Writing prompt: "They are calling us…" "Don't listen to them. Do you hear me? Don't listen to a word they promise you!"
Word count: 2500
Characters: Young Della, Donald, Fethry and Gladstone
Story title: The Evil Twin
Gladstone Gander and Fethry Duck waited in the foyer of McDuck Manor for Della and Donald Duck to join them in Trick-or-Treating and then having a sleep-over at the manor. Duckworth had let them in when their guardians had dropped them off, barely giving them a few words before heading off to do whatever butlers did. This was the first time the cousins had been together since Della and Donald had begun living with Uncle Scrooge.
Gladstone, the oldest and a couple of years older than the twins, wore a glamorous costume of a medieval king made of satin and embroidered with gold thread. It was high end, comfortable, and free when he had won it in a raffle that he didn't even remember entering. Classic Gladstone.
Fethry was a stark contrast. As his interests were of the deep sea, he had chosen a costume depicting one of the most terrifying creatures of the midnight zone: the angler fish. And while the real fish was the stuff of nightmares, Fethry had done his best making his own costume with cardboard, glue and paint. It was rudimentary but stable. He even had a glow stick attached to wire attached to his hat in imitation of the fish. He showed no sign of embarrassment for his home-made costume and his eyes shown with an eagerness that all young ducks have on this night of nights. As the youngest of the cousins, it was for his benefit that they were all going as a group.
And while Gladstone wouldn't say no to free candy—he got enough of it throughout his life—a part of him rankled at doing something so childish. He was getting to that age that he was figuring out which activities he was too grown-up for and which ones that he was young enough to participate.
And he had decided Trick-or-Treating was definitely for kids…which is what he was not. He was a teen and far too grown up for this. Not to mention, he was expected to look after the younger cousins, and responsibilities were definitely something he was too young for.
And as teens often do, Gladstone looked for a way to entertain himself as he waited for Della and Donald as well as for the rest of the night. And a Halloween prank would be just the thing.
Hey, Fethry. You do know that with every set of twins, there's always an evil one, do you?"
Fethry looked up at his older cousin with wide eyes. A second of skepticism crossed his young face but it didn't last. "Is that really true?"
Gladstone gave a sideways smile. "Of course it's true. They're genetically predisposed that one of them is much more evil than the other."
The big words only solidified Fethry's trust in Gladstone's words. After all, something that sounded so scientific must be true.
"It's definitely Della," Fethry said with a nod of his head. That was an obvious choice. She was much more active and mischievous than her twin brother, prone to get into trouble in one form or the other.
Gladstone grimaced. "Yeah, you'd think that because it's obvious. But that's all a farce. The real evil twin will act like the good one until it's too late."
Fethry frowned. "But that would mean…"
"Yes, Donald is the real evil twin," Gladstone said with a smile, watching Fethry's face change.
Fethry shook his head. "No. Donald's good. He's been so nice to me. You're trying to trick me."
"Ah, how old is Donald now? Didn't he and Della have a birthday recently? They turned…twelve, right?"
Fethry nodded. It happened right before they went to live with Uncle Scrooge.
"Well, there you go," Gladstone said as if he had rested his case. "The evil twin doesn't go totally evil until they turn twelve. The old Donald is gone. He's gone to the dark side."
Fethry frowned. "Now I know you're lying. Donald would never be evil." He crossed his arms, ending his statement.
"Alright. You're the one who always shares a bunk bed with him, so I guess you'll just have to learn the hard way," Gladstone said, learning that when pranking his littlest cousin, sometimes you have to leave the chips where they lay.
"Gladstone. Fethry. Are you down there?" Donald shouted from the second floor, her loud voice carrying through the acoustically perfect foyer.
"We're ready!" Della added, her voice much louder than her brother's. "Time to go get candy!"
"They're calling us," Fethry said.
Gladstone decided to plant one last doubt. "I'll warn you one more time. Even if you don't believe me, don't listen to him. Do you hear me? Don't believe anything he promises you? And keep your wits about you." Gladstone was proud of his little bit of acting. He was good enough to reap some concern from Fethry's eyes.
"Here we come," Della yelled charging down the first set of stairs then sliding down the banister of the second set. While her chosen costume might have slowed down anyone else, it didn't stop Della Duck.
