Louie had barely left before I started to get a hint that there was a problem. It wasn't much really, nothing more than a strange tingling feeling that ran up my arm. It was a decidedly odd feeling, but I had just returned to the real work and I honestly didn't immediately put much initial thought into it. However it didn't just stay as a mere tingling feeling, it grew.
I did try to ignore it, I had a body that was mostly shadows and dark magic so I had been experiencing a lot of odd feelings ever since my return, so my view of what counted as strange was a little skewed. However, it was when I started to feel the tingling grow into this strange pressure that was wrapped around my mind, that I realized that there was perhaps a rather worrying issue developing in me. It seemed to run up and down my arms, and whatever it was it was growing. My mind started muttering to me and I knew that there was something that I needed to do, but I didn't know what it was. I tried to stand up, but my head was spinning too much, so I instead just lay back on the couch as I tried to work out what was wrong and what I could do to fix it.
However, before I had even contemplated calling for help, Webby jumped into the room. She pulled off a perfect somersault through the air and landed beside me on her back, it was annoyingly impressive. "There is so much that I want to do now that you're back!" She exclaimed as she shoved herself right up next to me. I quickly sat up with a roll of my eyes.
"How many of those ideas include fighting dangerous undead creatures banished for over a thousand years?" I asked with a smirk. Webby always seemed to know how to get me out of my head and back into the real world.
"Probably a quarter of them, but granny wants me to be more careful or something" Webby frowned, before smiling again. "Oh I know, how about we go to the other bin and explore again. Scrooge McDuck will totally let us go there, probably."
"Look, I know you probably want to do a whole lot with me, but I just can't Webs. Not right now" I told her quietly. I was feeling a lot better than I had before, but something was telling me that I just wasn't up for much of anything at the moment.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No, I just need some time to get my head on straight," I told her, hoping that she wouldn't ask too many questions about it. It was nice to sit here with someone I cared about, but I really didn't want another twenty questions thrown my way.
"That's okay. If you don't want to explore then maybe I could just help you with that instead."
Okay, somehow the prospect of that seemed significantly worse than just exploring some secured storage areas. "Actually I am suddenly feeling much better, maybe we can go explore the bin or something."
"Really?" She asked sweetly, with a smile that was plastered over her face with such glee that it was somehow horrifyingly happy. I was already regretting my decision, but oh well at least I was getting to spend time with her. "This is going to be so much fun. Maybe we can find some sword horses to ride."
In the end, we didn't ask Scrooge's permission, we just kind of went there and assumed that he would be okay with it. Okay, to be fair we both knew that he would not be okay with it, but we honestly couldn't bring ourselves to care about it as we knew that he'd probably not really punish us in any way. Of course, as soon as we walked down the spiral staircase I knew that agreeing to come here had been an incredibly obvious mistake, the last time we were in the room bad things had happened, and getting reminded of it wasn't nice.
Still, I was with Webby and that's normally a good thing so I pushed through it as we walked down the endless corridors searching for something, I could put up with anything if I was with my best friend. Assuming that she was still my best friend.
"What are we looking for anyway?" I knew it was a bad idea to encourage her, but my curiosity had peaked too high to not ask.
"Mr. McDuck said that there was a dragon somewhere in here and I want to see a fire-breathing lizard."
I was getting bored and Webby was getting frustrated. That dragon did not seem to exist. I was surprised how many seemed to just hold useless books. I had not even needed to bother pulling out my talisman with the pathetic level of issues we had found. We had opened probably our tenth door, this time it just contained some rather low-level magical artifacts and a rather nice ruby that I was reasonably sure held the soul of a genie when I saw something that I didn't want to ever see again. It was the door of eighteen-seventy-seven, the room that had forced me to experience my worst nightmare. Webby's apparent death at the hands of Magica. Lost in the past, I lost track of myself as I walked over to it. The stupid cell held one of the worst experiences in my life but was also the catalyst that finally pushed me over the edge into doing the right thing. Sure it led to me basically nearly dying and spending six months in magical purgatory, but Webby lived.
