Alan walked from the hospital entrance, still in his transformed state; an unrecognizable version of himself that is clearly a result of literal wish fulfillment. Handsome and athletic, wearing flowing toga robes, with well-made fake wings attached to a harness under the robes. The party was awful. Though it had been euphoric to have so much attention, particularly from the girls who would have ignored him before his pact with the demoniac emperor tamarin, it ultimately felt hollow. He couldn't tell the people he had met that he was Alan van Allen, 15 year-old wallflower, because that would break the contract. That meant pretending to be a stranger to the rabbit girl, Aurelia, and the pokemon trainer who'd been concerned for him when Mephy turned up at the mall. It felt wrong in a way he couldn't articulate.
    He sighed, walking into the shadows of an alley on the wider medical campus the hospital was on. Glancing around, he made sure nobody would see him. Then the wings, not so fake after all, spread and flapped, propelling him up into the fog obscured night and homeward. Dust and litter trailed after him, caught in the wake of Alan's magic, falling back to the Earth minutes later.

    Aurelia waited at the hospital entrance, watching for her ride. The smallish European-style coupe pulled up, driven by her dark-haired sister. Even though Aurelia knew it was a magical simulacra of her dead sister, it was difficult to undo the habits of a lifetime. Sylvia, the big sister she had always counted on, was still who she turned to. She stuffed the foam armor of her costume into the trunk and flopped into the passenger seat, buckling in.
    "Mom and dad heard about that party you went to." The sister said as she drove through the mazey little streets of the medical campus.
    "Don't worry, I didn't drink anything." Aurelia said pre-emptively and from habit. It struck her as weird that she knew for certain her family was dead, but she kept thinking they were still around. The paradox often kept her awake, made it harder to deal with the grief too.
    The sister grinned, giving Aurelia a glance at a stoplight. "Were there any cute guys there?"
    Aurelia sighed. "Why do you do that? That's not Sylvia."
    The simulacra's face went blank and it didn't speak the rest of the way home.