#Huey duck angst

[sometimes-they-come-back-237]

// Don’t make me happy // Don’t fill me up with hope // Don’t make me think that anything good can come to me //

// Look at my bruises // Look at this graze in me // Can’t you see how it’s growing inside, eroding me // But now I understand and now I’ve come to know // When sewed by evil hands, how quickly you can grow //

// What good are you to me now // When all you do is take // What good are you anyhow // What promise can you make //

// What good are all of your words // Without you, she’d still be here //

// Using your traitorous words // You took the stars away //

// No good and poisonous words // Making the world to fall //

// What good could you ever do // If any good at all //

~

Fandom - DuckTales 2017

Lyrics - “What Good” from The Book Thief the Musical

[ducktalesenthusiast]

tiktok didn’t like this so maybe you guys will 🙏🙏

[lackablazeical]

First thing ever posted on a03 all by mah lonesome, enjoy!!!!!!

[drawingducktalesducks]

lena slipping into huey's dreams for a bit of transing the gender (also the duke of making a mess wears a dress) (and bites things)

[boingodigitalart]

Duckmber 2023 Day 28: Angst

[maelstrom-of-emotions]

Ducktales Part 4

I have no excuse for this madness, I feel like I'm stalling, honestly. It's a bit rusty, so my apologies for that.

If you're new, might I suggest reading Part One, Part Two, and Part Three first? You can read all of the parts here, this should help it make some sense, though honestly, even I don't know how to navigate this madness, it was supposed to be a Louie comfort fic, how am here? Alas, there's no turning back.

⁂

"We're totally interrogating him after this, right?" Dewey asks, the words falling out of his beak before he can stop them. The silence in the room is as thick as the as the syrup on pancakes, and it's making his nerves stand on end. 

"Oh, absolutely," Huey quips back, a wry smile playing at his beak. It seems instinctual, but no humor can cover up the red-rimmed eyes and the tear tracks that streak his face, it makes something in Dewey's heart, ache, fierce and burning, and he finds the words spilling out of his beak like spilled ink.

"I'm sorry," he says, and the words come tumbling, like an avalanche, so desperate to see the end that he can't make out the beginning. "I'm sorry for yelling at you like that—accusing you of—I didn't mean—I don't mean it like that. I was just—just mad, at the world, at Louie, at myself—and I was so disappointed that I hadn't figured it out before, that I wasn't doing anything now—and I guess I just felt a little drifted of, you know, like I couldn't help him, and I just exploded—which wasn't right—and I just, I'm sorry."

It's not structured or framed properly, and it probably doesn't make sense, he doesn't even attempt to make sense of it, but before he can apologize, for the speech or for his actions he's not sure, Huey smiles, because he's always been the one able to understand, whether ciphers of bumbling brothers. 

"I'm sorry, too," Huey says, fiddling with his hat. "I didn't mean to imply that you were reckless, or that you didn't care, I was just, I worry, Dewey, sometimes, it feels like all I can do, and it still doesn't help me. You were researching about Mom for weeks and I didn't even notice and now Louie's hurt, and I didn't even..." Huey trailed off, voice faltering as though it hurt to speak. "Sometimes, it feels as if I'm failing to be a brother, ya know?"

"Huey, no, you're a great brother, you take care of us when we're sick, you're honestly like a mini-Uncle Donald. It's just, being Scrooge McDuck's nephews kinda became a full-time thing, didn't it?" Dewey chuckled dryly. 

"You can say that again," Huey muttered bitterly. "It's just, it feels like we have no control over anything, anymore, you know. The variables have no fixed, they keep on changing and you have to keep on making new equations to find them, and it's just, exhausting. There's no pattern, though I'm sure Louie probably found like seven, and it's just, terrifying. I watched you climb out onto the wing of a plane hundreds of feet in the air while it's on the edge of toppling over, I watch the world teether on the edge of shattering, I watch Louie almost drying and Uncle Donald getting kidnapped, I watch myself getting used to kidnapping attempts like they're my Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, I watch everything crumble with the horrifying revelation that it's normal, that I'm used to it."

Dewey can't say anything, because he can't find anything to say. He's had those thoughts sometimes, staring out of the window at a blank, starless sky. Looking at the abyss that always seems to stare back. Looking at space and wondering about the cosmic demise of your own mother and wondering, how on earth were you supposed to keep up with it? And they hadn't been able to, had they? Louie was hurt, Huey was hurt, and everything was just so chaotic. 

"I guess," Dewey begins tentatively, because it feels like he should say something, anything to fill in the wound that had been bleeding for so long. "When we were with Uncle Donald on the houseboat, it was all peace, you know? Like, the worst thing that would happen was that I'd set the houseboat on fire or Louie would would set it on fire because of a spider," he laughs weakly at his own words, the simpler days. "And now, it's like everything and anything ends up in a disaster, a clusterfuck of things that just go wrong that you wonder if bad luck is genetic, and you just want to breathe, not because there's not enough oxygen, but because there's not enough time to appreciate the things keeping you alive. And you just, you feel so old, you wonder if your joints are supposed to hurt, and if you're supposed to lean to one side to avoid the bruise that was formed by a plane crash, that you look at the scars from things you would have never thought to meet, and you wonder if you actually did die, instead of being husks of the people you once were."

