I ended up just looking at the sky though the skylight until Lottie entered my vision, clearly offering me a hand up.

“Shouldn’t I be the last person for that?” I asked.

“Your Moms are way stronger and sturdier than me, they’ve already gotten up, I’m more worried about your dork ass collapsing.” She smirked down at me.

I extended my hand towards her with no strength behind it, only for it to be grabbed with a very firm strength. I let out an undignified squeak as she started pulling me up way too fast, to which she responded by slowing down.

“If I knew how much I was being held up by sheer stress, I would have sat down…”

I didn’t know how much of that was even a joke, but I had a suspicion something within me wouldn’t have allowed me to just give up my mobility while there was a person wanting to murder me right there.

“Yeah, I’m sure sheer stress was the only thing you were feeling during that,” she mentioned, as she finished pulling me up to standing position, our faces really close as she finished with a smug wink.

I had no idea why I knew how stovetop kettles worked, not having witnessed one in my entire life outside of store shelves, but I definitely gave out a good impression of one.

There were other thoughts, sure, but none of them were anywhere near coherent.

“So, what now?” Lottie asked my Moms.

“Don’t worry, I know someone who can help, even if she’ll be insufferably smug about it,” demon Mom answered.

“Demon Mom… Maybe demom? Or deMom? Nah, that’s too silly…” I mumbled, earning an eyeroll from Lottie, who was still standing nearer me than she would before my transformation.

Demon Mom, meanwhile, summoned her phone from… wherever it was, only to find it already ringing.

“She’s already calling me? But why?” she asked, before picking up.

“Hey, we have an emer– … Wait, you already know? But how? … Oh, shit, fuck, I’m so sorry, I forgot I wasn’t supposed to– … Yes, I promise, it was an emergency, I– … Okay, I’ll explain when you’re here, see ya…”

Even just one side of this conversation didn’t seem too promising.

“What was that about? We didn’t make that much of a mess, did we?” Lottie asked.

“No, you did not. I did. I forgot it in the heat of the moment, but stopping time locally makes a huge mess of the temporal field, and… I can’t pretend to understand it, but basically, it’s apparently really easy to detect, and I was instructed to never do it again unless necessary… And then, whatever she did, well, I have no clue how that worked, but I doubt it made things any better…” demon Mom explained sheepishly.

Okay, so that confirms it, it wasn’t some sort of anti-movement field, my Mom could literally just stop time. That was both unbelievably terrifying and unquantifiably awesome.

“Right, mother is still here, I’m gonna make sure she’s not dying. She shouldn’t be, but you never know with these things,” knight Mom said.

I had to admit I was a little uncomfortable at how little compassion she was displaying towards grandma… Rationally, I knew she earned it, she literally tried to murder her granddau– child, and that grandchild was also me so I shouldn’t really feel for her, but…

Lottie noticed where I was looking and flawlessly read my expression.

“C’mere, you huge softie,” she said, pulling me in for a hug, making sure to keep my face in her direction to obscure my sight.

After a couple seconds, she lifted me off the ground effortlessly, keeping us in position, and she walked us over to the other side of the warehouse.

I eventually managed to wiggle my face free, if for no other reason than to get more comfy access to air and see demon Mom approaching us.

She did the thing where she petted my head, ruining my hair. I had to admit it felt nice though…

“I know how you feel sweetheart, but you need to understand, she’s earned this treatment with her own choices, not just today, her entire life… Please don’t let this harm your kind soul, being able to think like that, it’s really special,” she explained.

I couldn’t take it anymore, I started crying.

“I’m not kind though, I’m awful and terrible and mean and evil!” I shouted.

“Literally how and when?” Lottie asked, as if it somehow wasn’t obvious.

“I kept lying all the time! I knew instantly you were a Magical Knight and didn’t say anything, I knew I was making dark energy and I didn’t tell you, I didn’t tell anyone when I was feeling awful, I didn’t even apologize to the girls I corrupted! I kept lying and lying and lying to the point I didn’t even know what my lies should be or what goals I should chase with them! And then I outed Mom! Twice!”

