A Dark Duck Universal Singularity

Disclaimer: Darkwing Duck and the idea of the perfect boyfriend all belong to Disney. (May he rest in peace.)

A/N: Long Live Fiction!

It was a great room. Darkwing Duck saw it, and stopped in the corridor of the Macawber Family Castle, staring in through the open half of the double doors.

"Morgana." He held out his hand, and drew her inside. "Do you remember the last time we did this?" He took up her hands in a waltz position. She smiled down at him.

"A few weeks ago." He began dancing to unheard music, spinning her around in rhythmic circles, holding her close and warm in his arms. Then he froze, looking up at the doorway, Morgana still in his arms.

"Daddy?" Morgana struggled, and Darkwing stood her back up. She composed herself. "You know how I feel about Darkwing."

"But you neglected to mention this to me." He pointed. Darkwing looked around. The lights above began to burn brighter, in accordance to Moloculo's wishes.

"Oh. That ..." Morgana said with some trepidation.

Darkwing looked around him, and inwardly cursed. Oh. That. Indeed.

It was a great room, alright. With its walls of adorned mirrors, it showed an infinite number of Morgana's reflections. It was the best darn view Darkwing could wish for in mixed company. The only pesky thing of it was that it only showed Morgana and her father in infinite reflections. Darkwing remained obstinately singular in the centre of the room.

Morgana stepped between them, her fingers sparked. "Don't you dare harm my fiancé, father." Moloculo grimaced.

"When I said for you to find yourself a proper monster, I never meant to sink so low as a vampire."

"What's wrong with vampires?" Darkwing moved away from Morgana. If Moloculo wanted to hex him, Darkwing wanted to go down fighting. As it was, it was a bit dangerous in this room of mirrors; a hex could bounce and hit Morgana. "Perhaps we should take this conversation somewhere safer?" Darkwing commented on his troubling thought.

"Yes." Moloculo very quickly agreed, thinking exactly what Darkwing was thinking. Neither of them wanted Morgana to get hurt in the midst of their argument.

Darkwing walked in behind, seething. No matter what he was, he was pretty sure his to-be-father-in-law would never approve of him. He might as well be damned for just breathing. Three paces to the door of Moloculo's study, Morgana turned to Darkwing. "Wait here, Darling." She must have had some idea of his opinion on that, since she added, "It'll be alright, I'll talk him down." Darkwing nodded reluctantly.

"I'm just out here if you need me." He kissed her fingers.

"A vampire." Moloculo paced his study. Morgana sat on the edge of the recliner opposite his desk. Her father's room was always slightly more disorganised than the rest of the house, filled with charts and reference books that he was constantly reaching for.

"He wasn't a vampire when I first fell in love with him."
"Yes, he was just some crazy duck in a cape and mask."
"Oh, I get it. It's because he loves me. That's what makes him crazy." She stood up.
"He doesn't appreciate your abilities. That's what I'm saying."
"He accepts me for how I am." She rounded on him. "As a person." She folded her arms. "I'm an adult now, I have my own needs, and I have to look after myself. I'm no longer a little girl, desperately vying for her father's approval. Of course Dark doesn't care about spells, or cuisine or ... playing golf. It doesn't matter to him, because he loves me regardless."

"He told you this? After he became a vampire?" Morgana held up her hand, showing him her engagement ring. Moloculo stepped back in shock, trembling. "And you accepted this!"
"I hardly see why you should be in such a fuss, father. You didn't want me marrying a normal, and now he isn't."

"This is not what I meant! Vampires are fallen ones. Ancient creatures, cast out by evolution that made a deal with the darkness to continue their existence in the physical realm." He looked squarely at her. "You know this."
"I do. And as I recall from my studies, the creatures that once were, were brave and bold. The drawings of them are majestic. They were renowned in the mystical trade as keepers and guardians. If there was disorder and chaos, the witch folk would call such a creature forth to clear the mess."

"Yes. But they are fallen now." Moloculo snickered. "The ancient is unrecognisable in their hybrid offspring."
"Curious, since I see it so clearly in Darkwing Duck." Morgana spun around and headed towards the door. "I saw it in his eyes the first time I met him. It's what drew me to him."
"Did he neck you?" She looked back at her father for a long time, a slight tremble increasing in her hands.
"I love you, father. I would like to bring my children to visit here. But I fear your temper may never improve, even for them." She twisted the handle of the door, and left the study. "Come, Dark, we'd best go now."

Darkwing didn't like the shade of white that Morgana had gone. He got her to sit on the lounge room sofa back at her chateau, and translocated to the kitchen with Archie in reluctant tow.
"Help me out, here Archie. I want to make a simple cup of cocoa for Morgana." He listened as hard as he could to the familiar's unusual accented delta waves, and a few minutes later he had assembled a cup of herbal tea for Morgana instead. He shrugged. "Okay, Archie, you're the familiar, with all her habits." He scooped the trusty spider up onto his shoulder and reappeared in the lounge room.

Morgana was staring blankly into the opposite wall. This was like watching the Muddlefoots watching television, except Morgana was looking at a Salvador Dali painting, and the Muddlefoots were watching a test signal. "Here, Morgana." He said softly, nudging her thoughts back into reality. "Drink this." He pushed his mind against hers, and gently repeated the request. She took hold of the cup and took a sip.

"Mmm, thank you. I'm so sorry, I ..."
"No, don't be. I honestly ... thinking about Gosalyn, in the same position, I'm scared I'll be just as stubborn as he is." Morgana blinked at him. "I guess I just need some way to prove to him that I'm honest and good enough." She shook her head.
"You're different, Dark. Drake. To you, a man is what you make of yourself. To him, it's all about blood."

