This story was intended to be a short story but I got on a roll, what can I say haha! Also, I am aware that Poe DeSpell has appeared in DT17, I saw a clip on Youtube while I was writing this story, however I have chosen to wait until season 3 is on Disney plus to finish watching it so I am unaware of exact details. I've had the idea for this story in my head for a while now and have finally gotten it written and I hope everyone enjoys it, it's also my first song fic, as I used a few songs that helped my shape the plot for this story but I don not own any of the songs used.
It was just a few days until the lunar eclipse and Magica still hadn't managed to get her hands on Scrooge's number one dime, or rather Lena still hadn't gotten the dime; in fact, Lena had been outright rebellious so Magica decided to take control of the situation herself by taking control of Lena but time was slipping away and if she didn't get the dime soon, she would miss her chance to free herself.
"I can't just wait around for the eclipse to come and go; I have to get that dime!" She snapped, pacing back and forth in Lena's hideout, unable to sit still while thoughts of finally freeing herself swirled in her mind.
"So then just go get the stupid thing!" She heard Lena griping in her mind. "Oh, shut up you useless brat, if you could follow orders, I would have had it already!" Magica snapped, glaring at her reflection in Lena's broken mirror.
The face looking back at her was not her own but that of her shadow minion Lena; a young teen with pink dyed hair and wearing a loose fitting black and grey striped sweater over another collared shirt, the look completed by some worn sneakers on her feet. The girl had no sense of style and Magica desperately wanted to have her own body back so she didn't have to be seen like this, she would never understand the way teenagers liked to dress.
"Well? Can't you get the dumb dime?" Lena questioned again. "Yes, I just need a good plan… Aha! I know, I'll brew a simple poison and slip it into his drink to incapacitate him so I can get the dime!" Magica cackled wickedly as she started grabbing all the necessary ingredients and brewing her poison.
A couple of short hours later Magica was cackling to herself as she walked the last few yards toward the gates of McDuck manor. "Oh, this is a big day; my plan is flawless, I'll have the dime and I'll finally be free again!" her cackling was cut short when Lena managed to wrest control away, the shadow spilling from her eyes as she fell to her knees. "No! I won't let you do this!" She snapped at the silhouette of Magica. "Except, as the eclipse nears my powers get stronger and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" She laughed again seizing control of Lena's body, getting up and continuing to the manor only to fall over on her face as Launchpad whizzed by in Scrooge's limo.
She hid in a nearby shrub and listened as he buzzed the intercom and babbled on about how he wasn't there checking on Scrooge, just wanting to take him for ice cream because the family had moved out and abandoned him.
"Out! Moved! Ice cream! Without those kids to let me in how am I supposed get that dime so I get my evil vengeance?" She cried, fearing her plan might just fail. "Well, I guess you're not getting that dime after all," Lena said smugly. Magica scoffed. "No, I will get that dime and I will defeat Scrooge McDuck! I am the dark shadow lying in wait, I am the stuff of nightmares lurking in the hidden recesses of your mind, I am AAHH!"
Magica's self-pep-talk was interrupted by Launchpad nearly smashing into her as he backed up and flew out of the driveway after being told to leave by Scrooge. She dived out of the way just in time and got up, dusting herself off while trying to think of how convince Scrooge she was just a typical little girl.
She pressed the button on the intercom and Scrooge's voice came through after the buzzer, uttering just one sentence. "Go away Launchpad." "Uh; It's me, that insufferable welp Lena, the little urchins invited me over to… Uh… play marbles?" Magica struggled to think of something children might do as an explanation for why she was there. "There're gone. Go away." Scrooge repeated.
Magica was irritated but not deterred. "Gee, Webby said this might happen." She responded into the intercom. "What?" Scrooge's voice returned. "That you'd have an old-man melt down with everyone gone. Too bad, I thought better of you," She said, an evil smirk crossing her face as she heard a buzz and the gates opened.
Magica approached the door and was stunned at the sight that greeted her; Scrooge hardly looked like the man she knew; he was unkempt, wearing only his stained undershirt, sporting a bit of a five o'clock shadow, slouching and holding a pizza slice in his hand as he allowed her entry. Inside of his mansion looked even worse; the room was littered with pizza boxes and other random trash and pizza slices and pep cans littered the floor.
