“WHAT?!” everyone shouted at once. Except Cass. Cass’ thoughts were elsewhere. 

Beware the lone Dragonslayer. The words rang like a bell inside Cass’ mind as they gathered inside St. Joseph’s.

“Yeah, I’m a Magical Boy,” Gabriel said, leaning on the corpse of the dragon he’d just slain with his left hand. “You guys have those- like that guy right there.” He pointed at Matt, who was using his chainsaw to support his weight. 

“Um…,” Matt said, “Y-yeah. What of it?”

“So, I’m like you, dude!” Gabriel said, stepping towards the group. 

Cass held up a hand and kept Gabriel locked in place. “Don’t move.”

“Red,” Debbi said. “This guy just saved us. Ease up. Let’s all get out of here and find somewhere to talk.”

“Fine,” Cass grumbled. “But I don’t think any of us should be revealing our secret identities.”

“Ah, c’mon, you folks know mine! Also, it’s pretty obvious it’s you under there, Mrs. Hellblazer,” Gabriel said. “But whatever, I get where you’re coming from. So where are we going?”

“St. Joseph’s should work,” Debbi said. 

Cass breathed in through her nose deeply and slowly. 

“Is that on Quincy Adams Street?” Gabriel said. 

“Yeah,” Cass said. “How did you-”

“I’ll race you guys there!” Gabriel said. He waltzed around the dragon, planted his feet, started running, and vanished in a blur of golden light that streaked across town in his wake. 

“Blue Blazes,” Nicole said. 

“Holy Hannah,” Iris said.

“Golly Gee,” Monica said. 

“Mierda,” Cass grimaced. She summoned her broom, and motioned for Matt to get on. He obliged. 

“Red, wait,” Debbi said. “You and Heather need to take care of this thing.” She gestured to the giant lizard corpse lying in the street, soon to be congesting traffic. 

“Yeah, she’s got a point,” Heather said. “Our powers are best suited to disposing of Icarus here.”

“What about Blue?” Cass said. “He’s got a chainsaw!”

“He needs to come with Yellow and I to the church so we can make sure this new guy is telling the truth,” Debbi said. Debbi got onto her broomstick and gestured for Matt to get on.

Cass sighed. 

“She’s right,” Matt said, leaning on her back, saying the words into her ear.

Cass blushed. “Yeah. She is.”

“And I need to find out what he knows about my brother.”

“Yeah. You do.”

Matt lumbered over to the back of Debbi’s broom. 

“I should go with Debbi,” Amy said. 

“Yes indeed,” Debbi said. “I want at least three of us for this. Nicole, you get your sisters and that other guy out of here- we’ll all regroup later once we’ve gotten this figured out.”

“Sounds good,” Nicole nodded. Amy covered her in a blanket of shadows, and when it parted, Nicole had de-transformed. She gave Heather and Cass a quick power-up, then led Iris, Monica, and Mark away as they flagged down a taxi. 

Amy, Debbi, and Matt took off into the sky, leaving Heather and Cass alone on trash pickup duty. “Okay,” Heather said, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Let’s,” Cass sighed. 

Heather grabbed a fistful of dragon by its front paws, and Cass used her telekinesis to support the other half of the weight. They flew above the streets, making sure they had plenty of room to avoid buildings. 

“So, should we like, drop this thing into the ocean, or what?” Heather asked. 

“I have no idea, Heather,” Cass said. “I don’t know what proper dragon carcass disposal procedure is.”

“I guess we could try feeding it to my ferret,” Heather said. 

“Would Jonathan even eat this thing?” Cass said as they sailed towards the ocean. 

“I mean, it’s worth a shot,” Heather said. “They’re pure carnivores.”

“There’s no way one ferret could eat this much,” Cass said. 

“You’re right,” Heather said. “Plus, this thing is Diabolical- I don’t know what it would do to poor Jonathan.”

“Let’s just fly out over some deep water and dump it,” Cass said. “I wanna get back to the Church so we can deal with this new guy.”

“You don’t trust him,” Heather said. 

“I had a vision warning me about a lone Dragonslayer,” Cass said. “Then this guy shows up out of nowhere and well… You get the idea.”

“I see, I see,” Heather said as they flew over the city blocks before the beginning of Boston Harbor. They cleared the coast line and flew out over the silvery seas, the city’s skyline gradually fading from view. 

