"Finally, relaxing time! Nobody can bother me anymore!" Dee sighed with relief, and she laid down onto her bed.
"Wanna… keep watching that show?" Ursa asked, awkwardly gesturing to the DVD set.
"Didn't you just say that you hate the title?"
"Yes, but the story is nice!" Ursa argued.
"Okay. Okay." Dee said, putting one of the discs into the player.
The two watched TV. When realization dawned on Dee.
"What will I tell my mom if she finds you?" she questioned.
"Meh," Ursa waved a hand nonchalantly. "just tell her I'm a plushie you bought, that usually works well, considering the amount of those you already have."
Dee sighed and shook her head. "I don't even have money."
"Then say you found me somewhere! I don't know. I'm new to being relaxed!"
"Okay, we really need to get you a nap." Dee stated.
"No way, star child!"
"What did you just call me?!"
The two started to play-fight with each other. Until they heard the keys in the door turn.
"Hide somewhere, now!" Dee ordered, frantically looking around her room to hide Ursa with.
Not finding anything, she threw a blanket on top of Ursa's head.
"Seriously?" Ursa asked, unimpressed.
"Shh!"
"Kids, I'm home!" Dee heard her mother say, before she also heard her little brother run over to her.
"Hi mom!" he cheered out.
"Hey," Dee also walked out and hugged her mother. "I missed you." She whispered.
"Aww." her little brother cooed.
"Shut up." Dee muttered, a blush appeared on her face.
"Let's go eat dinner," Their mother stated, walking to the kitchen. "I hope your father made something good."
At dinner, the family sat around the table, eating the food. Dee looked zoned out.
"So, how was your day?" her father asked, looking at Dee.
"What? Oh! It was... fine. I guess. Nothing interesting happened." she responded, shrugging her shoulders.
"Really? But I heard you talking with someone!" her brother said.
"I was on the phone!" she stated. "I don't want you snooping around in my life, Timmy!"
"Whatever."
"Let's not argue at the table," their mom said. "Use your mouths to eat the food."
"Okay mom." Dee shook her head.
"Yeah!" her brother cheered.
Dee just sighed. "I'm done. I'm gonna go to my room." She excused herself, standing up, and walking away.
She went inside of her room, and closed the door shut.
"Hey, I brought you some food," she whispered, looking around for Ursa. "U-Ursa?"
She searched her room everywhere, but she couldn't find them.
"Ursa? Is this a prank? This is not funny!" Dee angrily whispered, dropping her chicken nuggets onto a napkin.
She checked under her bed, behind her desk, and even inside her laundry basket.
Nothing. Just the scent of magical stardust in the air.
Panic started to appear in her chest. What if someone kidnapped the "glitter-bug" while she was eating mashed potatoes? What if the "cosmic contract" had a repossession clause?
"Ursa!" she whisper-yelled at the ceiling.
"Will you be quiet?!" a muffled voice grumbled.
Dee froze. The sound was coming from her closet. She stomped over and pulled the doors open.
There, sitting on a pile of a bunch of old board games, was Ursa. The creature was wearing a small Fedora from one of Dee's plush dolls and was holding a small, glowing green orb.
"I was looking for intruders!" Ursa whispered, adjusting the tiny hat. "And I found this pile of rectangular entertainment bricks. Why do humans keep so many 'Man-o-poll' sets? Is it a summoning ritual for the god of Greed?"
Dee let out a sigh she didn't know she had. "It's a board game, you paranoid little marshmallow. And I brought you a bunch of nuggets. Eat it so we can figure out what 'Guardian' stuff I actually have to do tomorrow."
Ursa's eyes lit up with sparkles at the sight of food. "The Guardian of Space accepts this tribute."
The next morning, the sun began to rise up. Dee woke up to Ursa poking her cheek.
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty! The Spherin Dimension doesn't save itself, and you have school in forty minutes!"
Dee groaned, pulling her pillow over her head. "I thought being a magical girl meant I could skip class to fight monsters."
"In your dreams," Ursa snickered. "Actually, most monsters attack during lunch breaks or school festivals. It's a trope. Get used to it."
As Dee got dressed, she began to pack her things up.
"I can't exactly say you're a plushie in school. They'd make fun of me even more than they already do."
"No worries!" Ursa said, and began to turn into a miniature version of themselves.
"Oh wow…" Dee looked in awe.
"Yup! I know, it's super cool! I can act like a keychain!" Ursa responded, and landed on Dee's bag.
"Well… that's one thing finished." she commented, put the necklace around her neck, and walked out to the kitchen. "Morning mom."
Dee finally made it to school to spare. She took her seat in the back of the class. Every time someone dropped a book, she flinched, expecting a shadow beast to burst through the chalkboard.
"If there are other Guardians, where are they? Cecilia said four are still missing." she whispered to Ursa.
"Scattered. Some don't even know they have powers yet. Some are hiding. Your job is to find them before Falcon does." they explained.
"Falcon?"