Magica was stunned; this could not be Scrooge McDuck, this had to be some sort of trick because he suspected something, was somehow aware of her presence. She listened to him talk about his "so-called kin" who had moved out and left him. Then a possum crawled out of a pizza box and he chased it with a broom.
Just as Scrooge left the room Lena wrest control away again. "Leave him alone, can't you see he's already miserable?" She snapped. "I will get the dime. This," She waved her silhouette hands around. "Must be some kind of act because he's grown suspicious! Yes, that's exactly what this is, an act to throw me off!" "Who are you trying to convince?" Lena asked before Magica took control again and followed Scrooge to the other room.
She listened to him gripe and pine for his family for a while and found herself silently agreeing with some of his points.
After a bit she snuck off to the kitchen and fixed a cup of nutmeg tea for Scrooge, she knew it was his favorite which meant he would surely drink it, and she added some of the poison to it before taking the cup to his study.
Scrooge sat sullenly in his chair, and barely seemed to notice when 'Lena' reentered the room. "Here, I made you some delicious, relaxing tea, drink up!" She handed him the cup and it fell from his limp hand. "Sorry." He barely muttered. Internally Magica groaned and screamed in frustration while outwardly she maintained her composure as best as she could, forcing out "It's fine," through grit teeth and cleaned up the spilled tea, going back to the kitchen and preparing another cup, this time putting the tea into a sippy cup.
"Here, this time in a convenient, no spill cup," She handed Scrooge the new cup. "Thanks." He continued to mope and it didn't take any more than a few seconds for the cup to slip from his listless hand, the lid popping off upon impact with the floor. "Spilt, like my life." He muttered, almost void of any emotion at this point.
Magica turned away and as she was about to groan in frustration, she finally realized that it was no act; Scrooge really was falling apart at the seams and that upset her more than anything; How had the endlessly confident adventurer been brought to this? What had happened to her bitterest rival to leave him in such an unforgivable state? Where did the Scrooge she knew, the Scrooge she had waited so long to match wits with once more, gone and why was this mere shadow of the man all that sat before her now? Magica would not, could not, ever accept this Scrooge, this just wasn't right.
Just as she was about to say something to Scrooge, Lena forced her way out once more. "Scrooge! You gotta pay some atten-"
Scrooge turned to the youth, ready to tell her to leave but was promptly slapped in the face.
"What is the matter with you!" Magica screeched as she slapped Scrooge. "Toughen up man! You conquered Plain Awful, you found the Lost Crown of the Mongols, you even sealed me in that stupid dime! You don't need family, you're Scrooge McDuck, ACT LIKE IT!"
He was startled to hear her voice coming from Lena's mouth, to hear that voice he hadn't heard in fifteen years, a voice that he wouldn't admit was nice to hear again.
"Magica DeSpell?" He questioned as he stopped her from hitting him again. "How on earth could you let yourself fall into such a pathetic state? How could you deny me the fight I've been yearning for, for fifteen years!" She snapped as she now fought with Scrooge.
"So, I take it you somehow captured Lena?" Scrooge asked, trying to figure out exactly what was going on as he believed Magica to be unable to do anything from inside the dime. "Not exactly, she's honestly the most useless little brat… If she would have just done what I told her to I would have already had that dime!" Magica answered, noticing Scrooge was only defending, refusing to actually fight back.
"What's the matter? Why don't you fight back?" Magica demanded. Surely the tone of desperation he thought he heard in her voice was only the result of Scrooge's less than sunny mental state. "Oh, wait, let me guess…" She swung at him again, "You don't want to hurt Lena am I right?" He remained silent but his continued refusal to use offensive tactics, only blocking and dodging her attacks, confirmed her suspicions.
"Look, Lena is just something I created, she's not even real!" Magica snapped, landing a punch. Scrooge stumbled back from the surprising amount force put into the blow. "Fine, you make your point DeSpell," He said, starting to feel a little better with the realization that this was a return to normalcy of sorts, even if it was only temporary.