“The second time didn’t count, you’re corrupted now, the first time you overstepped, but you clearly understood you did, and I just got mad because I was too stubborn to keep living a lie. You weren’t lying for no reason, you wanted your family to be honest and happy, but you didn’t want to say any things that weren’t yours to say. You have problems with overthinking and anxiety that make your every flaw and mistake seem much bigger than it is, and I did nothing to help, instead leaving you alone with no guidance and powers you didn’t understand. You still don’t, really, and I promise I’ll do better by you in the future,” demon Mom gently explained.

I looked at her intently before starting to cry more.

My powers, as pitiful as they were, were still on fritz, but I could tell despite that that she was telling the absolute truth.

Worse than that, it made sense.

Had I really just been cruel to myself, all my perceived wrongdoings exaggerated to hurt myself with?

Part of me wanted to believe I had fooled them, but I was incapable of being dishonest to myself as I was now – I had fooled myself.

Why had I done that?

Oh goodness no, how long had I done that for?

Demon Mom joined the hug Lottie had entrapped me within, and knight Mom eventually joined to do so as well.

I was only interrupted by the sound of multiple cars arriving, at which my Moms left me and Lottie to go meet the mysterious visitors.

“Ah, that would be Cristina,” demon Mom said.

“Your drinking buddy?” knight Mom asked.

“Aunt Cristina?” I caught myself excited despite fresh tears, memories so old they should have been forgotten flooding back.

“Of course her ‘drinking buddy’ is a woman…” Lottie muttered away in the other direction.

I couldn’t help but crack a giggle at that.

I had very little frame of reference of how dads should be, having only seen Lottie’s a couple times due to his constant international travels, and having never seen any of Raine’s parents (I didn’t know many people, okay?), but demon Mom was never really very dad-like, even when her activities aligned with the stereotypes I’ve seen on the internet.

“Don’t worry kids, we’ll take care of this,” knight Mom reassured.

Sounds of several people entering the warehouse drew my attention, four men in tidy, practical suits who perfectly embodied the archetype of shady government agents, including sunglasses (indoors and after sunset, of course) and the ear-piece communication thingies, as well as a woman.

The woman, aunt Cristina, whose face I barely remembered and has presumably changed quite a lot in around a decade since I’ve last seen her, was much more casual, her outfit, while still including a suit, was disheveled and more colorful than her presumed coworkers’. A dark green suit jacket, Perry-the-Platypus-style hat skewed to the side, and pitch black heavy work boots shouldn’t have worked together, especially given none of her clothes were at all tailored for her curves, but somehow it worked.

She did also wear sunglasses, but I was convinced she had only done so to stylishly remove them as she made her entrance, not even looking in our direction yet.

“Sorry for the entourage, I prefer to work alone, but the rules are strict on dealing with anomalies of this intensity, and you did say it was an emergency,” aunt Cristina said before her eyes finally fell on us, her expression turning surprised.

“Hey, Cristina. Before you ask, yes, my wife knows now, yes, it’s my daughter back there, and yes, she’s the reason they now know,” demon Mom said, clearly getting.

Aunt Cristina doubled over laughing, almost having trouble breathing.

“Pffft! Holy shit, this is too good! Of course your kid would also be…!” were some of the things she said before she regained her composure.

“Fuck, I needed that. Told ya staying in the closet was gonna come back to bite you in the ass.” She cleared her throat. “Anyways, there’ll be time to catch up later, we need to take care of business now.” She took out what looked to be a badge. “National Bureau of Paranormal Investigations Detective Cristina Bishop, you all seem to be involved in an incident, so while I don’t have the authority to keep you here against your wills, my colleagues over there have an authority to issue arrests based on my findings, so I’d strongly recommend staying here and explaining to the best of your ability what had happened before I clear you to go.”

My Moms proceeded to explain what had happened from the start.

“Do you think we should stop hugging for this?” I asked Lottie.

“Do you want to?” she asked back.

“...no…” I responded in a tiny voice.

