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The fire crackled warmly in the darkened mansion. Spring rains had come to Duckberg and Uncle Donald had vetoed a trip they'd been planning. They were not taking off in this kind of storm- it was supposed to be gone by tomorrow anyway- You can wait one day! It was alright though. The boys and Webby had spent the day playing Dart Blaster with Della.
Donald had slipped off to make sure the houseboat would be alright in the storm at some point and Louie assumed Scrooge, not wanting to get involved had locked himself up in his study after coming under fire at one point.
During the course of the game Huey, Dewy, and Louie discovered that it was an incredibly bad idea to have the two girls on any one team and they'd forbidden them from teaming up again (it hadn't work). Needless to say, they were all exhausted and sprawled out by the fire.
It was a comfortable quiet.
"So..." It was quiet. " Do you have a favorite kid?" Della snorted and opened her eyes to see Dewey grinning up at her.
"Well, obviously," she said and smirked when the other two boys perked up. "It's Webby," she teased.
"Hey!" came three voices followed by a whoop of excitement and laughter from Webby.
Della shook her head. "What made you decide to ask anyway?" she asked Dewey who was pouting.
"You never answered when we asked before."
"Uncle Donald never did either," commented Huey as he put the Junior Woodchuck guidebook back up into his hat.
"Well, duh it's an unspoken rule that parents will never tell you who their favorites are," said Della. She tapped the four kids on their beaks "You're supposed to figure it out for yourself." Huey looked thoughtful after that.
"Then... who was your parents' favorite?"
"Me obviously," Della replied with a grin that Dewey slowly matched. Louie shook his head, the triplets had gotten to know their mom's very healthy self-respect very well. The comment wasn't surprising. It was also probably true. Della was so outgoing. How could she not be anyone's favorite?
"You were Uncle Scrooge's favorite too," Louie mentioned casually saying his thoughts out loud. His brothers and Webby nodded in agreement but Della suddenly snorted and burst out laughing.
"What? Me? Uncle Scrooge's favorite?" she fell back on the couch unable to control her laughing. "Oh... my... duck, I can't... breathe. That's the funniest thing I've heard in... well a decade." She wiped a tear from her eye and turned to the kids.
She hesitated when she saw the ducklings were looking at her in surprise.
"Donald was always Uncle Scrooge's favorite," she informed them.
"No way," Louie said bluntly. Dewey and Huey nodded, but Webby looked thoughtful.
"No, really," Della said her hesitant look flipping back up into a fond genuine smile.
"But- Uncle Scrooge gave you the Spear of Selene!" Dewey disagreed. The mention of the ship still made the whole family wince, but it was getting better.
"Well, yeah, because it was a special occasion," Della said a bit uncomfortable. "You were going to hatch. Do you honestly think Uncle Scrooge would give me a spaceship otherwise? He was usually so insistent that Donnie and I build our own things or make our own way in the world."
There was a pause as everyone thought about that.
"She might be right," Webby said suddenly. "I mean it was Uncle Scrooge that mentioned that Mr. Donald was a great adventurer."
" If that's true," Dewey said still not believing it. "Weren't you jealous?"
"What? No... of course not," Della grinned a little sheepishly at the disbelieving looks shot at her. "Alright, alright, I was when I first realized it. But I was everyone's favorite, even when we lived with Granny. Donald deserves recognition from someone. Uncle Scrooge may have been more like me, but he was so..." She waved her hand trying to find the words to explain the relationship between the two that she remembered. "... watchful of my twin."
Della snorted. "He was always so mad whenever someone gave Donald a hard time. He scared our teachers to death. 'How dare ye say me nephew is at fault.'" It was an exaggerated imitation of Scrooge, one that made it all the more difficult to believe. "Surely, you guys have seen it?"
"I mean they hadn't been talking for like a decade before Uncle Donald dropped us off to be babysat," Louie muttered and an awkward silence fell. Della's face dropped. The fallout of her finding out about that had not been pleasant, but Louie remembered the look of incredulous surprise on Della's face at the revelation.
She'd turned to Scrooge and said, 'You just let Donald walk away?!' Maybe there had been more in that statement then the youngest duckling had thought. Usually, he was pretty good at picking up on people's emotions. Seeing the situation from every angle, but he hadn't even thought about what his two Uncle's relationship had been before the Spear of Selene.
He'd just assumed Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald had never gotten along.
Even now after Del- mom had come back from the moon... he was fairly certain they hadn't talked to each other without someone else there.
The awkward silence was broken by the back door banging open and a litany of old Gaelic words filled the mansion. There was the sound of squishing feet coming closer to their room and Scrooge passed by, soaked by rain.
