happilyeverbeginning | And I’ll face all the evils that our love will surely bring [scrooge x magica]

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And I’ll face all the evils that our love will surely bring [scrooge x magica]

Experimental spells were called that for good reason - they weren't things one did without fully knowing and understand its powers. But Magica was many things when she had screamed that incantation - narcissistic and desperate, to start with. It turned out being all-powerful meant nothing when you weren't all-knowing, and the spell had backfired spectacularly. It was a sheer miracle she'd come out of unharmed... for the most part.

The injuries to her body looked worse than they really were, and given her magic, they'd heal quickly. The real issue was her head, as she hadn't woken up in days. Finally, mercifully, she began to wake up, though that in of itself felt like a long, painful process. It hurt just to open her eyes, and thus took her several attempts, the light in the room giving her a headache. She struggled, keeping at it, moaning quietly, her vision initially blurry.

When she could finally make her surroundings - or at least the ceiling, as she still didn't have the strength to move her head just yet - she didn't recognize it. This wasn't where she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be...

... Ah. Hm. Uh.

"Where... am I?"

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"I didn't betray my family," Scrooge snapped, the feathers on the back of his neck rising in agitation. "Those same principles keep me from crossing lines I either crossed once and never want to cross again or that I've seen others cross and know I don't want to follow those same paths. Fighting you and potentially killing you or being killed is one thing. I can't stomach deliberately leaving someone helpless to die when other options are available, not even if those people are my enemies."

Magica scoffed, still aghast at his insistence. "You think they'll see it the same way? You lucked out with me. Going soft on your enemies could mean trouble for them... principles may be fine and dandy for you, but what about the people you surround yourself with? Is their safety worth less than your guilt?"

A wave of her hand, "And what if you did get hurt because of this? How is your family supposed to react? I don't know you, Scrooge McDuck, but if you really care about your family all that much, then they must care about you too! It's a two-way street - they wouldn't want you in danger. You may have arrived here by yourself, but you're never alone."

Twenty-four hours earlier, Magica De Spell would have rolled her eyes about the idea of family loving each other.

The feathers laid flat as suddenly Scrooge couldn't meet Magica's eye.

"They'd manage just fine without me," he told her honestly. "It wouldn't be the first time they lived without me."

"You can live without someone and still be miserable." Supposedly. What did she know?

Magica snorted, leaning into her seat. "I can't remember hating you or your family, or anything close to it. What am I supposed to do with that? I can't hate you just because you tell me I'm supposed to." She hated him for other reasons. "What about you? Don't you hate me at all?"

"I'm not telling you that you have to hate me," Scrooge said, side-stepping what she'd said on the family. "I told you the truth because I wanted you to hear what I know about your past from me rather than hearing it second- or third-hand from some nosy Nellie on the street.

"I hate the Magica De Spell who threatened my family time and again, who did all manner of terrible things. I can't bring myself to hate you because you're so different from her. There's some overlap in your looks and quirks in your personality, but you're not the same Magica."

Was he planning on telling her what those terrible things were? ... Did she want to know?

Ah.

There came the conundrum. Did she want her memories back? When she first woke up, she needed to know everything, and was afraid of what lay in store for her without her past. But now her past sounded... very unpleasant. Magica looked unusually defeated, staring down at her empty palms. If she dared to try and find magic again, what if doing so accidentally restored her memories? Or what if she had no choice at all and they came back someday anyway? Were they really two separate people - Magica of then and Magica of now?

"Then... who am I?" She asked softly, perhaps the gentlest voice she'd ever used in her life.

"Well, other than being a witch--I doubt your powers haven't carried over--that's up to you. You'll likely run into people you've crossed in the past who likely won't see things the way I do and still blame you for what you've done to them, but you get to decide how you move forward from here."

Forward? She wasn't even sure which direction that meant.

