Chapter 19
Magical Girl Transformation

Leaving was nicer than it had been last time. Last time, we’d been essentially unwelcome guests, urged to leave in no uncertain terms. This time, we parted like allies, and that was a lot nicer, and a lot less stress-inducing. Still, it also felt a little bit like having to go home after spending the night at a friend’s house, where you don’t know where everything is, except that that’s made harder by being ten feet tall and having to crouch down low to go through doors. Despite the house having fairly high ceilings, I looked forward to being able to stretch, sit on furniture and, last but not least, shower.

Still, goodbyes aren’t the easiest thing in the world, though we’d be seeing each other again soon. Sabine and Daniel hugged it out again, and Kazumi and Lisa shared a few quiet words too. I was curious how the two of them were getting on. Their relationship had not exactly started on the right foot, but Lisa had more than turned her life around. Still. Still. 

And finally, the kids wanted to say bye to “Big Horns Lady.” I pretended not to cry as two little balls of joy filled with more energy (and snot) than I would’ve guessed wrapped themselves around my arms, screaming in excitement as I lifted them up. Their upper arm strength was surprising, though I still did my best to move slowly and deliberately as they clamped on. Two of their parents, Jenny and Hayden, looked on with worried smiles, seemingly unsure of what to do in a situation like this. I knew I was certainly less than comfortable, but there was also something else there. Compared to me, most creatures were small and fragile, but compared to this, that was nothing. 

I had to be so careful, and they were so care-free, swinging from my arms like little monkeys. Kazumi caught my eye, and we smiled for a moment. We hadn’t given this any thought recently, but maybe, after everything was over… we could come visit here again. Y’know. To hang out with the kids again. 

But right now we had to leave. The portal still swirled, slowly leaking magic into this world a constant reminder of our own slowly tearing itself apart at the seams. We waved a final little goodbye, and stepped through. Sure, it was nice that it wasn’t as disorienting every time, but the ease with which we could step between worlds was also worrying. It was further proof of the thinning of the walls between realities. It was a nice side-effect of a pretty bad illness. When we stepped out of the portal, it was morning on this side too. 

Sabine took a deep breath, sniffing loudly. “It’s good to be home,” she said as we dusted ourselves off. Erza was in the living room, looking over papers, when I walked in. Erza just looked up as if I’d been here the whole time.

“I think I will travel to your Earth,” she said, matter-of-factly. I stared at her for a moment in confusion, but behind me, Kazumi didn’t miss a beat and slithered up, looking at the papers she was holding. 

“Probably a good idea,” she said. “You’ve been a liaison between species for longer than anyone here. If anyone can lend aid, it’d be you. Besides, you had some rapport with Lisa before, correct?”

Erza nodded in agreement. “M-hmm. We did not see eye to eye, but then I’d never intended to follow her to the end. We simply had aligned goals at the time.” 

“Good,” Kazumi said. “Good. Before that though… we brought someone with us.” She turned around, and Erza followed her gaze. Sabine stepped out from behind me. Erza looked at us. 

“Someone from Earth?” she asked, before looking at Sabine more thoroughly. “No, she doesn’t have that kind of air around her. Strange. I wonder…”

“Hello, Erza,” Sabine said. “It’s good to see you again.” It took a few seconds, but between her inflection and Erza’s analytical mind, it didn’t take too long for the penny to drop and something impossible, something magical to happen. Erza’s mouth fell open in shock. I don’t think I’d ever seen the Orc surprised, let alone at a loss for words. But her eyes going wide was the biggest (and most satisfying) indication of her disbelief. 

“Sabine?” Erza mouthed voicelessly. “But how… wh— How?”

“It took me some time,” Sabine said as she walked over, “but I found my way back.” She looked down at herself. “After a fashion. It’ll take me a minute to really get back into the swing of things, but I think I can manage.”

