Puppet
Prompt: Conditioning/Brainwashing (though it really came out more as mind control)
"Ah, Lena," Magica said. "It really is so good to see you again."
Lena fought against the bindings that held her fast while Magica danced around the room, plucking ingredients from shelves and tossing them into her cauldron.
"You, my dear Lena, are going to be my puppet once again," Magica said, stirring the cauldron with a wand. "It'll be just like old times!"
Lena struggled harder, panic rising in her throat.
"Oh, that really won't do any good. Best save your strength." Magica dipped a pinky into her brew and tasted it.
Lena tried to protest, but the gag in her mouth absorbed the sound of her voice.
"This time, things are going to go right," Magica said. She tapped the wand on the edge of the caldron, and the wand sucked up the brew like a vacuum cleaner. "You'll help me destroy Scrooge and his family once and for all!"
Lena frantically shook her head, yelling, pleading Magica to set her free, not to make her hurt her family, but it was no use.
Magica took out another wand. "Now, hold still!" She pointed the wand at Lena and zap! Her muscles were frozen. She couldn't move.
"Much better," Magica said, undoing the ropes binding her arms and legs. She stood Lena up and retrieved the first wand. Lena wanted desperately to run, to fight, but she couldn't so much as wiggle her toes.
Magica raised her wand and pointed it at Lena. A bolt of yellow magic arced from the wand to Lena.
And everything went fuzzy.
The thing was, Lena was aware. She was aware the whole time. She could see and hear and feel and think, except it was all dulled. She knew she was being taken from the decrepit house at the edge of Duckburg that Magica had been staying in back to McDuck Manor. She saw Webby, Mr. McDuck, Mrs. Beakley, the triplets, and even Donald come out to greet her. She heard them express their worry about where she'd gone off to. She heard her own voice answer back, filled with attitude, that the Manor was too stifling, the people in it too overwhelming, and she'd had to get out for a while. She saw them all draw back, but refuse to get angry at her, telling her they were happy to give her some space and that she just had to ask for it. She heard her own voice answer back, "Whatever," and she felt herself push them roughly out of the way as she went back into the Manor and locked herself in her room.
Lena wanted to crawl out of her own skin.
Lena soon found that, if she wanted, she could zone out into a sort of stupor and ignore what was going on around her, but that would be cheating. She hadn't tried hard enough last time, when Magica had taken over her body and tried to destroy all of Duckburg. This time, she had to fight. She couldn't stop, not even for a moment. She had to stop herself from hurting her new family. But as much as she tried, she couldn't.
She heard herself snap at Webby whenever she asked her to come do things with her. She saw herself take her plate from the dinner table and insist on eating it up in her room, speaking with such confidence that nobody challenged her. She even heard herself insult Mrs. Beakley's cooking.
And things only got worse from there.
Early the next morning, Lena found herself awake once again, sneaking out of the Manor and breaking into the Money Bin. Alarms blared around her, but she didn't stop, pocketing handfuls of gems and punching anyone who got in her way with a strength she didn't know she had. Soon, the triggered alarms brought Mr. McDuck to the Bin, and the absence of Lena at home brought everyone else.
Lena could feel Magica's grin as she set Lena into overdrive, causing her mind to white out as she kicked, punched, hit, dodged, sliced, and stabbed (the latter two courtesy of a letter opener and a shard of freshly-shattered glass) at a rate that put Webby to shame.
When Lena regained awareness, she found herself with that shard of glass pressed to Webby's throat, warning the family not to come any closer if they didn't want Webby to get it.
"Lena," Webby said, a devastation in her voice that Lena had never heard from her before. "Why?"
A cloud of purple smoke appeared, and Magica's voice filled her ears. "Because I told her to."
"Magica," Scrooge said with disgust. "Up to your old tricks again, I see. Let Lena go; she's already had more than her share of being possessed."
"Oh, no," Magica said, grinning wickedly. "It's not possession this time around."
Lena felt Webby gasp, and she silently pleaded with Magica to let her go, let them go, at least let her explain what was going on. But Magica presed on.
