"What they don't tell you about depression is that sometimes it feels a lot less like sadness and a lot more like the emotional equivalent of watching paint dry." —Alexis, Tumblr

...

Louie sat, leaning against a wall, lazily scrolling through his phone. He was in a semi-small storage room. He thought he heard it being mentioned, the room was once a guest bedroom, but with his elder uncle being a lone soul for a while, it wasn't surprising he'd see no problem in using the guest bedrooms to store treasure. This however, came in handy for the young duck.

He'd been having some issues for the past few weeks, and when looking for a place to clear his head, came across a wing of the mansion he'd never been to, and found the room he now sat in. A perfect hiding place. The state of the room was a clear indication he'd not be bothered there, as dust tainted the messy ground, covered in broken, or worthless looking objects. Maybe he felt at home there…

He'd managed to make it breathable in there, by opening the window and slightly waving around a bedsheet. That was about all the effort he could put into it.

The duck had been troubling with the same issues for most of his life, however the troubles had disappeared for a while before, coming back worse than ever before.

Those troubles being, his own thoughts.

Adventuring sounds like a dream to a normal kid his age. Something they imagen in class, or see when they sleep. Yet something they realistically can't do. But Louie could. Growing up he'd heard Dewey cheer action movies, and Huey criticize the actions of the characters. Both eagerly proclaiming they'd defeat the dangers quicker and better. For a while Louie was the odd one out, not joining in his brothers' excitement. Danger and adventure weren't for him. Although he'd never admit it, but Dewey's loud never ending talk of the subject had eventually peaked his interest. In a bit he'd actually warmed up to the idea, motivation being money and treasure, but nonetheless.

After they met Scrooge and actually went on adventures, he did enjoy himself. Managing to drag himself along despite his consuming laziness, by bribing himself. That was usually enough motivation to keep him going. Now that tactic was failing him.

He knew he should talk to Donald about his thoughts, he had once years ago, and his uncle told him to talk to him about it whenever he needed to. It did help anyway, so it might be an alright idea.

But, something was stopping him. The thoughts were justified right? When they told him he was useless, they were right. He took pride in his ability, being able to talk himself out of anything. Yet during their first ventures he'd managed to already fail at it. He'd watched his brothers and Webby doing things with ease he'd never cloud. They were like… Born for this.

Huey is intelligent and responsible,

Dewey is strong and daring,

and Webby is skilled and agile.

What was Louie then? ...He couldn't answer that. Nothing positive came in mind when he tried to. "Greedy and hopeless" hardly matched up to the others.

The buzzing sound of his phone broke the boy's train of thought, effectively bringing him back to earth. Shaking his head, he opened up his screen, seeing a message from none other than Webby.

He got up, taking in a deep breath to reassess himself, before walking out of his hiding spot.

He wandered down the halls before reaching the main area. The boy made his way out of the door, "Webby?"

"Aha!"

"Woah!" Louie jumped back as Webby dropped down in front of him.

"Sorry!" the girl smiled, while cleaning the grappling hook she had.

"Sheesh, can you quit doing that?" the boy grumbled.

"I thought you heard me coming!"

"Not everyone's a ninja Webbs," Louie huffed, digging his hands in his hoodie's pockets.

Webby let out a laugh, before dramatically clearing her throat, "Anyway! Where have you been, we've been looking for you."

"Just around."

The girl tilted her head at this answer but decided not to pry into it, "So, we're gonna head to the arcade! You coming?"

"Sure," Louie answered, smiling slightly.

"Webbigail?" a call suddenly came.

"Granny?"

The two ducklings turned to see walking toward them, "Have you forgotten about your practise today?" she asked sternly.

"Oh man, sorry Granny! Hey Louie, can you tell the others I can't come?" Webby mumbled rather sadly.

"I will, don't worry, we can go tomorrow again, just, not by foot," Louie stated patting his friend on the shoulder.

Webby smiled gratefully before rushing off with her grandmother.

Louie in turn took a moment to breath before walking off to find his brothers.

"Uuuugh, what's taking them so long!" Dewey whined rather loudly.

"Relax, Dew, they'll be here soon," Huey sighed, frankly getting annoyed at his immediate younger brother's complaining.

"Sup guys." The ducks turned to look toward the voice finding their younger brother walking up to them.

"Hey Louie!"

"Where'd Webby go?"

"She can't come, has some training with ," finishing his sentence, Louie noticed his blue-clad brother's face fall. He wasn't surprised, Dewey and Webby basically shared a brain cell. That brain cell being the only one his brother had. He smirked at the thought.

"So it's just the three of us, just like old times!" Huey mused happily.

"Sure doctor cheesy," the green-clad duckling huffed, walking past his older brother, "Can we get going?"

Dewey wasted no time darting past Louie and hopping outside. Huey sighed and followed as Louie also exited the mansion.

The trio made their way toward the town, and Louie couldn't help but wonder why he'd agreed to go. Not only because they'd walked for around five minutes and his legs were killing him, but also because he just wanted to go back to his hiding spot.

"Oh man, I can't wait to try the new games they go in!" Dewey beamed, bouncing around.

That was about when everything went blurry, then dark.