“You woke up on Earth? That’s… perplexing,” Erza said. It was like she was trying to find a puzzle to latch on to or a problem to solve. “You coming back now… obviously it’s related to everything going on…”

“That’s what we figured, too,” Sabine said as she clasped hands with Erza. “It’s good to see you again, my exceedingly tall friend.” She grinned. The two of them had never been incredibly close, but traveling with someone through as perilous a time as all of us had, not forging bonds had been almost impossible. 

“You too, Sabine. After everything, I did not think I would see you again,” she chuckled. “Well, that’s certainly a development. I have so many questions, and I fear they might have to wait. First and foremost, perhaps, what will you do?”

“We’re traveling to Whitehallow as soon as we can,” Kazumi said. “We’ve agreed to meet John, Sally and Elena there, and if all goes well, that’s where Lillian will be going too. There are too many things that need to be taken care of to do from our house. We’ll open a new portal there, and start organizing the refugee effort from there.”

Erza nodded. “The portal here remains open, though?” 

“Yeah,” I said, a little sheepishly, “it’s not closing. But we talked about a place where we can open a portal on Earth that isn’t, y’know, Lisa’s literal actual backyard. You can still use it, though. If you explain yourself. Actually, hold on.” I walked over to the table and took my custom-made comically-large pen, wrote a note, and handed it to her. “Here,” I said, “that should explain everything well enough to them, without having to worry about fighting an Orc invasion.” Erza raised an eyebrow. “Look, it’s been a long time, I just don’t want to assume Lisa’s going to recognize you right away.”

“That’s fair enough,” Erza said as she pocketed the letter. “You're leaving right away?” 

“Yes,” Sabine said. “I look forward to seeing Whitehallow again, and the sooner we leave, the sooner I can see people I’ve not seen in far too long. Besides,” she crossed her arms, “I can’t wait to see what you all did to this country in my absence.”

“It has been in good hands,” Erza said, smirking. “Especially since we Orc live here again. You lot don’t know how to grow crops up here. But good, that is good to know. I’ll be leaving through the portal first thing, then. How long until I can expect to hear from you?”

“Should be no less than two days,” Kazumi said. “I’ll make sure to send a message.”

“Very well.” Erza started to move documents that all looked very important and official into a pack. “I’ll see you all before long, then.” She hoisted it onto her shoulder. Despite being a foot shorter than me, she was still one of the only people who could look me in the eye and make me feel small. After her shock and awe from earlier, she had regained her composure, and her usual confidence was back. I was briefly worried about how they were going to deal with her on the other side of the portal, but, well, if anyone could stand up to her, it’d be Lisa. 

“We’ll see you soon, Erza,” Sabine said. “And it really is good to see you again.”

“You as well.” There was a quick round of hugs, before Erza walked through to the Room of Relaxation, which just, like, had a portal in it now. Possibly forever. The rest of us looked at each other. 

“Do we want to just leave?” I offered. “I can fly us there, and Whitehallow will have all the accommodations we may need.” I paused. “Including a large enough bed.” The two of them shot me a sideways glance and accompanying smirks. “What? Oh! No! I didn’t mean it that way! I just… But I…” My words devolved into blushy stammering as Kazumi hissed  playfully and started to coil around me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Sabine just laughed and pulled me down to her. 

“You’re precious, my Liz,” she said, and kissed me on the cheek. Kazumi did the other. “But yes, I would like to go there as soon as we can.” We all untangled and Kazumi quickly slithered upstairs before quickly coming back downstairs with a small bundle. 

“I saved some of your old clothes,” Kazumi said excitedly. “I’d have brought more, but the moths got into them.” Sabine took them from her with a smile. “I don’t know if they’ll fit yet, I think you’re a little bit taller than you used to be, but at least you’ve got some of your old stuff. Oh! And it’s snowing, so you’ll need a coat!” She scurried off again. 

Sabine sighed wistfully as Kazumi hurried in and out of the room, bringing this and that, and I got why she did. It was nice being home with the three of us again. Of course, this place had never been Sabine’s home. To her, this was a strange house. But we were going to Whitehallow, where we’d lived together for months. It was also where feelings were confessed. 

