The building fell.

It was going to crush them, and they only had a few seconds to react. There was no way Ella would be able to outrun it. Fortunately for him, he had someone with him that could toss him through the air like a fastball.

“Oh my god!” he screamed as he flew through the air. He stopped just inches away from slamming into a brick wall. A cloud of dust covered him and he instinctively held his breath.

A second later, a gust of wind rocketed past him, blowing the smoke and dust away as quickly as it had come. It was so powerful, he would have been blown away too if it weren’t for the fact that he was being held there by magic.

“You okay?” K flicked her wrist and he dropped to the ground.

“Did you do all that?” he looked up at her, making no effort to stand up.

“Yeah, I did,” she grinned. “Fun, huh?”

“Fun?” Ella huffed. “Yeah, I love seeing my life flash before my eyes.”

“Hey, most of your life was a lie anyway, right? It can’t be that bad.”

Ella glared at her.

“Too soon?” K asked.

“Too soon.”

He turned his neck to see the building in ruins, piled up in the middle of the road. It was like something out of a disaster movie. The kind where most of the characters didn’t make it.

What happened to those two women? Had they made it away in time? He didn’t want to imagine the alternative. Hopefully, they were still alive.

“Urara…” he suddenly remembered, jumping back up on his feet. Had he been caught in the collapse? Even if he was one of those things, could he survive something like that?

His heart sank. He still had so much he needed to tell him. He needed to let Urara know that he would accept him even if turning him back to normal was impossible. He needed to tell him that he’d help him anyway he could.

No, he was panicking. He needed to calm down. Ella took a deep breath. If he focused, he should be able to sense him. He would feel Urara’s presence.

He took a deep breath a closed his eyes. There were a lot of magic signatures coming from the debris, but telling them apart came much easier than he expected.

“Urara’s still alive,” Ella said. “We can still find him.”

Just then, he noticed a man and a girl standing down the street, staring intently at the rubble. The man. It was the first time Ella had seen him, but he knew from his magic alone who he was.

He was the one responsible for what happened to Urara.

He felt anger boil up inside of him. This was the man that had sent those monsters after him. This was the man that shattered the normal life he had so desperately wanted to live.

“Ella,” K tapped him on the shoulder. “If you’re get involved with a fight like this… I won’t be able to protect you. I’m not strong enough.”

“Don’t worry,” Ella said. “I’m only planning on capturing Urara. I’m not going to ask you to fight against someone like that.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I’ll get him to come to me.”

“Okay…” K narrowed her eyes. “But how?”

“It’s easy,” Ella took a deep breath. “Those monsters were after me, right?”

“Right.”

“That means they were given the order to catch me,” he continued. “Just like you were given the order to protect me.”

“Oh!” K dropped her fist on her open palm like a hammer striking a nail. “I get it!”

“See?” Ella smiled. “If that order’s still in effect, then maybe I’ll be able to draw them away from the fight.”

“That’s so cool,” K threw her hands up in the air.

He wasn’t going to argue with her. It was kind of cool.

Just then, a pillar of molten lava shot out of the rubble. He and K froze in place as it hit something in the sky, sending whatever it was crashing to the ground somewhere nearby.

“It… looks like the battle’s starting again,” K sounded dumbfounded.

“Yeah,” Ella’s legs shook. “This is our chance. Let’s try to attract those shadows while the others are busy fighting.”

With that, he and K dashed toward the backside of the rubble. Urara was somewhere inside, as were a number of other monsters. The problem was, they were so close together, he wasn’t sure of his exact location. They would just have to try their luck.

“K, pull that one out,” Ella pointed at a black claw sticking out from the heap.

“Got it,” K pointed to it, causing the surrounding pieces of concrete to move apart. As soon as the dark figure was released it struggled like a captured animal, but was soon unable to move under the pressure of K’s magic.

He took one look at it and knew right away. “It’s not Urara.”

K closed her hand and the monster was ripped to shreds. It fell to the ground in a heap. “Let’s keep looking,” she said.

An explosion sounded from over the hill, marking the continuation of the battle. The sound was so sudden, he didn’t even notice the monster getting back up. By the time he realized it, its claws were already coming for him.

Something slammed into the black figure, sending it flying into a chunk of the building. It hit it head first, a sickening crack ringing out with the impact.

“Don’t let your guard down against these things,” a long haired woman stood next to him. She broke into a sprint, heading for the creature. A large bubble was coming from its body. She pulled back her fist, then punched it with enough force to not only burst it, but crack the concrete behind it.

