Quackerjack laughed harshly, making his head and chest hurt. He slammed his hand harshly over his mouth and burrowed deeper into his blanket. He needed to keep quiet, or else the others would come in and ask him what was wrong.
He knew they were worried about him, and a part of him appreciated the concern, but another part of him hated it with a passion because he felt like they were worrying about the wrong thing.
They were worried about his mind, and his sanity. They thought he was crazy. They didn't say as much to his face. Gos said he'd been traumatized. Drake said he had a lot of imagination that he was too young to really understand, and it would take time for him to work through his thoughts in a safe way.
Their words were nice, but he knew what they really meant. They thought he was going to crack like a nut. That was why they gave him placations and empty promises. They were trying to keep him calm in an attempt to delay the inevitable.
Quackerjack knew he had more than a few screws loose, or maybe even lost, but he was fine. He didn't need to be babied all the time. At least, not about this. He thought there were more important things to be worried about, but maybe that was the problem. He thought there was something going on, and his mind might be messing with him.
He didn't feel like it was. Everything that he thought made sense to him, even though a lot of it made no sense in the context of reality around him. If he was crazy, wouldn't he be able to tell? Or was the fact that he couldn't tell the very thing that made him insane? He didn't know. Thinking about it made him laugh harder, his chest tightening painfully.
He knew it was just a matter of time before someone came to check on him. He hadn't left his bed all morning. He didn't know how long it had been since Megavolt had ran off for breakfast, but somebody had to be back soon.
He didn't want to see anybody. He wanted somebody to pull him into their arms and reassure him that everything was fine. He didn't know what he wanted, and thinking about it made his head hurt.
He was bored. He really didn't want to just sit on the bed, hiding away, but he couldn't bring himself to move. If he came out from hiding, he'd just see the probably empty window, and he would scream and shout and pull at his feathers, because he didn't think it had been empty before.
He'd woken up in the middle of the night last night, not really sure what had woken him. He'd rolled over, ready to just go back to sleep, but when he was half asleep he caught a glimpse of the window.
He'd seen Negaduck right outside, staring right at him. The villain had smirked and brought a finger to his mouth, gesturing for silence. Any yelp in alarm or cry for help had died in his throat at the sight. He kept quiet, because a silent order was still an order, and he knew better than to disobey.
In what seemed like a blink of an eye, Negaduck was gone from the window, as though he'd never been there.
Quackerjack wanted to wake the others, or go downstairs and see if Drake was home yet. They would take care of things. They always did. Except Quackerjack knew what would happen. He knew that whoever he grabbed would search for Negaduck, and then come back and say that they hadn't seen any sign of him.
They'd give him a sad look that meant they were questioning his sanity, which would just make him question his reality.
He didn't want to get those looks all over again. And he didn't want to peek out from his blanket sanctuary and see the window. If he didn't see Negaduck, he'd feel crazy. If he saw the villain again, he would be scared.
Neither option was good. He would rather stay curled up in his bed and pretend that neither option was a possibility. This was the only safe thing to do, even though he was bored, and hungry, and wanted so badly to hug something or someone that it actually hurt.
The door opened. Quackerjack whimpered and stiffened, curling further in on himself. His imagination told him that it was Negaduck. He was back, and he was going to hurt them again.
"Come on, kid, up and at 'em." He heard Negaduck's voice, but the tone wasn't right, and the words were weird. Quackerjack let out a broken-sounding laugh, which he failed to stifle. He held the blanket closer.
"...Jackie?" The voice said. "You're not just sleeping in because you're feeling lazy today, are you?" Quackerjack shook his head, giggling again. "Oh, is this another one of those days?" Quackerjack didn't know what that was supposed to mean. He shrugged. He felt somebody grab his blanket and lift it away from his head. He looked up at Drake. Not Negaduck at all.
"Hi." Quackerjack said, his voice cracking.
"Hi." Drake frowned in concern. "You look exhausted. Did you get any sleep last night?"
