happilyeverbeginning | If I had only known / 'd never hear your voice again (scrooge x magica)

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If I had only known / 'd never hear your voice again (scrooge x magica)

"Please!"

Magica had never used that word in her life. Then again, why would she? De Spells didn't beg, or even ask. They took whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. When you had all that power, nothing stood in your way.

But all that power and pride meant absolutely nothing in this moment. Poe - now not only in the form of a raven but with the small brain of it to boot - was sitting on their former throne, mere feet away from flying away. Her heart was pounding so hard he could hear it in her ears. She couldn't even think straight enough to fire a spell to cage him or just stop him.

There was only one thing stand in the way of losing her brother forever, and that was the man she just tried to kill.

"Help! He's flying away!"

This couldn't be happening. Poe was all he had left. Poe was the only thing she truly gave a damn about. She would gladly give over every single coin, jewel, and ounce of magic she had -

"I'll give you anything! My power, my throne, everything!"

- if she could keep the one thing that mattered in this world.

"JUST HELP ME SAVE HIM!"

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In one world, Scrooge shrugged it off. She'd wronged him -- not just stolen from him but tried to kill him to boot -- so she'd brought this on herself. Her brother had stolen from him, too. Why should he care?

'And if it was Matilda or Hortense?' his conscience whispered.

Scrooge looked to the raven which took off, preparing to fly out the hole in the glass. He jumped, probably looking like he was about to slide down the coins.

"Gotcha, you feathered felon!" Then he yelped as the raven squirmed and pecked and clawed. "Ouch! Blasted bird!"

Time seemed to freeze in the moment where Poe opened his wings, and Scrooge jumped...

... but he was caught. Against all odds and all reason, Scrooge had helped her. She didn't know why, but right now, did not care.

"Give him to me!" She shrieked, still hysterical about how close she came to losing him. "If you harm one feather on his head, I'll make you wish for the cold embrace of the hereafter!"

Scrooge slid down the gold, yelping again at another harsh bite from the raven. "You can have him! OW!"

He thrust Poe out in Magica's direction, hands already starting to turn slick and red from blood.

"Poe!" Magica jumped, trying to grab him, but as ravens - and most birds - tend to dislike being held, he clawed and bit at her too.

"Will you - OW! I'm trying to - OW! Stop that! OWWW!" She tried to wrestle one arm free, so she could zap a quick cage around the upset animal. Only then did she slide onto her knees, panting hard, trying to asses everything that happened within the last minute.

"... Poe?" She asked quietly, fingers trembling. "Poe? Poe, please... just... please say you can hear me!"

Of course the bird could hear her - but it didn't mean it understood her at all.

Scrooge hissed, staring at his hands. Ugh, he needed to wash the cuts before they got infected. Who knew what sorts of things the former sorcerer carried?

He could take some of the gold and be on his way. He'd caught her brother for her, after all. He didn't have to do that.

...Only now he was invested in his enemy's plight. Dammit.

"I don't think he can," Scrooge said grimly.

Hearing his voice momentarily replaced grief with rage. She couldn't be responsible for this - no, this was on him!

"Why couldn't you just leave us be!" She screeched, standing upright, tears in her eyes. "It was one lousy dime, you could have gotten another! He is all I have left!"

"This Dime is irreplaceable!" Scrooge snapped. "There's no other dime in the world like it: It's the first dime I ever earned!"

If they'd stolen any other dime from him, he would've been angry but probably would've let it slide. But they'd gone after something so special, so important to him...

But it wasn't just that. He held it in one bloody palm, looking down at it.

"It's been my only real companion for decades."

Edited 2021-03-09 22:25 (UTC)

"IT'S A DIME! IT'S A PIECE OF METAL! THIS IS MY BROTHER!"

If she hadn't looked at Poe again, she might have unleashed all her deadly anger onto Scrooge, and no amount of clever tricks would have saved him. Poe was worth more than one dime. Thankfully for Scrooge, she did look at Poe again, and the crushing weight of the future stabbed her deeply.

"... There's no other brother in the world like him, either." She said quietly, her fingers brushing the cage, her body starting to tremble again. "It'll be okay, Poe, it will, I... I'll find a way to turn you back..."

Scrooge sighed and slid the Dime under his shirt, wincing at the feel of the blood on it. (Oddly appropriate given what had just happened to Poe De Spell.)

"You tried to murder me and I defended myself, but...your brother didn't do anything other than steal something precious from me," he said, not looking at Magica. He looked around at all the gold, stolen gold. He'd have to find some way to give it back to the village. "Leaving him like that's too far for my tastes. Besides, the villagers need to be changed back.

"I have resources...that might help."

No surprise Magica didn't care about the village, nor for Scrooge's justification for his actions. But that last line definitely got her attention... and suspicion.

"Help?" She repeated the word, holding the cage to her body. "Why would you help us?" She had just offered all her power and wealth, but he couldn't hold that against her now! She could turn him inside out with a snap of her fingers!

Poe made a little "caw" sound.

... Her stomach twisted. Who was she kidding? She'd still offer all that and more to save her beloved brother. If there was even a sliver of a chance of turning him back, she couldn't afford to reject it.

