you're pushing me out when i'm wanting in

Summary: Scrooge and Goldie spend time in another dimension.

Word count: 2243

Warnings: None

Duskvale Dimension
July 1st, 1955
10:20 AM (local time)

It was becoming a little ridiculous how often the two of them would randomly come across dimensional portals while on their little earthbound adventures. Both ducks were surprised it took them as long as it did to discover magic in the first place. It was everywhere.

(And Goldie was increasingly annoyed at how long it took her to find a way back to her world when she was trapped in other dimensions. Seemed like the average dimension had a way to travel between them, so why wasn’t she able to find one? Was she just too distracted by fear? Too tired of running? Who could say.)

They were traveling through a forest in the middle of Eastern Europe when they encountered another one. It appeared very suddenly and the two ducks quickly hid as a small group of creatures emerged from it.

They were mice, wearing simple conservative clothes. They could've been dimensional locals, if Scrooge and Goldie didn't know better.

Goldie glanced over at Scrooge and smirked at the look on his face. Neither had to communicate out loud to know that they were absolutely going through that portal. Adventure was about the unknown, after all. The treasure of Amadocus could wait until they found out what was on the other side of that glowing portal. Could be even better than gold! (Though that was unlikely.)

They nodded at each other and as soon as the mice were far enough away, they stood up and walked closer. Goldie tried to poke it, but the outside of the portal was just made up of energy and lights. It was electrifying, but not solid enough to touch.

"Ready?" Scrooge asked quietly.

"After you, sourdough."

With her confirmation, Scrooge excitedly stepped through the portal, ready for anything and expecting his partner-slash-lover to be by his side.

Except Goldie did not follow him and was standing smugly on the earth side of the portal. She wanted to see his reaction before putting herself in danger. And she hadn't lied, she said she'd go in after him. So he couldn't be mad.

(She was anticipating his angry little face though. He'd come back out of the portal in a minute, looking like he'd just eaten a lemon. So funny. So cute.)

It was about two minutes of waiting when Goldie felt a bead of sweat on the back of her neck. There were a lot of reasons why Scrooge might not have come back yet, but most of them were bad and she was starting to spiral when she considered all of them at once.

With a heavy sigh, Goldie finally stepped through.

The first thing she saw was the back of Scrooge's head and he looked completely fine, so Goldie became very annoyed at herself for acting paranoid. Then she got annoyed with Scrooge for worrying her.

"What's wrong with...you…" Goldie's words faded out as she took in the view that had Scrooge so completely captivated.

The grass was healthy and bright and filled with millions of beautiful flowers. The sky was bright blue with fluffy clouds and there were pleasant streams and trickling waterfalls and everything was so nice. It looked like a dream, like a dream that neither duck had bothered having in a long time.

"It's like something out of a story book…" Goldie commented quietly.

"I know, it's…" Scrooge responded, stepping back to grab her hand. "It's beautiful."

Goldie squeezed his hand and smiled, feeling her heart soar. Something about being in this beautiful, magical place with Scrooge just felt...right.

---

They'd been sitting together under a tall, healthy oak tree for at least an hour. Just leaning on each other and enjoying being alive and being with each other.

"This is nice."

"Aye," Scrooge said and kissed her on top of her head. "It's perfect."

Goldie cuddled against him and sighed. She felt good. She felt amazing, actually. For the first time in her life, she wasn't questioning her choices or wondering if Scrooge was criticizing her in his head. She felt loved and loving and happy.

Scrooge laid his head on hers and happened to see his watch out of the corner of his eye. It was kind of blurry and hard to see, but when he fully squinted he could read the time.

"Goldie...does it feel like it's been eight hours?" Scrooge asked curiously, not sure if he was reading his watch correctly.

She just snuggled into him. "Who cares? I just want to stay here with you forever, Scroogey."

Scrooge felt her words tug on his heart, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that was focused on the time. Eight hours? Had it really been that long? He couldn't remember.

He couldn't really think straight at all. It felt like time didn't even exist anymore.

Only happiness and serenity and Goldie, who said she wanted to stay with him forever.

Scrooge opened his eyes and stared at her. She wanted to stay with him forever? He'd never gotten that impression from her before. And she'd never said anything so romantic out loud - the closest was in her letter, and occasionally she'd say she loved him in the throes of passion (but that wasn't the same). Her lack of verbal reciprocity made him feel like her death-letter-confession wasn't as genuine as he'd wanted it to be.

But then she kept coming around and they went on lots of adventures together and Scrooge really got the impression that she wanted to be with him. But then she'd leave suddenly or laugh at his pain or purposefully put him in dangerous situations. They were both seasoned adventurers, sure, but wouldn't she react differently if she really loved him?

He suddenly realized that his limbs were a bit numb. He squeezed his hands, trying to feel the blood flow in his fingers, but it didn't feel right. He didn't know what to compare the feeling to, but it was certainly uncomfortable.

"I love you, Goldie," Scrooge said, though he didn't know why. He did love her, but it was like something else was controlling his beak.

"I love you too, Scrooge."

With her response, the nagging feeling at the back of Scrooge's head got worse. What was wrong with Goldie? And what was wrong with him? What was wrong? What was different?

He glanced over to the portal they came in through - it was on top of a pretty little hill just a few hundred feet away. They hadn't walked far before finding the perfect spot under the perfect tree, so getting back to their own world wouldn't be a significant challenge.