"A little." Quackerjack said. It had probably just been an hour or two though. He didn't know if that counted.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Drake asked. Quackerjack shook his head. He knew that the grown-up wouldn't believe him, and he didn't want to get into that. "What about Gos? Or Megavolt?"
Quackerjack hesitated before shaking his head again. He wanted to talk to somebody. He wanted to get these thoughts out of his head and into the world. He wanted someone to tell him that he wasn't freaking out about nothing, but he wouldn't get that here.
"I-I want to talk about it." Quackerjack said quietly. He pulled on his feathers. Drake grimaced and pulled the blanket so it was sitting on his head again. He took the boy's hands, holding them in his own to keep him from hurting himself. "But nobody else gets it, and whenever I try to say it, it doesn't come out right, and then I get frustrated, and you guys get frustrated, and it all becomes a big mess.
Drake was quiet for a long minute. "What if you had something else to talk to? Or someone else that could know exactly what you were thinking, and explain it to the rest of us. Even if we still don't get it, at least it's them we don't get instead of you." He sounded hesitant, but Quackerjack didn't know why. This sounded like a great plan. He smiled and wiggled on the bed.
"There's someone I can talk to? Who? Where are they?" Quackerjack looked around, even leaning forward to peek under the bed, just in case the potential new friend was hiding there.
"They're not here right now." Drake said. "But I think I know where I can find him." He stood up. "I can go get him now, if you want to wait up here, or maybe downstairs with the others."
Quackerjack shuddered at the thought. "I want to come." He didn't want to go back to cowering under the blanket, but he knew that Megavolt would know that he wasn't okay, and unlike Drake he wouldn't let the matter go so easily.
Drake frowned stiffly. He looked like he wanted to deny Quackerjack's request, but there was something keeping him from saying no right away. Finally Drake sighed. "This is probably a terrible idea, but you might actually come in handy." He gave Quackerjack a stern look. "You need to do exactly what I say though. No running off and making up your own rules. If you're playing the game, you have to play it my way.
"A game?" Quackerjack smiled. "I'm great at games!"
"I know you are." Drake pulled him to his feet. He went to the closet and pulled out a sweater., which he handed to Quackerjack. "Stick close to me kid." That was the plan. If Negaduck was out there, Quackerjack wanted to be as close to Drake as he could be.
Quackerjack nodded and took Drake's hand. The grown-up made a weird sound almost like a squawk. He looked like he was about to pull away, but he sighed and returned the hold.
They went downstairs where the others were playing a boardgame, though it was mostly between Gosalyn and Bushroot. Megavolt was doing his best, but he seemed to forget the rules, or at least think that they were a few turns back, so he was doing things wrong. Liquidator didn't seem interested in the game, but he was taking pleasure in making moves that confused the others.
"Launchpad!" Drake called out.
"Yeah, DW?" Launchpad poked his head in from the kitchen.
"I'm going out." Drake said. He looked at Quackerjack. "With a tag-along.
"What?!" Gosalyn pouted. "Why does he get to go?"
"Honey, if you'd really rather explore the sewers with us than go to that pizza arcade place that you like, then you can come." Drake said. Gos brightened.
"We can really go to the arcade?" Gosalyn asked loudly.
"Launchpad can take you." Drake said. "Just make sure nobody shorts out any gaming systems, and Liqui and Sprout wear disguises or something."
"No problem, Dad." Gosalyn said cheerfully. Drake nodded and pulled Quackerjack out of the house.
"Are we really going to the sewers?" Quackerjack asked as he skipped out of the house.
"More or less." Drake sighed. He looked as tired as Quackerjack felt. "One of my arch-nemesises had a hideout under the city. I mean, I'm pretty sure a few of them had hideouts down there, but we're just going for the one.
Quackerjack bounced on the heels of his feet as they walked away from the suburban area of the city, towards an alley where there could be an out of the way manhole they could go down. "A villain hideout? Is a villain going to be there?"
