Hey, guys!
First of all, thank you to all who reviewed and read this story! It's my first fic posted online, so it means a lot!
This next chapter reveals my weird theories about specific dialogue that already exists in the show and goes into a little more detail on why I didn't intend for this fic to be an AU. If it still is an AU, then, oh well.
This chapter also dwells a lot on Scrooge and Webby's thoughts about their friends and families. Specifically in the Scrooge one, I poured a little piece of myself into the writing, drawing inspiration from the small stress-related mental breakdowns I had over quarantine this year. (Wow, COVID was good for something?)
Anyway, yeah. Next little chunk. Probably written too fast. Enjoy!
……
A few months later...
The Darkwing Duck music blasted from the TV Launchpad had strung up inside the plane for what felt like the tenth time already. Scrooge rolled his eyes and tried to get his mind back to how to escape from this precarious predicament he'd landed everyone in.
"Launchpad, can you bring me that stack of equipment from over there?" Scrooge called out. The young pilot looked up and saluted. "Sure thing, Mr. McD!"
"Careful, now!" Scrooge cautioned as Launchpad grabbed an armful of parachutes and made his way to the other side of the plane.
"See, Beakley? We'll be right as rain. My new escape plan is foolproof."
"Oh, joy." The former agent muttered, clearly still quite annoyed with him for crashing their plane over a mountaintop and stranding them.
Launchpad dropped the stack at their feet. "Here are those dirty laundry bags you wanted, Mr. McD."
"Launchpad, these are parachutes." Beakley looked more than a little wary of this idea.
"A pair of what, now?" Launchpad questioned.
Beakley groaned. She strode over to Scrooge. "Mr. McDuck. Mr. McDuck. Scrooge!"
He glanced up from tying rope. "What? All I have to do is climb out onto the wing to jumpstart the propeller myself, using these heavy parachutes as counterbalance out the other side of the plane."
It made sense to him. Perfectly risk-free. Clearly, Beakley didn't feel the same.
"Leaving us with no emergency equipment!" She sharply reminded him. Her countenance then softened a little. "Please, for the safety of your family, admit that you cannot fix this."
"Nonsense." He dismissively replied. "Nothing bad is going to happen to her."
"'Her' who?"
"Hm?"
Scrooge looked up to see one of Beakley's 'Don't you dare. Don't even mention it. You promised to keep her identity a secret' stares. Scrooge realized that he had accidentally referred to Webby as his family. He'd done that in his head a few times since the truth was made known to him, but never out loud before. Beakley was still staring icily, one eyebrow raised. He quickly tried to remedy his mistake.
"Eh, the, uh, kids. They'll be thanking us by the time we land. Launchpad, hand me another parachute."
That could have gone worse.
……
Only about twenty minutes later, Scrooge carefully followed Dewey back inside the Sunchaser, noticing how painstakingly the boy held the scrap of photograph in his hands. Good heavens, what had these kids been doing for the past six months?
Ah, well. He supposed he did owe them a proper explanation. At least fill in the holes of what they had already uncovered. No matter how painful it was to relive those memories.
So, he began explaining everything to the little group. How Della and Donald has gone on amazing adventures with him for two decades, how Della made the plans to explore outer space, how he secretly built the Spear of Selene as a surprise for her, how Della somehow found out that he had built it a little early and took it out for a test run, how the cosmic storm had stranded her in space. How she was still there…
When he finished, he looked up to see the triplets sniffling. Even-oh, bless her heart-Webby was trying not to cry as well, he could tell.
Dewey prepared himself to speak.
"Cool. So you're the reason our mom is gone."
"What? No, I, I-"
"You built her a crazy dangerous super-rocket!" He cried.
"Which she stole early!" Scrooge argued.
"And then you encouraged her to keep flying through a cosmic storm? You could have called her down! There were too many variables!" Huey accused.
That did it. Scrooge prepared to defend himself, to perhaps elaborate a bit more, but Beakley beat him to it. "Now, boys, you don't know-"
"And you're the richest duck in the world!" Blast, Louie was on their side as well. "Why didn't you send up more ships to look for her?"
"I spared no expense!" Scrooge angrily informed them.
"Yeah, right." Dewey scoffed. "Cheap old Scrooge probably bailed as soon as it put a dent in his money bin."
