Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Lingering Damage

Being in the hospital was torture. The frequent misgendering was almost worse than the actual physical pain. The pounding in her head took the cake, though. It was, according to the doctors, a minor miracle that she hadn’t ended up with anything more serious than a moderate concussion. The near-constant fatigue and occasional vomiting did not leave Emery feeling lucky.

Whatever magic had prevented Emery from healing right away didn’t linger. In only a few days, the worst of Emery’s injuries were mostly healed. There was some kerfuffle about letting her sign herself out as a minor, but her status as a magical girl gave her a few social privileges.

Her parents were too distraught over what had happened for Emery to feel anything but guilty about them. Emery was only home for a couple of hours, doing her best to pack while ignoring the ache across her entire body. Before long, she was on the bus heading for Marisol’s place where a spare bed was waiting for her.

She closed her eyes on the bus ride, but every time Emery came close to nodding off she’d jerk back awake. What if it got back into her thoughts? Night Terror hadn’t left her alone after that first encounter. Even though the nightmares weren’t any more frequent than before, she couldn’t have another one like the one she’d just experienced. It would destroy her.

Marisol let Emery in, taking her bags for her. Sitting on the back of the couch were a green and pink pixie. Carina’s expression fell at the sight of Emery in so many bandages.

“Emery,” she said, not moving from her seat.

“Hey, Carina,” Emery replied. “Hi, Wolf.”

“Hi, Emery. How are you feeling?”

“Better than before.” To Carina, she asked, “How about you?”

“Fine.”

She glanced away from Emery. It was clear that Carina was still mad. Emery understood. There was a lot to be mad at her for.

Marisol went into the kitchen to make them some tea while Emery headed to the guest room. It was a struggle to suppress the grunts and groans that came with exertion. By the time she was half done, Emery had tired herself out.

She sat down on the bed and buried her head in her hands. Emery sniffed, then started to cry. What was she crying about this time? There was no telling. Everything was wrong. Why not cry about all of it?

Emery lied down and curled up on the covers. She closed her eyes. Surely she’d be safe if she just got a moment’s sleep. Night Terror couldn’t be watching her all the time, right? There was no harm in it. The alternative was to stay awake forever, and that definitely felt like a plan B.

As her mind started to drift, Emery’s thoughts turned to Keaton. When was she going to see him again? Would he forgive her for everything she did? Did she even deserve that. All Emery wanted to do was look deep into his eyes and give him a long kiss.

She found herself being shaken awake by Marisol, who told her that the tea was ready if she wanted it. They returned to the living room and Emery sat down in front of a coffee mug. It was hard not to suppress a yawn even through the sting of Marisol removing her bandages.

“The bureau gave me this,” she explained, rubbing a bit of ointment in her palms. “It’s in short supply, but in emergencies it can be used to speed up the healing process significantly.”

She also gave Emery a couple of pills, instructing her, “These are magic, as well. You’ll need to take two in the morning and one before you go to bed. Between the ointment and medication, this regimen should get you back up on your feet much quicker than just waiting.”

“And then what?” Emery asked. She glanced around, but Carina was nowhere to be found. “My pixie hates me and I’m a laughingstock. How am I supposed to return to being a magical girl, now?”

“Take off your shirt so I can get your back.” Marisol said. “It’ll just take time. Carina will forgive you, and you’ll forgive yourself. But there’s no magic to heal the heart any faster.”

Emery snorted, then asked, “Why aren’t you rubbing my nose in getting hurt? You were so determined to keep me from making the contract in the first place. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing you warned me I was getting into?”

Marisol rubbed the ointment into Emery’s back and asked, “Emery, why are you doing this. I mean really doing this?”

“You mean why I’m a magical girl at all?”

“Why do you want to be the one to stop Cynthia?”

Emery took a long drink of tea while she thought about it. Marisol rubbed the ointment all over her neck and cheeks, then started running it down her arms. If anyone else was doing this, it would have been the most humiliating thing.

