“Echoes”
Epilogue
“Come on. Comeoncomeoncomeon! Why won’t you tell me?” Nosedive whined, a half a step behind his elder brother as they entered the relatively peaceful calm of the kitchen—or what used to be calm.
Wildwing sighed, hopelessly fond and exasperated. He hardly glanced over his shoulder as he reached back and ruffled his little brother’s hair. “Nosedive, don’t change; don’t grow up, but stop pestering me. I’m never going to tell you.”
“But why?” the teen drawled, slipping into the breakfast nook as Tanya dropped a pile of pancakes in the center of the table.
“Don’t wanna. Simple as that.”
Nosedive growled, “Y’know, I know it’s about me. The only time you won’t tell me something is when it’s about me!”
Wildwing muffled through a beakful of pancakes with a shrug, “You got me there.”
“Then I have a right to know!”
Debating if he could seriously smack himself into the table and remain conscious, Wildwing let out a laugh and devoured more of Tanya’s cooking. Though he wanted nothing more than to never tell his brother about what happened—Stars, how could he tell Nosedive he’d practically seen the kid die?—he reveled in his brother’s carefree, relaxed attitude, and his appropriate age.
He found himself sending a silent prayer to the Stars that they would be able to change the future from ever happening and simply reached over the table to tassel Nosedive’s bangs.
The boy sent him a mock glare and bit into more pancakes. “That doesn’t answer my—”
“Little friend, you do not create good karma with your consistent badgering,” Grin said peacefully from Nosedive’s right. “If you continue to do so, then I will have no choice but to make good karma for you.”
Wildwing thought that suspiciously sounded like a threat but knew, after everything, the gentle giant would never harm his brother. So, instead, he turned to Tanya as she took a seat next to him. “Have you tapped into Unbridled Technologies mainframe yet, found out exactly what the Saurian wanted?”
She nodded as she claimed three pancakes for herself. “Yeah, and you’d be surprised. It’s a tiny power core. It practically looks like a yellow, glowing crystal. Apparently, Buzz had been at it again.”
“Oh, you mean this?” Nosedive reached into his jeans’ pocket and clinged a glass-like object onto the table.
Tanya’s eyes widened. “H—H—How did you—?”
Nosedive shrugged. “I don’t remember much from those days…I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t myself—”
Actually, that was exactly what he was. Wildwing would have snorted if he wasn’t thoroughly pissed at his brother.
“—but I
remember going to the lab. So, I asked Buzz what they were working on, and he
told me about the power core. He said it would be dangerous if Dragaunus got it, and he willingly gave it to me to keep
until the
Nah, just the fate of the world, and here his brother had changed the whole course of events by simply talking to a friend. Stars, if Nosedive wasn’t the revolutionary leader he knew his brother to be—without meaning to be.
Of course, he couldn’t let his baby brother know that and instead, responded with a slap up the back of the head. “What is wrong you, huh? Following up on a lead—fine, but you deliberately take possession of a dangerous object you know the Saurians want? That’s just stupid, Nosedive.”
“Oh, please. It’s stupid for me, but for you, it would have been fine.”
“That’s different—”
*^*^*
“Commander Flashblade?”
Nosedive looked up from his nephews on his lap to see Wildwing immediately bombarded with people the moment he stepped into the mess hall. Nosedive smirked and shook his head. Thank the Stars he was never the resistance leader. He would definitely not be able to handle all the responsibilities and the demand. It was just too much.
“You ever wonder if he’s ever going to just spit in one of their faces?” Thrash asked, drawing a laugh from his wife at his side.
“Are you kidding? I’m waiting for him to just crack and become all Joker-victim.”
Canard finished spreading the cream cheese on a bagel and handed it to his son sitting on Nosedive’s lap. “All I have to say, I’m happy I’m no longer the leader.”
Nosedive smiled. “I agree.”
Canard narrowed his eyes. “I think you’re biased.”
“What would ever give you that impression?”
Wildwing cut off Canard’s reply. “Five minutes!” he demanded. “Five minutes, and I promise, I’ll answer all your questions. For now, I simply want a cup of a coffee and to see my family.”
With
“Five minutes? You had a month at your brother’s bedside!”
Nosedive rolled his eyes and smirked at the boys in his lap. “Your daddy and uncle is in high demand, it seems.”
