Chapter Text
It had been two weeks. Two weeks since they’d last seen Louie.
Dewey couldn’t think of any time he had been apart from either of his brothers for more than two or three days. After the first night, Huey had already begun to panic. And when Huey panicked over Louie, Dewey was close to follow. He normally would try to look positively on his baby brother- but in Louie's absence, Huey was the one who had to be rational.
The last time they saw him, Louie had gotten into trouble for one of his schemes. Donald and Della had had a long argument between the two of them over it, with their Uncle taking Louie's side and claiming he was still just a kid, while Della had been saying Louie had needed to make a change.
For once, Dewey had been mad at his mother. This was his baby brother after all- he loved Della, but she had been gone their whole lives. She didn't know Louie like they did, and she didn’t know how badly her words must have hurt him.
Webby had been the one to make peace between the twins, telling Della it wasn’t even Louie's fault that his scheme had gone a bit awry. He had initially planned for it to be only himself going into that dangerous city, but the other kids had stowed away on the car ride Louie got from LP. It was the three of them that had messed everything up, and Louie had been the one in more danger than any of them.
The explanation had cooled the woman, and Donald's continued rant was enough to make her have some realizations on how she had been treating her youngest son. After giving an apology to him though, Louie had claimed fatigue and asked to go to bed early. He was still grounded for a few days for having left on a scheme without informing anyone, putting himself at risk, but he seemed fine with it…
The last they saw him was when he was lying in bed that night. The following morning though? Nothing but a crumpled up letter.
I’ll see you all as soon as I can.
The issue? The handwriting was very close, but it most certainly was not Louie's handwriting.
Huey had obsessed over it for a bit, but the others had tried to push it aside. Della was a bit upset Louie had just up and left again without a word, but calmed herself as she reminded herself that she needed to be more open minded and caring for her youngest son. It would still take her time, but she was working on it.
Things changed when 24 hours passed by without a word. Louie didn’t answer any calls and texts had gone unread. They all worried a little, but knew Louie would contact them if anything was really wrong. Dewey had begun to panic along with his older brother, not used to Louie doing something this extreme.
That’s when he remembered that Louie had a tracker on his phone.
Louie had once mentioned it to Dewey after Only Child Day, when he had been semi-abducted by Doofus Drake. Dewey had for the most part overlooked it when Louie had put the tracking app on the three of their phones and even Webby’s, saying he would feel more comfortable if they could all find each other when needed.
Telling Huey about it, they opened up the app.
When they gathered everyone into the family room, they all fully began to realize the gravity of the situation when Dewey showed them Louie's phone, tablet, and laptop had all been abandoned in his office.
They had checked out all of their enemies, but none of them could have, would have, or had taken Louie. He wasn’t with any other family members or friends, and BOYD made absolutely certain his creepy older brother had abducted Louie again(for the third/fourth) time.
Officer Cabrera wasted no time in coming to help them. She had a team go over the home and area around. After about half an hour of looking at the shared bedroom and having her partner and team look over the note, she entered the dining room where they all waited anxiously, a sorrowful look on her face.
“Everything I’m going to tell you is important, understood? Know I wouldn’t be telling you unless it was relevant and needed to be heard… You won’t like any of it, but know that I’m just trying to help.”
They all nodded.
“You ad a break in.” Everyone gasped at this. “The path is almost gone, but we found that someone had parked a car into the woods behind the mansion. The scuff marks on the wall outside of the tower room, as well as the direct path taken- they all point out that someone came with the full intention of taking your child. They knew where to find him and left out the window with him. The windows’ lock had been picked and the note was quickly done.”
Della started to cry in panic, her breath starting to pick up in panic. Someone had stolen her baby.
Officer Cabrera seemed hesitant to continue further, asking that the children leave the room for now. They tried to protest, but Mrs. Beakley saw that things were about to get serious. She closed the door, but she should have remembered that it wouldn’t be enough to keep them from listening through the cracks.
“The note?” The cop continued, “They tried to make it seem like it was from him, but they clearly didn’t care enough to put forth enough effort… This is a sign in kidnappers that they don’t care if you find out what they’ve done. It’s been two days already and they haven’t given any calls or messages for ransom, and you’ve received no sign of your sons well-being…”
Oh no…
“Louie fits into the average age of children who are studied and then abducted… In child abductions of Louie’s age range, 89% of the time the missing child dies within 24 hours of disappearing-”
She gave them a moment as Della wailed, Donald just being a bit quieter as the twins hugged each other close.
