Eric was impressed. Anna had done exactly as promised. She’d entered every tournament over the last three months, and won every single one, without holding back even the tiniest amount. Her sponsors were losing their mind, too.

As far as he was concerned, her fanbase had already lost their mind a long time ago. Her merchandise was sold out. Her social media accounts were completely unusable. Even stuff like “Bored. Airport. Again” ended up with thousands upon thousands of replies.

Meanwhile, Jess had been handling all the details of the upcoming wedding. Thankfully she had opted out of the parade and explosions, and had done as promised. A small venue near to the local bar, a handful of invites for the ceremony, and then a big party at the local bar. He wasn’t entirely convinced by karaoke, but figured it wouldn’t hurt.

All that was left was the announcement. Anna was in costume, on stage, and as usual, Eric had been made to wear an matching outfit, and had been dragged onto the edge of the stage, along with various representatives from the sponsor.

“Thank you, thank you. It was all too easy, but I’m glad you tried.”

Anna had adopted quite the persona on stage. Everyone knew she was putting on a show, and the fans loved it. Maybe a little too much, judging by how many people had messaged her the words “step on me”. That, and there was a a number of “choke me, demon queen!” signs in the audience too.

“It is with some reluctance that I am here to announce my retirement. None of you can beat me, none of you can even come close, It just isn’t fun watching you suffer anymore, which is why I’ve decided to retire from all esports.”

The entire auditorium went silent.

“I may, in the future, return to warfare when a worthy opponent arises, but until then, I have set my sights upon a different sort of battle.” Anna was grinning. “Marriage.”

Eric had a very bad feeling about what was about to happen next.

“Darling, If you will.” Anna was looking at him. Everyone was looking at him.

Eric sheepishly walked towards her and before he could say anything, Anna had dragged him into her arms for a kiss.

‘Carry me off stage.’ She sent him a thought. ‘Really? Shouldn’t I say something?’

‘Don’t mess up my big exit.’ Anna smiled back.

“None of you are worthy.” Eric tried his best. He picked her up in a princess style carry, her arm around his shoulder, and leant in for a kiss.

“She’s mine.”

He walked off stage to equal parts boos, cheering, and applause. He managed to keep a straight face until he’d walked off camera. Anna was finding it hard not to giggle, too.

As much as they wanted to leave immediately, there were a few matters to attend to.

The company representative desperately tried to convince Anna to change her mind, citing contractual obligations. Eric pointed out that Anna had played enough matches this year, twice over, and that there was literally nothing they could do about it.

Afterwards, a few of her would be rivals came up to offer their congratulations, and one or two admitted that they were thankful to hear she’d retired. With the contract sorted, and goodbyes said, they only had one remaining event before they could head home.

“Time to meet the press then.” Anna was laughing.

“Do I have to wear the costume?”

“Yes.” Anna laughed. “One last time.”

“You say this but I think Jessica’s expecting me to wear it to the wedding.”

“Of course she is.” Anna laughed.

“Do I have to carry you to the press pit?”

“Yes.”

Eric picked Anna up again, and made his way to the room set aside for interviews. Anna had wanted to spend the entire time in his arms, but unfortunately she couldn’t reach the microphone.

“Ahem. Any questions?” Anna tapped the mic.

“Is it true what you said, are you retiring for good?”

“Yes.”

“What about marriage? Won’t your fans be disappointed to hear you’re off the market.”

“They never had a chance. Next?”

“Who do you think will win next year?”

“Not me.” Anna laughed. “Next?”

The ten minute question and answer session breezed past. Anna happily gave one or two word answers, and deflected any questions aimed at Eric, much to his relief.

“Do you have any final words?”

“To those who are disappointed in my retirement, I can only say, find yourself a real hero. I did.”

Anna nodded to Eric, and he once again carried her out of the room. A few journalists chased after them, but Anna ignored them. Once safely inside the elevator, the pair burst into giggles once more.

“Can I put you down yet?” “Not yet, just move me towards the buttons.”

Now outside their hotel bedroom, Anna still didn’t want Eric to let go.

“I’ve got this.” Anna leaned pulled out a hotel key. “All the way to bed, Please.”

The hotel door was a bit too narrow, so Eric had to side step his way through. Inside wasn’t any easier. Anna had left her clothes scattered across the floor.

