Note: This is a sequel to The Trial, and a prequel to the Spiritfall Saga, although you don't really have to read them to know what's going on here, just for continuity reasons! Also, this doesn't really qualify as a real story. I dunno what I was thinking when I typed this out. It just explains a few of Zelda's origins. Enjoy!

 

Revelations

Written by Zelda

 

                He was sitting on his bed, staring at a picture, so distracted that he didn't even hear his bunk door slide open. She knew who the picture contained, and it wouldn't make things any easier for her. But they had both been hurting since they came back from Limbo... she needed to do this. Maybe he did as well. Zelda took a deep breath, lowered her head, and padded into his room, up to his side. Only then did Wildwing look down.

                "Hey Zel, what's the matter?"

                She was just inclined to ask what was the matter with him. The Mask was off and his eyes were soft and pensive. He looked rather vulnerable, as he always did compared to having the Mask on. But she knew what the matter was with him, and she couldn't comfort him now.

                "Wing... I wanted to talk to you, if it's okay."

                "No, you're not bothering me at all Zel." he laid aside the picture and sat with his elbows on his knees, leaning down to see her better.

                "I've been thinking a lot... since this whole Trial thing."

                "We all have." Wildwing nodded.

                "It's not just about Canard though..." she took another breath and lowered her ears. "There's something... you guys don't know about." She paused, but Wildwing didn't say anything. "It's the angle Dragaunus has against me... but he might be able to drag you down into it as well... I thought it was time to let you know."

                "I understand." Wildwing nodded. "But what's the big secret?"

                "Remember when I told you that I had my ways, Wing?" she asked. "Do you remember the day I joined the team?"

 

                Of course he remembered. It would be an impossible day for the entire team to forget. They had just taken their first steps on terra firma. Nosedive was peeking over bushes at a mall, Mallory was commenting about the weather, Duke was reading a billboard. And silently, Wildwing was coming to grips with losing his best friend, and the team losing their only leader. The grief of the moment was almost lost in the immediate danger of this new planet, knowing only that Dragaunus was here as well. It was terrifying.

                "Welcome to An-eh-heem... home of the Mighty Frogs?!" Duke was rather incredulous.

                "We have no idea what kind of life is on this planet." Tanya was saying. "I mean they could be like, giant slugs with hundreds of eyes!"

                Nosedive laughed out loud at her. How could his brother be so relaxed? But the tension snapped tighter still as a noise suddenly came from the bushes on the pathway ahead. Immediately Mallory had her launcher raised, but Wildwing eased her down. They couldn't be sure what that was... and then the noise came again. There was a voice that followed it, a feminine one.

                "Mighty Ducks?" it called.

                "Show yourself!" Duke demanded loudly.

                "Please..." it continued. "You needn't be afraid, I am a friend." There was movement again, and slowly, a small creature slid out from the bushes, standing out on the path about 15 feet ahead of them. It was a lizard, quadrupedal, and a deep purple in color. Its long wings, teeth, and claws were what brought Mallory's launcher back up, and most of the team followed her. The animal immediately backed off. "Please!" it repeated. "I mean you no harm! I know what has happened to you Ducks, I've come to offer my help..."

                "Help?" Mallory snorted. "You look like a Saurian to me."

                Wildwing tensed even more at the accusation. Were there more of them on this planet? Had Dragaunus brought them here on purpose?

                "Something that I infinitely regret." the creature growled in reply. "I am no Saurian, but a dragon. My name is Zelda."

                "How do you know about us?" Wildwing questioned gruffly.

                "I have my ways." she replied. "Your enemy is my enemy now. We dragons are guardians to the Earth that raised us. Dragaunus seeks to destroy all that we hold sacred." She bowed diplomatically to them.

                "There are more of you?" Nosedive stooped down a little, curious and wanting a better look.

                "Not many." Zelda nodded. "I am the leader of the last clan of dragons in existence. We have lived here long before the humans."

                "Humans? Are they the dominant species?" Tanya asked.

                "Yes, and they live all over the world. This is an entirely new planet for you, Ducks." She slowly started to walk towards them. "I understand that you are apprehensive, but I can help you. I know this planet well, the humans trust me."

                "But can we?" Duke whispered under his breath.

                The dragoness cocked an ear. "It is your choice." Zelda spoke. "I will fight the Saurians tooth a claw, with or without you. But we can help each other."

                Wildwing frowned, and called the rest of the team into a huddle.

                "What's up?" Dive asked.

                "I want everyone's opinion in on this." Wildwing said.

                "She looks like a Saurian to me." Mallory repeated stubbornly.

                "How does she know about us?" Tanya asked.

                "I dunno... we could use some help here Wing." Dive nodded. "I don't think she's all that bad."

                "She is telling us the truth." Grin spoke up.

                "How can you tell?" Tanya asked him.

                "She has a noble soul." he nodded deeply, closing his eyes. "Having an ambassador for us to the humans serves us well."

                "But she could be a Saurian spy!" Mallory protested. "We wouldn't be able to turn our backs on her!"

                Duke chuckled a little. "We sure are now, sweetheart." And he was right. Huddled and distracted, the team would be the perfect target.

                But Zelda sat on the concrete, apprehensive to their decision.

                Wildwing turned around again. "Okay, we let her in, but we keep her at wing's length for now. Agreed?" There were no obvious dissentions, so Wildwing had turned back to the dragon, speaking gruffly. "You're in."

 

                "Heh, we all warmed up to you pretty quick." he smiled gently.

                Zelda didn't return his gaze. "I never told you how I knew about you... You never asked."

                "I guess we forgot about that." Wildwing nodded. "Is that it, your big secret?"

