I immediately knew something was off when I came to. I was lying in a pile of rubble, covered in dust and… blood? Some sticky purple substance was covering my skirt, whatever it was, and my hair must have looked so messy in its bun.

Wait, my hair wasn’t nearly long enough to put in a bun, was it? And a skirt? I didn’t wear skirts. I couldn’t stand to look at myself last time I tried, so what was I doing wearing it this time? And why was I wearing some sort of button-up instead of my t-shirt?

I tried standing up, but the moment my spine moved I let out an agonized scream. Oh God, it hurt so much, like something had torn a hole straight through me. The pain was so intense that I barely noticed that it wasn’t my usual voice that made the noise. 

I stopped trying to move from my spot, instead opting to whimper quietly in place as the pain slowly faded from unbearable to just agonizing. What happened? Where was the monster from earlier? Where was the demon who, at a guess, had saved me?

I’m here. Trying to rest. Fighting was hard, been a few millennia since my last fight. You’ll be back to full strength soon, just give it a couple minutes. Unfortunately, it seems we aren’t done. There’s still a creature or two lurking about. I had hoped we could rest while the other Blessed did the hard work, but it seems that won’t be happening. She sounded like she was on the brink of collapse. I didn’t know how that worked, and I wasn’t about to waste what little energy she had asking. I had more important questions at any rate.

“What’s going on? And why do I sound so… different?” I was prepared for my voice to be different as soon as I heard my scream, but hearing myself speak was still a little off-putting. Not bad, I actually kind of liked this voice, but it was definitely weird. And unquestionably feminine. Thankfully talking didn’t seem to cause the massive spike of pain that moving brought, so I was at least able to speak.

You haven’t noticed? Well, I guess you wouldn’t, what with the hole in your stomach taking up your attention. When we merged, there was a bit of a side effect. Your body has changed to that of someone more traditionally considered female in your species. 

“I… What?” I was too flabbergasted to offer any other sort of response. My brain was cycling through a variety of emotions so quickly I could barely process them. Confusion and fear were the most prominent, but underneath both of them was a feeling I was not about to approach anytime soon.

You heard me. Name’s Nat, by the way. 

I had to stop thinking about the growing feeling in my chest, a feeling so strong that it was overcoming even the pain that my spine was in. Any change in subject would be better than continuing to dwell on my thoughts. “Nat isn’t… Nat isn’t that demonic sounding of a name.” I coughed as I tried to continue speaking, but managed to get my sentence across.

You need not kill yourself speaking, child. We are bound. I can hear thoughts you broadcast to me just fine. And you are correct. It isn’t my name at all, but I’m holding onto it for someone. It’s a cute nickname, no?

She was right; it was a cute nickname. It was actually a fitting nickname to the name my mom had wanted to give her firstborn daughter. I smiled at that thought. 

You should be good to get up, kid. I’m going to take a nap; wake me if we run into any more monsters. I won’t be able to take over again, but I should be able to let you use a good amount of my power. Nat yawned (how?) and I felt her presence almost vanish to the back of my mind. 

I tried sitting up again, and true to Nat’s word, most of the pain was gone. It still stung a bunch, but moving was actually bearable. After a moment to prepare myself, I forced my legs to move and managed to shakily stand up. I felt like I barely had the energy to keep my body steady, like I used to get when I didn’t eat for a few days. 

Once I had myself standing again, I took in my surroundings. I was on an unfamiliar street with several two-story homes and nice looking cars spread around. This must have been where the town’s few well-off residents lived. Sadly for them, it seemed a good third of the cars had been torn apart or covered in still burning fire, and a few of the houses were completely demolished.

I didn’t see or hear anybody nearby, so I shuffled over to the nearest car to get a look in a mirror. It was a struggle just to move one leg after another, but I needed to see what I looked like. 

I leaned on the driver’s side of a nearby truck and examined myself as best I could in the mirror. Staring back at me was a girl who looked like she could easily have been my sister. She had the same hair, same eyes, and even had the freckles I loved so much. Seeing her in the mirror made my heart do things I didn’t want to think about, so I forced myself to turn away from it. 

I let my mind wander as I began walking in a random direction, questioning everything that had happened to me in the short time I was unconscious. Why were my clothes different? Presumably Nat changed me into them, but where did she get the new clothes? And why did they look exactly like the girl’s uniform from my school? What had happened in her fight? Where was everyone else?

These questions plagued me as I slowly made my way down the empty streets of my hometown. Between the darkness and the lack of people, it felt incredibly eerie. Sure, the town was small, but it was never so dark or without any visible signs of life. Plenty of people stayed up after sundown. We even had a 24/7 McDonald’s as proof of that. 

The quiet, plus the fact that I was in a skirt in public, was not doing wonders for my mental health. What would my dad think if he saw me like this? What would my classmates do? I knew how they felt about boys trying to pretend to be girls. 

I realized too late that I let myself get overly distracted by my thoughts. Before I could react, I felt someone slam into me at full speed, throwing me to the ground. I let out a scream as I fell and immediately started panicking and flailing to save myself. I scratched and hit and scratched again in my frenzy until my attacker let go. 

“Okay, okay, you’re human, I get it.” The figure stood up and back to stare at me, and I immediately threw myself up and moved several feet back from them. Oh, I was so stupid, how did I not bring a weapon with me? Would it even have mattered, though? Were the monsters I was stuck fighting weak against baseball bats and the like?