Drake snorted. "I seriously doubt it." He had to be feeling very confident if he wasn't dressed up as Darkwing Duck. "It should be abandoned, but you…I mean, he probably left some dangerous things behind, as well as the very thing that I'm looking for."
"What if it's not there?" Quackerjack asked. Drake frowned.
"I guess Negaduck might have it." Drake said to himself, but Quackerjack heard him loud and clear. He jumped as though he'd been shocked by Megavolt. Drake gave him an apologetic look. "But if it's not in the hideout, I'll take you home and I'll go after it myself. How does that sound?"
Quackerjack whined slightly and brought his free hand to his head, without thinking twice about it. Drake clicked his tongue and picked Quackerjack up, holding him in his arms.
"Kid, you've got to stop it with the feather pulling." Drake scolded lightly. "It's never going to get better if you don't let it heal."
Quackerjack hummed and leaned against Drake's chest. He was tired. He didn't really want to sleep, but after staying up all night he was exhausted, and he felt safe with Drake. The hero could scare away any bad dream he might start to have.
Quackerjack didn't truly sleep, he just dozed. Drake adjusted his grip on him as he climbed down into the sewers under the city, but he didn't put him down. They travelled for a bit as Drake regaled him with stories of different villains that Darkwing Duck had fought, though he seemed to be dancing around gaming the villains themselves.
He dozed for a bit until he heard a musical tone that sounded childish and slightly creepy, like it was coming from a toy. He peeked his eyes open and gasped when he saw that they were surrounded by toys.
"Wow." Quackerjack grinned broadly. "Look at all the toys!" He squirmed, wanting to be put down, but Drake adjusted his grip on him.
"Hang on, Jackie, we didn't come here to play." Drake said. "Toys or not, they belong to a villain. They're dangerous."
Quackerjack stared at the soldier toys and teddy bears that were littered across the ground. "How bad can they be?"
Drake gave him an unimpressed look. He bent down and picked up a pebble without putting Quackerjack down. He threw it at one of the teddy bears, which exploded at the impact. Quackerjack gasped in alarm, his chest tightening in a way that was both frightened and excited.
"That's so fun!" Quackerjack knew that if somebody tried to sleep with one of those bears, they would be blown right into the air. Logically he knew it would probably hurt really badly, but the thought of somebody exploding, their body parts flying in all directions, scattered across the floor, was kinda fun to him. The imagery was fun, and that thought beat out the thought that it was dangerous.
Drake tightened his grip on him. "I don't know why I'm surprised you think that. Just…look, just stay with me and let me take the lead, okay? Don't touch anything."
Quackerjack didn't know how he was supposed to do that when he was being held, but Drake didn't like when they argued with him. He contented himself with just looking around. There was every toy imaginable, and most of them looked really well taken care of, but some of the toys were broken almost beyond recognition. It took him a minute to realize that he was looking at a pile of broken Jack-in-the-boxes.
"What happened to those?" Quackerjack pointed to the boxes. Drake looked at them and winced.
"Qua…the villain had a bad experience with a Jack-in-the-box." Drake said. "I'm not surprised he freaked out and got rid of them." They hurried past the boxes and on deeper into the toy kingdom. They found a makeshift throne, with what looked like a doll's bed next to it.
Drake set Quackerjack down on the throne and carefully pulled the blanket back from the doll's bed. No fireballs or knives flew out at them, and Drake breathed a sigh of relief as he picked something up.
"You…I mean, he must have put this little guy down for a nap or something before he left." Drake said. He turned back to Quackerjack, holding a banana doll in his arms. It didn't look any more special than the other toys around, but Quackerjack felt drawn to this toy in particular. He just knew that he wanted to hold it.
Quackerjack held his hands out, and Drake handed him the doll. He held it close to his chest, squeezing it as tightly as he could. He felt lighter, like his world had brightened.
"I love him!" Quackerjack exclaimed.