"How do I know I won't fall back on my old ways?" Gods, there he went with his faith again, trying to do the best and believe in the best despite common sense. "Especially since I can't even remember my old ways... I could wind up making the same mistakes, and hurting the same people."

Loathe as she was to admit it... she was scared.

"I'm willing to help you on that part. I can't say my suggestions won't lead to new mistakes, but at least I can help you avoid repeating the old ones," Scrooge said.

Magica paused, and then flicked a finger at him. "A-ha. I knew you couldn't be that stupid! That's why you're helping me out, so you can 'get rid' of your enemy!"

Oh thank goodness, he wasn't entirely hopeless. This was being practical!

"Well, I will admit that that'd be a handy side effect," Scrooge said unrepentantly. "Helping you definitely solves two problems at the same time."

Magica raised an eyebrow. "What's the second problem?"

"Oh I don't know." He reached up to poke her forehead. "An amnesiac witch with no idea where precisely she lives or if there's anyone waiting for her."

Careful with poking a hornet's nest, Scrooge. They tend to sting.

Magica's face was irked at the teasing, but quickly switched to a smirk. "I think I would have been all right. Perhaps someone else would have found me and taken me in. After all, who could resist helping a fainted beauty?"

With that, she was quickly in his face. "Maybe you weren't thinking with your head when you picked me up, and were thinking with something else."

Yeah, she wasn't going to let him forget his fluster at the dress shop anytime soon.

"Oi!" His cheeks turned red in embarrassment as he scowled in irritation. "I'll have you know that that would've been the absolute last thing on my mind if it had crossed it at all!"

Magica knew he was telling the truth - after all, he'd been honest the whole time. Buuut he did let her keep the dress... and they weren't foes anymore.

"Of course. Because we were enemies." She began to trace a little circle on his chest. "But I haven't been your enemy this entire day. So has there been anything else on your mind?"

She couldn't help but wonder if she ever teased him like this "before".

"Stop doing that," he groused even as he continued turning red.

She'd always teased him and given him nicknames, but they'd been clear taunts. Nothing like...this.

"I thought you said you wanted to help me." It was his own fault for being so enjoyably adorable. Magica lightly stroked the underside of his beak once before mercifully turning away, somewhat getting back to the topic at hand.

"But I do plan to pull my own weight... if only because I'll be bored to tears without anything to do. I don't even remember having any hobbies or favorite TV shows."

Honestly, her putting her hand under his beak was so normal that it didn't get a reaction out of him. Even if the context was different, he was used to her doing that.

"Good. Because I'm sure I can find a use for you that'll let you earn a living." His company was rather massive, after all. There was always a niche waiting for someone with the ambition to find it and skills to fill it. "In the meantime, you need to focus on making sure you're all healed up while I focus on dealing with the mayor."

He rubbed his temples, a migraine threatening to form.

"What, and leave me out of the fun?" Magica turned right back around, hands on her hips. "Right now I don't know any of my skills or what I'm good at... so maybe the best thing would be for me to follow you around and learn."

Part of her wanted to learn, and part of him wanted to continue making his life hell. Maybe she didn't quite hate him, but the need to drive him nuts was something even magic couldn't erase.

"Trust me: You'll be bored out of your skull by it. I do."

But that wasn't a no. More of a fair warning.

Since when did Magica ever listen to warnings?

"Then for now, instead of enemies... consider us partners." She held out of her hand for him to shake. "Last chance for you to back out and actually have some regrets."

Scrooge smirked. "Just remember that I warned you."

He took her hand in his, giving it a firm shake. She'd likely be able to feel over a century's worth of callouses hiding just beneath the feathers of his palm.

Magica gripped it back, shaking it once... and then pulled him in to kiss his cheek.

"Consider that my warning." Whatever that meant.

"To warn me about what exactly?" Scrooge asked, turning slightly red. Honestly, this was a much different form of Magica behavior than he was used to. Her "flirting" before was more like a cat playing with a mouse than actual flirting. What was this?

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