"...curse me kilts... lad is more stubborn than... can't believe he won't consider coming in..." Scrooge stopped his mutterings and looked over at the wide-eyed group. "What?" he snapped.
"Uh, we thought you were up in your office," Huey said quickly. "What were you doing outside?" There was the sound of water droplets from Scrooge's clothes hitting the ground as something like a blush appeared on his cheeks.
"I was," he agreed, fidgeting with his cane.
"Were you helping Donnie with the boat?" Della asked.
"Nay! I was... er just making sure the grounds were... empty?" Della gave her Uncle a flat look of disbelief. Scrooge took a step back and tilted his hat.
"I'll be going to have me bath now," he said quickly and left the room. The group heard a door shutting above them. There was a loud sigh, likely from Mrs. Beakly at spotting all the mud and water in the halls.
"What was that about?" Webby wondered and the triplets shrugged. Della had a knowing smile
----
The next day started clear and sunny. Donald ran through the checklist in his hand of everything that the boys would need for this adventure. Snacks, rope, whistles, phones, extra shirts and socks...
Someone nudged him from behind and he squawked indignantly as he tumbled into the plane. "Come on Donald!" Della said. "You triple checked yesterday, nothing's changed except there's no more rain."
Donald glared up at his twin from his uncomfortable position on the floor. "I just want to make sure-"
"Yeah, yeah, you've always been paranoid. Everything will be fine," she said walking past him and punching Launchpad on the arm in greeting. Donald grumbled and attempted to stand back, but stepped in the only leftover puddle on the loading ramp and slipped.
He braced himself for another crash to the ground but felt himself jerk to a stop, a hand wrapped around his wrist to stop him from falling.
"Careful there lad," Scrooge said above him. "Wouldn't want to break anything before we even got into the air." He helped Donald steady himself on his feet, a hand resting on his nephew's shoulder.
"Thanks," Donald muttered and took a step back, away from the puddle and his Uncle. He'd looked back down at the checklist and didn't notice the brief flash of hurt across Scrooge's face.
Louie did though. He also noticed that Scrooge didn't lower his hand for a few seconds, as if he wanted to pat or hug the shoulder it had just been on. It lowered sadly and the older duck gripped his cane harder before turning to go into the plane.
As Scrooge began to walk past Donald, the youngest duckling did hear, "Glad ye decided to come lad." His younger Uncle looked up sharply in disbelief at Scrooge's retreating back. There was also another emotion in Uncle Donald's eyes.
Pleasure, maybe?
Louie cleared his throat and Donald looked down, his eyes automatically doing a once over to make sure it looked like Louie had everything.
"Do you have-" he started to say.
"Puh-lease, we've got everything Uncle Donald," Louie said with a suave smile. Donald's eyes narrowed.
"What are you up to?" he asked suddenly suspicious. Louie put his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Nothing," a hum of disbelief. "No really! Nothing. I just-"
"Just?" Donald prompted.
Did you get along better with Uncle Scrooge before we came along?
"Just worried we might fly into another storm," he lied. Uncle Donald shook his head because of course, he knew that Louie was lying. But instead of calling him out, as the duckling expected, he knelt down so that he was face to face with his nephew.
"I wouldn't let you go if I thought that'd happen," he said firmly. "No one else gets lost."
Strangely enough, it did make Louie feel better even if that hadn't been what he was really worried about. "Thanks, Uncle Donald," Louie said. Donald gave him a smile and a nod. His hand stayed on Louie's shoulder even as he stood up.
"Let somebody know what your actually thinking," Uncle Donald said completely casually even as he turned to Huey and Dewey to make sure they were also ready.
Louie moved into the plane and sat down in one of the chairs. Huey and Dewey came in a few minutes later and sat on either side of him. They were chatting excitedly.
The youngest groaned at the amount of information about deadly traps and historical interest flew above his head with no real attempt at conversation.
"Alright, alright!" he snapped as he brothers. "But is there an end goal? In other words, is there treasure ?"
"Aye," said a voice from up by the cockpit. Scrooge turned around. "Legend holds that there is a golden helmet buried on the coast of West Africa. Supposedly, it was a gift of Olokun, a spirit of water to-"
"It's supposed to let you breathe underwater!" Webby shouted excitedly interrupting Scrooge to Louie's relief.
"And it's gold?" Louie asked with interest.
"It couldn't be solid gold," a quacky voice spoke up. Donald had sat down next to the boys sometime during all the talking. He was already buckling in, several times. "It'd be too heavy in the water, and too soft for deeper layers."
"That's a point," Scrooge agreed. "Might explain the curse that is on it."
"Whoever wears it ends up disappearing," Webby said she moved her hands in an attempt to be spooky. "Ooooo."
