Faith Is Found In the Winds

Their first official day together as a family had already filled Drake with enough glowing memories to practically heal his injuries, he felt.

After signing the adoption papers, he, Gosalyn, and Launchpad had driven through St. Canard's suburbs in search of a new house for the three of them, during which Gosalyn and Launchpad learned that they shared a mutual love of crooning to the car radio, much to Drake's reluctant amusement. Drake, for his part, pointed out the various hideouts of the local crime scene when they passed them, and all three swapped stories about their lives before the Taurus Bulba fiasco. Before finding each other.

It already felt so natural, so right, to be in each other's lives.

Of course, that didn't mean that they didn't still have a lot to learn about each other.

As late afternoon took a hold of the sky and Launchpad started to drive their new station wagon away from Hamburger Hippo, where they'd gotten an early dinner to go, Gosalyn piped up from the backseat. "Can we stop by the cemetery on the way home?"

If her request hadn't been so disarming, Drake would've smiled at her calling Darkwing Tower "home." Until they could make an offer on a real one, his hideout was all they had. But instead he sputtered around a mouthful of fries, "The cemetery—! Gosalyn, honey, I...why?"

"There's someone I want you to meet," she answered.

A shiver ran down his spine. When he called her "spirited" before, he hadn't expected the term to be so literal. "Well, that's not ominous in the least..."

"Y-Yeah, couldn't it wait until tomorrow? Or until Drake can drive again? You know, when I'm not here?" Launchpad cut in. He already looked like he'd seen a ghost by the way he had the steering wheel in a death grip.

Still, she insisted. "Please? It's important."

One look over his shoulder was enough to convince Drake. Gosalyn didn't look like she was trying to trick them. Gone was the boisterous, carefree attitude that had filled the car with squeaky singing earlier; rather, a somber little girl with pleading eyes stared back at him, searching for his trust, and he had the sinking feeling he knew who she wanted him to meet.

"Launchpad...go to the cemetery."

"Aw, man!"

After a quick stop at a corner flower stand to pick up a bouquet of gladioli, the trio arrived at the cemetery. Launchpad parked on the curb right outside the gate, and after giving Drake a chance to get situated with his crutch, they walked in together.

An orange glow crept over the cemetery as the sun began its descent towards the horizon, giving the rows of graves an otherworldly aura. A slight breeze made Drake wish he was in his Darkwing outfit, not only for the added warmth of the cape and thicker jacket, but to fend off the nagging sense of death lurking behind him.

While Launchpad wasn't faring much better, Gosalyn took in her surroundings in stride. She kept her chin held high as she marched a step ahead and lead the way down a path of engraved headstones and freshly-cut grass with flowers in hand. The image filled Drake with guilt and a desire for vengeance; his daughter shouldn't have been this familiar with a graveyard. As grateful as he was to have her in his life now, she was too young to know death this well. Too precious to have that innocence of mortality marred, and if Drake could, he would have gladly fixed things to take that knowledge away from her.

"We're here," Gosalyn announced.

"Let's not stay 'here' more than we need to, huh?" Launchpad rambled out as he checked his personal blind spots for any ghoulish threats. "I-I say we leave before it gets dark. Or if anything besides us shows up."

Drake shushed him with a nudge from his good elbow, then took a half-step closer to read the tombstone before them and confirm what he'd already suspected in the car: this was Professor Waddlemeyer's grave.

As quiet as ever, Gosalyn crept forward and laid the gladioli at the base of the marker, taking the time to make sure they were adequately arranged and shielded from the wind as much as possible. When she stood back to admire her work, she instinctively reached for Drake's hand, and he obliged her after handing his crutch off to Launchpad. It was only then that he realized she was trembling.

Before he could do anything about it, Gosalyn gave his hand a gentle tug to have him shuffle forward a few steps with her. "Grandpa, this is Drake," she presented, her voice surprisingly calm. "He's gonna be my new dad and take care of me, right?" She looked up at him with green eyes full of hope and want.

