lost and found
Lena had been to all sorts of places- Mount Vesuvius, of course, with it’s stupid stormy skies and sharp grey rocks, she’d been to plenty of surrounding towns in Italy, even eventually made her way to Venice- which had been beautiful, though she hadn’t really been able to appreciate it for long. Canada had been a bit of a shock after that, what with its white winters and aggressive wildlife- the ducks there were no nicer than anyone else she’d ever seen, but she supposed not all rumors could be true. Eventually they traveled down to America, Magica complaining about the ‘infuriatingly’ slow pace the whole time, which had admittedly soured the otherwise pretty view. From there she’d swear they’d just about been to every state, Magica’s movements growing increasingly more dramatic and frantic as she searched fruitlessly from the infamous McDuck.
And then- and then she’d fucking lost her. She’d slept in some cheap hotel, and momentarily took off her pendant to do something or another- Lena really couldn’t remember or care- and then she left! She’d forgotten her!
And Lena had been left to pace that stupid hotel in her stupid ghostly form, never allowed to stray too far from her stupid amulet. They hotel staff came in, muttering about the horrid state Lena’s inconsiderate aunt had left the place, and one of them noticed her, and instead of putting her in the lost and found or whatever, decided to keep her.
Which like, a bit rude, but also fair- a girls gotta eat. Especially considering this girl- a young woman named something beginning with an r, had a family to feed, and was definitely not paid enough for the shit she had to probably put up with. Lena got it, she really did. But also. Like. Fuck her.
Because then r-lady had pawned her off on E-bay or whatever, and she’d been on a grand fucking tour of America’s most desperate from then on.
She hadn’t thought it was possible to feel more like an object than when she had existed with Magica as her master- but at least Magica talked to her (though mostly just because she was crazy and liked to monologue, but still). Now she was being passed around like somebodies antiquated garbage, sold at thrift shops and garage sales, dropped on the street or left in someone’s bag for someone else to steal and then sell and then start the process all over again.
On the plus side, a lot of the people who bought her were weird, and their homes doubly so. On the negative side, a lot of the people who bought her were weird, and their homes were like haunted fucking houses on steroids.
But yeah, she’d been to some pretty interesting places. But none so interesting as this.
The house of her new owner could only liberally called one- it was a mansion- a goddamn castle almost. Like- whoever the duck that had bought her was, he was actual millionaire kind of thing.
Lena’s spiritual manifestation followed after the- frankly giant- grandma who’d purchased her at a slow pace, staring up at the building with a slack jaw and eyes full of awe. And a bit of bitterness too, because she’d spent most of her life living in less than fortunate circumstances- over-filled orphanages, a lackluster foster system, homelessness, and then Magica’s full sprint across the world, only sleeping where she could afford- which was mostly just shitty little apartments or hotels.
And then there was this- this monstrosity of a house. Just existing, pleasantly, for the undoubtedly rich bastards who relaxed inside it, uncaring of the fact that with even a twelfth of this money, she never would have climbed her way up a certain mountain one desperate day.
But whatever- she ground her non-existent teeth and did nothing, because she couldn’t. She couldn’t do nothing now, as an invisible passenger, and she couldn’t do nothing before, just one of thousands, a little girl fallen through the cracks. There was almost no point in doing anything about it.
God, at least before if she screamed people would hear it, even if they ignored it.
The insanely jacked old lady entered a password on the intimidating front door and stepped inside, careful to hang her coat up on the rack without messing up too many of the other garments.
The inside of the house was much different the outside- where the outside was properly trimmed and huge and gorgeous the inside was…well it was.
The walls were covered in strange memorabilia- giant swords, and freakish skulls, knights suits that looked historically accurate- ominously, a picture of Santa Claus with a red X painted across it.
Lena glanced back at grandma England, deeply concerned. This did not look like it fit her at all- she had only had the displeasure of following her around for a small amount of time, but the impression she got was- strict, professional, no nonsense. Not…whatever the hell this would indicate about a person’s personality.
An elderly duck turned the corner and came towards them, tapping his cane against the floor, in what looked like a purely aesthetic manner. He was honestly silly looking. Fancy cane, the little eyeglass things only cartoon villains wore, a weird red overcoat, and a whole ass top-hat. In his own home.
There was also something…familiar about him, though she couldn’t for the life of her pinpoint what, no matter how much she stared at him. And she got nice and up close too- the one good thing about essentially being a ghost was that you could get as up in someone’s face as you wanted- Lena had literally read half a book over someone’s shoulder once.
“Beakley, what’d you discover about the energy signature?” He asked in a rather surprising Scottish accent. He sounded somewhat impatient, a bit stressed. She wondered what type of energy signature he was talking about, to get his pants all in a twist. Also kind of odd this…couple?? was snooping around for energy signatures, but whatever, it wasn’t like she could judge, she technically consented to being turned into a shadow. so.
The older woman dug Lena’s amulet out of her purse, setting it gently (which was nice for a change) down onto the kitchen counter, which was where she’d decided to take their little soiree. Lena ‘sat down’ in one of the kitchen chairs, pretending like she was a real person at the table, and leaned her head on her hand.
The grandma- Beakley, supposedly- gestured with exaggerated calm towards Lena’s magical prison. The Scottish Duck’s eyebrows shot up, and he stumbled over, starring down at her amulet like it was about to blow up.