Now, that stung. That really stung. The lad had no idea what he was talking about. Scrooge painfully remembered the precious billions that had gone into every ship, research lab, expedition….he had tried so hard, so hard to bring his niece back home to Earth; it had nearly undone him, left him penniless! The family clearly didn't understand this. The little hellions could be so judgmental, they could. Scrooge felt his grief being replaced by a simmering, frustrated rage.
Webby joined the argument, with a calm, reasonable tone. "Take it easy, Dewey. He may have a point. Even if gifting an experimental rocket to a mother of three was clearly a terrible idea!"
Scrooge glared at his clone. Even his own little girl self was turning against him. It was unbelievable. If they'd just let him explain, for crying out loud! Scrooge hardly thought about what he said next.
"This is a family matter! You are not family!" His anger came out in a series of sharp-edged words that he didn't mean, that weren't even close to true.
In the split second that followed, Scrooge's mind scrambled, reeling with so much desperate thought that he didn't have the time or strength to address all of it.
Where did that come from? Bless me bagpipes, did I really just say that to my genetic equal? She's family to me more than anyone here. I even accidentally referred to her as kin not half an hour ago!
Was it some sort of protective instinct? A desperate, over-exaggerated attempt to keep her from discovering the truth?
Look at her, she is crying now. Curse me kilts, what have I done?
This all hyperactively made its way through Scrooge's mind in around half a second.
Beakley stepped forward and laid a strong hand on Webby's shoulder. Sweet mercy, she did not look happy.
"See here, McDuck! You will not speak to my granddaughter that way!"
She pronounced this sentence not only with fury, Scrooge knew, but with yet another firm reminder: If anyone asks, this girl is my family, not yours. He doubted any of the kids would catch on to these hidden meanings he and Beakley put into way too many of their interactions lately. No one had caught on, but for months now, it had almost been like a silent debate, even a bit of a battle: was Webby his or Bentina's? Her protector's child or her literal genetic template's? It was all just so confusing and so frustrating. Scrooge, again, only a second later, came back at Beakley with another sharp reminder at where the lass had come from in the first place.
"You will not speak to me that way!" He glared right at Beakley as he said it, and he knew she got the meaning behind his words: You will not speak to me that way, because you are not even close to being a part of her family. Then, to avoid suspicion and Beakley's overreacting, added, "None of you! After all I've done for you, you're all nothing but trouble!"
That bit was true, in a few ways. If they'd just him explain himself!
"Guys! This is your captain speaking!" Launchpad announced into the microphone from the front of the plane. "We are falling!"
They all responded, for once, in unison. "Wait, what? AAAHH!"
……
Scrooge stood silently at his desk. The last few hours had passed by in a blur. They had survived the crash, shaken and bruised, but alive. They made it home amidst the most horrific of awkward silences. The triplets had then silently packed up and moved out. Beakley and her precious "granddaughter" had started packing as well. No one spoke to him; only Webby had the heart to even glance at him. He paid them no mind, much too introspective to acknowledge any people. Agh. People. Family. Who needed 'em?
"Isn't he even gonna say goodbye?" He heard Webby's small voice from behind him.
Beakley then appeared in the doorway, close beside her. "We're taking those vacation days, if that's alright with you, sir." When the agent spoke, it was as cool and unforgiving as a glacier. And Scrooge knew a thing or two about glaciers.
"Fine." He growled.
She wasn't done yet. "Well, you've successfully pushed your family and everyone who cared about you away. Again. I hope you're happy."
And, listening to his young clone and her "grandmother" walk away, Scrooge came out of his apathy, only to remember more and more and spiral lower and lower.
The triplets' harsh accusations bit into him like a blade. Especially since they were so baseless and uninformed, cruel and unnecessary. They really had no idea how long he'd searched, how hard he'd hoped, how disappointed he'd been when his efforts led to no avail.
As he unlocked one of the many undisturbed rooms of his manor and sat down in a big red chair, memories came crashing like waves, a gigantic headache made purely of thought. The plans he'd made, the countless failures, the dull sound of the machines scraping the bottom of his money bin….
Was he really happy? Was it truly worth it to push the people who loved him away, just to avoid this misery?
Yes. After all, that's what he meant by family is nothing but trouble: family caused unspeakable joy and unspeakable pain.
"I am."
