Concrete Angel
A Darkwing Duck Fanfic
by E. Grimes

All Darkwing Duck characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. ~ La Author


My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete Angel...

~~from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

___________________________________________

Chapter V

For some seconds, Gosalyn felt as if her heart had stopped beating---that she, rather than the statue,
had been so cruelly smashed and broken.

She had watched helplessly, her hands clasped to her beak in horror; but now she sank to the floor,
trembling, and huddled over what remained of her birthday present. Negs stood glaring down at her,
while Tank gazed at his little friend in pity. The other Muddlefoots and Launchpad only looked on
smugly.

"Well, I hope she's learned her lesson!" Binkie declared.

Tank shot a look at her, suddenly feeling that he purely hated his family. He watched sadly as Gosalyn
slowly picked up a fragment of the angel's face, clasping it to her chest and staring down at the other
pieces, her eyes glazed as if in shock.

"Why?" she said brokenly, as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Why??"

"Now go to your room!" ordered Negs.

Gosalyn didn't move.

"Did you hear me?" repeated the angry mallard. "Did you turn into a statue all of a sudden?"

His last remark seemed to bring the duckling out of her trance, and she looked up at Negaduck
with injured and bewildered eyes.

"Why did you do that?" she asked. "Why, Daddy?"

Ignoring the 'Daddy' remark, Negs gave a sconrful laugh. "Why do you think, kid? You've been
living with me long enough to figure that out..."

Gosalyn nodded, a shaky sob escaping her throat. "Because," she whispered, "you hate me..."

"You speak up when you talk to me, missy---" snarled her guardian.

"Because you hate me! Because you hate me!!" Gos cried out in a strangled voice as she jumped
up to face Negs---heedless, in her despair, of any consequences. "You hate me! You always have!!
That's why you broke my angel. You broke her just because you knew it'd hurt me..."

"You got a lotta nerve, kid!" yelled Negaduck. "You didn't want my present, but you're more than
happy to take anything from those four losers!!" He snorted in disgust. "I'll bet if they'd given you
that gargoyle, you'd have taken it, wouldn't you?"

Gosalyn bowed her head. "Maybe I would have."

"What??"

The little girl shut her eyes tight as she repeated. "Maybe I would have. Because they love me.
That's why I go to see them...they love me. And you don't. You never did, Daddy..."

"I've told you over and over: don't call me 'Daddy'!" Negs warned angrily.

"You see??" Gosalyn replied, fresh tears in her eyes. "You won't even let me call you 'Daddy'. I loved
you, no matter how mean and evil you were! But you don't want me to love you...you don't even want
me to love anyone else."

"Listen, little Miss Smarty-Pants!" Herb broke in. "Dat's Lor' Neg'duck youse mouthin' off at. You just
oughta watch yourself."

"That's right!" added Binkie. "You should respect him and show him some gratitude, young lady. He took
you in and gave you a home, after all!"

You call THIS a home?? Gosalyn thought, but a more important question was on her mind.

"Why did he take me in?" she inquired sadly. "Why did you, Lord Negaduck?"

"None of your business! Now get to your room, like I told you to!" snapped her guardian.

"No!!" blurted Gosalyn.

Binkie and Herb gasped. Tank's jaw dropped, while his brother and Launchpad only stared.
Negaduck looked startled---Gosalyn had never talked back to him like that. But his surprise
quickly turned to rage.

"What did you say?!" he demanded in a terrifyingly quiet voice. It was the tone he often used just
before his anger was about to explode into violence---the literal calm before the storm.

Tank was far too familiar with the signs. "Gosalyn, please," he whispered to her. "Do as he tells
you!"

"But it is my business!" insisted the heartbroken duckling. "I want to know, I've got a right to know!
Why did you take me away from my mother and father? I wanted to be with them..."

Negaduck glowered at her incredulously. "Are you crazy?? They were stone dead! Besides," he
added with a sneer, "you weren't complaining when I took you away. You latched onto me, just
like the little leech you are!"

"Then if you didn't want me, why didn't you leave me? Whoever killed Mom and Dad would have
killed me, too...and I'd be in Heaven with them!"

Negaduck blinked, for some reason unable to reply directly to that. When he finally did, as usual it
was with an insult. "Heaven, huh? Maybe you'd have gone to Hell instead!"

"I already did!" shot back Gosalyn. "I am in Hell, here with you!!"

Negaduck laughed sardonically. "Flattery will get you nowhere, little Miss Gosalyn," he said as he
started to turn away.

Gosalyn shook her head despairingly. There seemed to be no reaching the heart or the conscience of
her de facto parent.

