The TIMELINE

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The Past Catches Up (part 4)

Is he gonna be okay?

His vital signs are okay… according to my readings anyway.

Thank God.

Silence.

How about Dee… is she up?

She’s sleeping Nyre… was awake when you were still out.

Do you think I could…?

Nyre… go get some rest. Wing’s waiting outside for you.

I don’t think….

Then go see Dive. A sigh. There’s nothing you can do here.

Alright.

Footsteps.

Who is he anyway?

He’s… an old friend… Mel.

Shuffling of feet.

Wait! Isn’t he that guy who kept on following you?

He’s… yes, Hacker. He was.

Man…

Yo ‘gel, I don’t think it’s a good idea considering—

He tried to save me Duke.

A snort.

And got Dive on the shoulder because of that bullet bouncing back.

An tired sigh.

Wasn’t his fault… he never did learn to handle guns.

Feet shuffling again.

Whatever! Shoo! Out all of you! This is my patient. You aren’t helping.

A soft, weak laugh.

Alright Taunny.

A pause.

Get some rest, okay, Nyre?

Sure.

Bye Tan…

Sure Duke.

The blond, Avian tech smiled as she watched the group exit through the sliding doors of her lab. Turning back tolook at her patient she frowned slightly, worry and wonder both creasing her brow.

The youth was no taller than Dive with dark brown hair cut just below the earlobe and a serious face that had the slightest hint of aristocracy. She walked to her desk and began to pack up the bandages and other medical supplies she’d used in treating his wounds as with the rest.

Her hands froze and she cringed, remembering how Dive had been brought in, a bullet wedge in his shoulder.

It was naïve for her to think so, being a veteran on the battlefield, but she’d never treated one of her team members to an actual bullet wound before. Not the kind where you had to pull it out, stop the flow of blood and clean it up so the patient wouldn’t get infected.

She sighed and wound up the last of the gauze and stuffed it into the zip-lock plastic bag.

Her experience of gunshot wounds all revolved around laser burns.

She paused. Well, save for the encounter with Castel.

A groan caught her attention.

“Where am I?” Tanya turned at the sound of the soft hoarse voice at the medical bed.

The youth looked worse for wear. But then again… she couldn’t blame him. He’d been burned pretty bad on the shoulder by Wraith’s fireball. He was lucky at all that he had his arm after the ordeal.

“At the Pond. In my medi-bay.” She managed a smile at him.

This was the boy Nyre was trying so hard to hide away from the team?

She recalled Dee’s words when she’d tended to the teen earlier.

He knows about some of the stuff we didn’t know about Nyre. He’s a part of her past before the team… even before me and the guys.

“Where’s Nyre?” He asked quietly. Tanya guessed that he hadn’t meant to say it outloud.

Tanya glanced up from her microscope and smiled. “She’s outside… probably resting in her room after what she’s been through.”

“How about Dee?” He blinked.

“They’re both fine… resting, as I told you.” Tanya smiled gently.

“But the lizards—”

Tanya laughed good-naturedly. “They’re called Saurians, Darien.”

The color drained from his face. “Y-you know my name?!”

“Of course.” She smiled. “Everyone here does.”

“But… how?”

“We’ve made it our business to check out things about our Nyre. It’s a given… though it took some time to learn of you.” The blonde duck went back to her table and began flipping through papers that looked very much like forms.

The youth got out of the medi-bed and walked up to her, his hands shoved into his pockets. “So… what exactly is it that you know about me?”

Tanya stopped her flipping and pulled on her chair. “Take a seat.” She told him softly.

The youth pulled up the closest swivel chair and sat, his lips in a straight line.

Nervous. Tanya managed to hide her amusement. “Well, Darien.” She sighed and reached over to the folder. “We know that you’re presently eighteen, a year older than Nyre.” He nodded and she continued. “You used to reside in Boston, attended an exclusive Catholic Academy where you met a young girl of thirteen by the name of Sandra Elise MacKenzie, more commonly known as Sade.” A pause and a smile, “you looked out for her.” A thoughtful look crossed her face. “You reported possible signs of abuse to the police, and then you were told that it was all part of a plan to arrest these people. Sade was the bait.”

Darien blushed, remembering the ruckus he’d managed at the police station more five years ago.

Tanya smiled at him and patted his hand. “It’s alright.” She told him softly. “Understandable, because, basically according to facts I managed to acquire from the Academy, our little angel happened to be very shy, quiet and soft-spoken, the complete opposite of what she is now, and at the time had an aura about her that inspired protectiveness from most of her friends.”

