Author's note: This is based on the recent graphic novel of Darkwing Duck, to be specific, Duck Knight's second arc, post-issue 7. It's inspired by an interview statement by Ian Brill in Newsarama. For some reason won't let me display the URL, I'm sorry! If you are not familiar with the graphic novels yet, check 'm out. I decided to give them a chance was positively surprised by the plots and character development. It's like a final season that never came to be. Anyway, enjoy the fic.

Loss

Morgana had always believed that her life had improved after she had met Darkwing. Despite their arguments, they had it all worked out. They shared the best alternative family anyone could ever get, and it included adopted daughter, a sidekick, pets and two houses – one in the suburbs, the other in various magical dimensions. Yes, Morgana had been pleased. Though she had never actually told Dark, she had always imagined they would live together at some point. She saw snippets of herself sending Gosalyn off to school, and Launchpad taking care of her pets. They would keep the two houses of course, since hers had been in her family for ages. During the day they would probably have to be at Dark's house, but at night they would water the deadly nightshade in her garden together. It seemed a bit impractical. Ah well, they would find a way to make it work. They had until now, after all.

And then he just shattered all her dreams. One day he just came waltzing in, telling her he would stop being Darkwing Duck, without any decent explanation. He left her. She called him a few times, he didn't pick up. She was too stubborn to visit him, and he never bothered to send her any message. He just let her be. After all, he wasn't Darkwing Duck anymore, so why should she care about him? What he didn't realize was that she was fond of him, his family, that she didn't only love him for that air of mystery, but also for who he was. Drake. And that somehow, they had to go through this together. He just ran, perhaps afraid that at some point she might convince him to pick up that purple cape of his again.

Now that he had come back, they had a lot to talk about, but there was very little time to have an actual conversation. Darkwings from various dimensions targeted their house, or as he had stated it, 'our house?' Someone clearly had some issues with bounding, Morgana thought, and she was happy that at least Eek and Squeek agreed. Apparently he had kicked Launchpad out of 'his' house too, but at least he had still kept some pictures of him around, while the ones he had kept of her had been removed from the cupboard quietly. Yes, they had a lot to talk about, but she couldn't find the right moment. And she wasn't sure what to say because she had been hurt in more ways than one.

'So could your magic help us find that aura and the cause of all those Darkwings?'

'I guess…' She felt a bit used. Now that she was back, they had some time to talk things over, but work always came first. She loved him for his bravery, but maybe this wasn't the right time.

'Then I want you to help me out here, Morg, I need you.' He held her hands. It always softened her when he did that. He had treated her well since he had picked her up. He genuinely try to show he cared about her, and seemed to respect her more than before. Earlier, he would have been reluctant to track down some vague 'whatta' but now he was okay with it. Ever since the Justice Ducks was formed, Dark had grown more lenient towards other supernaturals and heroes in town. Their worst fights, even after that, had been about magic though. At points he did not understand they came from two different worlds, and even belittled her culture.

'We're near,' Morgana told him when they approached the source of the aura, only to be spiraled into a portal a few minutes later.

Magica had sucked up Morgana's magic and was growing stronger. Her armour reflected the magic that went back and forth between them. In her transcendental state, Morgana received flashes of the creature that lurked in St. Canard's river.

'Dark, it's an old villain, Paddywhack. He's in the water!'

'Who now?' Magica cackled. 'A bit delusional, aren't we? Well, at least my spell is kicking in. Soon you'll have forgotten all about yourself!'

'Paddywhack?' Dark was still battling Negaduck. He tried to approach her but Negaduck made a quick move that made him trip.

Morgana was feeling feint. Magicless, she couldn't prevent the memories from slipping away. Magica's spell was a strong one. With Gosalyn out of the picture due to her malfunctioning suit, and Dark battling Negaduck, there was no escaping this.

'Save Gosalyn, Dark,' she spoke softly.

'Morg!' Darkwing replied, and while he was distracted, Negaduck nearly hit him again.

'The river of St. Canard,' Magica muttered, while Morgana was on the verge of collapsing. 'I wonder if my viewing globe can show us a bit more of that creature.' She kept one hand aimed at Morgana while she snapped the other. The globe depicted a fight that was actually quite nearby.

'So that's Paddywhack.' Magica laughed, and that's when Morgana lost her memory.

Darkwing knew Magica was far too strong to defeat, but the main way to bring her down would be through that artifact. Gosalyn was still struggling with her armour though, so he would have to solve that first. Or wait for a lucky accident in which she suddenly launched a punch or missile anyway, but like that was ever going to happen. With a smoke bomb he at least managed to distract Negaduck and appear again by Gosalyn's side.

'Let me take care of that pet for you, while you try to find out what's wrong with the armour.' He reached for his grapple hook and took wolf Darkwing down for a while, or at least, he hoped so. Meanwhile Negaduck was taking aim his weapon, an enormous gun he had just picked up. 'Say bye, bye!'