I put my hand against the door and closed my eyes as I rested my head against the cool metal. It had been horrible, watching her lifeless form fall to the ground knowing that it was all my fault and that I was the reason that she would die. I don't know when I started crying but I came to my senses to realize that I was sitting on the floor sobbing into Webby's hug. She stayed quiet, just letting me quietly vent and ruin her shirt with stupid tears. I don't really know how we ended up leaving, or how she managed to get me up the stairs in my state, but eventually, I found myself sitting in her room with my head buried in a book as I tried to forget the day.
Dinner that night was a subdued affair, I basically just hid in Webby's room and talked to no one. Webby nicely brought up a plate of food for me to eat, but I was horrible company that night. I kind of just pushed around my food to at least give the impression that I'd eaten whatever she pushed in front of me before I curled up in my sleeping bag as I tried to push the day from my mind. Everything here seemed to remind me of exactly how horrible I had been, and how much of an absolute monster I still was.
It had taken me literally having to witness the death of my friend before I was willing to stop Magica from trying to kill everyone, until that point all I cared about was myself and my own stupid freedom. Everyone else just didn't matter to me. I had been a selfish stupid monster, and things had not changed after my supposed change of heart. I hadn't wanted to do the right thing, I had just wanted to keep Webby alive because I enjoyed her company. I wasn't some hero who saved Scrooge's family, I was a shadow demon who cared for nothing but themselves.
I should be in a cell away from everyone else like that dragon, Webby should have never saved me from the shadow realm. It's where I deserved to be, not here.
-
As soon as Webby left me alone I knew that there was a problem, to be clear the issue wasn't Webby letting me sleep in again or my habit of sleeping in enough that what I would normally call a breakfast would be more accurately called a lunch. No, the issue was all one hundred percent with my magic and what it wanted. As soon as she was gone the annoying tingling feeling had started again, but it hadn't stayed that way.
I had felt it the first time I had been on my own yesterday, and during dinner last night it had seemed to strengthen before Webby had returned. However today I knew that it wasn't going to be a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, I felt that it was yearning wider and wider, demanding that I seek out something and that I do it soon. Up until now, I had been confused about what it was, but as soon as Webby stepped outside I felt it return with a vengeance. I knew what it wanted, and it wasn't a good thing.
There was a hunger within me and it was growing, a hunger that seemed to only be momentarily satisfied whenever I was near Webby or Violet, those I deemed my friends. I wasn't an idiot, I could put two and two together and work out that the answer is more than three. My magic was feeding off them in some way, and I knew that there was no infinite source of energy in this world. If I couldn't find some way to stop this I would keep feeding off them until they were nothing more than magical husks bound to my will.
I decided to try and keep my distance from Webby and just do my best to ignore the hunger growing within myself, but it was no small feat to avoid her. She was doing her best to stay around me, and I wasn't really strong enough to not selfishly enjoy her company. I felt horrid every time she was there, knowing that there would be a time when I learned what this was doing to her, but I didn't know what to do. If I waited too long it just felt insatiable and it was almost like I didn't even have a choice, I had to be near her and leach something away from her.
To make things worse, Violet had been invited over for the night again, and while a large portion of myself really wanted to spend time with what I was reasonably sure counted as a friend, I knew better than to stay around them for too long.
And so that is why I was currently lying outside in the grass of the McDuck manor, staring up at the stars as I tried my best to ignore the rather annoying hunger that was demanding that I go and glomp Webby or something. The distance did at least dull it to a more manageable level, but I couldn't help feeling that it was just going to grow stronger in the future.
"I thought you would be out here." The dispassionate tones of Violet jostled me from my quiet reflection. "Webbigail wanted to know if you wanted pancakes for dinner."