"His name's Mr. Banana Brain." Drake knelt just in front of the throne, bringing himself closer to his level. Quackerjack giggled, suddenly feeling like they were playing a game of royalty. He wanted to play the part of a ruthless king, who was ready to behead an innocent citizen, just because he was bored. He thought he had seen a guillotine back there, for the game, but he didn't think that Drake would like that game very much.
Then again, Drake had said that he could use this to get his not-so-nice thoughts out of his head, and the others wouldn't get mad at him, because he wouldn't be the one saying it. It would be Mr. Banana Brain.
"What do you say, Jay?" He said in a high-pitched voice as he waved Mr. Banana Brain around. He was giving the doll a voice, and it didn't even feel weird. It felt right. "Off with his head?" Quackerjack giggled cheerfully and held the doll close.
Drake chuckled anxiously and tugged at the collar of his shirt. "I guess his sense of humor hasn't changed." He shook his head. "Look, sometimes Mr. Banana Brain doesn't have the best of ideas, but you…the villain always liked talking to him. It made him feel better."
Quackerjack frowned, lowering the doll. "Are we stealing it? What if he needs it more?"
Drake smiled. "I really don't think he'd mind. In fact, he's always wanted people to play with his toys. I think he'd be ecstatic that a kid loved one of his creations so much." Quackerjack returned the smile and nuzzled against the doll.
"I still want you to talk to me about what's going on in that crazy little head of yours." Drake said. "But if you can't talk to anybody else, at least you can talk to Mr. Banana Brain."
Quackerjack looked thoughtfully at the doll. He brought it close and whispered quietly to him. "I saw Negaduck last night." It felt nice to just say it out loud.
Drake cleared his throat. "Mr. Banana Brain, do you want to tell me the secret?"
Quackerjack didn't think, he just reacted. He lifted Mr. Banana Brain, giving him a little shake. "He saw Negaduck again, Ben." Quackerjack didn't even mind that Mr. Banana Brain was telling on him.
"You did?" Drake gave him an alarmed, concerned look. It wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought it might be. He nodded. Drake looked pained. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You wouldn't believe me." Quackerjack said. "None of you ever believe me."
Drake sighed and stood up. He settled on the throne next to Quackerjack, pulling him into his arms. He stroked his feathers, preening him. "It's not that I don't believe you." Drake said. "It's not that I think you're crazy either. I think you've just been through a lot, and your brain is trying too hard to just come to terms with it. You're scared of Negaduck, and scared that he'll come back. Your head is taking those fears, and making them seem real."
"But you don't think they are real?" Quackerjack pouted. It felt real though.
"I don't know." Drake said. "I've been looking for Negaduck on my patrols, but I haven't been able to find him. It's possible that he's looking for you, but if he is, you know we'll keep you safe, right? He's not going to get any of you kids back. Not if I have anything to do about it."
"But how do I stop seeing him?" Quackerjack asked. Drake hummed thoughtfully to himself.
"Maybe if you proved to yourself that there's nothing wrong, you will stop thinking there is." Drake said. "Like, if a kid thinks there's a monster under the bed, having a parent check for them and tell them there's nothing there can help for the night, but the kid can go back to thinking that the monster's there the next night. If the kid looks for themself to see that the monster isn't there, they can check for themself next time, and eventually their head will calm down."
Drake stood up. "Come on. Show me where you saw Negaduck yesterday. I can show you how to look for clues to prove to you that he wasn't there."
Quackerjack didn't like that Drake's words implied that he thought that the boy's fears were just in his head, but he did want to see it for himself. He would love to be proven wrong, because maybe then his head could shut up about his fears.
"Okay." Quackerjack said. He let Drake pick him up again and carry him back the way they'd come. He squeezed Mr. Banana Brain close and cuddled against Drake's chest. He closed his eyes, feeling completely secure in Drake's arms and happy with the doll in his hands. He was going to be given a way to know if he was in danger, or if his head was crazy. He wouldn't like the answer either way, but at least he'd know for sure.
Quackerjack felt at ease as his body relaxed. He fell into an easy, dreamless sleep.