“If i’d known I was doing this, I would have cleared up first.”

“Where would the fun in that be?”

Eric gently lowered Anna into bed, and she immediately pulled him down with her.

“Do I get to take off my shoes, first?”

“No.” Anna pulled him in for a kiss. “Ok, Now you can take off your shoes.”

Eric began to undress.

“Leave the costume on, Eric.” Anna laughed. “Just this once.” Her tail was wagging.

“Yes, My Queen.” Eric gave a small bow.

“My hero!”

An hour or two later, Anna was sitting in bed flicking through the tv channels as Eric sat on his phone, double checking the plans for tomorrow. Anna was cackling to herself each and every time her performance made the news.

“Uhoh.” Eric had made the mistake of checking his phone. “Looks like I’m not popular online.”

“Give me that.” Anna snatched his phone and threw it to one side. “It can wait.”

“I was in the middle of texting Jessica about tomorrow.” Eric went to pick up his phone. “It can’t wait.”

“Spoilsport.” Anna pouted. “So, what’s happening online?”

“Some people are in denial. Some have threatened to kill me, but what’s new, and several more have offered themselves to you, hoping to get in on the action.”

“Anyone cute?” Anna laughed. “I could use some new minions. My best one just got promoted.”

“Shame.” Eric laughed. “Right, all done. Food?”

“You know it’s time.”

Given the scene she’d just caused, they decided it would be best to stay in, and order room service. Immediately after food, Eric began packing up.

“What are you doing?” Anna was a little disappointed, Eric was finally getting out of costume.

“Packing for tomorrow’s flight. Now. So we’re ready to go. So we can sleep in. This the last time and for once, I want to handle things properly.”

“Even on the night before your wedding?” Anna pouted.

“Better than the morning of our wedding.” Eric pouted back. “No matter. All done. Clean clothes for tomorrow. Flight checked in. Wake up call booked. Breakfast ordered. All done.”

“So you can come back to bed, then?”

“One last thing.” He went over to the tv and switched it off. “No more distractions.”

“I thought it would be fun to watch.. you know… me on stage…”

“It’ll then cut to some tragedy or awful celebrity story. Trust me.”

“Fine. Well. What are you waiting for?”

Eric looked over the room. One last check.

“Nothing.”

The pair left the hotel early on, not just to avoid attention, but to get home as soon as possible. Now safely in the airport bar, Anna was once again cackling at her final performance. She really had gone out with a bang.

The flight arrived on time and left on time. Within a few hours, they were safely back at home. Once again, Jessica was waiting outside their door, sitting on the floor, hacking away at her laptop.

“Oh!” She leapt up and grabbed both of them for a hug. “I SAW IT WAS SO COOL. EVEN YOU, ERIC.”

“Even you, Eric.” Eric mumbled back. “I thought I did well.”

“I did too.” Anna laughed. “She’s mine.” Anna laughed again. “It was perfect.”

“Did you bring your costumes?” Jessica was giggling.

“I told you she’d ask.” Eric sighed. “See?”

“As much as it pains me to agree with Eric, I’d rather not get married in my work outfit, Jess.” Anna replied. “Even if Eric does look good in his costume.”

“Spoilsports. Well, go get changed, the rest of the gang are waiting.”

“I thought we had a few hours.”

“June doesn’t wait to start drinking, Eric.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Now go get ready.”

A few minutes later, Eric and Anna waited for Jessica to finish changing. She was wearing a dress, instead of her usual comfortable outfit, and had even worn heels. Reassuringly, she still had her laptop with her.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Ah. You’ll see.”

It was a short walk to the wedding venue. Jessica had purposely picked somewhere they didn’t have to drive to or drive back from, but that was all that she’d told the pair. Eric had a suspicion about where they were going that proved correct.

The bookstore. There was a banner outside, some balloons, and June, April, Emma and Rachel were outside, waiting.

“I thought it would be romantic. Where you first met.” Jessica wasn’t sure if her plan had worked.

“It’s perfect.” Anna was smiling back. Eric also nodded.

Without any delay, Jessica lead the pair to the back of the building, then opened a door Eric hadn’t ever seen opened before. He thought the lock had rusted shut, and June had told him there wasn’t anything important behind it.

“There’s a garden?”