Dewey couldn’t listen anymore. He ran to their bedroom, bursting in and climbing into Louie's bed, ignoring the two officers who had been speaking by the window. Huey followed suit and softly asked them to give them some space. Soon it was just the two of them and Webby, all three hugging close on Louie's bed, crying for their missing brother.
An hour later and an amber alert had been put into place.
There were no signs for two weeks. The amber alert was put out fresh every other morning.
No one spoke of a funeral. Until Louie was found, alive or de- alive , they wouldn’t do anything about it.
After the first week had passed with no calls, Officer Cabrera told them he could still be alive. “They didn’t hide the fact they took him all that well. They wanted you to know they took him, so they would have given you some sort of clear sign if he was dead.”
It raised their hopes as much as they needed it to.
Two weeks had passed though, and their worries had grown frantic. Huey had made the mistake of looking up information on prolonged kidnappings. The most common motive for such had made him grow sick.
They wished that Louie was safe and unharmed more than they even hoped to see him again. They just hoped he would be okay…
After two weeks, they had started with a semi-normal day. They hadn’t gone on an adventure without Louie and still didn’t plan to.
Scrooge was just looking over that morning's newspaper when his phone rang. He answered without even looking at it, “Scrooge McDuck…”
“...Well jeez, what’s got your bagpipes all tied in knots?”
Scrooge gave a sorrowful smile, “Hello again, Goldie.”
The woman chuckled lightly, “Hey there, Money Bags. Look, I’m just now getting back into the states and all- mind explaining why you have an alert out for your nephew?”
Scrooge cringed, honestly having forgotten to tell his on-and-off girlfriend about the abduction. She had mentioned something about leaving the country the day of or after Louie's disappearance, and he had been too preoccupied to try and get ahold of her. “Goldie… Louie was kidnapped.”
She must have not taken him seriously enough as she immediately responded with a light laugh. “Uh-huh. Seriously though, what's up with the amber alerts? I just got like seven of them back to back now that my phone is back on. Is it an inside joke or something?”
Sighing, the man couldn’t handle the idea of the situation being taken so lightly. He knew she most likely just didn’t understand, or was trying not to in hopes it really was a joke- but it wasn’t.
“Goldie. Louie was kidnapped two weeks ago. No jokes about it.” The others become more quiet at the table, any attempts to lighten the morning going stale and cold.
Goldie was silent for a few seconds before speaking in confusion, “You do realize it isn’t legally kidnapping if the kid went willingly and gave consent, right? That’s still a part of the law here in Calisota?”
...What?
Scrooge frowned, sitting up now as he tried to better process what was just said. “Pardon?”
“I mean, it’s not like he’s actually gone or whatever- he’s literally sitting beside me eating a churro. I grabbed a bunch to bring over as well, but the kid and I got hungry on our flight back and couldn’t stand the plane food they had upon our return. So most of them are eaten, but the rest I had locked up unt-”
“LOUIE’S WHERE ?!” At this, the rest of the family followed his example in jumping to a stand, shock and hope filling the room at his words.
“Erm, right next to me? I know he’s probably too young to sit in the passenger seat, but I don’t trust him to not eat all the other churros before we get back to town… No, I don’t ,” she was now speaking to someone else there with her, the phone held a bit away from her. “Kid, you got sick and cacked one out all over my bathroom. Don’t try to tell me you can handle sugar.”
Scrooge’s eyes widened in shock. “Is that him?! Put him on the phone!”
“Okay, okay! Yeesh… Lou, Money Bags wants to talk to you… No, it sounds like he’s about to have a seizure if I don't, so you gotta take it. I’m also driving and lucky I wasn’t pulled over by the cop we just passed a- aand never mind here he comes…”
The phone was handed over and Scrooge felt tears well up as Louie's voice came through the speaker. “Uncle Scrooge? Look, can we call you back in a few minutes? Aunt Goldie’s getting pulled over because she doesn’t know how to dri- OWW! What, you don’t ! Even Launchpad is a better driver!” There was another sound of a smack to the back of the boy's head.
Scrooge stuttered over his reply. “I-i, I cannot believe… Louie, is it really…?”
He heard his nephew groan before saying to Goldie. “I told you to watch your speeding! Look, Uncle Scrooge? We’re on our way there anyways, so can this wait another hour? Tell the others I’ll see them soon, and don’t tell my brothers about the churro’s!”
The phone hung up, leaving the older duck standing there in bewilderment. The family looked to him with bated breaths, all waiting for an explanation. “Well?” Della asked. “Where is he?”
Scrooge opened and shut his beak a few times before frowning in confusion. “...Getting churro’s?”