True feelings   von Aqua111
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                                  Kapitel 1: 
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The moon was shining, crickets were chirping. It could have been a perfect calm
night – if not the roaring Migrator would have disturbed the silence.
“Oh great”, Nosedive muttered, “The first calm night without any storms,
the first night to sleep well in a week and then a Drake One alarm. Can’t
those Saurons just wreck havoc during the day more often, when we all are wide
awake anyways?”
“Remember me, to politely ask them when we meet them”, was Duke’s answer.
“The streets are empty, the lights in the buildings are out – seems like we
are the only ones outside during that time of the night anyways”, Dive
complained, “That’s so unfair. Can’t we at least have such a siren like
the Ghostbusters have? With that meep-meep sound we at least wouldn’t be the
only ones finding no sleep.”
“Don’t be so harsh”, Wildwing said, “It was our fault after all, that
those lizards came to the Earth so it’s also our duty to prevent them from
doing harm.”
“I’m not harsh, just grumpy.”
The white drake sighed. Crime fighting, training or games during the days, crime
fighting or too loud weather during the nights – they sure didn’t have a too
relaxing week.
“Alright, let’s just finish this then get back to bed.”

“Do you Ducks never sleep?” they were greeted by Siege when they arrived and
jumped out of the Migrator.
“Now wait a second”, Nosedive protested, “It’s you who keep us up all
night.”
“Well, thanks”, the orange Sauron laughed, “I’m always glad if someone
tells me I keep him busy all night.”
“Ew…”
“What are you doing out of the Raptor in the middle of the night and all alone
anyways?” Wildwing interrupted before their talk lead even more into this
strange direction.
“And I could ask you too why a Sauron can’t even take a past midnight walk
without your alarms going off. And why you are just around in a group. Well, at
least of the latter this little baby could get rid.” He held up his arm where
nothing else was than his normal weapon gear – at least on first gaze. Then
they noticed a light blue crystal stuck at it. “New invention – hard to
believe that it was made by humans. So far this material is just called PX33. My
kleptomaniac hands just couldn’t resist when I wandered through the laboratory
looking for something interesting. I don’t know what the humans wanted to do
with it, but combined with the right weapons it can do that.”
He shot a blast at them.
“Down!”
The Migrator behind them was hit but before they could even look what had
happened to it another beam was shot and hit Duke. At first he felt nothing;
just a cool breeze blowing against his chest; then there was a sudden tug as if
someone had stuck him on a fishing hook and now threw him out as bait. Suddenly
he was surrounded by complete darkness and had a feeling as if he was falling
– falling while being spinned around by a tornado. Things collided with him
but he couldn’t see more than blackness. Then something softer hit him,
another body. He felt fingers grabbing his arm. The tornado wanted to rip them
apart again but the grip was too tight. And suddenly the storm stopped. Duke hit
the ground. For a few seconds he just stared into the sky heavily breathing then
he turned his head. Nosedive was lying beside him, his fingers still closed
around the others arm but not so tight anymore. His gaze showed a mix of
insecurity and fear.
“Where are we?”
Not in Anaheim anymore, that was for sure. They were lying in some kind of
corridor with a missing ceiling. To their left and right there were high walls
covered in ivy and moss. They were lying on an earthy floor. The sky above them
was of a dull grey like during dawn or dusk on a very rainy day. It was
drizzling slightly.
Both got up and looked around.
“Looks like this crystal brought us to some kind of other dimension –
again”, Duke said, “We should really get used to it.”
He pressed the buttons on his communicator. “Wingster, can you hear me?”
Nothing but the white noise, no matter what frequency he tried.
“Dammit… Do you know if the others are here as well?”
“No, I was hit second after you.”
“At least there’s two of us so we can watch each others back.”
Nosedive was shivering. “Curse that damn rain.”
The other one was looking at him for a few seconds, thinking; then he suggested,
“We can try warming up one another.” He stepped closer, wrapped his arms
around the younger drake and pulled him into embrace.
“Better?”
“Yeah, a bit”, Dive mumbled against his shoulder.
And there it was again – a feeling cold as ice and hot as lava the same time
– the reason why he had had avoided being alone with or too close to Nosedive
for such a long time. It was rushing through his veins, sending hot and cold
waves through his body. Why did this have to come back now, at full force, when
he last needed it? He loosened his hold.
“Is something wrong?” Dive asked and looked at him.
“No, I … I just thought we should get going. That way we’ll get warm as
well and we still need to find out if the others are somewhere here as well –
or at least a way out of this … building, or whatever it is.”

