It wasn't gold. Or covered in jems. It wasn't even all that pretty. Yet, Uncle Scrooge had assured them it was a treasure that had been revered by the people who had kept it tucked away in the temple. The massively boobytrapped temple, which had delighted Louie's middle brother. Their mother had been just as ecstatic about the adventure, Della bounding off down the first hall with Dewey immediately behind her. Huey had been eager to explore the old ruins, as well, but had been trying to be more receptive to the youngest sibling's reservations and stayed behind to walk with him and their uncle. Most of the group had come out of the experience unscathed, Huey having to attend to Dewey's scrapes while Della placed an ice pack to back of Louie's head.

Now, they were back at the mansion with the car-sized chunk of scarred metal and stone being carefully loaded onto a transport, the green-clad duckling still not sure if it had been worth all the trouble. His uncle seemed to pick up on his train of thought.

"Does'nae look like much." Scrooge took a seat next to his spot on the steps. "But not every treasure is goin'ta look like it should be in the money bin."

"Like the ones in the other bin?" Louie winced as the nearly melted ice pack shifted.

"Aye, which is where this one'll be goin'." Scrooge leaned forward, staring at the organic shape of the relic. "Ta think, Glomgold nearly beat us to it."

A different kind of pain sent another grimace across the young ducks face. It had been his fault his uncle's rival had made it into the final chamber first. Louie had been too scared to make it through the previous one and nearly died when his family had tried to guide him through it. As it was, the relic now had a deep gauge in its side where Glomgold had knocked it from its pedestal while trying to move it.

"Sorry about that." He'd already heard the reasons why he shouldn't worry about it, but with Mom back and obviously well versed in adventuring, there was a new pressure to not let her down. And today, he had.

Scrooge, in response, only let out a sigh, gripping his cane before turning to his youngest nephew. "How would ye like ta help me catalogue this one?"

"That sounds… extremely boring." Louie pulled the ice pack off his head, turning it over in his hands. "I guess I could use a little boring."

A hand gently ran over the bump on his head, the elder duck grimacing before ruffling the feathers on his nephew's forehead. "I'll get ya in a bit then, lad. Might as well go rest up before dinner."

No one had to tell him twice, his spot on the couch already calling to him.

Only, there was someone already waiting their for him.

"Hey, kiddo." Della offered an apologetic smile, waving him over. "How's the noggin?"

Louie climbed onto the couch, immediately finding the blanket and laying his head against the soft pillow his mother had already position over her lap. "Hurts... But not as bad." The last was offered as he caught the concern on her face.

"Do you need anything?" She asked as she helped adjust the blanket over his shoulders.

Normally, this would be the point in which he would milk the wound for all it was worth, but with the gentle smoothing out of the feathers on his head, he couldn't find the strength to respond. Plus, his mother's lap was far too comfortable to lose. Finally, Louie shook his head and snuggled into the spot as the television flicked on for them to watch. One show in and he was already fast asleep.

When he woke, it was to silence in the darkened room, a lamp in the corner the only thing providing illumination. His mother was gone and he wondered how long he'd been left to sleep. Certainly, they wouldn't have let him nap through dinner.

As he stepped out of the TV room and into the foyer, the fireplace dark from summertime unuse, it was impossible not to notice the quiet stillness. It was a large place, though. Even with the anxiety that came with being a part of this family, louie knew there was nothing to worry about. At least, not until he could confirm something was amiss.

A large bang made him jump as a blue blur landed at the top of the stairs, sliding down the rest of the way into the foyer, Dewey giving a whoop of excitement as he came to a stop a few feet from his little brother. Another bang and their mother appeared in the same fashion.

"Hey, sleepy head!" Both said in unison, grinning playfully at the unamused duckling.

Louie simply grumbled before asking, "what time is it?"

"Food o'clock!" Dewey offered, obviously amused with himself.

"Well, technically, dinner started ten minutes ago, but we might've gotten distracted." Della twirled the wheels on the skates still attached to her feet. The blue-clad duck mimicked the motion, as well.

That sounded about right, given how the past few weeks with Mom had gone. The two seemed to mesh the best, their connection almost effortless. If Louie hadn't been privy to his immediate eldest brother's need for acceptance and how much it took out of him, he would have thought Dewey couldn't get any happier.

Before he could query any farther into his brother's issues, Louie was being lifted onto his mother's shoulders, the three of them skating off towards the dining room. The looks on the rest of the family's faces told him it might have been a bit more than the ten minutes Della had indicated.