The tears are flowing now, and he doesn't know why, doesn't know why he's crying and why the emotions rage inside him like they do, but it feels so good to let it out, to say it out in the open, instead of buckling it down with fear of destroying the only thing you have left. "And it's just, incidents are supposed to shape character, not chip them away. Stuff like this, they're supposed to bring people together, not make them so far away."

"Dewey," Huey mutters, and his brother's eyes are glossy, he can see his beak quivering, and it makes something burst in him.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," Dewey murmurs, and he rubs his eyes furiously. "Stupid tears." He rubs them until gentle hands pull his wrists away, and Huey stares at him for a minute before pulling him into a hug and Dewey buries his face into the crook of his brother's neck and wishes he was younger, when he was able to believe that nothing could hurt them, not when he was in Huey's arms. It breaks something inside of him, and he sobs harder.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, not sure what he's apologizing about but the words spilling out all the same. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Huey whispers, his hand steadily rubbing soothing circles on Dewey's back. "It's going to be be okay, you'll see."

They stand there, for god knows how long, but when Dewey pulls away there's a small smile on Huey's face, just like the fragile smile Louie had given him earlier that day, and the glass shards in his chest seem to join together a bit, just the smallest amount. 

"We're the Duck Boys," Huey smiles at him, tender and loving. "Good or bad, we do it all together—you, Louie and me."

"No matter what?" Dewey can't help asking, the childish hope oozing off his voice like an overfilled smoothie. 

"Until the end of time," Huey affirms, and there's something in his voice, something sure and secure, like Uncle Donald when he came back from a fired job or a bad day, so assuring that you couldn't help but believe it. 

And after everything, after today and every other day the world decided to throw in the towel, Dewey lives for that piece of hope. 

[tokuvivor]

Thanks for the tag on this one, @shychick-52! (Update: And @writebackatya.)

how many fics do you have on ao3?

12.

what's your total ao3 word count?

69,172.

what are your top five fics by kudos?

The Power of Three

Bridging the Gap

We Could Bring You a Hamburger…

One Night Ultimate Duck (Or Hummingbird, or Parrot)

Duckverse June 2023 Prompts (yes, it’s a story collection, but it still counts)

what fandoms do you write for?

DuckTales 2017, mostly, a bit for Super Sentai, did one for the Netflix show Dash & Lily, and I have a couple ideas of fics relating to other shows.

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Yes! Someone took time out of their day to read my stuff and leave their input on it, and the least I could do is show my appreciation for it in return, and elaborate on any questions they may have.

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Shit, I’m really not good with ending stories on a down note; I try to make the endings as satisfying as possible. But I’d say the closest thing to that is for my 6th Webby Week story, Am I Good Enough? (An Internal Battle). It’s basically just Webby wrestling over being chosen by the Papyrus in her mind. Even though it doesn’t end on an outright fairy tale note, she does recognize that it’s okay to not have something that big figured out immediately, and that it’s good to talk about it with other people if you have trouble processing it.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That’s a tough one. There are probably certain stories I’ll discuss in later answers, so for this one, I’ll go with We Could Bring You a Hamburger…. I mean, it’s just a sweet, simple story about something that absolutely should’ve been shown in canon (Webby getting her first hamburger). It’s just a good, satisfying, slice of life kinda thing.

do you get hate on your fics?

Well, on the second chapter of The Power of Three, I got somebody telling me that Huey shouldn’t be guilty over going against his general Woodchuck instinct and leaving Violet behind, and that he should be jealous and upset with Violet and Lena for insulting him and making him feel miserable. Jesus.

do you write smut?

No. I honestly don’t think I’d be good at it. Especially regarding a show like DuckTales. If I were to, it’d probably be wayyyyy down the road.

do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've ever written?

Not actively; if I write something with multiple fandom tags on AO3, it’s mostly because minor elements of one thing are peppered into my DT story.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. Thank god.

have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that’d be interesting.

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes; I started working with @sisiwritesfanfics on her Super Sentai Couples One-Shot Collection beginning with the second story. We’re currently trying to work on the third.

what's your all time favorite ship?

I don’t know, probably Fendra? But I generally prefer fanworks of them more, especially when stories go more in-depth regarding their relationship than we got in canon. There are others in DuckTales, and other pieces of media, that I really enjoy, though.

what's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

At the moment, none. But there are a couple idea that I have that I don’t know if I’d ever start.

what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, especially between two characters, and being able to really get into characters’ minds.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Writing full-on angst. I can incorporate bits of angst into stories, especially when it’s introspective, but a full story of it just wouldn’t be my thing (so, way longer than Am I Good Enough?). Also, losing motivation at certain points in time.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’ve done bits of gratuitous Spanish or Latin in my stories before, but no full-on dialogue. But I did provide the translated Spanish dialogue between Fenton, Gosalyn, and Webby in @writebackatya’s story Let’s All Go to the Movies!.

first fandom you wrote for?

Technically speaking, I did a piece based on Wreck-It Ralph back in high school for my creative writing class. So that, I guess.

favorite fic you've ever written?

