Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.
If you haven't read "The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you.
This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that could have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker.
Tracker's Story Part 7
Gosalyn had managed to fake her way through the whole day. The fact that she was laying in that cold incommodious room had Morgana convinced she was sick. Drake on the other hand wasn't so convinced especially since the family was suppose to go out for last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Morgana had the last word on the subject or Drake would have dragged Gosalyn along, sick or not, rather than break one of his Christmas traditions.
As it was, Morgana insist that Gosalyn just stay home and watch TV while they went out
for the day. The girl wasn't about to complain. She got to lay on the sofa in the warmth of the living room and watch holiday specials and she got a break from her somewhat overbearing father.
If things had not gone so awry in her life, she would have taken this opportunity to look for presents. But she wasn't in the mood this year. She just couldn't shake the feeling this Christmas was not going to be a happy one, at least not for her.
Stretched out on the sofa watching Nester, the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, Gosalyn soon fell asleep. The next thing she was aware of was standing on a strange path in the middle of Nowhere. It was daytime but the sky was dark with storm clouds. Lightning flashed and raging thunder rolled across the blackened skies. Gosalyn looked around,frightened and confused. She was standing on an unusual walkway, a stone path of some sort. The stones were of mixed colors,silver, white, blue purple, even black, all mixed together. But only a few steps ahead of her was a path of only silver and white. The path seemed to almost emit a soft glow in the otherwise bleak surroundings . Glancing up she saw a Duck dressed in the same colors of that path, white and silver. He was watching her with great concern.
Gosalyn saw somebody only a short distance from her, moving away on another path, one of a darker color. She recognized him. "Dad!" she yelled, starting to run to him. But the path he was on began to break apart from the main path. The ground opened between them and a chasm now stood between father and daughter. "Dad!" she screamed. DarkWing didn't respond to his daughters cries. Rather he had not heard her or just ignored her, Gosalyn didn't know. What she did know was, she was scared.
Her thoughts turned to the Duck in White standing on the hilltop. She spun around to see him motioning to her to come to him, quickly. Gosalyn started to run to him for protection. Her feet left the multi-colored path for the light colored one only to slip and fall. She fell hard as the ground shook around her. She tried to stand but couldn't. Looking up at the hilltop, she saw the Duck in White standing there, watching sadly. 'Why doesn't he help me!" She thought. She began to crawl towards him, the wind now blowing hard and cold, almost driving her off the path. Desperately she crawled feeling as if gravity itself was trying to hold her back. She made it to the hill and began to climb. Her hands clinging desperately to the smooth shining stones of the path.
Almost there. She lifted her eyes to see the Duck in White only a few feet away. He knelt down and reached out a hand for her. She reached out in return, her hand almost to his. She tried to grab the hand offered to her, but her hand passed through his as if he were a ghost. She looked up in fear. Their eyes met. Through the dark colored visors that hid his face, Gosalyn swore she could see tears in his eyes, then he vanished.
"Oh no! Don't leave me! Please come back!" Gosalyn cried out.
Seconds later she awoke on the sofa, sweating and trembling. A dream. It was just a dream. She sat up. Her body was soaked in perspiration. She looked at her hands. She was actually shaking from fear. It had only been a dream, it wasn't real, yet it was so vivid.
It was then that she was overcome with the strange feeling that she was not alone. Gazing around the living room she saw nothing. Then a movement in the entrance hall, near of the front door, caught her eye. She looked on with disbelief and perhaps a little fear as an apparition of a teenage girl moved to the bottom of the staircase. She was dressed in an Medieval style costume. She wore Navy blue leotards with a white French styled blouse and a dark blue vest. She had ankle boots and a shimmering black mask, her fire red hair was pulled back in a tight French braid. The costume actually reminded her a bit of her QuiverWing Costume. The apparition, turned to looked at her only for a moment then began to ascend the staircase. For some reason, Gosalyn got up and ran after her. She got the the bottom of the staircase in time to see yet another ghostly figure standing at the top of the stairs. The Duck in White!
The figure of the girl stepped up next to him. He took her hand, smiling at her warmly. They both looked toward Gosalyn, then faded from sight.
Gosalyn stood in utter shock. Did she really see all this or was she still dreaming. Maybe it was all a dream. Gosalyn returned to the sofa and laid down. She was visibly shaken by the whole ordeal. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.
