Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck, Scrooge McDuck or any other Disney character.

Authors Note: Again, this fic ties in with "The Path Chosen." This is the story of the one called Guardian, the Duck in White.

Meant To Be (Revised version)

Smoke rises from the ash and debris. Clouds of dust loom low over the scorched pavement. Twisted, molten heaps of metal and charred wood. Shattered glass. Stone and plaster scattered. Acres of destruction and ruin.

Hard to believe this was a busting Amusement Park only hours earlier, before he arrived.

Dark Warrior Duck.

Dark Warrior, the demented overlord from the future.

Dark Warrior, the monster that, in one ill fated reality, Darkwing Duck had become.

With his arrival into the present came chaos and destruction. He had brought so much pain and fear to those in the park this day.

But now, his terror has ended. There is nothing more to fear.

Dark Warrior is gone now, along with those who had pursued him into this time. They have taken him back to where he came from. The danger has passed.

There is nothing left to fear.

Nothing to fear.

The grounds of the destroyed park are cluttered with the remains of what were once toy and prizes. Bright shiny eye candies now broken and forgotten.

Such a waste, such a terrible waste. It is no wonder that, amidst all the ruin, a small shimmering silver object lay, half covered in dust and debris, is unnoticed.

A few days have passed, workers begin to clean up the mess. One worker begins clearing away the fragments of what is left of an artificial cavern. He is moving a large chunk of roughcast, that appears to have been part of the fake cavern walls, when something catches his eye, in the midst of piles of rubble. A silvery shimmer that reflects the small amount of sunlight that escapes into the otherwise dark area.

Curious, he kneels and digs it out. He holds the small square object up to the light. It appears to be a tiny CD in a clear case. It is Definitely out of place. Not something that should be found in the middle of a fallen thrill ride.

It looks as though it could be something valuable. Perhaps worth some money to the right people. Or perhaps some kid just lost his computer game – still.

The worker knows he should really turn it in to his supervisor.

He should...but, he glances around quickly to make sure nobody is looking before slipping it into his pocket.

SHUSH Headquarters, that same day...

J. Gander Hooter enters the SHUSH lab, where Dr. Bellum is waiting for him.

"What is the problem Dr. Bellum?"

They stand in front of SHUSH's super computer.

Sara Bellum points to the giant monitor "Look for yourself." On the monitor, there is a view of what appears to be outer space, except there is a spectral light pattern across the screen. Within the band of light there appeared to be a narrow blemish, like a single thread in a tapestry, that is slightly out of sync with the rest of the band of light. "This light pattern is the time and space continuum. After our little visit from all Darkwing's possible future selves, I decided to monitor the continuum, to make sure there was no permanent damage done.

It seemed to be normal at first, but today for some reason, what appears to be a small flaw seems to have appeared."

"A flaw? In the time and space continuum? What does this mean Dr. Bellum? Could this be dangerous." J. Gander asks with deep concern.

"I don't know at this point. It could possibly be some sort of remnants of the earlier damage done to it when Dark Warrior crossed over. A scar, so to speak." She explains. In spite of her obvious concern for the possible disturbance to known reality, there is a definite perk of scientific curiosity in her voice.

J. Gander studies the screen for awhile "If this is just a scar, then doesn't that mean that the tear has healed?"

She nods but adds "It is a question of rather or not it's healed properly."

J Gander is more than a little concerned "What can we do about it?"

Bellum gazes at the screen thoughtfully before replying "At the present time, nothing. We'll just have to give it time."

Bad things happen all the time. Life goes on.

Months pass, seasons change. Life goes on.

3: 47 AM in St. Canard.

573 Avian Way. A little girl sleeps peacefully in her bed. Nestled under her blanket, warm and safe.

As far as anybody knows, her father is home with her, sleeping in the room next to hers. The house is locked up. The burglar alarm is on. The smoke detectors are working properly. Her father will be home soon.

She never fears being alone in the night. If she ever needs him, she knows he'll be there. He always comes home.

Down stairs in the living room, the empty blue chairs begin to spin. They stop and one is now occupied.

The occupant rises from the chair, without hesitation he moves stealthily up the stair case. Quietly, he opens the door to the child's room and enters.

Stepping alongside her bed, he leans over to see her restful face, half buried in her pillow.

She stirs in her sleep, mumbling something about a dog show and having replaced the flea spray with industrial strength hair remover?

He steps back quickly as if afraid of waking her.

She tosses a bit before rolling onto her other side without waking, then she's quiet.

Seeing that she is still asleep, he smiles and steps back up to the bedside. He watches her sleep. So peaceful, so innocent.

He leans in closer watching her in the faint glow of moonlight that shows through her window. She looks so small.

A sound coming from down stairs draws his attention.

The chairs?

Swiftly he goes from the room to the banister, staying in the shadows.

Voices come form the darkness down stairs.

He listens.

"Boy what a night! I'm headed for bed. How about you DW?"

"Yeah, me too, just as soon as I check in on Gos."

Quickly, the figure slinks back into the girls room.

Darkwing Duck trudges warily up the stairs to his daughters room. He slips in quietly and looks down at his sleeping child.

He removes the dark blue visors that have replaced his purple mask, allowing his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Though his eyes are now sensitive to light, he can see well enough without them in the dark.

He smiles at the sight of his daughter resting so peacefully. He leans down to kiss her, when he feels a chilling breeze. Glancing at the window he sees that it is open.

He walks over to the window and closes it. Really, Gosalyn should know better than to leave the window open on such a chilly night. She'll catch her death one of these days.

Turning from the window to leave, he freezes, suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of foreboding. He lifts his eyes to look at his child, sleeping quietly.

Something isn't right!

Spinning quickly back to the window, he replaces the visors over his eyes and gazes out into the darkness.

He sees nothing, but still, there is an almost overwhelming sensation surging through his entire body.

He tries unsuccessfully to suppress the thoughts that have flooded his mind, but he can't. He can't ignore the voice in his head telling him his daughter was not alone in the house this night?

To be continued...

From the Author: OK I had some issues with my health the last few months and I think it really effected my writing, but I'm feeling much better now, so I'll give it another try. I wasn't real happy with the original version so I gave it anoverhaul.

MUCH of the contents of the first version is in integrated into this one, but hopefully the story isn't as choppy as the first.