A/N: I'll probably post a prologue Sunday, tomorrow I'm going to the beach.
"Thank you," Ella sobbed over and over again.
Slowly, Tessa watched her regain her strength. An aching sadness permeated her as she realized that she could never again lift things without magic, hug someone, eat and drink... She closed her eyes and sighed. She was alive. Her loved ones were alive, but she had to get them out of that cellar. She opened her eyes and looked at Ella, who was standing unsteadily. "Should we go?" she asked. Ella nodded. Tessa used magic to pull her bag along with her.
The press had showed up in the fifteen minutes between when Tessa had killed the spirit and when she and Ella tried to leave, like flies to a carcass. When Tessa had exited the building, hundreds of people were standing outside with cameras and microphones and vans. Tessa didn't even feel like she had done anything special except for give up her physical body. The press asked a jumble of confusing questions, and the only way to get them to back off a little was to tell them. Tessa gave them a brief description of what had transpired, with Ella adding in pieces that Tessa had forgotten, and as the reporters were writing down their notes, the two girls snuck off. "Do you think you could tone down the sparkle?" Ella asked. "I'm being blinded."
Tessa concentrated and tried to change her appearance, something regular mages could never do. She transformed from a shining gold representation of herself to a slightly paler vision of her. "Cool," she said. "I can. I guess there are some perks to being a spirit." She tried not to cry.
Ella, probably picking up on Tessa's mood, said, "Hey, thank you for not killing me in Hawaii when you had the chance. Actually, it might have been better if you did, but I like being alive, and... never mind. Anyway, what you did was so brave. I know that this probably doesn't make up for anything, but I think- and the rest of the world probably agrees with me, and I say the rest of the world because the spirit was going to destroy the normals- anyway, I think that you are a hero. And I know that this isn't the best time, and you're probably straight but even if you weren't you would probably not want to waste your time on me, but would you want to go on a date with me?" Tessa smiled, Ella's speech warming her heart. She watched as Ella blushed beet red and said, "You know what, never mind, you're probably weirded out right now and even if we didn't date, I was hoping that we could still be friends, but now that's not going to happen-"
"Sure," Tessa responded. "Put your number in my phone." Ella pulled the phone out of Tessa's bag and created a new contact, visibly stunned.
"I-I'll call you later."
"See you."
. . . . .
When Tessa got to Kaia's house, she dumped her bag on the couch and rested there for a moment, regaining her strength. Then she went out back, turned the ground back into the cellar door, and unfroze her mother and brother, Kaia, and Kaia's parents. Kaia turned to her and shrieked, "How could you?" before trying to hug her.
Tessa explained the whole story, causing everyone in the room to shed a few tears. "On the bright side, I got a date," she said, trying to lighten the mood. "Her name's Ella."
"Is she good enough to date my daughter?" Tessa's mother asked.
"Yeah, she's amazing!"
. . . . .
For their first date, Tessa and Ella went to the movies. They got a lot of awed looks- the two of them were famous. Ella got a huge bag of popcorn, and Tessa had found a spell that let spirits taste, touch, and smell, so now she had use of all five senses. She could magically change the taste in her mouth, but she couldn't control what she smelled or touched. The movie was bad, but Tessa and Ella tried to hold hands in the back- Tessa's digits kept floating through Ella's.
. . . . .
For their wedding, they followed Meliasvene customs and matched the color scheme to the colors of their auras, red and gold. The ring ceremony couldn't happen, so instead, they took a magical vow. Tessa smashed a piece of cake in Ella's face, and Ella ran around chasing her wife, throwing pieces of cake through her. Ella was a bit sore that she had to spend so much on her wedding dress, which was just a white dress with gold trim really, while Tessa just concentrated and had a free white dress with red embellishments.
. . . . .
For their first Pamonia- the Meliasvenian equivalent of Christmas- together, Ella developed a synthetic body for Tessa to inhabit, and when Tessa saw it, she started dry sobbing. It looked exactly like Tessa's body, and it would grow to look older. It could even cry. It was exactly like a real human body, just missing the spark of life that Tessa provided. Tessa loved it, and called it the best Pamonia gift she had ever received.
. . . . .
They adopted twin girls and named them Arya and Autumn. Later, they adopted a boy and named him Alex. Ella always joked about Tessa's fondness of names beginning with A, and Tessa always joked about Ella's willingness to give in. They owned a stone house near Adamontery, the capital, and had a wonderful life built for them.
. . . . .
One day, Ella came home from work at the potions lab and excitedly told her family the great news- the plant that reversed the spirit condition, thought to be extinct, had been found. A whole island was full of it, and Ella had received permission from the Head Mage to get the amount needed to reverse Tessa's condition.
"I'm leaving tomorrow. Kaia and her husband and kids are also going," Ella said.
"We're coming too, we're seventeen. That's old enough," Arya chimed in. Autumn and Alex nodded.
"And I'm not? This is a plant that we're getting for me to use. I should come."
"No you're not, Tess. You'll be exhausted. Arya and Autumn are excellent at spellwork, and Alex and I are talented at potions and amulets. We'll be fine."
"But-"
"No buts."
"Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so.'"
"Agreed."
Tessa gave her kids good-night hugs and gave Ella a good-night kiss before heading up to her workshop. She ran an extremely successful jeweler's store, and she had a workshop at home so she could complete orders if she was running behind. She made two rings for all her family and friends, just in case, and went to bed. Soon, Ella joined her, and they both fell asleep.
The next morning, Ella and the kids hurriedly packed and Tessa drove them to the airport in her synthetic body. They met up with Kaia, her husband Mike, and their kids at the entrance. She gave them each the rings. "Good luck. Thank you," she whispered. She couldn't believe that she had kids, friends, and a wife who were doing this for her, so that she could reclaim what she had lost.
They told her that her family and friends would return in two weeks.
Two weeks passed, and when the officials told her that the plane's signal had been lost, she fell into a deep depression. Mark, who had been away on a business trip when the expedition had left, helped her regain control of her life, but she could never get out of the ocean of sorrow she had fallen into as long as her family and friends were missing. She resumed her life, but not a moment passed when the pain of loss didn't dig into her spiritual heart.
. . . . .
Tessa had given up hope on her family returning when a stranger named Willow came into her jewelry shop, looking for a ring to propose with. As Tessa and Willow chatted, she found out that Willow's island was in trouble. Tessa didn't have anything to do in Meliasvene; Mark had gone to live in the American mage community, and her mom had gone with him. None of her friends shared a bond with her like Kaia had. So Tessa decided to leave and go to Willow's island. She had defeated an evil spirit when she was eighteen; she could defeat another villain now.
A/N: Hope you liked the story! Vote, comment, share, follow!
-Deepio the Slytherin