I couldn't help letting out a groan at the interruption as I pulled myself back up to glare at Violet, wishing that I had been allowed to just enjoy the quiet serenity for once before life forced me to pay attention to the annoying world.
"Did you really have to come out here and ask me that, you already know my answer?" I complained. Violet for her part just knelt down beside me and entirely disregarded my admittedly hostile attitude. I was trying to get rid of her and she just shrugged and sat down beside me, I am still not sure if she is abnormally brave or incapable of reading social cues.
"I was asking a rhetorical question so you didn't feel that I was instructing you to head inside by giving you an easy way to choose whether you were joining us." She told me simply, the emotionless expression always made it difficult for me to read her. I had talked with her a bit the last time we had met up, so I knew that she wasn't actually an emotionless husk of a girl. "You have been showing signs of a great dislike of direct instructions."
"You understand that pointing that out kind of diminishes the effect, right?" I muttered and rolled my eyes at the tactless attempt at being accommodating. To be fair I didn't not appreciate the effort, but I did wish there was a bit more actual efficacy in Violet's attempts, or that she would just leave me to stew in misery. Either would be a good choice, really.
"I fail to see your point." Violet reached out her hand and rested it on my shoulder in what I recognized was probably meant to be a show of comfort. It probably would have worked if I wasn't worried that the contact would accelerate my magic stealing her soul. Also Violet was kind of horrible at being comforting. Seriously, she was so awkward that I couldn't help but appreciate the irony that out of the two of them, it was the sentient magic and shadow soup girl that had a better understanding of what it meant to be a functioning member of society. Though that said more about Violet's inability than any actual ability on my side, neither of us was really all that normal.
"I'll see you inside in a few minutes," Violet told me simply before pulling herself back to her feet and heading back, giving me no way to try and correct her.
As Violet walked away I settled back down, however my attempts to relax were dashed as I felt the stupid compulsion rear its annoying presence yet again. I shot a glance at Violet, who had paused her walk to glance back at me. However, without a word I let myself fall back into the soft grass before I closed my eyes and forced myself to push away the feeling. Trailing distance footsteps signaled to me that Violet had, thankfully, finally left.
Today had been the worst for the compulsion. When I had woken up the feeling had started as nothing more than a feeling of emptiness, but by the time lunch had reared its head I had nearly crash-tackled Webby on sight. It was only through some surprisingly difficult focused self-control that I was able to stumble through the inane sleepover planning prep that Webby walked me through without just grabbing Webby into a proper hug and refusing to let go. Thankfully after a few minutes around her, I was able to get to a proper level of self-control and act like an entirely normal sentient shadow girl.
Still, Beakley's pancakes were to die for, so it was only with a slight level of trepidation that I headed back inside and towards temptation. It turned out not to be the best choice I'd ever made.
"I believe that common social norms dictate that it is impolite to stare for long periods of time" Violet pointed in what was probably her best attempt at being polite. I struggled to pull my eyes away from Webby long enough to shoot a glare at Violet before returning straight back, before abruptly processing Violet's words and blinking my eyes away from their clearly unsettling gaze. Even Webby apparently could tell that keeping unbroken eye contact for multiple minutes without blinking wasn't normal behavior.
"Sorry, my mind was somewhere," I muttered as I focused back on my meal, not surprised to see that the dessert dinner had turned into a sloppy mess of cream and cake. Apparently ice cream can melt a lot faster than you think. Still, pancakes were pancakes and it had been a while since I had actually had anything to actually eat, magic did seem to make the whole eating to live thing not quite as necessary. So I quickly started shoveling the gooey mixture into my mouth. Sugar was sugar after all and as soon as I took my first mouthful I knew that the rest was going to disappear quickly.