Massive toss-up for me here. The Power of Three is special because it was my first fic, and it focuses on the budding dynamic between Huey, Violet, and Boyd, which absolutely should have been explored in the show. But my other major early idea for a DuckTales story turned into Bridging the Gap. Gandra isn’t written nearly as often alongside Huey, and we only really got a resolution of her relationship with Fenton (amongst main and major recurring characters) in the show, so I wanted to build on the pieces we got between Gandra and Huey in her episodes, which culminated in what I still think is my absolute favorite scene I’ve written. I think the overall edge goes to Power, but Bridging isn’t far behind in my heart.

Tagging @godfrey-the-chaos-duck and @sparklingspidey

[cottagedreamy]

God please please please if someday you will give me a QP reboot / revival i hope the producers keep the original QP triplets personalities i need to see THESE ducks again

I need to Louie to pick fights with hunters and cops to protect defenseless animals. He being extremely inconsequential, adventurous and curious and giving his brothers a headache. Him being the silliest little creature whose social skills sucks...

I need seeing Dewey being such a nerd, being the craziest builder ever, being a failboy and making theories about alliens. Being the brain of the group with angst reflexive moments. Oh yeah, and a COMPLETE bookworm

I need HUEY. GOD, I NEED HIM!! I need his ironic and sarcastic personality! Yes, that sassy Huey who doesn't take shit and is extremely calculating and mocking. The Huey who has an evil laugh and appears to be evil but is actually a cinnamonroll who cares deeply for his family. I need him to be cool but a complete loser pathetic.

[fantasticenthusiasttale]

Sooo, I had been watched something here and there and this made me have an idea to write my first one-shot here. Enjoy :)

(Episode: Nothing can stop Della Duck!)

Warning: angst

* * *

"Huey, Dewey, Louie, meet Della Duck." Scrooge said while Della falls to her knees with surprised tears in her eyes. How much time she lost? These kids are really her eggs? She's finally feeling the moment she always dreamed about, the moment she waited anxiously for 10 years, and now she's feeling how heavy this is in her shoulders. Start to be a real mother after almost the entire childhood of them with her uncle and her twin wouldn't be easy, but that's her biggest dream coming true.

The triplets are scared. They don't know how to react to this, today should be just a normal day of adventure with uncle Scrooge while uncle Donald is traveling in a cruise and now, their real mother is... here?! Alive?! After 10 years away from them? She isn't dead, so... She just abandonated them? Why?

"No." Louie said. He's happy to discover his mother is alive? Sure, but he's also poisoness. "You're not our mother! You're just a bad woman who left us to go into a ROCKET while we were only three eggs! You are heartless!"

"Louie!" Dewey scolded his brother. He searched about his mom and he discovered she's absolutely AWESOME. Everything he wants to do now is learn how to be like her with her, he wants a hug from her and wants to show the entire world that he finally have a mom, but... She left them 10 years ago...

"Dewey! You'll defend her, after everything she did to us? She abandonated us!" You can see the hurt in Louie's eyes while he was talking.

"But--"

"Boys, I can explain everything! Please, listen me." Della said with tears trying to get out of her eyes, getting up off the ground and approaching them. This is going bad, bad, bad...

"You can say and do everything you want to, but we doesn't want to hear you, anyway."

"Louie..." Scrooge begin, he never thought of reaction of them being in that way.

"NO!" Huey finally said something, he always wanted to have a mother, but he's the oldest triplet, and he'll do everything to protect the youngers while uncle Donald isn't here, and he already lost his patience.

Huey take his phone and opened a selfie with uncle Donald and them. He show it to Della and Scrooge pointing to Donald. "Are you looking at him? HE IS, IN THE TRUE, OUR DAD, OUR MOM, OUR UNCLE AND BEST FRIEND, HE NEVER LEFT US ALONE AND NEVER WILL DO THAT! "

"Maybe you two are right..." Dewey realized sadily "You choosed the rocket than us, you never loved us and will never be our mom. And I dreamed to be like you. I'm ashamed." With this, they left the room.

[sparklingspidey]

your trademark is that you are the huey duck guy and also the spiderman guy and the abed guy and the angst fics guy! you're a lot of guys actually!

aah I love this <3 I am so Huey, Spider-Man, Abed angst fic coded

[pidayforpi]

我在 2022 年張貼了 112 次

比 2021 年多了 48 篇貼文！

30 篇創建貼文（27％）

82 篇轉載貼文（73%）

我轉載最多的部落格：

@sikyurame

@shychick-52

@tll04

@sheepmouse

@dear-alex-chill

我在 2022 年標籤了 94 篇貼文

只有 16% 的貼文沒有標籤

#a huh huh huh - 66 篇貼文

#storyteller - 11 篇貼文

#story - 11 篇貼文

#short story - 9 篇貼文

#donald duck - 6 篇貼文

#fethry duck - 6 篇貼文

#👀👀👀 - 5 篇貼文

#ducktales - 5 篇貼文

#gladstone gander - 5 篇貼文

#ari the aracuan bird - 4 篇貼文

最長的標籤：111 個字元

#(if i somehow think of a super angst idea i will definitely take advantage of this stressed-out mood right now)

2022 上我的熱門貼文：

#5

[Okay. It has been 2 years, and seeing that I probably won't have more ideas for now, I may as well post it...]

