Author's Note: Posting this today so that it's up to date with where it is on AO3. This particular chapter takes place entirely in the 1987 'verse.
Two hours had passed and, finally, the boys dared themselves to venture into the archive where Webby had gone missing. They saw nothing to indicate she'd gone on, save for a single white feather near an ornate antique mirror. Miserable, the boys exchanged looks. They were going to be in a heap of trouble if Webby didn't turn up sooner or later. Not to mention they were actually feeling a little guilty about daring her to come in here. They ought to have known better; Webby was desperate to prove herself to them. It wasn't her fault she couldn't help being a girl.
"What are we gonna tell Unca Scrooge?" Dewey moaned. He poked at the mirror's surface, which only showed the three of them. Whatever Webby had seen or not seen was invisible now. Huey paced about the mirror to see if maybe there was something behind it, somewhere that Webby might've gone to hide. However, the mirror was just that; a floor length mirror up against the wall that reached high over their heads and touched the floor. If anything, the glass was dusty, as Mrs. Beakley probably didn't venture in here often to clean, if at all.
"And Mrs. Beakley?" Louie added. "They're gonna be so upset with us when they find out Webby went missing."
"We don't have to tell them," Huey said. "We could just say we don't know where she went."
"And how long will that work?" Dewey said sarcastically. "An hour?"
"If we tell Unca Scrooge the truth, we'll be in trouble," Louie argued. "We weren't supposed to be in here and neither was she."
"Stupid girls," Dewey muttered, scuffing his feet on the floor.
"What do we do now, if we don't tell them?" Louie pointed out. "We can't keep putting it off indefinitely. What if she never comes back?"
The boys were so close that it felt like they shared a stomachache, not to mention guilt. Sometimes it felt like they were part of a whole, rather than three separate ducklings. That had never bothered them before, but guilt tripled was worse than just one of them feeling lament. Plus, Unca Scrooge was going to be furious.
"She can't never come back," Huey said, his voice quivering. "She has to return sometime, doesn't she? She's not gone forever."
"We don't know where she went," Dewey pointed out. "It could've been anywhere. Any time. We don't know how any of this stuff works."
"We have to tell Unca Scrooge, don't we?" Louie said, lowering his head.
"Yeah…" the other two chorused, grimacing.
"Might as well go, then," Louie said and the three trudged down the hallway toward Scrooge's office. The multi-billionaire was on the phone with someone, though they couldn't tell who right now. They decided, the anxiety twisting their insides, to wait until he was finished. After all, bad news could wait, right? Maybe while they procrastinated, Webby would turn up and they wouldn't have to tell him after all.
All too soon, their great-uncle was finished and turned to them.
"Why the long faces, lads?" he asked, frowning too. "You look like you just ate something bad. What's wrong?"
"It's Webby," Huey blurted out and his brothers gave him a dirty look. Couldn't he have held on a little while longer? True, they were all antsy and were afraid now to meet Uncle Scrooge's gaze. For reasons they couldn't quite understand, he was fond of Webby.
"We don't know where she is," Dewey added. "We dared her to go into your old archive room and touch the mirror, but when we went to find her, she was gone!"
"You did what?" Scrooge demanded and the triplets cringed. "Don't you know that mirror's cursed?"
They shook their heads and he sighed.
"Of course you don't," he said, shaking his head. "And now you've roped my wee little Webbigail into it. Oh, my poor lassie."
"What would the mirror do to her?" Louie asked, envisioning all matter of gruesome things. The triplets shuddered again. "We didn't mean to get her in trouble, honest!"
"Once a day, sometimes less, that mirror becomes a portal to another dimension," Scrooge said. "She must've stepped through or been pulled through."
"Oh…" the triplets said in unison, looking down at the floor. "We're sorry, Unca Scrooge."
"I don't doubt that you are, lads," he said and scowled. "But what were you thinking, daring her to do that? You always give wee Webbigail the short end of the stick because she's a girl."
"She's a girly girl," Dewey protested. "Always with her dolly and her dress-up and tea parties. Blech."
"She isn't good enough to hang out with us," Huey added.