Scrooge turned to face her, his eyes narrowed and his jaw set. "I told you: What happened was too far and needs to be made right!"

He then marched over to her.

"And given you swore your powers to me, you're going to help as well. Not just for your brother's sake either. And then all this gold goes back to them. Understand?!"

"You - you little - " He dared to command her?! A De Spell?! Who did this little nobody think he was?! Her fingers clenched the cage, mentally envisioning all the awful, nasty stuff she could do to him - and maybe, someday, she would do, when Poe was back to normal.

It wasn't the first time Magica was relieved her parents were dead, but this time in particular, it was so they wouldn't see her kowtowed by a mere mortal.

Visibly twitching here and there, Magica growled darkly before replying. "Fine." It almost came out as a spit. "Let them have it... whatever's left of them, anyway."

"One more thing." Scrooge leaned in closer to her. "If you use your magic to transform anyone again, you'll never see me again. And any resources I could give you access to to fix your brother? Gone as well."

He was going to have to hold her leash. He knew and understood that. Didn't like it, but what choice did he have? Poe seemed to be the more sensible half of the duo who'd likely held Magica in check.

He had all the cards here. The most powerful sorceress in the world was being controlled by an old mortal. She would have laughed in the face of anyone who told her this would happen mere moments ago. She could feel the metaphorical leash around her neck tightening by the second.

Could she even threaten him, or would that make him take it back? For all she knew, he could be lying about his resources, but she couldn't risk being wrong.

"Who are you?" She asked, perhaps delaying the inevitable. She likely would have no idea who he was - all mortals were the same to her, like sheep - but his audacity was staggering.

"Scrooge McDuck. The richest duck in the world at your service," he said, the last three words in a mocking tone.

Lucky for her. It meant he had more resources than she could ever dream of at his disposal.

Just as expected, it didn't ring a bell at all. But if he wasn't bluffing... yes, money would help. Even talismans, tomes, and potions needed to be bought.

She had run out of options. She couldn't stall any longer. What did pride mean compared to the life of the only person who cared about her?

"I... will..." Gods, it was like pulling teeth. "Do... as you say."

"Good. Now then, are there any grimoires in your collection here or is it just...this?" He motioned to the piles of treasure around them.

An eyebrow raise that he even knew what a grimoire was! Maybe he did know what he was talking about, and there was a flicker of hope in her heart.

"We do have a collection of them... they're all Poe's. He's the studious one." He would be the one burning the midnight candle with his beak in a book, while Magica discovered and experimented in action.

She held one hand out, and after a flash of purple, twin doors suddenly appeared, then opened - revealing a library that would make most book collectors faint.

Scrooge looked around the library. "Good. Very good. This gives us a great place to start."

He wiped off his hands on his jacket. (He'd definitely need to give it a good wash later.) Then he frowned as more blood came from the gashes Poe had left.

"I need to clean and wrap these. Then we can get started. Where's your washroom?"

Magica rolled her eyes. "Ugh... you mortals and your weak little bodies. If you die before curing Poe, I'll ensure your spirit will be tormented for all eternity."

This time the wave of her hand was more flippant, but another set of doors appeared. The 'washroom' was a gigantic, lavish bathroom made of marble and silk. The in-ground tub could have seated twenty alone.

Scrooge snorted. How was he the richest duck in the world but she had more of a lavish lifestyle than him?

He quickly leaned his hands, hissing as the water and soap entered the wounds. He then wrapped his hands, glad for his ambidexterity so that he wrapped both of them properly.

It was going to take time to get through all those books. He should probably propose that they move the whole library, but to where?

Meanwhile, Magica had placed Poe's cage on a table, and sat down to study him.

How did one care for a bird? Any "pets" they had growing up were more for experimentation than love and affection. Well, all living things needed food, that she knew for certain... but what did ravens eat? They still had plenty of turnips, maybe that would do.

Poe cawed, moving about in his cage, and Magica gently began to shush him. "No, no, I can't let you out. Not ever. Not until you're back to... you."

Scrooge re-entered the room, the red of the blood from his hands standing out despite the red of his coat. He walked towards the library. Some part of him was salivating over all the knowledge in this room. Who knew where it might lead?

'Focus,' he thought sternly to himself.

"This is going to take quite a while," Scrooge said. "We'll need somewhere we can do this in peace. Unless you plan to seal off this castle from the outside world." He paused. "I'd suggest you didn't unless you knew how to reverse it."

Magica held up her hand, tempted to do exactly that, with her hand glowing purple... until Scrooge pointed out the last bit.

It was getting clearer by the second who the brains of the family was.

Grumbling, Magica waved her hand, undoing the glow. "Anywhere could be peaceful, if I could use my power freely and dominate whoever was living there." She huffed, wishing he'd back off on that clause.

"My home it is then." He looked around at all the gold. "Suppose this will go in my Other Bin as well until we can return it proper. In the meantime, I'll see about getting a ranch set up for those villagers."

Ugh. This was going to cause such a headache.

"Likely need mundane transport for both. I'll see about that. Head to the nearest town in the morning to contact the local branch of McDuck Enterprises to get the ball moving." He glanced outside. "For now might as well start on some reading."

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