Huey hummed as he walked back to the mansion, carrying two books in his hands. Sometimes, he would go to the library to get enough books to keep him occupied for a few days, especially in the summer.
The wind blew softly, yet it was very chilly. The leaves were floating down to the ground gracefully from the trees above Hubert's head. It was about to be fall soon and apparently ,the trees wanted to get a head start. The fresh air smelled amazing, like the scent of fresh wood. Overall the day was good for a picnic, an adventure even.
He stopped and looked left and right to see if there were any cars passing by. There weren't any, so he crossed the street. It's always better to be safe than sorry, he thought.
He made a left turn and he quickly walked up the stairs towards the door of the mansion. As he was about to open the door, someone on the other side opened it for him. It was Scrooge; he had a small frown on his face.
"Welcome back, Huey." Scrooge said, welcoming him back home.
"What's wrong?" He asked curiously, noticing the frown.
"Dewey nearly broke his leg, so the lad's layin' on the couch restin'." He explained.
Hearing this made his stomach twist and turn; he ran inside to see Dewey and to make sure he was alright. As he was about to go inside the living room, Webby stopped him from entering.
"What the heck, Webby! Let me in!" Huey said, worrying about his brother.
"You two have been close as of late, too close if I do say so myself." Webby sternly said. "He'll be fine."
He was getting annoyed; nothing was going to stop him from checking on his brother. "That doesn't mean I can't see how he's doing myself, Webby!"
He tried to find an opening to go in, moving his body left and right. When he found the opportunity to run in, he sneaked to the right and got inside. He sat on the couch next to Dewey.
Dewey's right leg was bandaged up, and it seemed like it was hurt badly.
"Dewford, what happened?!" He asked with a concerned tone that sounded as if he was about to cry.
Dewey rolled his eyes. He got it that he's worried, but this was a bit much. "We were playing a game, I had to go retrieve something high up in the tree and I fell off, no big deal."
"You have to be more careful, I don't want you getting hurt like this." He hugged him firmly.
Dewey opened his mouth, but he figured it was best not to argue, so he closed it and hugged him back. The both of them looked at the door when they heard the sound of someone entering; it was Louie. They both sighed with relief, worried that it would be Scrooge, Webby, or anyone else for that matter.
Louie closed the door and went up to them. "How are the two lovebirds doing?"
Huey looked at him, "We're fine, Louie. But why didn't you call or text me that he got hurt?"
"I was gonna do that but then I got distracted talking with Webby." He replied, almost sounding defensive.
"Oh, what, did you tell her that we were together or anything of the sorts?" Dewey started.
"Who do you think I am?"
"A gossiper, and you would definitely do that to us."
"At least she wouldn't say a word about the both of you."
"Yeah right. And let's not forget, you went through Huey's book thing-"
Huey corrected Dewey, "Diary."
"-Diary without his permission!"
"It was begging for me to go through it!"
"Doesn't mean you should go do it!"
"What harm could it be?"
"Lots of harm if you're not aware of that, Louis!"
"ENOUGH! The both of you!" Huey snapped.
Dewey and Louie closed their beaks and kept them closed. Huey was having enough of their arguing, all he wanted was to check up on his baby brother and boyfriend. Not be in between an argument.
Literally and figuratively.
He took a deep breath and looked at Dewey. "Dew, I appreciate you standing up for me, but with this sort of thing I can handle myself."
He slowly nodded, knowing it was best to keep his mouth shut.
Then Huey looked at Louie. "And Louis Duck, you stay out of my stuff, and Dewey's stuff as well. I've had enough of your shit, to be quite honest."
The both of them were shocked. They never thought they'd hear Huey swear even once. If anything, now would not be a good time to say anything that could anger him further.
Louie started to back away a little, thinking about whether to run.
"Just go, Louie, I'll talk to you later about this." He ordered.
Louie went to open the door to run out and hide, but Scrooge came into the room.
"Lads, do you want to come on an adventure with me or do you two wanna stay here with Dewey?" Scrooge asked. He wanted to know what they want to do before he did anything further.
Huey and Louie look at their brother for the answer.
Dewey looked down and thought about it. 'It sounds like it would be fun, and I can't go unfortunately though they seem like they really wanna go. Although, I could always...'
He had an idea that he'd have to act on soon, and when nobody's looking.
He looked back up at his brothers. "You two can go on ahead. I'll be fine here." Dewey said, having the spark of adventure and excitement in his eyes.
The both of them hugged him and he hugged back.
"Just relax and get better while we're gone, alright?"
"Yeah, Huey. And take pictures if you can." Dewey said.
The both of them nodded. They stopped hugging him and went up to Scrooge, talking to him. Dewey smirked mischievously.
Everybody left the room, got what they needed, and went outside to Launchpad's airplane. Huey, Louie, and Webby all sat down and buckled up.
Huey looked out the window seeing the mansion. He frowned as he looked at it, hoping Dewey would be alright without him.
Louie put his hand on Huey's shoulder, "He'll be okay, I promise." He said to reassure him.