"Somewhere else, or on someone else" Dewey tried to ask me, raising his eyebrows as he jabbed me in the ribs. "Is there someth-," His own shirt dutifully silenced his words as I unceremoniously jammed it into his open bill. I ignored the glare I got back in response and continued enjoying the amazingness of pancakes. The distractions seemingly making the stupid magical hunger fade into the background. It was quite nice to ignore the world as I enjoyed shoving an unhealthy amount of sugar down my own throat. Before too long it was over and I sat back, the plate scraped clean before me, I felt weirdly light. However, the thing that really was good as that the stupid hungry impulsion for Webby and Violet has seemed to fade to nothing. For some reason, it was as if the magical connection between us had finally satisfied itself, at least for now. I supposed the close contact with Webby had finally fed the beast.
To be completely honest, my behavior that night in hindsight is more than a little embarrassing. I basically spend the entirety of dinner with at least an arm around Webby, Awkward and embarrassing are pretty much the perfect words to properly describe my actions that night. Thankfully the others all tactfully did their best to ignore how close I sat to Webby after dinner, or the few times I basically hugged Violet and somehow forgot to let go.
Things however seemed to degrade as we finally settled down for sleep that night. I had actually made sure that Violet was between me and Webby in the desperate hope that whatever the magically coerced compulsion would be blocked by Violet's presence, but if anything it made it just act stranger than before. I wasn't drawn to her as much as before, but there was still some level of hunger, though that might have been indigestion from the pancakes. Apparently, food isn't meant to be inhaled, but give me a break. I hadn't really regularly eaten in the past.
I tried to sleep, but my mind just would not stop thinking. After an hour of my mind running in circles, I got sick of the restlessness and pulled myself silently out of my sleeping bag. I was tired, but I hoped that maybe some warm milk would help settle myself for the night. Sure it had never helped in any of the other fifteen times that Webby had suggested it, but without Magica hovering over me maybe it would work for once. Besides, I had to try something.
I flicked on the kitchen light and groaned as the all too familiar blue form of Dewey awkwardly standing frozen in the sudden light. So much for my chances of going to sleep anytime, I knew that Dewey's inane ramblings were probably going to keep me up for the next hour.
"Hey Lena, what are you still doing up?" Dewey asked nervously, his hand both metaphorically and literally stuck in the cookie jar that was now badly hidden behind his back. There wasn't a single person in this household who even understood the concept of subtlety. "I thought you would be cuddling up with Webby or something by now."
"Wha? No!" I yelped in surprise at the ridiculousness of the assumption, before catching myself and plastering a normal smile on my face as I grabbed the cookie jar in a magical field, deftly tugging out Dewey's trapped limb. My magic wasn't that strong, but light telekinesis was apparently not overly taxing. "I know no one else here seems to understand what normal behavior is, but generally it's not exactly normal for someone my age to spend their time cuddling younger girls in their sleep. It's kind of creepy."
"I'm pretty sure that you are the same age as us." He tried to sound so innocent, but I could see right through him.
"I'm pretty sure I've been that age for fifteen years" I shot back with a glare.
"I'd also argue that cuddling with friends is perfectly normal, but you did just help me so I'll instead choose to say nothing," Dewey responded with a lazy smirk before letting out a loud yawn. "Okay yeah, it is definitely getting late. Seriously though, you were acting a bit odd today, you can't expect any of us to pretend that we didn't see anything going on between the two of you."
"It's too late for me to deal with this." I groaned as I shoved past him and to get the milk. "I don't know what you think is going on, but I can assure you that it's nothing."
"Not sure why you're trying to assure me of anything. It's not like I really care what you and Webby get up to on your own." Dewey cut back, the cookie in his mouth spraying onto the table as he spoke. Similar to subtlety, basic table manners were also in short supply around here. "Look you and Webby are close and stuff, but I've seen enough tv shows to know that when you stare at someone it means you're either mortal enemies planning out your next attack in a card game, or that you and she are...well you know."
"I'd normally ask you to just spell out what you're saying, but I really don't want to hear it tonight. Look, okay, I will admit that there is maybe potentially a little issue of something that I am trying to work out." I admitted, focusing on the cup of milk in front of myself so that I didn't have to look at the duck beside me. "It is kind of a magic thing though and I don't really know what it means."