[I made some corrections to the text in 2022, but if you see something cringy, that's probably my cringy 2020 self. not that I'm not cringy now]

[Edits are shown in [] and italic]

[Just...please try not to cringe too hard...Thank you _(:3 」∠)_]

Ducktales x Persona

(Extreme cringe and angst ahead.)

(You may understand this more if you have played Persona 5, since P5 is the main Persona concept I am going to reference.)

So...Basically, I try to give (some) Ducktales characters a “Palace”.

A “Palace” is the equivalent of a game stage/dungeon in Persona 5. It is the manifestation of a character’s subconscious, so it shows the character’s inner, most genuine fear/anger/sorrow etc.

Being a Persona/Ducktales fan, I try to describe what the characters’ “Palaces” may look like.

——————————————————

(Some forewords...)

→ Despite using the “metaverse” concept from Persona 5, the sentiments present in Palaces here are more like those in Persona 4. As in, the Palace designs I use will sheer more towards empathy for the characters rather than hatred. So my designs of Palaces will focus more on personal struggles (Persona 4) than greed (Persona 5). You are trying to save them, not destroy them.

→ I try to be less cheesy, such as placing Scrooge in a bank or Fethry in an aquarium. I will try to be more creative.

→ Some characters are...well, “less developed” in canon (*cough* glomgold *cough*), so there will be some headcanons from me. I try to keep them to a minimum, but a necessary minimum (to the point of at least having some angst).

—————————————————

This is the format I will be using:

(Character)

Location = The actual location which the Palace is based on

Distortion = How the character imagines the place to be

Palace Master = “Shadow”. How the character imagines themself to be in the Palace

Rationale = Why I give the character this Palace design (this will be rather long)

I know this is very vague, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I hope you can understand more clearly as we go on.

With that out of the way, let’s do this.

(Some actual Persona music for this long read:

Persona 4 - Heaven

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ybaVWcH_zBQ

Persona 5 - The Days When My Mother Was There

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W_SosS9S8bw

Don’t...search for any context if you don’t want spoilers.)

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17 個迴響 - 張貼於 2022年3月5日

#4

Fethry has always insisted that "A warm head is a happy, healthy head". This is why he always has his signature red stocking cap on.

In "The Depth of Cousin Fethry!", both Huey and Fethry seemed to have derived this knowledge from their Junior Woodchuck guidebooks. However, I think they had (also) learnt this "life tip" from their own personal experience.

Huey might have been taught this knowledge by his Uncle Donald.

While Fethry...well.

When they were kids (which was...when they were still together), Abner used to pat/rub Fethry's head (as a form of affectionate teasing (?)). Fethry didn't mind that, but one time he was curious and playfully asked his brother about that action.

Abner replied, "To keep your big noggin' warm. You know, a warm head is a happy, healthy head."

And Fethry keeps this line close to his heart.

It is more than just a mere scientific knowledge. It is a remembrance of the past, a symbol of love, and a promise to his big brother, that he will take care of himself when he is alone in the outside world.

His stocking cap was a hand-made, parting gift from his brother Abner, as a substitution to keep his head warm when they are apart. And a sign that no matter how far they are by distance, their hearts will always be close to each other.

To Fethry, a warm head not only keeps his head healthy, but also keeps his heart strong. Fethry will never take his cap off, until the day the brothers reunite.

18 個迴響 - 張貼於 2022年10月17日

#3

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19 個迴響 - 張貼於 2022年4月10日

#2

Reminiscence

Bugs Bunny swallowed in awe of the archipelago of buildings around him.

He held the plastic folder of documents close to his neatly-ironed dress suit, the contents of which included his resume, recommendation letters, various certificates and qualifications.

When he applied for a position at the Warner Bros Studio, he had known how enormous the company was, both figuratively and literally. But stepping foot on the venue was an entire different feeling.

Actor trailers, movie studios, office buildings, the signature Water Tower...they were all much, much taller than the already tall grey hare. Bugs immediately felt like a nobody in the midst of the studio ground, his already fragile confidence dwindling in the cold wind.

But Bugs promised himself: He had gone through all the application processes up to this step, he would be getting into the building no matter what. Whether he would, for some reason, somehow be allowed to stay, or most likely get kicked out of the premise...Bugs would be sitting through the interview.

Gathering all his (remaining) courage, Bugs stepped through the glass doors, and into the concrete jungle...

----------------------

...which was even more complicated in the inside...

The very first problem Bugs encountered was finding where the chairman's office was.

The hare got dizzy just looking at the sheer amount of rooms located in a single corridor. And it didn't help that the clock was ticking, and his heart was racing. Only he was on that floor at that time, without anyone he could ask for help. His shaking hands automatically clenched his folder, slightly wrinkling the paper inside.

Just when a thought of giving up and leaving passed through Bugs' mind, someone placed a hand on his trembling shoulder.

