding and stirring of his already-addled mind. Wildwing watched as she approached his bunk door and paused outside it, preparing to knock. But she never did. The dragon stood for a few moments, staring at the door and twitching her ears, before turning and continuing down the hall. Wildwing breathed a soft sigh of relief. He needed to get some sleep, he admitted that to himself. But the next time he felt like investigating Asteroth’s amulet, he wouldn’t have to do so under the unconsciously prying eyes of his teammates. Wildwing reached into his pocket and pulled out something wrapped in a dustcloth. It was one of the four fragments of the gem, glittering in the overhead lights. Wildwing set it down on his bedstand, next to the Mask. He’d have to continue his work tomorrow. For now, he couldn’t expect to function properly without a little sleep, and tonight’s game was proof. He climbed into bed, settled the sheets over him, and was almost instantly asleep.

 

He dreamed that night in metaphors. Of hands ice cold and slippery when his grip was needed firm. Of a mind frozen by fear when he needed clarity. Punctuations of searing laser fire, explosions, numbness. He tangled himself in his bedsheets and saw himself imprisoned by failure. That’s what it all added up to in the end. Knots and ropes and chainlinks composed of wrought and woven failure. Where was he through it all? Everything that had happened to him, to his team, seemed as if it had taken place with some part of him absent. Where was his courage, his spine, his clear head? He saw it in the falling shadow of the best friend he had ever known. How could he have let go? Why? The hundreds of ‘what if’ scenarios that he’d spent years pushing from his mind now torrented into his thoughts. Had it really been Canard, who let go of the Mask? Surely that wasn’t how it really happened… surely something had gone wrong. And in his dreams, the Mask was gone, the consequence was gone. Simply two friends, one willing to sacrifice, one begging for the other to stay. It wasn’t a game anymore, it was real, and Wildwing was terrified. More scared than he’d been, even in the Saurian labor camps. Here, he let his grip fail because he was afraid, and the entire time, he’d stared fixed into the eyes of his leader as his death was finalized, as his grip vanished, as he vanished.

 

Wildwing awoke abruptly in the darkness of his room, to find tears on his cheeks, and the shattered amulet clutched tightly in one hand.

 

 

 

 

To be continued…