I definitely did not jump when I felt Dewey sit down beside me, and if anyone claims anything else then they are lying. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't that noticeable anyway. "Okay, so when you say that there is some sort of magical problem between you and Webby, what do you mean?" Dewey asked carefully, clearly trying to avoid putting me back onto the defensive or something. I stole a glance at him and groaned at the look of concern I got back, ever since I'd started hanging out with the McDucks that stupid look had gotten way too capable at breaking down her walls. Even with Magica, it had been difficult to stay on mission, and now on my own, it was much more difficult.
"I don't really know if I can properly explain it," I began, pausing as I tried to put into words what I was dealing with. "It's like there is this weird magical compulsion that makes me seek out her company whenever she is nearby. It doesn't seem to be as direct when Violet is around or the rest of you, but as soon as I see her and I'm on my own, it's like there is this force pushing me to be close to her or something. Does that make sense?"
"I mean it does kind of sound romantic," Dewey responded, raising an eyebrow as he contemplated what he'd heard. I really wanted to punch in at that moment, but tried my best to keep my cool. My position here is already questionable enough without beating up one of Scrooge's nephews. "Are you sure it's magical in nature and not just natural interest," The rolled eyes that joined the nod that I gave him were not strictly necessary to Dewey. "Okay so when you're actually close to Webby are you driven to do anything else, like I don't know, hug her or kiss her or something?"
"You're really pushing that romance angle," I complained before sighing and taking a sip of my drink before continuing. The warm milk was more room temperature milk now, but any distraction would do at this point. I don't know why he was so stuck on the romance stuff. We're talking about Webby here, she's good at hugs but kissing would be just no. "When I am near her it basically stops, sometimes if I'm tired it'll ask me to get closer to her, but that's about it. It might ask me to cuddle, not really sure how much of that is it and how much is just Webby demanding it to be honest. Definitely zero kissings, like just eew." I Frowned at the thought of Webby and lips and shook her head, probably not a good idea to point out that the idea of kissing her made me feel uncomfortable. "It's Webby, that'd be like kissing Vi or you. Just no."
Dewey frowned as he pulled out his worn copy of the Guidebook, flicking through the pages in some desperate attempt to find anything relevant. "Okay, I think you're right. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." He admitted, finally closing the Guidebook in defeat. "I will say that it doesn't seem like too much of an issue to be magically inclined to spend time around someone you already want to be around."
"True, it's kind of why I didn't really notice it for a while. I just really don't like the idea of magic forcing me to do anything. Even if it just wants me to hang out with my friends." I admitted, going for another sip of my drink before realizing that I'd already managed to finish it. "Okay, I guess it's time for sleep then, guess I'll just let it be for now."
Surprisingly sleep actually came rather easy as soon as I settled down near Violet and Webby. I didn't understand what this impulsive hunger was, but it seemed to be okay for now.
-
Sleep and I were not very good friends. Sure years of necessity had made me very skilled at forcing myself to sleep at the drop of a hat. However, Magica had not entirely understood the concept of healthy sleeping patterns and her gradual fall into mania had not helped. The issue was that sleep and I just simply didn't get along, so I wasn't surprised to find myself once again waking up before the sun had even gotten ready to rise. Though I was quite surprised to find myself in a bit of an awkward bind. Somehow during the night Webby and Violet had managed to make themselves entirely entangled in both my sheets and limbs.
Groaning to herself, I took stock of the mess that I somehow managed to find myself in. Webby and Violet had managed to wrap themselves around me in the night tighter than even the most ambitious snakes. Sure I could still breathe perfectly fine, Webby's sleepy cuddles weren't anywhere near as strong as the ones she handed out when she was awake, but the tangle of limbs around me was still incredibly restrictive.