Wildwing smacked his brother’s boots as he came around the table and ordered, “Down. Now.” Smoothing down each boy’s head, he eased them into his arms to alleviate the pressure upon Nosedive’s still healing blaster wound and allow the twenty-five year old to drop his legs to the floor. Then, falling into a perpendicular seat to Nosedive and balancing the boys on his knees, he grabbed the coffee container off the table and poured some into a fresh cup. “Good morning, everyone except Dive.”
Nosedive choked on his bagel bite, and the others seemed to take the hint. “You know, guys,” Canard said swiftly, standing up and hurrying about the table. Grabbing each hatchling under each armpit, he urged, “Why don’t you say bye to Daddy for now, and we’ll go see if we can find Tanya. Maybe she can tell us which way is better to teach your Uncle Dive not to go after mercenaries. By smacking him senseless or sending him to help her work in the lab?”
“Okay, Daddy!” Reth saluted and once Canard let him down, dashed through the door.
“Not before me!” Crease replied, following after him. However, before the door shut, the boy came back and motioned for his father to bend over. When he did so, Crease jumped up and nuzzled his father’s cheek. When he attempted to leave, Wildwing ravaged him in a bear embrace and nuzzled the top of his head, refusing to let the boy go before he squirmed.
Thrash scratched his head. “And you know, we should probably go find…”
“Uh…someone! Anyone!” Mookie said for her husband, then lugged Thrash out of the room behind Canard.
Wildwing sat back and sipped his coffee, now that they were seemingly alone, save for the thousand or so people in the mess hall. “So, which lecture would you like today?”
Nosedive rolled his eyes. “Let’s not and say we didn’t, huh?” He reached over and began to tear a muffin apart.
“No—No, Nosedive. You don’t get off that easy. I kept my beak shut while you were healing—which you still are.” Wildwing dropped his cup onto the table with the clang. “And what are you doing out of the infirmary? I told Tanya to strap you down if need be.”
Stars, his brother seemed really agitated. “I told you a week ago. I’m fine.”
“And you’re not even supposed to be lifting anything heavy for at least another—”
“Reth and Crease aren’t heavy.” Nosedive waved his hand absently. “You’re overreacting.”
“I’m overreacting? I’m overreacting?”
Oh, it was never good when his brother repeated himself.
“Nosedive, you deliberately disobeyed my order and went after a mercenary—a mercenary! Stars, what is wrong with you?”
Nosedive’s fork clanged to his plate. “Oh, so now there’s something wrong with me when I want to protect my family and stop someone from hunting us down?”
“When you go out by yourself, meet him in one our secondary bases for a showdown, and get shot twice, break half your ribs, and your arm—I call that not only wrong but also stupid!” Wildwing retorted, his voice rising and silencing the whole mess hall, while he slammed his hands onto the table and pushed to stand. “I told you I would handle it! I said I would get an attack force together to deal with Varkais, not send my baby brother out into the field to engage him one-on-one, and then draw the entire American Resistance in an all-out battle with Dragaunus’s forces! Does it sound like I’m overreacting now?”
Well, not really. Not when Wildwing put it that way.
Wildwing, like usual, sighed before looking about the room. “As you were,” he ordered and collapsed to his seat. Reaching out, he tasseled his brother’s hair. “Stars, Dive, I know your intentions were good, but…you’re not infallible. And you scare me when you take unnecessary risks.”
“It wasn’t unnecessary,” Nosedive upheld, crossing his arms over his chest. “Varkais vowed to hunt us down and kill us one by one, unless you forgot. I wasn’t going to let him—”
“—and how many little brothers do you think I have? You think you’re just expendable?”
Nosedive let out a growling sigh. “Wing, you’ve got a kid now, and Canard—”
Wildwing actually debated about punching his brother. “And I should just forget about you?”
“No, but you have other priorities that need—”
“I’ve already given enough to this war, Nosedive, and I refuse to give anything more, especially my baby brother. Might as well face it, kid. No matter what, you are always going to mean the world to me.” Wildwing took a swig of his coffee and wished it had something stronger in it or at least an antacid. “So, if you pull another stunt like that again, you’re out of this. Period.”
