Chapter Text
Three ducks walked on a path lit by nothing.
“Are we almost there yet! This is so BORING, my GOD Louie I thought this would have been more interesting”
“We stole a Gummi Ship and are walking on paths of Darkness, be glad doofus over there can’t talk to keep us safe. What more do you WANT! God I should have come alone.”
“Come on. Come on dude. Show me some love. I know you love us.”
“GOD Next time I go out to look for the Verses, I'm going out alone. I don’t want to deal with this!”
“Oh yeah, you’ll beat them up with all your dark soldiers no one else has seen. Come on, you need a brave warrior, one with a large freaking SWORD!”
“We’re here.”
The triplets were walking in the remnants of the Pridelands, a riverbed with embers being one of the few things that remained as the world was sucked into dark abominations of destruction, standard fare for the end of the world. Technically, they were supposed to be sleeping before the Mission to Traverse Town for economic relief, since the flowers were willing and able to provide healing materials again. But, that was in three whole days, and this would only last till the end of the evening at best. Thank GOD the darkness messed with time, else they would be screwed.
In front of the three was a giant spire of Rock, what once was the home to light, and to Louie’s great delight, a treasure trove for some of the rarest crystals. Riches, Royal Coups, it was practically next door to Agrabah right now, it was practically bait for him.
Huey dropped the barrier of light, condensing the energy into vines on the wrists of the three ducks, disappearing among their white feathers.
“Uncle Donald’s gonna kill you as soon as he finds out you know. I can barely manage to keep these seals up without the spell for an hour, we are putting ourselves in unnecessary risks, and, and,”
“And you can’t stop me. But you CAN stop Dewey from being so annoying. Come on, freeze his yap.”
“YOU’LL DO NO SUCH THING! YOU ARE THE GOOD BROTHER DON’T LET OUR DEAREST EVIL TRIPLET SWAY YOU TO DARKNESS!”
“SO, unrelated, what do you know about this Versed? It won’t be like Sirena will it?”
“I was ready for them. And plus, we have a contract now, we go out to dinner every other Thursday, we’re great.”
“Ok, 1, don’t mention stuff about visiting your versed and what not I am NOT getting involved in those shenanigans, and 2, you were about to jump off a cliff into the caribbean if we didn’t melt those candles and stuff them in your ear.”
“And she’s lovely, and helped us get out of the castle, so you don’t get to judge me. I am a MASTER-”
“You have like, 2 versed Louie. Like, dude, bro, bronerino. You ain’t a master of anything.”
“Well I’m the only one doing this so far. The rest of you COWARDS are too good at the rest of the course to bother.”
“Wait, I thought you said you found a book on summoning Satan and fellow friends! You lied! About a Book! Oh my GOD how did you come up with this!”
“Look man, you read a book of demons, you find a demon, and the one magical thing I can do, you know, the whole gift of the gab thing I go to classes with Hortense for? Yeah turns out with some fancy ink and a lack of morals you can basically bend them to your will!”
“So they stopped killing people.”
“Yes, of course I made them promise that, I showed you the contracts. They don’t even exist outside of me, so if you judge them they will hear you. I can hear Sirena and Gavin will have words!”
“Gavin is just a silly rumor going around the classes, we have the cornerstone of light! How could a creature of DARKNESS enter! It was probably just some ambassador the king didn’t want us to see.”
“Dude, you know the king is in the castle? My Man you’re spy game is on the up and up! You’ll beat Louie in no time!”
“Oh, he would, would he? Then he knows King Mickey hasn’t been in the castle on and off for 6 years now, only coming in once a week for the weekly disclosure with the head Mage.. Which is why his absence this morning made Uncle Donald and Uncle Goofy go off. Along with this whole mess. Daisy is the one calling all the shots he did, since Minney was already busy, being the ambassador of internal matters.”
“Dude how the FUCK do you know all this. What do you DO in your free time!”
“You guys have fun reading and punching, I have fun dismantling the secrets of the castle. Potato Pohtahtoh.”
“Who says Pohtahtoh! Louie is this y-”
“Shut up, something is approaching…I think its some shadows, Dewey, if you can dewey this?”
“Oh I can SO dewey this!”