She had found a wedding dress at a thrift store and had butchered it so that the hem fit her shorter frame, shredded the sleeves and dirtied it in places until it was no longer the beautiful dress that someone had been married in long ago. She had painted a good likeness of rib bones on one side and her face a good likeness of the not-so-recently dead. The finishing touches of her costume were a veil covered with plastic spiders, worms and bugs, and a bouquet of dead flowers.
"Nice costume, Cuz," Gladstone said, impressed. He was rarely impressed.
"Thanks," Della said. "Come on, Donald. We have to get moving if we want to get the good candy."
"I'm coming," Donald yelled, although he was not as enthusiastic as his sister, descending the stairs with an almost depressed air. He wore a dark t-shirt under a just as dark flannel shirt with a guitar slung on his back.
"What are you supposed to be?" Fethry asked, taken aback by Donald's appearance. He had yet to see his cousin once he had transitioned into this grunge phase. He was used to a brighter, positive Donald. But then again, it had been several months since the cousins had gotten together.
"I'm a tortured artist who has looked into the dark abyss of his soul and reached deep down and found just how depressing life could get," Donald said in his raspy voice.
Gladstone also hadn't seen Donald in his grunge phase, and he couldn't have chosen a better scenario for his chosen prank. He had been counting on Donald's bad luck and temper to help things along, but it would seem that Gladstone might not even have to lift a finger. He glanced at Fethry who was edging away from Donald slightly, just enough to give his cousin a boundary.
Della rolled her eyes. "Don't pay attention to him. He didn't want to dress up, so he's going as himself. He's so lame"
Donald stuck his tongue at his sister, and she returned the gesture. "Just because I'm not catering to the capitalizing of a pagan holiday doesn't make me lame." By his tone, he considered himself quite the opposite. He moved his guitar into his hands and strummed a few chords.
"No, it just means that you don't get any candy," Della said with a smirk.
Donald frowned. "Hey, I'm going trick-or-treating, right? If I'm doing the footwork, I get the candy."
"Wouldn't that be 'capitalizing' on a pagan holiday?" Della asked.
Donald shrugged. "If they want to give me free candy, then I'm not complaining."
Della's eyes widened and sparkled. "Do you hear that, Fethry and Gladstone? He's not complaining. That means we're not going to hear a single complaint out of Donald for the whole night."
"Wait a minute—" Donald started to protest.
Della poked him in the chest. "Not. For. The. Entire. Night." She narrowed her eyes at him in a challenge.
Donald rolled his eyes before agreeing. "Fine. But I'm only doing this for Cousin Fethry." He turned to the youngest of the Duck family. "Hey, nice costume. Great job not buying from a big box store and making the rich richer."
Della glared at him.
"Hey, it wasn't a complaint. It was a compliment," Donald protested. He ruffled Fethry's cap, not noticing how the young duckling flinched, before heading to the door. "Let's go."
Gladstone crept up behind Fethry and whispered, "Remember what I said. Don't let him find out that you know he's evil. Then we'll all really be in trouble." Gladstone had to work hard not to chuckle as he followed Della and Donald out of the door.
Out on the streets, there were not many moments for Gladstone to keep up his prank on his cousins. Donald was doing a great job doing it for him whenever he stroked his guitar and started singing. The budding musician kept to dark themes about tortured pasts, sticking it to the man and the quality of people's souls. There was one song about "eating the rich" which nearly had Gladstone in stitches as Fethry's eyes grew bigger and bigger.
"We'll have to warn Uncle Scrooge," Gladstone said in a serious voice. "He might be Donald first victim."
However everything came to seed as they approached a large house that appeared to have a home-made spook alley for all the trick-or-treaters.
"Oh, yeah! This looks fun," Della said, running to save them a spot in the line that had formed on the front walkway.
"Oh, this doesn't look good," Gladstone whispered where only Fethry could hear him. "This looks like the perfect place for Donald to go full evil."
"What? But…but he hasn't done anything all night," Fethry said, his voice trembling.
"That's because the evil spirit hasn't possessed him entirely yet," Gladstone said. "But the littlest thing could set him off, and he'll take it out on the nearest person. Be careful."
"Hey, Fethry. You coming?" Donald called, noticing the two cousins lagging.
"Uh…I don't think I want to go," Fethry said, his eyes fixed in an unblinking stare at Donald.