"Rested up well? " Scrooge apparently had decided to ignore the tardiness in favor for checking up on his nephew, who nodded, flailing briefly as he was set on the floor by his chair. "Good. After we're done eatin', ye can help me… In the other bin."

The grin and brow raise from his uncle was accompanied by Webby's excited squeak. Even if she wasn't going with them, the idea of the trove of mystical items was enough to pull the girl's attention from the plates of food. Sometimes, Louie wished he could share her same enthusiasm. As it was, he was only agreeing to help the elder duck out of a sense of needing to make up for his earlier failure.

It was something that always ate away at him, making him feel even more useless than when he just didn't have anything to provide to an adventure. That bungle that meant the treasure was lost or more difficult to obtain only served to confirm how inept he was at the family business. So, any time he could, he would make up for his mistakes with some basic, boring - most importantly, safe - tasks. Louie knew where his worth lay and it wasn't in a trap-filled temple.

An hour after dinner had been finished, he found himself staring at the newest of the basic and boring tasks. It made his head hurt worst.

"Paper?" Louie groused as Scrooge started tracing a finger over the spines of the notebooks lining his inventory room.

"Aye, I've been collecting for a long time." The elder duck offered, undeterred in his searching. "Paper is acceptable."

"But it'd be so much easier to find stuff if everything was computerized." He already had his phone out, activating an app he used for keeping track of his business ideas. "Less time wasted. Plus, paper costs money."

That last part seemed to jar the billionaire from his search, something the young duck expected. It was a predictable trait that could be his uncle's greatest weakness. Play to his desires and you could get him to do just about anything. Louie hated himself for even thinking it, but he guessed that was what came with analyzing everything.

"And this computer system would cost…" Scrooge let the question show his interest.

Louie shrugged. "You've already got the system, it'd just be transfering the data. Don't you already have someone who can do that?" As soon as he said it, his stomach dropped.

"Aye, lad." His uncle grinned. "Sounds like the perfect kind of hard work for a young man like yourself."

"Ugh, that's not what I meant!" The green-clad duck flopped into a seat, hands and phone shoving into the pocket of his hoodie in protest.

Abandoning his previous task, Scrooge took the seat across from his nephew. "I really can't think of anyone else I'd trust with this task." Louie caught the twinkle that flashed through the aged eyes. "Except perhaps your mother. Maybe she could work on it with ye?"

The protest died in his throat as the words sunk in. A war began to tear at him, demanding his usual laziness, but screaming at the possibility of having something he could share with his mother.

"It's settled then," the old duck leaned forward, obviously aware of what was battling through his nephew. "Ye can enter the data and Della can guide ye through the bin. She helped me collect a great deal of these relics. She'll keep ye out of trouble."

"Trouble?" Louie jumped up, following as his uncle did the same, making his way over to shelf of notebooks, pulling a few out to set on one of the tables. "Wait a sec."

"Och, it's nothin' too dangerous as long as ye don't go openin' doors." He handed one of the books to the duckling, who quickly added it to the growing pile. "Della knows that better than anyone."

There was still an overwhelming sense of dread that came with the task, but Louie couldn't find the will to refuse and he knew it had everything to do with the duck who'd been missing from his life for nearly eleven years.

"Okay." He finally said, hesitantly opening one of the binders.

"Really?" Scrooge shot him a quizzical look. "No trying to talk your way out of it?"

"Oh, I've been trying." Louie sighed, reading the first entry regarding a cursed talisman.

"Family makes you do strange things." Of course his uncle would understand. The man had been through more than anyone Louie had ever met. Granted, he hadn't met a lot of people in his short lifespan, but he knew enough about Scrooge to trust him. "Ye take a seat and go over these." He patted the stack of binders. "See if you can get a good idea on how to organize all this while I go get your mother."

The phone hit the table as the young duck did as he was instructed, Louie entertaining the thought of Webby being either excited or irate that this job had become his. Maybe if it became too much, he could bring her in on it. For now, he just wanted to spend time with his mom.

OoOoOoO

It was an odd request, but Della was finding it much more rewarding than she had expected. Cataloging a new item for the bin was one thing, but doing whatever her son was doing seemed like an excessive task. It was monotonous and boring, yet, it was time spent learning about each other through the things their uncle had collected.

"Oh, this one's super dangerous!" Della squeaked as she held out the page for her youngest to scan. It was amazing what technology could do. So much had changed in the ten years she'd been gone. When the job had been presented to her, she thought Louie would be entering everything in by hand, but the simple scan program worked by recognizing the letters in the images and transferring them into a document. It was genius and a massive time saver.

Which left more time for story telling.

