Prologue: Difficult Times For Ducks...

The city was humming with life as people of all ages scurried to and fro. A medium sized female duck with extremely long red hair that shone in the afternoon light was sitting at a outdoor table at a small cafe, wearing a dull blue sweater and jeans.

"Excuse me miss, is this seat taken?" A short male duck that wore a dull brown out that covered his hair appeared next to her.

"Hi Mitch. Taking it that Van couldn't make it?" She shifted slightly, acknowledging her friend.

"Yeah, boss couldn't make it. Say, shouldn't you have laid your eggs by now?" Mitch casually changed the subject.

"You ok there Mitch? That's an odd question coming from you." She frowned as she lowered the menu that she had been hiding behind. "You know where they are at anyways. Where's Van?"

"Why wouldn't I be ok? It is normal for a perfectly normal guy to question his boss's wife?"

She tensed, moving to leave. "Mitch… you know better than to mention that detail. And since when did you refer to Van as your boss?"

"He is my boss, is he not?" Mitch defended himself, even as worry slipped in.

She narrowed her eyes, her fingers curling into a fist. "Yes… except that you are also best friends and never refer to the fact that you work for him. Also...we are secretly married to each other and you know better than to bring it up in public!" She abruptly moved to leave.

Mitch stiffened,before tapping his fingers against the tablecloth. "Of course, you had to secretly marry since who knows how your great uncle will react if he finds out that you are in love with his archenemy's cousin."

"Fifteen great Grandma's step-niece's third cousin, twice removed?" She slowly picked up her rather expensive purse, slipping the strap over the top of her head.

He looked at her for about five seconds, before something strange happened. His entire body shook as black lines leaked out of his eyes and beak, making a gagging noise. Snatching at the escaping shadow, he turned to yell at her. "Run Ella! Take the eggs and get out of here! She's onto you!"

"Mitch!" She widened her eyes in horror at the sight of her worst fears coming to life before running for it.

The shadow, now completely free from Mitch, gave chase, reaching out to grab her hair. Before it could do that successfully, Mitch summoned a magical ball of light into his hands, throwing it after the shadow. Screeching in pain, the shadow fled from the scene.

"Quick! Get back to the hospitable and check out your eggs! She will stop at nothing to destroy them." Mitch was out of breath, mostly from being possessed by a shadow.

Terrified, she continued running, her hands reaching up to make sure that her hair was still in place…

~A decade and one year later; Right after the Episode War of Shadows!~

The large living room in the mansion was absolutely filthy. A large female duck with a tight gray bun frowned, turning to face the eldest duck in the ragged group. "I was gone for no less than three days and you completely trash the place? Really McDuck… I thought you would have more sense than this! The place looks like a poor bachelor's pad. Not the mansion of the richest duck in Ducksburg!"

He shifted slightly, pushing his silk top hat further up his head. "I was really depressed Mrs. Bleakley… I mean really… I was just forced to share my worst memory with the boys! What did you expect me to do?"

Mrs. Bleakley pressed her mouth tightly shut, making her beak form a thin line. "I see. SO you being upset gives you permission to completely wreck the place?"

"Um? Granny? Can we discuss this later? I'm kind of tired." A young duckling, wearing a purple skirt, and long sleeved pink shirt, underneath a blue vest, spoke up, her countenance sad.

"Oh...of course dear. Go to your room then." Mrs. Bleakley faltered, just now remembering that her best friend that turned out to be a spy the entire time had just sacrificed herself to save her granddaughter.

The small duckling slipped away, barely acknowledging the presence of three identical boys that were her age in the room. The one in the red hat and shirt frowned, turning to face the medium sized male duck that was dressed like a sailor. "She really misses Lena, uh Uncle Donald?"

"I think losing Lena for her is like me losing Della. It leaves a hole in one's heart that can never be fixed properly, just covered briefly over time." Donald pulled his sailor hat off, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Never mind all that though. It is late. Bed boys."

"Ah! Uncle Donald!" The three boys whined in unison as they slouched off to the large grand staircase that the girl had just disappeared up on.

"No buts. It's about time you all started school again. And tomorrow is the best day to get you going there." Donald folded his arms, before turning to face his own uncle. "Isn't that right Uncle Scrooge?"

"You want to send them to school?" Scrooge McDuck stared at him as if he had grown a second head. The boys, sensing a 'grown-up' talk coming up, hurried up the stairs.

Donald grumbled intangibly as he dragged his hand over his face, glancing over at Mrs. Bleakley. The spy turned housekeeper cleared her throat nervously, glancing off to the side for one second. "Donald as a point sir. I have also signed Webby up for school starting tomorrow. It will be good for them."

"Wait...you signed Webby up?!" Donald and Scrooge both stopped to stare at her.

Mrs. Bleakley huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Yes. I can't be expected to keep her hidden away in here forever you know. All these adventures she has joined you on proves that."

"Yes...but well… what did you told the school board was your relation to her?" Donald worried about the hard time she would have received over the care for Webby, when he himself had received some difficulty. Of course, once he explained that they were his dead sister's kids that he was raising himself, they stop questioning why he wasn't a foster parent if he was raising kids that weren't his own.

"I told them enough to pacify them. Webby's….parentage, will remain need to know." Mrs. Bleakley informed her two companions firmly.

Relieved nods rippled through the group as they relaxed slightly. They could handle monsters any day of the week. It was the four ducklings parentage that, well the boys mother was the indirect cause of the mess the mansion was in. So far, nothing had came up about their father, or Webby's parents...and they certainly hoped that it would stay that way a little longer…

~Upstairs, Boys room~

"Huey! Tell Louey that I am not brushing his teeth for him!" A whine escaped the boy wearing the blue striped pajamas.

The boy that had been wearing a red shirt and hat downstairs, turned to eye his brother, even as he finished buttoning up his red striped pajama shirt. "Louey stop trying to get Dewey to do your stuff for you."

"Tattletale." The last boy, wearing a green striped pajamas muttered as he stuck his green toothbrush into his beak.

Dewey winced upon being called that, glancing nervously over at Huey. "So...um...now that we know what happened to our mom...do you want to learn what happened to our dad?"

Huey frowned, looking at his youngest brother. "Uh, I'm not even sure Uncle Donald and Uncle Scrooge ever mentioned his name before…."

"No." Louey spat out his toothpaste into the sink, before walking out of their private bathroom to glare at his brothers. "To get that information would mean to speak with Webby, and she is in mourning because of what happened to Lena."

The two other boys blinked slowly, before Dewey flung his hands in the air. "The world just ended."

Huey arched his eyebrow out, tugging on his hat that he was still wearing. "Since when did you care about what others are going through?"

Louey shrugged, a sheepish look crossing his face. "Webby's like the sister we never had to me. She's going through a rough time...and after seeing how our uncles reacted to a similar situation, makes me understand that we need to give her space... for now. She can't hide forever."

A/N: Ok, so Angel Talon and I are doing a contest to see about who can come up with the better DuckTales story about who the Triplets father is as well as Webby's parentage. We really don't have any limits on either number of words or chapters. If I feel as if someone is being OOC in my story, I will have the others characters point it out and they give a reason on why. Also, Mitch and the mysterious Van, as well as the pretty red head are all very much important. The red head is not an OC! Guess who she really is!

Review!

SkyTalon