Deepening Roots

Chapter 9

Auhtor's Note: Okay...This chapter took me forever to figure out. I wanted to make sure I wrapped everything up in this one. This is the final chapter. I really don't know if there will be a sequel or not. Just keep alook out.

Bushroot numbly felt being drug along as Darkwing brought him up to his feet. He stared into space, tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't know how long he was standing there on the rooftop, moments after he had just murdered, murdered, his friend. Five minutes. Five hours. Five days. He didn't know.

Faintly, as though in a distance, he could hear sirens. An ambulence. Fire fighters down below. The rain slowly stopped, until it was naught but a fine mist. He then felt someone hugging him and looked down to see it was Gosalyn. He didn't hug her back, he just stood there limply. "Come on, Bushroot. Now that Negaduck, Megavolt, Quackerjack, and Liquidator got away, we can't do much else here" she said, looking up at him.

'Negaduck? Oh, yes...Him...Just thinking about him makes me shudder... I higly doubt I've seen the last of them...' thought Bushroot. He finally looked up to see that Darkwing, Launchpad, and J. Gander Hooter were over near the other side of the roof, a group of policemen pouting over the knowledge of the Fearsome Four getting away.

"Well done, Darkwing. All in another day's work" J. Gander was saying.

"Yep, yep, yep. It's the least I can do when--" He was rudely interupted when Gosalyn elbowed him hard in the side. He had been fully prepared to show off his ego to the newspapers too. He looked down and saw her giving him a hard glare. He deflated. "Um...well, you see, J. Gander...It wasn't entirely me...who stopped all this..."

Hooter gave him a look of puzzlement. "Then who was it?"

Darkwing gestured over to Bushroot, who was still standing there several feet away, his mind still trying to grasp what was going on. J. Gander blinked.

"Dr. Bushroot, member of the Fearsome Five, saved the day?" gathered J. Gander, trying to comprehend what was being said. "he stopped the plants?"

"That's right! And he did a good job at it, too! See! I told you he was good!" cried Gosalyn with a sneeze. That last remark was aimed at her father.

Darkwing gave her a gentle scowl. "That's enough out of you, missy!" He picked her up, which she had no objection to. "You should be in bed!"

Gosalyn eyed her father. "But I had to be here for the action, dad!"

Bushroot sighed as he watched Negaduck be taken away to jail by helicopter. He knew that would be his fate ater all of this. Afterall, tearing up the city with his plants was a good reason to be sent to jail, whether it was his fault or no. He would still be blamed. Who wouldn't blame him?

He looked up, seeing Gosalyn stuggling to keep her eyes open in Darkwing's arms, as the hero spoke with J. Gander Hooter. Gosalyn wouldn't. She won't blame him. A tiny smile came upon his beak at the thought that at least one person would believe it wasn't his fault. But then again, she was just a child, meaning very few would believe her.

"Bushroot" Darkwing called over to him, breaking the plant duck's train of thought. The mallard was gesturing for him to come over.

"Oh, great. The moment of truth has arrived" he thought bitterly. "As though my day couldn't get any better. I already murdered my friend. What now?"

He slowly made his way over to where the 'Terror of the Night' and J. Gander Hooter stood, his root-like feet trudging along. He made his way over to Darkwing's side, forcing himself not to cringe.

"I've got to hand it to you, Bushroot, I didn't think it would be you saving the day, but you did" began Darkwing. Bushroot's foilage perked up. "And...you've recently saved Gosalyn from falling off of a roof, and I guess I never...properly thanked you..." Darkwing was staring at the ground at this point. Anyone could tell that it was hard for Darwking to admit all this. Not tomention all the damage it was doing to his ego. "I guess you're not so bad afterall..."

Bushroot beamed at these words. "I-I realy didn't mean for any of this to happen, I guess that things just got out a of control...I really never meant for anyone to get hurt..."

"Bushroot?" came Gosalyn's voice. Bushroot turned to her and saw she was fighting to stay awake. "Are you gonna to go back to being evil?"

Bushroot thought a moment about this question, then promptly shook his head. "I couldn't even if I wanted to...Negaduck would surely kill me the next time we saw each other. And I really don't want to be evil...I just want a friend." He looked up at Darkwing. "Am I asking too much?"

No one spoke for a long moment, then Gosalyn piped up, a little more energy in her voice. "Bushroot, will you be my friend?" Darkwing shifted at this questioned, yet kept his beak shut.

