"Kasar. Come in." came Tec's voice from the com.

"What's up?" he replied.

"Trouble has Chaos trapped in the Torture Chamber and is threatening to have some fun with her." Tec informed.

"I swear Chi has great timing. Tell her to be gentle till I get there."

"Why?"

"Because I have a use for Little Miss Chaos."

"Oh this is going to be interesting." Tec giggled.

"I know, Kasar out."

He took one last glance at the twins and smiled as he teleported back to T.S.T. HQ. When he arrived he headed down through the dungeon to the torture chamber. The door was locked.

"Chi, open this doad reached Drake 1 he decided to trigger an alarm to wake the twins up. After he had set off the alarm it took the twins exactly 1 minute and 58 seconds to get there.

"Put 'em up." said Nosedive as he aimed his pucklauncher at him.

He didn't bother putting up his arms.

"Who are you?" Jadestar demanded.

"I'm the Watcher, I came here to make you an offer." he told the twins.

"Why shouldn't we just shoot you on sight?" Nosedive asked.

"Because shooting me will just be a waste of ammo and I thought you'd like a second chance at saving your brother and the rest of the team."

Kasar let this sink in for a minute. The twins still pointed their weapons without wavering, both aiming at his head.

"You can’t hurt me." he told them.

"We can try." Nosedive said through gritted teeth.

"He’s not scared Dive. Maybe he’s telling the truth." Jadestar glanced at her brother.

"Well, I don’t buy it." Nosedive had grown cynical since his team-mates deaths.

Jadestar shrugged. "You’re the boss."

Kasar sighed. "Look, we’ll be here all night at this rate. I know you ducks, you don’t shoot to kill."

"That was before," Nosedive snarled. "I don’t trust you, which means you’re enemy. And the enemy dies."

Jadestar stared at her leader. He’d been upset lately, and he had a reason to be, but this was totally out of character for him. "Dive…"

"Shut up." he growled.

Jadestar was indignant. "You may be in charge, and you may have the Mask, but that gives you no right to…"

"Look, just shut up, OK?"

The twins looked each other in the eye. Jadestar calmly pocketed her puckshooter, and turned to Kasar. "Watcher? Do you promise that you’re on our side?"

Kasar nodded. "Of course."

Jadestar turned back to Nosedive. "There, you see?"

Nosedive was speechless. "You…just 'cause he…I don’t believe this." He sighed and lowered his gun, though keeping it in his hand. "Fine, why don’t we all go sit down and have a cup of tea together? I could make little cakes, and we’ll all talk calmly before he murders us all. Huh Jadestar? Sound good?" Nosedive said sarcastically.

Kasar smiled. "I swear, you two don’t shut up, do you?"

"Just tell us what you want." Nosedive was in an incredibly bad mood.

Kasar held out the Time Key. "See this? This can take you to another time. Anywhere you want, where ever you want."

Jadestar looked at him sharply. "In other words…"

"You could save your friends, yes." Kasar finished for her.

"Can you prove this?" Noor please."

"Why?"

"Because I want to talk to Chaos before you hurt her too much."

"All right."

The 7 year old opened the door and smiled.

"Right this way Gramps K."

"You can call me by my first name you know." he told Chi as he followed her to where she had Chaos imprisoned.

When they got there, Chaos looked like she had been though hell and back a few times. As she noticed Kasar a glint of hope appeared in her eyes.

"Watcher, please help me." she desperately pleaded.

"Give me one good reason too?" he asked.

"I'll do anything." she frantically replied.

"All right. Give me your Time Key."

"Why?"

"Well, why not? It's better to lose it then to be left here with Chi."

Chaos looked at Trouble and then looked up at The Watcher.

"All right" she said submissively. She knew Trouble could live up to her name without trying even though she hadn't gained her powers yet.

He released her.

"Here" she said as she handed the Time Key(which more looked like a chain with a diamond charm on it) over to Kasar. "Just hold the gem and think of what time and place you want to go to." Chaos instructed as she disappeared.