"The Olokun Helmet ends up washing back up onto shore without its wearer," Scrooge added. "Which means, lads and lasses. No one is ta touch it." He pointed his cane at the four ducklings. "I'm not loosin' any of ye."
"Okay Uncle Scrooge," the four agreed at once.
----
The flight was pretty smooth until the very end, where they ended up crashing. Della and Launchpad had switched who was piloting as soon as the Sunchaser ("Cloud Slayer!") started to go down. Launchpad was able to crash better so it was always up to him in those situations.
Scrooge led the family through some dense jungle until they eventually came upon a small cave. The Scottish trillionaire glanced down at the map and back up and nodded. "This is it," he began to say when a blue streak ran past him.
"To adventure!" Dewey shouted. Scrooge facepalmed even as Della yelled after her son, but she was grinning.
"Watch for traps!" Donald called angrily at the retreating back. He had instantly moved after Dewey as soon as he'd seen the blue duckling move; so he was now in front of the rest of the group and gaining speed.
Right before Dewey entered the cave Donald caught up grabbed the duckling and jerked Dewey into the air. The rest of the family caught up a few moments later and Webby looked down at the ground.
"Spring traps on the ground!" she called. Donald glared at the duckling in his arms and Dewey gave his Uncle a sheepish smile.
"Be more careful," Donald demanded as he set Dewey down and patted the boy's head to reassure himself.
"Yeah, yeah," Dewey said glancing at Della self-consciously. "I'm not a noob at this Uncle Donald." Donald let out a breath of frustration as he watched the blue duckling move so that he was next to his mom.
Webby and Huey were able to figure out the first trap easily enough, and the group moved further into the cave. Eventually, the group came upon a huge cavern. The ceiling went up a few hundred feet, and below them was what appeared to be an endless pit. Scrooge pointed to the natural rock bridge that spanned the pit.
It was wide enough to let two or three people walk across side by side easily. It was built fairly sturdy too, being at least fifteen feet of solid rock before the eventual drop off in a chasm of nothing.
Donald found himself drifting to the middle in an attempt to keep the kids in line. Della had no experience raining them in and though Scrooge would stop any of them from jumping headfirst into a deadly situation, he still didn't stop the little slip-ups that the sailor saw.
So, he was a bit overprotective, raising triplets on a boat will do that.
At least Della was teaching Dewey how to dodge better Donald reminded himself as the two raced across an area with fire columns as they made their way to the bridge. He gritted his teeth and Louie could hear him muttering, "He's fine, he's safe. He's Della's son she won't let anything happen to him."
He foresaw yelling in Dewey and Della's future.
Scrooge was behind him with Huey and Webby. The three of them were talking animatedly about the architecture and legends that would help them find the Helmet. Louie walked easily by his Uncle, perfectly fine taking the easy middle.
He'd had to put away his phone pretty quickly as they entered the cave. As fun as adventuring was, it kind of sucked that he usually had no bars. He glanced around keeping an eye out for anything interesting.
And that's when the squid monster attacked.
This was followed by an immense amount of shouting, running, and explosions. By the time the Duck-McDuck family made it to the main chamber, everyone was a bit scorched and tired.
Louie almost couldn't care about the fact that the chamber was all gold... almost. But he really, really liked gold. "Ach, finally," Scrooge said his eyes on the helmet in the center of the room.
"Giant air-breathing squid monsters not a part of the plan?" Louie asked sarcastically and Scrooge chuckled.
"Life of an adventurer lad. Large riches mean large risk." Louie snorted but smiled at his Uncle as the Scottish duck stood up and went to the pedestal with the helmet.
The youngest duckling moved to look at the other treasure in the room. Uncle Scrooge wouldn't notice if he took a few souvenirs that weren't cursed.
Huey was already standing by the pedestal going over notes.
"It should be alright to pick up," he said not very convinced by his own statement. Scrooge clapped the duckling on his shoulder.
"We'll deal with the fallout," he said confidently and proceeded to pick up the helmet. Everyone held their breath for a few seconds, but nothing happened.
"There ya see-" Scrooge began The chamber shook. A loud creaking making Louie worried that the ceiling was going to fall for a few moments. But again it stopped with nothing appearing.
Scrooge's eyes were narrowed. "What was that?" Webby whispered.
"Let's go," was the only answer the trillionaire gave. The group moved quickly outside of the chamber and began to make the trek back. Scrooge kept the helmet tucked under his arm. He stayed to the back, glancing over his shoulder with narrowed eyes.
"The monsters are all gone," he muttered and Louie felt his stomach knot in worry. He felt himself automatically moving to his Uncle Donald for safety.
They made it back to the large cavernous room with only a few moments of panic. The hallways they'd traveled down shook dangerously, but never to the point of collapsing.