He looked at him and smiled. "Thanks. We just left the house and already I miss him..."
Just as the airplane was about to take off, an alarm went off. It made all of the kids jump as it caught them by surprise.
Launchpad almost immediately turned the alarm off and checked the back for anything that shouldn't be there, opened, or whatever else. He checked everywhere, in between the crates, above him, and under anywhere somebody could be hiding at.
He heard something from near the back of the room and went to check it out.
Hearing the footsteps coming closer and closer, Dewey, hiding inside one of the crates, started breathing heavier and sweating. He didn't sneak onto the plane just to get caught and sent back home to rest. If Huey's going, then he's going; he wasn't leaving Huey unprotected. If anything happens to him he wouldn't forgive himself for it. Dewey didn't care about how much his leg was hurting... He was going to be there for Huey. No matter what.
The sound of the footsteps disappeared; Launchpad stopped walking. His heart began to race faster, praying to god he wasn't about to be found.
He heard something being picked up, though.
"I was wondering where you were at!" Launchpad said, putting the keychain in his pocket.
Launchpad walked off to look in other areas, giving Dewey a moment to relax.
The little duck released a breath he never knew he was holding.
'That was way too close...' He thought, glad he wasn't caught. Hopefully it would stay that way until they got to wherever they're going.
Launchpad left the room, seeing that there wasn't anything out of place. He sat down in the driver's seat, getting his seatbelt back on. He got everything started, up and flying, getting the plane into the air and above the ocean.
If anybody were to look out the window, they would be welcomed with a beautiful view of the sea and Duckburg. Some could consider it breathtaking even.
Louie, wanting to remember exactly where they were going, asked "So wait, where are we going again?"
Huey looked away from the window to answer, but Webby beat him to it.
"We're going to Greece to find a temple of a goddess, holding one of the biggest and supposedly the most powerful moonstone to exist!" Webby excitedly answered, "Or it could be a regular moonstone."
Scrooge chuckled, hearing her excitement. "It'll be awhile until we get there, about ten hours at least, not countin' stops."
Luckily they brought food to snack on and stuff to do.
It wasn't not much, but it would do.
Ten and a half hours later...
Seeing that Launchpad was falling asleep, Scrooge smacked his chest with his cane for the ninth time. That got him up and awake again, and hopefully it was the last time he'd be hit for the day. Scrooge looked behind his shoulder and at the kids. They were sleeping peacefully, it seemed. That made him smile.
He frowned though, as memories came flooding back from ten years ago. He was sure that everybody missed her. Now wasn't the time to think about it, so he pushed it all aside for later.
He then looked out the window to his right, they were above the temple where they needed to be at.
"Launchpad, it's time to land." He ordered, "And please, try not to crash."
"No guarantee on that, sir." He said, saluting.
As he tried to land the plane, Scrooge got out of his seat to wake the kids and Donald up. Everybody yawned and stretched.
They all fell forward though, as Launchpad crashed the plane into a tree.
Scrooge sighed, "Well it's better than nothing, I suppose."
Everybody got out of the plane and walked into the temple. Soon after, Dewey started to quietly follow them stretching, unable to walk properly as his leg wasn't fully healed yet. It was better now, as he wasn't feeling much pain when he moved. The crash woke him up. He had a bit of a headache since his head hit the crate, but at least he woke up when they were about to go in.
As they all went inside, they all fell through a trap door that was a few steps from the entrance and screamed.
Hearing the screams, Dewey went inside as fast as he could with his condition. He looked down the trap door they all fell in, seeing everybody was okay. He moved away from everyone's view so they wouldn't know he was there. He searched around to try and find another way down there.
Scrooge was the first to sit up, having his hand on his head. He looked at everyone around him to make sure they were alright.
"Is anybody hurt anywhere?" Scrooge asked them.
Everybody checked themselves and shook their heads. He sighed in relief and got up, looking around him. Seems like they were underground.
There were crystals on the walls and ceiling, clear and sparkling. Sparkling so much it almost looked like they're glowing. Huey took out his phone, took a picture of the walls, and sent it to Dewey. It all looked so beautiful, it was too bad nobody could take one of the crystals back home. It would've been a nice souvenir from this adventure, but not today, he guessed. Water drops hitting the floor could be heard just as clear as the crystals all around them.
Scrooge started walking ahead and everyone followed after him.
Dewey pushed the walls of the temple, seeing if there was a secret passage. As he was doing so, his phone went off. He checked whatever text he got.
It said "The caves look great down here! Wish you were here to see it with us." with the photo attached.
Smiling, he jokingly replied with "Yeah, and perfect for a nice, romantic date too."
He laughed as he sent that text. Boy, did he love to tease and mess with him sometimes. Dewey continued trying to find a way inside. He pushed a little harder and found a way in. Falling forward, he rolled down to the ground. He got up and checks himself for any injuries; well, more injuries, anyways. He didn't notice any, which was always good. His phone went off again and he checked to see what Huey said this time.
"Dew, now's not the time for that. Glad you like how it looks, though." Dewey chuckled.