***

It was after midnight when he finally got past all the Ponds security systems without setting any of them off. When he hsedive asked, scanning it with the Mask. "Looks like an ordinary diamond to me."

"Shoot me."

The ducks stared at him.

"Go on, shoot me."

Nosedive grabbed his gun. "Uh, OK. Anywhere in particular?"

"It doesn’t matter."

Nosedive tried to take aim on Kasar’s arm. He was about to shoot when he lowered the gun. "Sorry, I can’t." he said, shamefully.

"Well, I guess that means you’re still worthy to get back your team, but it wont prove anything."

"I’ll do it." Jadestar volunteered.

"But you…" Nosedive was surprised.

"I know. But if you want proof, and I want proof, then someone has too." She fired quickly, not giving herself a chance to think. The shot sailed through Kasar’s leg, not leaving any kind of mark.

"Freaky." Nosedive grinned.

"I’ll take that as a complement," Kasar smiled at the duck.

"Why are you doing this?" Jadestar asked carefully. Nosedive was back to his old self, which meant that she had to be the cautious one again. "What’s in it for you?"

"I’ve been watching you ducks. I like you. You’ve got the same qualities we at T.S.T have."

"T.S.T?" Nosedive understandably had no idea what Kasar was talking about.

"Thunder Strike Team. We keep the peace throughout the dimensions. Here’s your choices. You can join T.S.T, stay on here like this, or go back in time to save your brother and your friends. What’ll it be?"

The twins looked at each other, silently communicating. "Do we have to decide now?" Nosedive asked.

"By all means, no. Take your time. But I’ll keep the Time Key. If you want me, well, just call, and I’ll be here as soon as possible." Kasar pocketed the Key. "Maybe I’ll see you two around." He teleported out suddenly.

Jadestar closed her eyes. She had been awake when Kasar had set of the alarm, still crying about what Dive had brought up.

Nosedive watched her, worried. He rubbed her arm. "Hey, Star, you OK?" He noticed the tear tracks down her feathers, but kept quiet.

She opened her eyes. "Sure, I’m fine. Why shouldn’t I be?"

"Hey, rough night. What say we talk this over in the morning?"

"Good idea, I’m beat."

They both went back to bed, and slept.

***

Jadestar woke up slowly. She rolled over, and saw that Nosedive wasn’t in his bed. She sat up sleepily, and looked at the clock. It said 8:30.

"Wow, I slept in!" Jadestar got out of bed, wondering where Nosedive was and why he hadn’t woken her up. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and went to find something to eat.

***

She walked into the kitchen, and found Dive drinking coffee at the table, staring into space. He looked up when she came in.

"Morning." she smiled.

"Hey. I made you some Milo." He pushed a mug towards her, and she took it gratefully.

"Thanks." She sat down next to him. "What cha doin’?" she asked in their informal short hand speech.

"Thinking."

"Wow, don’t stress yourself or anything." she grinned.

"I won’t. You look nice." he commented, taking a sip of coffee.

"Thanks," Jadestar said as she ruffled his hair "You look like you want action." she noted his battle gear.

"Maybe. There’s some leftovers in the fridge if you want those for breakfast."

"Whose leftovers?" she said warily.

"They’re ours. Some of the tacos I had last night, and the remains of your Chinese."

"Nifty." Jadestar dug about in the fridge, and pulled out a container of cold fried rice. She popped it in the microwave and sat down while it cooked. "So, what’s the days plans, huh?"

"Well, we gotta think about housing. Means we have to talk to Phil, and you’re the duck for the job," he winked at her "Cause it’s a proven fact that you’re Phil’s favorite."

"Wow, I’m totally honored." she sighed.

"I had the weirdest…" They both started to speak at once. Jadestar pointed to Nosedive to let him speak first.

"This duck named Kasar came and offered us a chance to go back in time to save the guys. You shot him, and it didn’t hurt him." Nosedive swished his coffee around.

Jadestar chocked and spat out a mouthful of Milo . "Dive," she coughed. He whacked her on the back, and she nodded her thanks. "I had the same dream!"

They stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Well, there’s only one way to find out." Nosedive muttered. He cleared his throat. "Uh, Kasar? Could you, um, appear?"

A bright spark of light lit up the room, with Kasar in the middle. He stepped forward, and the light disappeared. "Hi. I hadn’t expected you to choose so soon. What will it be?" Kasar began to feel like a fairy godmother crossed with a McDonalds worker.

"Well, uh, actually, we were just testing our sanity. You can go." Nosedive took a large gulp of coffee to steady his nerves.

Kasar sighed. "Look, would you mind not calling me back until you’re sure of what you want? I do have other things to do." He was slightly miffed.

"Oh, sorry. We just had to make sure you weren’t a dream." Jadestar apologized.

"OK, see you later." Kasar vanished as quickly as he’d come.

"Oh boy." Nosedive drank the last of his coffee, and wished for more. If I had that Time Key, I could go back in time and drink my coffee again, he thought idly. Oh *real* mature Dive, he grumbled to himself. Still, he did want coffee…

"*Now* what do we do?" Jadestar grabbed her rice and mechanically began to eat.

"We think. A lot. And then we decide. Funny how it sounds so much simpler than it really is." mused her brother.

"That’s English for you." Jadestar took a big mouthful of rice, and didn’t say anymore.

"Come on Star, tell me what to do! You’re the smart one!" Nosedive did not want to be leader just then. Why me, Wildwing? he inwardly seethed at his dead brother.

"Hey, you’re getting Wildwing’s self image problem. Does that come with the Mask? Anyway, I know as much as you. We’ll decide together, like we always have."

Nosedive saw her point. "Let’s try and be logical. Put emotions to the side for a sec. Join T.S.T. I don’t think so. I’d rather stay here than jaunt around the universes."

"With ya." Jadestar munched.

"OK, it gets harder after this. Go back in time and save the team, or leave time alone and leave them where ever they are now."

"I miss them. Wildwing especially." Jadestar murmured.

"Yeah. But we can’t think of that stuff yet." Nosedive gently admonished.

"I know, but I can’t help it." she murmured softly.

They sat in silence for a while, both absorbed in their own thoughts. Finally Nosedive cleared his throat.

"You remember what happened last time we tried to change the past." he said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. First Duke and me were ‘dead’ and then you and me really were dead!"

"See what I’m getting at? Time travel seems to stuff things up just a tad." he said dryly.

"So, you mean that if we go back in time, we might make things worse." Jadestar’s eyes dimmed slightly.

"Oh man, is this the worse decision ever or what?" Nosedive banged his head on the table. "And it’s down to me! Life is so not fair!" He kept his head on the edge of the table for a while. He suddenly shoved his mug at her. "Coffee please."

Jadestar got up and made him some without a word. "You want extra sugar?" she asked.

"Good idea. Make it ten instead of six."

Jadestar spooned ten heaping servings of sugar in, and stirred it around. She handed it to her brother, and he drank it quietly.

"You know what we have to do." he said softly.

"But we’ll never get back to Puckworld!"

"Is that such a big price to pay instead of what could happen if we did do it?" Nosedive said just about the deepest thing he’d ever say.

"No." Jadestar whispered. She suddenly broke down and began to sob. "We were that close. One word and we could have seen them again." she choked out through her tears. Nosedive stood up, and he hugged her tightly.

"We could still say goodbye. As long as we don’t change what happens." he murmured in her ear.

"Can we? Please?" She sounded like a child, and Nosedive wondered if she would ever totally grow up. Maybe she didn’t want to.

"Sure." Nosedive stepped back, feeling more and more like his dead brother. "Now?"

Jadestar wiped her eyes and nodded.

"Kasar. We know what we want to do." Nosedive called. With a small delay, Kasar appeared.

"Go ahead." he smiled at them.

"We decided…" Nosedive glanced at his sister, and she nodded, biting her lip. "We decided that we can’t change the past. There’s always cause and effect to worry about. We just want to say goodbye to them. We never got to do it proper."

Kasar exhaled. "You’re more responsible than me. You don’t want to join T.S.T?"

"We’re sure." Jadestar confirmed.

