Ducktales: Journey to Agartha - Act 4

Chapter 30: Got It Again

Mark took a deep breath before knocking on his dad's hotel room door. He didn't want to do this, but they were all leaving for Duckburg soon (excluding Bill and possibly Abigail) since apparently his stupid-ass-sister needed him. Ew. It was like one great family reunion.

Needless to say, Mark figured he needed to get one last word in before never seeing his father again.

The door opened fairly quickly.

"Oh, uh, hey, sport..." It seemed Bill was just as anxious to speak with Mark as well, even though he was quite confident in the fight between them the previous day.

"Hey... Would it be cool if I came in for a moment?" Mark was nervously tugging on the sleeve of his cardigan.

"Uh..." Bill looked behind him at the room. It was extremely messy with an ungodly amount of empty beer cans and pizza boxes everywhere. He had... quite the night by himself. That was for sure. "You're gonna have to excuse the mess." He stepped out of the way to let Mark inside before closing the door. "What's up?"

Mark cringed when he saw the mess. It smelled like the parking lot of a Pizza Hut at 3 AM, too. "I wanted to talk about our fight... and to say goodbye, I guess." Mark avoided eye contact, keeping his stare at the beer cans nearby his feet.

"Goodbye? Y'all leaving? What about the Wyatt fellow?"

"Yeah we have to go back to Duckburg. There are some other things we have to take care of back home... plus if we stay in Texas any longer, Wyatt could easily find us."

"I thought the plan was to hunt that bastard down." Whatever. Bill didn't need more of an explanation. It was Mark's issue, not his. "But, um... I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did at the zoo. Sorry about that, sport."

"Uh... It's cool, I guess..." Mark finally looked up at Bill. He looked worried. "Did you mean it though? That it was all my fault?"

Bill sighed. "No. No I didn't." That was the whole reason he drank as much as he did last night, but that was too hard to admit. "I moved to the old west to escape the old me, Mark, but I guess I haven't really changed when it boils down to it. You're more of a man then I could ever be so don't let me tell ya otherwise."

Mark crossed his arms as a means to hug himself. "Oh..." He didn't know what to say to that. "I think it's great of you that you're trying to better yourself..." He sighed. "I know you're a different man now. I know that you mean well now but... I don't think I could ever forgive you for the things that you did to me growing up."

"Yeah... I get it. Can't really forgive myself either. Just now I'm sorry... I really am. And I'm sorry about the things I said about your wife, too. I'm sure she's a wonderful woman."

He nodded "Yeah she is..." Mark sighed again. "Look, I don't want to go back to Duckburg and be on bad terms with you. Maybe I can text you every once in a while?"

Bill laughed awkwardly. "I don't want to be on bad terms with you either. It would take a lot of weight on my shoulders." He paused. "I plan on going back to that no-tech town after this, but I'll make sure to pick up a phone on the way back."

"I get it. We don't have to keep in contact all the time but I wouldn't mind hearing from you every once in a while, ya know? I guess I just don't want to say goodbye to you and never speak to you again is what I'm trying to say."

That actually earned a smile from Bill, though the environment was still very awkward. "Yeah, I gotcha. I don't know what you got going on in life right now, but be safe, ya hear?"

Mark smiled back and stopped crossing his arms. He looked a bit more relaxed and confident. "Fo sure! Ummmm...." He awkwardly gave Bill a hug. "Thank you...and maybe I'll see you again someday."