Neb: Really getting back into it. I've just been dropping chapter after chapter after chapter. But enough about me. Last time Vincent was seriously injured by Britt and Quinn. He also took a hit from Mr. Elite, but Mr. Elite didn't contribute much to his wounds this time. Vincent grows as a character, because instead of trusting in his own self reliance he calls Mrs. Beakley and tells her the whole story about the Shadow Syndicate and about Quinn, the guy hunting him. Mrs. Beakley noticed Vincent was wounded badly and took him to the Hospital where he was greeted by Webby and Scrooge. Vincent revealed to Scrooge that Mr. Elite and Scrooge had history with each other. To which Scrooge confirmed he had beaten the Deer Man once before when he was a child. Now that Mr. Elite has the powers of Helios and the Immortality of Glaucus, he may be an even bigger threat than ever. I do now own Ducktales. I hope you enjoy the fanfic.
Vincent had no choice but to spend the next couple weeks inside the hospital recovering from his battle wounds. Well they were going to hold him there for one week and then send him on his way after sewing his wound shut, but Scrooge insisted that he'd stay a little longer until he could fully recover. Not to mention he would have to go through physical therapy as well. It was fine, because during the time he was recovering he would work on writing stories about his adventures to pass the time. Not to mention he always seemed to have visitors swing by and wish him the best on his recovery. Not just Webby, but sometimes the triplets would come down to. Their Uncle Donald visited once as well, but he went on vacation the following week. Probably for the best, because it was looking like to Vincent that he had a few of his feathers falling out from stress. "I wonder what adventure I missed that'd cause that?", Vincent wondered. Fisher and Mann had visited him as well and told him they missed seeing him down by the docks. Not only did they show up among people he works with, but some of the employees of the coffee shop that he worked at came by as well and apologized for running out on him when the man with the Katana attacked him. Vincent assured them that it was fine, that running was the right thing to do in that situation.
Resting was the difficult part, because in his dreams he would see a battle between himself and Mr. Elite. Every single time, Mr. Elite would come out victorious, no matter how many explosions he sent the deer man's way. These nightmares were causing him to limit his time sleeping and in turn it would slow down his recovery. One night he even saw the Shadow Sorceress Magica De Spell in his dreams telling him he should have joined her side before he would get crushed in the palm of Mr. Elite's right hand.
"This is ridiculous," Vincent groaned in the middle of the night after he had woken up from another nightmare. "Why are they so vivid? I've never had nightmares like these before. It was even more odd that he couldn't see anyone else in his dreams taking his side. He knew the Duck family would be fighting by his side against the Shadow Syndicate, and yet they never made an appearance in any of his dreams. It didn't matter though, because even though they didn't arrive in his nightmares, they visited him during the day and that gave him the strength that he needed to keep resting despite the horrors he had to face.
On Vincent's third week he begun his physical therapy and was actually making great strides despite how tired he was. He felt like he was being mentally attacked every night, but that didn't change the fact that he wanted out of this place as soon as possible. The doctors were nice enough, but he was getting mental flashes of his own mother being in a hospital bed every time he was brought back to his room.
On a lighter note, Huey had visited once more with an older Duck woman that had a mechanical leg. Huey told Vincent that she was the Triplets' mother Della Duck and that she had been lost on the moon their whole lives.
"It's nice to meet you kid," Della spoke up. "I've heard quite a bit about you from Huey over here, he said you like to study ancient artifacts."
"Yeah, exploration is my favored hobby," Vincent smiled. "I hope to get back in the game pretty soon."
"Oh did you finish writing your book Vincent?", Huey wondered. "Webby and I are really excited to see how it turns out."
"It's not done yet," Vincent responded. "It's close though, I can feel the end of the story coming every time I finish another chapter."
"Hey a writer to," Della nodded. "That's pretty impressive."
"He also works as a fisherman and as a barista," Huey added. "Oh well, he was a barista... sorry."
"It's ok kid," Vincent shrugged. "Fisher and Mann are still happy to have me on as soon as I check out of the Hospital. So there's that at least."
"Ew fish really?", Della responded. "I mean, it's good that you get to keep one of your jobs."
"Speaking of Webby, where is she?", Vincent wondered. "I haven't seen her in a while."
"She's coming later today," Huey assured him. "She's got a surprise she thinks you might like."
As the day went on, Vincent continued to write, this time about the Herbs of Glaucus. Though, the character in his story would at least get to see the herbs before the cave collapses unlike what went down on the actual adventure. Vincent frowned at his story as he wondered if it was ok to write that in. Until now the character was just himself that he was writing, but creating alternate ending makes it feel like a completely different person.