Darien shrugged, trying to keep his cool. “She was so tiny. She looked like she could break if mishandled.”

“She’s still small Darien.” Tanya laughed softly. “But breaking is something Nyrene rarely does these days.”

A soft “oh” was his only reply.

Tanya sighed and continued with the fleeting facts. “You’re parents are considered ambassadors for France, and handle their personal business well. You’re pretty rich, as much as numbers and money go and are the only heir to their fortune.” She paused and blinked, continuing slower this time. “You’ve got a history of heart ailments and a disorder that has to be watched carefully.” Her eyes met his. “and it says here that the only time you were considered close to physically, emotionally and mentally stable was around the same time Sade MacKenzie entered your existing life and reached out to you as a friend would.”

He glanced away from her probing gaze.

It was true. He thought.

The only time he’d ever felt completely stable was that. When Sade… Nyre, had walked into his life and made him see that he could used everything else as an advantage. Use his sickness as an advantage.

“Darien…?”

He shook his head and looked back up at the doctor. “It’s… Tanya, right?”

She nodded and smiled. “Call me Taunny. T’s my nickname around here.”

The youth nodded. “Taunny.” He smiled. “Uhm… do you think I could…?”

“Talk to Nyre? Well…” she stood and walked over to the microscope. A sigh. “Yeah.” She gave him a smile. “Why not?”

Darien stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“You can go wander about the place a bit.” She shrugged. “The Pond may be big, but it’s not somewhere you’d get lost in without bumping into someone else.”

“Thank you.”

Tanya nodded this time and motioned to the door. “Any time.”

* * *

I watched as Ace caught the puck skillfully in his glove. As Marri let out a victory cry and as Dee tackled Dive to the ice.

I was up at the bleachers, my arms crossed on my chest, my Mighty Ducks jacket zipped up to keep out the cold.

I inhaled and felt the cool breeze from the air conditioners above touch my face. Wisps of my hair fell across my eyes as I shut them.

Behind me, I heat soft footsteps on the carpeted cement floor.

“Nyre.”

I didn’t need anyone to tell me who it was. I didn’t need anyone to warn me what was about to happen. I turned around, meeting his eyes, cold as I’d ever seen them.

“Hello Wing.” I managed softly. His beak was clamped shut.

He wore the mask.

I dropped my gaze to the cracks on the floor and lowered by lashes.

“Who *is* he?” His voice was clipped, his tone harsh. I felt myself shudder. He’d never ever spoken to me that way before.

“Darien Alastair.” I told him softly.

“Who—?”

I shut my eyes for a moment and wet my lips. I glanced back up, what little there was left of my courage, I gathered to keep my knees from buckling. It’s foolish and childish for me to think so, but Wing and I… we’d never met on uneven ground before. And to have him glare me down like this, like a criminal—one like those we apprehend.

It was more than just unnerving.

He scared me.

Of all the people, avians, saurians, illusions, robots—of all the things I could possibly encounter as a member of STROBE and the Ducks. It was Wing—the one person I could feel safest with, whose shoulder I could cry on freely, whose tender embrace made all my problems dissipate in the wind—the one person I could trust with my life, was the one person whose anger and disappointment I feared the most.

I swallowed.

Maybe it was because he rarely lost his temper. Or that he almost never faced me like this, with his eyes hidden behind that mask.

But mostly because… I didn’t want to lose him to this.

Pathetic for me to think such morbid things when I don’t know what he feels now.

But somehow… I fear that.

I feared that the moment he called out my name. His voice as cold as it could possibly get.

I swallowed again and found my voice.

“He’s Darien Edward Delacriox Alastair.” I hugged myself tighter. “He and I had a history.”

A pause. “A history?”

I could sense the twitch of his brow behind that metal face cover.

I pressed my tongue to the inside of my mouth and reached up to tuck my straying tendrils behind my right ear.

I nodded quietly. “He used to be my significant other Wing.” I sought to meet his gaze. I never knew if I did. “He was to me as you are now—”

“You still feel for him.” He sliced through my words.

I blinked in surprise and confusion. The yes and no to the question warring inside my head, my heart—me.

I swallowed again. “I… I don’t know.” I tried to turn away, but his large hand shot out and snatched my wrist, turning me to face him.