“What!” Nosedive shrieked, slamming his hands upon the table. “You can’t do that! I’m twenty-five—”
Surprisingly, Wildwing controlled his emotions enough to entwine his fingers and rest his elbows on the table. “Yes, I am aware that you’re not seventeen anymore, so I can’t ground you like I used to or lock you in your room, but your participation in this war is something I still have control over. Therefore, unless you listen to me from now on, I’ll have you on the bench until you’re Duke’s age.”
“You’re completely unfair!”
“Wow, you still sound like a teenager.”
“Stars, I’m a better fighter than Duke and have better aim than Mallory,” Nosedive combated. “You can’t bench me.”
Wildwing met his eyes gravely and with a severity hardly seen in the commander’s eyes. “Watch me.”
Huffing, Nosedive narrowed his eyes, then stormed from the room with a resounding, “You suck!”
Exhaling loudly, Wildwing shook his head and stood as well, uttering, “As you were,” as he exited the room. Just outside the door, Mallory looked in the direction Wildwing guessed his brother went and walked up to her lifemate.
“You were pretty hard on him. Maybe you should apologize.”
“Me apologize? What about him?” Wildwing pointed down the hall. “He was the one who got shot twice and broke seven bones in his body hunting down a professional killer!”
Mallory shook her head and wrapped a hand about her lifemate’s waist. “I know, but even for you, that was a little harsh. Mind telling me what’s going on here?”
Wildwing let out his tension with a prolonged sigh and leaned against her. “His wounds, Mallory…they resemble the ones he received when we came to the future all those years ago. I think…Stars, I think that battle was the same one we lost Reth and Nosedive engaged Varkais. I think that’s when the past and future timelines converged.”
“Ah, now it makes more sense.” She smirked and rubbed his forearm lovingly. “Does he—”
“Remember?” Wildwing shook his head. “Not that I know of. I questioned him extensively, and he’s convinced the only reason he was there because he followed Varkais—or Varkais followed him. He’s not entirely sure how that went down, and I’m sure I don’t want to know, either.”
“And you’re afraid if you wouldn’t have been there…” Mallory never finished her sentence, but she didn’t have to.
Wildwing nodded somberly. “He lost so much blood, and…you didn’t see him there. What happens if next time I don’t get there in time? Then what?”
“You’ll be there.” Mallory tightened her embrace. “You’re always there.”
“Except…” Wildwing closed his eyes and held her close. “…I wasn’t there for how many years? I don’t want him to go through that. I won’t let him go through that again. I want him to know I’ll come for him. He needs to know he’s not alone, that I’ll always be there for him.”
“I already do.”
Wildwing glanced over his shoulder to see his brother approach, an annoyed but fond expression upon his face, his arms crossed over his chest.
“You have to realize that I’m not a little kid anymore, Wing.” Nosedive glanced at Mallory, who put up her hands in a surrender position.
“Gotcha. I’ll check the kids. They’re probably running Canard and Tanya ragged anyway.”
Once she rounded the bend, Nosedive broached, “I’m good, Wildwing. I’m good at what I do, thanks to you and Duke and all of the guys who trained me. I knew I could take Varkais, and—”
“If you knew you could take Varkais, it scares me to think how you would fare fighting someone you don’t think you can take,” Wildwing replied, which gained a scathing glare from his brother.
“Are you listening to me, or should I come back later?”
Wildwing exhaled and nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I’m—scared,
okay? After Varkais went after us in
Wildwing wanted to kick himself and wondered if his brother remembered, on some level, what happened. Nosedive’s fear led him to leave his family to try to save them. Would he still have gone after Varkais if the past hadn’t occurred? If Wildwing and the others hadn’t died the first time around? Wildwing would never know, but he was here now. He would always be there.
Drawing his brother into a tight embrace, he relaxed against the boy and murmured, “I love you, little brother, but I need you to trust me when I say I’ll handle something, okay?”
Nosedive nodded against his shoulder. “Sure, big bro, as long as you tell me what you meant by me being alone again? Is that what you saw when you and the guys disappeared for a while all those years ago?”
Wildwing let his arms drop and rolled his eyes. “Nosedive, don’t even—”
“Oh, come on! Comeonecomeoncome! You have to tell me. What did you see?”
Grabbing his brother’s shoulders, Wildwing grinned and replied truthfully, “Nothing. I saw nothing at all because that future never has and never will exist.”
And it didn’t.
The End