A few minutes later, the front door opened and Drake and Morgana walked in carrying bags of Christmas goodies. Gosalyn sat up in surprise. She hadn't even heard the car pull up.
Drake glanced over at his daughter. Seeing her sitting up,wide eyed watching them, he commented sarcastically "Ah yes, now that the hustle and bustle of the day is over, she's feeling better, naturally." But Morgana saw the disturbed look on the child's face. Putting her packages down she walked over the the sofa. She saw that Gosalyn looked unusually pale and she had been sweating and was trembling a bit. "Gosalyn, are you alright?"
The little girl opted to shake her head No rather than to try and explain the experience she'd just had, knowing full well, they wouldn't believe her. Morgana touched a hand to the child's forehead. No fever, but obviously, Gosalyn wasn't feeling well. "You just lie back down and rest, dear. I'll warm you up some soup." Gosalyn tried to smile a thank you, since she didn't feel, at the moment, like talking. Laying back down, she saw Drake shoot her a "you'd better not be faking it" look.
Closing her eyes, she thought about what she'd just seen. A dream? Ghost? It was Christmas Eve, but Scrooge lived in Duckburg not St. Canard! Maybe it was a warning of some kind? Could it have been a premonition? The girl in the Robin Hood outfit did resemble her. Could that be herself some day in the future? Then what of the Duck in White? The same person from her dream. Was he an angel come to warn her? Or perhaps to guide her on a journey?
Gosalyn drew a deep breath and relaxed. Maybe it was just a dream. Still,She would like to tell somebody about it. Morgana knew about ghost and things, she wouldn't laugh, but she'd tell Drake. Gosalyn was sure her dad would scoff at her. Say she was making it up for attention of that she'd been watching to many horror movies.
Gosalyn was certain he'd have some smart crack about the dream. He couldn't understand
something like that, then again, how could he. He'd never had anything like that happen him, after all.
The day passed slowly. Drake and Morgana busily getting things ready for Christmas Day. They had gotten a tree and put it up and trimmed it while Gosalyn was content to watch from the comfort of the sofa. Though she knew her dad wasn't pleased with her for not participating in that particular tradition. It was the first Christmas Morgana was really a part of, and Drake wanted everything just right.
Night came and Gosalyn didn't put up any guff about going to bed early, even if it meant going back to that cold room. She decided to sleep in her clothes, well; except for her shoes, that was. It was just to cold to change into her PJs. She curled up in the quilt thinking how a simple little floor heater would solve the hold cold room problem. But Drake had ranted on how much those things ran up the electric bill. He'd insisted that he'd have the furnace checked out after the holidays. Until then, her tailfeathers would just have to freeze, she supposed.
It grew dark and quiet. Drake had stayed home since it was Christmas Eve. Gosalyn could hear her father and Morgana talking in their bedroom about the baby. It was always about the baby. Everything seemed to center around their unborn child. If only her father could put back a small amount of his time for just her. Maybe she wouldn't feel bitter towards the baby then. But it seemed that the baby had consumed his entire being. He had no part of his life reserved for his adopted child, not any more.
Gosalyn pulled the covers over her head. It was Christmas Eve, she should be excited, but she wasn't. She was sad and for the first time since he'd adopted her, she felt very alone. Her thoughts turned to the Duck in White, from her dream, from her vision earlier that day. There was something about him. She closed her eyes, if she tried very hard. maybe she would dream about him again.
Gosalyn found herself standing back on the multi-colored walkway. The storm was still rising. She looked around, her father was no longer in sight, nor was the path he had taken. In fact, the path she stood on now came to an end only a couple of feet in front of her. The bright silver and white path was not there any more, none of the previous paths were. She glanced around hoping to see the Duck in white, somewhere. Ahead of her, the hill was still there, but there was no path leading up to it, nobody standing atop of it. Her heart sank. She had wanted to see him again.
Just then, where the main path ended, a new smaller path began to form before Gosalyn's eyes. It was not bright and glowing as the other had been. It was rather dull. The rocks were navy blue and white. They lead up the hill top and over it, out of sight.
Could the duck in White be over the hill somewhere waiting for her. There was only one way to find out. She took a step forward.
"Gosalyn, Gosalyn, wake up, dear. It's Christmas Morning." Morgana's voice called softly. Regretfully, Gosalyn opened her eyes, having been waken from the dream she very much wanted to finish.