It had finally occurred to Scrooge that the lunar eclipse would happen soon and that most likely had something to do with Magica's semi-return. Once it was over, she probably wouldn't have the power affect anything outside of the dime anymore; but he'd just deal with the present for now.
When Scrooge finally started fighting back it truly felt like old times, Magica couldn't help smirking as they sparred, part of her really wishing she had her own body back already so that it could truly be just the two them once more, matching wits, exchanging blows, and enjoying every minute of it.
Unfortunately, she was stuck using Lena's smaller form and having to share headspace with her consciousness, who was really getting on her nerves as she started blabbering on about things that were none of her business and making herself an annoying distraction.
After what felt like ages and yet the blink of an eye their fight came to close, Lena's body just didn't possess the same stamina as Magica's own and so it didn't take long to reach its limits.
"It's not…fair," Magica huffed, dropping to her tailfeathers on the floor, trying to catch her breath. "How is it an old bird like you has more energy than this little brat?" Scrooge couldn't help but chuckle. "Probably because she doesn't even have half the experience." He said with a hint of smugness.
Magica looked up at him and could see the Scrooge she had come for starting to show himself again. Lena teased her about her own internal reaction to it and Magica realized part of the exhaustion was because Lena had been fighting her for control the whole time.
"Little brat." "What? I don't want to hurt him, or anyone… and I don't really think you want to hurt him either, though I really don't want to know too much about you really want to do with him…" "Shut up!" "You know, maybe if you just, I don't know, talked to him instead of trying to knock him stupid-" "I said shut up Lena! You don't know what you're talking about!" "I wish I didn't."
Magica shook her head, putting an end to the mental conversation, really wanting to be rid of Lena right now.
"You have a good point Scroogie." She agreed with his assessment as she stood up, smirking.
An idea had just come to her devious mind; she wouldn't be able to reclaim her own body for a few more days and having revealed herself blew any chance of being able to steal the dime but maybe there was another way…
"Say Scrooge, I have a proposition for you," She said, leaning against his desk. "A proposition? Like what?" Scrooge eyed her skeptically. "A partnership, a bargain. You give me what I want and I will help you with your current situation." His expression became defensive but to Magica's surprise his eyes held curiosity, he was interested in her offer.
"What exactly are you getting at and why should I even listen to you?" he asked, wary of the idea of her being completely freed but unable to deny to himself that he appreciated that someone actually seemed to care, that she actually seemed to care, that he was in such bad place at the moment. In fact, now that he realized he had actually been talking to Magica and not Lena all evening it surprised him that she almost seemed sympathetic to his situation as well as clearly not happy to see him like this.
A part of his mind was screaming that this was a vile trap, that she was simply taking advantage of his current mental and emotional state to get the dime to free herself but his broken and battered heart was compelled to listen to her because as hard as losing Della had been, being rejected by his remaining family, being cut to the core by their hurtful words and left abandoned was almost too much to bear, the last week had been the worst of his life, and if he was honest, he would welcome relief from the heartache.
Scrooge had seen his nephews' return to his life as a chance to make things right, a chance make up for the past by taking the boys on all the adventures Della wanted them to have, to protect them the way he should have protected their mother and to rebuild his relationship with Donald but, once again everything had fallen apart but this time it didn't look like there would be any second chances.
"What I'm offering is the use of a spell I know that can take away your pain," she pushed away from the desk and approached Scrooge to look him in the eye as best she could from Lena's height. "You're falling apart Scrooge and as much as I loathe you, I also cannot tolerate seeing someone I view as a worthy opponent crumble like this, especially when it's not my doing!"
She gazed into his eyes, that familiar intensity reminding him of the dark eyes he hadn't seen since that day fifteen years ago, eyes he secretly missed.
"And what exactly would you be getting in return? A chance to free yourself from my dime I suppose?" He didn't even need to ask, he knew she wanted to be free again and now seeing that she was actually partly free, while alarming, it also seemed almost cruel to essentially leave her in limbo like that.
Her smirk widened. "Exactly. But, if it makes you feel better, I'm willing to give you a guarantee," "Such as?" "I will give you my word that I won't do anything to harm those brats of yours. Besides, my qualm is with you and you alone,"
Why did something about those words send some kind of chill up his spine? Scrooge didn't want to linger on that particular question for long, instead he posed another question to the sorceress. "I thought you would need the lunar eclipse to free yourself so would you just be hanging around here for the next week?" "Well, I've already been practically living with you for the last fifteen years so would one more week really be a problem?" She asked with a snicker at the now mortified look on Scrooge's face.