Huey put his phone away.
Scrooge stopped walking. He looked down both paths, trying to figure out which one to take. Either they all took one path and checked the other one out, or they could split up. Splitting up may not have been the brightest choice, but they would be able to explore the caves more quickly. At the same time, though, if they needed help getting unstuck or anything bad of the sorts, it would take a while for anyone to get to the others.
He decided that they should split up. Worst case scenario, someone would have to run to the other three and get lost somewhere somehow.
Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, Scrooge looked at Launchpad.
"Launchpad, you, Huey, and Webby go the left path." He said, then looked at the other two. "Louie, Donald, you two are coming with me."
They went into the pathways, with each half of the group separated from the other. Launchpad walked ahead of Huey and Webby to protect them from anything dangerous up ahead.
Webby got closer to Huey to whisper, "Are you two really together?"
Huey moved away from her. Not by much, but enough to show confusion. "What?"
"You and Dewey," She quietly said, "You two being in a romantic relationship. Is that true?"
He looked off in the other direction. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said, pretending not to know anything.
She looked down to the ground. It didn't seem like she'd get the answer any time soon. "If you two are... You know you can't hide it forever, right?"
'We know...' Huey answered in his mind. As much as he and Dewey hated keeping it a secret, they had to. It was needed.
They came across a wooden bridge. Launchpad put his foot on the first piece of wood and arrows started flying from one wall to the other. He looked around for anything to protect him so he could walk across without getting hurt. Looking around, he found two shields lying around on the floor and took them. These would work.
Launchpad looked back at Huey and Webby. "Don't worry kids, I'll find a way to turn off the arrows somehow!"
"But there's always-"
He ran across the bridge, having the two shields up to protect him, and made it to the other side unharmed.
"-Another way around." Huey sighed.
"That worked at least." Webby added.
Launchpad looked around for a switch or button of some kind. He saw something on a pillar and took a closer look at it. Part of it was a darker gray compared to the rest of the pillar. Thinking it might be a button, he pushed it and the arrows stopped coming out of the walls. Seeing he was correct, he smiled.
The two walked across the bridge now that it was safe.
After all three of them went into the next area, the way back immediately closed off, nearly scaring Huey. He started to worry if there was something dangerous up ahead, but brushed it off.
They'd be fine.
They came to a stop though as there was a bottomless pit in front of them. No way to get to the other side, it seemed. They couldn't go back to get an arrow to use it somehow either. Looks like they were trapped there until they could figure a way out.
Hearing a growl, they all turned around to find a beast that wasn't there before. It looked like a big brown wolf. How it got there was beyond anybody.
Looking around and seeing a spear, Launchpad grabbed it and tried to fight it off. After hitting the beast twice, the spear broke in two. He gulped, backing away. There goes that idea.
"Stay away from my brother!" Someone yelled from above, kicking the beast into the void behind the three.
He waited for the rope to stop moving before sliding down to the floor. He put his left foot down first, and then his right. Walking up to Huey, Webby, and Launchpad, he braced himself for the loudest, most threatening lecture of his life.
"Dewey, what are you doing here?!" Huey demanded, sounding very worried.
"Huey, I know what you're thinking. I shouldn't be here, I could've-"
Dewey's words were interrupted when Huey slapped him across the face. Dewey looked at him, surprised.
Huey was shaking like there was no tomorrow. Tears were clinging on to his eyes as to not fall down his cheeks, but one fell down anyway and the other tears followed soon after. He couldn't hold them back anymore. Not even in front of him. He was too angry and upset to even care if anybody saw him crying.
Webby appeared shocked; she didn't think he would do that.
Launchpad was speechless. He didn't want to get into this though. It was their business, whatever it was, not his.
Huey then hugged him, putting his face into Dewey's chest as he continued to cry. "Don't do that again... You could've gotten hurt, or worse..."
"But I'm fine, nothing happened to me..." Dewey rubbed his back, trying to calm him down from crying.
Dewey pulled Huey away from his chest to see his red, puffy face filled with tears that were gleaming from reflecting the sparkling crystals around them.
He wiped them all away. "Can you stop crying?"
Huey nodded, putting his face back into his chest. "I'm sorry I slapped you like that..." He apologized, sounding stuffy.
"Shh... Don't speak..."
Webby walked over and rubbed Huey's back, wanting to comfort him as well.
Launchpad smiled, seeing how everything was turning out alright. He went in to hug them all.
After a few moments, Launchpad stopped hugging them and Dewey walked a few feet towards the seemingly bottomless pit.
"So how are we going to get across?" Dewey asked.
"Well we could use the rope and the broken spear." Huey explained. "But I don't know how we're going to use that to get to the other side without anything stable to hold it."
A paw rose from the pit, behind Dewey.
"And we can't go back since it's blocked off- Dewey, look out!" Huey said, trying to warn him of the wolf.
Dewey noticed it too late, and was dragged down to the bottom, screaming.
"Dewey!" Huey tried to grab his hand but he wasn't able to.
Looked like they were going to save him in return now.