Regina was busy getting dressed in front of her bathroom mirror, at home from work for lunch(And a quickie with Barry), when she suddenly felt Aziza's presence pass through the mystical wards that protected it from intruders. She sensed that her partner was upset, that something was wrong.
"Are you OK, Aziza?" Regina asked loudly as she opened the bathroom door and walked downstairs into the kitchen, where she found Aziza sitting at the kitchen island.
The pretty Arab woman was crying, looking like a mess.
"Oh dear. What happened?" Regina asked.
Aziza looked up at her.
"Kylie's dead. She...she committed suicide."
Aziza's voice sounded empty, almost like a zombie.
"Oh my goddess."
Regina recognized that Aziza was in shock and was trying to process what happened, so she took a seat next to her partner and let her vent.
"She...she... she couldn't deal with the guilt of what she had done anymore. No matter what I said or did to try and help her, to heal her soul, it wasn't good enough."
Aziza cried into her hands.
"I'm sorry for your loss" Regina said, genuinely sad for her friend. "I know how much you loved Kylie."
"She was everything to me!"
Aziza had brought along a bottle of Scottish whiskey from her parents's liquor cabinet and started gulping it straight down.
Ooh wow, Regina thought. That's not good.
"We could always go back in time, when she was still alive."
Aziza looked up at her, aghast at the suggestion.
"Yeah, you're right. Time travel is always messy" Regina said. "Or we could travel the multiverse and find an alternate of her".
Aziza shook her head.
"They're not the same as my Kylie, and most of them are in jail where they belong."
Regina sighed.
"I...I don't know what to say then. But I'm here for you."
She leaned over to hug Aziza, who immediately backed away from her.
Regina wasn't offended. Some people weren't huggers.
One half of the Sorceress Supreme wondered to herself if she could maybe go back in time anyway, find Kylie, and grant her the gift of immortality.
"NO!!!" Aziza screamed, reading Regina's thoughts. "No. I don't want your virus anywhere near me or any version of Kylie.
That's why I'm here."
Regina's interest was piqued, even if she was a little annoyed Aziza was prying into her mind, they had agreed not to invade each other's personal spaces.
"What do you mean?"
"I can't live in a world where that virus exists. It's too dangerous. I don't care if *you* want to live an unnatural life, but I certainly don't want to, and I don't think it's right for anyone else to either against their will."
Normally, Regina would laugh uncontrollably at hearing Aziza complain about the wrongness of an "unnatural life". There was nothing normal about being a sorceress, by definition, but she knew that Aziza had her own beliefs about things. Specifically, Aziza had a big problem with immortality, so she tried to be respectful of that.
"I want you to help me stop this virus dead in its tracks" Aziza said. "Maybe we can search for the dimension where the Chronivac originates from and stop the problem at its root, or better yet, we can probably just ask your new friends in Lesbian Land to neutralize you specifically so you can't infect anyone."
"OK" Regina said calmly, trying to be gentle. "Those are both good ideas. Can we talk about this in more detail later, sweetie? I've got to go to work soon."
"Oh no no no no no no. We're doing this right now" Aziza said aggressively, stabbing her finger on the table. "I'm not risking you infecting a bunch of school children."
"Do you actually believe that I'm going to infect my *students*?! You think that of me? I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a creep."
"Of course not, but the chances of..."
At that very moment, Barry stepped into the kitchen, a spooked expression on her face.
"Um...Regina, you may want to come see this..."
"What is it?"
"Uh...bad news" Barry said.
Curious, Regina walked into the living room followed by a stumbling Aziza, who was already tipsy from the whiskey and on her way to becoming full blown hammered.
On the news, a news reporter was at a local park in town where a large crowd had gathered.
A park that Regina was very familiar with.
A beautiful mixed race reporter was standing next to a group of four young people.
One of them was a man. Well, teenage boy.
"Once again, I'm here on the scene with a family who claims that earlier today, they discovered a gateway to a parallel reality. As you can see, we have a young man right here who is allegedly from this reality. Sir, could you explain what happened?"
Regina, Aziza, and Barry watched as the interdimensional visitor explained how he had seen these women climbing through a "gap" in reality while skateboarding at his park earlier this morning, and...
The interview eventually cut to footage of police erecting a barricade around the fountain and the portal.
"Aren't those kids former students of yours?" Barry asked. "I think I recognize them from old yearbooks."
Regina nodded her head.
"Yeah. Logan Hanley and Allison...I can't remember her last name."
Aziza's eyes widened, fire behind them.
"Those kids may already be infected! We have to go there right now and do something!"
"Aziza, we can't risk being exposed as..."
Aziza screamed with primal rage. In pain and anger and perceived betrayal.
The electricity in the house suddenly blew out.
"This never would have happened if you hadn't gone out with that bitch Savannah!" she yelled, pointing at Regina with her index finger, her other hand holding the bottle.
Regina blinked sadly, not knowing how to respond. She wasn't the best with confrontation.
"I'm going to kill her" Aziza said. "I'm going to turn her into a toad and drop her in a volcano. Or I'm going to poison her like my Kylie died. She has to pay. She has to. Kylie never would have gotten these suicidal thoughts in her head if Savannah hadn't..."
"Hey, simmer down" Regina said. "You're going to be OK. You're going to be fine."
She didn't try to hug Aziza or touch her, Regina knew that she didn't like that, but she was trying to be gentle.