An actress in our midst! (web version)

Pretty Flame gently floated down onto the building, spying the other person sitting at the edge of it. She transformed back into Erika and sneaked around, trying not to make any sound.

Obviously, sneaking up on her target was pretty much impossible, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t play around a little. Especially since her target decided to humor her and didn’t turn around yet.

She made it all the way to the edge of the building, carefully lifted her hands, and covered Jessica’s eyes from behind.

“Who is it?~” she singsonged.

“Hmm…” Jessica hummed as she held her chin in a serious thinking position. “Now, that’s a very difficult question… but if I were to guess, it’s probably a cute girl who gives awesome kisses and likes to cuddle.”

Erika sputtered at how smoothly she had her teasing reversed on her.

Finally, Jessica turned around to face her as she moved her hands away. Their eyes met and Jessica was grinning.

Erika composed herself and grinned back, although her cheeks were still probably tomato-red.

“How are you holding up?” she asked as she sat down next to her. “You were at the lab again, right? Any results yet?”

“Eh… sort of. It’s nothing much, really.” She shrugged. “We figured out that my cells are intertwined with magic which is holding them in a pseudo-stasis and… well, long story short, I’m probably immortal, basically.”

Erika stared at her. She, of course, could tell that Jessica’s nonchalant attitude was an act. They had been together long enough for her to read the anxiety in her expression.

Seeing Erika eyeing her, Jessica huffed and crossed her arms. “Alright, fine! I’m just a little disturbed by it, okay? It’s not like I wanted to be immortal, you know? I sorta expected something like this since I stopped growing just like Trish back then, but… yeah… I don’t know.”

Erika put a hand on Jessica’s back, as she giggled. “Well at least we have proof that you’re not an evil megalomaniacal villain. If you were, you would be delighted to be immortal, not disturbed by it.”

Jessica scoffed before rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why people keep thinking I’m gonna blow up the Earth or some crap! Like, come on! I live here! Why would I shit where I eat?”

Erika giggled again as she began rubbing soothing circles on Jessica’s back. The supposedly immortal girl would never admit it, but she loved when Erika did that to her.

They sat in companionable silence for a little while before Erika spoke up again.

“By the way, did you hear? Since Baugh finally got his official human ID thanks to you, him and Trish have decided on a date. November tenth.”

Jessica snorted. “The anniversary, huh? How poetic.”

The anniversary of the end of the war, of Trish waking up, of Jessica becoming the fifth magical girl Pretty Void and the guardian goddess of Earth… As well as the anniversary of Sally’s death.

“So, you’re here just to drop off an invitation to their wedding?” Jessica looked at her with widened eyes. “And I thought you were here for me!” she whined as she mimed being shot in the heart.

Erika smiled and drew closer.

“Of course, I’m here for you, darling,” Erika whispered into her ear. “I will always be here for you.”

Another thing she knew Jessica loved, as indicated by her faintly trembling.

“Man, I wanna get married too… Can’t wait till we’re both eighteen…”

Erika smirked.

“What is this? The guardian goddess of the Earth is actually a teenager whining about wanting to get married? How preposterous!” she exclaimed in mock shock, channeling her acting skills that she had been perfecting over the years.

Jessica gave her the side-eye, jutting her lower lip cutely, before huffing again.

“Teenager, my ass! What kind of teenager is so utterly swamped with work, tending to not one, but two entire worlds?!”

The redhead giggled. “Already regretting becoming the demon queen as well?”

The immortal girl grunted. “Yeah, I should have just let Hecate do it, opinion of the demons be damned.”

“They would have never allowed it.” Erika shook her head. “Not after you shouted the whole truth from above the rooftops back then.” She quirked an eyebrow at her. “Why did you do that, again?” she asked teasingly.

“Ugh… shut up! I just wanted to be all cool and dramatic, okay?! I wasn’t really thinking about the ramifications at the time…” The demon queen looked away, sulking.

Erika smirked.

“Don’t worry. You were very cool, and very dramatic. It made me fall in love with you all over again.” She tried to hide it, but a blush found its way onto Jessica’s face. “Still, you shouldn’t have been surprised that the demons would immediately dethrone Baugh after finding out that he was behind the apocalypse.”

“Well, you know what they say about hindsight and the number twenty…” Jessica drawled.

“Still, you could have let your dad be the demon king. I know you still didn’t trust him much at the time but… Well, you made him your advisor after you made up anyway, in the end.”