"Right, he is the son of the Queen of the Void, Amentia." Ursa clarified.
"Hey! You!"
That voice was familiar to Dee. She turned around, and saw a girl with long blue hair, kept in pigtails.
"Uhm… do I know you?.." Dee asked, as the girl walked over to her.
"It's me… You know… Cecilia?.."
"C-Cecilia?.."
"Yeah! Remember? The other forms disguise our appearances, remember? You were a redhead, and now… you're not! And I looked like a goth!" Cecilia said happily.
"A-and… you're in this class?"
Cecilia nodded rapidly.
Later during breaktime, Dee was walking in the hallways, but when she passed a group of older teens, one put their leg out, which caused her to fall.
"Oh, watch it, Delilah. Hopefully, you didn't die." the teen said.
Dee just got up, and didn't say a word. However, someone else was not having it.
"Hey! How dare you?!"
"Oh no… Cecilia, it's fine!" Dee gestured for Cecilia to stop.
"No. It really isn't! She tripped you!"
"Oh chill out, Thompson," the girl replied nonchalantly. "She didn't break any of her bones."
"She could have!"
"Girls! What's going on?!" A teacher approached the three girls angrily.
"She tripped my friend on purpose!" Cecilia pointed at the girl.
"Is this true, Victoria?" the teacher questioned the other girl.
"No! It's not true! She's just-"
"I literally saw it happen!" Cecilia countered.
"It's fine! Really," Dee tried to pull her away. "I'm fine too."
"I can't just let her get away with this."
"I think we have bigger problems than that." Dee said calmly. As she pulled on Cecilia's sleeve, gesturing toward the window at the end of the hallway with her head.
Outside, the bright morning sky was beginning to look like oil on water. The birds had stopped chirping.
"The frequency..." Ursa's voice hissed from the keychain, so low only Dee could hear. "It's another Void Walker! They're trying to open a portal!"
Cecilia's expression shifted instantly from concerned friend to a warrior in just a few seconds. She gave the bully one last glare. "Don't trip people anymore."
"Whatever, weirdos," the girl scoffed, walking away with her group.
The two girls ran outside. Once they got out of the school, they saw that the sky was purple. A massive, swirling vortex was opening directly above the school gym.
"Okay, Dee, first official school-day transformation. Try not to scream this time," Cecilia teased, taking out her gem, which was a bracelet.
"I didn't scream that loud!" Dee defended herself, gripping her necklace. "Ready, Ursa?"
"Ready! Just don't think about food this time, think about justice!" They replied, fluttering their wings.
"Transformation start!" Dee yelled out.
"Riptides!" Cecilia shouted.
In a heartbeat, their regular clothes had vanished, replaced by their respective guardian outfits.
"Where's my weapon?" Dee asked, reaching into the air.
"Concentrate to get it!" Ursa shouted, turning back to normal size, flying in circles as the beasts began to appear.
"Think of the sickle, Dee..." Dee muttered to herself, closed her eyes, and imagined the weight of the staff. As she did, an object soon appeared in the air, but before she could catch it properly, it hit her in the back.
"Ow... okay... How?!" Dee questioned, getting up, and taking the object into her hands.
"We need to destroy the anchors," Cecilia pointed to four shadows forming at the corners of the roof. "If we don't, this whole place will get dragged into the Void. I'll take the north ones, you take the south!"
Dee lunged forward, jumping up to try and fly. She swung her sickle through the first shadow, watching it dissolve into sparkles. "Hey, Ursa! If I'm a Guardian, do I get a cool finishing move name?"
"You have to make it up yourself!" Ursa yelled, dodging a shadow-swipe. "Most people go with something celestial!"
Dee reached the first pillar. It pulsed with dark energy. She raised her sickle high, the purple gems on the handle glowing.
"Okay... how about... Glitter Heaven Attack!" She slammed the blade into the pillar.
"That is the worst name I have ever heard!" Ursa shrieked as the pillar exploded into light.
"I'm trying! Okay?!" Dee yelled back, already flying towards the next one.
As the second pillar shattered, a cold, mocking laugh echoed across the rooftop. From the center, a figure descended. It wasn't a monster, but a tall boy in a white suit and a black mask appeared, holding a cane, his blonde hair and black cape getting caught in the wind. He landed with grace. His eyes locked onto Dee.
"So," Falcon said, tilting his head. "This is the new Guardian? She seems rather childish."
"Hey! " Dee pointed the blade at him.
Falcon smirked evil, and snapped his fingers. "I don't see a sickle anywhere around."
Suddenly, the sickle in Dee's hand turned into a watering can.
Dee stared at the thing in her hand, then looked up.
"Uh... Ursa? Should we run?"
"Yup!"
"What? No! You can't!" Cecilia argued, while stabbing a monster.
"And what will I even do?! Hit them with this?!" Dee questioned, a bit angry.
"That would be helpful too!"
Ursa hid behind a bush immediately.
"See?! Even they are scared! And so am I!" Dee spat, beginning to walk away.
"You can't just do that!"