"You still won't tell me why you brought me home," she continued. "Why didn't you just leave me where
you found me? Someone else would have seen me and taken me away. At least, you could have dumped
me off at the orphanage downtown---"

She stopped as Negs stiffened---she could not have known that her last remark had touched a very sore
spot in her guardian's psyche.

Suddenly the masked mallard whirled around to face her. His face had turned strangely pale, his expression
like one who had been slapped. But the look in his eyes was the most puzzling of all: a curious, maniacal
merge of hatred and fear, anger and sorrow.

"Shut up!!!" he screamed. "Don't even mention that *$#@!* place to me again---never, never again!!
Do you understand? Do you??"

The Muddlefoots stared at him uneasily; this was something unusual for them.

"Ya okay, Lor' Negs?" asked Herb. But Negaduck ignored him, his attention riveted on Gosalyn as
he now advanced toward her. He actually seemed to be trembling, his emotions getting more intense
with each sentence.

"Don't you ever talk about that orphanage again in your life, you hear me?? You hear me??! " he
continued to screech as he came closer to the frightened child, the same wild gleam in his eyes---
he was all but foaming at the mouth at this point. "You mention it again, you little snot, and I'll...I'll...!"
He raised his hand threateningly.

"Don't you touch her!" Tank warned, rushing over and standing in front of the child. In spite of his own
fear of Negaduck, Gosalyn's safety mattered more. "If you want to hurt somebody, then hurt me! She's
just a little thing..."

"Get him out of here!!" Negaduck snarled at Binkie, who was quick to obey. The Muddlefoot youth
glanced back anxiously at Gosalyn, who stood before Negaduck in both defiance and resignation---
like a martyr about to be devoured by lions.

"Go ahead---get it over with!" she pleaded. "I hope you kill me! Then you won't have to put up with
me any more..."

She waited, sobbing, shutting her eyes and steeling herself for the blow that would surely come any
moment. Negs stared at her furiously, his arm still raised...

Then, surprisingly, he put it down. He stood breathing hard, still glowering at her, not speaking for
the moment.

"You listen to me, missy," he said at last. "Never mind why I brought you here. You're here,
whether you like it or not. This is my world, and I'm running it the way I want---and you'd just
better learn to deal with it. Get me??"

Gosalyn did not answer at first. She only gazed in anguish at the statue's sad remains on the floor,
as Negaduck's hateful words sank like daggers into her heart.

'Learn to deal with it' ---with his world? Whether she liked it or not?

No. Not now. Not after what he'd just done.

"Well? Anything else to say, daughter of mine?" sneered her guardian.

The child slowly looked up at him, as anger she thought she could never feel began to rise
within her soul. And with that anger came another feeling she'd never had before...

"I ha---" she began. Yet she could not bring herself to say 'hate'---even now. But she was able
to say something else. With hot tears rolling down her face, Gosalyn declared:

"I don't love you anymore."

Negaduck's eyes narrowed, the child's words seeming to hang in the air. Indeed, his little ward
was full of surprises tonight.

"And am I supposed to care?" he said at last.

Gosalyn was positive he didn't. Though for a moment she thought she had seen something in his
eyes; something that wasn't there often. Hurt. That her words had hurt him.

No, that can't be it, she mused bitterly. You can't feel hurt, Daddy. You don't care if I don't love
you. I think you're even glad.

"I don't think you do care," she replied.

Negs stood glaring for some seconds; then he gave a dry, sardonic laugh. Finally he snarled:

"Go to bed!"

Still clutching the piece of the angel's face, Gosalyn silently walked to her room without a further
glance at Negaduck. Once she was inside and the door shut, her pillow would be once again wet
with tears...

_______________________________________

Tank Muddlefoot was too worried about Gosalyn to concern himself with whatever awful punishment
his own parents might have in store. That his hideous little brother was gloating over the incident didn't
escape his notice, however.

"Ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!" Honker howled gleefully. "Gosalyn got her dumb statue broke! I hope Lord
Negaduck's beatin' the crap outta her right now---"

In righteous anger at this last remark, Tank grabbed Honker and punched him dead in the face.

As the smaller Muddlefoot boy lay on the ground, dazed, Tank glared up defiantly at Herb and Binkie,
his fists clenched, as they stared at him open-mouthed.

Whatever they do to me will be worth this, he thought with satisfaction. But to his astonishment (not
to mention Honker's), his parents seemed more proud than angry.

"Never thought ya had it in ya, son," Herb said as he mussed Tank's neatly-combed hair.

"That's right!" chirped Binkie. "And all this time we were afraid we'd raised a wuss. Looks like
you're not shaming the family after all, Tank dear."

"I'll get you later, punk," Honker muttered angrily as he tried to stop his nose from bleeding.

"And I'll be waiting for you, creep," his brother retorted, feeling he'd at least come ahead anyway. But
his concern was more for Gosalyn; he had to help her now, and he knew just who to turn to...

