Disclaimer: I don't own Ducktales!

Title: Counting Cards

Summary: Goldie and Scrooge have known each other a long time now, and that's given them a special kind of closeness. Goldie can't say the same for the children he's dragging around with him now, but if she wants to continue the way they have she's going to have to learn. Too bad Goldie's never been good at being good.

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Animation Adventures- I hate to disappoint, but Louie's actually gonna be our focus next chapter! He hasn't vanished with Scrooge- he's just hanging in the background for a bit, I guess. =)

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Goldie is long-privy to what a shadow monster looks like, and shows no surprise as the bright blue figure of Lena struggles feebly to release herself from a perfectly placed crystal in the center of the otherwise empty room as she walks inside.

"Do I want to know?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ask Scrooge!" Lena snapped, propping her arms on the crystal. Her long, ghost-like tail seemed to almost vanish inside the stone. "I was just checking out the layout of the other bin! I didn't even touch anything!"

"Well, the kids are looking through the archives to find you a way out of there. I'd say an hour or two, tops." Goldie settled against the wall, sliding to the floor. "Why are you in the old bin?"

"Why do you even know what the old bin is?" she replied.

"Honey, don't even kid yourself. I've stolen from every aspect of Scrooge's fortune, supernatural or cash." She fished through her pockets a moment, finding and pulling out a flask. "Want a sip? It's cheap knockoff ambrosia from hell."

Lena sunk into the wall and swam over to her. "I have to, just from that sentence alone." She materialized a hand and took hold, slugging it. Lena pulled back with a hiss of displeasure. "Wow, that's gross. I though ambrosia was supposed to be, like, the best flavor ever."

"Hence the cheap and knockoff bit." Goldie swirled it around before taking a drink. "They got the heat just right. The Gods are all spice-fiends. Odd question, but I didn't think shadows could drink?"

"I can make parts of myself human," the shadow slunk around the crystal, reminding Goldie of a coiled snake. "I just don't wanna make my legs fleshy. That would probably turn out bad."

"Ahhh, gotcha."

"This is my 'real' form, I guess?" Lena spread her fingers out, studying the see-through portion in the middle. "Webby gave me her shadow so I could exist in this realm, and I used magic to make myself a body, but I'm still a shadow."

"I doubt that."

"Yeah?"

Goldie waggled the flask at her. "I've seen more than my fair share of shadow creatures, young lady, and I know they're bound to someone. You're free."

Lena snorted and held up her wrist. "I'm not free- I just got a different master."

"Oh."

"Yeah, Webby isn't too fond of the idea either. But it's not like there's anything I can do. The only one who can release me from needing a master is Magica, and I'm not about to ask her for any favors." She paused. "And don't get the wrong idea by that, okay? Webby's never made me do anything. I'm just bound to her."

"Oh," Goldie said, this time with a different inflection. "Is Magica a safe topic now?"

Lena tilted her head to the side. "Who said it wasn't?"

"Scrooge, actually."

"Typical," she griped, rolling her eyes. "He acts like I'm made of glass just because I've had a rough time. But I'm not! Shadows are some of the toughest things imaginable. Between you and me, I think he just hates to think about the fact that I've been around for fifteen years and he didn't even know."

"That sounds like him," Goldie agreed. "Speaking of between you and me, what were you doing down here, anyway? I know for a fact that this is one of the nicer creature traps he owns."

Lena paused, looking her over suspiciously. "I'll tell you, but only if you tell me why Scrooge left."

"I rejected his proposal." She nonchalantly took a sip of ambrosia. "We're already married in four or five dimensions now. I could recite the vows in my sleep. One more wasn't any big deal."

"Ew, gross. Old love."

"It's very gross. You?"

Lena sighed, rolling so she was hanging off the very pointy edge of the crystal. Goldie wondered if she could feel that in her current state. "I just came down here to make sure the doors were all closed. He's tried going off on his own for boss battles before."

"And?"

"They were. But some of his rations and stuff is gone, so I'm pretty sure he went off to climb a mountain or something."

"That's how he spent our third honeymoon," Goldie commented. "Don't take it personally, kid. He does his best, but he's pretty daft."

"You're taking this all in stride."

"Well, it'd be a bit hypocritical of me if I didn't, wouldn't it?" She finished the ambrosia off and re-pocketed her flask. "I do the same thing all the time."

"You could both try to be more open and discuss stuff."

"True, but that would be boring."

"Yeah, it would be." Lena set her chin on her hands. "Deep down, I'm not really surprised. That you old geezers need shadow traps and go on life-threatening adventures instead of talking out your feelings. That's just kind of how it is in this house. The other bin is downstairs, but all the equally crazy people are just above it."

Goldie laughed. "That's a very nice way of putting it, yes."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"When d'ya think you'll be leaving? Webby really likes you, so I figure it's fair we give her plenty of time to get adjusted to the idea you'll be gone."

"Does she always like bad role models?"

"I mean, she adopted me, so..."

"Fair enough. As for when I'll leave..." Goldie stared at her hands, trying to decipher when the idea had become so foreign to her. Well, foreign wasn't the right word. Distant, more like it. She knew she would leave- the date just seemed ages away. "I suppose I'll leave when I have a reason to."

Author's Note: Being a magic creature in a house full of anti-magic traps must suck.

-Mandaree1