Authors Note: Again, this fic ties in with "The Path Chosen." This is one of the alternate realities that Darkwing could have chosen. Fair warning; another Darkwing Duck / Ducktales crossover!

Hidden Dawn

Part 11

Oh my head! I think I'm getting a migraine!

Here I stand in front of yet another mirror looking at the reflection of a stranger. Only this time the stranger is dressed head to foot in a purple apparel, complete with mask. I tip the wide brim of the fedora on my head at my reflection, "Darkwing Duck I presume."

What? Was I color blind at the time I chose these clothes?

I draw a deep ragged breath and slump limply to the floor. I pull my legs up and wrap my arms loosely around them, my chin resting on my knees. I continue to stare at the reflection.

So much has happened. It seems so much longer than just over a week.

Any chance I'll wake up in my own bed to realize this is all a bad dream?

Probably not.

Speaking of dreams...

I stare at the mirror almost expecting to see another image appear in it. The image of a duck dressed in silver and white. For some reason I just feel that this...apparition, this dream person is that missing part of me.

With a sigh I close my eyes and try to focus.

This LaunchPad fella, brought this spare Darkwing costume for me. Between LaunchPad and this J. Gander Hooter, We have managed piece together the events, in theory, that led up to my being in Duckburg.

This J. Gander Hooter has told me that I am often enlisted by SHUSH to help them against the forces of F.O.W.L.. Apparently I was on assignment at the time of my accident. J Gander speculates that while I was chasing F.O.W.L., during a rain storm, my vehicle (the Ratcatcher!), must have hydroplaned and I lost control and went off into the river.

That does coincide with the images that would flash through my minds eye. The images of a stormy night, rain falling the sky flashing with lightening, the sound of thunder ... the image of a figure watching me and laughing as I am swept away in the river.

StealBeak must have thought I drowned or he would have come looking to finish me off a lot sooner.

LaunchPad has filled in a few of the gaps for me. He says he's my sidekick.

I don't know who was more shocked to hear that, me or Scrooge.

I can't help but smile when I think about us all sitting around McDuck's study, trying to clear up the entire escapade . The old miser liked to jumped out of his spats when LaunchPad told us about the sidekick part.

It seems LaunchPad had worked for Scrooge at one point, but had left his employment for some reason, without giving any explanation. Huh – Seems I was that reason.

Anyhow, LaunchPad says he accompanies me on most of my assignments, but this one was to highly classified, so I went solo on this mission. I was working under cover with no contact. So when I had the accident, nobody was aware that anything had happened to me.

For the length of time I was gone, I was thought to be still on the mission.

It wasn't until the stories of the new Masked Mallard hit the papers that anybody became suspicious. This new Hero acted an awful lot like Darkwing Duck, so SHUSH had some of their people do a little snooping and figured it out.

Unfortunately, so did F.O.W.L.!

The amnesia is still a mystery, however. Huh, maybe the kids were right. Maybe F.O.W.L. did zap me with some sort of memory erasing ray.

Finally, I take a deep breath and start down stairs. LaunchPad and J. Gander are eager to get me back to St. Canard.

Everybody is assembled in the entrance hall in front of the stairway. They watch me as I ascend the stairs. LaunchPad greets me as I get to the last step. "Hey, now there's the DW I know!" he says cheerfully.

I try to smile "Wish I could say that." I glance down at the costume. Well, at least this costume doesn't make me feel like I'm running around in my long underwear. Still, I'll actually miss wearing those black spandex, especially the glider cape.

"If you're ready to go Darkwing. We should be on our way." J. Gander says.

I nod, yes. Though in all honesty, I am nervous about going home to a life I don't remember. J. Gander has assured me that SHUSH will do everything in their power to help me regain my lost memory.

I turn to Scrooge and his family "I wanted to thank you for all your help Mr. McDuck...and to apologize for all the trouble I have caused."

A slight smile plays across Scrooges lips as he steps up to me. He is holding a leather case in front of him. "Do not fret over it lad, believe me, we've faced worse problems on some of our adventures."

"Yeah," Louie piped out "Besides it will be great stuff to talk about in Show'n'tell!"

"Aye, we all talked it over and decided you should have this.", Scrooge tells me holding the case up to me. He opens it to reveal the Masked Mallard costume.

I gaze at the sable garment. I raise a hand to feel the smooth material. "Are you sure?" I ask.

"Quite sure." Scrooge answers closing the case to hand it to me. "I don't think anybody else could do it justice." he adds.

I take the case containing the costume. I feel a lump come to my throat.

Scrooge extends a hand "Good luck to you Darkwing Duck."

I smile and shake the hand offered to me. "Good-bye Mr. McDuck and thank you."

