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Epilogue: Love

  “Ophelie! Faster you incompetent lesbian! Violet is expecting us in less than half an hour!” Clara yelled, through the door of their bedroom.

  Two years had passed since Ophelie came out to Clara, and for her, every one of these days was a blessing. She loved her body, which was remarkably similar to her old one, minus some plus other. Which was also a blessing, it was easier to explain and Clara was very eager at the thought of staying in the magical closet.

  Her gender dysphoria almost completely disappeared a few weeks into her new life. Her grades significantly improved — enough that the professors inquired to determine if she had cheated or not, fortunately, their concerns were short-lived.

  She opened their bedroom door — under threat of magical pick-locking — and saw Clara not so patiently waiting. They moved together into a clean flat at the end of their last semester, people were saying things in the dorms, and they kept pushing the limits of their RA’s patience before moving out.

  The flat in itself was great, the kitchen was big and in an open space with the living room, with a great view of Lake Superior by the big window.

  Yeah, they were attending university in Northern Europe and living in Canada, turns out things could get fun when you wielded more magic than the rest of humanity combined. Clara teleported them to Uni every day.

  It had only one bedroom with one bed though. Clara enjoyed her time devouring Ophelie’s quiet screams and fears when they first moved in, she hadn’t been told the whole story.

  “How do I look?” Ophelie said, anxiously, performing a little three hundred and sixty degrees turn in front of her. Even after two years in her dream body and with her dream girlfriend she was anxious.

  “Babe. You look absolutely fantastic” Clara told her, word by word, with a big grin. She came closer and kissed her girlfriend. “Seriously, you’re stunning, I would kill to look as cute in a dress, alas I shall be confined to flannel shirts and coveralls,” she said, with mock sadness.

  Ophelie rolled her eyes, she was used to her girlfriend’s demeanour nowadays. She opened her mouth and smiled at the same time, which produced a fun sound, something like a squeak, had she been on text messages she would have key-smashed herself into oblivion. Instead, they kissed.

  They looked at each other for another ten minutes, before Clara snapped out of her gay heaven and said “Ophelie! We need to go! I know we thereby teleportation but if we fool around we’ll definitely be late” she said while extracting herself out of the knot of limbs that happened every time they kissed.

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  —

  Violet waved to the two of them when they appeared back in Europe. Not far from another lake, they hadn’t bothered to know its name, they just travelled the last two hundred metres or so before stopping by Violet’s door.

  She opened it, revealing the small over-crowded student flat ready for their weekly film meetup. They hadn’t let the habit die out, they, instead, invited more friends, unfortunately, they couldn’t teleport so they had to come here to Violet’s small flat instead of using theirs.

  Ophelie had not even one idea about how Clara was able to afford the exorbitant rent of their flat, she knew she wasn’t owning it and was renting it, but that’s as far as she asked. Clara didn’t always answer when it came to magic, it was a secret she guessed.

  Violet greeted them “Hello you two” she giggled “You look wonderful, our power couple!” she said laughing. The older student — still under twenty-five years old — had started calling them “her power couple” when she took them under her care.

  —

  In the room in front of the modest screen was a large sofa with everyone piled on it, forced to cuddle in every direction, not that she minded.

  Jim and his partner were old high school friends of Clara. They attended the University of Western Europe along with Violet and her girlfriend. They were both trans men, Violet was a nonbinary demi girl, her girlfriend was genderqueer, and Clara was the only cis person on this couch.

  She had helped them too. Although not exactly like she helped her best friend, she couldn’t reveal her identity to this many people. So she quietly helped them, over several months, every week, barring a couple of weeks here and there so as not to seem too suspicious.

  “What do you want to watch?” Violet, the oldest person in the room asked, and chaos followed.

  She managed to calm down the crowd and Ophelie managed to talk. “I took this 2036 Disney, it’s The Revenge of the Jedi-Mummies versus the Mighty Avengers and despite its name, was set inside the Matrix’s universe.” Disney tried anything before falling over its weight a few years after that film.

  —

  A few days later, on break, Ophelie was walking in the busy streets of Toronto — Clara had given her a “lift” — and wondered what to buy for Clara. Valentine’s Day was the week after, and even if it was an old tradition which fell out of favour due to its ties with capitalism and the decaying of society before the Unification, she liked it.

  She ended up buying a nice necklace, it was a piece of rose gold with a flower — an actual flower, freeze-dried then crystallo-metalized, and hung on the necklace. She was pretty proud of herself for finding it out.

  Furthermore, she thought of buying an engagement ring. The practice of weddings was also very last decade, but she liked the idea of being Clara’s wife. She decided to wait another year before asking, she still wasn’t sure Clara loved her this much.

  —

  But she did.

  It was Valentine’s Day, they were both dressed to the nine and Clara cooked an amazing dinner for the two of them. They didn’t feel like eating out.

  Then came the moment of the gift exchange. Clara smiled at her girlfriend and offered Ophelie to start.

  She stood up, untied the bow and clasped the necklace over Clara’s neck. “It’s beautiful,” the latter said, lightly smiling, she kissed Ophelie, a nice, very chaste kiss relative to the setting. “Ophelie, I will offer you something. I want you to know you can refuse, I won’t take it personally, and we’ll stay girlfriends” Clara said, she was, for once, the anxious one.

  Ophelie raised an eyebrow and gestured for her to continue. Clara took something from her pocket — even now in 2065 dresses still didn’t come with pockets! She would be a bit jealous, but she loved the feeling of dresses.

  Clara took Ophelie’s hands in hers. “Ophelie”, she smiled, “Ophelie, I can’t express how much I love you.”. “But I’ll try anyway, you’re wonderful, you’re smart, you’re resourceful, your energy is incredible to see, and it has been a joy and honour to see you thrive these past two years.”

  Clara dropped to one knee. Ophelie’s heart started beating faster than it ever had.

  “Ophelie, my love, would you marry me?” That’s it she was crying, big fat sobs fell from her eyes. Clara tried to speak, tried to get up, she was getting anxious. Ophelie just pushed her right on her knee gently.

  Ophelie stopped weeping, regained her composure, and said two words.

  “I do.”

  The End

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