In the grasp of Cass’ telekinesis, the dragon began to weigh heavily. It was as if she was holding a flagpole in her hands; the dragon was the flag dangling off the far end. Heather, for her part, seemed to experience no trouble whatsoever keeping the kaiju aloft. 

“So, any other prophecies happening for you lately?” Heather asked. 

“No, just that one.”

“Nothing about Astra?”

Cass sighed. “No. Nothing. That’s what scares me, honestly. That whatever threat Astra represents is so big, even my powers can’t figure out the full scope of what she’s planning.”

“Blarg,” Heather said. “Why couldn’t Winona have not been an evil lunatic? She would’ve been a fine ruler of Hell if not for that part-”

Cass gave Heather a flat look.

“I’m taking the piss!” Heather said. “God.”

Cass huffed. “Fair enough. I’m just… Tired. Really tired, Heather. Feels like no matter what I do, no matter how many bad guys I take down, there’s always more. They’re like gray hairs- for every one I pluck, two more sprout up in its place.”

“... You have gray hairs?”

“No!” Cass said. “... Or… At least none that I’m aware of.”

“Okay, but like, in all seriousness, I feel you. I mean… You’ve been doing this pretty nonstop for five years now, yeah?”

“Going on six,” Cass said. “My birthday is next week. It actually falls on Thanksgiving this year.”

“Holy shit, really?” Heather said. “That’s cool. Is that cool? Are you cool with that?”

Cass shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, it’s happened before. The holiday was never a huge deal in my house growing up. Neither was my birthday, honestly.”

A pang of sorrow tore through her, as she remembered her eighth birthday, when her dad was supposed to take her to the movies but had bailed at the last minute to go watch a football game at his buddy’s house; her ninth birthday, when her mom had bought her a cake Cass turned out to be allergic to and then spent the rest of the day berating her for making Juanita waste money like that; her tenth birthday, when her parents had screamed at each other the entire day non stop and Cass eventually retreated into her room with her manga collection and hadn’t left all day. 

Her eleventh birthday, when her dad died. 

“Hey, you alright?” Heather asked. “You went away there.”

“I did?”

“You did. Also, your hands are shaking, and so is the dragon.”

Cass looked down at her trembling hands, and then saw her end of the wyrm was shaking back and forth like a hammock in the breeze. She inhaled and exhaled, ran through her grounding exercises in her head, and her hands and the dragon corpse both stabilized. 

“Surely, the Donahues are planning something for your birthday this year?” Heather asked. “They love you, they must be up to something.”

“I mean… Maybe. I guess it hasn’t really come up.”

“Do… Do they know when your birthday is?” Heather asked.

“...”

“Cass.”

“No, they don’t. I never told them. Even Amy.”

“But now I know,” Heather said. “Your birthday is November 23. And we both know I can’t keep my mouth shut.”

“Heh. Yeah, that’s true.”

“So, I’m not gonna tell you anything, but I am gonna tell the rest of the team what I know now, and I can guarantee something will come of it,” Heather said. “Are you okay with that?”

A slender trace of a smile appeared on Cass’ face. “Yeah, I’m okay with that.”

“Cool!” Heather said.

They were far out over the water, and finally, they dropped the dragon carcass into the open ocean. A hurricane of droplets shot at them, but Cass constructed a wall of telekinesis and shattered the liquid pellets before they could make impact. 

Their work done, the two Magical Girls turned around and headed for shore. 

***

They de-transformed behind the church before heading inside. Amy shook out her long, dark brown hair and it immediately fell into perfect waves framing her face. It was something she’d never thought about, and her hair took a lot of work to maintain in other respects like washing, conditioning, and brushing, but she never seemed to get hat hair or helmet hair. She cracked her neck, and noticed Debbi and Matt shivering in the cold. 

Amy looked down at her own choice of outfit: her favorite yellow sundress with the ruffled sleeves and the low neckline. It showed off her legs, something she loved doing, but for the first time she noticed that maybe that wasn’t something other people wore in late autumn in Massachusetts. She wondered about that- was it something to do with her heritage? Something with the Hellfire in her heart keeping her warm. 

Shame fluttered through her, the kind she felt when she’d first… When she first felt the intoxicating pull of her attraction to Nicole, of when she first realized she liked women, and of when she’d first realized what she was… 

… What she was. 

And who she was. 

She didn’t wanna think about this right now. She didn’t wanna be doing any of this right now- she wanted to be home with her girlfriend, cuddling under the blankets, getting lost in each other’s bodies. Nicole’s younger sisters out in the living room, like when she took care of her siblings growing up, like… Like children of her own. A family of her own. 

