Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens. From this small drop of sun grew a magic golden flower. It had the ability to heal the sick and injured! Pretty cool, right?

Anyway, like any super-magical thing, this flower caught the attention of some bad people.

You see, instead of sharing the sun's gift, this man- the hero Darkwing Duck- had hoarded its power and used it to keep himself young and famous for hundreds of years, and all he had to do was sing a special song.

“Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine

Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine

What once was mine.”

“So this kingdom, St. Canard? It was ruled by a beloved King and Queen. And the Queen was about to have a baby, but then she got sick. Really sick. She was running out of time.

And that's when people usually start to look for a miracle. Or in this case, a magic golden flower.

“The magic of the golden flower healed the queen. A healthy baby boy, a prince was born- with beautiful golden hair.

(I'll give you a hint. That's DW.)

To celebrate his birth, the King and Queen launched a flying lantern into the sky. For that one moment, everything was perfect- and then that moment ended.

“Darkwing, furious by the loss of his flower, youth, and fame, snuck into the castle one night and sung his song again, this time over the hair of the duckling. It worked, but then he cut the kid’s hair! It turned brown, and he got really old again, really fast.

So he kidnapped the kid and ran away, hiding them both so deep in St. Canard that nobody could find them for another twenty years…”

Chapter Text

Darkwing had found his magic flower again, and this time he wasn’t going to let it go. He raised the child as his own, becoming Uncle Jim, and told him nothing good about the outside world.

“Why can’t I leave the tower, Unca Jim?”

The older duck’s hands paused in their brushes. “The world out there is a dark and terrible place, Drake,” he said. “It’s filled with horrible, awful, selfish people. Do you remember what happened when you were a baby?”

“Uh-huh.” The duckling’s fingers went to a strand of brown hair, far shorter than the gold. “They cut it for the magic it has, and the magic went away.”

“That’s right.” Jim Starling smiled, and resumed brushing Drake’s hair, already longer than normal. “How about singing your song to me?”

“Okay, Unca Jim.” The duckling took a deep breath.

“Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine

Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine

What once was mine.”

When the child was done, Jim looked far younger than he previously had, and sat back with a satisfied smile. “That’s my favorite nephew.”

Drake giggled, turning around to look at him. “Unca Jim, I’m your only nephew!”

“All the more reason for me to keep you safe,” Jim responded, smile fading. “Promise me that you’ll never leave this tower.”

He asked this of Drake every night, and every night Drake answered the same thing. “I promise,” he said solemnly.

“Good boy,” said his uncle. “Now go to bed, and maybe Darkwing will bring you a present.”

Uncle Jim often left the tower by himself, dressing up in a purple wide-brimmed hat and matching cape. He’d become the famous superhero Darkwing Duck!

Drake idolized him.

However, the walls of the tower couldn’t hide everything. Once a year, on Drake’s birthday, the stars visible through his window would be joined by floating lights. They weren’t stars, or city lights- he’d figured that out pretty quickly- but every time he brought them up to his uncle, it would be the same.

“Promise me that you’ll never leave this tower.”

“I promise.”

And so several years passed this way, until Drake was nineteen. In two days, it would be his birthday, and he’d be twenty. The big two-zero! Maybe he’d finally get to go see the lights!