A knock came on Vincent's door and Vincent told the person they could come in. As expected it was Webby who entered, but she wasn't alone. Vincent was shocked to see the hummingbird girl Violet Sabrewing following behind her. But that wasn't even the craziest part, Lena followed in after them.
"Lena," Vincent responded shocked. "Y-your back? Webby finally brought you back?"
"Yeah she did," Lena smiled. "With a little help."
"It's a pleasure to get reacquainted with you again Mr. Tailfeather," Violet nodded.
"You two met before?", Webby gawked.
"Briefly," they both responded.
"She had visited Artifact while it was still in town," Vincent explained. "And I bumped into her after the Shadow War also."
"It might be destiny," Webby gasped as stars came in her eyes.
"Ease it up there pink," Lena responded.
"Speaking of which has Artifact made a reappearance?", Violet changed the subject.
"No," Vincent shook his head. "Madame Aurora and the shop haven't returned yet. They might never come back."
"That's a real shame," Violet sighed. "I really wish I bought those books at that store when I had the chance."
"Hey there's plenty of magic books back at the Manor you can look at," Webby cheered her up.
"Don't I know it," Vincent chucked. "Webby and I had gone through every single one of them trying to find a way to bring Lena back. I can't believe it's finally happened after all this time."
"Hey I can hardly believe it either," Lena agreed. "But it's good to be back again, and hopefully I don't ever return to the Shadow Realm again."
"Here here," Vincent laughed. The four of them talked for several hours about everything that had gone on when they brought Lena back. Webby had met Violet at the library, and invited her over to study about the Shadow Realm. Lena was connected to Webby's friendship bracelet the whole time which explained why Webby and Vincent couldn't call her spirit back through the brush. Vincent told the three of them about Quinn, the Enforcer of Order who put him in the hospital.
"So messing with magic outside the Path of Order is what sent him after you," Lena realized. "I'm sorry about that, it was cause you were trying to revive me right."
"I don't think trying was enough to get that guy to come after me," Vincent shook his head. "I've been trying to learn how to do other spells since I became a destruction mage and I hadn't had any Enforcers come after me back then."
"So then what got him to chase after you?", Violet wondered. "Perhaps you were finally successful in using one of these spells?"
"I was," Vincent confirmed. "I created a shielding spell during my fight against my own Shadow. That was apparently enough to push me 'astray' from the Path of Order." He said astray with an eye roll.
"So are they going to keep coming after you?", Lena wondered. "The Enforcers of Order I mean?"
"I have no idea," Vincent shook his head. "Quinn hadn't shown back up again since our last encounter. Maybe I actually did scare the guy off, or maybe he's waiting for a good opportunity to ambush me."
"That won't happen while I'm here," Webby assured.
"Yeah, pink can take him," Lena laughed.
"This is all intriguing," Violet admitted. "Does the path of Chaos also have enforcers or is that just Order because of it's nature?"
Vincent thought for a moment and then nodded. "Chaos probably does to," Vincent figured. "Madame Aurora once told me she only plays with the strings of fate and bends them to her will, but she never severs them. If she's afraid to cross that line, it's possible that Chaos has it's own enforcers also keeping her in check. I just wish she told me about these guys sooner."
"It seems like you would have wound up in this situation anyways," Violet pointed out. "You were down and out of resources when fighting against your shadow and the only way to defend yourself was to use magic you were unfamiliar with."
"Yeah you're right," Vincent sighed. "I've gone over the situation a million times in my head and I don't think there was a way I could have prevented it. But that doesn't matter, I can't change the past."
The four of them continued to talk for several more hours until visiting hours were over. Vincent waved goodby to the three of them and they wished him a good recovery. Vincent sighed to himself and then smiled. "Webby is starting to make a lot of friends, that's good I guess." Vincent knew she wasn't really his little sister and he was happy Lena was back to be real sisters with her again. Speaking of fake families, he wondered if Madame Aurora was ever going to visit him or was his old man ever going to return. It was unlikely, and they were the last people he wanted to see, but... he missed them.
Vincent did not have a nightmare this night or any nights that followed after Lena returned. Unbeknownst to him, Lena started having nightmares of her being chased and turned into Magica the moment his night terrors had ended. It seems that it wasn't just fear and stress that caused him to have these bad dreams, but it was someone targeting him, and now that Lena was back, the antagonist found a new, better target.