Lena needed to tell everyone what she just read. It was vital.
But she was hesitating. She now knew that she wasn't safe as her counterpart decided to get to the houseboat, and talk directly to her.
In short, she was not going to risk her chance at keeping her friends and family out of the radar. Lena was struggling enough about her identity and what it meant to be a better person - being a protector was currently too much for her - and now, with everything at stake, in an alternate reality where she couldn't really trust anyone, her point was clear.
Mrs. Beakley knocked on her door. "Lena? Dinner is served."
"Come in, Mrs. Beakley," Lena sighed, "I know you wanted to talk."
The door opened.
"Couldn't lie to you, could I?" Mrs. Beakley chuckled. "Though I supposed you knew it by looking at the time."
"It's 5 in the afternoon." Lena simply replied.
"Alright, let's just cut straight to the point." Mrs. Beakley interrupted. "You have your own problems, don't you? Would you mind if you share those problems to me?"
"I-I don't know if I should... after all, we can't be too focused on one person's problem, we also have to find Scrooge and fix whatever that thing is called so we can all go home too."
"That's not good for anyone, you know." She calmly replied. "You don't have to restrict yourself on your own problems. Your sister is also worried sick about you. When you have someone that you dearly cared about so much, you would always put them in front of yourself, hoping for the better. Fortunately, you're one of the few that cared for everyone. That also affected your mental health, and it's not in a good way."
"Listen, Lena." Mrs. Beakley continued. "I know that you have made terrible mistakes. Everyone make mistakes too, but that never makes it entirely your fault. You are clearly a victim on Magica's scheme, and her unstable fixation of mindset against Scrooge McDuck is too much for you to handle. Just remember, you're in a better family, have better friends, and most of all, all of them cared about you."
Lena mumbled some words. "Could you perhaps speak louder so we can share?" Mrs. Beakley asked patiently.
"I'm scared of being left alone." Lena finally spoke it out. "It's not a feeling that can be brushed away easily. I've been alone for twelve years, no way to ask for help, no way to get out of whatever I've been trying to escape. If I was left alone, I'm not sure I can help myself."
"Oddly enough, you're not." Mrs. Beakley reassured. "You are no longer doing this alone, you have us. Redemption is never easy, and you donning a new outfit simply couldn't change that. However, I can assure you that you will never be alone on your journey. I meant it figuratively and metaphorically."
They laughed a little. "Thank you, Mrs. Beakley. It really helps."
"No problem, Lena. Now let's actually get to dinner."
oOo
"No signs of Uncle Scrooge yet?"
Beakley only shook her head. In fact, she was also worried - after all, Scrooge was the one to have the responsibility of being a father figure, not just her. His departure from the houseboat was devastating, even for the kids.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Della said. It was Lena.
"Sorry for eavesdropping," Lena apologised, "but there's something you need to see."
She gave the adults the note, her hands were still shaking as it was lifted. From that point, it was dead silent. It took all of them a while to adjust from the ambiguous threat - Donald was the first to break the silence.
"Alright," Donald was looking at Lena intensively, "you need to listen to me now, okay? The Shadow War is about to happen, and I don't want anyone, not even you, to be in danger. We'll settle a room where you will be guarded safely - Mrs. B, we need to have some sort of force field - but I can't let the kids be there with you, I basically haven't ask their opinion.
Lena assured Donald that the triplet, Webby and Violet were more than willing to do so, and he happily nodded. "Alright, Della, Mrs. B. Let's get the show started."
All of them immediately went outside, and Mrs. Beakley was the first one to speak. "Alright, I'm strictly setting the boundaries now. Webbigail, Violet, Lena, Huey, Dewey and Louie, you must stay in that room over there. We're going to get ready for an impending storm. Where's Gyro and Launchpad?"
"We're here!" Gyro waved, indicating they were still in the basement.
"You guys stay in the basement and continue working on the Ramrod. We're going to have to speed things up if we wanted to go back to our reality." Donald interrupted.
Without more words needed, Lena escorted them to their room. It only had a double bed, but that was more than enough for the six of them to gather around and talk strategy.
"Alright," Lena began, "basically I got threatened by my own counterpart in this world, and it seems like she's not going to give up finding me whatsoever. What could we do?"
"There's no use in staying here." Both Huey and Violet made the same conclusion. "Wait, what?"
"Okay, hang on, hang on," Lena immediately interrupted, "are you telling me that we're just going to get out of the houseboat, and actually do something about it? No, that's too risky."
"I don't think we have much of a choice here, sis," Violet replied, "if she's the first one to strike first, then we're always going to be in defence mode. By striking first, we'll have an advantage and she would be taken aback as it is, after all, a surprise attack."
Louie was quick to interject. "Guys, this may sound like a good plan, but let's just think for a moment, alright? What if that is EXACTLY what she wants us to do?"
"Louie, you have to understand that sometimes it takes risk to do something that may impact our lives - for the better of course." Huey argued, knowing how Louie would rather play safe than taking a bold move.
Dewey shook his head. "No," he disagreed, "we can't do that. We simply can't. We're not going to do something irrational again."
"Says someone that did that on a regular basis." Huey retorted, not amused.
"Okay, okay," Violet tried to conciliate between the siblings, "let's not getting into a fight here. What's important is that we get home, as soon as possible."