With those words I turn and leave.

I return to St. Canard with LaunchPad in the ThunderQuack. All the way home, he tries

to explain my life to me. My real name is Drake Mallard. To those who know me as Drake Mallard, I'm the typical suburban type. I am a freelance novelist, a stay at home single father with an adopted daughter. My daughter's name is Gosalyn. My fiancées name is Morgana – she's a sorceress! Sorceress? I didn't know sorceresses were real! I'm engaged to one? Ugh, this isn't going to be easy for me.

We arrive at what LaunchPad tells me is my hide out – cool. Darkwing Duck tower. This is something about being Darkwing Duck I like. But we don't stay, rather, LaunchPad takes me directly to a pair of blue chairs that, when activated, spins – and then we're soon home.

I get a glimpse of what Launchpad says is my house before I hear "DAAADDD!"

I look to see a little redheaded girl in tousled pigtails and a T-shirt come charging at me. She jumps onto my lap and hugs me tightly. "Oh-dad! I'm-so- glad-to-see-you!You've-been-away-forever-and-I-was-getting-way-bored-it-just-being-me-and-LaunchPad-all-the-time! And-why-are-you-still-in-your-Darkwing-costume! What-it-the-Muddlefoots-were-to ..." She stops her ongoing babble when she sees the look of confusion on my face. "What's wrong dad?"

She doesn't know yet. I exchange looks with LaunchPad.

LaunchPad gets up from his chair and places his hand on her back."Gos, there's something you need to know..."

Hours pass. Night falls. Now as Drake Mallard, dressed in a nightshirt and robe, I am sitting on my bed in my room. I look around the room. Very tidy. Tidy? it's spotless. I'm a neatness freak!

Well, I'm not tired. No sense trying to sleep. I get up and walk out into the hall. I slip quietly into Gosalyn room to check on her.

I take the chair from next to her desk and sit by her bed. The soft glow of moonlight shines through her window, dimly lighting the room around us. I look fondly at her small sleeping form bundled in the covers.

She was very upset when LaunchPad explained that I had amnesia. But the kid's a trooper. She is so sure that I'll get my memory back any time.

"After all", she had assured me "You can't really forget me for very long – I'm unforgettable!"

I smile to myself. How lucky can I be to have such a kid. And yet, I don't even remember her. Not a single memory of her birthdays or Christmas or ever tucking her in.

...tucking her in?

An image flickers through my minds eye. This one is different from the others.

I am not in the river this time, rather I'm in Darkwing Tower. Gosalyn is there.

I see myself tucking the covers in around a younger Gosalyn, singing to her. The words to the song echo in the recesses of my mind and I hear them as they roll softly from my lips "♫ Rest your head little girl blue, come paint your dreams on your pillow. ♪ I'll be near to chase away fear so sleep now and dream till tomorrow...♫"

As the song ends, I suddenly feel very tired and very content. I lay my head on the side of Gosalyn's bed...and I am soon asleep...

...Sigh I'm baa-A-ack. That dream again. I think?

I'm in that corridor again. I think it's the same one. Only it is completely lighten and there are only two mirrors now.

The other mirrors where I saw myself as a boy in a blue martial arts GI - and the mirror where I am in a dark trench coat – they're gone. I glance to the far end of the corridor. The broken mirror, the one with the scattered pieces on the floor isn't there any more.

There are only two remaining. The one that hangs at the end of the hall on the door, I saw the Duck in White in.

Then there is the one that held no reflection for me.

I walk up to the mirror and stand before it. There looking back at me is me. But not the Darkwing Duck in the purple costume, but the Masked Mallard, dressed in the black spandex and glider cape. And I know. What ever I call myself, what ever disguise I wear, this is who I am. This is who I have BECOME.

...but what of the Duck in White? I turn to look at the Silver and White mirror. I step in front of it. No reflection? Only a ghostly glow of the faded image of the vortex.

Someday, I'll meat this Duck in White face to face on the other side of that vortex. He and I, we have a destiny...

Then it all fades...

I awake to a bright ray of sunlight hitting me in the face. I lift my eyes to see Gosalyn, still fast asleep, her back turned to the lighted window. Carefully, I rise to my feet and go to pull the shades so that the light doesn't awaken her as well. But as I reach for the shades, I realize, the sun is shining.

All the time I was in Duckburg, struggling to find my identity, the skies were dark with clouds. Now there isn't a cloud in the sky.

The words Scrooge spoke to me that one cloudy morning comes to mind. "the sun will shine again. Such is the weather - such is life."

I smile and take solace in those words. What ever life holds for me, sooner or later, the sun will shine again.

The End...

...Almost...