Drake choked up as tears pricked the corners of his vision. He hadn't expected Gosalyn to want to come to the cemetery to do this; at most he thought "meeting someone" would've just entailed paying their respects with the flowers.

Despite feeling caught off-guard, he nodded and cleared his throat. "Right. I..." he faltered as a delayed sense of responsibility slid onto his shoulders. "Right. I promise." He pulled Gosalyn close to his side in a one-armed hug that she returned, which seemed to calm her nerves.

They all stood there for a moment longer as the breeze whistled past them. All the words of comfort that failed Drake's beak, he squeezed into her shoulders, and that seemed to spur her on.

"Y'know, Grandpa used to tell me that if something ever happened to him, he would send the brightest star in the night sky to watch over me, and a rainbow to reach it so I could talk to him."

If his heart wasn't already shattered at his feet before, it sure was now. He needed to say something, lest he start crying. "Gosalyn, sweetie, I don't think he needs to send you a rainbow so you can talk to him."

"He doesn't?"

"Nah. It's like he sang to you: you've got a rainbow right inside of you." Drake punctuated his point by poking her shoulder with his finger. "You are a rainbow. My little rainbow, now."

Gosalyn buried her face into his side, and this time, he was positive he heard her sniffling. He soothed a hand down her back and planted a kiss on her forehead, and figured it was best time that they headed home. Only, now that he was here, there was one more thing he wanted to do.

Drake kept an eye on the grave as he leaned back to whisper, "Launchpad, will you take Gos back to the car, please?" When he didn't get an answer, he turned to find Launchpad downright blubbering over their exchange. "Whoa, you okay, buddy?"

"Just fine, DW." Launchpad blew into a bandana he must've kept in his pocket. "Just some allergies...probably from the grass. Sorry. Yeah, I'll take her back."

Drake gave him a sympathetic smile before looking down to answer Gosalyn's questioning stare. "I'll just be a second."

"M'kay." She gave him one last hug before walking over to place a hand on Waddlemeyer's tombstone, looking back at Drake as she murmured, "Thanks, Grandpa."

After giving him back his crutch, Launchpad took Gosalyn by the hand and together they walked back to the gate, leaving Drake with glassy eyes and silence. He thought about what he was going to say as he waited for them to be out of earshot, the sky growing dim above.

"She's a brave one, that kid..." he began once he was completely alone, his gaze transfixed on the tiny indents he was making in the grass with his crutch. "After everything she's lost, she still refuses to lose her spirit." He chuckled softly. If it came down to the end of the world versus Gosalyn's spunk, he'd put his money on her without a second thought.

The petals of the gladioli rustled in kind, and Drake sighed, growing serious and turning his stare back to the grave.

"Mr. Waddlemeyer...er, sir...I don't know if you can hear me, but I'll do everything in my power to watch over Gosalyn, just as I know you are. But..." he swallowed thickly. What he was about to ask was so selfish, he knew, but something in the back of his mind needed to get this off his chest. A sort of hero's prayer he needed to offer to the heavens. To that star shining down on St. Canard.

"I know I live a dangerous life, so...please, keep me safe, for Gosalyn's sake. Keep me safe, so I can keep her safe and protect her for you. Please..."

It was all he had to live for now, keeping Gosalyn out of harm's way so she could light up the world. He didn't want to fail her, or her grandfather.

The wind picked up once again. Despite the way his daughter had so carefully arranged the bouquet, a petal broke free from the gladioli and flew towards Drake, landing squarely on his chest. He'd never been one to give much thought to them before, but Drake decided to take it as a sign.

"Thank you," he whispered up to the sky.

The last bit of sunset caught the renewed glint of purpose in Drake's eye as he made his way back to the car and his new family. Night was ready to dawn, and with it, a new life for them all.

So I finished Darkwing Duck for the first time last week, and I got this little headcanon for the aftermath of the first episode, because apparently I have a thing for "first night" fics. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading and reviewing!