Coming Clean (Lena POV)

Lena couldn’t believe it when the text came through yesterday. She could scarcely believe it now. Gemma had done it. She’d actually done it! However her powers worked, allowed her to complete a quest that meant Emma was going to be an abyssal!

Of course, she didn’t 100% know this for sure. Gemma could be making it up after all. That’s why she’d test it first, see if Emma noticed her disappearing into a barrier or not. One of the things Gaia did for abyssals to help keep the separation intact was to hide when abyssals went into barriers or appeared out of them.

It made things easier for everyone, and meant people weren’t constantly looking over their shoulders if they entered or exited the mundane world. If Emma was able to notice Lena disappearing, then Gemma was telling the truth, and her girlfriend had, in fact, become an abyssal.

She walked out to the living room, shaking slightly with excitement. “Hey babe!” She said. Emma, radiant as always, looked up with a smile. “Hey cutie, whatcha so jazzed about?” She asked. “I have a magic trick to show you!” Lena announced. Her girlfriend turned to face her with full attention. “Okay babygirl, hit me.” She said, her loving grin still plastered onto her ridiculously pretty face.

Lena walked to the door connecting the living room to the bathroom, raised her hand up behind the wall and entered into a barrier. Her heart pounding despite her outwardly cheery demeanour, she stayed inside the barrier for exactly two seconds, before reappearing in the mundane world. Emma put her hand up to her mouth, genuinely surprised.

“Baby? Whaaat just happened? Why’d you disappear?” She asked, confused as anything. Lena squeaked happily, ran towards her girlfriend and barreled into her, cuddling her tightly. “I didn’t think this would ever happen! Holy hell!” Lena cried, giggling happily. “I’m glad you’re happy sweetheart, but you’re gonna have to explain, cause I am major league confused.” Emma replied with a hint of amusement.

Lena backed up, remembering the explanation she had to go through. “Right, yeah. Okay, so…just watch.” She said. Lena extended her hand in front of Emma and drew moisture from the atmosphere, creating a small ball of water. Perfect, circular, no drops falling off, floating in the air. Emma stared at it, her eyebrows shooting up, confusion written in every line of her face.

“I can actually do magic babe. I’m a water mage.” Lena said simply, ecstatic to finally be able to get this off her chest and tell Emma about it. Her girlfriend looked at her, clearly not sure how to feel. “Are you playing a prank on me?” She asked. Lena shook her head, the water dissipating. “No prank, I promise. Tamagotchi.” She said. Emma’s eyes went wide, and she seemed to go a bit pale.

Tamagotchi was their safe word. They never used it outside the bedroom unless they really needed to get across that they were being serious about something. “O-okay babe, but…why didn’t you tell me this earlier? This is a pretty big deal…” She said. “I’m so sorry babe, I really wanted to. I tried for so long to figure out a way to tell you, but I wasn’t allowed to.” Lena explained.

Emma’s face becomes concerned. “Weren’t allowed to? Why?” She asked. Lena sighed. “There’s a lot of explaining I gotta do.” She confessed. Emma gently grabbed hold of Lena’s hands, squeezing them softly. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m here my sweet girl.” She said earnestly, and Lena’s heart swelled.

Lena gathered her thoughts before starting to speak. “There’s a sort of secret world that’s hidden from normal people, mundanes.” Her words came out as a jumble and she had to make a conscious effort to slow down so she could be understood. Luckily, Emma had practice in understanding the water mage’s quick speaking tirades.

“It’s called the abyss. It’s a world of magic and monsters and cool stuff like that. It’s separated from the mundane world by Gaia, the Goddess of the world and all that.” Emma nodded, following along in some sense, but it was pretty clear she was going to need some time to digest everything. “If you show magic to mundane people, Gaia punishes you. That’s why I couldn’t tell you.” Lena explained.

Emma nodded slowly. “Because I’m boring?” She asked. Lena laughed. “No baby, you’re not boring. Mundane is just the word for people with no magic.” The water mage said. “Besides, you were mundane. I don’t exactly know how it works, but that girl Gemma we met the other day? She turned you magic.” Lena said.