Bushroot's eyes widened in surprise. "Y-You're just saying that..."

"I am not. I really do want to be your friend" argued Gosalyn. "Why would I lieto you?"

"Many reason!" shot back Bushroot as he looked away. This conversation was making him nervous. He wasn't used to any of this.

"If it's a friend you need Bushroot, you really couldn't ask for a better friend than Gosalyn" commented Launchpad.

Darkwing tittered a bit, battling over whether he should speak or not. He eventually decided to. "As for Negaduck--" He paused, looking away as well. It made him look bad, in his opinion. He didn't want to look like a sissy hero, but he knew he had to. He cleared his throat. "As for Negaduck, I'll make sure he doesn't bother you. Seeing as--Seeing as you're not a villain anymore...you are now a normal..."he mumbled something to himself too softly to be heard. "Yes, normal citizen now, it is my job to protect you, as I do everyone else from Negaduck and other convicts."

Bushroot wringed his hands together. "You mean it?"

"Yes."

"We can be friends now, Bushroot. You won't have to turn to crime and evil anymore. You can be with us. You can fight back against Negaduck, with our help!" encouraged Gosalyn.

Darkwing gave out a nervous laugh. "Gosalyn, let's not rush on this!"

There was silence for a while. J. Gander Hooter was still standing nearby, knowing Darkwing would make the right decision.

"I would love to be your friend, Gosalyn" Bushroot said at last, a smile on his beak as he looked down at the cement. Gosalyn beamed at his reply, then winced as she rubbed one of the arms on her cuts. She couldn't help but let out a small "Ouch."

Darkwing responded in a heartbeat. "Now there, missy, you're going straight home!"

"But what about Bushroot!?" demanded the little red head.

Darkwing grimaced. "Well--" He looked up at the plant mutant. "I suppose...He could come back to the tower with us..." Bushroot nodded. "But you'll have to be blind folded. Just out of caution. No offense" Darkwing added quickly.

"Fair enough" shrugged Bushroot. "But...I won't be able to come right away...I need to clean up the mess that I started, afterall..." He looked down at all the confused plants, wondering what they were supposed to do next. Bushroot could hear most of the crying in agony at the loss of Dandren. He knew the death of Dandren would not be something to easily get over. He sighed, knowing he would have to go back to his children and explain to them what took place. He just prayed they would be able to understand. "I'm...going to go back to my Greenhouse. I'll take all my plants back...if I can. These days I don't even know if they'll do as I ask them to...And after what happened to Dandren, I really don't know..."

"Fine" said Darkwing, holding onto Gosalyn tighter. "If you want, we'll come for oyu later, at your place..."

"I can cook some burgers later!!" thrilled Lauchpad. Darkwing just shook his head as Bushroot left.

Sorrow. Sorrow was what Bushroot felt as he made his way down to be with his plants. It seemed like even the air itself was filled with remorse. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. He was now down where the burning ashes of Dandren lay, still smoking after the fire fighters had hosed him down.

Taking his leaf hand, Bushroot gently caressed what was once Dandren's large trunk. All the leaves were gone, most of the branches smoldered, roots destroyed. All that was left was the large section of Dandren's trunk, which was fully burnt to the core.

Tears spilt down his cheeks as he remembered all the times he'd gone to Dandren after having a bad day, telling him anything he wanted.

'Poor Master'

'Poor Dandren. Such a terrible fate.'

His plants were slowly making there way to where their master stood, crying for the great Dandren who had meant so much to them. Dandren had been an idol to the plants, seeing as how he had been so close with their master.

Bushroot was soon surrounded by his children, feeling the slightest bit of happiness that they had not turned on him after what had happened.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen..." whispered Bushroot, his voice filled with pain. He supposed he was talking to Dandren as he continued to touch the smoldered peices of bark. He knew the tree was gone forever, but a part of him still felt as though he needed to explain himself. "You were so great to me...I couldn't have asked for anyone better...You always listened to me like no one else had...Well, until the very end. Things got confusing there and we were both unsure of what the other wanted. But that's alright now. I forgive you...I suppose this whole time you were just trying to make me happy, as you've always said you were doing. I guess I should've kept my beak shut, for none of this would have happened if I did. It's my fault this happened to you..."