Jessica grunted. “Hindsight. Number twenty.” She shook her head. “I thought Ol, Cody, and Iris would have been enough of a help but nope. And anyway, the demons wanted me to be their new queen, I couldn’t just push the role onto someone and call it a day, you know?” She shook her head. “Whatever. What’s done is done, I guess.”

“Oh? Not gonna do your cute whining anymore?”

“Shut– I’m not whining!” Jessica whined.

The redhead couldn’t help but giggle again. “It’s a good thing you’re an expert actress. What would your dear subjects think if they knew what you were really like under that arrogant and cold mask?”

The whining actress scoffed. “Being an expert actress is exactly what landed me in this situation, so it better help me out now.”

Erika giggled again, thinking of Jessica’s usual demeanor as the demon queen. Then a stray thought came into her mind.

She crouched low and looked up at Jessica with wide eyes.

“Still, I can’t believe Sarah was the first person you told about being the new demon queen! I thought you loved me! Does our relationship mean nothing to you?!” she asked with an expertly faked quiver to her lips.

“Ack! I already told you! It was a promise! I promised that if I ever toppled the demon lord and replaced him, she would be the first one to know! Heck, weren’t you there when I made that promise?”

“How dare you make such big promises to other girls.” Erika pouted as she poked Jessica’s cheek with her finger. “Are you cheating on me? Do you not want to get married in the end?”

Somehow, Jessica managed to compose herself and did her best to glare at her. “Sarah is straight and you know that, you rascal!” The immortal demon queen then proceeded to mount a counter-attack on Erika by pinching her cheeks.

“Oww!~” Erika giggled.

When Jessica finally let her go, she let out a theatrical sigh. “Whatever happened to my innocent girlfriend? Erika of the old never tried to tease me back.”

“Mmm, I think the poor girl was completely corrupted by an evil demon queen.” Erika smirked at her.

Jessica smirked back before grasping her hand in hers and looking out at the city again.

They fell into companionable silence once more.

Erika couldn’t help but smile, reminiscing back on everything that had happened back then. Bloom and Spark running into an unusual minion, them getting the coded message, finding Jessica’s portal, learning the truth, Jessica becoming a general…

So much had happened back in these short few months. And then, even after Jessica had killed Magna and ended the war for good, things had been hectic. Jessica figuring out how to reverse the apocalypse, trying to appease the demons, researching a way for the attunement to stop deteriorating, communicating with the government back here on Earth, convincing everyone that no, she wasn’t planning on waging war on Earth nor the demon realm…

All while still attending school. Erika honestly wasn’t sure why her girlfriend still even bothered with it considering everything else going on. Perhaps she enjoyed the normalcy in her otherwise hectic life.

Jessica suddenly giggled.

“Hey, speaking of marriage again, I just had an idea.”

“Hmm?”

“How about when we all come of age, we do a double marriage. Me with you and Devola with Nicole.” Jessica grinned. “It’s gonna be the ultimate magical girl wedding!”

Erika kind of liked the idea, but…

“What, and leave poor Sarah by the wayside? How cruel of you, Jessica.”

“Eh, she can be our bridesmaid or something… or heck, maybe she will finally find a boyfriend before then, who knows?”

Erika laughed. It honestly seemed like a great picture. Four of the magical girls marrying each other and the last one being a bridesmaid for all of them.

“You know what? Sure. I can wait a couple more years for Devola’s eighteenth birthday. No need to rush.”

“Great!” Jessica beamed at her and oh, she really lived for that rare genuine smile of hers. “I can get Cody to be my best man and–” She abruptly paused before letting out a tired groan. “Ah, dammit. Looks like my break is over.”

Erika gave a wry smile as the two stood up, hand in hand.

“See you at dinner?” Erika asked.

“Cooked by you? I wouldn’t miss it even if the world was ending,” Jessica replied with a smirk.

The two then leaned into each other in the now familiar motion, and kissed.

Deeply.

When they reluctantly separated, Erika wasn’t the only one blushing.

“Ahem… anyway, see ya!” Jessica exclaimed, before spreading her arms, wreathing herself in pretty glowing cosmic magic, and then blinking out of the world and, presumably, into the demon realm.

Erika smiled to herself, looking at the spot where Jessica last stood.

Her girlfriend had always liked her theatrics.

Ever the actress.

FIN