Caught by surprise, Bugs involuntarily screamed out, dropping himself and all the documents onto the floor. For a moment, he was so scared that the person was the chairman who would be conducting the interview, as a situation like that would give a very bad impression. He kept his eyes shut, fearing for the worst, until a hand reached out to him.

"Hey...Are you alright?"

The trembling newbie slowly opened his eyes, and saw a black duck in front of him. The waterfowl kindly extended his hand, offering to help Bugs up.

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20 個迴響 - 張貼於 2022年11月5日

我在 2022 年中的 #1 貼文

"Fethry, what are you..."

Scrooge McDuck stared in absolute shock when his nephew walked to the villains' side.

[CW: Verbal abuse, mentioned past abuse/abandonment, painting uncle scrooge in a not very good light]

Fethry didn't answer. He silently stood next to the equally shocked Steelbeak, an unreadable expression on his face.

"...do you know what you are doing?"

Scrooge took a step forward.

"Fethry. Get back here this instant."

Fethry didn't respond.

"Fethry Duck. I said: Get back here. Right now."

Fethry didn't respond. Scrooge was getting impatient.

"Do you know who you are siding with? They are villains! Spies, thieves, killers! And you are abandoning your own family for these criminals?!"

Scrooge motioned his hands to the other Duck family members beside or behind him. Most were also shocked.

Except Donald and Gladstone, who wore the same unreadable expression as Fethry. Because they knew Fethry's reasons.

"Fethry, if you foolishly decide to side with FOWL, and turn your back against your own flesh and blood, you will no longer be a part of the family. I..."

Scrooge clenched his fist and bill.

"I will not tolerate a traitor in this family!"

Scrooge glared at Fethry, his burning rage was clearly visible to everyone in the scene.

Fethry responded. By holding Steelbeak's hand.

Scrooge was at his breaking point.

Scrooge advanced towards his nephew, fist and cane in hand. Donald immediately tried to stop Scrooge. Because he didn't want Scrooge to put himself in danger. Because he didn't want to see his uncle beating his cousin.

The McDuck's wrath caused even the hulking rooster agent to flinch. Steelbeak leaned down, and whispered to Fethry.

"Feth. A-are you sure about this...? I...I really appreciate you joining us, but...your family...Do you really want to...?"

Fethry nodded. His normally gleaming eyes were clouded by a shadow of seething anger, staring straight at the person he had once called "uncle".

"Yes, Steely."

Fethry's voice was monotonous.

Hearing his enemy and nephew calling each other by nicknames made Scrooge's blood boil. He pointed his cane at Fethry, his paraphernalia shaking with fury.

"Then go! Go lick those scumbags' boots! You are no good to begin with! Just a useless, worthless brat! That's why you are not a scientist, only a janitor! That's why you'd got to stay in that underwater dumpster for four years!"

Fethry's grasp on Steelbeak's hand tightened.

"Enough!"

Steelbeak shouted, holding Fethry close to him. He could understand Scrooge's anger, but he would not permit anyone to hurt his friend. Not anymore.

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39 個迴響 - 張貼於 2022年3月28日

來看看你的 Tumblr 2022「年度回顧」→

[merlinzedane]

Ops my finger and mind slipped for a second ^^’

~Deep Scare fanfic

@delta-toons @cartoonlover233 @curlscanbefiesty @janetbrown711

[drawingducktalesducks]

ooooh i wrote a thing, aaah here it is. weblena. au. slice of life, humor, slight angst, thought exercise, what-if, same rating as show

There are no Terrafermians in the subway.

(not that that'll stop them)

The tunnel doesn’t collapse. Beakley never fidgets with her glasses, adjusting them like a TV antennae as if that would change the image of Lena, quintessential sullen teen, helpfully applying a crowbar to the train cars’ stuck pin.

This just before the train crash.

Before the unconsciousness, the feeling of being dragged across a rough stone floor.

Before Beakly wakes up to see Lena’s wide, terrified eyes, and feel hands yank her out from under the falling train car not a second too soon.

"You-?" "Yeah- me. Let's go."

There’s no moment of tearful reuniting with Webby, the boys, and Launchpad. No anxious voice in the dark, Lena’s voice, checking in-

"Everyone here, everyone okay-?"   

There are no Terrafermians in the subway.

There is no moment of Beakley inviting Webby's new friend over for pancakes.

Instead, there's only a slow trudge up out of the tunnels, and the grim look on Beakley’s face as she marches them all back onto the street.

-

“Granny-”

"No."

"Granny, just listen!"

Webby starts again, journal of theories forgotten in her hands, grip so tight the binding squeaks in protest.

“You don’t understand! Lena’s a good person- she just LOOKS like a mysterious, enticing, rebellious teen ne’er-do-well with a love of trespassing and vandalism! Which she is, actually."

Webby admits with a thoughtful head tilt.

"And she does. Do that. She did it just a second ago, to prank Huey with me, and it was really funny!" Beakley's scowl deeps and Webby hurries on. "But she's also-!”

“First the Beagle Boys birthday,” Beakley mutters, steering Webby on with a firm hand. “You insisted that was an accident and that she never intended to put you in harm’s way.”

“She didn’t! She-”

“And I was almost willing to believe it. Almost."