I did note with some level of sarcastic amusement, that I didn't really mind the close contact between the three of them. However, as I contemplated just snuggling back into the cuddle pile I knew that I was far too awake to stay there and the others deserved to enjoy their sleep without me endlessly trying to get comfortable again.
I carefully, and awkwardly, extracted myself from the mess and let out a breath of relief to see that the others were all still asleep. However, as I pulled myself to my feet I paused and looked back at Violet.
Sure it was just a cuddle pile, and Webby was all too well known for her late-night impromptu hugs, however, Violet was not. Violet didn't cuddle up to anyone at night. She had this asinine supposedly optimum sleeping arrangement that led to her sleeping with nary a movement through the night. As I stood staring at the image before me I realized that there was something very wrong going on. Violet wasn't Webby, she didn't do late-night cuddles.
I racked my brain to work out how it had happened and only really could think of one realistic scenario. The hungry impulse I had been having over the last few days to seek out those two must not have been a one-way connection. With a growing level of horror, I quickly reached the conclusion that the two must have been magically forced to hug me, and it had affected them at an entirely unconscious level. So deep that they hadn't even been able to fight it.
I carefully backed away, monitoring whether the feeling came back, though its conspicuous absence almost made it worse. Frowning to myself I left the others sleeping to hopefully get some coffee to help wake up and work out what was going on with this magical mess. Unfortunately, I had barely filled the kettle, before I heard the unmistakable tapping of Scrooge's cane. I winced at the thought of dealing with Scrooge again, but I also really wanted a coffee, so I quickly showed the Sumerian talisman back under my shirt, watched the soon-to-be boiling water, and didn't even look in his direction. The kettle was taking forever and I seriously considered just pulling the talisman back out and frying the thing, but I knew better than to actually do so.
"You know it'll never boil if you keep watching it." He commented cheerily as he started searching through the cupboard for his supposedly pristine mug. Things between Scrooge and I had been rather awkward ever since our spat the day after my return. To be clear he was nice and amicable to me, but things were not okay between us. "You know this is probably the only time I'd be okay with you using a little spray of magic to speed it up."
"Yeah, no," I muttered as I kept staring at the kettle. The magic thing was becoming a rather glaring issue between us that I did not ever want to talk about. Pretty much whenever he brought up magic it was to just dismiss it or comment on how he despised it at all levels. Sure the occasional time he would bother to point out that he saw her as some sort of exception to that rule brought about a measure of relief, but it wasn't really enough. I wasn't about to just demonstrate exactly how much of a clear threat I was when my role here was this uncertain, so I instead just played dumb "Telekinesis I can do, pyromancy is a different deal"
Finally, the kettle boiled and I found myself slowly sipping at the overheated coffee opposite Scrooge as he read through the paper, seemingly unconcerned about my presence. "You know lass, you've been staring for a while." He pointed out rather correctly that I may have been staring at him. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask while we wait for the others."
I had questions, I had a lot of questions, to be honest, but I did not have a single question that I wanted him to hear. He hated magic and most of my issues were centered around the fact that magic was what I was. So while I knew that he was probably one of the few who would actually know something about the weird magical connection that was forming between Webby, Violet, and me. I also really did not want to talk to him about it. Asking him about why I was magically controlling his housekeeper's daughter's mind to keep myself magically fed would not end well for me. I was probably one magical mishap away from being kicked out as it was.
"I assume that the other two are awake as well, I did tell Webbigail that we were going to get an early start today."
"Nope" "They are snoring loud enough to awaken the deaf dead though."
"Ah, I'll have to get them up. We've got an adventure today and Violet's folks are already here to pick her up"
"An adventure?"
"I thought you'd be interested. There is a temple for the Pukwedgie that is said to have a great treasure of all those they lured to death."
"That...that's a hard no from me" I was not up for risking my life only a few days after I got it back. Scrooge can go risk his life if he wants, I was sick of risking mine.