Bradford Buzzard woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up off the nightstand by his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to adjust to the screen's light. He sat up and put on his glasses, trying to make out the burry letters in the caller ID. He glanced at a clock on the nightstand. 3 AM. Who would be calling him at this hour? He looked at the screen and read the name. HIs eyes widened.

"Oh shoot," he whispered. He tried to push the "answer" button just as the call ended. "Shoot."

He got out of bed and made his way down to the kitchen of the manor. He frowned at the phone. She didn't call back, so maybe it had been a mistake. He smiled sadly. Hopefully she wouldn't call back. And everything would be fine.

A voicemail notification appeared on the screen. Bradford sighed. He pressed it and held the phone to his ear.

"I'm ready."

The voice was crisp, sending a chill down Bradford's spine. His heart sank. He frowned. He knew she would call eventually, but he always hoped it wouldn't be so soon. Five years of waiting, and he still wasn't ready. He was probably less ready than he was then. "Shoot."

He glanced at the fridge, his eyes landing on a photograph of him and Webby. He looked at it with sad eyes. How would he explain what had happened to her? Next to the photograph was a calendar. On today's square, it was marked out with multiple layers of black marker. It had an arrow pointing to it, and scribbled in Feathry's handwriting, it said, "THIS DAY NO LONGER EXISTS!" That made Bradford chuckle a bit. Only a little.

Bradford sighed. Maybe that could work in his favor.

...

Huey walked around the manor, trying to find something to do. He walked into the foyer to find Bradford and Webby there. Webby had a bright pink backpack on her. If you asked Huey, she wore too much pink. He tilted his head. "Whatcha doing? Are you going somewhere?"

Webby smiled at him. "We're going to go get ice cream. To get out of the house." Bradford nodded.

Huey raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean to get out of the house?"

Webby smirked and shrugged. "Well, you know, it's that time of year again."

"It's Master Feathry's birthday."

Huey's face lit up. "His birthday!? How come no one told me! I've been bored all morning!" He bounced up and down, pumping his fists.

Bradford folded his hands. "Feathry doesn't really like to celebrate his birthday. So much so that he's never told the media when it is. Could you imagine how big a party would be for the most famous duck in the world?"

"I bet it would be cool!" Huey nodded fast, excitement bubbling inside of him. Noted: Feathry needed a birthday party.

"That's not the point. Anyways, every year Webby and I get out of the house and spend the day together." Bradford ruffled her feathers, and she smiled.

"So you're saying that to make up for all the years he didn't have a party, I should throw him one?" Huey smirked, nudging the vulture.

Bradford sighed and face palmed. "No, Huey, don't do that." He glanced down at his watch. "Look, we don't have time for this, so, just, don't do anything crazy." He opened the door for Webby.

She tilted her head. "We have a time frame for ice cream?"

"It's, uh, special ice cream."

"Okay...?" She stepped out the door and Bradford followed behind her. The shut the door, leaving Huey to his own devices.

"Oh man, this is going to be amazing!" Huey grinned to himself then ran off. "Louie! Dewey!"

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

...

"Gentlemen, I bet you're wondering why I called you here today." Huey stood before his brothers, them sitting crisscross on the floor of their bedroom. Dewey slowly raised his hand. "Please, no questions until the end," Huey said. The blue triplet put his hand down. "Through my great detective skills-"

"Detective skills?"

"Yes, Louie, my detective skills. Now listen. I found out that-"

"How come Louie got to ask a question?" Dewey tilted his head at his younger brother.

Huey crossed his arms and sighed. "Dewey, what is your question?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"In a minute! Just let me get through what I was going to say!" Huey took a deep breath. He had to get through this fast. "IfoundoutthattodayisFeathry'sbirthday,okay?"

"Oh," Louie said. "So do you want us to bake a cake or something? That's a nice way to celebrate."

"Now can I go to the bathroom?"

"No! Just stop asking or else you will never go to the bathroom again!" Dewey put his hands in his lap and stopped. Huey sighed, closing his eyes and folding his hands. "Okay. I think we should throw a party."

"Wouldn't he already have a party already set up?" Louie raised his hands after he asked the question. Huey mentally face palmed. Did his brothers know nothing of proper listening etiquette? This was a very serious conversation. Someone's birthday was at stake!

"Well, you see, that's the thing... Feathry doesn't want a party."

"Oh. Okay, well then that saves us a bunch of work." Louie started to get up.

"What? Why?" Huey stood next to his brother.

"Because now we don't have to set up a party." Louie shrugged.

"No, now we have to try harder to make it the best party ever, because then he'll like his birthday again. Boom!"

Louie raised an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea..."

Huey clamped his hands together and got on his knees. "Pwease Wouie?" He gave the green triplet the biggest doe eyes ever. Tilting his head a little, his lip pouted. Louie could try, but he couldn't resist this.

"Huey..."

"Huey, don't do that please."

"Hue..."

"Are you fake crying?"

Finally, Louie gave in. "Alright, fine, we'll help you set up a party." Works every time.

Huey jumped to his feet and dropped the act. "Yes! Thank you Lou!" He hugged Louie, who had his arms crossed.