Lena quirked her head, squinting. The ‘energy signature’, whatever that really meant, had come from her amulet? That was…weird. That meant these folks were aware of the fantastical and horrifying world of magic right? Cause she was pretty sure her last resting place wasn’t admitting beta gamma’s or radiation or whatever, right? That was really the only thing they could be talking about, which was…hmm. Somewhat disarming.
“This is De’Spells amulet-Beakley- how’dyou-?” Scottish duck asked frantically, looking Beakley over as if for wounds. Lena’s mouth dropped open.
Okay! SO they didn’t just know about the existence of magic, they knew about one of its most powerful users- and were apparently afraid of her, which meant they probably knew her personally- oh god
Ohhhnnooo. This was so bad, so fucking bad! Lena leapt to her feet, wading through the table and trying to yank the magical artifact off it frantically. It didn’t work, because it didn’t work the first time, when she was crying and pawing at the Cliffside around her, and it didn’t work the second time, when she strained towards a public phone- to call someone, anyone- the police even, if they could just save her- if she could just talk to someone, please please someone other than-
Desperation did nothing but make her invisible heart-rate go up, it did not magically snatch the amulet away from the ducks gawking at it.
“She wasn’t there. It wasn’t even in some sort of lair- I found it at a garage sale. It was one fifty.” Beakley spoke firmly, with a slight hint of bitterness at the edges of her tone, somewhat shaking Lena out of her panicked state.
Right- shit- she had to start listening to these assholes, considering they held her life in their filthy rich hands.
The Scottish duck spo- wait that was fucking Scrooge McDuck holy fuck wait-
“I…see. Well then, perhaps lady luck has fin’lly shone our way.” He murmured, rubbing at his chin. Beakley snorted, looking doubtful.
“Well no matter.” McDuck- jesus Christ- nodded to himself in a determined manner, before reaching into his vest and bringing out some sort of coin attached to a string.
Was that the much spoken of Number One Dime? What was he going to do with it?? Lena sat back in her chair, pulling her knees up and putting her head on top of them, sighing to herself. It was quite possible she’d be stuck in a completely new fucking magic bullshit thing now, which was par for the fucking course!
Why could things not just work out for once?
McDuck carefully, and almost reverently tipped his dime towards her amulet, and gently hit it with a slight clink.
Then her amulet pulsed bright pink and shone as brightly as she’d first seen it, that miserable rainy day in a sewer, when it seemed like a beacon of hope, instead of the curse it was. It had looked so bright, so fantastical, and wonderful and magical- like she was the poor little girl who finally got chosen for her very own exciting adventure- far from starvation and pain and cold.
Of course, fairy tales like that happened to other little girls. Lena’s was more the dark German kind.
And then as quickly as it had started, the glowing cut off, and it went back to looking like a somewhat gaudy bobble.
The Grandma and McDuck were still gazing at intently, as if any minute now it would do something actually interesting.
Lena let out a gusty sigh, and reburied her head atop her knees- in her momentary excitement she’d tensed up and leaned forward.
Suddenly, something must have moved outside, or even in the kitchen itself, because the odd pair had swung their head around and were staring surprisedly behind her. Lena turned around, somewhat curious to see what had caught their attention- but the area was as same as it ever was.
Lena tilted her head, studying the cupboards more intensely. Maybe there was something but she’d hadn’t noticed because she was less familiar with this place than her owners?
But after a moment of inspection she gave up, figuring that she’d find out eventually, and turned back towards the table. Oddly, McDuck and Beakley were still gawking, the buffer woman half stood up as if to intimidate something. Lena furrowed her brows, idly playing with a piece of her hair.
“Who are you?” Beakley spoke coldly, and Lena whipped her head around to look behind her again, this time peering around far enough she almost ‘fell’ out of her seat. What the hell was going on? Was someone here and they could only be seen by non-shadow people for some reason??
“You- Lass, you with the pink bangs an’ the striped shirt, we’re talkin’ to you.” Lena froze, her head halfway turning back around. Her breath stilled in her chest as it suddenly occurred to her that she could actually feel the smooth wood of the seat beneath her. She could feel the air- the air! Jesus she was breathing! How had she not- what was-
Lena let out a full body shudder and sprung to her feet, almost falling to the ground at the sensation of her webbed flippers actually landing solidly on the cool flooring.
The floor was cool it was cool it was cool- she was feeling temperature! Lena let out a shaky gasp of air, smiling and crying at the same time- and tears hurt! They were hot and achy!
She sprinted towards the sink, and miraculously, wonderfully, amazingly, gripped the sink’s nozzle, and sprayed fresh cold, real water into her mouth-
She gulped it down as fast as she could high on the feeling of actually swallowing something, of feeling it go down her throat and slosh in her stomach- of having a stomach!!
Lena was smiling so hard it hurt, when a confused sounding voice interrupted her festivities.
“Uuhhh, great uncle Scrooge… why is some girl drinking our tap water, while you stare at her with fear and bewilderment?” Lena awkwardly swung around, locking eyes with a somewhat concerned looking kid in a green hoodie.
There was a moment of silence, where all the somewhat negative repercussions of being real and perceived by others came flooding back to Lena’s mind.
She waved uncertainly. Only the green one waved back.