……
Around 4 days later…
It was over. Webby couldn't believe it. They had cornered Magica and her army and sent them packing, and now the sorceress's powers were gone. Along with Lena.
Webby sighed. Lena De Spell. She had been many different things to her and the triplets. Good guy. Enemy. Sleepover buddy. Villain. Best friend. Living shadow of Magica herself. She had played so many different roles, most of them for sake of her aunt's evil plan, and, as it turned out, she had only become Webby's friend to distract her while she procured Uncle Scrooge's number one dime. It hurt that Lena had betrayed her and the McDuck family so wholly, yet, Webby couldn't help but feel like the shadow girl still had lots of good in her. After all, she had saved Webby's life during the battle! She had definitely redeemed herself, in Webby's eyes, at least. But, then, Lena had dissolved into vapor before her very eyes. Her first real best friend, gone forever.
"Webby, you've hardly touched your crepes. Is everything alright?" Her granny asked.
Webby looked up. "Hm? Oh, yeah. Just…thinking."
"Just thinking? Or thinking of anything specific?" Beakley teased.
Webby laid her head on the counter next to her strawberry crepe plate. "Lena really is gone."
"Gone?" Beakley had not been present for the majority of the final battle. Webby explained, "She was Magica's agent. Her living shadow. But…when Magica was about to blast me, she jumped in and….and saved me."
Beakley and Scrooge both glanced up at this. Then, Beakley encircled Webby in a hug. "Oh, Webbigail, I'm so sorry."
"It's alright. It wasn't anyone's fault. She's just an awesome friend like that." Webby smiled, fingering her friendship bracelet fondly as Beakley stepped back again.
"That is quite a shame, actually." Scrooge spoke from an end of the table, putting down his newspaper and teacup. "The girl was starting to grow on me. I told her she might have a place in our family."
"She already did." Beakley assured both of them. "I wasn't so sure about Lena at first, but she really was your dearest and most loyal friend."
Webby smiled. "And crepes were her favorite." She said, still staring blankly at her breakfast.
"Say, erm, where are the boys?" Scrooge wondered, attempting to change the subject.
"Donald took them to the store, against their wills. He said he needed more stuff for the new houseboat. Oh, and I'm pretty sure he took your credit card." Webby summarized.
Scrooge let out a low growl. "Ack, that lad." He muttered. "And those nephews. Frustrating, the lot of them." Webby looked up at him earnestly. Scrooge sighed. "But, they simply didn't think things through all the way, is all. So much like their pilot of a mother and sister, in every way." He quickly went from angry to reminiscent, mentioning Della, but, Webby recognized, he wasn't as saddened as when he told the story of losing her back on the Sunchaser. She reached out and touched his hand. "Hey, I just lost my closest friend. I can kinda guess what you went through-what you are going through."
Scrooge beamed. "Thank you, lass. It's true, you know. Della wasn't too terribly different from Lena. The attitude."
"I can imagine, from what I've read about her." Webby agreed. "Do you…think we will ever find a way to bring her back? The boys miss her so much."
"I don't know." Scrooge admitted. "I gave up the search so long ago."
"You have us on your side now! We can find her! Let us help!" Webby suggested. "I won't give up on her or Lena!"
He smiled sadly. "I wish I could, Webby, but it really seems impossible."
"No, it isn't!" She happily argued, flipping upside down on the table, accidentally getting whipped cream in her hair.
"Webby, the crepe!" Beakley warned.
She sat up and questioningly dipped her finger in her hair, licking off the cream. "Whoops."
Scrooge laughed, then hesitantly tugged on his coat collar. "You know, lass, you and I aren't so different."
"Really?" Webby squealed, eyes gleaming.
Scrooge nodded. "Of course. After all, you are my…"
Beakley glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"-niece. My honorary niece."
Webby hugged him tightly. "Uncle Scrooge."
He chuckled and ruffled her hair, getting cream on his fingertips, remembering the last time this sort of had happened, when the girl was two or three, he believed. He doubted she even remembered that day.
From the other side of the kitchen, wiping down the countertop, 22 smiled and gave a slight nod of approval.
Secret family (well, sort of family) bonding…achieved.
She sighed, setting the dish towel down . "Webby, go wash your hair."
"Yes, Granny!" Webby waved goodbye to Scrooge and skipped down the hall.