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The clock strikes at the witching hour. Nothing else in this rickety cabin but yourself, a brewing, stirring cauldron glowing with many ingredients.
The mystical figure grabbed from her pack a dreamcatcher artifact which she dumped into the cauldron and began her declaration.
I ask thee a simple boon, in every rise upon the moon
Crumble their spirits, their morale, Their journey of unconscious realm feel
Let the shadow stay still, remain
And seek what’s rightfully attained.
As those words were casted, and the dreamcatcher dipped into the cocktail of magical ingredients, pulled the artifact back out and encased it back into the sack. She grabbed a vial and collected a full bottle of it.
“Perfect.”
“Webby? You okay?”
Webby felt gentle jolts on her shoulder, moving back and forth that made her escape from her horrid dream. Processing her surroundings, she felt shocked to wake up and be upright from her bed.
She looked left and right around her room, it was her usual place with the corkboard, red string and photos of her “McDuck family tree”, her books, her own artifacts and the plushie that familiarly looks like a baby version of her with the pink bow and dress.
Then she looked to her doorway which creaked open carefully. She saw a certain figure. She walked towards her as the light behind the figure made the figure more shadow-like, not helping was the fact that she was newly awoken and panicked.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she was still panicking , it was her resurrected friend from the Shadow Realm, Lena… not sure to add a last name to her really. She’s just Lena to her. She was wearing her usual bed/sleepover wear of normal t-shirt and small boxers for cover underneath. Pure cozy wear.
That initial fear that Webby held then turned into excitement and joy as she immediately grabbed hold of Lena in a tight-wrapped hug. It was sweet that she finally got back no shorter than a week ago and that she could feel the soft textures of her best friend, pressing her beak right against Lena’s chest feeling some bit of tears soaking on her, with audible sniffles Webby was making.
“Did you have a bad dream tonight?” Lena asked.
Webby then made a tired reply, “Mhmm… Did you sleep at all?”
“Was about to… You sound like you got scared. Are you okay?”
Lena had a tone of concern for her best friend, Webby let go of the hug to face her and reply “I am… are you?”
“Yeah… just… *yawn* getting to sleep. I'm gonna prepare the mattress.”
Lena let go of the hug to walk over to prep the cushions on the floor but Webby had grabbed hold of her hand which jerked Lena in reaction that didn’t make her let go of the strong grip from the pink-pajama’d girl.
“Wait. Stop. No.” Lena found it almost sweet to stop her like this. “Can you be in bed with me..? Just for tonight… I know you're not a hugger but even just this once.”
Lena felt a little guilty with that mention. Yes sure… she did say that she wasn't a hugger. But it was a time when she wasn't that familiar. Its different now that they've been friends again. Most especially when she finally has a physical form again too… It was better being able to feel than not to.
“No, sure… if it helps you get to sleep better.” Lena complied, showing a small smile just for Webby.
“Thanks Lena, you're the best.” *Lena sleeps right next to Webby. The room fills a little more moonlight into the window and she could visibly see Webby’s face shine a subtle way. Her eyes glinted a bit off the moon in a way that felt nice to look at.*
“Lena. I saw you… die in my dream. That's why I'm scared.”
*Lena reacted with a worried look on her face. A worry that was only expressing that Webby would lose her best friend again. It's so sweet that she's concerned but it is still a bad thing that its a nightmare she got stressed over.*
“I saw you bleed to Magica… and it was just.. I can't-” Lena immediately interrupts Webby’s dreamtelling.
“Webby, it's okay… You don't need to explain further. I can imagine how hard it must be.Just for the record, I could never bleed.
And I'll tell you that… No matter what, if I was lost again. I'll always find a way back to you… okay?” Her hand cradles Webby’s cheek to assure and comfort her.
Lena added further. “You're stubborn, so am I, you'll always find a way, I will too.”
Webby starts tearing up at Lena’s sweet monologue. Not something you'd see a lot out of the cold-fronted, roguish looking girl. But to Webby, she can just be a sweet motivator.
“Thanks Lena… I needed to hear that. I feel less scared.”
Lena held over Webby’s hand. She feels the fingers interlock and could see the bracelets that Webby made for both of them. As a reminder that they'll keep being friends forever. Webby sniffled a bit and started yawning.
“Good night..”
Webby shuts her eyes, kisses her forehead goodnight and settles into the comfort of her pillows. The kiss was definitely something new, but Webby can just be really caring for her friends.
Lena followed, letting herself sleep with their hands clasped to each other as they both slept.
The grown-ups are generally up earlier, Beakley to make breakfast, Donald to override his bad luck in an effort to arrive timely at work, and Scrooge because he's an old man. Della’s sleep schedule is less predictable, but she's up too by the time Webby coaches Lena downstairs. The table's set with a number of fresh sweet or savory choices and, as usual, Louie is the last to make it downstairs, still half-asleep.
Lena follows him into the kitchen, watching him stumble into furniture like a zombie. When he misses the fridge's handle for the third time, she snorts and chooses to help him.
“Heads up,” she warns before hip-bumping him out of the way.
Lena goes for the milk, but then remembers that's what Huey likes to drink for breakfast. She looks back at Louie, who'd been staring at her the entire time.
“What do you want?”
That's when Louie goes rigid. She can't read his expression, but his shoulders go up and he spits “Nothing.” before turning on his heels and jogging out of the kitchen, a lot more awake than earlier.
Lena frowns at the doorway for a second before shrugging it off and grabbing some juice for herself.
In the dining room, she sits beside Webby, who smiles and slips her a half-full plate. Lena dutifully picks something new to try. Turns out she had no idea what a meal’s average portion was when she first started living in the Manor – she started by grabbing too much, then changed to grabbing too little due to a few side glances. Eventually they just agreed to help her figure out what serving size suited her.
On the seat across her, Huey sat glaring at his food. He had his silverware gripped tight in his fists and she could tell he had a leg bouncing underneath the table. Most noticeably yet were his purple eye bags. Lena grimaced – those looked like they hurt.
She reached over under the table and lightly kicked his knee to get his attention. “Rough night, squirt?”
His head snapped to her and he tensed up.
“How do you know?”
“Gee, doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You look like shi–” She trailed off, cowering under a look Beakley sent her. Instead, she motioned to the spot under her eyes and said, “You look like you cried in your eyeliner and did the worst job in the world wiping it out.”
Huey squinted at her in confusion and she waved him off.
“Did Bluey over there keep you awake with his snoooring?” She chuckled, poking fun at Dewey.
Dewey banged his hands on the table, taking it way more personally than she intended. “Stop! I don't snore!”
Anyone could tell his brothers had another opinion on that, but they were both busy staring at her weirdly.
Lena retreats. “Okay, fine, chill! I was joking! What's got you guys all jumpy this morning?!”
The table fell silent, it felt as if the exclamation started reverberating around the room. This was awkward. Lena looked at the eyes, especially of the others. All in different expressions whether tired, angered or surprised, they were all looking toward her. Her chest panged to feel slightly discomforted. She wished the silence could be broken any time now, but no one answered her question. She looked down, kept eating her breakfast looking down ignoring the eyes.