Two Sided Coin//Scrooge McDuck x Reader

Prologue

It was just a dime. Picking it up on the sidewalk wasn't meant to be an extraordinary act, just another few cents in an already depleting bank account. There wasn't a single good reason for you not to pick it up!

But, as soon as you did, lightning shot through your body.

You cried out as a burning purple light covered the dime, nearly causing you to drop the coin before the lightning spread from the metal to your skin. It curled up your arms in streaks, replacing your blood with fire as you closed your eyes to shield yourself from the blinding light. You thought you must have slipped, or fallen because of the shock, because once you shut your eyes the world fell out from under you.

You hit the ground hard. It hadn't hurt nearly as much as picking up the coin, which you now realized had slipped from your grasp, but the blow to your side replaced the fiery pain as the light faded to nothing.

Thinking that you had just been through a freak accident and needed to see a doctor, you opened your eyes, expecting to see the cracked sidewalk that you'd found the money laying on. Instead, the ground had changed, the single coin had multiplied... and had turned gold?

Where there was once gray cement, a frigid black floor sprawled out beneath you. Gold, hordes of it, surrounded you in piles that would rival a dragon's hoard. The entire room was filled with the same harsh purple light, but instead of coming from the immense wealth around you, it cast your shadow.

You pushed your body around, sitting on the ground as you stared at the light source looming over you.

A woman stood tall above you. Her skin- no, her feathers! They were green, her hair black and purple, her eyes a piercing yellow- and a beak! She had a beak instead of a mouth!

You recognized her immediately. Magica De Spell, a fictional, keyword, fictional character from your favorite show: Ducktales. Her body was framed by a massive stained-glass window with a shattered pane near the top. Two thrones were a few feet behind her, one empty, one seated by a crow that pecked at the velvet cushion.

"What-"

"You!" Her voice was piercing. It echoed in the room as she pointed her glowing staff down at you ominously. "Creature! Use your powers! Attack!"

Her staff swayed from your form to something behind you. You were too scared to look. Scared, confused, and totally unprepared. So, you did what any rational person would do in your situation.

"What the hell is going on?"

Magica's head snapped down. Her eye twitched as the staff glowed brighter with each millimeter that her mouth split wider. A growl rolled from her throat as she pointed to whatever she had told you to attack.

"I have summoned you, creature, to do my bidding! Use your otherworldly powers!" She tightened her grip on the staff. "Now."

Instantly, you forced yourself to your knees. One of your hands clutched at your throat as you tried to tear away whatever had suddenly latched onto your esophagus, squeezing tightly as your eyes watered. A cough forced itself out of you as you clawed at your skin but felt nothing was there to choke you.

"The McDuck's will destroy you." You were not speaking. Why were you saying that? Your lips were moving, it was your voice, but you hadn't done it yourself. Why did you say that?

As your heart rate increased, you coughed harder, and something black fell out of your mouth. You wiped your hand across your lips, pulling it away to see a strange black liquid falling from your tongue. Panic spun a web around your heart as you tried to figure out what was going on.

"What?" Magica roared. "What sort of useless power-"

It seemed like she was about to go on, but a squawk cut her off. She turned to the crow that was once on a throne, now flapping its wings as it flew towards the broken windowpane behind her.

"Wait!" She spun on her heel, running towards a pile of gold and treasure that shot upwards towards the broken part of the window. "Poe! Stop!"

The black feathered crow paid no attention to Magica. It continued upward, stopping near the peak of the gold to stare at someone who you had not noticed until then.

Scrooge McDuck, the richest duck in the world, had walked past you and was now watching with a smirk on his beak as the crow flew out of the window. Only, he looked much Inger than in the show, and he was wearing raggedy clothes that looked like they had been restitched five times over.

"No!" Magica cried. "Please! Stop him! Please!"

Scrooge slid down the gold, past Magica and past the crow which he had beaten to the top. While he slid, he grabbed the coins and stuffed them into his pockets.

"No!" Magica watched as the crow approached the window. "Wait, no! I'll give you anything! My powers, my riches, please, just stop him!"

Scrooge did nothing as he watched the crow fly away, and soon after, Magica rushed past you, screaming how you were useless, as she went to chase the bird.

You were left there, with Scrooge McDuck, as you wiped black liquid from your lips and tried to catch your breath while you processed everything that had just happened.

Luckily, you didn't need to do it yourself.

"So you're the powerful creature from another world?" Scrooge's thick accent asked as he strolled to a stop in front of you. Scrooge laughed as he offered you a hand. "What good did that do her?"

Hesitantly, you grabbed his feathered fingers. His hands were strangely soft because of that, and you weren't sure how he felt grabbing yours. Still, he hoisted you to your feet with a smile.

"What sort of creature are ya?"

"I-" You shook your head, blinking as if that would clear your mind. "You- are you Scrooge McDuck?"

His eyes turned to saucers. "Ya know me, las? How's that?"

"I-" but as soon as you tried to say how he couldn't possibly be real, and how that was his arch nemesis, and why wasn't he with the kids, your mouth began to leak once more.

You caught some of the liquid and spit more out as you tried to save yourself from the embarrassment of whatever was happening. Why couldn't you say what you wanted to?

"Er..." Scrooge took a step back. "What's yer name, las?"

You cleared your throat before you carried on. "(Y/n). (Y/n) (L/n)."

"Right, then, (Y/n) (L/n)." Scrooge beamed. "What's a strange...fleshy...las like you doin' working with that witch?"

"What?" You turned to stare at the archway where Magica had rushed out. "I'm not- I just picked up a dime and-"

"Dime?" Scrooge grabbed at his throat, retrieving a necklace from his shirt where he held his first dime. "You mean this one?"

"Yes," You said as you turned back to him. "What- what just happened?"

Scrooge grumbled. "Was hopin' you could tell me. That witch, Magica, was it? Just pointed her silly little wand at me and said somethin' about 'summoning a creature of great power'-" he said in air quotes- "to fight me off. Shot some magic at me, but me lucky dime caught it all! Then you showed up- this was all after she turned her brother into a crow, that is."

"Power?" Your eyes narrowed. "I don't have any powers."

"Hah!" Scrooge slapped a hand on your shoulder. "What a shoddy old hag! Can barely do proper magic without her brother, can she? Well, las, why don't we get ya out of this place? Where'd ya say you were from?"

Simple as that, it was the beginning of the next century of your life.