Over the course of explanations, one of the men in suits picked grandma up from against a wall where knight Mom had left her, bringing her into the range of the conversation, though she chose to remain silent for the time.

I also threw in a couple clarifications and details of the conversation between me and grandma, but otherwise stayed glued to Lottie.

“Okay, so we’ve got one side of the conflict pretty clearly, how about you, lady, don’t wanna defend yourself?” Aunt Cristina addressed grandma.

“There’s no need, they speak the truth – just because I abandoned it doesn’t mean I don’t respect it. I have done exactly what they said I’ve done, and I would do so again if given the chance, for the greater good,” grandma stated, her voice scratchy to the point of almost being growly.

Another man in a suit moved to restrain grandma’s arm, the one already there shifting to restrain from his side.

“Oooooh-kay, that’s pretty clean-cut, and also creepy, but I don’t think I can comfortably let this case be on just words, even if I do have them recorded, including that confession,” Aunt Cristina said.

Grandma chuckled darkly. “Don’t worry, my daughter takes care to always have a recording device on her when in action, though there’s no need, I’m willing to repeat myself for the court as many times as necessary.”

Aunt Cristina moved her head in a way that the men interpreted as a go-ahead for the arrest.

“Lady, you have no idea how many guys we get saying shit like this only to play victims later,” she responded, and then turned towards knight Mom. “So, about that recording device.”

“Right, bodycam and stuff, ugh, it’s such a pain taking it out…”

Knight Mom fumbled with her outfit for a bit before resorting to opening a hand-sized portal that presumably went under her clothes and taking out a bunch of cables with several black boxes of various shapes and sizes attached.

So much for a singular device…

“There you go!” knight Mom exclaimed, seemingly happy to finally get use out of… the contraption she had under her clothes.

Aunt Cristina accepted it begrudgingly.

“I am going to need to ask you to refrain from messing with the fabric of spacetime at a location of a temporal anomaly for… I’ve got no clue how long, but I assure you it’s measured in years, not minutes,” aunt Cristina explained.

“Oh, umm, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…” mom Knight responded, taking her turn to be uncharacteristically sheepish.

“Well, all that being said, the science heads outside should have finished their measurements outside, and I have a report to write, and evidence to wash of any potential bodily fluid contaminations because the rules were written by prudes. You all will be called in for official interrogations at a later date, and that includes all of you, sorry about that. Either way, you’re free to go, just please take that car you brought outside instead of teleporting again, for the love of god,” she elaborated over the shoulder, already leaving the scene.

“Bye aunt Cristina!” I freed one hand to wave in her direction.

I could have sworn she muttered something in response, but I was too far away to hear her, since I didn’t have super-hearing like some people.

And speaking of superpowers I didn’t have…

“Thank goodness we can finally go home, I don’t have super strength like y’all to keep standing like this forever…” I sighed.

“Really? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, it seems like I’m doing most of the work keeping you up, though I admit it’s hardly noticeable with how tiny you are now,” Lottie countered.

My face heated up at her comment, once again proving that Magical Knights were the actual counter to the Demon Queen powers.

…Or at least Demon Princess powers, as few and far between as those were.

“Hey! Shedding my mortal form and all my inhibitions in a corruptive explosion of darkness-that’s-not-actually-darkness-and-is-instead-purple takes a lot out of a gi– person!” I complained.

Everybody remained silent for a couple seconds.

“Right, I guess we still have a thing or two to address before we can really rest,” Lottie added.

“We can take care of that at our place, after we stop to get pizza, because I might drive, but there’s no fucking way either of us is cooking if we still have even more to do,” knight Mom responded.

Huh, I knew that being corrupted probably wasn’t all I made it out to be when high on giddy freedom, but I wondered what else was left to address that left everyone so surprised and awkward…

Rainbow

Gay women had their turn, now it's gay women's turn! Not quite all the conflict is resolved yet, but the hardest times are behind us, and now we get some well earned fluff, with absolutely nobody waiting for the other shoe to drop!

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