Author's Note: I tried to come up with suitably depressing things for their fears. I was originally going to use Della a third time, for the boys, but I figured that was overkill. So I used Donald instead.

Also, sorry for forgetting earlier in the fic that Donald did return, on a limited basis, in the original. But he was in there so seldom that it's easy for me to forget, to be honest. And no one corrected me, so…*shrugs*

Chapter Eleven

Scrooge 2 was wandering in the maze without much purpose or direction. He wasn't sure where he was going and all the corridors led to dead ends. He couldn't see the boys, the other Scrooge, or the Webbys, for that matter, and it was making him anxious. He didn't know where they could've gotten off to and he was already apprehensive of what Magica might have in mind.

Hearing footsteps behind him from a dead-end caused his feathers to stand on end, he whirled to face the threat. However, there was no one there. Instead, there was a gravestone and three broken shells, large enough to house ducklings. Bewildered and more than a little perturbed, he knelt down at the gravesite. It was his niece, Della, except the dates were wrong. The date of her death read as shortly before the boys were hatched...and the boys' names were written beneath it, along with their birth and death dates.

"But they didn't die…" he protested to no one in particular. Someone cleared their throat and he whirled again, almost losing his balance given how fast he was turning. Della floated there, incorporeal and translucent. Beside her floated the ghost of three hatchlings and his heart lurched.

"They did," Della whispered and her voice, though faint, tugged at his heart. "They died a week after I did and I never got to see them hatch…"

"They didn't die!" he said. "I know they're not here, but they're back on the other side of the mirror. They're fine."

Della shook her head sadly. "Lewellyn held out the longest, but Hubert and Dewford died before they hatched. They were stillborn."

"No!" he said. "They're alive and well and I can prove it, just let me near the mirror!"

"There is no mirror, Uncle Scrooge," she said and drifted closer to him. The wind of her passing made him shiver. "There never was. You only dreamt there was. No one came to live with you after I died and Donald stopped talking to you. You never had any other family who wanted anything to do with you. You're alone, Uncle Scrooge. There's no one here who cares for you."

"That's not true!" he responded, slamming his cane against the ground. "My wee little Webbigail is here, somewhere in this maze, and I didn't come all this way for her not to be there!"

"There is no Webbigail," Della said. "You created her out of your desperate desire not to be alone. There never was."

"There is!" he insisted. "You're just a trick, a spell from Magica!"

"Magica's not here," Della insisted. "Do you see her? I don't. Then again, I suppose I don't really see anything anymore."

Scrooge's mouth dried out. He recalled how she'd perished, falling from a steep height and onto the jagged rocks beneath. They'd moved, but not quickly enough, as they'd been fending off cutthroats at the time. By the time they'd heard Della scream, it was too late. Her scream haunted his nightmares sometimes.

"Come along, boys," Della whispered. "Leave the old man to his grief."

"They're alive!" he repeated and felt like he was going mad, repeating himself to no avail. Della and the boys vanished into thin air, leaving him with the gravestone. Although Della and the boys were insubstantial, the stone was solid and covered in moss. Someone had left rocks and flowers atop it. Donald might have forgiven him for losing Della, but they still hadn't spoken much since her death. Some things numbed relationships. Donald had turned to Scrooge because he felt he was the only one he could trust to watch the kids, but that didn't mean he liked him, necessarily.

He juxtaposed the memory of the triplets with the gravestone and the broken eggs. No. It wasn't true. No. Feh, it was all smoke and mirrors. The only problem was that confronted with physical evidence to the contrary, his stomach clenched and he was helpless to fight nausea. No, he couldn't prove that the triplets were all right. He'd thought he'd know if something had befallen them, but he hadn't known what had happened to Webby on the other side of the mirror. And he hadn't known Della was in danger until it was too late.

He soldiered on, a way opening before him, and the darkness grew, shrouding his path. Della's scream echoed in his ears and he kept seeing her fall. No matter what he tried, he was never in time.

Stumbling, he tripped over a figure lying prostrate on the ground. It was the other Scrooge, who was staring up at Della, his face a mask of pain and trauma. Scrooge 2 halted, the previous incident crashing in on him. He stumbled backward; the other Scrooge looked up at him and whatever spell had been cast over him was broken now. He stood, retreating with his counterpart.

"Della for you too?" Scrooge 1 murmured.

"Aye," Scrooge 2 confirmed. "And the boys, stillborn."

Scrooge 1 flinched and then looked around as if suddenly realizing that his grand-nephews were nowhere in sight. A pathway opened up before them and they bolted down it. Even though knowing they weren't his grand-nephews, Scrooge 2 needed to see them, needed to confirm that some part of Della had survived in at least one universe.

"The boys!" Scrooge 1 cried in dismay. He slowed. "Have you seen Webbigail?"

"No…"

Not ordinarily one to curse, but aware that he was in the presence of another adult, one who would understand his plight, Scrooge 2 cursed softly.