And Dewey did begin to dewey this, pulling out his shield sword (it's a sword with a tiny shield at the hilt. Literally only fools Goofy.) and smashing through anything vaguely resembling a heartless. Which is usually shadows, since he judges them on vibes alone.
“Why do you enable him like this Louie, you know he should be training to defend himself!”
“We are all failures of our paths Huey, we might as well have fun. I haven’t cast a spell to save my life, and you are the worst of us. You need to cast deep freeze to even make a shard of ice! And have you been able to even cast a fire spell?”
“Look, I have a Blazing Crystal and that's lasted me 2 years! And WHO is keeping us safe from the world ending darkness around us?”
“I’m just saying, you aren’t quite a mage like the rest of the class, are you. More a Sorcerer, or a Chanter.”
“Look, you can talk all you want, but I do have the highest scores in runes, rituals AND precise application! You just mind wipe the class and say that you did great. The only person onto you is me and Max, and you are LUCKY you are frie-”
“I knew he knew, why do you think I talked to him the first time! He’s just a genuinely good dude, now shut up, I can feel them coming.”
Huey sighed, moving back and dragging Dewey back, too much struggle on Dewey’s part. Thank god he memorized that Ice Feet spell, so all Dewey did was slip.
Louie, however, began to unfold some charmed furniture: A desk, some papers, a small lamp.
A lumbering form dripping with the blood of shadows that tried to attack it stepped into the light.
Louie opened his heart but a touch, and thought of wealth and money, hoping to awaken his greed.
The Lamp turned on, and suddenly large red eyes appeared, and the form quickly solidified, shrinking, fingers laced in gold and a five pronged crown being some of the few definite features.
“Hello, pleasure to meet you. Would I be allowed to call my associate to translate? I’m sure you know her, the Verse of Voice?”
There was a silent communication between the summoner and Beast, and Louie smiled.
“I could do that, but you and I both know if I let you in right now you would burn through my Existence in but a day, and I can offer you so much more.”
A turn of its head, and a nod.
“Wonderful. Please, do not move.”
Louie held a hand over his heart, his overly loose uniform, emblazoned with green to keep his identity distinct, ruffling as some of his feathers darkened for a second.
“Oh Sweet Voice that lures Men, Dark Temptation given form, Darkness Of the Human Heart. Manipulation, sing the song of mayhem that ends men’s lives, Ligeia Sirena!”
The black feathers flew off of Louie, and formed an emblem. A little girl with red eyes of joy formed, unassuming and dressed in a greek robe. Notes of some ethereal song hung in the air with her arrival.
Then, an all too gruff voice said: “What song will it be sweetheart.”
“Ah, number 6, no manipulation please.”
The Kingly Darkness looked outraged, trembling with rage, his voice emerging as Sirena played.
“YOU SUMMONED MANIPULATION? HOW CAN-”
“She isn’t just manipulation anymore. She has a Verse, and that gives her form, power beyond just that emotion. She is now Voice, as you can see by that which you were given.”
“And how do I know she won’t manipulate me into being more agreeable? That wouldn’t do now, would it.”
“A spell built on a spell never lasts as long. You ought to know that. If I were to manipulate you into signing a contract, the contract would practically be null by the year. No, free will is a must. And besides, as much as you love to pretend with your victims to be a human, you can’t even take human form right now. Don’t have a heart to manipulate.”
“Hmm…I suppose to seek me out in the first place without a sword raised is a good sign. Yes, I suppose I shall play in this. What exactly was it that gave her form, this… verse, you say?”
“You were born from the Unversed, were you not? Barely existing as anything more than a glamor of pain, and once the Heart of Darkness went away, you forged your own existence. But it's an existence of contracts isn’t it? Men give you their greed and you are able to exist. But no man has infinite greed, or no man who would make a deal with the darkness, rather than hold it as a slave. So you slink around, gripping onto men’s hearts.”
“You know entirely too much about us. Where did you discover it?”
“I live in a castle that abolishes darkness, we have large records of most darknesses. Yours is recent, and we have been unable to defeat any of you, but we sure have researched the hell out of you.”
“Yes, I suppose that makes sense. Now, I suppose I know what you are offering: Your heart, right? You give yourself to us, and use a verse to summon us, and slowly rot away as we consume you.”