“There’s a garden.” Jessica laughed. “Three months of work to clean it up, but, Tada!”

There was a small marquee tent set up in the centre. A small wooden stage, with four chairs for the guests.

“If you will follow me, Eric.” Jessica brought him to the podium. Once everyone had taken their seats, she waved at June to bring Anna up to the front.

“Now, I know neither of your are a stickler for ceremony. You told me you want to keep the same rings, too, but there are some things I officially have to say, so just hold tight, and all of us will be in the pub.”

Jessica had rehearsed every word, but she still pulled out her laptop to be sure. There was the usual announcement, making sure there weren’t any objections, and then the exchange of vows.

“I Anna Spellman, take ….”

“I Eric Smithson, do take ….”

“Until Death Do Us Part.” “Until Death Do Us Part.”

“You may now kiss the groom.” Jessica smirked. “Or the other way around.”

Anna pulled Eric into a long kiss, her tail wrapping around the pair of them.

“Now if you’ll just come here, and …. “ She offered up the laptop. The wedding documents had already been filled out. “Click here, and here, and here.”

Anna and Eric had a small pretend fight over who would get to click the button, but immediately compromised and ticked the last box together.

“Now… hopefully I still have signal…. almost… 80% 95%… there we are 100% Married.”

On cue, June and the minions began throwing confetti over the pair.

“You’re glowing!” June began.

“They are glowing!” Rachel added. “I mean, Really!”

Anna looked down at her feet. There was a tell tale sign of a magic circle, but only around her feet, and not Eric’s.

“Anna?” “Eric!”

A moment later, three women appeared around Anna, dressed much like she had been on the day she arrived. Eric saw that Anna recognised them and that she didn’t seem to panic, but that changed the moment they grabbed her by the arm.

“[General!]” They spoke in Anna’s language, too. “[We’ve come to rescue you!]”

She tried to struggle, but the three of them managed to hold her steady. Eric pulled out his sword, but it was too late. In less than a second, the strangers had appeared, grabbed onto his wife, and disappeared with her.

Anna had vanished.

Eric fell to his knees, and began to cry.

June, Emma, Rachel and April didn’t know what to do. They didn’t understand what they’d seen, either. It was only Jessica who managed to say something.

She nodded to the others, and said “Wait for us inside.” The four nodded back, and slowly made their way back to the shop.

Jessica took a seat next to Eric, still crying. She didn’t want to interrupt him. It was a good five minutes before he ran out of tears.

“Water?” She offered him a bottle. “Thank you.”

Eric pulled himself up, and slumped onto the stage, taking a seat next to Jessica.

“You’re going to go after her, aren’t you.”

He nodded. That was just what he needed to hear.

Anna hadn’t left him. She’d gone ahead, and would be waiting for him to come.

“That’s what she wanted.” Eric’s voice was cracked. “Her last words. Her last thoughts, even. Just before she vanished.”

Jessica just nodded. She didn’t need to say anything.

“She told me to come find her. She told me she’d be waiting. She believed I could do it.”

“You can….” Jessica stopped. “What do you want to do now? Go home?”

“I want to get very, very drunk. Then I’m going to have the worst hangover of my life. Then, well. I’m going to tear a hole in the universe, and find my wife.”

Jessica, after some reassurances that Eric would be ok, well, ok as anyone could be, went back to the shop. She explained as best she could as to what had happened. Anna had been banished here years prior, and her aides from back home had found a way to get her back.

She explained that Eric had decided on a path of self-destruction, and even though it wasn’t a good idea, it was better than leaving him on his own. She sent June to go check on him, and told the others to bring Eric to the bar, when he was ready, and after she’d have time to go and fix things at the bar.

She told the bar staff that things had gone a bit horribly wrong, but the wedding party would still be continuing. The decorations would have to go, but thankfully there wasn’t much else to do.

“It’s a very long story, but my sister was involved in some nefarious things in the past, and well, they came back to haunt her. It isn’t exactly a kidnapping, but, well, it might as well be.”

The bar staff looked horrified.

“So please, don’t ask what happened. They did at least get married before everything fell apart. It might a year before he gets to see her again. It’s…. it’s just not good. I don’t think we’ll need the karaoke machine, either.”

