A/N Darkwing Duck does not belong to me.
A Defeat and a Small Victory
The sky filled up with lights, as they watched on in silence.
The atmosphere was brooding and tense although none of them looked more brooding than Morgana! A cold, stony expression covering her features.
Darkwing, Launchpad and Gosalyn all stood together as they watched the spectacle unfold before them. Morgana stood alone.
The sight could almost have been called beautiful if they hadn't known the truth. If they hadn't been at the centre of events. If lives weren't being lost.
Darkwing was the first to dare break the silence. "Come on, lets get back to the Tower". Gosalyn and Launchpad nodded. Morgana just stood in silence. "Morg?" Darkwing ventured, concern evident in his voice.
Morgana turned around to reveal tears streaming down her cheeks. Her face was still stony and cold. Without a word she strode past her companions, as if they weren't even there.
They followed quietly.
The journey back to Darkwing Tower, and then onward to the Mallard residence wasn't any more cheerful. Morgana was silent throughout.
When they arrived back at the Mallard's house, Morgana was the first up the stairs and without a word headed to her new room. Since she had moved in with Drake and his family, of sorts, she had been sharing a room with her boyfriend.
Drake, now out of his Darkwing costume, proceeded to put Gosalyn to bed. For once the young girl didn't protest. After what she had witnessed that day, she was happy to go to bed.
Drake himself had decided to give Morgana some privacy tonight, after the events of the day to say that she was in a less than jovial mood would be understatement of the millennium. Given the circumstances, he decided to spend the night on the couch in the living room.
Launchpad sat in his own room, contemplating whether or not to go in and talk to Morgana. He knew that it could be dangerous, given her current mood, but with Drake clearly unwilling to face the potential wrath of his girlfriend, that left only him, willing to talk with her, in an attempt to calm her down. An attempt, deep down, he knew was ultimately futile.
Launchpad left his room and went towards Drake and Morgana's bedchamber.
The door to the bedroom creaked open slowly as Launchpad put his head around the door.
There, sat on the bed, her back to the door, still looking as grim as he had last seen her, was Morgana, still wearing her usual read dress, that had become slightly pale, as the day's events had taken it's toll on both her and her clothing.
Launchpad carefully shut the door behind him. Morgana heard him. He knew that he had been heard.
Slowly venturing forward, Launchpad attempted to sit next to her on the bed. As he did this for the first time in what seemed like ages Morgana spoke.
"I couldn't save them. I failed" she said as she continued to stare into space.
Launchpad sighed and attempted to put an arm around her. She roughly shrugged it off. "I tried, I really did, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't enough!"
"Morg…" Launchpad began, but he was cut off by her. "All I wanted to do was to save them, that's all. Nobody needed to die, I could have saved them." Morgana's tone had become desperate, almost pleading as she said this.
Launchpad watched as her expression went from stony to sad. He thought back to all that had happened over the course of the day. Although in all honesty he really didn't want to.
This had been the day they had all failed to save lives. Some of Morgana's people, who had stumbled into the normal world by accident, were being hunted down by the Armed Forces in Saint Canard. Launchpad and the others had heard about it on the TV and were very quick to make their way to the scene of the incident to try and help.
Morgana was naturally especially keen to help and was determined to solve the situation peacefully. Launchpad remembered how she had begged with the head of the Armed Forces to hold off the attack so she could talk to her people and get them back home. He hadn't listened, he just looked at her with a calm, superior expression. Morgana's begging soon turned into demanding and the demanding had soon turned into a full blown shouting match between herself and the General. Launchpad remembered the fire in her eyes and the aggression in her voice. At one point she had looked ready to abandon all reason and barbecue him, or worse strike him. She did neither. Instead she left his office, papers scattered all over the floor, ornaments broken, glass from his office window peppering the place, but the General himself was left unharmed, but severely warned. A warning he had refused to head.
The order was given, and within a few minutes, the harmless creatures had been hunted down and blown to smithereens. Morgana and the rest had attempted to rescue them but had arrived far too late. They were just in time to see the bright lights though.
In his head Launchpad went through all the emotions Morgana had displayed. At first her begging desperation, her eyes full of concern for her people, followed by the sheer rage, as she demanded to be listened to then quickly succeeded by full-on anger and shouting. Never once though, had she threatened him.
It struck Launchpad as surprising, how someone could switch from being so pleading to being a practically unstoppable force of nature. Then again there was little that was unsurprising about Morgana.
Launchpad sighed to himself once again. There was little he could do, he had decided, his best bet was to give Morgana time to herself in the hope that she would feel better in the morning.
As he got up to leave he was surprised as he felt Morgana's hand catch his shoulder. He turned to face her. Her face had lost some of it's coldness and she looked slightly more relaxed. "Thanks for checking on me Launchpad. I appreciate it". At this she gave a little smile. Launchpad smiled back. Maybe he hadn't done anything big or indeed anything grand, but just by being there he had made a difference, in helping Morgana overcome her defeat. A defeat not by a masked supervillain or an evil genius, but by one unreasonable man, with a fear of the unknown who had come up against one determined woman who without doubt was kind, heroic but not to be angered.
Launchpad just hoped for his sake that the General had a guilty conscious, otherwise he hadn't just defeated Morgana but he had defeated himself.
End