I glimpsed his eyes then. And it broke my heart.

But I didn’t know.

I just DIDN’T KNOW.

“You still feel something for him.” He swallowed hard and I felt his grip loose it’s tightness. “There’s that trapped look in your eyes Leviste. That trapped look that says you do but you don’t and that you don’t know which of those is real.”

I wanted to cry.

I wanted to turn away from him.

I wanted to pretend that he’d never said those things.

Because they all rang true in the air.

I wasn’t sure anymore.

“Wing…” I stepped back when he finally let go. “Wing I don’t know.” I shook my head and raked my fingers through my hair. I shot him a look of utter helplessness. I felt so lost. “I just DON’T KNOW Wing.” I bit my lower lip and squeezed my eyes shut as I turned my face away from him, the curtain of ebony strands shielding my expression form his eyes.

“I just don’t know.” I whispered tearfully. “I never even thought he’d walk back into my life. I never knew I’d even see him again after so long.”

“But he’s here now.” He told me coldly.

“Yes,” I replied, my lips quivering.

Down below, in the rink, the game stopped. I could feel their eyes on both me and Wing. Their thoughts? I could only guess.

* * *

“They’re fighting.” Mel glanced helplessly to Marri who kept her face expressionless.

“They never fight.” Dee slid to Dive who wrapped his arms around her in a gesture of comfort.

Hacker shook his head and turned away.

“Hack—” Ace began.

“Don’t look at them.” The tall blond hissed at them all.

“What…?”

“Don’t watch them.” He repeated firmly. “Just skate out quietly, slowly, as if you’d never noticed them standing there.”

“But Hacker—”

His ice-blue eyes flashed. “Just do it Melissa.” Mel swallowed hard as she held his gaze, watching it soften in apology.

“Just let it go.” He turned away and began to skate to the exit. “They can handle this. Just like the rest.”

* * *

“WHY DID YOU KEEP IT FROM ME?!” Wing’s voice boomed.

“I COULDN’T VERY WELL HAVE YOU MAKE A SCENE ABOUT IT!”

“What?! A scene? Nyre—of all the lame-brained excuses—”

“Just let it go Wing!” Nyre’s voice broke and Wildwing shut up for a moment. “I made a mistake, I’m SORRY.” She paused and sniffled, or that’s what it sounded like to Darien.

The youth shut his eyes as he leaned on the wall near the entrance to the bleachers.

“Let it go Wing. He’s just a friend…”

A sigh. “Do you really think I can believe that?” A pause. “Oyu and he had a history Nyre.”

“It’s done and over wi—”

“NOT FOR ME!” came Wing’s anguished cry.

Nyre’s soft sobs were muffled. Her hand must’ve covered her mouth.

“Never for me, angel.” The Avian’s voice was breaking, quivering. His loss of composure had done that.

Darien swallowed and glanced up to see the stairs leading to the main entrance of the Pond.

He’d get out. He didn’t want to hear this.

Not Sade’s—Nyre’s crying.

He ran.

* * *

A flash of gold.

My eyes were closed.

Soft, feathery fingers lifted my chin and I felt Wing’s soft brief kiss on my forehead before he pulled me into his arms.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered in my ear. “I never meant to make you cry.”

I wrapped my own arms around him and rested my head against his chest, the tears slowly drying on my cheeks. “I’m okay.” I paused. “You had a right to shout.”

“No…”

“Yes you did.” I swallowed and kept silent a moment. “You have a right to be mad, to shout, to accuse me, to—”

He shut me up the only way he knew how.

And when we parted his loving gaze trembled as it met my own. “I love you.”

I lowered my eyes. “I know.” And I pulled away.

“Nyre….”

I stopped and bowed my head. I was doing a lost of walking away lately. I bit my lip and made it a mental note never to make it a habit. “Yes Wing?” I turned to look at him.

Another flash of gold. He had the mask back in place. And I felt as if he’d just built a wall parting us both.

“He left. I heard him go.”

I sighed and wet my lips before pressing them tightly against each other.

“Will I tell Grin to set an extra place for dinner?”

I turned away and let out a breath to steady myself. “I’d appreciate it.” I walked in the direction of the garage and revved up my duckcycle.

It was going to be a long night.

I just hoped I could smile when I saw the dawn tomorrow.

It was at this point I realized that heartache would always be a part of my life.

Nyrene Leviste’s perfect existence wasn’t so perfect afterall.

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End (?)