There were a few other people expected to arrive, and Jessica decided to tell them not to bother. Something had come up, and she would explain later. She also told June it was safe to bring Eric along.

He was already waiting outside.

“Thank you, Jessica.”

He looked far more together than he ought to be.

“It’s ok.”

“Today could have gone better, but, well, I still got married to the love of my life. That hasn’t changed.”

“You did.”

“I’m going to do what Anna would want me to do.”

“Get incredibly drunk.”

“Worse. Karaoke.” Eric tried to laugh. “I can’t just wallow in my misery. I gotta keep myself together, and I gotta keep moving forwards. She wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Jessica nodded.

“Maybe beer first, before karaoke.” She smiled. “It doesn’t work very well the other way around.”

A few drinks later, true to his promise, Eric got up on stage and picked a terrible pop song to sing along to. He managed a good few verses before he started to cry again, but managed to get to the end of the song.

It was cathartic.

He also told everyone about his last few days with Anna, not holding any detail back. How she’d fought several battles, day after day, how she’d announced her retirement, and how she’d forced him to carry her back to the hotel.

He then took another turn on the mic. Jessica almost began to regret suggesting karaoke. Eric wasn’t really great at timing, singing in tune, and by the end of the song, he was just saying “I love yooouuuu Annaaaa….” into the mic.

It felt like time to call it a night.

The others offered to accompany them home, but she felt it would be best to let Eric have some space and a little less of an audience. June said she’d come around tomorrow with a home cooked lunch, and the others offered to help out where they could.

Eric was tired, and he was drunk, but he could still walk unaided, at least. He wasn’t in shock, but he was still coming to terms with the events of the day. It felt like he would break apart any moment.

“We used to sit there after the bar, sit on the swings and look at the stars. Anna couldn’t ever get over how different the sky looked.”

“Do you want to go have a sit down?”

“I want to go to bed with my wife.” Eric sighed. “One out of two will have to do.”

“Let’s go.”

It was a short walk back to the apartment, but it felt like a year had passed by the time Jessica got back. Once inside, she made him brush his teeth, she put him to bed, and she left him a glass of water and some painkillers out on the bedside table.

She made herself comfortable on the sofa, and tried her best to relax.

That’s when everything hit her. She’d been in panic mode, all afternoon, looking out for Eric, and it wasn’t until he was safely in bed that she began to process what had happened. What was supposed to be the happiest day of Eric’s and Anna’s life had been utterly ruined.

It was her turn to cry.

Jessica awoke in the morning with a sizeable headache, and reached for the glass of water that would have normally been left out. That was when she remembered everything that had happened, and began to curl back up under the blanket. The world could wait another five minutes.

“Fuck, Eric.”

It couldn’t wait. Jessica pushed herself out of the sofa, and went to check on him. His bed was empty. The water had been half drunk, and there was still one painkiller left out on the side.

“Eric.”

She’d worried he’d gone off to do something silly, but seeing that he’d left something aside for her hangover, her worries began to fade.

“Jess? Jess?”

Eric had just returned to the apartment.

“In here.”

“Ah.” Eric was waving a sword around. “Up for practice?”

“Not today…”

“I just had to, you know? I can’t stop now.” Eric put the sword to one side. “Find the painkiller?”

“Just taking it now.” Jessica nodded. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” Eric walked over and pulled her in for a hug.

“Too tight! Ugh! Hungover!”

“Sorry.”

Jessica stared at Eric. He was just a little bit too together for a man who’d lost his wife. Something was up.

“What’s up. Eric.” Jessica didn’t want to push him into another bout of crying, but he definitely knew something.

“I can still feel the bond, Jess.” Eric took a seat on his bed. “I didn’t think to check until this morning, but, it’s still there. We’re still linked.”

It almost sounded like Eric was in denial.

“Can you… err?”

“No. We could barely share thoughts if we were on the opposite sides of the room, I can’t reach her over the link, but that’s not the important part.”

“I’m slow, and hungover Eric.” Jessica explained. “Tell me in simple terms.”

“There’s a link between us that crosses worlds Jess, I can find her. Anna always said the hardest part about crossing between worlds was knowing where you were going. That’s why the magic was so difficult.”

He pointed to his ring.

“That’s what she was telling me before she disappeared. Follow her. She meant using the link, I’m 100% sure of it. She’s waiting for me, and I won’t give up.”