“I do want to be famous,” Emery admitted. “Just… not for being trans. I wish people could ignore that part. Stopping a dark magical girl, the dark magical girl, would certainly earn me that fame.” She sighed. “It’s more than that, though. Cynthia, and Night Terror especially, are very serious threats. I’ve seen what Night Terror plans to do to our world. I have to stop them, even if I can’t do it myself, even if I don’t get all the credit. And I was hoping I could convince the others of how serious this whole thing was.”

Marisol wiped her hands off on a towelette and ran a few fingers through Emery’s hair, pushing it out of her eyes.

“If I’m being entirely honest,” she said, “you’re probably still not entirely ready to be a magical girl. Not on the level of the others. But you’re getting there.”

Emery pouted, demanding, “What’s that even supposed to mean?”

“You’re cuter than you think you are, Emery,” Marisol replied, smirking.

“Oh my god!” Emery cried, burying her face in her hands. “You can’t say that! You’re practically my older sister!”

Marisol laughed, then admitted, “I was a lot like you when I started. A lot of magical girls are. I still think that the program does more harm than good in the long run, but there’s no denying that we end up learning a lot about ourselves and who we want to be in the process.”

Emery nodded, then yawned.

“I think I’m going to lie down a bit more,” she said.

“Be sure to get your legs before you do,” Marisol replied, handing over the bottle of ointment.

Emery returned to her room and did what she was told. Then she curled up under the covers and closed her eyes. Marisol’s words ran through her head. What kind of person did Emery want to be?

A girl, obvious. Preferably a famous one. But beyond that? Emery still hadn’t given up hope of dating Keaton one day, for sure. What else? What more was on the horizon for Emery? She couldn’t say, to be perfectly honest.

The next day, Emery took the opportunity to catch up on some of the ever-growing mountain of schoolwork. Surely she would make a dent in it now that she could barely walk away from her work. At the moment, she was deep into her second English lesson for the day.

Then Emery heard the front door open and people started talking. Who was that? She sat her work aside and took a deep breath. Standing up required a loud grunt of pain. Her legs were stiff as she made her way to the bedroom door, but nowhere near as stiff as the previous day.

Jada and Coraline were standing with Marisol in the living room, their pixies alongside them.

“Hey, what are you two doing here?” she asked.

“Wolf invited us,” Coraline explained. “Some kind of magical girl meeting.”

Wolf fluttered into the room from the kitchen to announce, “Amira requested it.”

“Amira?” Emery asked. “Why would she…?”

Wolf shrugged and replied, “Didn’t explain.”

To Coraline and Jada, Emery asked, “So… you two have been hanging out a lot lately?”

She had to know if her Night Terror dream had been accurate to their real-life relationship.

They exchanged a brief glance before Jada answered, “Yeah. Despite what I said before, it’s actually a lot of fun being friends with other magical girls.”

“Are you alright?” Coraline asked. “You’re still pretty bandaged up.”

“I just haven’t been sleeping very well,” Emery admitted. “Everything else is healing alright.”

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Liv arrived next with her pixie Linette. When she saw the state Emery was in, Liv visibly winced. She didn’t have much to say to anyone. Emery was okay with that. The image of Liv as a school bully was still fresh in her mind.

Amira stepped through the front door shortly after with Nellie on her shoulder. She looked just as uncomfortable with Emery’s state as the rest of them, but didn’t comment on it. Marisol and Carina joined them shortly after.

“Alright,” Amira said, leaning up against the wall and folding her arms. “I called everyone here because we have to address something. The bureau filled me in on what happened to Emery. Cynthia Peterson and Night Terror are a serious threat that we have to deal with. The fact that they were able to hurt Emery so bad proves that we can’t ignore this.”

Emery sighed with relief. Thank goodness someone was taking this seriously. They’d actually be able to do something about it now.

Liv signed and Linette translated, “I don’t think it’s very controversial to say that Emery was so badly hurt because she’s comparatively weaker than any of us.”