___________________________________________

"I oughta give you something to cry about," Negaduck muttered as he glared at Gosalyn's closed
door and trudged over to his chair.

"Why don't ya?" Launchpad asked, surprised that Negs had come so close to actually hitting the
child but for some reason had held himself back. He never did with anyone else, including LP.

The malicious pilot had often wondered himself why his boss never physically harmed Gosalyn; he
had also strictly forbidden LP and the Muddlefoots to do so, though that wasn't so hard to understand
---they felt Gos was Negaduck's 'property' and everyone knew better than to touch Lord Negaduck's
possessions (they were sure it was even carved on a stone tablet somewhere).

"Why didn't ya hit 'er, Lor' Neg'duck?" repeated the pilot. "She had it comin'. She's yours, ain't she?
Ya can smack her aroun' all ya want to---"

"Mind your own business, you stupid lunkhead!" snarled Negs, glaring daggers at him. "You don't
tell me how to take care of my kid!"

LP frowned uneasily. "Just wonderin', is all," he replied meekly.

Negaduck, strangely, was in no mood to argue. "Why don't you go eat something, you big ape?"
he suggested sourly. "And watch one of your stupid gangster movies. Just stay outta my way!"

Launchpad brightened. "Okay!" He happily lumbered into the kitchen and turned on the TV,
then headed, as usual, for the refrigerator.

Negaduck slumped down into his chair, then jumped up instantly as something hard and sharp
jabbed him in the rump.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" he screamed.

LP poked his head out of the kitchen but for a moment, then shrugged and resumed his business.
Cursing under his breath, Negs turned to find the gargoyle statue in his seat---he had forgotten he'd
thrown it there. Ironically, the figure's blazing red eyes and ugly grinning mouth seemed to be mocking
Negs' discomfort.

"Oh, yeah??" snapped the masked mallard as he grabbed the statue and hurled it against the wall, snarling
a steady stream of words that are best left unprinted.

_______________________________________________________

Gosalyn had continued crying softly for some time---she didn't think she would ever stop, as the evening's
terrible events played back over and over in her mind. It seemed quite obvious now that her life with Negs
wasn't going to get any better, and so there seemed only one solution left.

She had to leave. Now. And never, ever come back. But how could she get away, and where could
she go?

Suddenly, Gos heard a scratching at her window. She turned and gave a startled gasp as a large oak
tree crept up to the window and opened it. But her fear quickly turned to relief as she remembered
who it was that could make trees move around and do other amazing things...

"Gosalyn?" a familiar voice called softly outside. The red-haired duckling ran quickly to the window,
and was surprised---and just a little nervous---when the tree's branches lifted her out and drew her
up. But Bushroot was standing at the top, dressed in the purple hat and cape that he and the Three
wore in their guise as Darkwing's Ducks. Seeing Gosalyn's tear-stained face, the mutant plant-duck
gazed at her anxiously, but held a leaf-like finger to his beak just as Gos was about to greet him.
Realizing the danger, Gosalyn kept quiet but couldn't hold back the tears as Bushroot took her into
his arms.

"Don't cry, baby...I'm here," he whispered gently, stroking her hair. "They didn't hurt you or
anything, did they?"

The child shook her head. "But Negs broke my angel," she whispered back, sniffling as she
clung to him.

"I was afraid of that," the plant-duck answered sadly. "But it'll be all right, honey. Let's gather
up what you can carry, and go meet the others. It's time for you to leave this place."

Gosalyn could no longer argue with that. Going back into her room, she locked her door and
quickly bundled up a few of her things, then slipped away with Bushroot.

Wrapping her protectively in his cape, he carried her to where the Three waited at an old
building on the outskirts of town---feeling that the place they'd held Gosalyn's party was no
longer safe. Tank was with them also, having managed to run away himself. They were all
relieved to see Gosalyn alive, but equally concerned that she might have been harmed.

"Are you okay, Gos?" Tank asked. "I was so afraid Negaduck would beat you."

"He didn't, Tank," Gosalyn answered softly. "I don't know why, but he didn't."

"Tank told us what happened to your statue," Quackerjack said unhappily. "We're so sorry,
Gos!"

"We'll get you another one sometime," promised Megavolt.

"It's okay, everyone," said Gosalyn. She didn't want anything else that Negs could possibly destroy.

"Then come with us, Gosalyn dear," Liquidator offered. "The Friendly Four recommends their
hideout as child-safe!"

"We'll never let Negaduck hurt you again," Bushroot swore.

Gosalyn only nodded silently, her head against Bushroot's shoulder as he and the others climbed
into their van and started off for the forest.

But an idea that had long been in the little girl's thoughts, that she had only dreamt of before,
began to come to light...

END CHAPTER V