My Mummy

They were dragging Dewey's bloodied and limp body out from the burning ruins of the mansion when she appeared.

Like a spectre from old Hollywood supernatural flicks, Della Duck's white form materialized from the mists and the smoke.

Louie noticed the way that Webby's eyes suddenly seemed to sparkle – tears of relief, happiness, and it also seemed that there was a hint of envy too. He couldn't blame her. The chances of her mother making a mysterious and miraculous comeback was somehow much lower, he instinctively suspected. Louie wasn't as smart as Huey, but when it came to primal hunches, Louie's deductions were never wrong.

In his heart, he knew that Uncle Donald would be alright. He had seen his uncle at his protective peak, and he had learned that it would take a cruel ruse by the universe for the enemies of the McDuck-Duck clan to have any chance of taking his uncle down. Besides, Lena had stayed by his uncle's side to buy the younger kids more time to make a break to safety. Magica was a powerful rogue with solid connections, but Uncle Donald was practically a one-duck army. And Lena was strong in her magic.

So even though the last time Louie saw them was them facing down the entirety of the Beagle Boy Gang, he knew – he somehow just knew – that the both of them would be just fine.

Besides, right now, Beakley and his Great-Uncle Scrooge were in a far worse position. They had surrendered to Magica in exchange for Lena's freedom and Dewey's body. Afterwards, Magica had vanished with both of the elderly ducks, and soon all hell had broken loose at the mansion when the Beagles and Glomgold arrived.

After several long minutes of hiding, fighting, and just staying alive, the family's enemies had had enough and went about setting up detonation charges around the property. Deliberate arson on the Beagles' part helped to force the ducklings out from the vents. They had just made it out the front door when McDuck Manor imploded with a thundering boom.

Caked in dust, and coughing up soot from their small lungs, the 3 out of 4 ducklings who were still conscious couldn't find the energy to articulate much of their feelings when they found Della making her way to them through the smoke, the mist, and the flames.

"Hush, my babies. You're safe now," she murmured softly to them as she caressed a palm over each of their heads. She then focused on the battered and comatose Dewey.

Louie couldn't help choking out a sob as Della gently took the middle triplet in her arms and slung him over one shoulder. He quickly glanced over at Huey, seeing if his oldest brother would make any claim, any statement of shock, any denial that this couldn't possibly be true. But strangely, Huey was catatonically silent, staring only at their dam. It didn't look like Huey would be speaking anytime soon to their mother, and a rather indignant feeling towards Huey bubbled up inside Louie's veins.

Seriously? How dare he think of himself as the leader when he can't even think straight in times like these.

And suddenly, Louie's base instincts overtook him. Something had to be said. Anything – any word, any action – needed to happen.

"Ma…?" his voice sounded so small, so vulnerable, and very much dependent. His mummy was standing here right now, right in front of him. Louie found motivation powering his muscles, and a childish instinct washed over him, and suddenly he wanted to wrap himself around his mother's leg and never let go.

His full strength returned to him a moment later, and he found himself doing just that.

"Yes, baby," his mother's voice flowed through his ears and entered his heart, "Mummy's here now. Mummy's right here for you. Now and forever."

The tears spilled like a river from his eyes. Louie was the baby of his brothers, a fact that they always chided and teased him about, but he never cared about that – and he didn't care now. He had once went through a phase when he was little, spending as much hours of the day bemoaning out loud that their mother had abandoned them. That she didn't love them. That she didn't and never cared. But all of that was a past façade, a futile denial from a desperate, grieving little boy.

All Louie wanted was his mother in his life. That would be the greatest treasure of all to him. And now, here she was. Tangible in flesh and feathers. Him hugging her leg and never wanting to let go. She loved him and his brothers, very much like Uncle Donald – so there was really no way to ever believe that she had never cared.

No. They're family had been cursed, thanks to Scrooge, and only now the worst of the storm was coming to pass. His mother had been taken against her will, and against his will. But now, against all the odds, she was back.

And that filled all of the holes in his heart. His family's wealth now mattered very little. Their adventurous spirit seemed such like a trivial trait now. He never had the opportunity to dwell on feelings and thoughts like this when he was younger – but now all that mattered right at this moment was that his mother was here.

And Louie realized that that was all he ever truly wanted in life.

"Mummy…" he sobbed, gasping for breath as his little beak grazed her leg, "Mummy…"

"Yes, my baby," Della said once more, her own voice cracking and her own eyes starting to build up with tears, "I'm here."

Here right now. Here right beside him. Here in his heart. Here with him always.

Her hand cradled the back of his head lovingly, and Louie continued to spill out his heart, his bitter tears of grief mingling with the golden triumph of elation.

"My Mummy."

To summarize the context behind this mini-arc, Lena finally manages to steal Scrooge's #1 Dime and free her Aunt.

Magica then allies with Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. They kidnap Dewey, who was making his way over to the Money Bin to access the archives again and search for more information on his Mom.

Magica tortures Dewey to the point of near-death (yeah, I'm one of those authors with the tendency to make my favourite characters suffer, LOL), and when Scrooge and Beakley arrive to rescue the middle triplet, they find out the truth about Lena. They then give themselves over in exchange for the two kids.

Lena returns to McDuck Manor with Dewey's comatose body. Magica sets the Beagle Boys to attack the manor. Donald and Lena buy the boys and Webby time to escape. The manor is destroyed, and the situation is at a dark crossroad.

But then Della Duck suddenly shows up.

Author's Note:
I don't know if I'll make a separate story out of this. I mean, it would take a lot of planning – way much more planning than what I've currently got for Unethical (which will be continued in around 2 weeks!).

Ultimately, I'm just using this imagined situation of mine to explore the characters rather than build up excitement for future episodes. I don't know if the show will ever get as dark as some of us would like to infer from the current canon, but hey, there's nothing dang wrong with hoping that the writers of the show take Disney Television to new heights.