'After you, ' Dark replied, while hitting him with the grapple hook.

Now that she had free reign again, Gosalyn tried to knock over Magica de Spell. However, the armour was working against her still. 'What's the matter?' she called out.

'Maybe it's my mystical artifact!' Magica replied. 'One you'll never get your hands on.'

'Maybe she won't, but I will,' a demonic voice sounded.

'Paddywhack,' Darkwing spoke, before he could even look up. Negaduck stood before him, dazzled, and that's when Darkwing gave him a last blow, and he fell down.

'Magic,' Paddywhack spoke. 'Someone woke me through magic. I had been slumbering for such a long time in the water.'

'Morgana,' Darkwing said, while he walked over to her body. She seemed so feint without her magic.

'Give me that artifact,' Paddywhack spoke.

'Like hell,' Magica replied, and she directed it towards him. He merely stumbled, and kept walking. That's when he pulled it out of her hands. Magica's armour crumbled slowly while she shrieked in agony. Gosalyn was still standing near Magica, but had decided to go after Paddywhack instead. She tried to get a hold of the artifact, but the suit was still malfunctioning. Paddywhack ignored her. She was just an annoying buzz in his ear. He jumped out of the window quite elegantly. Even though the building was pretty damn high, Darkwing was sure good old Paddy had survived. The afterglow of the artifact lingered for a few seconds. Then all was quiet.

'Keen gear,' Gosalyn spoke, and she hurried to Darkwing and Morgana without any superpowers. Darkwing held Morgana's hands. 'Why can't I ever protect you, Morg?'

'No time to get sappy! Get that artifact back, you fools!' Magica cried out. She was wearing her old black dress again. 'Help me defeat that guy or she and I are both doomed! You need the artifact to break the spell on her. Plus that the magic of both of us is in that thing.'

'Gosalyn, take care of Morgana, will you? I'll go after Paddywhack.'

'Aren't you joining him? Magica shrieked to Negaduck.

'But he's my arch nemesis! You don't expect me to – '

'Aren't you going to help me?'

'Frankly, I don't care about you or Darkwing. I might have done this for Morgana in the past, but she's become such a goody two-shoes the last years… No, I think I'll go take a stroll outside and have a look at how our Darkwing's are doing.'

'If my magic is gone, we can't bring any Darkwings to this dimension! And we can't send them back either!' Magica looked at Darkwing helplessly, as if he could help convince Negaduck. He just shrugged. 'Argh,' she screamed.

'Bother,' Negaduck grinned. He took the elevator and was gone.

Darkwing had contacted Launchpad, who picked him up a few minutes later. 'I saw him get out of the water, D.W., and he seemed very strong and frightening. I wanted to beep you but I didn't get a hold.'

'Where could he be?' Darkwing muttered.

'Do you really think it was a good idea, leaving Gosalyn with Morg and Magica?'

'I'm pretty sure they'll be fine. Magica's pretty harmless without her powers.'

'Still…'

'And she's counting on me to get her powers back.'

'I guess.'

They were quiet for a few minutes and kept looking at the chaos in town.

'That's the Darkwings again.'

'Yes.'

'Launchpad, the first thing we need to do, is find out where the box is he come from. Last thing we know, it was eaten by a fish.'

'And he wasn't carrying it this time?'

'No, it might still be in the river somewhere. If Morg's magic awakened it, I'm pretty sure she could detect it. '

'Are you considering flying back to the building and picking up Morg and Gosalyn? Because that's exactly what I've been wanting for a while now. I mean, you don't know Magica as well as I do, but she always has some tricks up her sleeve.'

'Not really since Morg has to be awake to do this, and have her memory back.'

'Maybe once we have the box, we can make a trade-off with Paddywhack for the scepter.'

'And we can't find the box without Morgana.'

'This is exactly why I stopped being a hero. I'm useless.'

'We are nearly at the coordinates where I saw Paddywhack get out of the water.'

'That's great Launchpad, it's not like we can just dive in there and – wait… we can!'

Not much later, they found the box and gave it a good spin.

Paddywhack showed up, greedy to get his box back. 'So there it is!'

'Yes, you monotone mime, but before you get it back, I'm going to need that artifact to wake my girlfriend. I would be willing to trade, but hey, this gives me complete power over you so I'm just going to give it another spin.'

'Do it before he jumps in, and then pulls you in, like last time! Brrr!'

'Keep the chain ready so we can lock him up again, L.P.!'

'You are forgetting one little thing, my friends. I have magic now. And the box means nothing to me.'

He aimed the artifact at the box and drew it closer. Still, it seemed to Darkwing he couldn't use the magic very well, or at least, wasn't that used to it. It might have woken him up, but he surely didn't know what to do with now.

