by P. S. Power
In all, things were looking up, a lot.
Her people, Shifters, Vampires, line walkers, Humans, Mages and others… Even the Federal Government… Had stopped the threat which had plagued them. At least for the time being.
The Alede had a new leader, Lyses Holjess. That being some woman that Avery had never met, herself. Their former High Ambassador.
Calley Hale was taking power in a week for her people and while she had work for another few months, Avery was doing well.
Eve waved to her, dressed in all black, which the Vampires all had going on. They looked hard and like they were in charge of things.
“There you are. Great work. I was thinking we should get everyone out of here. Then we can… Well, you know, real life. We get back to work and handle the next thing, right?”
Avery smiled, then hugged her. An arm came at her, from the side. That being her boyfriend, Phillip. Eve got drawn into the embrace as well. It was a bit inappropriate, being still on the battlefield so they didn’t do it for long. It was kind of asking for someone to toss a grenade at them, getting them all while they stood in a small, tight grouping.
It was nice though.
Just having friends and family really was.
She had people now. Not just one or two either. Friends, family, and more, from four different realities. Maybe even five.
That was, as they said, a good thing.
Avery grinned. She was exhausted and needed to sleep soon.
“Yeah. Let’s get everyone back home. Then we can start on the next thing. Maybe a new cooking show? Another season of Cooking: Alt Real? That last one worked pretty well.”
In two different worlds, in fact. It was actually doing slightly better in the IPB reality, but they’d already been renewed in both worlds.
It took a long time, to get everyone back where they needed to be, but it was worth it.
Just seeing everyone seeming so happy made it enough for her. The world was a better place that day. They were free of threat again. Not perfectly, but it was a real start.
Her people, all of them, could go out into her world as themselves, and suffer no more threat now than people just being a bit grumpy about them being different. The major attacks were done.
It was enough, for the time being.
Smiling, Avery got back to work.
Moving back home, to be with her people. All of them.
The ones that mattered.