Chapter 10: The Letter

Darkwing blinked, feeling like he had just awakened from a dream. He was standing beside his bed in Darkwing Tower. Swirls of snow was still lacing the windows. He shivered and pulled his cape around his arms. Had the tower always been this cold and dark? Seemed to him it should be a lot livelier... Oh. Now he understood. His family was at home. He had been expecting to find someone here when he woke up.

Gradually he remembered everything: his spell of bad luck, his feelings of uselessness and self pity, and the feeling of triumph and accomplishment for all his feats. Plus the warmth he got from his family and friends. He remembered a terrible dream where everyone he'd cared about died horribly or run into trouble because he wasn't there to help them. And, just prior to awakening, he had been reminded that he had made a difference in the world and that he still had a job to do. A crucial piece to the puzzle was Gosalyn. Somehow she made it all worth it.

Darkwing smiled again at the thought of her. He wanted to do something. Something to ensure that no matter what happened, Gosalyn would always be safe and cared for, and to reassure her. He thought about his will and life insurance policy that he had gotten through S.H.U.S.H. after passing the agency tests. It would protect his identity and his immediate family, but he wanted to do something else. Something that would say how much she meant to him and how proud he was of her. It was a challenge putting these inklings into words, though. Especially on the spot when all he could do when he saw her was give her a hug. But if he had his thoughts written down...

That's what he should do. Write Gos a letter.

He sat at his drafting table with his typewriter, all set to put everything down on paper...and that was it. He drummed his fingers, tapped his beak, tapped his foot, and finally caught himself humming tunelessly. He put an end to that promptly and focused on the task at hand. He stared at the blank page for a long time and almost fell asleep. He jerked awake and stared some more before sighing wearily.

Figures...the master of alliteration and colorful prose couldn't think of a single line to write for his daughter. So he took out a pencil to make an outline of what he wanted to put in the letter. He ended up writing a letter to Launchpad instead, summarizing the legal jargon from the will into something the pilot would understand. In essence, Launchpad was being left as the executive of the Drake's estate.

It was a big leap of faith, but he knew Launchpad would do whatever was necessary to take care of everything, even if it required asking someone else for help. Hopefully Launchpad would ask the right people for help, but just in case, Darkwing wrote a note for Director Hooter to address the problem. He already had a letter for the Muddlefoots, albeit with tons of scribbles. He had started it soon after the school ball that had nearly resulted in them discovering his identity. He had even started a letter for Morgana, although about the only thing he could write in it was stuff like how lovely her emerald eyes were in the moonlight... Which was quite true, but it wasn't exactly what he was trying to say.

Eventually he planned on typing the final drafts of his letters and enclosing them with copies of his will and all that, but for now, he just wanted to get his thoughts together. And right now, his thoughts were on Gosalyn. Gos meant more to him than anything or anyone and he felt like he needed to tell her that... Somehow...

That's it. He couldn't stand the isolation up here anymore. He stood up and determinedly stalked over to the chairs, taking the paper with him.

A minute later, Drake was home. He breathed in deeply and stood in the living room for a few moments, soaking everything in. He heard his housemates snoring up above and smiled. As atrocious as the noise was, it was far better than listening to the wind in the solitary confines of the tower.

He thought about Gosalyn and all that he wanted to tell her and hearing her, knowing that she was safe and comfortable, gave him an idea for the first line. He sat down with a pencil and started putting his thoughts on paper.

"My dear, dear Gosalyn..."

Two hours later he stood and went to his bedroom closet, pushing a small stack of letters up on the shelf. There. That should do it. He had poured his heart out and he was content with the way the letters had turned out. He still needed to type them and do some minor editing, but, should anything happen to him, everything he'd wanted to say to his family and dearest friends was there for them to read.

Drake smiled contentedly. He was exactly where he was meant to be in life and he had already made a huge impact on the world. And the biggest impact of all was being a father to Gosalyn. He slipped into Gosalyn's room to check on her one more time. Her snoring went uninterrupted. He tucked the blanket around her shoulder and gave her a light kiss on top of her head. Then he went back to his room and curled under the covers, quickly falling asleep.

References

Don Rosa's Donald Duck comic "The Duck Who Never Was"

"It's A Wonderful Life"

"A Christmas Carol" (my favorite version is the one with Mickey Mouse and Scrooge McDuck.)

"I Am Chosen," by Quiver. (A/N): Although I did not directly reference Quiver's story, I was surprised to see how many things mine had in common with it when I finished writing mine. I guess, even though I had forgotten Quiver's story, my mind remembered parts of it.

The movie "Balto 2: Wolf Quest" provided inspiration for a shape-changing spirit, as well as the scene where Jacob turns into a white wolf.

Episodes: "Darkly Dawns the Duck," "The Steerminator," "All's Fahrenheit in Love and War," "That Sinking Feeling," "Just Us Justice Ducks," "A Brush With Oblivion," "Battle of the Brainteasers," "When Aliens Collide," "To Calm a Chameleon," "Dead Duck," "Beauty and the Beet," "Paraducks" "Water Way to Go," "Clash Reunion," "Jurassic Jumble," "Fungus Among Us," "Dry Hard," "Life, the Negaverse, and Everything," "In Like Blunt," "Something Fishy," "The Merchant of Menace," "Fraudcast News," "Mutantcy on the Bouncy," "Slaves to Fashion," "Comic Book Capers"