The three of us stepped outside once Kazumi had determined that we were sufficiently packed and jacketed. It had been a while, but I had been practicing. I stretched out to my full height, and stretched a little further, unfurling my wings with a magical fwoompf. I gave them an experimental little shake, and some snow billowed away from the draft. 

“Will you be able to carry us both?” Kazumi asked as she wrapped herself around me. I knelt down for Sabine to climb up onto my back.

“Yup,” I said. “I’ve carried heavier, and never anything as precious.”

“You are a sap,” Sabine whispered in my ear, making my face feel even more flush than the winter winds did.

“Alright,” I said, “hold on tight. We’ll be in Whitehallow before you know it.” I bent my knees and then, with a single beat of my wings, we were in the air. It always took a little getting used to — flying with a passenger — and I didn’t do it very often. It felt weird to be able to move around the world in a way that most couldn’t. I preferred to ride, although it had to be by specialized carriage. Most animals couldn’t carry anything my size, after all. 

The air was cold, especially as it struck our faces, but at least it wasn’t storming. The two people I loved most in the world kept mostly quiet as I focused on flying, trying to make sure I kept both pace and direction, but it wasn’t too hard. I’d made the flight to Whitehallow a few times already and ‘due east’ is not the hardest of instructions to follow, even with the landscape looking like it was covered in a thick white blanket.

It wasn’t long before the shining castle of Whitehallow came into view. In summer, the castle stood like a star on the golden green hills, but in winter, it was like an icicle piercing the ground. Beautiful, but also, well, pointy. I started my descent towards the battlements and only destroyed a few of the tiles on top of the castle when my knees crashed into them. 

“Sorry,” I mumbled as Kazumi and Sabine hopped off, giggling.

“Don’t be,” Sabine said as she blew some warmth into her hands. “I’m just glad we didn’t have to ride for a week. I haven’t sat in a saddle in uh…” She blinked. “I quite literally can’t remember.”

Kazumi kissed her softly, and then took her hand. “Let’s go and find your old room,” she said, and I happily trailed behind them, until Sabine stopped at the bottom of the stairs. We were in a hallway, and so far, none of the people who lived in the building had seen us, although there had been some commotion outside. It was mostly a bastion for administration these days, anyway, so there wasn’t that much traffic.

”Before we do anything else, I was wondering… Do you still do magic, Liz?” I looked at her nonplussed, but nodded. “Well… you’re the only person I know who can do your brand of magic.” She looked over her shoulder at the portal. “Although I suppose Lisa can too, but I trust you quite a bit more than I do her.”

It took me a second to get what she was referring to, but when I did, I felt something I hadn’t felt in quite some time. These past few years, things had been quiet, and I hadn’t really needed to use magic a lot. But now there was a tugging in my chest. A hunger, to express some power I hadn’t in a long time. “I can fix this,” it said.

“You want me to…” I began, and trailed off. She nodded. I took a step closer at her. She was Sabine, of course, but this body wasn’t. It was frail, having belonged to someone whose mind had passed some time ago. It didn’t have her face, or her elegance. “You’re sure?” More nodding. Clearly, she didn’t want to waste any time, now that she was back home. I put my hand on her chest, carefully. I wanted to be more gentle than I had been, once upon a time. Control was something out of reach, back then. I’d been acting on instinct alone. 

Then the thing in my chest snarled again, and I acted on instinct. I heard Kazumi start to shout something, but I was already lost in it. Power pulsed through my veins like hot fire, and I saw my hand plunge into Sabine’s chest like it was made of water, pulling back with a fistful of soul. 

God. I hadn’t felt the presence of her soul in so long, and here it was, in the palm of my hand. And she was beautiful as she’d ever been, bright green and grinning. In the shade, I saw her face again as it slipped back into its original shape. Her now-limp body in my other hand, I poured all my energy into it, and then the soul after. She was thrown back, but Kazumi was fast enough to catch her. 

“I — I’m so sorry,” I stammered, “I couldn’t help it, I was so excited and I—”

“You’re fine,” Sabine said with a very familiar smile as she stood back up. “And, apparently, so am I!”

Then her head fell off.

Elamimax

Bonk