Purple Dragon Syndrome, part 3

Written by Zelda and Quacker Jax

 

                Turbulance rapped on QJ's door. It was a little late, but she knew he would still be up. The door wasn't locked and slid open. QJ was sitting up on his bunk, dozing over a book of spells. She stepped in lightly and he woke with a snap.

                "Sorry...." she stared.

                "Well I was gonna thank you. I can't sleep now." he shook himself. He continued flipping quickly through the pages.

                "QJ we all need our rest, can't this wait until tomorrow?" she asked. QJ sighed and turned towards her. Turby lowered her eyes. "Well, it's late, I'd better go." she said, retreating. Quacker Jax's tired eyes blinked and he waved to her as she left. He slumped back over his book and started to strain his eyes again. He shouldn't be doing this... he couldn't concentrate. But Zelda, and Tanya.... finally he placed a purple ribbon in the faded yellow pages and snapped the book shut, laying it on a table. He lay down on his bed and just stared at the floor for a long time, thinking.

 

                Grin sat meditating silently on the floor in a corner of the Ready Room. Kay slept next to him. Wildwing was reading the sports section of the newspaper on the couch nearby. Two days had passed. They had stood idily by and watched the two sick fall deeper and deeper into their sickesses, losing strength quickly. Grin thought hard. He carried deeper thoughts with him than did most of the team. For he and QJ were still able to talk to Zelda. Tanya, not knowing of telepathic communication, was unreachable through the mind. But his conversations with Zelda grew longer and more frequent. They had to. Soon they would come to a halt, Grin could tell. Her mind was wavering, stumbling, falling slowly. When once she spoke on a clean voice, it was now low, dull, cracked. She never complained about the pain, but Grin knew she was slowly crumbling. He would try and reach her again.

                "Zelda, you there?" he asked.

                "Grin... ahh Grin, I am so glad to talk to you..." she replied slowly.

                "Feeling better?"

Silence followed.

                "You have no idea.... what it's like to hear your voice... and getting cut off from everything else." she finally replied.

                "Zelda?"

                "I feel so alone... cut off from everything. You tell me the guys are here with me... but I can't see them, or touch them, or smell them... I am severed off my friend..."

                "Not for long Zel... you've got to fight this..."

                "I am.... but..."

                "You miss things..."

                "Like you couldn't comprehend." Zelda sighed. "I can't remember what it's like... to smell the earth and feel the sun.... I try to remember." Her voice cracked. "But it hurts..."

Grin could picture her in his mind, crumpled up, sobbing quietly to herself. "We're here for you Zelda. Know in your heart that we stand behind you and draw strength. Rest now." Grin assured. The dragon sighed, and the link slowly faded.

 

                Two more days passed. The team grew fretful, angry. They knew QJ was doing everything he could to find a cure, but time was running desperately short. QJ knew it too. He didn't come out of his bunk. The others brought him food, and he ate over his work. Finally, after the third day, QJ came out.

                "I think I have it!" he said, excitedly. The team met him in the infirmary.

                "So what is this spell exactly?" Duke asked.

                "It's an ancient Egyptian chant of reincarnation, but was also used to cure those assumed dead. It's the closest thing I've got." he sighed desperately.

                "Well we'll have to try it, we haven't got much time." Mallory said, checking the Medicom data. Two blue spheres appeared around Zelda and Tanya. Wildwing looked at Quacker Jax in question.

                "We need to get them to the highest point in the building for it to work. The closer they are to the sky..."

                "Then we head for the roof." Wing nodded, and scooped Tanya up.

Grin picked up Zelda, and tried to talk with her. He thought hard. "You hear that my friend? QJ's found the spell. Just a few minutes longer Zel, and this mess will end." The sound echoed back in his mind. Message unreceived and unanswered. Grin stepped quickly out of the hall and into the elevator.

 

                The sky had clouded up. The low-hanging, gray-bottomed thunderheads piled up above the heads of the Ducks as they walked out onto the roof. Wing and Grin lay Tanya and Zelda down on the metal roofing, and retreated back to where QJ stood, a good fifty feet away. The Ducks watched anxiously as he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and began to speak. Jibberish turned to magic as tiny sparkles of light, faint at first and then growing, bobbed around QJ's raised hands. The mage concentrated hard, squinting as he continued with a new phrase of the spell. The light faded as it had come from his hands, and started to reappear around the entire group of Ducks. They broke away from each other a bit, as the tiny lights faded. The light stayed around Zelda and Tanya though, as if detecting their weakness. QJ's voice raised. Now the spell was to take effect. He commanded the lights with his tone. They landed on the two still figures, sticking and shining like droplets of dew. Thunder rumbled gently across the darkening sky. More lights faded in from nothingness by the second, sticking to the two, until they seemed covered in the shimmering droplets. Slowly, the white light began to pale, and turn a light green. QJ pointed his hands slowly forth, directing his powers, diligent and careful. The droplets continued to turn to a deeper green, light fading and melding away into nonexistence. Wildwing raised his head, looking over his brother's shoulder. This was almost done, he could sense it. Suddenly, streaks of hot white light exploded out from near Tanya's body, slicing through the air. It was so bright, the Ducks could feel the light itself coursing through them. Wildwing and his brother were forced to their knees. Wing himself saw nothing but the silhouetted form of QJ in front of him, struggling to stay standing against the light, still keeping his hands out. The light was suddenly gone. Wildwing blinked his eyes, seeing in green. His vision was clearing. He looked up to see QJ standing normally, sighing with the effort. Tanya was crouched on the ground where she once lay, head down. She looked up at the Ducks, and grinned. She jogged to the others and hugged them all collectively.

                "Tanya, you're alive!" QJ celebrated. She smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head.

                "Ugh, that disease was the WORST! My bad for getting sick like that." she grinned. Slowly, the Ducks began to realize that Zelda was missing from the group. They looked back out, along the roof. She lay motionless, not moved from any former position. QJ drew his breath in slowly and broke away from the group. Was he too late? The droplets of light still clung to the purple scales, a misty green, but no more. The mage walked, crouching beside Zelda's form. He wiped her head, the green droplets sticking like water to his feathered hand. He looked at the hand for a moment, and sighed. Rain started to fall very randomly, pattering loosely against dragon's hide. The spell had worked it's magic, but it could not revive the dead. He lowered his head and squinted his eyes shut. He had failed. Suddenly, a force threw him off of his feet. He tried to sit up, but found himself being held down. He didn't try to open his eyes. The force was pulling him back. He was suddenly blown over onto his stomach, where he clung to the roof with his fingers, praying not to get blown away. If he lost his grip, he could easily get blown off of the roof! Finally, he forced his eyes open and looked up. The hot light streaked past him as he saw some black form, moving in the white. Suddenly, the white disappeared. QJ looked down, eyes seeing green haze. He looked up again when he felt something on his shoulder. Zelda's soft blue eyes met his. The mage grinned and sat up. Zelda said nothing, but hugged him tightly as the others came running up.

 

                "You saved my life QJ, I really owe ya one." the dragon confessed to the mage as he lay in his bunk. The dragon pawed the ground. "Tanya's okay too, a bit shaken up. I don't blame her. But you and Grin were of great comfort to me, friend. I was all cut off, except for you.... I probably would have gone off a lot sooner if not for you." She looked up into the mage's face, to find the eyes closed, the breathing steady. QJ had fallen asleep, but the dragon wasn't insulted. He had earned a long rest. Smiling gently, she plodded outside, and closed the door behind her.

 

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! A big BIG thanks to Quacker Jax for helping me largely with this one! Thanks man!