Chapter 2: The Death of Adrian Potter
"A Magical Girl. You know, like Sailor Moon." Adrian tilted his head slightly with a look of puzzlement on her face. "Wow, okay, a Magical Girl is usually a young girl in her teens that uses magic to transform into an alternate version of themselves to fight monsters. The monsters in our world explode when killed and drop magic crystals, which are given to your familiar, the thing you made your contract with, to gain greater power and magical abilities. Oh, and the monsters also drop money sometimes, so if all else fails that's an incentive to kill them. Any questions?"
"Um, yeah, how do I turn back?"
"Wow, you really are new, huh.. Well, you shouldn't do it in front of other people, but you should just focus on what you look like normally and you should be able to turn back, though you should probably wait until I've gon- or you know just do it now." As the light surrounding Adrian faded Lampa got her first look at what her saviour really looked like. To say she was shocked would be an understatement, she was stunned. The person stood before her was not what she expected, rather than the teenage girl she expected, what she saw was a young boy of about 7, wearing filthy, blood stained clothes that were far too large for his tiny frame, his hair was filthy and matted, but if it was cleaned up she could tell it would be a brilliant red colour, most likely similar to that of his transformed body. The boy, Adrian's, face was thin and gaunt and made it seem like he hadn't had a proper meal, possibly ever. The right side of his face also sported a rather large and angry looking bruise, and his breathing seemed to be laboured. All in all the boy made for a rather pitiful sight.
Adrian looked at the floor blushing, shuffling his bare feet, something that made Lampa wince. " Ca-can you stop staring at me please." Adrian's voice was small and meek but oddly endearing.
Adrian looked up at her before turning away once more blushing fiercely. "U-Um Don't you think you should put some clothes on?"
Lampa looked down at her naked self and then to Adrian who was doing everything he could to avoid looking at her, before laughing uproariously. "If this is enough to get you frazzled you'll never survive." Her face fell and her voice took on a more serious tone "Look, if you're going to keep doing this you're going to see and do things you never thought you would, a moment of weakness can see you dead, or worse. You can't hesitate and you shouldn't risk your life to save someone else's, it'll only come back to bite you, most of the others aren't as merciful as I am."
Adrian watched as Lampa transformed, her body shrinking, until it stabilised, revealing perhaps the most generic person Adrian had ever seen, dull brown hair and eyes, and a face one would forget the moment it left your sight. It was honestly impressive how forgettable she was. Lampa stook her hand out and Adrian grasped it, shaking it as she reintroduced herself "Names Alison, call me Ali." Harry looked at her questioningly "This way we're even, now take your spoils and get out of here."
It took Adrian several hours to find a hotel that was cheap enough for him to afford, killing monsters it seemed was not a high paying job. Slapped a twenty pound note on the desk Adrian was shown to his room. It was small but looked positively luxurious. Adrian flopped down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
Now Adrian was no stranger to nightmares, he had been having them for as long as he could remember, usually involving high cold laughter and flashes of green light, but the one he had after falling asleep in the hotel room was like nothing he had ever had before. It was quite frankly horrific. Even now several minutes after waking up, he was still choking, attempting to cough up the mud that had filled his lungs. He could also still hear the constant booming of artillery and smell the stench of gunpowder and rotting flesh. It took more than an hour for Adrian to finally calm down enough to stop coughing and instead broke down in tears. Adrian felt something climb up his chest. Illium raised its head and began to whisper in Adrian's ear, though he couldn't understand what was being said it helped.
Adrian didn't know how long it took for him to fully calm down. He looked over to Illium and asked in a small scared voice "W-what was that?"
Illium looked at him with no small amount of pity, if what they thought was happening was, it was a fate they wouldn't wish on anyone. "Why don't you tell me what you saw, it might help."
Adrian took a deep, shaky breath. "It was night so I couldn't see much, but I seemed to be in a hole, perhaps a trench. It was raining, heavily. So heavily that I stood in about a foot of mud. I think I'd been there for a while, as I was simply leaning against the wall of the trench, calmly listening to the sounds of artillery. That was when a shell landed on the bank behind me. The explosion blasted me off my feet and I fell into the mud." Adrian took another shaky breath before continuing "I-I drowned in the mud. I-it was horrific, it hurt so much." Adrian began quietly sobbing again.
Illium began to rub her face against his in an attempt to sooth him. "I didn't tell you at the time as you were so desperate to save that girl but, well, the power I gave you comes with a price. The gift is both a blessing and a curse. You who immersed yourself in the pages of books, who studied the past to tell yourself that your life wasn't that bad was granted a power that reflected that, and as a result the curse does too. I think that what you saw was the last moments of the last person to use the rifle you summoned."
"Do-does this mean that it will happen again?" Adrian's voice was scared but hopeful.
Illium sighed, or rather a cat's approximation of a sigh "Yes, it will happen again, perhaps not every night, but this is not the end. Of that I am sure. Now, enough of this, you are going to have to decide what you are going to do from now on, as I doubt you want to go crawling back to that alleyway."
Adrian sat up, placing Illium on his lap, stroking her back gently. "I don't know. I suppose I'll need to find somewhere to live." Adrian sighed "How I'm going to do that I have no idea, I mean there is no record of my transformed form existing, no birth certificate, no ID, no bank account, nothing." Adrian leant back against the wall and sighed again. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.
A blinding light made Adrian shut his eyes. When the light died down, Adrian opened his eyes and looked in shock at the pile of official looking documents on his lap.