The corridor split up after a few minutes. One way was going on straight, a
passage to the side led to a half destroyed stone house. It was impossible that
someone still lived in there so they took the straight direction but after a few
more meters the way parted again.
“This more and more looks like some kind of maze”, Duke said, “But why
would one of Dragaunus henchmen have teleported us there? Normally they choose
something more dangerous. But this…”
A loud hiss behind them made them wince. The two spun around. Through the
corridor something was crawling that either could have been a long dragon or a
giant snake with two legs.
“What the heck is that? Are we caught in a Dungeons & Dragons episode?” it
escaped Nosedive’s beak.
The lindworm opened his mouth, showed his long poisonous teeth, hissed again and
then charged at them.
“Get down!”
Dive looked as if he had frozen at the spot so Duke grabbed his hand and dragged
him away. Behind them the dragon crashed against the wall. Its tail shot through
the air like a whiplash, trying to hit the two Ducks. Duke had drawn his sword
but his slash was of not much avail – he might just as well have tried to cut
leather with a butter knife – and a shot puck made the creature even angrier.
It glowered at them and dodged, made ready for the next attack.
“Uhm … so what would you suggest we should do now?” Nosedive asked, voice
trembling, while the two drakes slowly backed away until they could feel the
cold stone wall behind them.
“So what about … run?”
When the lindworm jumped the two dashed right below him and ran to the corridor
they were about to enter before. They feet were nearly flying over the muddy
ground. Another big stone house came in sight. Behind them they heard the dragon
crash through a wall.
Nosedive was the first to reach the building and slammed the door open. Sand and
a few little stones were trickling from the ceiling. In there they had no
protection but there also was no way around it.
“We have to find a rear exit”, he shouted.
“No, we have to get up there.” Duke dragged him to timeworn and not really
trustworthy looking stairs.
“In the first floor we will be trapped.”
“But if we just run out at the other side of the house the dragon will crash
through the walls and keep following us until we break down. Sword and
puckblaster are useless but what if we crash a whole house on him?”
The young drake stared up the stairs where Duke now was waiting for him to
follow. This could go wrong on so many levels but what other chances did they
have? The door behind him splintered, part of the wall was raining down on him.
“Dive!”
The dragon’s head shot up when it heard the call and it saw Duke. Immediately
it jumped up, right through the ceiling. Its claws were hard enough to pinch
through the stone so it could drag itself up to the first floor.
“Hey, you big lizard, catch me if you can!”
They grey drake jumped out of the window, found balance on a ledge at the wall
that led around the house and just could make it far enough to be out of the way
when the lindworm crashed through the wall. It quickly turned around while
falling, drove its claws into the stones and climbed up again. Duke jumped into
another window, the creature right behind him. He rolled out of the way when
rocks hit the ground, a big claw landed right beside his face.
“He, never heard of picking someone your own size?”
Nosedive had finally managed to climb up the half-destroyed stairs. The dragon
growled and jumped over to him. The whole house was already shaking. Maybe just
one or two more walls… A few more boulders came down when he was running
through the rooms, the lindworm behind him. He slid down another stairway while
the creature burst through the ceiling again.
“Over here!” he heard Duke’s voice shouting. He had climbed down the first
staircase. “We need to get out of here; the building can collapse every
second!”
Another wall was crashed and this time a real boulder rain started. The two just
made it out in time. Behind them the building collapsed.
For a moment they just stood there, panting heavily.
“Do you … do you think its dead?” the younger one asked after some time.
“There’s no way it could have survived this.” He now noticed that the
younger one has started shivering again and for a moment he thought about
pulling him into embrace. Instead he just put a hand on the others shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just … I’m still in a flap.” He looked at Duke’s face
for a second, then reached out a hand and touched his cheek. “You’re
bleeding.”
“It’s not that bad. Maybe a claw scratched me when that thing landed beside
me.”
He looked into Nosedive’s eyes. The more the adrenaline rush was fading the
more he was aware how close they had escaped death. Nearly every day they were
risking their lives. Looking into those blue eyes he came to the conclusion that
he couldn’t move on anymore without having told or shown the younger one how
much he really cared for him. He now really pulled Nosedive into a light
embrace, whispered “I’m sorry, but I can’t carry on without” and kissed
him. For a split second it looked like the teenager wanted to return the kiss
but then he pushed Duke away. For a second he stared at the older Drake, his
gaze filled with confusion and – was there also a slight hint of fear? Then he
turned around and ran.
“Dive, wait!” Duke wanted to run after him but was brought to fall when
something entwined around his feet. Rakes that had been hanging on the walls
before now slowly glided over the floor like snakes.