Kasar shrugged. "Well, OK. About your goodbye. I can stop time if you want to do it with no worries about disrupting anything."

"Really? We’d appreciate it." Nosedive said sincerely.

"OK, grab my hand." he held his hand out to Nosedive, who took it, then offering Jadestar his other hand, so they formed a chain with Nosedive in the middle. With his free hand Kasar dug about in his pocket for the Time Key. "Hang on."

***

Wildwing gathered his team around him. He was just about to start talking strategy, when a bright light flashed in front of his face. He shielded his eyes, and Nosedive, Jadestar and another duck jumped out. "What’s going on?" he asked. The first Nosedive, who had been standing behind him, was frozen. In fact, the only things he could see that weren’t frozen were him, Tanya, Mallory Duke, Grin and the newcomers.

"Wildwing!" Jadestar shrieked, and latched on to him immediately. He absent-mindedly returned her hug.

"What the puck is this?" Duke demanded, startled by the fact that Nosedive was wearing the Mask just as much as his sudden appearance.

"We’re from two weeks in the future." Nosedive said from behind the Mask. He suddenly remembered he was wearing it, and he stuffed it in his pocket. "This is Kasar. He brought us here. He brought us here," Nosedive took a deep breath. "To say goodbye."

"To us?" Mallory titled her head. "No comprende Dive."

"Oh man. Look up there, see that fan with a gun?" He pointed up, and realization hit the ducks.

"We’re gonna die?" Tanya gasped.

"Sorry." Nosedive knew that that was a pretty dumb thing to say. "Me and Jade, we’re the only ones left now." He decided not to tell them that they could have been saved.

"We had to say goodbye." Jadestar murmured, her beak buried in Wildwing’s shirt. She suddenly stepped back, and went around hugging all the team members. Nosedive hugged his brother, and watched Jadestar do her girly-things. He suddenly needed to say what he’d always felt, and he started before he could stop himself.

"Look, I never told you guys this, but, well, we never had much of a childhood. Ask Wing about it sometime, where ever you go from here. Anyway, I kinda think of you guys as my family."

Nosedive felt uncomfortable, but pressed on. "What I’m trying to say is…I love you lot. I mean, we didn’t always get along and all, but I still did. Do. We really miss you." Overcome by emotion, he turned away.

Duke put a hand on his shoulder. "You’re a good kid, Nosedive. Same to you kiddo." he looked to Jadestar. "You take care of her." he muttered to Nosedive. "And you take care of him, Flash." he told the girl.

Kasar stepped in. "I can’t hold time much longer." he warned.

"Wait." Duke stopped him. "There’s one thing I need to do." He dug in his pocket, and knelt on the ice in front of Mallory. "Mallory McMallard, will you be Mallory L’Orange when you die?"

Mallory held out her hand, and he slipped the diamond ring on. The ring had two small rubies, one on either side of the diamond. The ring was fairly flat, she could have worn it doing anything without fear of breaking it.

"For the hair I love." Duke whispered, pointing to a ruby.

"Duke, I accept." Mallory pulled him up, and they kissed.

Nosedive smiled with the others. He glanced around. He saw the frozen version of himself, about to go through hell. He was smiling.

"Well, Nosedive, you keep on smiling." he murmured to himself.

The newly engaged Duke and Mallory were still kissing when Kasar cried out in alarm. "The Time Key’s run out of power! Nosedive, Jadestar, grab on quick!" They did so, but watched the others. Duke and Mallory obviously intended to kiss for as long as they could. Wildwing was smiling gently. Tanya looked nervous, but couldn’t hide her joy for Mallory, even if the wedding might not ever happen. Grin was standing still, not saying anything. The twins felt themselves start to vanish.

"Fight Dragaunus and get home!" Wildwing yelled to the fading twins. "Whatever it takes!"

The twins disappeared.

Wildwing suddenly found himself in the same position he’d been in when the twins had stopped time. Nosedive was the only one smiling. He had no idea...

His team fell.

Mallory screamed.

He looked up.

He saw the bullet come.

He fell.