"Yeah, yeah." Louie smirked. "So what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking that Dewey could be DJ, Bready could make the guest list, and you could serve punch."

Louie slowly nodded. "Uh-huh... You wouldn't mind if I helped, uh, Bready with that guest list, would you?'

"Go ahead," Huey said. How sweet was that? His brother and his best friend, joining forces.

Dewey jumped to his feet. "Wait, I don't want to be DJ," he said nervously. He blew his hair out of his face, but it just flopped back down.

"Yeah you do. Check it out." Huey grabbed a yellow helmet from his bed. He put it out to the middle child. "Ta-da!"

"You want me to put this on?"  Dewey tilted his head, biting his beak. Huey nodded. "I'm not so sure about this..."

"Oh, come on, it's not so bad." Huey moved to put the helmet on Dewey.

He put out his hands defensively. "I'm claustrophobic!"

"Pft, Santa doesn't exist anyways, so you'll be fine." Before Dewey could protest gain, Huey shoved the helmet on him.

"Oh my gosh! I can't see anything! I can't breathe! I'm going to die!" Dewey shouted, but it was muffled by the helmet. He tried to pull it off unsuccessfully.

"Relax, Dew, you're not going to die," Louie said.

"My point exactly." Huey crossed his arms and smiled proudly. "Also, your DJ name is DJ Daft Duck."

After trying multiple times to wrench the helmet off, Dewey gave up, head on the floor. He sighed and raised his hand.

"Yes, Dewey, you may go to the bathroom," Huey said.

"Thank you." He walked, arms sagging. The weight of the head piece made him have to drag it along. Huey and Louie just watched him.

Huey turned to his oldest brother and rubbed his hands together. "I've got a party to plan!"

...

Webby hopped along the driveway, making her way to the limo. She smiled warmly, excited for her and Bradford's tradition, as usual. She reached for the door handle on the limo, but the vulture stopped her. "Webby, we're going to take the other car today."

She tilted her head curiously. "How come? Isn't Launchpad going to drive us?"

"I- I thought maybe I would drive this time, and it would be just the two of us." He gestured to a green Jeep on the other side of the large driveway. Webby shrugged and did as told. She got herself into the passenger side and buckled up. She wasn't usually allowed in the diver's seat, but Bradford sometimes let her on special occasions. She figured this counted as one of those.

She kicked her legs softly, humming to herself as they drove. She stared out the window, watching all the people they passed. She saw a dog with a bow tie, which made her chuckle. Did he tie it himself? While watching out the window, she saw them pass the ice cream parlor.

"Uh, Bradford? I think you passed it," she said, pointing out the window.

He didn't make eye contact with her. "Oops," he said. He sounded sad.

Webby frowned. "Bradford?"

"..."

"We're not going to get ice cream, are we?" Her stomach knotted as she tried to figure out what he was doing.

Bradford sighed. He kept his eyes on the road. "Webby, do you remember when you moved in with Feathry?"

The question caught her off guard. "Sorta... 5 years ago, I woke up there, and you told me that it would be my new home. And you explained to me to stay away from Launchpad and be careful around Feathry because 'They're bad examples and it would be safe if you stayed with me.'" She deepened her voice at that last part, quoting his words as well as she could remember. She laughed lightly and put her hands in her lap.

"And you don't remember anything else before then?"

"Nope." Webby always found it weird that she didn't recall anything before moving in the manor, but she had summed it up to "I was too young to remember anything."

"No matter what, you know I always have your best interests in mind, right?"

"Yeah... What's going on?" She noticed her heart rate had gone up, but she tried to calm herself down.

"Nothing that I wanted to happen." For the first time, he glanced at her and smiled. But it was a sad smile, fear hiding behind his eyes. Webby knew it. "But it'll be alright," he finished. He ruffle her feathers on her head.

They were silent for the rest of the drive. The conversation had sucked all of the joy out of the air. It made Webby feel stiff and uncomfortable. What made this year any more different than the last years?

5 years ago...

Webby let out a yawn, sitting up in bed. She glanced out the window, seeing the sky was still dark. She rubbed her eyes and climbed out of bed. Her stomach growled and she frowned. "I'm hungry," she said to no one at all. Her bedroom was on the second floor of a suburban home, out a ways from the rest of Duckburg. The house stood on the edge of the water, a light house towering it. The soft sound of waves crashing filled her ears.

Webby walked down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen. After pouring herself a glass, she drank it in silence. Her eyes wandered. Down the hall, she saw another bedroom door open. She just stared at it, curious. She had never been allowed in that room, thus the door was always locked. But not tonight.

Webby's curiosity overtook her. She got up and crept towards the room. Maybe she could just get a peak. Her granny was probably sleeping anyways. That was her bedroom after all.

When Webby peered through the door, she was surprised to find her grandmother wasn't there. "Granny?" she ventured to call out. But she immediately regretted it, remembering she would probably get yelled at if she was caught snooping.

When there came no response, she squinted in the dark. "Granny?" she tried again, just to be sure.

Webby stepped into the room and turned on the light. Huh. Her grandmother wasn't there. And it didn't seem like she had a babysitter. Webby smiled a bit, realizing she had the whole house to herself. She didn't know how long, but any amount of time would make her feel like she was in charge for once. It was nice.