Morgana was standing over her, shaking her gently. "Gosalyn, come on, it's Christmas Morning." Gosalyn sat up slowly wiping the sleepy tears from her eyes. Morgana coaxed her anxiously "Come on Gosalyn. Time to open presents!"
Gosalyn suppose Morgana was trying to get her all excited about Christmas. But this year, she just didn't have the Christmas Spirit. But to appease her stepmother, she climbed out of bed to go down stairs with her.
Trudging down the staircase and into the living room behind her step mother, Gosalyn
saw her father standing in front of the tree. The first thing she noticed was that fact that there were much fewer gift this year than usual. Somehow, that was something Gosalyn had expected. Gosalyn had recalled hinting heavily all summer, and a good part of the Autumn, for a new bike. She didn't see one. But after having her room taken away from her, she'd lost faith in her adopted father.
"Merry Christmas, ladies." Drake greeted. He kissed both of them on the cheek. Something Gosalyn didn't welcome. "So who gets to give out gifts this year?" he asked, looking at Gosalyn with anticipation. The little girl, however, turned walked over to the fireplace and flopped down in front of it, listlessly.
Drake scowled at his daughters reaction but Morgana put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I don't think she's really feeling better just yet. Otherwise, she would have had us both up at the crack of dawn opening gifts!"
Drake smiled warmly at his wife "I guess that's it." he said then motioned to the sofa. Why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable, I'll do the honors this year."
Morgana took a seat on the sofa while Drake began to pass out the presents. Not that Gosalyn was counting, but Morgana obviously got the most gifts.
Drake had gotten his wife every article of clothing he thought she'd like, and accessories.
He'd gotten her jewelry, a beautiful watch and exotic perfumes.
She gave him a statue of DarkWing Duck that she'd had made special. He was over joyed, of course with such a gift. She'd gotten him a video game she knew he'd like and some expensive after shave.
Gosalyn sat amidst the brightly wraps packages that's were for her. For some reason, she didn't want them. But she knew her father and Morgana were watching her, waiting for her to open them. Slowly she began to open the gifts. New socks, gloves, a stocking cap,
galoshes, a new book bag. Practical things,things that she needed. There was nothing worth getting excited about, however. It wasn't like either of them had gone out of their way to get her anything special. Worst of all, no electric blanket. The one thing she'd hoped they would be thoughtful enough to get her.
She could tell they were both watching her, waiting for her reaction to the gifts. "Thanks." She murdered just loud enough to be heard. The lack of enthusiasm in her voice was obvious.
"I'm sorry we didn't get you a lot of things this year dear," Morgana said apologetically.
"We had a lot of things picked out for you. But when we realized we needed your room for the baby, we knew you wouldn't have room for all that stuff in the smaller room."
Drake smiled and rose from the sofa where he was sitting next to his wife."Well Santa may have stopped by with another gift or two, lets see." he walked around the tree looking carefully. "Oh, what's this?" he asked finding an envelope stuck in the branches.
He read the writing on the front of the envelope "To Gosalyn from Santa." he handed it to his daughter.
Gosalyn took it politely and to please the adults, she opened it and pulled out the contents. There was a letter and another piece of paper. Gosalyn looked at the paper first. It was some kind of voucher – for baby furniture!! What kind a cruel joke was this. Tears welled up in Gosalyn's eyes. How could her dad be so mean. Drake saw the tears
in his daughters eyes. He quickly sat down next to her and put an arm around her. He took the letter and opened it.
"To Gosalyn from Santa;
The money from the sell of your old toys is hereby put towards the purchase of the new furniture for the nursery which you get to pick out all by yourself. Your parents are to take you to the furniture store and allow you to choose the new crib and cradle and some toys for your new brother or sister. After all you're part of the family too, right. Merry Christmas,
Love Santa.
Upon hearing the letter, Morgana realized what her husband had done with Gosalyn's old things. She also realized he'd just made yet another colossal blunder! He again expected Gosalyn to see things through his eyes, the eyes of an adult. The eyes of an expecting parent. It didn't surprise her when Gosalyn bolted away from her father in tears, flee back up stairs to the confines of the cold cramped room at the end of the hall. Morgana shook her head woefully "Oh Drake..."
to be continued....
Authors Note: Here's another fic that is considerably longer than I'd originally planned. I'll try to get this one wrapped up in the next couple of chapter, if possible.