"She's not doing this of her own free will, and you know it!" Mr. McDuck said. "Let her go!"
"Mmmm, no, I don't think so," Magica said. Lena found herself shoving Webby to the floor. "This is much more fun, don't you think?"
"Let. Her. Go."
"Well, now we're just talking around in circles." Magica handed Lena something. "Finish them."
"With pleasure," Lena heard herself say. She wanted to retch.
Lena threw something she hadn't even known she was holding to the ground. There was a flash of light, a loud bang, and the room was filled with smoke and heat. And then Lena was running, running, running, out of the Bin and halfway across town.
Lena wasn't sure when she was set free of Magica's spell, but by the time she reached the old amphitheater, Lena was back in control. She fell on her hands and knees and started dry heaving, wishing she could expel the last twenty-four hours from her existence. She supposed she was lucky she hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night, or else she'd have quite the mess to clean up.
Lena was shaking all over. She climbed down into her old underground room and crawled into bed, ignoring the thin layer of dust that had accumulated in the last few weeks.
She'd...she'd killed them. After everything they'd done for her-taken her into their home, trusted her even after they'd found out that she was Magica's shadow, that Magica had possessed her.
Lena took a deep breath. Ok. Calm down. It was possible that they survived that. Probably. Maybe. But they'd be hurt. Pretty bad. Lena's feathers were singed, and she was pretty sure Magica had put some sort of protection spell on her.
Nope. There was no way they would be able to survive that. They were...they were…
Lena couldn't even bring herself to think the word.
She started to cry, big tears punctuated by bigger sobs that left her gasping for breath. Magica had never been family, not really. This was Lena's family, and she'd killed them.
Lena wasn't sure how long she cried before she found herself drifting off to sleep.
"Lena!" she heard faintly. "Lena, where are you?"
Fear clutched at Lena's heart. No, she couldn't deal with this. It was bad enough that her stupid brain made her see Magica in each and every shadow, but voices, now?
"Lena!" This voice was different. It sounded like one of the boys, maybe?
Maybe this time it was real. Maybe they were ghosts. Oh, god, would Lena have to spend the rest of her life being haunted by the family she'd murdered?
"Lena!" That one was definitely Webby.
"I'm sorry!" Lena yelled, choking back sobs. "I didn't mean to! I didn't want to! Magica made me do it; I swear!"
Lena heard more voices, but she couldn't make out the words. It just sounded like they were getting closer.
"I'm sorry!" Lena said again. "I'm sorry…"
The small hatch in Lena's ceiling opened, and a set of webbed feet started climbing down the ladder into her room. Lena screamed and dove under the blanket.
"Lena! Thank goodness!" Lena heard the patter of running feet and then two very solid arms were thrown around her.
"Oh, thank heavens," said Mrs. Beakley's voice.
"I had a feeling she'd be back here," said Mr. McDuck's voice.
"Are you hurt?" Mrs. Beakley said. The arms hugging Lena disappeared as Mrs. Beakley gently pulled down the blanket.
"You're not-you're not dead?" Lena asked, hiccuping.
"No, lass," Mr. McDuck said. "We're all safe."
Lena's eyes again filled with tears. "I'm sorry!" she said, blubbering. "I didn't mean to! I couldn't-it was all Magica! I tried to stop it, I tried, I promise…"
Webby wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend again. "We know it wasn't your fault, Lena."
"Aye," Mr. McDuck said. "I know very well what that wicked witch is capable of. No one's going to blame you."
Mrs. Beakley put a hand on her shoulder, and Mr. McDuck joined in and Lena buried her face in the crook of Webby's neck and sobbed, holding her still-new family close.
"There's no sign of Magica, Uncle Scrooge!" Dewey called from the surface.
"Good. Keep looking, just to be safe," Mr. McDuck called back.
"Are you sure you're all ok?" Lena said with a sniffle.
"Yes. Nothing more than a few superficial injuries," Mrs. Beakley said. She held out a handkerchief, and Lena used it to dry her eyes.
"Come on. Let's go home," Mr. McDuck said, and Lena thanked her lucky stars that she still had such a wonderful home to go back to.