ArtDump

"Right, uh," Donald readjusts his tie a little. "Nothing urgent. The boys over at R&D wanted your signature to start Phase II."

"Hmph. Might as well get it over with," the Director says, and gestures as if to throw his cigarette down.

"Wait," Donald says, and is surprised when Cecil does so.

"What?"

"How much would one of those cost me?"

"Huh?" Cecil looks genuinely baffled.

"The cigarette," Donald clarifies. "What's the going rate for that one?"

Cecil's face cycles through a variety of microexpressions before settling on a wary neutrality. "Depends," he says coolly. "Where are you going with this, Donald?"

"I haven't had a smoke in ten years," Donald admits. "But I'd like that one, very much."

Cecil's lip compresses in a way that makes him seem disapproving, but the quirk of his eyebrow means he's intrigued and, if Donald's gotten any good at reading him, mildly charmed. "Well, if you want it that badly," Cecil says. "First one's free of charge." He laconically extends his hand, cigarette held loosely between two fingers.

Donald reaches over and accepts the mostly burnt-out cylinder, and with a half-remembered grace presses his lips against it. It doesn't taste like much, but then again, Donald's taste buds got busted back in Egypt, 1994, so it's not like he expected it be good. Still, it's oddly satisfying to pantomime the action. It feels, for a moment, like he's connected with some ancient memory of himself.

He exhales out smoke and air and the remnants of a past long since gone.

"Thank you, sir," Donald says, politely snuffing out the cigarette on the bottom of his shoe and collecting the remains. "I think I needed that."

So all this came about because I wondered if any of Donald’s 39 confirmed deaths were by suicide.

In the comics, Donald is… kind of a shitty dad. He’s an absentee father, divorced from his wife, and in the couple of times his son is mentioned or seen, its about Donny Jr’s academic problems (that Donald ditches in lieu of work) or him isolating himself by playing video games, and I believe i remember in one of the side comics (guarding the globe?), Donald devalues his son’s lack of athletic skills. I thought it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Donny Jr may have committed suicide sometime down the line and that memory was eventually editted out of Donald because it consistently caused him to fall into a suicidal depression himself. It makes the fact that what finally caused Donald to accept his memories of death and move on without being wiped was Donald deescalating Rick’s suicide attempt— perhaps its what he wished he could have done for his own kid, even if only subconsciously.

I also wanted to draw Brit and Cecil’s different reactions to Donald’s death(s). Donald is in comic-canon one of Brit’s close friends, if not best and possibly only friend. Brit values him enough that one of his future wifeless versions kept Donald’s head hostage and ultimately merged with his electronic body like a permanent exoskeleton so they could be together forever. Hell yeah insane toxic old man yaoi. But canon Brit also has a wife and son that take priority over his friendship with Donald, and in the tv show they are shown being friendly and loyal to each other but only in the context of work/saving the world. Seeing his best friend slowly but surely be transformed into this weird uncanny valley version of himself with less and less original memories is bound to alienate Brit— perhaps Donald trying repeatedly to die and Cecil still bringing him back was the beginning of the end of his friendship with Cecil AND Donald. Cause Brit in canon is shown to repeatedly threaten and carry through quitting when people close to him die, or die because of him— he’s emotionally quite fragile in this regard, and its a repeated plot point for his character development. So its plausible for a time he distanced himself, and that’s when Cecil took over more and more staying by Donald’s side as was brought back over and over, until Brit literally is only around in the tv show when shit gets really bad, else doesn’t bother.

Cecil for his part keeps bringing Donald back because I like to think Donald is HIS contingency. Like, without Donald I think Cecil would legit lose it. He would no longer have his Jimminy Cricket conscience and his eternally loyal partner that backs him up no matter what when push comes to shove. So I headcanon that for his own mental health Cecil keeps bringing Donald back.

But every death is costly and a new fight to defend Donald’s reconstruction budget. Death by suicide? *Repeated* suicide?? The higher ups are this close to shutting it all down. But Cecil probably has threatened to resign if they don’t allow him this— he NEEDS Donald. Or so help them God.

So Cecil’s in this halfway stance where he cannot show he cares any more than he already has, its a huge weakness he’s broadcasting, but he needs Donald to choose to live. Brit being around helped for a while. But then it wasn’t enough. So he started cutting out painful memories, with Donald’s agonized consent. Focusing on giving Donald better memories. Heroic memories. Picking and chosing until the combination worked. For a time…. until Donald remembered enough to turn suicidal again. Even if only passively. It endlessly culminates in yet another death— if not by his own hand then by throwing himself in harm’s way for the sake of another without hesitation. It repeats until canon comes around and Donald finally lets himself remember, having made some semblance of peace with that traumatic moment via saving Rick.

I have so many more feels augh, I hope this kinda makes sense. My laptop stopped working yesterday so that’s why the art is unfinished. When it gets fixed (god i hope it can get fixed sob) I’ll draw more 🙏 Edit (16/9/25): Coloured in the last pages!

it'd be fun to draw what the other hero's reactions to a younger long haired Cecil would be. it's also interesting to think about a cecil that wasn't re-recruited by Radcliffe so presumably he still might think working with villains is fundamentally wrong. or perhaps his moral compass is still awry, but his focus is more fully on himself because he has no reason to be loyal to the GDA.

Robotnik broke "every bone in his body" and that includes his jaw so he can't really talk properly for a bit even after he recovers enough to be continually conscious. The forced immobility and helplessness is a worse blow than seven months of mushroom Hell. It culminates in Robotnik trying multiple times to stop eating so he can just fucking die already, and also probably tries to kill Stone once or twice, but Stone grits his teeth and lovingly forces them both to live through the worst of it.

After Robotnik recovers enough to gain some mobility, Stone accepts whatever punishment may come-- if he's gonna die, it may as well be at the hands of his beloved Doctor. Until he realizes Robotnik's not gonna kill him. In fact, Robotnik's kind of given up on a lot of things. He doesn't wanna invent anymore, he doesn't wanna groom himself. He has no more ambitions left in him. The only things that bring him joy are tv shows and junk food-- specifically junk food NOT made by Stone, and TV shows he knows Stone hates. It's passive aggressive and pointedly spiteful but at least the Doctor is still alive, Stone thinks. It has to be enough.