Beakley storms down the sidewalk, sensible low heels clacking on the pavement with a sound so sharp it should've been sending up sparks.

"After all, what teen hasn’t done something immensely foolish to impress someone else, only to regret it afterwards? Likewise, lying about the ‘educational’ Mole Monster film. Mostly harmless, if irritatingly irresponsible. But this.”

The hand on Webby’s shoulder tightens.

“This goes too far. She knew entering that tunnel could put all three of you in danger. There were warning signs everywhere, and yet she led you down there regardless! No, I'm sorry." Beakely shakes her head, glowering behind her square framed glasses. "That girl does NOT have your best interests at heart.”

Currently Webby’s heart is pounding in her chest. “I’ve been in worse danger before! Much, much worse!”

“Only with myself or Mr. McDuck supervising you.”

“I had Lena with me!”

Beakley snorts. “Oh yes, how reassuring. I’m sure she would have done everything in her power to keep you safe, and not run off to save her own skin. Again.”

At that the boys trailing behind them finally speak up.

“I mean to be fair, it was us she wanted to feed to the Tumblebums that one time, not Webby.”

“Yeah, her and Webby were supposed to slip off together while we got traumatized. Then my dear brothers decided to use me as bait instead, which, I feel, is obviously worse-"

“She just wanted to stop us arguing!”

Huey’s feet patter as he hurries to catch up.

“It’s my fault too, for getting all worked up and angry over some made up subterranean monsters- that’s why she got the idea of going down there in the first place! She was trying to help!”

“By putting you all in danger, as opposed to debating the issue safely above ground, obviously.” Beakley remarks dryly.

“And and AND!” Webby jumps in craning to peer pleadingly up at her grandmother. “We could’ve said no! She wasn’t going to force us down there or anything!”

“Well.” Huey hedges, hunching down, awkwardly honest. “She did throw my guidebook down the stairs…”

Webby stamps on his insole. Huey yelps.

Ducking out from under the protective hand of her grandmother Webby turns to face Beakley, forcing them all to a stop.

“Granny, please.”

Somewhere nearby there’s the sound of four people knocking into each other and tumbling to the sidewalk.

Webby ignores it. Taking a deep breath she says, softly. “...She’s my best friend.”

Bentina Beakley looks down at her, posture tired, eyes sad.

She sighs.

“… no, Webbigail. Not anymore.”

And the whole world falls out from under Webby’s feet.

“Yes she- yes she is!” Stammering, Webby tries to hear herself over the thundering in her chest. “She is and nothing you say is going to change that! Right Lena!?”

No one answers.

Webby looks around. “Lena?”

Launchpad, Huey, Louie, and Dewy stare back at her from under a nearby street lamp. The shadows around them are empty. No one else is there.

Lena is gone.

“Good riddance,” Beakley says, her hand settling back on Webby’s shoulder. “You are not to see her again, even if she does reappear, understand? You four are all good children with bright futures ahead of you-”

“Five, missus B.”

Beakley rolls her eyes. “Yes alright Launchpad, you five. The last sort of friend any of you need is someone like that.”

Weak-kneed, the weight of her Granny’s hand makes Webby sag.

Someone like that. Someone like that…

The words echo the rest of the way to the car and all through the long, silent drive back home.

It continues as they trudge through the double doors of McDuck manor, as Beakely hesitates on the landing outside the library and Webby's room, as Webby walks past her to brush her beak and heads back to the loft, quietly shutting the trap door behind her.  

Webby doesn't sleep.

Later, long after her Granny has given up on patrols for the night, a climbing rope dangles its way down from Webby’s window.

Webby has somewhere to be.

Tonight, she has something more important to think about than her Granny’s rules.

Rushed tracks lead down the sandy beach towards a set of stepping stones, and a derelict, empty stage....

-

This time Webby leaps the stones with a single long jump.

"Lena, are you here?!"

Frantic, she doesn’t even bother with a summersault as she thumps down on the moldering floorboards, eyes darting hopefully at every shadow.  

“Lena? Lena!”

The cavernous stands make her already loud voice even louder. Webby waits one breathless moment, then rushes on.

“Please be here, please be here, I don’t know where else to look for you if you’re not here!”

Blurring across the stage Webby yanks back the tattered curtain and races behind the leaning and broken stone columns, checking every corner, chanting all the while.

“And also please please don’t be mad! I’m sorry I didn’t say more to my Granny, and sooner, and better. But most of all please be here! Please?”  

There’s no one behind the curtain or columns. No sounds answer her, except her own panicked voice.

Slowly, Webby comes to a stop at the edge of the stage.

“…Lena?”

'Lena?' echoes back the amphitheater, hollow and abandoned.

She stands there a long time. Listening. But just like on the playground, and just like on the street that night, the dark corners of the world stay empty.

And Lena doesn’t answer.  

Knees wobble. Webby sits down hard on the old theater floorboards.

“Oh.” Pulling her legs up to her chest she tucks her bill against them, eyes filling as she starts rocking herself slowly back and forth, back and forth. “Okay. Okay. You’re not here right now. That’s okay.”

Lena doesn’t answer.