"Aye, and don't you think that if she agreed with you, she would've stayed away from me mirror?" he asked and they glanced down again, ashamed.
"There's nothing for it but to wait," he said and then frowned. "The only other way to get into the mirror world is to use magic and I won't be asking Magica for any favors."
"What if she's really in trouble?" Dewey said, anxious. "What if the other dimension is full of mean, vicious creeps who prey on little girls?"
Their stomachs clenched and the low-level telepathy that buzzed between them made them shift their feet in unison too. They were used to thinking and doing everything in concert, so used to it in fact that to have been separated would've been unbearable. They couldn't envision being distinct personalities because they were three parts of a whole.
"I don't think that'll happen," Scrooge said. "But who knows what kind of mischief the alternate dimension might produce? If she doesn't come back within the day, we'll have to call upon Magica."
He scowled. "Treacherous sorceress that she is. She'll probably beg for me number one dime to help us or else torment me about it."
"You wouldn't really give her your number one dime over Webby, would you?" Huey said. "It's your number one. She's just a girl."
Scrooge's eyes flashed and Huey took an involuntary step back. He'd gone too far.
"She's family," he barked. "And that's something you should remember when you're tormenting the poor lass."
He slammed his cane down and he pushed away from his desk. "Let's see if I can do anything about the mirror, boys. All hope isn't lost yet."
The trio followed in his wake as they returned to the scene of the crime. They watched Scrooge poke and prod at the mirror which remained, to everyone's dismay, nothing more than a reflecting glass. Scrooge sighed, stepping back.
"There's nothing for it," he said.
"If we broke the mirror, could we get her out?" Huey asked and Scrooge scoffed.
"You'd trap her in there," he said. "Leaving her prey to whomever or whatever is behind the glass. You wouldn't want to do that, boys."
His gaze turned sharp. "Would you?"
"We don't like her, but that doesn't mean we'd wanna strand her," Louie protested. "We didn't mean to put her in there in the first place! It's not her fault she's a girl."
"No, it isn't," Scrooge said and he scrutinized them. "I'll have Duckworth stand sentry over the mirror in case anything changes. In the meanwhile, we are going to have a discussion about how to treat the fairer sex."
It was on the tip of their tongues to protest, but there was no point. For one thing, they deserved a tongue lashing. After all, they'd done this to Webby, whatever "this" was. For all they knew, she could be being tortured right now. Or stranded in some remote arctic desert. Or drowning. They could've killed her.
"Unca Scrooge, it is another world on the side, right? So, it'd just be a mirror version of ours, right?" Huey burst out desperately.
"I don't know, lad," he answered gravely. "I've never been tempted to look."
Guilt swamped them and they were unable to lift their gazes from the floor.
"Don't despair, lads," Scrooge said. "She could be having tea with her doll for all we know."
The triplets were afraid to contradict them. They doubted it'd be anything that innocuous and anyway, whatever befell Webby was their fault for compelling her to enter the room in the first place. How were they supposed to know the mirror was cursed? They refused to blame Webby for this, though. It was their own stupid fault.
They wouldn't be able to eat or relax until Webby was back on their side. They owed her an apology at the very least. And maybe they should sit through one of her tea services to make up for it. Or not chase her away when they wanted to play. They could be nice to her on occasion. It wouldn't kill them.
Scrooge went to locate Duckworth and they returned to their room. What they wanted to do was to sit vigil in front of the mirror, but what would that accomplish? Besides, Scrooge had already asked Duckworth. They sighed, sitting on their bunks.
They'd have to tell Mrs. Beakley. Perhaps they'd be fortunate and Scrooge would inform her. Still, Webby was her only family. She would be distressed. They hung their heads.
"We gotta do something," Huey said.
"But what?" Dewey inquired.
"We should go in there and get her back," Louie vowed. "We put her in this mess. We should be the ones to bring her back out."
"We'll have to be sneaky about it…" Huey mused and the trio put their heads together to plan this out. If they fetched Webby from the alternate dimension, assuming there was something of her to retrieve, then no harm, no foul, right? Well, maybe not. They doubted the adults would see it that way. But it was worth a shot.