"Did you help find it?" Louie asked, a bit wide eyed as he read over the description.

"Not exactly," the pilot grinned, sheepishly. "It got out one time when Donald and I snuck in here."

The green-clad duckling arched a brow. "Uncle Donald snuck in here? Willingly?"

The kid was perceptive. "Dragged kicking and screaming, sure, but how else was he supposed to learn about this place?"

Another shutter sounded from the cellphone, Louie holding it up like it was the answer to everything. "This seems like a pretty safe way to me."

"Mmm… So you'd rather read about treasure then see it for yourself?" The smile on her beak only spread as she watched her son's head tilt, unable to refute her claim. Yes, knowing about what they were looking for was a big part of being a great adventurer, but what was a treasure if you didn't lay a hand on it? She could understand Louie's hesitancy for danger, she'd seen it in her brother enough times, but she wanted to see him grow past the frightened kid who only wanted the money. There was so much more to life than that.

"Better safe than sorry, right?" Louie finally offered, shrugging as he flipped another page.

Tapping a finger against the smooth table top, Della let an idea begin to grow, grabbing the book away from her son before jumping up. "Come on, kiddo!" She beamed at his bewildered expression. "We can do this while we explore the bin."

"Oh, no. No, no, no." The duckling crossed his arms in defiance. "I've done this enough times to know it's going to end badly."

"How so?"

"We snoop around, Huey nerds out about the history and whatever, Dewey decides to touch everything and sets off some trap that nearly kills us." If he could have sunk further into the green hoodie, she suspected he would have.

"Well, of course," Della couldn't help the pang of regret that came with her reasoning. "You've just started your adventuring lives. You're expected to have some hiccups here and there." She watched the tension slowly lessen from his shoulders. "You're with me, Lou. I'm not going to let anything happen."

For a long moment, he didn't move, but as the promise floated between them, his shoulders fell and a second later Louie was off the chair and moving to follow her into the bowels of their uncle's vault. As they walked, Della knew there would be very few doors they could actually open, but the physical effort it took to face each door that held the item Louie scanned was enough. The task was becoming something more than just data entry. It was the discovery of the unknown. The question of what lay beyond the metal door answered with each page.

And then, they found the newest addition.

The door was closed, a new number placed over the entrance and Della watched as her son physically typed in what they knew of the stone that lay inside. The pilot had wondered why Scrooge had decided to move the relic here instead of his museum, but Louie was quick to explain that it had to do with the wall illustrations that had lined the temple. Typically, treasures would be held high above the lives of those who lived in the village, but this thing had been buried deep. Ominous, to say the least.

"Anything else I should add?" Louie asked, his thumb brushing over the screen of his phone.

"That all sounds about right until Uncle Scrooge can-" her words cut short as a deep, grinding noise filled the hall, emanating from the other side of the door before them. For a second, curiosity battled with concern and as she turned to the boy beside her, the fear on his face made the decision for her. "Come on, let's get back to the mansion."

Relief was visible and she felt the need to protect the youngest of her kids. It was a feeling she'd only experienced a few times since her return, but Louie seemed to draw it out the most. She wanted to keep him safe.

His phone slipped back into his hoodie just as the harsh noise behind the door stopped. They both stared at the thick metal, Della holding her breath as she tried to listen for what was happening inside.

"Mom?" Louie's hand slipped into hers, pulling her away from the curiosity that had snuck back into her gut. She offered a gentle squeeze before taking a step towards the exit to the bin.

And in that step, something heavy slammed into the relic's door, the metal buckling under the force.

"Go!" Della was already pushing Louie into a stumbled run, desperate to get him on the other side of the vault door.

Another barrage hit the metal, this time sending the warped door off its hinges and skittering across the concrete. Her mind was screaming as they ran, knowing how much it took to break down one of her uncle's reinforced rooms. Whatever was emerging would have to be immensely powerful.

The dull lighting of the other bin suddenly intensified as the creature emerged, Della chancing a glance back to see the gelatinous, glowing mass squeeze its way into the hall, tentacles slapping at the floor to pull itself forward at a dizzying speed.

They weren't fast enough.

Della wrapped her arms around Louie, lifting him off the ground as she pushed forward, sprinting for the stairs. For his part, the kid clung to her, allowing her to grab the rails and drag them up, two steps at a time. Metal creaked and the stairs swayed as the monster slammed into the base. Her eyes locked onto the open vault door, her hands gripping Louie's arms to detach them from her neck. One step. Two. And she launched them forward, the young duckling falling away from her onto the carpeted storage room.

And something wrapped around her leg, a spark of pain flaring through her before everything went black.