Webby shudders. “No. It’s not okay.” The tears spills over. “It’s not okay. It’s not okay.”

She blinks hard, still staring out into the stands.

“You- you didn’t even wait to hear me tell Granny she’s wrong about you.”

A whimper.

“We didn’t even get, to say goodbye…”

Burying her head in her knees, Webby wraps her arms around her head and squeezes tight, shuddering.

And behind her, a trap door opens.

The hinges of the mechanism make no sound, well-kept and carefully oiled into silence, and the figure that trudges up the steps also moves with practiced sneakiness, even with her arms full of ropes and bent-over pieces of rusty old piping.

Lena stops on the last step, bright green converse pausing mid-air, expression surprised.

Then she frowns.

“Uh, Pink? You okay?”

Vehemently Webby shakes her head without looking up.

“Okay? No! I’m n-not okay! Granny thinks my best friend is a ‘bad influence’, banned you from the manor, and won’t let me out unsupervised anymore! And and and-”

Her breath catches with a sob on every ‘and’.

“I never got your address or phone number or had time to surveil you, or plant a tracker, so the only place I know you like is the place we met- but you’re not here! And now,” she chokes, “now Granny says I'm not supposed to see you again and worse I don't know how to find you so I’m REALLY never going to see you again….”

Lena’s eyebrows skyrocket into her side-brushed bangs, then drop down like dark and moody thunderbolts.

“Are you kidding me?” she groans, “Ugh, what is with her!”

Slumping over, Lena dumps her armful of supplies and drops herself next to Webby on the stage, shoulders falling into a brooding slouch.

“I mean, I get that Tea Time doesn’t like me, but I didn’t think she’d try putting you on lockdown over it.”

Fabric rustles as Webby nods into her skirt. “I know. She’s a- a little overprotective.”  

“A little?” Lena seethes.

Webby giggles. “Maybe a lot.” Sitting up with a sniff she scrubs her eyes on her sleeve. “She means well and I don’t want to break rules, it just hurts so much, and I miss you and… Wait, Lena!?”

Beak dropping open Webby whirls around, gaping.

Lena smiles back at her.

“Hey.”

And in an instant, Webby’s eyes are full of tears again.

“Lena!”

Launching herself forward Webby has Lena wrapped in her arms a split second before the tackle sends them slamming to the floor.

An ‘oof’ of air burst from Lena, thanks to the hug or the impact or both. Face half covered with Webby’s hair she grimaces up at the night sky.

“Wow great, missed you too.” It comes out as a wheeze. Having the air knocked out of you is a good excuse for being breathless. “Th-thing is, I’m really not much of a hugger…”

“Oh!”

Jolting upright Webby holds her arms out wide, as if they were dangerous weapons that could kill with a touch. Which they were.

“Right! Hugs are like whatever, or whatever- But you’re here!”

Pulling her arms in Webby hugged herself tightly and did a happy little wiggle as Lena sits up again.

“Even though it’s the middle of the night, you’re here! Were you waiting this whole time? Is that rope? And a crowbar!?” Every observation brought on a new level of excitement and new intensity of the wiggles.

Lena grins. “Yep. It’s rope and nah, I haven’t been here the whole time, had to go get some stuff. Like rope. Aaand a crowbar. Then I figured, hey, this sort of thing is way easier when it’s dark out anyway, you know?”

Jumping to her feet Webby pumps her fist in the air triumphantly.

“Yes! No! I have no idea what you’re talking about! What thing?”

Leaning an elbow on one knee Lena props her cheek on her fist and watches Webby, grin softening.

“Like, climbing over big fancy gates and up mansion walls to see my best friend, and stuff.”

Webby gasps. “You were going to break into the manor for me?”

“Well, try anyway.” Oversized, off-shoulder sweater slips a little further down as Lena shrugs. “Parkouring up walls isn’t really my thing, not everyone’s an amazing awesome acrobat like you, Pink, but eh. Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

“Oh.”

Webby bites her bill, happy look fading into something hesitant.

“…to see your friend?” she echoes back cautiously.

Lena raises an eyebrow. “Uh yeah, duh? What, you thought I was just gonna-” a finger snap and a vague flutter of Lena’s free hand indicates the deepening gloom of night. “Ka-pwsh out of there and be bored without you for the rest of my life?”    

Webby winces. “I guess? A little?” Her hand burrow into her skirt, grip crinkling the neatly ironed pleats.

“I thought… I thought you were angry at me. For not standing up to Granny better, about you.”

Both Lena’s eyebrows shoot up this time. “She’s your grandma, Webby, what’re you gonna do? Send her to time-out?”

Webby smiles weakly. “Heh.”

“I’m pissed at her, not you. And.” Leaning in, Lena makes a show of hiding her beak from non-existent observers in the empty stands. “To be honest she’s not even wrong. I’m a VERY bad influence.”

Hands relaxing, Webby smile comes back with a twinkling in her eyes.

“No you’re not. You look all cool and smooth on the outside, but you’re all soft and gooey on the inside. You’re the best.”

Lena snickers, lounging to her feet. “Sure, and you broke rules just to come looking for me. I’m sure Colonel Crumpet wouldn’t blame that on bad influence at all.” She holds up a hand, palm out. “Who’s the rebel now?