“Oh, no no no, I am nowhere NEAR that self sacrificing. Oh no, I have a gift you see. Come from a powerful line of ducks, but our line doesn’t have the natural gift of magic, our gifts are elsewhere. And I have the Gift of the Gab, Silver Tongue, whatever you call it. My words have magic, and if I stuff them with enough magic, well, you know more about how the world works.”
“Magic is truth, and with no aim but those words, they become existent, so long as they can’t manipulate people. I see, so our existence becomes tied to a verse, we physically become those verses. Sounds like a rotten deal. We only exist as words, we fundamentally change. What good is that?”
“Ah, but that's the wonder. If we both sign with Ink of Sin, in this case greed, well. Your existence combines with my own darkness, and you will become a versed, like the lovely Sirena right over there.”
“And what is in this for you?”
“I can ask you to use your powers at any time, and you have to obey this little contract so long as I live.”
He first tried a handwave, one of the drawers in the desk struggling to move. Then he sighed, and ducked down, stretching the too big drawer, muttering under his breath. “Oh, its easy, any person with magic can automatically manipulate the drawers, they said. God, never trust them… ok you know what? Lets try this. Show me Louie’s Contract!”
His words, laced with magic, did the trick, the drawer opening up much much more, before a small plaque on the side fell off, a secret contract that Louie hid so no one knew he did this.
“Of course, we need proof of what existence you have of your existence to sign it. But please, go ahead, read it.”
The beast seemed still, small unearthly sounds not translated by the summoned made, before he looked at Louie.
“You are my only source of Existence. I can’t make any contracts with others… This is ridiculous! You already have two Versed, how many can you handle to keep existing?”
“Oh, don’t worry. The depths of my sins are bottomless so far, I’m sure I can fit all of you in there eventually.”
“Wait. All of us? ARE YOU INSANE? Rage, Violence, you think you can tame beasts made on that?”
“Eh, it’ll be a challenge. But hey, if I fail I’ll at least have the hope that I changed the world. I say thats plenty for me. So, will you sign?”
“You know what, sure. I can appreciate someone as Greedy as you. Who knows, maybe this will actually work! What display of power do you need?”
“Graverobbing feels like a great start to the Verse of Greed, don’t you think?’
“See, I knew we could get along. So I summon the treasures of pride rock, and you…”
“Well I speak the verse, and you get bonded to it.”
The King of Greed nodded, and began to acquire some form of his own, the fingers expanding into wings with feathers black as night, chains of gold hanging of them as the darkness rumbled.
“Sirena, if you could handle the heartless so they don’t get in the way.”
The girl smiled, and her song changed ever so slightly. Large beings with swords emerged, and began to fight each other, in the throes of the Siren’s madness.
“King of the Birds that fly in the Night,”
The few rocks that remained shattered in a splatter of black feathers, birds emerging from the wings as they glide and fly, picking apart the rock for any treasures that they can find, swooping and tearing and stealing what they could, glittering in their claws.
“Endless Hunger of Brilliance and Light,”
The inner form of the King came into sharp clarity, a stark white with a streak of black feathers down the middle, pockets lining it as the Ravens faded, leaving behind a quickly growing clump of gems. From beneath the rock, a rumbling emerged, in fact all around them. Large rocks, shimmering like the shards and crystals that they knew contained power, but not quite as pure as those smaller shards.
“Darkness of the human heart. Greed!”
Giant mounds of the crystals, soothing, blazing, power, easily dwarfing the triplets, but ivory ribs emerging from the Versed, the giant mounds being entrapped within them, twenty, thirty, too many to have been ever taken out without destroying the world in the process.
“Fly to your treasures with ceaseless Abandon, Morriglass Coronis!”
The darkness finally faded, the birdlike face of Coronis appearing, too long to truly talk, a 5 pointed crown of feathers adorning his head, his wings tucking in to create some vague similitude of a tux, the bottom rounding off into a bird’s tail, the back of him emblazoned with a fleur de lis.
“A pleasure doing business, Louie.”
And then disappearing, leaving only feathers behind.
“YOU DON’T EVEN GET TO BEAT HIM UP OH WHAT A WUSS, LOUIE ONLY YOU CAN MAKE SUMMONING DEMONS BORING!”
“Complain on the way back, the world won’t last much longer after taking all that treasure!”
And so three ducks receded into the sunset, the once great savannah rotting behind them to but a husk of sand and bones.