“Hey!” Emery growled.

“I hate to agree,” Jada said, rubbing the back of her neck, “but she’s not wrong, you know?”

“I’m not sitting this out,” Emery insisted, straightening up as much as her aching back would let her. “I have to be a part of the team to stop her.”

“About that,” Caroline said. “I’m still not sold on the idea of teaming up.”

“Oh, come on!” Emery cried, before turning to Marisol and saying, “Tell them that we have to!”

But Amira responded, “We don’t have to. I’ll give everyone here my contact information. If anyone here learns or hears anything about Cynthia, contact me. I’ll be able to track her down and take her out on my own.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Coraline said.

“If anyone can do it, it’d be you,” Jada added.

Liv signed, “We’ll be here to give you whatever support you need.”

Emery growled, then sighed. Amira might actually be able to pull it off where she had failed. At the very least, this was better than nothing.

Once everyone had gone, Emery sat down at the table and rubbed her temples. Her head was still pounding. She would be so happy when all of this was over and thing were back to normal.

“Hey, Carina,” she said softly.

“Do you need something?” Carina asked, landing on the table in front of her.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“You want to talk about anything?”

Carina’s nose wrinkled and her wings twitched before she glanced away.

“Not much to talk about,” she mumbled.

There was another knock at the door, and Marisol appeared to open it. Keaton stood there, looking like he wasn’t sure if this was the right house. He relaxed when he saw Emery.

“Hello,” he told Marisol. “I’m Emery’s friend. May I come in?”

Marisol sighed, but nodded and stepped aside, saying, “We’re actually about to do medicine.”

Wolf appeared from the hallway, waving at Keaton and saying, “Hey! Good to see you again!”

“Hi, Wolf.” To Marisol, Keaton asked, “Do you need any help with that? I’d be glad to assist.”

Emery coughed and started stammering, “Um, yes! Yeah! Sure! You can absolutely help!”

Marisol rolled her eyes and handed Keaton the bottle of ointment.

Managing to stand up, Emery added, “Let’s go into my room where there’s some privacy.”

“Keep the door open,” Marisol and Carina said in unison.

Being sure to close the door behind them, Emery slowly stripped off her shirt, being sure to face away from Keaton. It had already been awkward being shirtless around her crush. It was much worse now even if Emery didn’t actually have breasts to speak of.

“Alright,” Keaton said, rubbing the ointment in his palms. “I’ll just… rub this in.”

“Yeah…” Emery was blushing. “Be gentle.”

She had to bite her lip as he massaged the medicine into her sore muscles. Her mind went back to the fantasy of them as a couple. If she’d only been born cis…

“Do you think you could ever date a trans girl?” Emery asked softly.

Keaton didn’t answer right away, but he didn’t stop rubbing her back.

“It’s not you being trans that’s the problem,” he said. “I’m just worried about what adding romance would do to our friendship.”

“I don’t want to lose you as a friend.” Emery’s shoulders sank. “There’s so much going on. It’s a little hard to keep track of it all.”

Keaton suggested, “Maybe we just forget about romance for the moment until Cynthia is taken care of?”

“Yeah… Maybe that’s for the best.”

She held up an arm for him to rub ointment on while he added, “I’m really worried about your well-being, Emery. It hurts so much seeing you go through all this and not being able to do anything about it. I wish more than anything that there was something I could do to help.”

Emery just nodded.

They were just finishing applying the ointment when there came a knock at the door. Emery pulled her shirt on and Keaton stood up to answer it. Marisol stuck her head inside.

“Dinner is ready. I assume that you’re staying to eat?”

Emery was hoping that dinner would be a bit more lively with Keaton there. And it was. Wolf was really excited to see him. It must really have sucked for him to be surrounded by girls all day, every day. He and Keaton made a natural pair.

She glanced over at Carina, who was sitting next to a small saucer of candy. Carina refused to return her gaze. How were they ever supposed to recover from this?