Lena was silent during all those time. With everything at stake right now, she might just thought of obediently staying here.
But she knew. She knew, because she had been forced to do things she was not supposed to do. Her counterpart so far didn't show that - which meant that something was terribly wrong. The group watched her intensely as she continued to stay silent, albeit without not noticing her thoughtful face.
"No, it's time for us to take risk," Lena made up her mind, "I'm not going to go back to our own reality without saving this reality from the Lena that started it all."
oOo
It took them quite a while to actually start moving, since Louie was still hesitant to do this - but in the end, they all agreed to go on the offence. While the force field was still in preparation, they climbed through the window and glided over the water, all but letting anyone notice abnormalities. They were now all heading to the amphitheatre, where they knew they would definitely find something - or even someone.
The amphitheatre was still in the same condition - still abandoned, still with the dangling stars and a moon, still the familiarity of ominousness. They, however, decided to disregard other things in the amphitheatre, and instead they were determined to head over to the peculiar trapdoor.
Lena had already devised a plan - she and Webby would be the ones to get down there, while the rest would guard and made sure to alert them when someone approached.
"Am I clear?"
They all nodded. "Alright, let's go Pink."
Adrenaline gnawed Webby and Lena as they strolled toward the trapdoor, anxious yet curious of what they could discover once the truth had been revealed. Those feelings couldn't prepare both for what was upon them either, since as soon as they went down, the supposed room was in the worst state that anyone could ever imagine. The bed sheet tore apart, shelves were violently misplaced and books were all over the place. Walls were filled with graffities, with conflicting messages everywhere, fighting for dominance in those walls. Venturing forward, the two saw a familiar book - they both knew what it was.
"The journal!" Lena exclaimed. "This must be it."
"Alright," Webby took a deep breath, "let's give it a shot. Time to uncover the mystery."
The first few pages were what both of them expected: the poem about how Lena was made into this world. Turning to the next pages was a different story.
"I don't feel like myself anymore. Every time I decided to do something, my body couldn't move. I'm just in this astral form, and just this moment I can only take advantage of my body sleeping to write this down. Someone is clearly occupying what was supposed to be mine, but I don't know who. I only know that at one moment I was arguing with Magica, and then another moment I was in an underground base. Is this a dream? Or have I gone mad?
I really wish I could have some support from my friend, but at this point, it's no use..."
Both Lena and Webby gasped. This meant that Lena from this universe already had mental problems, and it started to grow after her argument with Magica. They decided to continue reading.
"What was I supposed to do? I was literally fighting... with myself? I'm not gonna do that! But at that split moment, I suddenly had control and I did just that... and then the bed was there, and I realised I was sleeping. At first I still thought it was another bad dream, but before the whole Tiffany incident, I got the vision about a storm... Could it be another vision? Or-"
The sentence never got to be finished as following that was scribbles violently made. Turning to the next page once more, a new writing emerged, to their surprise.
"NO! I WILL HAVE FULL CONTROL! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! I NEED TO MAKE SURE SHE ACCEPTS THE FACT THAT I AM SUPERIOR, AND NOT REBELLING AGAINST IT! JUST WAIT AND SEE!"
Lena dropped the journal. She was overwhelmed with thoughts on her head.
Webby immediately came and comforted her. "It's okay, it's okay."
Lena immediately wiped her tears. "This gives me more reason to save this reality's Lena. Take the journal back with us, we'll regroup now before the Shadow War commences."
Webby nodded, and before moving up, they signalled through the earpieces. There was no signal on the other end. Webby tried to establish a connection to them once again, but a loud crack was the only sound she could hear before the signal was lost again.
"They're in danger," Webby notified, "we have to go now!"
They were quick to climb up again, and the situation was clear: none of them were to be found. Four earpieces, however, were brutally destroyed. And the person in front of it?
Just had to be her.
"Listen-" Lena began.
"No. Hand me back the journal."
The tone was sinister, cruel, and vile. But there was a sign of impatience from her face - that was enough for the two of them to confirm their suspicion.
"How about-" Lena flung the journal, then shot a blue flame on it, "-no."
"You want her to join with your trapped friends over there too?" 'Lena' clenched her teeth.
Lena turned - but she was too late. Webby was already on the other side. A sinister look returned to her counterpart's face, as she now had the upper hand.
"There's really nothing to bargain off," she continued, "so enjoy as your bodies begin to disintegrate from this world. I already told you to choose only one - and yet you chose wrong. What a pity."
She was going to snap her fingers when an incredible miracle happened.
A duck suddenly appeared, and pushed her away from Webby. As she tried to retaliate, he continued to pin her to the ground.
"Pink, now!"
Webby took no time, and began rushing away from the spot. Moments later, she came back with the triplet and Violet, freed from danger. Looking back at the fight, 'Lena' appeared to be unconscious after a swift chop from the duck. He then took out a top hat and placed it neatly to his head.
"Mr. McDuck?" Lena exclaimed.
Scrooge turned, seeing that his nephews, his daughter and her friends were all there. He quickly reached to their side.
"Lads, lasses, listen to me." He began. "I'll explain everything when we get back, but right now, all of you have to return to the houseboat in an instant! In less than five minutes, our lives will be at risk!"
"Now go! I'll follow suit!"