A small maple tree sapling that was about Bushroot's height came up from behind Bushroot and took one of its branches and gently tickling his cheek with its leaves. Bushroot smiled, turning to all the plants around him.

"Let's go home..." he said at last, rubbing his cheeks, which were still covered with tears.

'Yes, master. Home.'

'Yes, we will go home now.'

'The war is over.'

'We didn't win...'

Bushroot blinked at that last comment. He stopped, looking up and around at his plants. Worry, pain, and panic covered his face and could be heard in his voice as he spoke. "No...No, we did win..."

'We won?'

'How? Dandren is gone...'

'You are still unhappy.'

"No...I am very happy. Thanks to this war, I now have a friend. Her name is Gosalyn. She wishes to be a great friend of mine, which means she's willing to be friends with all of you. You'll see, things are going to change." There was a pause. "I mean, yes, I am unhappy. Unhappy that Dandren was killed, but there is nothing that can be done about it. Dandren would have been proud knowing that I am now happy...You see?"

'You make sense, master.'

'Yes, we understand.'

'We will be friends with this Gosalyn too.'

Bushroot smiled at this, wiping away the last of his tears. "Good, now let's go home." He raised his arms and on command all the plants started making there way back to the Greenhouse. As they went, it made Bushroot shudder as he looked to see all the damage his plants had made. Thankfully he didn't seem to be blamed for the damage. Yet. Bushroot groaned. Darkwing may not blame him, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world won't. Bushroot sighed and gave a lopsided smile. "It certainly is hard being the only mutant plant duck..."

The evening sunset fell down on the city with not a cloud in the sky the next day. The day before had been spent cleaning up the remains of the plant war. As Bushroot had predicted, he had been blamed for the damage, but it did not bother the mutant duck as long as Darkwing did not blame him.

"Come on, dad!" cried Gosalyn.

"I said 'no', Gosalyn!!" came Darkwing's angry reply on the other side of the room.

Bushroot looked over from looking out the large window of the tower and smiled. On the other side of the room sat a very angry Gosalyn. She was not getting her way since her father wouldn't let her do much dueto her cuts, which were practicially healed.

"Don't worry, Gosalyn" said Bushroot as he walked over and took off one of her bandages. "You're healing really fast and that aloe plant I gave you seems to be helping your skin and feathers a lot." Gosalyn wasn't able to keep her angry face for very long once Bushroot started talking.

She crossed her arms with a gentle scowl aiming for Darkwing on the other side of the room. "Yeah, I fell fine, but my dad doesn't think so..."

"I'd take you to me Greenhouse, but it can get kind of crazy in there due to my plants and experiments...And I'm not sure Darkwing would like that." suggested Bushroot sadly.

Gosalyn scoffed. "Wouldn't keep me form being your friend, if that's what you're getting at." she replied back. She already knew Bushroot was the type to pity himself. Not that she minded.

Bushroot turned around and sighed. He could see Darkwing talking with Launchpad about something over near the Ratcatcher. He then turned back to Gosalyn, soaking up the new part of his life.

"I don't really care what my dad thinks...I'm going to see your plants. I saw them the last time I was there...Before that physco tree threw me through a window..." Her last comment was a bit sour.

Bushroot winced. "Sorry about that. I promise, my plants won't do that you the next time." Gosalyn just beamed at this.

Gosalyn kept close to her promise and was friends with Bushroot. She seemed fascinated by all his plants. Darkwing was still rather unsure of the whole ordeal, yet he allowed the plant duck inside his hideout, blind folded, of course. Bushroot couldn't blame him. Launchpad was as friendly as ever near him. Actually, he was always friendly, period. He missed Dandren greatly, but it had been the only choice. If he wanted to make a new life and have friends, there were simply some things he had to change and get ird of. And sadly, Dandren had been one of those changes.

He walked back over to the window where he had placed a small pot. Inside was a small little sapling with one leaf. Bushroot knew that everyone deserved a second chance.

Author's Note: In case that wasn't good enough for you, I'll tell you that Gosalyn is FINE! Nothing else bad happens to her. Yes, she sneezes, but it means nothing. Her cuts heal up and everything. She just needed more rest.

I am planning a continuation of this fic, however, it'll be mainly based on Megavolt and Quackerjack. What I mean is, Bushroot will be reformed in the story, for this story takes place after Deepening Roots. Later.