'If you want it back, give me that wand. You can't use it anyway. Magica would have done a dozen spells with it already in the time I've been standing here. If you just give it, I'll give you the box in return, and we'll be getting along just fine.'

'Alrighty then.' Paddywhack put the artifact between them and Darkwing the box. Launchpad handed over each object to the other. It seemed fair enough. Until Paddywhacks gave the box a spin and a clownesque song began to play.

'Do something with the magical thing!' Launchpad called out.

'Make Morgana and Magica reappear, object!' Darkwing spoke, waving with the object as if it was a feather duster. 'Come on, you are magic and should be easier to use than spells! Listen to me!' An armour appeared around his chest. 'I mean, it bring, Morgana and Magica here!'

'It's like Gosalyn's playing with her Gizmoduck outfit again,' Launchpad said, slightly touched.

'Interesting, the box doesn't work because of that magic surrounding you, or maybe it's responding to it again?' Paddywhacks muttered while shaking the box.

'Kindly bring Morg here, magical thing, or at least heal her memory and so on.'

The magic object gave some sort of glow.

'It approves of you!' Launchpad called out. They highfived. Half a minute later, Morgana and Gosalyn appeared behind them, clouded by purple magic.

'Dark, dearest, what happened?' Morgana hugged him.

' Magica was still magicless,' Gosalyn explained, 'so we knocked her unconscious and tied her up.'

'It seemed like the right thing to do, in case she got her magic back anyway,' Morgana said.

'Mr. Banana Brain, or excuse me, Paddywhack over here has gotten his box back.'

'It's not working right though,' Paddywhack explained. 'It's responding to the magic.'

'Like my gizmoduck suit!'

'Very strange,' Morgana spoke. "That shouldn't be happening. Can I hold it for a second?'

'Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do. Like having breakfast,' Paddywhack sulked.

'I wonder what's wrong with it.' Morgana touched the music box and gave it a short spin. The song seemed different. 'It is a magical object so it's no wonder it responds to other magical objects like the 'source absorber' or the magic inside of me. What exactly do you want from it?'

'Well, I was going to suck you all in. But now I'm fine with just going back there after a mild snack.'

'I think that's still doable.'

'Just kidding,' Paddywhack said and he raised his hands. Morgana got sucked in the box.

'Hey, that didn't work on us!' Darkwing cried out while he caught the box.

'Yes, but it responds to her, as I said. She woke me from my sleep. The box likes her, maybe she can stay in it, while I stay here.'

'She'll defeat you from inside, like I did, and then you'll go back once more.'

'We'll see about that. She likes magic. She might not come back for you.'

'Oh, be quiet you.'

'I'm going to get a burger while you are at it, need anything?' Paddywhack said. 'Happy meal for you, kid?'

'I'm not a kid!' Gosalyn cried out.

'I mean Darkwing.'

'Thanks but no thanks.' Darkwing replied, spinning the music box some more as if that would bring Morgana back.

She wandered through a dark hallway.

'You'll be so alone, dear. I see such a bad future for you. No children, no nothing.'

'Stop it, grandmother.'

'I mean it.'

'Having no children is alright. Besides, you predicted this to me years ago. I met someone by now.'

'Years ago? I'm giving it for the first time.'

'We are dreaming, or at least caught up in an unfamiliar dimension of some sorts that projects my imagination. You are not really my grandmother.'

'Don't be snarly, Morgana.'

'Grandma, tell me about my career.'

'No, now that you're breaking the illusion, you might as well continue.'

'You told me I would be a great witch, have heists, run evil companies. I have ambitions.'

'And children was never one of them. Our family will die.'

'Oh, stop it, we still have cousin Frankie.'

'Hah. Frankie.'

'I have a daughter, grandma.'

'But she isn't yours, and she never will be.'

'It's fine, I'm getting too old for children, and I'm not… I just never saw it happening. But Gosalyn, she's a fine girl. She'd be glad to live here at some point and carry on our –'

'Like I said. She's his daughter, not yours.'

'She's as much my daughter as…'

'No. Just because she's an orphan, she isn't everybody's child. Now think about that, you selfish girl. It was always just you in the end. You never cared about us. And now you are in your thirties and you wasted your life on petty projects.'

'You told me the best was yet to come.'

'Yeah, like you said, twenty years ago.'

Morgana gasped. The image of her grandmother faded.

'I need to get out of here. Paddywhack? Paddywhack, are you near? Let me go!'

She moved through her house, but it wasn't just wasn't the same. Behind every room there were clown attributes and circus props. She gave a spin to every music box she could find, and there were quite many in all of the rooms. She tapped the clock. She called out for Eek and Squeek. The house remained abandoned.

'Maybe I am alone,' Morgana said. 'He came back, but where am I now? Wandering through the same rooms, talking to the same plants, looking at the same clock. It's no different than when he left me. It's more colourful, at least, but it's still the same. I miss him. But he never misses me. He never goes that extra mile. He never talks.'