Nosedive was running until the exhaustion he still hadn’t recovered before
came back at full force. He leaned against a wall, tried to catch his breath
again then slowly sank down to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees.
Why? This one word summed up the whole situation quite well. Why did Duke have
to do this? Why now? And why did he, Nosedive, have to run away? It wasn’t
like he didn’t have a crush on Duke before but he always had suppressed it.
There was no way he could fall in love with another drake. And now Duke came and
nearly shattered his long lasting self-control. Why? Had he fallen for him as
well or was it just the adrenaline that caused his feelings to surge up – like
in movies when two people suddenly fell for another after they had been through
danger? And if it was really love, how should they still be able to live in the
Pond with the others – if they ever were able to get back home? How would
their reaction be if he told them or if they found out? It was the first time
that he was afraid of his own feelings.
A cry ripped him out of his thoughts. Duke! He jumped up and ran back the way he
had come. Oh why did he have to run away and leave the other all alone in a
world like this? He would have never been able to forgive himself if something
bad happened to the other because of his fault.

Duke was hanging about two meters over the ground. Rakes were wrapped around
different parts of his body. The more he moved the more they tightened their
grip. Some of them had thorns which cut into his flesh. It all had happened too
fast, he hadn’t even gotten the slightest chance to defend himself. In the
corners of his eyes he noticed someone running closer.
“Stay away from them, Dive!”
The rake around his waist tightened another time, thorns pierced through his
skin, made him cry out in pain.
Nosedive drew his blaster.
“Hold on, I’ll get you out of here. Let’s see how they like a few
explosion pucks.”
He fired far enough from Duke to not hurt him. The shock wave ripped the plant
out of the earth. Before the other rakes could strengthen their grip around
Duke’s body he also fired at them. The grey drake fell back to the floor but
was caught by Dive before he could hit it – more or less caught because the
sudden weight caused the teenager to tumble as well.
For a few heartbeats they were sitting on the ground just staring at one
another.
“Thanks for helping me”, Duke finally said. “And … forgive me what I
have done before…” He looked down at the ground. “I didn’t mean to …
just forget it …”
“No, I should be sorry because I was the one who ran away although I had just
seen what could have awaited us in here and knew that if we were all alone we
could be attacked even easier. And … I also don’t want to forget it – not
anymore. I have already held it back for too long.”
This time it was him who started the kiss and Duke didn’t pull away although
he first seemed to be surprised by Dive’s confession and sudden movement. It
was just lasting for a few seconds but it seemed like the younger one wanted to
put all of the feelings he held back for months into this one kiss. When they
broke apart they still looked at each other in silence until Duke said, “I
know what you were feeling. Felt that too for a very long time. It’s somehow
strange to fall for another drake, moreover if he’s one of your friends.”
“But at least you had the courage to show your feelings after some time.”
“Well, I always was rather the badass type.”
Nosedive chuckled slightly but then got serious again. “I first was worrying
about what the others would say and think but now I rather fear that we will
never be able to get home again.”
“Hey, don’t worry”, Duke softly said and hugged him, “We will find a
way. And if not we then the others. They won’t let us down.”