Emma’s eyes sparkled. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers. “Really?” She asked. Lena nodded. “I made sure of it. You wouldn’t’ve seen me disappear if you didn’t have magic.” She said. “What can I do?” Emma asked, really curious now. Lena smiled happily.

“I don’t know. She said you wouldn’t get any powers or whatever, just that you’d be able to learn magic.” Lena shrugged and Emma shook her head. “Sorry this is…it sounds ridiculous, you know? If anyone else was saying this…” She trailed off. “You wouldn’t believe them.” Lena finished and her girlfriend nodded.

“A secret world of magic and monsters? That’s stuff that’s in fantasy books, not real life.” She said. Lena conjured water from the atmosphere again, this time forming it into a rough cube shape. She didn’t have a whole lot of control over her element compared to masters she’d heard of, but she could do that much. “But you can see this. You know I’m not bullshitting.” Lena said, and Emma shook her head again.

“No, you’re not. I know you.” She replied. Then she got a look on her face as the dots connected. “This is what Gemma was asking me about!” She said. “Yep.” “Ugh, I still kinda wished one of you had asked my permission. I guess it wasn’t that easy, but still. This is a lot to take in, and a warning would’ve been nice.”

Her tone changed. “What's the dangerous part then?” She asked. It was Lena's turn to sigh. “The abyss in Sydney is really bad. Nobody's in charge, it's just a bunch of gangs and stuff. The strong do what they feel like, and nobody else can stop them.” The water mage summed up. Emma took a deep breath, exhaling heavily.

“That sounds bad.” Her girlfriend replied. Lena cast her eyes down, almost ashamed of what she had to tell her girlfriend next. Now that Emma knew about the abyss, she couldn't not tell her. “Two weeks ago, I was kidnapped by a gang. They stuck me in a mana factory and left me there to sell my mana.” She said heavily.

Emma's face went white and me she froze. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She took another breath and this time managed to say something. “What the fuck? Are you okay?” She asked. Lena nodded emphatically. “I'm okay baby, I promise. They didn't hurt me too much, and it was only kinda traumatising.” She joked.

Emma sighed, still looking very pale. “I didn't even know you were gone.” She said, shaking her head. She wrapped her arms around Lena and pulled her close. “Don't you ever let that happen again, you understand?” She said, her voice shaky. Who wouldn't be after finding out their partner was kidnapped, especially without their knowledge.

“I won't baby, I promise.” Lena replied, holding Emma tightly. They say there in silence for a few minutes, holding each other. Emma needed the reassurance that Lena was okay. After a while, she spoke. “Did they…..touch you or anything?” Emma asked hesitantly. The water mage shook her head immediately.

“No they didn't. They probably would have if I was in there for more than a couple of hours, but I got lucky cause Gemma and her guild rescued me. That's how I met them.” She explained. Emma shook her head. “I'm gonna have to buy that girl flowers as a thank you gift or something. Thank jesus you're alright.” The tattooed sapphic said.

“They also offered us a place to live, with them.” Lena went on. Emma perked up at that, equal parts curious and apprehensive. “Why would they do that?” She asked curiously. “They're trying to change things around here. Their barrier is apparently fully safe from anybody else.” Lena answered. “Barrier?”

“Oh right yeah, barriers are like magic spaces different from the mundane world. We can do magic and stuff in them without mundanes seeing.” The water mage quickly explained. Emma nodded slowly. “So why, sorry?” She asked again. “They're hoping we'll help them fight to change stuff. I promised my help if they can keep us safe.” Lena said. Her girlfriend shook her head.

“That's really dangerous babe. How well do we really know them? I met them once, you only met them twice.” Emma scolded, and Lena shrugged. “You haven't seen it out there, we don't have many options. They're way more powerful than me, if they wanted to do anything bad to me, they would have already.” She said, and Emma fixed her with a concerned stare.

“That’s not very comforting.” Emma replied. The water mage shrugged again. “You learn to get used to it. The abyss is pretty fucked like that. Some people are powerful enough to win against whole armies.” She asserted. Emma sighed again for the umpteenth time. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” Emma said, resigned. Lena nodded.

And explain she did. They talked for hours, with Lena filling her girlfriend in on the finer details of what life was really like in the abyss. By the end of it, one thing was clear. Emma needed to see more of this for herself. So together, they dialed Gemma's number.