Morgana set down in a chair that had appeared, the same chair she had set in most of the months when she was depressed. She had never been depressed until one and a half year ago. She had been an achiever. Instead of sulking and worrying about life, she had made goals, and projects, and she had lived days sticking to them. He had brought out the worst in her. Some sort of feeling or hope or change that she could have done without.

'I would never return to someone who had hurt me so badly.' Paddywhack stood behind her. 'He sounds horrible.'

'Is he, though?'

'You just don't belong together.'

'We could have worked things out.'

'If he had just talked,' Paddywhack nodded. 'But he didn't, did he?'

'I guess not. I do want to go back though.'

'Defeat me then.'

With a flip of her hand, she magicked him away. He fired up and crumbled into a million pieces but she felt sorry for him. She touched the pieces sadly but they blurred and finally, vanished altogether. Outside, someone was calling for her, waiting... Dark.

'Morgana, I'm so glad to have you back.' Darkwing cradled her in his arms but she kept shivering.

'Back…' she repeated, to give some sense, some coherence, some meaning to those words.

She felt him, and he was warm.

'Is Paddywhack gone?'

'You put him back, L.P. chained him.'

'Did you toss him back into the ocean?' she smiled.

'No. We want to toss him out of the air plane this time, or maybe let you destroy him magically.'

'I'll take the box along. I can take care of it.'

'Great.'

Darkwing helped her stand up. 'Dark, dearest… I'm sorry, but I can't cope with you anymore.'

'What? Now that we have just gotten back together?'

'We haven't gotten back together. We haven't even remotely discussed what you did to me. I'm sorry but as long as you don't apologize, and I haven't figured out what I want, there's no relationship whatsoever. You left me, and then you come back the minute you have your suit back on? You didn't even have the guts, you didn't even have the decency, to talk to me as Drake.'

'Morgana, I didn't know you felt that way… I'm sorry… I…'

'I cared about you, about Gosalyn, about our house. But you say it's your house, your daughter, your best friend Launchpad and your career… Where do I stand in all of it? Tell me, where exactly do I fit in your future?'

'Morgana, I never really thought about it.'

'Exactly, and that's your problem. You never put yourself in my position. Dark, I knew you would probably go through some rough patches as a hero. And you knew I might have my villain rebounds as well. I respected that. But clearly you didn't. And clearly you didn't respect me or our relationship together either. You had so little faith in me in the end.'

'I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to see me as a normal person, with a day-to-day job, how could you have liked that? You would have looked down on me, you would have – '

'Sweetheart, it pains me that you never trusted me. If we had been dating for only a short while, I would have been okay with this, but you've known me for such a long time. And you just closed the door in front of me. I'm sorry, Dark, but until you can give me something back, and sincerely make effort to include me in your family, we're through.'

'Morg, I'm sorry. I just couldn't be with you. It would have been too painful. I would have always been reminded of the person I was.'

'That's what having an actual relationship means, Dark. We are getting older, and it seems you still haven't gotten the hang of it. You know where to find me when you do.'

Morgana walked away, but before she went up in smoke, she petted Gosalyn on the back.

'Gosalyn, you mean more to me than you'll ever know. And much more than your dad will ever realize. Please be strong for me. Okay?' Gosalyn nodded. Morgana and the music box faded. Traces of magic remained in the air and Dark reached out his hand slowly, as if he caught them, and by catching them, get her back. He knew he had to make changes. He had done her wrongs in more ways than he had known.

'For workaholics like you two, it might be super weird to get what a relationship is about, even though you are so old,' Launchpad remarked. 'I mean, you should know better, D.W.'

'Lauuuunchpad,' Darkwing snapped. 'Are you dating anyone, huh? Are you suddenly an expert? No, you are my roomie, and an idiot on top of that!'

'Let's go inside the plane and fasten your seat belts, Gosalyn, your dad wants some time for himself.' Launchpad carefully guided Gosalyn to the parked vehicle, telling some jokes to lift the mood.

'No, I don't!' He lingered on the bridge anyway, and peered over the river where the box had come from. 'I don't want any private time at all. In fact, we shouldn't forget to check up on Negaduck. If those Darkwings are still on the loose, we still have a long night ahead of us!' Still, he lingered.

St. Canard's looked awfully quiet. That was his main priority. Maybe Negaduck had already sealed the darks, maybe Magica had reawoken. At the moment though, Darkwing didn't really care about that. He had Morgana on his mind. Until now, he had always thought she had liked the hero in him, the dark part, rather than the duck part. And he had been wrong. A cool breeze went over the bridge. His cape fluttered. He wished he could say how good it felt to be back, be jubilant or maybe proud. It felt bitter. They had pulled through, sure, but in the end, he had lost her.