Once I was ‘safely’ ten feet away from the figure, I examined them. They were breathing heavily, probably from the sprint and tackle, and their outfit was as covered in purple blood as mine. In every other way, though, their outfit was completely unlike my own. They wore a pair of bright green overalls over a (formerly) white shirt, with a matching green baseball cap sitting on their head. It took me a moment to realize exactly what kind of situation I was in: This was Alyx the Ocean, a Magical Warrior. 

My fear immediately shifted to a wide-eyed look of awe as I stared at one of my heroes. They even matched their poster, right down to the green eyes and curly white hair! They were a bit taller than their wiki entry said, as we were supposed to be the same height, but that was the only difference. Holy shit, this was, this was, this was almost enough to make me completely forget about the situation I was in. I barely able to keep myself from fangirling, wait, no, fanboying, all over them! 

“You… You you you…. You’re Alyx! The Alyx!” I was obviously a bastion of self control as I spoke to them. I refused to let myself say more as they gave me their trademarked smile. 

“I am! And you’re in a load of danger, though I think the blood speaks for itself there. Where’d you get all of that demon blood, anyway? Were you in a fight? Are you hurt?” Apparently having a fan moment over them was enough to convince them to let their guard down, as they closed the gap to look me over for injuries. What kind of cologne were they wearing? Whatever it was, it smelled amazing.

Like an idiot I stood there, enjoying their smell as they looked at me, until I realized they were waiting for me to answer. “Oh, shit, sorry, your cologne just smelled so good! I, um, demon. Yeah. Fought. It hurt, but I’m good, and stuff. I healed. I think.” God, I was such a mess. Why were they even wasting their time on me, anyway? I was a rambling mess, and their lingering scent was not helping.

“I’m not wearing cologne.” They stared at me with a confused expression as they stated an obvious lie. Why even lie about that, it wasn’t like the smell was at all bad. “Whatever, that’s probably not important. You fought a demon and healed? Are you… Who are you?”

“Oh, that’s easy, I’m… I’m…” Oh shit. Oh fuck. I, who was I? I couldn’t be Arthur. That name obviously didn’t fit. They’d probably just give me a weird look and call me a liar, especially since they didn’t know that they had that amazing cologne on. What could I do? What could I say? I…

Natasha.

I knew the name I could say. Nat never needed to remind me of it, I always had that name sitting at the back of my mind. Dare I use it? Did I have that right? Did I have a choice? “Natasha.” My mouth answered before my brain could make a decision, and I immediately felt right. Like I had an answer to a question I didn’t know I’d been asking for years. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but I could approach it all later.

“Natasha, then? Good name, though it messes with the ‘A’ naming scheme our team had going. You’ve probably heard of the main five, I assume? We’ve got a few newbies in training, too, and I’ll send you their way as soon as we clear this infestation out.” Wait, was this a recruitment? Just like that, with no buildup or interview? They just found a strange girl and decided she’d make a good Magical Girl? What would they do when they realized I wasn’t really a girl? Or that I was apparently possessed by a demon?

I didn’t need to find out. “I… Uh… No thank you? I’m just… I’m not supposed to be here. Can’t I just go home and pretend like today didn’t happen?” I slowly inched away from them as I spoke. My only chance of getting out if they didn’t like my answer was to run, and they seemed to be in way better shape than me. I needed space.

They deflated for a moment before shaking their head. Damn. “I’m really sorry, Natasha, but that’s not possible. I don’t know who you’re contracted to, but no matter who it is, you’re a Blessed now. You won’t have to give up your normal life or anything, I promise, but you can’t escape a contract. It’s only five years, though, and I promise they zoom right by.” Alyx smiled softly as they explained things, presumably to try and convince me that things would work out, but I was just confused. What contract were they talking about? I hadn’t heard anything about a contract from Nat.

I didn’t respond to them following their explanation, and they stared into space as the conversation died. I let myself sit down and relax in their presence as I waited for the ‘infestation’ to end. It couldn’t have taken too much longer, then I just had to sneak on home and--

Oh. Right. I wasn’t a boy. How was I going to explain that to my dad? Hopefully Nat had an answer. I didn’t exactly look enough like my old self to just pass myself off as Dad’s son, and the only possible alternative was homelessness or relying on someone else for a place to live. Did Alyx know of a place? There was a chance it was worth asking. 

“Someone’s coming, get up.” Alyx was already on their feet as they got my attention and stopped me from asking my question. I followed suit, growing increasingly anxious as I saw a figure nearly the size of a cottage approach. They were incredibly slow, but each step they took shook the ground under us. 

As they got closer, I heard Alyx mutter a series of swears under their breath before summoning a staff. “Stay back, Natasha. That’s a Wastrel. They’re big, dumb, and slow, but one hit and you’re paste. I’ve got backup incoming. They should both be here in a few minutes. Just keep away from that thing.” 

I didn’t realize how much I was shaking as I stared at the monster in front of us, but I managed to nod my head at Alyx and moved a good distance back. They were a professional, so they had this, right? They had to have this in the bag.

It looked like they did at first. They were spinning and dancing around the monster as it tried over and over to hit them. They were the picture of grace, someone whose skills few could compare to. They dodged attack after attack and responded with hits and blasts of water of their own, but it seemed the monster was as tough as it was slow. It couldn’t hit Alyx, but Alyx couldn’t damage it. 

I desperately wanted to go to help them, but I knew that would just end with me in the way and getting them hurt. I had no combat experience, and Nat was nearly killed in her one fight. 

Duck!

I didn’t waste a second as Nat’s voice filled my ears. I threw myself to the ground as a knife embedded itself into the trunk of the car I had just been standing beside. 

I turned to find my attacker, and met the eyes of a short, green creature holding at least a half-dozen other knives. Right. Nat had mentioned two other monsters.

Shit.