This is based on a ghost AU by Tumblr user whisperwillyou. I really love this AU, even though it means favorite sad guy Donald Duck is kind of out of the picture. Although, to be honest, he's kind of more in the picture than ever before. After all, this story is all about him.

I fully recommend going to her account and checking out her art, she's got a lot of cute stuff as well as the AU picture and description if you want a bit of a clue as to where this is going, although I won't be following her ideas beat for beat. I'm really grateful for the chance to write for this delightful and dark AU and I'm very excited to see where this story goes from here. This is only chapter 1! Of who knows how many chapters! Maybe five! Maybe less than that! Maybe more!

Louie felt his stomach churn as he stepped on the cargo ship and he turned around to run off, running instead straight into his family.

Della knelt down to face her youngest.

"You okay?"

"Just feeling a little seasick."

"You don't get seasick," Dewey pointed out.

"We haven't left the dock," Huey added. Both peered at him as Della pulled him into a hug.

"It's okay. You can lie down in my cabin for some quiet time if you need to."

"Thanks, mom." Louie was grateful. He didn't know why they had to be here. Della held onto his shoulder and walked with him to her cabin, and Scrooge turned toward the others.

"Though I'm sure Louie would have been helpful in solving this mystery, I have no doubt this family will figure out what's going on with this ship. This trade route is cost-effective and no Bermuda-esque jinx is going to stop us."

Webby looked the most excited, Huey was busy perusing the JWG, but Dewey looked a little uneasy for once.

"I'm going to go check on Louie," Dewey said quietly, "But I'll keep my eyes peeled for clues. Huey, where does the expression "eyes peeled" come from?"

"Well-"

"Never mind, you can tell me later."

"Huh. I hope they're okay," Huey said, before turning to Webby, "do you want to get started on the investigation?"

"Absolutely, let's look around."

"I was thinking we could start by interviewing the crew before we get in over our heads. It will help us know exactly what we're dealing with."

"Okay, yeah, we can do that."

"I just don't think we have enough information to work off of yet. I want to be prepared."

"We can try to prepare, but no one knows exactly what's going on here. We might just have to go with whatever happens."

Huey sighed, "Yeah, but it would make me feel better if we interviewed the crew."

"No problem! Let's do it."

As Huey and Webby searched for clues from the crew, Dewey went to investigate the mystery of why Louie seemed so shaken. His little brother who saw all the angles probably sensed that something was wrong here and now, and Dewey was going to figure out what.

His tactic probably shouldn't have been to crash into his mother's cabin practically singing, "Louie, what's wrong?!"

Louie obviously immediately panicked and hid his phone and whatever had just been on it.

"What's on your phone? What're you hiding? Do you have a secret girlfriend you don't want us to know about?"

"What? No."

"A secret boyfriend?"

"I'm not dating anyone, oh my gosh!" Louie snapped.

"So what's wrong? What were you looking at right now?" Louie sighed and patted the bed next to him. When Dewey had clambered up beside his younger brother, Louie replayed the video on his phone, and Dewey yelped in surprise.

It was a video of Uncle Donald playing the guitar and singing the lullaby Della had written for them.

"Face each new sun, with eyes clear and true, unafraid of the unknown, because I'll face it all with you." There seemed to be an otherworldly echo in the room, and when Dewey glanced at Louie, tears were streaming down his face. Dewey immediately and frantically pulled Louie into a hug, trying to comfort him.

"I miss him too, Louie. It's okay to cry… But we're going to be okay."

Louie nodded, sniffling, "We're the Duck family."

"And Ducks don't back down."

Louie wiped his eyes and swallowed his heartache, standing up.

"The sooner we solve this mystery, the sooner we can go home, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go." Dewey still felt a little uneasy. Not wanting to adventure wasn't unusual for Louie, even being an angsty sad boy wasn't too out of the ordinary either. But Louie had a really good reason for being sad. Uncle Donald hadn't come back. Dewey couldn't help worrying that they would lose someone else. So he stayed close to Louie as they moved through the ship.

As Dewey and Louie began an investigation of their own, Huey and Webby started their interrogations.

They got the same answer every time.

"It doesn't make sense!" Huey was frustrated by the response.

"Why not? We know that ghosts are real, I mean, we have a ghost butler."

"But why would a ghost be haunting one particular trade route? Why not just one ship? It's been attacking every ship that goes past this route. It doesn't make sense."

"Clearly it has unfinished business…" Webby shrugged.

"But what unfinished business?"

"I guess we'll have to find out. If we know all the answers at the beginning then the fun of the mystery disappears."

Huey felt cold and uneasy, "I love solving mysteries as much as the next guy but I don't like going into this blind. Let's find the others and go over everything we know."

Webby nodded, patting his shoulder comfortingly before they headed off in search of the rest of the family.

Louie and Dewey hadn't gotten far, tracking down Scrooge and Della was a bit harder. Scrooge was bickering with the captain about the trade route and Della was hiding from fish.

"So, we talked to the crew," Webby said, standing on a barrel to add height and authority to her statement, "And the popular belief is that it's a ghost."

"Well, that's good!" Scrooge said, surprising everyone, "We've dealt with ghosts. If there is a ghost with unfinished business then we will track them down and finish their business. The boat will be casting off soon. Everyone, everyone, needs to keep their eyes peeled for this ghost. And…" Scrooge let out a sigh.

"Uncle Scrooge?" Della asked, looking concerned.

"You kids need to stick together. This is absolutely something we can handle, but we will handle it as a family." After what had happened to Della, and after his nephew didn't return from the sea, Scrooge wasn't going to take any chances.

Webby nodded, hopping off of the barrel and offering Huey her hand. Huey took her hand and Louie's, and Louie took Dewey's hand.

"Don't worry, Uncle Scrooge. We'll have each other's backs," Webby promised, and the boys echoed her sentiment.

That night, when the ship had started on its haunted course, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby headed to bed in their shared cabin. The waters were a bit choppy, the air was frigid, and they were all having a bit of a hard time falling asleep. And then they heard it.

"Face each new sun, with eyes clear and true, unafraid of the unknown-"

"Louie, turn that off," Dewey groaned.

"My phone isn't on."

"-Unafraid of the unknown, because I'll face it all with you."