"We don't even know where they are," Scrooge 1 remarked. "How do we know if we're going in the right direction? We can't stay still, but…"

Scrooge 2 understood what he was getting at. He nodded and they started off going east, the only corridor open to them. Other than their movement, the maze was deadly silent. Anything could be happening to the others and they would have no idea. The thought increased nausea until he had to swallow back bile.

The worst part was that Scrooge 2 couldn't be sure whether the screams he heard were real or in his head. Scrooge 1 showed no sign of hearing them, but then again, he couldn't be certain that Della 1 had perished in the same way. Clearly, she was missing, because otherwise, the figment wouldn't have had such an impact.

He didn't want to ask; he considered the subject too sensitive to tread up lightly. He found himself wishing that the mirror was hand-sized instead of wall-length. At least then he could confirm that the boys were alive and well. The sight of the empty eggs and the boys' ghosts had really shaken him up.

"They're all right, you know," Scrooge 1 murmured as they pelted down a corridor. He squeezed Scrooge 2's shoulder. "They're at home and waiting for you to return with your Webbigail."

Scrooge 2 couldn't quite manage a smile, but he nodded in appreciation.

"Now, whether we can find the Webbigails in time is another matter…" Scrooge 1 grimaced. "If I know my Magica and believe me, I do, all too well, the first thing she'll want to do is exact revenge against Webby."


"It's another dead-end," Huey said, frowning. "But that doesn't make sense. I've mapped it out so far and this should've led somewhere."

"At least we didn't appoint Captain Lost to keep us from getting lost," Dewey commented and Louie huffed, folding his arms across his chest. By all accounts, Huey was right. They'd even left leaves behind to mark their trail and those had disappeared without a trace. They'd been pulling leaves off the random vines in this section of the maze. They also hadn't heard or seen anyone else.

"We should've run into someone else by now," Huey continued.

"Other than ourselves, you mean," Louie said.

"Or at least heard someone else," Huey replied. "How can we be isolated?"

"How can we keep running into dead-ends?" Dewey pointed out.

"Wait…" Huey said. They spun around and, one hundred and eighty degrees from where they'd stood, a path had opened up. It had a glowing light at the end.

"Either this is the way out or we're all about to die," Louie said.

With that particular inauspicious comment, they headed for the light. It was blinding, causing all three boys to cover their eyes. When they halted, they found themselves in the middle of the maze, with a fountain spraying water and their uncle Donald standing beside it. Since he hadn't come with them, they were at a loss. As far as they knew, he ought to be back in Duckberg.

"Uncle Donald?" Huey asked, incredulous.

"Boys?" he said.

"Uh, have you seen Uncle Scrooge? Or Webby? Either Webby?" Dewey asked.

"How did you get here, anyway?" Huey asked.

"What do you mean?" Donald asked. "I've always been here."

"Here, at the exact center of the maze. That seems a little hard to believe," Huey said.

"Well, it's true," he said and cocked his head at him. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving."

"O-kay…" Louie said. "I don't see how you're leaving when none of us can get out of this maze, but okay."

"That's not what I meant," he said. "I'm joining the navy. I won't be back and I just wanted to tell you boys to be good, because I don't know when I'm returning. If I am."

"You can't be leaving," Dewey objected. "You can't."

"Why would you wait until now to tell us?" Louie said. It felt like someone had squeezed his heart and then it'd burst like an overripe fruit. His chest ached and he swallowed past a lump in his throat. It was like when Dewey had kept the secret of what he and Webby had been doing to figure out what had happened to their mother. He didn't want to cry nor did he want to believe this. Huey was right. How had Donald ended up in the center of the maze?

"I ran out of time," Donald said. "I'm sorry, boys. Be good."

Huey looked up and rather than a ceiling, there was a starry night above them, as well as the Sunchaser. It hovered and Louie followed his gaze. While Louie was mildly impressed Launchpad knew how to hover without crashing, it was outweighed by the dismay he felt. He struggled to think of something to say.

"No...that's what the other Webby said happened to you," Dewey said. "But you can't go."

"I have to," he responded. "My first mission is working with NASA to pilot through cosmic storms."

Louie felt like his ripped out heart had seized and then someone had begun jumping up and down on the shreds. That was how they'd lost Mom.

"No!" he screamed, the cry torn loose from his throat. "You can't go. We won't let you!"

A rope ladder appeared and Donald headed for it. Louie grabbed his arm.

"You can't go," he pleaded. "That's how...that's how Mom disappeared. You can't leave us. You're the closest thing we have to-to-"

A parent. If anything, he was like their father. Donald shrugged off Louie's arm and his brothers latched onto Donald too.

"The odds of you being able to pilot through it when Mom couldn't are pretty low," Huey said. "You can't go. You don't even have any training. Why would they send you?"

"Because I volunteered," Donald informed him. "You boys have your Uncle Scrooge. You don't need me anymore."