“You guys alright?” the woman asked, dusting off her fist.

Ella’s mouth hung open. K’s eyes were wide.

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“These guys can revive if you don’t kill them just right,” the woman went on. “Gotta… pop the bubbles.”

“Not to sound rude,” Ella started. “But who are you?”

“Bridget,” the woman’s voice was disinterested as she glanced around. “KPW.”

“…Okay,” he said. Her answer only served to make him more confused, but he decided to set that aside for now.

“You two got names?”

Ella and K exchanged a look like they didn’t know what she was asking. The woman didn’t look like she wanted to repeat the question.

“I’m K,” K spoke up in his place. “This is my cousin, Ella.”

“Weird names,” Bridget said without even a hint of hesitation.

Weird? Like she had any room to talk. She wasn’t wrong though. A girl with a single letter name and a boy named ‘Ella’ weren’t exactly normal.

The conversation was cut short. Before they could say another word, two more dark figures burst out from the debris above where Bridget was standing.

Ella jumped back as K threw her hand toward the monsters. They slammed onto the ground. Bridget brought her foot down on one of their heads, then the other. They smashed like pumpkins meeting a baseball bat.

Urara flashed in his mind.

“Wait, don’t kill them!” Ella shouted, sounding much louder than he expected.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Bridget shouted back. The bubbles were already starting to form on their corpses.

He focused on his magic senses. His face flushed. Neither of them were Urara either. “Uhh, actually go ahead,” he stammered.

Just as the bubbles seemed ready to burst, Bridget struck them with a wave of her hand. They ripped apart like paper, the scraps floating through the wind.

Ella let out a deep sigh.

“What was that?” Bridget walked closer. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she was significantly taller than he was. “You realize those things will kill us, right?”

K came to his side. He could feel her readying her magic, and the sensation sent goosebumps up his arm.

“One of those…” he paused. “One of them is my friend. Urara. We’re trying to find him right now.”

Bridget raised her eyebrow. “Your friend is… one of those things?”

“Did you see that guy with the glasses?” Ella asked. “I think… It’s his fault Urara’s like that. He turned him into that… because he’s trying to capture me.”

“Please,” K chimed in. “We have to save him.”

Bridget studied him, then glanced to K. The look in her eyes was sharp enough to cut. Judging by what he had seen, she was probably more than capable of ripping him apart with her bare hands.

Another blast rocked the ground. He winced.

“Alright,” Bridget yelled to speak over the battle, but the anger in her eyes completely vanished. “Tell me faster next time, got it?”

“You’ll help us?” Ella felt like he could finally breathe again. “What if we’re lying to you?”

“You’re fighting for what you care about. That’s all I really need to know,” Bridget shrugged. “I’d rather trust people than go around suspecting them.” Her words sounded genuine, like she was speaking them from her heart.

“Thank you,” Ella said. “In that case, can you do me a favor?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re strong, right?” Ella asked. “Like, really strong.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Can you…” Ella pointed to a large chunk of the building. “Lift that up for us?”

Bridget looked up at the section of the rubble.

“I can feel,” he started. “I mean, I have a feeling there might be more of them in there.”

It was probably best to keep his abilities a secret. The fewer people that knew, the safer he was. Plus, explaining just seemed like kind of a pain. He didn’t even really understand it himself.

“Yeah, alright,” Bridget flipped her long hair back behind one of her shoulders. She hopped up to where the piece was, just a few feet higher on the rubble heap. Standing next to it, he could see that it was almost three times her size.

“Please be careful. They might try to attack you,” Ella called out to her before turning to K and lowering his voice. “K, get ready. I think there are two of them under there. I need you to stop them as quickly as possible.”

K nodded.

“Alright,” Bridget knelt down, taking the chunk of concrete with both of her hands. She pulled up, and without much effort, lifted it into the air.

There were more than two.

Underneath the rubble, four oozing puddles of sludge sprung back to life. They formed back into monsters, letting out a blood curdling roar.

“Put it back!” Ella yelled, but it was already too late. The creatures scattered like cockroaches, heading straight for him.

Yeah. They were still after him.

K snatched one of them with her magic and sent it flying. With a move of her wrist, it crashed into two of the others, knocking them back.

Just as Ella moved to run, the remaining one came to a screeching halt in front of him. He froze. Urara. This was Urara. He was sure of it.

“Run, you idiot!” Bridget’s arms wrapped around Urara from behind. Before he could react, she yanked him back in an arc. His head slammed into the pavement as Bridget completed a German suplex.

