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Stella doesn’t remember the first time Jentry saved her.
To be fair, no one did – side effects of possession apparently. One moment she was running for her life with Michael, the next a cold chill had spread through her, like she would never be warm again. After that, nothing until Jentry killed the main ghost and she found herself in the courtyard, afternoon Texas sun beating down on them all, desperately trying to escape the chill.
She felt cold, even as Michael hugged her, gently helped her off the ground.
No warmth until - “Hey,” Jentry touched her arm, “Glad you’re okay.” There was something in her eyes, a panicked almost manic look that reminded Stella of those nature documentaries she’d seen of a wolf after a hunt - nervous and flooded with adrenaline. (Muzzle covered in blood – but Jentry’s mouth was clean even if her pupils are blown wide.)
The spot where Jentry touched her radiated warmth and chased away the lingering chill.
(When she sends the video to Jentry, she thinks of the warmth - and knows that fire can heal.)
The next time, it’s Michael that saves her.
She sees the bull charging at her, sees her life flashing before her eyes and has enough time to think I can’t believe my last words were arguing with Michael about another girl. I’m gonna haunt the narrative so badly, before he tackles her out of the way.
(She’d never been so grateful she was dating a football player in her life. It was probably the best tackle of his career. Perfectly executed, body perfectly horizontal before it crashed into her and sent them flying out of range.)
There’s barely time to acknowledge what happens before they’re off to the next disaster - Jentry again and Big Tex and Kit and only when the whirlwind of the day is done does she feel the bruises of the tackle. (She wonders how Michael feels, if he didn’t move in time it would have been both of their lives trampled beneath the bull’s hooves.)
When Ed saves her, she starts getting mad.
Yeah, the apocalypse is happening, yeah there are monsters everywhere but she has a bat okay? And all these crazy glyphs - she should be able to handle herself!
And yet, there she was, dangling towards the open jaws of some ogre-thing that looked more like it belonged as an extra on the set of Lord of the Rings then in some Chinese afterlife, when there’s a whoom on his back and the ogre drops her, stumbling off balance.
“Well hey there big guy!” Ed calls, transformed to be roughly twelve feet tall, lithe like a ferret, “I think it’s time you head home to Hades.”
The ogre roars and Ed sighs, “Yeah, didn’t think so.” His face mask spins, red and snarling as he grapples it, and the ogre drops Stella as it (he?) tries to bat Ed away.
The distraction is enough that Stella can slap another stun chakra on his foot.
“I’m getting pretty good at these.” she says. One more down, like a bajillion to go.
She wonders how many Jentry and Michael took down.
Maybe she needs to start a kill count.
Ed shades his eyes to glance at the firefight now happening above them, “Think you can hit a moving target?”
Stella grinned, “Archery club little guy.”
When Stella saves Jentry it’s with little fanfare – as is most of her life these days.
She gets it, she does. Jentry has fire powers and some sort of ominous prophecy about taking power too far, Michael has Oracle powers and the weight of destiny vs free will.
(Kit - Kit had his struggle for a soul. Stella tries not to think of him too much)
So she’s content to live her life as the sidekick so to speak. The normal one, the touchstone, the place they can look to with relief because the world might be demons and Diyu but Stella will still be there with her notebook, five-year plan, and a study schedule. She can be as normal as an ex for Michael and a friend who isn’t a demon for Jentry.
So she saves her in little ways.
She talks to her when she gets too into her own head, watches nature documentaries about forest fires and the growth that happens from the ashes, hugs her when her skin gets a little too hot even for Texas(makes sure she hydrates - bursting into flames to fight demons is thirsty work.)
Makes sure to have an extra note when Wheeler comes around, gets her hands on Jentry’s class schedule and by lunch has her homework mapped out for her (up to and accounting for the three or so hours she might miss demon hunting or training. One day she’d open her third eye and give Gugu a proper talk about work-life balance.)
When Stella saves Michael there are no sparks of love, no need to overcome feelings of bitterness(because there were none).
They may be exes but that doesn’t mean they have to be exes . He wants to play the flute, she helps him find a teacher, sits through the practices and does homework(tries not to wince too much - she’s trying to be supportive but dear lord maybe he should’ve practiced for a bit before quitting the team.)
Writes down his visions when he tells them, sits with him when he gets too quiet, guides him to an empty room when he starts staring blankly into the middle distance.
Covers for him when he starts having conversations with no one, eyes staring at things that will happen not are happening.
It becomes the three of them after a while, their own little group sitting at lunch.
(There’s an unspoken fourth place there – a hole in what should have been a proper group instead of a trio.)
There’s not much she can do for Ed (he’s like Jentry’s little brother/cousin/pet demon - not touching that with a ten foot pole.) but she shows him the ins and outs of Tik-tok, who to avoid, and how to not fall into the trap of being an online troll. She’s there when he needs someone to film one of his ‘sick tricks’ and doesn’t laugh when he flops.
They go for ice cream afterwards sometimes.
It’s funny how her life looks from the outside. Just her and her two semi-functional friends, each with the weight of the world that they’ve placed on their own shoulders. All three dissociate when Lampton says there’s a surprise test next week.
“Jentry, you gotta breathe.” Stella says when the air becomes hot and the smell of smoke grows stronger. “You’re going to burn the field again and then we’re going to have to apologize to the football team. You don’t want to give those smug assholes a reason to be smug again, right?”
Gradually, the heat dies down and Jentry mutters an apology.
“Michael, you can’t predict everything. You’re one person.” she says as she waves him off when she knicks herself on a knife during Home Ec. He needs to learn he can’t prevent every little hurt. “It’s barely bleeding. I’ll just head to the nurse and get a band aid.”
Jentry is there in a blink, holding one out for her.
“If he jostled you on purpose,” she tilts her head to Stella’s Home Ec partner, “They won’t find anything but ash.”
Stella knows she’s joking, she does really! But part of her heart stops for a moment. Jentry has taken on demons twice her size with barely a blink – high school bullies would be a little overkill.
“No murder.” She says, “I don’t have an excuse note for that. Or a plan for you to go to Juvie.”
Michael laughs, “As if you don’t have a step-by-step for how to take over and bust out of prison.”
Stella grins, “That’s for me to know and you to hopefully never find out.”
She still has her other friends of course, she wouldn’t be Stella if she couldn’t balance a simple friend group schedule but gradually it becomes more distinct.
There’s Stella and her friends and there’s Stella and Jentry and Michael – school can be weird about social groups like that, but she finds she doesn’t really care.
She’s Stella flippin’ Gonzalez and if her friends can save the world, the least she can do is save them.