"What?!" was the only response he could get out as the realization was dawning on him.
Magica laughed. "You thought I wasn't aware of anything going on around my ten-cent prison, didn't you? Well guess what Scroogie, I've been your unwitting roommate all these years!" She laughed even more as his face started to redden as he realized that his constantly wearing the dime meant Magica had actually been witness to many private moments, that she had quite possibly seen and heard things no one else was ever meant to hear or see.
"Oh, calm down Scroogie, you're starting to look like a boiled lobster; I was only aware of anything around the dime when I wasn't with Lena," she couldn't help a giggle at his embarrassed face, he was really kind of cute like that. She shook that thought from her mind quickly. She wanted none of that.
"Okay, TMI Aunt Magica! I really didn't need to know that or to share those mental images with you just now!" "Shut up you little brat! He's going to agree to my bargain, I know he will, and then I can finally be free of you and when the lunar eclipse happens, I'll have my beautiful body back!" "Wait, what do you mean you'll be 'free' of me?"
"Back to the issue at hand, what do you think of my proposal?" She resumed her intense gaze into his eyes. Scrooge was silent for a moment, blood finally draining from his face as his thoughts returned to the current situation but remained silent, pondering her offer.
Would it really be a bad idea? What if she really could use a spell to free him from all of this hurt so he could just get on with his life instead of wallowing in the past and letting himself wither into the waning old man he was often accused of being? The more Scrooge thought about it, the more it made sense, especially in light of certain undeniable facts; while it was true Magica might be tricking him into agreeing to his doom, if he kept on like he was he would certainly throw away his remaining years by letting himself waste away and at this point, did he really have anything to lose by trusting her?
There had been times in the past she had shown herself to be a woman of her word, even the most loyal, albeit temporary, ally he'd ever had so why not? Besides, the most undeniable fact of all was that while he sat, alone and ostracized, she came and expressed a genuine concern for him. Was that concern only out of her own selfish desires, of course it was; but still, it was someone reaching out to Scrooge when he needed it most, even if he'd never admit it.
Magica was getting tired of waiting and pressed him for answer. "Well? It's rude to keep a lady waiting Scrooge," She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, her smirk faltering a bit with her impatience.
Scrooge returned her gaze and smirk. "You're not much of a lady Magica," He chuckled. "But I accept your offer, after all, it isn't the worst offer I've ever been made."
Magica was shocked, she really hadn't expected it to be that easy but he had agreed with minimal persuasion and that obviously was a sign that he truly was in dire straits. If she wasn't so thrilled by the prospect of getting her body back, she might have been swayed by Lena's protests ringing in her mind.
"Excellent," She held out a hand and he took it, a handshake to seal the deal. "Oh, there might be one or two tiny little catches I forgot to mention but it won't be a problem… for me!" "Wha-" Scrooge barely got a sound out before Magica laughed maniacally and took the amulet from around Lena's neck and quickly slung it around his own.
"No! Scrooge don't do it!" Lena suddenly found her cries of protest coming out aloud, she was now in full control of her body and no longer felt Magica's dark presence in her mind. If not for the sight before her she might have been relieved.
Scrooge's face looked dark and he now held a glassy black cane with an ornamental handle resembling a dragon's foot. His clothes were almost normal, except his jacket was a darker red and his collar was now more pointed, his top hat now had a darker a band and sharper edges. The amulet was now pinned to his collar and glowing brightly.
Scrooge hadn't expected what happened, the strange sensation when he took Magica's hand, but now he could feel the amulet's power coursing through him. It felt somehow wrong yet satisfying, in spite of any hesitation or concern about what had just happened he couldn't deny that he liked the feeling of the magic coursing through him, the feeling that he could now do anything and everything.
"Scrooge…?" Lena started hesitantly.
"Well, this is… different…" Magica said, moving Scrooge's hand and looking at the cane. "Oh, no…" Lena muttered quietly.