“That’s Urara!” Ella shouted. “Don’t kill him!”

Even with his head disfigured, Urara flailed in an attempt to break free from her hold. “Well what the hell am I supposed to do?” Bridget grunted.

“K,” Ella turned. If only she could stop him with her magic, they’d be able to figure out what to do with him. “I need you to…”

The rest of his words got caught in his throat. There was blood. Blood poured from a deep cut on K’s stomach. She had one of the other monsters frozen, but the other two were completely free. They bombarded her with their claws. She couldn’t keep up with them. The third one broke free from her magic.

No. How was this happening? K was strong. This wasn’t right. Why weren’t they being torn apart by her right now? K. They were going to kill her.

“Stop!” Ella screamed. He felt something rush through him and leave through his hands. A swirling black energy shot his body, piercing through the three figures like machinegun fire.

What… was that?

The monsters turned to him, their inhuman expressions almost showing something that resembled shock. They fell to their knees, and the holes in their bodies expanded. Then, they vanished, disintegrating into nothing.

“Hey,” Bridget shouted from behind him. “W…What’s going on?”

Ella ignored her, rushing over to K. He caught her just before she hit the ground.

“K,” Ella whimpered. “Please, you can’t… You can’t die.” He pulled her close to him, supporting her head with his arm. The wound on her stomach was deep, and blood from it soaked into his clothes as he frantically put pressure on it.

“Ella?” K looked up at him, but her eyes were glazed over.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Ella tried to hold his tears back.

“I… didn’t want to tell you,” K started. “I didn’t want to make you worry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Arlene cut off my mana flow,” K said, trying to laugh. “I guess she… probably wasn’t very happy with me after I knocked her out like that.”

“No,” the word fell out of Ella’s mouth. No. No, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

“I don’t… have much mana left,” K winced. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t do more to help you.”

“Are you kidding me?” Ella wiped at the tears pouring down his cheeks. “I’d have been dead ages ago if it wasn’t for you, dummy.”

“You’re the dummy, dummy,” K laughed, but it looked like doing so pained her. It took her a moment to speak again.

“Was I…” her voice was getting quieter. “Did I get to be a real Portlander?”

“Of course you did,” Ella squeezed her hand. “In fact, forget Sadie Quasar. You’re Portland’s rose now.”

“Really?”

“…Yeah.”

K’s body was getting faint now, like the color was draining from her. She was almost translucent.

“Ella?”

Ella struggled to answer without breaking down. “What is it?”

“What do you think happens… when a familiar dies?”

“Stop that!” Ella cried. “You’re not going to die!”

“I wish,” K’s lips formed into a smile. “I wish I could have been your cousin just a little longer.”

“K!”

She got lighter. It was like she was fading away.

“Goodbye…”

“I said…” something ignited inside of Ella like a match being struck. “You’re not going to die!”

His ears popped as a strange energy flooded from his body. Then, it was like he had returned somewhere. Somewhere he hadn’t been in a very long time. The energy washed over everything around him, and suddenly, it was like he could feel K’s heartbeat inside of his own.

“…Ella?”

He looked down at K in his arms. The gash on her stomach was completely gone.

“What… did I just do?”

K held up her hands in front of her face, looking at them from front to back. “I-I-I think...” she stumbled. “I think you just summoned me.”

“S-Summoned you?” Ella asked. “Is that even possible?”

“Guess so, cuz here I am,” K threw her arms around him. “All I know is that I have the coolest cousin ever.”

Ella was dumbfounded. For the first time, he had managed to do something for her. He saved K.

“So,” K pulled away, a mischievous look in her eyes. “I’m Portland’s rose now, huh?”

“Don’t do this,” Ella sighed.

“You said!”

“Okay, okay. You’re Portland’s rose. Happy?”

K nodded. “Very.”

“Hey, I don’t know what the fuck you two think you’re doing,” Bridget shouted. “But do you mind giving me a hand?”

“Uh-oh,” Ella stood up, bringing K with him. “K, can you use your magic?”

“Sure can,” K put out her arm. “I feel better than ever.” She lifted Urara into the air.

He struggled, bulging like he was trying to shed his skin like last time. However, K kept him in check. He couldn’t break free.

“God damn,” Bridget let her back flatten out, laying there in the street panting. “You two piss me off.”

“Alright,” Ella said. “Let’s put an end to this.”

K turned to him. “An end to what?”

“To all of this,” he looked to the hill of debris. “We’re not letting that guy in the glasses get away.”