“Good.” Jessica suddenly remembered the wedding gift she’d planned. “Stay here.”

“Jess?”

“Stay here. Let me grab my laptop.”

“Alternatively, let’s go and sit on the sofa. It’s way more comfortable.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Jess laughed. “Brain still not working.”

She followed Eric back to the living room, and fished out her laptop.

“I was going to show you this… It’s almost complete.” She explained. “Three months ago, I had a breakthrough. I was saving it up as a wedding present, but…”

It wasn’t worth explaining why she hadn’t been able to show it off.

“… but anyway. You’re married. Here’s the gift.” She pulled up the dimensional sigil. “I made it work. Mostly. Almost. I’m 98% sure of it.”

Eric looked as if he was about to cry.

“Eric?”

“Thank you. Not one day has past and you’re already giving me hope, Jess.”

“Anything for my brother-in-law.” Jess began to cry. “I miss her already.”

“I do too.” Eric joined in the tears. “I do too.”

The would be siblings sat on the sofa for another few minutes, not really saying much, and not really needing to.

“You’re taking me along.” Jess announced. “I’ve made up my mind.”

June arrived at lunch, expecting both Eric and Jessica to be lying on the floor, cursing the gods. She didn’t expect to see both of them punching away at laptops as if nothing had happened.

“You have a plan.” June said.

“We do.” Eric confirmed

“You also need to eat.” June smiled. “I brought pie. Put your laptops away and you can tell me everything.”

Eric started from the beginning. The bond Anna had formed with him. The magical weapon she’d taught him to use, and the magic lessons that had been ongoing. Jessica then took over, showing off her mana simulator, some of the spells they’d been working on before Anna disappeared, and her best guesses as to what was left to do.

“Well. Wow.” June didn’t know what to say. “How can I help?”

Eric shrugged, but Jessica had an idea.

“Did you find anything about that sigil? The one in your journal.”

“Oh! Yes.” June pulled out her phone. “I took a picture.”

Jessica took June’s phone and quickly copied things over to her laptop.

“Thank you. I might have some other things for you to research, but not yet.”

“Well. I’m glad I can help.”

“Well…. about that.” Eric replied. “Can you tell the others we’ll be back in the bar next week.”

“Sure.”

“… and thank you for the pie.” Eric smiled. “I… I really did need to eat.”

“I can tell you two are just desperate to get back to your computers, so I think it’s a good time to make an exit. Call me if you need anything, and I’ll be back tomorrow with lunch. Sound good?”

Jessica nodded back, as did Eric.

“Thank you, June.” Jessica smiled.

Eric got up and gave her a hug. “Thank you, Old boss.”

One week later, Eric and Jessica put down their laptops and headed out to the bar, as promised.

Jessica was a little annoyed, she was in the middle of writing code and wanted to finish up. Eric pointed out that it would take anywhere between four minutes and four weeks. It could wait.

They weren’t just leaving the house to be social, but to take a bit of a break from programming and magic research. As much as Eric wanted to rush through things, he knew full well that it would take more than a week, more than a month, maybe even years to travel to another world.

As much as he wanted to hole up in his apartment, it just wouldn’t do if he turned feral. Anna wouldn’t have approved.

“Oh. You’re all here already. I thought we were early.”

“You are, I just couldn’t do with waiting.” June explained. “Come sit.”

Neither Eric or Jessica had spoken to the others that week, they’d been too engrossed in their work to check their phones.

“How are you, Eric?” April was the first to ask. “You two, Jessica. We’ve been a little worried.”

“I’m as well as I can be. Jessica’s doing alright too. I think we’d have collapsed if June hadn’t brought us lunch every day.” He laughed. “Honestly, I’m utterly devastated. My wife got dragged back to her own world, and there was nothing I could do about it.”

Eric smiled. No-one understood why.

“That won’t always be true though. Soon, I will be able to do something about it, and that’s, well, what’s been keeping Jessica and me so busy. We’re almost there.”

“Almost-ish.” Jessica began. “Magic isn’t that easy, but we still have hope.”

The two took turns answering questions, spending their time reassuring their friends that they were in reasonable shape. The conversation eventually moved on to how everyone else was doing.