                The dragon looked a little irritated. "It's no big secret." she shook her head. "Just little enough to be annoying. You see, I got my information from Dragaunus himself."

                "What?" Wildwing was taken aback at that. "How?"

                "I've been thinking that over for a long time." she spoke quietly. "Whether or not he came to this planet on purpose, knowing that we were here. I don't think so, most likely it was just dumb luck."

                "Some kind of luck." Wildwing said darkly.

                "Yeah. Remember how Tanya had talked about the difference in the space-time continuum, that Dragaunus had actually passed into this dimension a day before you were able to follow him?"

                "I remember that, that's how he was able to hide himself in the mountains."

                "And find me." Zelda  nodded. "I still don't know how. Minding my own business in the Territory one day, and there he was."

                Wildwing nodded as he processed the information.

                "When he told me he was a Saurian, I was intrigued... I mean, it was like seeing a ghost."

                "You thought they had died out with the dinosaurs." he said.

                "Yeah... and Dragaunus told me where they had been all this time, according to him anyway." she sniffed. "Spewed out a tale of limbo, the prisons, having to watch his ancestors die, him being the only one left. The way he said it, I was sympathetic."

                A tinge of a frown crept across Wildwing's face, but he had to understand that Zelda wasn't raised knowing the Saurians to be their blood enemies.

                "It was when he talked about escape, that I started to see through the story..."

                "He talked about Puckworld?"

                "In that, he spared no detail." she nodded sadly. "About coming back for revenge, enslaving you... destroying the cities..." She trailed off.

                Wildwing knew the history first hand.

                "He talked about doing the same here. He saw such similarities between you and humans. He wanted to enslave the people and strip-mine the planet, then move on to others, creating his empire in this dimension..." She looked up at him. "I was terrified."

                "Who wouldn't be?" Wildwing said sourly.

                "The only thing in his way was you Ducks, and he told me how he defeated Canard... how he would make an example of you in this dimension for the humans..." She paused a few moments. "But before he told me about Puckworld... he asked me for my help in rebuilding his empire. I was so stupid..."     Wildwing leaned down. "Zel, you didn't actually agree, did you?"

                It was like an accusation, and she couldn't answer him. She ducked her head. "I can't defend myself..." she managed. "But when I heard the whole story, I refused him... and..."

                "And what?"

                "He went quietly, but he swore he'd destroy my kind for my betrayal. That thought scared me even more.... So I knew that I had to find you."

                "And that, as they say, is history." Wildwing nodded. There was a definite edge to his voice.           Zelda didn't know what to make of it. She had lived with this for years now, and come to accept the unwanted bond that she and Saurians would have. The sacred link of ancestry was a difficult one to sever. Did Wildwing understand? Finally he spoke.

                "Zelda, why didn't you tell us this in the beginning? If Dragaunus hadn't engaged us so quickly, how you knew of us would have been a big question at the time."

                "I knew that..." she shook her head. "I... I was afraid... either that you'd reject me or turn against my kind too..."

                "You know better now."

                "I knew better shortly after I joined you... but I didn't think that this incident was anything important to the team... not until the trial. This spat between us put you all at risk."               

                "Most importantly, it nearly killed you." he broke in.

                "As weird as it sounds... I almost expected it..." she muttered. "Not the trial exactly, that was a little extreme...to say the least. I'm still sorting over a lot of what I saw there. But I knew he'd never let this go..."

                "So what do you plan to do about it?" Wildwing asked. "If he feels that way..."

                "I know, he'll try his best to capitalize on it. That was the one good thing about the trial, besides finding Canard, of course."

                The mention of Canard's name sent a change over Wildwing's face. He glanced back down to the picture on his bed. "What was that?" he asked, trying to shift the subject back.

                "Confronting that false agreement... doing what I should have done the second that I saw him." A snarl crept up in her throat. "I had to justify myself to a judge and jury of the Saurian army... Although I didn't have a chance to prove myself innocent, I swayed them... raised some important points. I justified myself, to them, to me, and to Dragaunus."

                "Does that solve your problem?" Wildwing's voice was doubtful.

                "It makes things a lot easier." she sniffed back. "He'll use it as a ploy, a thorn in my side for the rest of time. But it will be nothing more."

                "You sound pretty confident."

                "I must be, to trust him." she said with an almost sarcastic chuckle. "But he knows... if there's one ounce of mere acknowledgement of the link between our kinds left in him, he won't dare do anything like this again."

                "Why not?"

                Zelda looked up with powerful eyes. "It would be the end of him." She said lowly.

                Wildwing cocked his head, curious at her attitude. But she knew best. He threw another glance back to Canard's picture.

                "I'm sorry about what happened." Her voice had calmed greatly.

                "I know. There was nothing you could do." he shook his head. "I'm just going to have trouble explaining this mess to him, when we do get him out." A faint smile ran across his beak.

                Zelda lowered her ears and backed out of his room quietly, watching him pick up the picture again. It was a lot for him to handle, maybe he still didn't understand. Maybe he would never understand. She watched him, a feeling of hopelessness sinking in, as he fell back to contemplating the picture. They had been so close to having Canard back! She stepped out of the way as the door closed slowly. But her revelation hadn't gone poorly... she just hated to do it under those circumstances. How could she have been afraid of the Ducks, that they wouldn't understand, that they could actually turn against her? No, she trusted them with her life. How could she have been so cowardly when she met them? How could she let Dragaunus control her for so long? Angry and frustrated, she plodded off down the hallway. She hadn't really resolved anything. But one point was clear: if Dragaunus did try and bring up the question of her lineage again, to use it against the Ducks or her kind, it would be the last straw, and it would be crossing the line.

 

The End

 

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except mine) are copyright and property of Disney. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Thanks!