Webby high-fives her with a laugh and doesn’t let go.

“Me! I’m a rebel now!” Gleeful laugh turns into a nervous giggle as she swings her and Lena’s hands between them. “Oh Granny’s going to be SO MAD when she finds out….”

“Who’s gonna tell her?”

“Also me, probably. Or maybe my empty bed, if I’m not home in the morning.” 

“Orrr…”

Lifting their linked hands Lena leads Webby in a little giggling twirl before letting go with a flourish.

“You could be back in snug in bed before she even knows you were gone.” Bending down she started sorting through the pile of ropes and break-in implements. “Only after having some fun first, of course. How long until she notices you’re missing?”

“Hmm.” Webby hums, absentmindedly rubbing the hand that had been holding Lena’s. “Her next security sweep should be in approximately two-and-a-half hours.”

Lena looks up, pausing her search with a flat stare. “Security sweep? Seriously?

It’s Webby’s turn to shrug. “My Granny really likes a secure perimeter!”

“I guess I can dig that...” Muttering, Lena leans back down and pulls a couple of small cannisters from the jumble. “I can also think of at least three adventures we can have before you’ve gotta head back.”

Webby perks up so quickly her hairbow seems to snap to attention. “Adventures?”

Lena tosses her a cannister with a grin. “You up for it? I’ll even walk you home after.”

The sound that escapes Webby would have shattered the stage lights, if they hadn’t already all been smashed.

“YES! Yes to adventure!”

Bouncing up and down on her heels she makes a move as if to pounce on Lena again, then checks herself and clasps her hands together around the cannister instead.

“With my best friend!”

She pauses and blinks down at the thing in her hands.

“An adventure in… painting?”

“You got it.”

Tossing her own spray paint can from hand to hand Lena leads the way to a second set of stepping stones, these ones heading off the stage and into the stands.

“Okay so for this first adventure we’re gonna need to ditch the rope and get some water balloons. And paint. More paint. Like, a lot more paint. I’m thinking something in pink, maybe a day-glow... You cool with messing around with the Beagle Boys some more, right?”

Webby skips after her, almost floating on every step. “Totally! We only ALMOST died last time, after all!”

Lena snickers. “Yeeaah it sounds bad when you say it like that.”

“Bad as in good?” Webby askes, coming alongside her.

“Bad as in awesome.” Lena agrees, clinking their cans together in a toast.

“Aha!” Webby cheers as they set off into the patchwork shadows of the city night together. “I knew it! Oh hey you know what these spray cans remind me of this time Granny let me test out bear spray on a real bear, for practice, just to be safe, before dropping me off on the survive or die island for holiday, but- you know that phrase ‘kicking the can down the road’? It comes from this game kids play together and I’ve never had anyone to play it with but it sounds fun and anyway, the bear, right! Well back then I remembered that thing about the can kicking game too! And I got so excited I dropped the can and kicked the bear…”

The night deepens as Webby’s fills the air. Lena watches her, quiet and smiling, as the shadow lengthen around them.  

One shadow, trailing reluctantly at Lena’s heels, pulls itself up a wall and twists itself into a new shape. The sharp figure of woman appears, with a short bob of ‘hair’ and a disgusted scowl.

Blegh...

The shadow hisses, soundless as the darkness.

If playing along with this pink little wretch doesn’t get us into Scroogie’s manor soon, I am going to be SICK.

Lena’s shoulders twitch.

It’ll be worth it. She thinks back at the shadow as it coils in behind her, insubstantial and somehow still breathing down her neck. So just shut up for a sec and let me focus.

Shut up?

An accusatory hiss rasps in her ear, discordant against the backdrop of Webby infodumping about the origins of pepper spray.

Are you telling me to shut up? ME?

Lena flinches.

The shadow dances at her back, it’s whisper turning ice-cold, smooth and scornful.

Poor little dumb-dumb Lena, so desperate that you're actually enjoying this, aren’t you...?

No, Lena think back quickly, wrenching her eyes away from Webby’s beaming smile and back to the street ahead of them. I’m not. I’m really, really not.

Hmm….  

If Webby had looked up right then, instead of being busy reading out the ingredients listed on the spray paint can and listing all the ways they could be easily weaponized, if she had looked up, she might have seen Lena’s smile slip at the corners.

She might also have noticed an exhausted slump in the teen’s shoulders, or realized she’d seen a similar sad, guilty look in her Granny’s eyes only a few hours beforehand.

Or maybe not.

Lena hadn’t chosen to live under an abandoned theater for no reason, after all. She was very good at lying.

Especially to herself.  

[c0konk]

Huey: Do you ever look at someone and get annoyed?

Louie: Yeah, I’m doing it right now.

Huey: …

[maelstrom-of-emotions]

Summary:

With how often the world seemed eager on calling it quits, Dewey often forgot that his brothers were not an open book to the world as they were to him, that they weren't as transparent as they were to him. The quirks, the idiosyncrasies, the very essence of who they were—lost in translation to those who lacked the familiarity he had.

[propilot33]

Is that angst I see coming ?