Grandchildren for her father and her mother. Her real mother. 

She shook her head. She couldn’t be getting lost in fantasies and fears right now. She had a job to do. Even if it took her closer and closer to yet another uncomfortable truth of herself. 

They walked around to the side of the chapel and found Gabriel waiting there for them. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and held a walking stick under his arm, and his golden flannel was buttoned down the middle. His longish black hair was tied back in a man-bun, showing off his handsome face with his strong eyes and sharp cheekbones. A warm flush went through Amy, and she shook her head and gulped. You’re dating someone, Amy said. Don’t be weird, and don’t be a skank for once. Jesus. 

“Glad you made it,” Debbi said. “Shall we go inside?”

“Fine by me,” Gabriel said, smiling and showing off his perfectly straight pearly-whites. 

Gabriel went in first. Matt muttered, “He knows my brother.”

Amy shot him a look at the same time as Debbi did. That was certainly a wrinkle. 

Father Gonzalez stood at the pulpit jotting notes down into his book. “Ah, hello there, mijas, mijos. How may I help you today?”

“We’ve got another one, Father,” Amy said, gesturing to Gabriel.

“In what regard?”

“Well,” Amy said. 

Gabriel pulled a collapsable baton out of his backpack, whipping it into an extended metal staff. He shined a White Light through it, and it became a rapier. The thing was MASSIVE. Amy wondered how big his- stop it stop it stop it bad bad bad!

“Interesting,” Father Gonzalez said, putting down his pen and sauntering across the altar towards them. His eyes went wide when he got in close enough to make out Gabriel’s face. “Young man… You look familiar to me. Have we met before?”

“Maybe,” Gabriel shrugged. “You ever spend any time in Los Angeles?”

“Yes, in fact, I was presiding over a parish in Inglewood before I came here,” Father Gonzalez said. “I take it you hail from the City of Angels?”

“Yeah, Valley Boy, born and bred,” Gabriel said with an enormous, goofy, handsome smile-

Bad bad bad!

“How long have you had powers?” Debbi asked. 

“About two years,” Gabriel said, standing in front of the altar and crossing himself, then taking a seat in a pew directly in front of it. “I’d just started on T at the time, so it was certainly a nice little surprise to find out I wouldn’t even need it any more!”

“Y- you’re trans?” Amy said, gulping. 

“Yup!” Gabriel said, flashing that winning smile again. “That a problem?”

“Not in the slightest,” Amy said. “We’ve got no problem with that here, none at all!”

“It’s true, this is an inclusive Parish,” Father Gonzalez said, offering the young man a handshake. 

He accepted it. “Sweet!” 

Oh God, Amy thought, a gulp caught in the top of her throat. I have a type.

Debbi stood next to her in front of the door and gave her a side-eye, like her sister was reading her thoughts. Amy could practically hear her snickering. That’s just my imagination playing tricks on me- Debbi is way too professional to do something like that here and now.

“So, you said you know my brother, that you dated him,” Matt said. “How is he doing? Is he okay?”

“Last I heard from him was over a year ago, when he dumped me via text message on my birthday,” Gabriel said, his sunny demeanor not dampened in the slightest. “Just said ‘it’s not working out’ and that was that. It was a shame- we made a great team.”

“You mean a great couple, right?” Debbi said, cocking her head. 

“That too,” Gabriel said. 

“I’m… Confused,” Amy squinted. 

“I bet you are,” Debbi said in a low, flat, infuriatingly smug voice. 

… Not my imagination, gotcha, Amy grimaced. 

“Mike is a Magical Boy as well,” Gabriel said. “I actually met him before I got powers, but he already had them at the time.”

“What?!” Matt said, eyes wide, walking over to Gabriel. “That’s insane!”

“Not really, it seems to run in families a lot of the time,” Debbi said. 

“Yeah,” Amy said, “Should we be keeping an eye on our little brothers for this stuff?”

“Probably,” Debbi shrugged. “Though I shudder to imagine what Damian would do with superpowers- can you imagine him throwing Holy Light-infused darts at demons?”

“Or Jason weaponizing a coffee maker,” Amy said.

“I should tell Heather about this as well, honestly,” Debbi said.

“Good point,” Amy said. And maybe they should tell Nicole to keep an eye open where Monica was concerned as well.

“So what kinda powers does Mike have?” Matt asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he asked. “What color is his armor? What kinda weapon does he use? Does have a chainsaw like me?”