Darkwing snorted derisive. "And all the while, I thought I was the vampire." She laughed weakly. "You're all tensed up." He could sense the muscles knotted in her shoulders and he walked to the back of the lounge. He began massaging, concentrating on the tense muscles. She sounded in contentment.

"Feeling a bit better?" He said quietly in her ear. She leaned her head further back, exposing more of her neck. The scent of her blood came up strongly to him, and his mind went to mush. "Oh, Morgana." He felt compelled to trace the artery down her neck with his finger. Her chest rose and fell, her heart beating steadily.

His upbringing and sense of propriety snapped down like a shutter. He jumped back into reality. Standing over her like this was too close, knowing how greedy his was for her. How desperate to keep her, how needing to hold her. How lusting he was to have her. How glorious it was to simply touch her.
"Dark, are you alright?"
"Only if you are, snookums." He kissed her fingers. But she was far from alright.

"I think, perhaps you should go home. I'll be alright now." He drew back from her. A sudden incredible cold took possession of him.
He came back around the chair. "Please, Morgana. Don't shut me out." He sat down next to her. "I can't protect you if I'm not here. And the argument with your father has worn you out, far more than you realise." He managed to hold back the next sentence, which threatened to spill out and upset her even worse. "Let me keep a watch for you. Just for a day."

Surely, in 24 hours, Moloculo's temper would be down to a simmer, and Morgana's personal defenses would be back up to full strength. "Now," he said in more of a fatherly tone than he would have liked, "you need some sleep. I'll go check the house is secured, and you get ready for bed." She looked at him with tired bemusement.
"Oh, alright, Dark. If ... if you think it is best ..."
"Don't push me out, Morg." He pleaded. The reluctance in her mind came off the delta waves, inspiring an ugly fear in him.

"No, I, I just need some time to deal with this." Relief flooded through him.
"That's what I'm here for. So you don't always have to be so brave on your own." He crossed his arms. "I know you're hurt, and all you want right now is ... is to cry?" So this was the reason she was trying to shut him out? And it was truly the last thing he wanted to see. Solutions at the moment were irrelevant to her; it was the emotions themselves that were the problem. He sat closer to her, gently pulling her against him into an embrace that required no further words on his part.

Despite his misgivings, Darkwing Duck had to give Morgana due credit. The protection spells on her chateau were very complete. He turned around from the window that snapped itself closed the instant he drew near it. He didn't have to move a single vesper!

The flutter of tiny wings made him turn. 'Eek, Squeak?' he sent the message along the delta waves. 'How is she?'
'Mistress is okay. But ...'
'Not good.'
He sighed. 'I know, I sense it too.' He turned away from them, reviewing the now locked window.
'Don't go.' The bats circled his head in worry.
'I'm not! I won't leave her; I know it's too dangerous with Moloculo in that temper out there.'

Moloculo looked about the room. His daughter always believed in those silly protection charms. He reviewed the room. She was alone.
"Morgana, I am sorry to do this." He raised his hand and a high pitched screeching came out of the closet. Morgana's eyes flew open.

"Eek, Squeak!" Bat wings flapped around his head fast and furious. The spell in his mind lost power as he tried to get out of swooping range. In one last act of desperation, he flung a freeze hex at the flurry of bat. With a thunk, they crashed to the floor. Morgana screamed. Moloculo turned around back to her.
"For your own good, Morgana."

"She doesn't want 'good', Moloculo." Darkwing's voice? Moloculo turned. "She wants me." Moloculo raised his hand. "Go ahead. The freeze one didn't stop me for very long." There was a tiny fluttering overhead, and Eek and Squeak dove into the room and hid in Morgana's hairdo.
"Oh, you're alright." She let out an exhausted sob of relief that her familiars had not been hexed.
"This is your doing." Darkwing Duck pointed at her harried state.

"Morgana is coming back with me. I know vampires. I can defeat you easily."
"So you will take your daughter's freedom to choose? Take her spirit? I make no ambit claim. I will protect her, and I can protect her from you, if you force me."
"You're only a vampire."
"At me. Cast a spell. Throw a spell. Any hex you can think of. I'll give you a moment to think of a real zinger."
"Dark, no."
"When I'm at work, I play it soft. I play even. It's just a game to me. Win or lose, come on, Moloculo. Get all that anger off your chest. Throw it at me. Maybe that will solve the problem." Moloculo's mind was turning quickly, looking for the perfect spell.

"Father, if you kill him, I won't ever speak to you again."
"You see, where you're standing physically has nothing to do with where you actually stand, Moloculo."
"You've drunk her blood."
Darkwing licked his beak. "She's mine, Moloculo. Give in to the obvious. Admit defeat to the facts."
"No, no. You're lying."
"Lying!" Darkwing's eyes glimmered hotly. He spat the word out as if he was angry, but his voice was too quiet. He closed his eyes. "Go away, Moloculo. I don't want to hurt you, and this is becoming quite dangerous for you. You're Morgana's father; I don't want to harm you."

"You see, what sort of creature he is, Morgana?" Moloculo looked her in the eyes, and found not a trace of attention; she only had eyes for the vampire. He repeated. "Morgana!" She looked up at him this time. "Fine, let me show you!" He turned, and flung the one and only spell he could think of that could possibly snap her away from Darkwing. "I'll see how long you go like this!" He cast a return portal and left the room.