It was eery.
The group moved out onto the natural bridge. Della and Dewey first, followed by Donald and Louie. Huey and Webby followed close by with Scrooge bringing up the rear.
The shaking started halfway across. The bridge thrummed and then a loud crack echoed in the room. Louie watched in horror as the ground below Donald's right foot disappeared.
His Uncle gave a quack of dismay as he toppled over the edge. Louie didn't even have time to take in a breath to scream when a blur had jumped over his head.
He watched as Scrooge, who had been so far behind him, jumped after Donald. As soon as Scrooge disappeared over the ledge as well the shaking stopped.
"Uncle Scrooge, Uncle Donald!" Huey screamed breaking the startling silence. That broke the stupor that they had all been in and they rushed to the side of the bridge.
Louie looked over frantically and almost collapsed in relief. Scrooge was hanging onto his cane, which was hooked onto a rock. He swung precariously below it with an arm wrapped around Donald's chest. They hung above a never-ending chasm.
The sailor was already looping around Scrooge's neck with his other arm to steady himself. The scottsduck hissed as Donald grabbed a little too hard, but his own hand tightened around the other.
"It's alright lad, I've got you," he said soothingly. Donald looked up in surprise at the tone of voice, but Scrooge was looking up at the rest of their family.
"A little help," he said wryly to the other ducks. Della snapped out of the relief that had landed over the group and quickly reached down to pull the two ducks up.
It took a few minutes of scrambling and tugging, but eventually, the two ducks collapsed on the ground, arms still wrapped around each other. Scrooge was heaving heavily as if he had been running a marathon.
He had to have run fast to get to Donald before Louie had even been able to move.
"Scrooge," Donald grunted, moving his arms off of the older duck's neck. "You can let go now." Louie expected his Uncle to easily comply with that request, but he was shocked when Scrooge suddenly flung his other arm around Donald.
He pulled the younger Uncle into a tight embrace. "I almost lost ye," he whispered, the sound carrying around the cavern.
Donald's eyes had widened. Slowly, he wrapped his own arms around Scrooge's shaking body. (Shaking, Louie realized startled by the revelation. Scrooge McDuck was shaking with fear and it hadn't been caused by a monster of any kind.)
Donald closed his eyes and let his Uncle pull him deeper into the embrace. His bill buried itself in Scrooge's chest and his answer was muffled, barely reaching the triplet's ears.
"You didn't lose me. I'm right here Unkie Scrooge."
Scrooge sucked in a startled breath at the title. A title he hadn't heard since Della had disappeared. A wave of warmth and happiness spread across his face.
"Ye called me Unkie!" Scrooge crowed in delight.
He looked like he was about to break out in a jig, Louie realized. Donald had pulled back and was looking vaguely horrified by his slip of the tongue. A small chuckle to his right made Dewey glance sharply at his mom. Della was giving the two a fond exasperated smile.
She was used to this scene.
Donald groaned in embarrassment and tried to jerk out of his Uncle's embrace. "No, I didn't!" he denied. "Now let go! We're still in the middle of escaping."
Scrooge hung on even as Donald stood and began to stomp his way out of the cavern. His arm was slung across his nephew's shoulders and he kept up easily with the other duck.
He tugged Donald closer again. the sailor squawked in surprise when Scrooge turned his head and gave Donald's cheek a smacking kiss. Ecstatic by the fact that Donald didn't pull away after.
"Nay! Ye can't deny it, lad. Everyone heard! Now when are ye going to cave about movin' back into the mansion?"
"I like my boat!" Donald quacked back. The two of them moved away from the rest of the family bickering the whole time. But Uncle Scrooge was grinning madly and Uncle Donald was blushing to the tips of his feathers, even as a pleased smile appeared hesitantly on his beak.
Louie turned to look at the rest of the family. Huey was staring at the two in a gobsmacked way. Webby was holding her hands over her mouth her eyes wide with delight and Dewey couldn't hold back a burst of laughter.
"Unkie!" he cried falling down to the ground in laughter.
Webby squealed in delight. "It's so cute!" she cried.
"You might be right," Huey said in wonder to Della who huffed.
"Well of course I'm right. I'm Della Duck!" Louie huffed in exasperation.
"Will all of you concentrate on the important thing!" he said. "Uncle Scrooge was carrying the helmet!" Dewey choked on his laughter and four sets of wide eyes turned to the pair of ducks that had gotten ahead of them. One of them very much did not still carry the treasure they'd come for.
"Did, did Uncle Scrooge... drop it?" asked Huey.
"No way," Dewey muttered.
Webby squealed again. "That's even better!"
"Told you," Della said proudly. "Donald's always been Uncle Scrooge's favorite."