“Uh, light blue. Trans pride blue, honestly. Also, you know it doesn’t have to already be a chainsaw, right? You can just pick something up and as long as it’s big enough it’ll become whatever kind of melee weapon you want if you channel into it.”

“I… Kinda knew that,” Matt said, settling down on flat feet once more. “I’ve kinda had to learn as I go. It’s only within the past year- less than that, honestly- that I’ve even been able to channel at all. And I have no idea how to turn my powers off.”

“I mean hey, neither could he for a while there.”

“So what does he do?”

“He can cause memories to come alive, triggering full-sensory hallucinations,” Gabriel said. “It was really trippy to be around him while on drugs, lemme tell ya.”

“Oh wow,” Matt said. 

“Also, he tends to favor a claymore for combat.”

“Cool!” Matt said. 

It was honestly quite sweet- the boy missed his brother a lot. Made sense- he’d apparently been for Matt what Amy had been for Debbi and the others, what Nicole had been for Iris and Monica, but in a much worse environment. One without a father who loved and would protect you no matter what, without a mother who… 

… Who loved you enough to stay. 

Or who loved you even if you weren’t hers. 

Don’t get distracted, Amy thought. Need to stay on task here.

“So, here’s a question for you, Gabe,” Amy said. 

“Fire away, beautiful,” Gabriel said. 

Amy short-circuited and started stammering. 

Debbi waved a hand in front of her sister’s face until finally conscious thought resumed in Amy’s tortured bisexual brain. You have a girlfriend, idiot, Amy thought. “Um… What brings you to Boston?”

“Hm? Oh yeah. I was looking for something, and then I found it,” Gabriel said. “I stuck around so I could play in a Smash tourney- didn’t expect my rival to be a Magical Girl though!”

“And what were you looking for?” Amy asked. 

“These bad boys right here!” Gabriel said, unzipping his backpack and revealing what Amy had to assume were dragon eggs based on the sheer size. “I’m guessing that’s what that dragon was following me for!”

***

Nicole led Iris, Mark, and Monica up the stairs and shepherded them inside the safety of her apartment. 

“That was wicked scary,” Iris said, holding onto Mark’s arm for dear life. 

“Scary?! That was cool!” Monica said, bouncing up and down.

“No, Monica, no it was scary,” Iris said. 

“It can be both things,” Nicole said, closing the door behind her. She didn’t know which reaction worried her more: Monica, who didn’t have powers, loving the action; or Iris, who did have powers, and wanted nothing to do with any of this. 

“Ja, was both cool and scary,” Mark said, putting his arm around Iris’ shoulder and spinning the both of them into one of his bizarre improvised dances. Iris, for her part, leaned into it, and her terrified frown flickered into a smile very briefly. 

“How are you all holding up?” Nicole asked, walking into the kitchen and retrieving four glasses from the cabinet and a pitcher of water from the fridge. She poured them all drinks and brought them over to Monica and Iris first, then for Mark and herself second. “Drink.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Iris and Monica said automatically. 

“Do they do that often?” Mark asked. 

“For good or for ill,” Nicole said, eyes narrow, smile only half-sincere. 

Mark twirled Iris over to the couch, where she sat down, and he took a seat next to her and held her tight. This boy was… Certainly forward. Nicole wanted to trust Iris enough to believe that she knew what she was doing, but… That just wasn’t the case. Still, Mark seemed genuine so far- Iris said he wasn’t a demon, and she seemed lighter and happier around him. 

“I feel okay,” Iris said. “Scared, anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted. But okay.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. “That doesn’t sound okay.”

“By my standards that’s okay,” Iris said. 

“That’s not reassuring!” Nicole said. 

“No, but see, this is good- I’m being honest, I’m opening up, I’m not trying to downplay how I feel- I think this is progress.”

“Ja!” Mark said. “I am very proud of you, Iris. Also, I didn’t get a chance to say until now, but you look even more beautiful like this than you do to begin with, wheech is not easy to achieve.”

Iris’ jaw dropped, and her eyes went wide, and her face blushed so red Nicole wondered if that was what she’d looked like after she’d kissed Amy for the first time. Dang, boy, alright. Not bad for your age.

Monica, standing next to Nicole, just giggled. Nicole flicked her ear. 

“Ow! What was that for?” Monica asked. 

“Don’t be a gremlin.”

“I don’t know how not to be a gremlin though- it’s who I am!”