" You'll need to come up with a name for yourself of course, but your transformed form is now an official citizen of the United Kingdom. Congratulations."
Adrian hugged Illium tightly muttering thank you over and over. He was free.
Getting out of bed Adrian transformed, walked to the bathroom and examined his new body in the mirror. Adrian guessed that he had grown at least two feet and had put on weight, not much, just enough to stop him from looking starved. His hair, while staying the same coppery colour, had grown significantly, now coming to his lower back. From behind his hair a pair of bright green eyes stared at him. His face had taken on a rather aristocratic look, with high cheekbones and a small chin. Based on his rather limited knowledge on the subject Adrian would judge his new form to be rather attractive, something that he was sure would prove to be useful. Looking down at himself, Adrian decided that the first thing he would have to do was buy some new clothes, after that he should probably find somewhere more permanent to stay, or at least see how much it would cost. Tearing his eyes from his reflection Adrian performed his ablutions, fastened his coat around himself and set off into town.
First on Adrian's agenda was getting some new clothes, he couldn't walk around in a military uniform the entire time. Though this presented its own problem, he didn't know the first thing about women's clothes. An issue that left him standing awkwardly in the middle of a clothing store looking thoroughly overwhelmed. His aunt had only ever seemed to wear the same style of clothes and while Adrian knew there would be more choice he didn't expect there to be quite so many.
Adrian gathered his courage and approached one of the people working in the shop. "Excuse me?"
The shop assistant turned towards him and smiled, It was quite possible the fakest smile Adrian had ever seen and her eyes only showed pain. Looking around Adrian could see why, the relatively small shop was filled with people and clothes littered the floor, Adrian could only feel sympathy for the girl. "How can I help?". The girl's voice while cheery sounding was rather strained, almost as if she wanted nothing more than for one of them to drop dead where they stood.
"W-well I, er, I'm in need of some more clothes and, well, I'm not sure what would suit me, or what sizes I am now that I think about it, and I was wondering if you might be able to help." Adrian's voice began to trail off as he continued talking, his head lowering as he did. Raising his head again a shiver ran up his spine as he saw the look in the girls eyes. The girl grabbed Adrian by the arm and dragged him off towards the changing rooms, she quickly circled him, nodding to herself before dashing off, leaving Adrian to stand awkwardly.
It was about fifteen minutes before the girl came back, arms laden with various clothes, she dumped the clothes into Adrian's arms and looked at him expectantly. "Well?" Adrian looked at her blankly "Go try them on."
Adrian took the mountain of clothes with him into the changing room. The first thing he tried on was underwear. It would seem that the clothes he got when he transformed did not include them and Adrian found the movement of his new breasts to be uncomfortable when running, something he suspected he would be doing a lot. It took him a good five minutes to figure out how to put a bra on, but when he did a tension in his back was gone, a tension he hadn't even noticed before. His underwear was a pale blue and fit perfectly, Adrian didn't know how the girl did it, she couldn't have looked at Adrian for more than a minute or so and yet managed to guess his size perfectly. Checking the rest of the underwear the girl got him he saw they were all the same size, showing how confident she was that she got the sizes right. The girl poked her head into the changing room causing Adrian to flush bright red and attempt to cover himself. The girl smirked at him before speaking, a hint of amusement in her voice "Just checking to see if what I got was the right size." She paused for a moment, looking at the pile of clothes on the bench. "Hey, after you try something on, come out of the changing room and I'll tell you if it's any good." Adrian nodded before pushing her out of the cubicle.
Sighing Adrian grabbed some clothes from the pile, putting them on he examined himself in the mirror. He had picked a pair of faded black skinny jeans and a black sleeveless t-shirt. The clothes clung tightly to his frame in a way that was most pleasing to the eye, Adrian blushed fiercely when he looked at himself, something he hoped would stop soon. Stepping out of the changing room he noticed the girl sat in front of him with a thoughtful look on her face. She gestured for him to spin around and he did, she looked thoughtful for a moment longer before nodding, looking quite pleased with herself.
This continued for about half an hour, with the shop assistant either nodding her approval or shaking her head and taking the clothes off him to put back. By the time they had worked through all the clothes he had been given Adrian was thoroughly exhausted. Trudging up to the tills Adrian was dreading finding out how much it was going to cost, dread that was well placed as he forked over more than £50, but he didn't really mind, it was after all the first clothes he had ever had that actually fit. He'd need to find a way to make some money, he supposed he could look for more monsters but found himself hesitating, reluctant to face another nightmare.
Adrian walked back to the hotel, he had just enough money to pay for another night and get something to eat. He was just glad he didn't eat much, the next few weeks would be tough but he wouldn't give it up for the world.
Adrian flopped back onto his bed, now the issue of clothes was out of the way, he could focus on the next and, quite frankly most pressing, problem hindering his new life. A name. A new identity, a new life free from the worries of Adrian Potter. He'd need to think about it for a long time, this would be with him for the rest of his life.
It took several hours for Adrian to come up with a name he was happy with. Adrian watched as his documents glowed once more, finalising his decision. Adrian Potter was dead and like a phoenix he, or rather she, rose from the ashes as Anastasia Von DeWight.
A/N: Picking a new name was one of the hardest things I've had to do, possibly ever and I know many of you are probably not happy with it, I'm not completely happy with it either but we're both stuck with it. The best compromises, after all, are when no one is happy. Next chapter might be up next week, depends when I finish chapter 4 (Ah how Idealistic I was..) Edited 8/3/21 Changed Adrian's magical girl name, Still not happy with it but I doubt I'll change it again.