They had started walking again but after what seemed to be hours they barely
could move on again. Hunger, thirst and tiredness were wearing them down. And
Duke still had his wounds. They were neither deep nor big but still they were
hurting with each step.
No attackers had appeared anymore but it also wasn’t necessary. The greatest
danger now was the labyrinth itself.
“Just a little bit more then we’ll rest”, Duke promised.
The road split up again and both corridors made a turn after a few steps so that
they couldn’t see what was lying behind them.
“Okay, we split up here but only go as far as necessary to look around the
corners. We won’t lose sight of each other.”
The younger one just nodded and went to the left while the grey drake took the
right way.
“No, mine is just a dead end”, he said.
“My way is somehow blocked as well although we could squeeze through. But you
just have to see that”, Nosedive was calling.
Duke rushed over to him and looked around the corner as well. The Migrator was
standing in the corridor.

“I remember the beam hit it as well but didn’t think about it so far
anymore”, Nosedive said when he was climbing in and sunk down on one of the
seats. “At least we now have a secure place to rest a bit.”
“And we also don’t have to starve or die of thirst”, Duke said and opened
a little door. “No one would leave the Pond with the Migrator if he doesn’t
know that the fridge is completely filled.” He grabbed two bottles of water,
gave Dive one then shoved another seat as close as possible to Dive’s.
Although he would have preferred sitting directly beside him, there would have
never been enough space for them both on just one seat. He put his arms around
the other one; the young drake nuzzled his chest. It wasn’t the most
comfortable position on those two seats but it was okay to both of them. Slowly
they drifted away into sleep.

Nosedive was woken up by the engine noise of the Migrator. How long had he
slept? It seemed like the light here was always staying the same. Duke was
sitting behind the wheel, steering through between the walls. From time to time
he had to take a turn again and try out another way.
“Wow, this looks like you want to drive through a completely unknown city
without a map and without reading the direction signs.”
“Oh, you’re finally awake?”
The teenager switched place to the co-driver’s seat. “You could have crashed
a few walls instead of searching around.”
“Didn’t want to wake you up. Hey, it looks like we’re picking up some
strange signal just three walls away from here. So if you are awake now I can
tear them down.”

The straight way led them to a big area. Nothing was there except a crystal in
the middle that looked like a large version of the one Siege had used. The two
climbed out of the Migrator and approached carefully.
Duke wandered around it, even touched it surface.
“A thing like that brought us here so it also should be able to get us back.
The question is how.”
“Dive, can you hear me?”
The young drake looked at his communicator as if he had never seen it before.
“Wingster?”
“Yes, wherever you are, we found a way to get you back. You only have to find
a crystal like the one Siege used – we managed to get his back and made our
own device.”
“Already found one.”
“That’s good. We will activate it in a few seconds. You just have to touch
it to get back.”
“What about the Migrator?”
“It will be transferred with you as long as it isn’t further than five
meters away.”
“It’s parking nearly in front of it.”
“Okay, we’re getting this thing ready. I have to disconnect now. Wildwing
over.”
“Alright, let’s hope this works”, Nosedive said. He sounded nervous. Duke
wrapped his fingers around the others hand and gave him a warm smile.
“Don’t worry, it will.”
“Uhm … there’s just one more thing to ask before we return. Is it okay for
you, that we appear as friends only again? At least on the outside, when we’re
around the others. I don’t know if I’m ready for an outing yet.”
“Sure.” The grey drake gave him a last sweet kiss. “I’ll give you time
and wait until you feel sure enough.”
“Thanks. Then let’s go.”
They let each others hand loose then turned around and touched the crystal. The
familiar storm was starting again. They were on their flight back to Anaheim.

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