Did those mice ever come back? He couldn't remember.

"Goldie, dear," he mumbled. "I think...we should leave."

She lifted her head for the first time in a while, and Scrooge could see that her normally bright green eyes were sparkling with an odd shade of yellow. "What do you mean?"

Scrooge didn't like the sad look on her face, but he needed to fight whatever was pushing against his brain. "I think somethin's wrong. I cannae move my hand."

"I'm sure they have doctors here. We don't have to leave!" Goldie pleaded, holding onto his arm tighter. "I've never felt so peaceful in my life."

Despite the magic threatening them, Scrooge couldn't help but believe Goldie's words. She did seem much more peaceful now than he'd ever seen her before. But he also couldn't fully remember what she looked like before. His memories were swirling. It felt like he was alive for the very first time. He couldn't remember what it felt like before, but he remembered that there was some kind of before. There was something. What was it?

They really needed to leave.

"Please, Goldie," Scrooge said softly. He managed to lift his hand and stroke the back of it against the side of her face. "Somethin's wrong here."

Goldie shook her head. "Nothing's wrong."

Scrooge turned his hand around and cupped her cheek. "Please."

Reluctantly, Goldie stood up with Scrooge. He didn't feel as weak when she moved with him, so he felt more confident about their ability to make it out of there. Scrooge McDuck refused to be trapped, even if some serenity magic was making him feel calmer and happier than ever before in his life.

They walked towards the portal, but when they were only a few steps away, Goldie started to pull back.

"Scrooge, everything is perfect here. I love you, you love me. Let's just stay!"

Scrooge looked back at her and stared. He wondered if she remembered what it was like on the other side, because he couldn't get a grasp of it at all. Was their love as strong over there? He wanted to remember.

Goldie stopped walking and let Scrooge slide out of her arms, but she held on tight to two of his fingers. "Don't you want to stay with me?"

He looked at the portal and refused to look back at Goldie. "Of course I do."

"Then stay."

Scrooge ripped his hand from her grasp and finished walking through the portal, leaving Goldie behind.

And as he came back into their world, he remembered that she did the same thing to him when they were entering the portal in the first place. Scrooge scoffed as everything flooded back into his memories: their lives, Goldie's near-constant thievery and betrayal, and the fact that Goldie, as he knew her, would never have said all those romantic things to him.

Before he could form another thought, Scrooge was suddenly overcome with nausea and he fell to his knees and vomited profusely. He kept puking for a few minutes and then dry-heaved when there was nothing left to vomit.

He fell back onto his butt and wiped a sleeve across his beak. What the hell was that?

He considered for a moment that the magical, serene world was killing them. Wouldn't that just make too much sense? That sort of calm and happiness couldn't be achieved without some sort of consequence.

Scrooge thought back to Goldie and glanced behind him to see the portal shining as bright as ever. He needed to get her back, whether she wanted to come or not.

He took a deep breath and stepped half of his body through the portal again. On the other side, Goldie gasped in joy when she saw him.

"You came back!"

Scrooge didn't dare step the whole way through the portal again and held out a hand towards her. "Of course I did. I'd never leave ye, Goldie."

She happily took his hand and before she could say anything else, Scrooge roughly pulled and dragged her with him back through the portal to their own world.

"What the hell, Scro…" Goldie started, but froze when all her thoughts and memories fell back into place. She was on all fours, trying to focus and feeling more embarrassed and ashamed as time went on.

Scrooge breathed heavily next to her, happy he got her out of there without a fight. "You might-"

His warning was cut off when Goldie started puking, just the same as he had. Scrooge grimaced and turned his head away, but on her second heave he took a deep breath and leaned down to hold her hair back.

Goldie started dry-heaving and that's when Scrooge knew it was over. He gently patted her back. "Are you alright?”

She scowled and shoved him away roughly before wiping her arm against her beak. "What do you think, Scrooge?!"

He frowned, frustrated but not surprised by her angry reaction. "I dinnae know, O'Gilt! I was just tryin' to help!"

"You can help by backing off!" Goldie shouted at him. Waves of embarrassment were washing over her and she didn't know how to move past it. She'd told him that she loved him a dozen times while in that other world.

She did love him, but that level of vulnerability was too much. She didn't feel comfortable talking about her feelings like that, especially not with Scrooge. She'd spent so long denying it and dismissing it that the entire concept still felt foreign and icky on her tongue.

Scrooge glared at her and clenched his fists at his side. "Dinnae act like you're the only victim here, Goldie. We were both trapped over there and it was both our faults that we fell into it!"

"You don't think I know that?" she screeched. "That doesn't change the fact that I-..." Goldie paused and took a deep breath. That she what? That she made a complete fool out of herself? Scrooge did the same. She had no reason to be angry with him.

And yet…

"Just calm down, Goldie," Scrooge said, trying to be soothing.

It did not work. "Shut up, McDuck!" Goldie snapped at him. She turned around and started walking off in another direction. She didn't care where she was going, so long as he didn't follow.

Scrooge watched her walk away, a growing sadness in his chest. He wanted to hold her and tell her he loved her, just like he did in the other world. But here...Goldie wouldn't want him to. She was too busy being stubborn and petty to believe that he loved anything other than money. And all he could do was stand there and accept that.

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- Not ducks: the Duskvale Dimension is named after Noonvale from the Redwall series lol To be clear I know nothing about Redwall, but that's why there are mouse-people coming out of it.