"That's not true!" they protested. They'd always need him. They'd always want him. How could he even think of abandoning them like this? Louie's vision blurred with tears.

"We'll always need you," Louie muttered, aware that the sentiment was making him appear weak, but he didn't care. He'd do anything to make their uncle stay. Anything. Even if it cost him something in return. And that was saying a lot because spending money or losing things was like losing a part of himself.

"No, you don't," Donald snapped and flung the three of them back and away from him. He threw himself at the ladder and, desperate, the boys started scaling it. Donald kicked at them, which in the back of his mind Louie knew he'd never do. He was too busy, however, being gripped by the terror that Donald leaving inflicted.

Donald reached the top and threw the ladder back down to the ground. They scrambled, landing hard on the fountain, as the Sunchaser flew out of sight and into the distance. Louie thought he might be sick. Donald had left without even saying goodbye. He had no idea how the navy worked or how long Donald might be gone. The way he'd said it, he might end up in the same predicament as their mom. Then he'd never come home.

He climbed, shaky, down from the fountain and hugged his knees. He was crying and he couldn't stop. Huey and Dewey approached him. Dewey put a hand on his shoulder and then hugged him.

"That can't have been him," Huey reasoned. "He'd never hurt us like that. He'd never leave without telling us beforehand. And he'd never be so callous."

"Sure sounded like him," Dewey said. "And looked like him. And the other Webby said…"

Huey faltered, about to come up with an answer, but the words died in his mouth. Louie clenched his eyes shut as if he could erase the image of Donald on the rope ladder from his mind. He was shaking. Donald was leaving them, just like their mother had left them. The need for adventure and to be away from the triplets had driven him away, just like Della. He pulled the hood over his head.

"This is a magical maze, right?" Huey said quietly, subdued in light of his brothers' misery. Louie couldn't see his face, but he sounded unhappy too. As well as he might be, given the facts of the situation.

"So, Magica must've cooked this up for us," Huey continued.

"But how would she have known that Donald joined the navy in the alternate universe?" Louie countered.

"Unless it wasn't our Magica," Huey said.

Searing hatred for Magica replaced the sorrow. He jumped to his feet, so suddenly that Dewey toppled over into him and they both fell over. Heh, oops.

"I can't believe she'd use our fears against us," Louie raged.

"She's evil," Huey said in a tone that indicated "what do you expect?"

"But if that's our fears and she wasn't even here for that, then...where is she? And where is the other Magica, our Magica?" Dewey asked.

"Webby!" the boys cried in unison, simultaneously struck by the horror of the situation. If they'd separated everyone, then Webby 1 had to be on Magica's hit list, probably number one. Louie scrubbed at his eyes.

"Boys!" Scrooge 1 called and they looked up, Louie still rubbing at his eyes to eradicate the tears. While he knew logically that this must've been Magica's doing, he was haunted by the thought of Donald leaving them for good. He wanted to run to his uncle and hug him for all he was worth and then some.

What had formerly been a dead end opened up and the two Scrooges came rushing in.

"Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Scrooge 1 pressed.

"Just emotionally," Louie muttered. Scrooge 1 stopped in front of him and hugged him, taking Louie by surprise. He reciprocated, though, and the other two boys joined in on it. Louie could feel himself shaking with suppressed sobs.

"We're going to give Magica a piece of our minds when we find her," Scrooge 1 said. "Don't you worry, lads."

"But we have to find her first," Scrooge 2 said, scowling. "The maze seems to be altering according to where their attention is. That means the hardest part to reach will be where Webbigail is."

"She wouldn't want us to show up too early," Scrooge 1 agreed. "And spoil her fun."

His eyes narrowed. "Or to prevent her from doing serious harm to Webby."

Scrooge 2's frown deepened. "She wouldn't seriously hurt a wee one, would she?"

"She'd kill Webbigail if given the chance," Scrooge 1 said and his expression was hard and determined. "We need to find her before then."

"But how?" Huey asked.

"Again, if I know Magica de Spell, which I unfortunately do, we lure her in using me lucky dime. And since only one of us was stupid enough to keep wearing it…" Scrooge 1 shot his counterpart a dirty look. "That'll be your job."

"So, what, you want me to wave it in the air and she'll scent it like a bloodhound?" Scrooge 2 asked.

"That's the best plan you've got?" Louie asked.

"The maze isn't going to let us rescue Webby unless we force it," Huey said. "And it's the only plan we've got."

"All right, here goes nothing," Scrooge 2 said. He pulled his dime's necklace out of his shirt and held it up. "Magica de Spell, wherever you are, here you are. It's me lucky dime and it's all yours if you bring us Webbigail, both Webbigails, safe and unharmed."

They waited with bated breath. Would the Magicas be so arrogant and naive to fall for it? Louie didn't think so, but he also knew never to underestimate just how gullible people could be. And...it was their only hope now.

Please be okay, Webs, he thought. We can't lose you too.