They weren’t doing that well, either. In the end, the night ended early. No-one wanted to get that drunk, no-one wanted to go home in tears, but it was a pleasant night nonetheless.

On the way home, Jessica realised something.

“They remember her.”

“They did, yep.” Eric replied. “Anna did say she was unforgettable.”

“Do you think they’ll remember us when we go?” Jessica asked. “Forget that. Of course they will. Not worth thinking about.”

“They will.” Eric answered confidently. “We aren’t being summoned. It won’t work that way. They know we’re chasing after her. There won’t be any mystery to cover up. Besides, I think the universe owes us one.”

“It does.”

Jessica sighed.

“What do you think Anna’s doing right now?”

“Kicking someone’s ass.” Eric replied immediately. “She’ll be kicking someone’s ass and wondering when I’ll catch up with her.”

“Yep.” Jessica laughed. “I hope she’s ok.”

“She’s stronger than either of us. I guarantee you she’s picking a fight with a god right now, twisting their arm, working out a way to …” Eric stopped. “Maybe that’s it.”

“Eric?”

“Anna didn’t want to ask the gods for help, but maybe we can. Maybe….”

“Maybe. But maybe Anna will kick our asses for doing so. Let’s just keep going with the sigils.” Jessica laughed.

“… and the sword practice, too.” Eric laughed. “Speaking of getting our asses kicked.”

“Well. She did leave us enough to go on. I.. um… I found a bunch of videos on her phone. Stuff she’d recorded for future training sessions.”

“Typical.” Eric laughed.

“I also, err.” Jessica wasn’t sure how Eric would react. “I also found a bunch of photos.”

“Err?” Eric blushed. “Oh god. What did you find.”

“Nothing rude Eric.” Jessica laughed, “I found lots of photos of you. You in the kitchen, you at conferences, you in bed, sleeping.”

“oh.” Eric began to smile. “I never realised.”

“I’ll send you them when we get back.” Jessica smiled back. “She loves you, you know. It’s very obvious.”

“I love her too.”

“I know.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “That was never in doubt. You were smitten from day one.”

The two had arrived back at the apartment. Jessica headed to bed early, collapsing on Eric’s sofa once again. Eric tried to do the same, but just couldn’t sleep. He decided to flick through the photos on Anna’s phone, if only to check that Jessica hadn’t stumbled onto anything lewd.

Sure enough, there wasn’t anything embarrassing.

Her first tournament. Several pictures of her first flight. Numerous pictures of energy drinks. Way, way too many pictures of energy drinks. Photos from the various countries they’d visited. A video clip of her resignation speech, too.

He also found several audio notes.

“[Month one on this godforsaken barren planet.]”

It was Anna’s voice, in her native language.

“[At least I’m not alone here. I can’t wait to get back, but there is one thing keeping me around. Eric would say it’s energy drinks, but well, it’s really Eric…]”

Eric began to cry once more.

She really did love him.

‘[I think i’ve found a way back, but, well, I don’t know if I can take him with me. Not yet.]’

Eric played back the recording. Jessica just looked at him, waiting for the translation.

“She found a way back.”

“She did?”

“For her. Not for us.” Eric laughed. “You know what that means, right?”

“She… didn’t want to leave?” Jessica was still waking up. “Wait, no. She didn’t want to leave without you?”

“Bingo.” Eric went over to his laptop and brought up the photos from the summoning ritual. “This is how.”

Jessica once again looked back at him.

“If she found a summoning, she could hijack it for her own ends. Use the left over magic and redirect it. That was the backup plan.”

“So….”

“… but we have a link to guide the spell.” Eric smiled.

“You have a link, Eric.” Jessica replied. “I don’t. Aren’t we back to where we started.”

“No.” Eric replied. “There was something else in the notes, too.”

He pulled off his wedding ring, and placed it upon Jessica’s finger.

“Can you feel it? Something just at the edge of your reach?”

“Eric?”

“Anna formed a bond with you, too.” Eric explained. “Not as strong as mine was, not the same kind, but a very small one. Back when she first bit your finger.”

Jessica just stared back at Eric.

“Can I have my ring back, now?”

“Um. Sure.” Jessica only had one question. “So why did it take me so long to learn magic?!”

“Well. About that. One of the ways to strengthen the bond is through physical…”

“Enough.” Jessica cut him off. “I get it.”