“... That’s a good point, actually,” Nicole shrugged. “Still though- Iris, you’re right, this is progress for you. And I’m proud of you for standing up to me and wanting to do the right thing. Good job. But you need to understand that this is not going to go away. If you want to do what you’ve been suggesting at your school, you’re going need to start training with me and the rest of the team. And you’re going to have to deal with this kind of thing A LOT if you really want to handle it on your own. Are you prepared for that?”

Iris gulped, then squeezed Mark’s hand and said, “Yeah. I think I am.”

“Good,” Nicole smiled gently. She turned to Monica and put her hands on her hips. “As for you, missy! You enjoyed that entirely too much!”

Monica giggled. 

“Monica, I’m serious,” Nicole said. “This is life or death stuff, okay? You know that I love how you can find joy in anything, but you could get seriously hurt if you keep going into battle with Iris. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

For once, Monica didn’t say anything. She simply nodded, solemnly, almost gravely. 

Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Mark, how are you feeling?”

Mark looked at Iris cuddled up at his side with proverbial hearts dancing around her, and said, “You know, I am good.”

Nicole chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Someone knocked at the door in a panicked, frantic rhythm. Nicole’s brow furrowed as she went over to the door. Her eyebrows shot up in panic when she opened the door and saw her parents on the other side. 

Mom barrelled through her and hurried inside before Nicole could even say anything, and her dad pulled her into a tight hug just as fast. 

“We heard on the radio about the dragon and needed to make sure all three of you were okay,” Mom said, pacing back and forth across the living room. “All four of you, sorry Mark- um… Wait a minute now. Zack? Is that you?”

She looked directly at Iris, who closely resembled a deer in headlights during open season. “I… I…”

Dad came into the room next, and surveyed the sight of Iris dolled up and practically sitting on her not-quite-boyfriend’s lap. He smiled. “Well, look at you.”

“This is… I…”

“Oh, sweetie,” Mom said, walking over to the couch. Mark, for his part, held Iris even tighter than he had before. “You’re transgender too?”

Iris gulped, then started inhaling and exhaling, rapidity steadily increasing. She looked like she wanted to say something, anything, but Mom looming over her, hands on her hips, what Nicole was sure was a concerned expression on her face, was keeping Iris silent. 

Finally, Iris nodded. 

“Oh, well this is wonderful!” Mom said. “Now the school won’t be able to do anything against you- if any of those horrible boys try to start anything again, you have the perfect counterargument to give to the board! You weren’t just standing up for your sister, you were standing up for yourself! Oh, Goodness Gracious, this is perfect!”

If Mom noticed Iris bundling up her legs into the fetal position, she gave no indication. 

Nicole cringed so much she was surprised she didn’t swallow her entire face. “Mom.”

“I can hang up even more Trans Pride Flags now!” Mom said, clasping her hands together. “Oh, I love this! We’ll be able to stick it to my bosses more than ever now!”

Dad walked over and put a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Honey. Maybe you should dial it back a little.”

“What for?” Mom asked. The worst part was the painfully sincere look on her face as she asked that question. It was always the worst part- she always meant well. 

“You’re making our middle daughter uncomfortable,” Dad said. “We don’t even know what her real name is yet.”

“That’s a good point,” Mom said, tapping her finger to her temple. “I need to know my new daughter’s name if I’m going to be able to properly fight for her. So, sweetheart, what is it? What should we call you from now on?”

“Honey, you’re upsetting her.”

“What do you mean? I’m doing this for her!”

That was when Iris got up and ran out of the room, sprinting straight into Amy’s room where Iris always slept when she stayed over. Nicole heard the click of the door locking. 

“Sweetheart,” Mom said, turning and starting to approach Amy’s door. 

Nicole put herself between her mother and the mouth of the hallway. Enough was enough. “Mark, Monica, why don’t you go check on her?”

Both of the two in question nodded and finagled their way behind Nicole. 

“Nicole, sweetie, what are you doing?” Mom asked, genuine confusion emanating from her frown. “I need to talk to her-”

“No, Mom,” Nicole said. “Not just yet. She was going to tell you tomorrow night at dinner. But that ship has sailed.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Mom asked. “Just sit here and wait for her to come out?”

Nicole sighed. “Yes. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. In the meantime… Mom, I think we need to talk.”

Mom looked around, clearly searching for support. What she found instead was Dad coming over and putting a hand on Mom’s shoulder and saying, “I think she’s right. The three of us need to have a sit-down.”