But now another question lingered in the air. Where did her granny go? Webby made a list of places her grandmother would go in her head. Come to think of it, her grandmother was very discreet with where she went, and whenever the duckling tried to ask a babysitter, they would ignore her.

Webby sighed and walked to the front room. She weighed two options in her head. She could go back to bed. Or she could try to find her grandma. One of those sounded a lot more exciting than the other.

Walking to the closet, she selected a pink coat and slipped it on. It would be an adventure, like the ones her babysitters read to her in the stories. Piece of cake.

...

Feathry sat on the edge of his bed, hands in his lap. "Alright Feathry," he said to himself. "It's just a normal day. Nothing special about today. Just a run of the mill, average day. Yup." Trying to convince himself didn't work too well. He knew it was his birthday and there was nothing that could change it.

He started pacing. He sighed. "Stupid birthday." Stupid 13th birthday to be more specific. He shook the thought. That was 14 years ago. He was fine.

"Just gonna spend the day to myself. Alone. Good plan." He took in a deep breath. "All I need is a drink of water." He stepped into the master bathroom and turned on the faucet. But he didn't fill a cup. He just stared at it. His heart rate quickened and his stomach knotted.

He turned off the water and went back to his bed. His aquaphobia always got worse on his birthday. Heck, that 13th birthday was the cause of it. If Feathry could erase any day of his past, it would be that one. Everything changed after that day.

His phone buzzed, snapping him out of his trance. He yelped and answered. "Feathry Duck speaking!" His voice came out squeakier than he wanted. He cleared his throat. "Oh. Mark. Hi."

Mark Beaks spoke on the other end. "Hi. So I did some digging, and your case might be easier than expected."

Feathry nodded, despite that the parrot couldn't see him. "Uh-huh. How so?" He walked towards his bedroom door. Maybe some fresh air would do him some good.

"Well, if you could convince a judge that Donald abused them, he could get his rights taken away. That shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Right," Feathry said, closing his room door behind him.

"You said you checked the boys for bruises once?"

"Yeah, but they were kind of reluctant and I doubt they would let anyone else see." Feathry heard a shuffling, causing him to spin around.

"That's okay, just keep track of it. Now, um, how long have they been staying with you?"

A shadow was cast on the wall, making Feathry raise an eyebrow. "A while now..." He was distant, noting that the shadow looked unfamiliar. "Hang on, Mark, I'll have to call you back."

"But I've-" Feathry hung up before the other man could finish. He slipped the phone into his coat pocket and followed the shadow. He saw a figure run down the hall.

Feathry chased after the figure. He jumped on top of it, landing at the top of the stairs to the foyer. The figure yelped and Feathry got a better look at it.

"Please don't hurt me! It was Huey's idea!"

"Dewey?"

It was Dewey, dressed in some weird costume with a helmet. The helmet screen displayed a digital sobbing emoji.

"Surprise!"

Feathry looked to the open foyer to see Huey, Louie, and other miscellaneous guests, complete with balloons and streamers. Louie tooted a horn and Huey threw his arms open.

"Are you surprised?"

Feathry got to his feet and helped Dewey up too. "That's one word for it I guess..."

Huey ran up and took Feathry's hand, leading him down the stairs. "Bradford told us it was your birthday so I decided to throw you a party!"

"Look, I appreciate the sentiment but-"

"I've already tried, there's no use talking your way out of it," Louie said, rolling his eyes with a smirk. Feathry couldn't help but notice how the green triplet had dressed for the occasion. He wore a neat while suit with a green bow tie to top it off.

"So, um, can I ask what happened here?" Feathry asked, smiling a bit.

All three boys stood in unison. "What do you mean?" they asked in unison (though Dewey's part was a bit muffled).

"Well, Dewey looks like a robot, Louie is dressed like he's going to Church or something, and Huey's on fire."

Dewey and Louie looked to Huey, who was indeed on fire. Just the tufts of his bangs, but still. Louie patted it out. "He does that sometimes," he said.

"Well?"

"Huey made me wear this and now I can't get it off," Dewey said, pointing to the helmet. The digital face changed to look annoyed.

"And Louie?"

"What? Can't I just look nice?"

"Alright, and then what's the deal with all these costumed people in my house?"

"I made the guest list, and everyone here is kind of a big deal, so to throw off the media, it's a costume party." Louie smiled proudly.

"With the help of Bready," Huey was quick to point out.

Feathry scrunched his face. "Bready?"

"The toaster Huey stole from your garage," Dewey said.

"Mmm-Kay." Feathry put his hands together and nodded. "Why don't you go tell everyone that the party is over and we can have a cake?"

Feathry thought he heard Louie tell Huey, "Told you so."

"Wait, but we wanted to give you the best party ever!"

"I'm good! I don't need a party! Or a birthday! I hate my birthday, so just send everyone home and I'll be happy!"

Huey waved of Feathry's statement. "Nonsense! When I'm done, we'll have partied so hardy, you'll never be able to stop partying!"

Feathry sighed. Oh goody.