"Hey, there's nothing to be afraid of," Donald said, heading to Fethry. "How about I go through it with you? You'll see. It'll be fine."
"Uh…" Fethry gasped as Donald grabbed his hand—as they did all the time when they were much younger—and led him to the line right behind Della. Fethry looked to Gladstone for help but the teen had conveniently gone missing.
"D-Donald," Fethry stuttered. "I-I really don't want to go. P-Please can I just wait outside?"
"It's not that scary, Fethry. You're a big boy. You can do it," Donald said reassuringly. "I'll make sure nothing is going to happen to you. I promise."
Unbeknownst to Donald, he had just said the wrong thing. This only caused Fethry more grief and he was shaking with fear even before he stepped into the haunted house.
Unbeknownst to all three ducklings going into the house, Gladstone had left them to sneak around back to have a word with the teenagers who were running the spook alley. He told them exactly what he wanted and passed over a couple of twenty-dollar bills he had picked up over the course of the night. The teens snickered and grinned at the idea of a prank.
Donald had been right. The spook alley wasn't anything to be scared of, unless you were very young. Most of it was in good fun and jump-scares that were obvious. The teens in costume were easy to spot and the only ones who were screaming were young kids or silly girls. Yet Fethry was a bundle of nerves going through the house.
"Come on. It's not that scary," Della said after the third time she and Donald had to force Fethry to move on to the next room.
Neither of the twins could guess that it wasn't the haunted fun house that was scaring the younger duckling but Donald. And when they entered the basement, things took a turn for the worse. After going down the stairs into a darker than usual area, it was as if the entire haunted house had set their sights upon Donald.
Teens dressed in costumes targeted the male pre-teen duck, scaring him, throwing things at him, and pushing him around. A few even tried to snatch his guitar.
And that made Donald mad.
Della at first thought it was funny, but once she realized that Donald was being targeted, she protested against the teens in costume. When she tried to step in, she was also pushed around and teased.
And that was the last straw for Donald. The only one who was allowed to tease Della was him. He let loose his famous fury, flying around the room with tremendous speed, growling, hopping and yelling a string of words that nobody could understand. And although he didn't hurt any of the teens, he certainly made short work of their costumes and made of mess of that portion of the spook alley.
And all this time, Fethry stood in a corner trembling, seeing that his cousin had finally been possessed of the evil-twin spirit. It didn't matter that he knew of Donald's temper and had seen these types of tantrums before. All that filled his mind was Gladstone's words.
Fethry let out a piercing scream and fled the house, leaving behind his bag of candy and pieces of his costume that tore off in his need to flee.
"Fethry?" Della and Donald said together, hearing their cousin's fading screams upstairs. Leaving behind the dazed teens, they went after Fethry, calling his name.
Outside, they caught up to him, confused at his fear and trying to figure out what was going on. Then they were hinted as to the source of the problem when they heard Gladstone laughing at the corner of the property.
It was Della who finally convinced Fethry to reveal everything and told her cousin that Gladstone was filled with something unsanitary. After a few minutes of calming the duckling down and Donald singing some cheerful songs on his guitar, they were finally able to return to trick-or-treating.
Donald and Fethry led the way, this time with the gloomy pre-teen smiling and looking like his old self—pre-grunge. He played one song after another for his younger cousin, and even improvised some fun Halloween tunes.
Della took up the rear with Gladstone, her expression cold and stony.
"Oh, come on. It's Halloween. I was getting into the spirit of things with a harmless prank," Gladstone defended himself.
"No, you're right. Pranks and Halloween go together," Della said. "And I'll admit, that was a good one. However, you got one thing wrong."
Gladstone sighed. "Yeah, I know. Fethry should be off-limits with pranks. But it was just so easy, I couldn't help myself."
"No, that's not it," Della said, her voice turning dark. "You guessed the wrong evil twin. And now you're on my list, pal."
(Author's notes: While Della and Donald are shown as kids in the show, Gladstone and Fethry were not. Their young selves in this story are based on my own headcannon.
This story is based off a Spooktober prompt list.
I am taking requests for short Halloween stories for Ducktales 2017 or Darkwing Duck '91, but only in the month of October. Requests will only be taken for those who have follow this collection. I will not take requests from annonymous posts. I also have the right to reject any requests for any reason.)
