“Duncan, time to wake up.”

All Gwen got was a hiss in reply.

“Courtney, a little help?”

Courtney drew in a deep breath.  “DADDY!  WAKE UP!”

The plush snake startled so badly it went completely straight and rigid as a poker.  “What?  What?  Where?”

Gwen chuckled.  “Nice work.  Hey there sleepyhead.  The Moon is almost up.  It’s time.”

Duncan blinked at her.  “The full Moon!  Oh!  Yes, it’s right there, below the horizon.  Has it really been three weeks?”

“You needed it,” reassured Gwen gently.

“Anything important happen while we were out?”

Gwen shrugged.  “No new wars.  A lot of fuss and bother as people come to grips with the new realities.  So, so much rampant speculation about magic, it has been frankly hilarious.  We’re going to do a big show at the Vixen later tonight, and try to explain our side of the story.”

Duncan sighed.  “Can you handle that?”

“We’ll see how you’re feeling later.  First up, though... rescuing me.  Pretty please?  The Moon is just rising over Vanessa’s Gift.”

Duncan perked up at that.  “Right!  Time to do some drilling... um, how are we going to get there if the Moon isn’t up here?”

Dia’s crystalline self rose from the toy ball it had been inhabiting.  “The state of the Moon does not much matter to us any more.”  Divine power glowed about them.

“Oh!  It seems a shame to waste it...”

“We have more than we are able to keep, and more flows in continually,” replied Dia.  “It is a greater shame to let it spill away unused.”

Duncan’s head dipped in acknowledgement.  “Then we should go.  Now.”

A blink later and a single sparkling crystal was suspended over the glowing lake known as Vanessa’s Gift.  Scars from the battle were visible east of its southeastern shore, but the borehole and the area that had seen the worst of the fighting were submerged.  Peering beneath the water with radar showed that the ground had been scoured clean.

“It’s almost as if it never happened,” mused Donna softly.

Gwen’s voice echoed down their link with the crystal buried below.  “Some scars fade faster than others.  Mine will fade faster once I’m no longer buried.  Hint hint.”

Duncan chuckled ruefully as they studied the ruins.  “The borehole is more intact than I’d thought, and full of... whatever this is.”  The crystal dipped lower to examine the shining water of the lake.  A scoop of water levitated into the air, and its glow promptly faded.  “Just water, except when it’s in the lake.  How odd.  Has it intruded as far as the cavern?”

“Yeah.  Whole place started glowing about a week ago,” replied Gwen.

The crystal touched the water’s surface.  “Oh!  It connects.”  They tugged on their bond with Gwen, and a moment later two more crystals appeared beside them.

“You ah... probably could have done that any time in the last week,” reported Donna meekly.  “We didn’t know.”

“Water under the bridge,” replied Gwen.  “I’m free.  And your soul is here, ready to make you whole once more.”

The trinity’s crystal approached their soul.  The two crystals touched, but did not merge.  “We... don’t know how to do that.”

“The same way you severed yourself,” said Gwen.  Her voice shifted, took on the imperious tones of a goddess.  “I wish you were whole once more.”

The crystals slid together, merging seamlessly into a single whole.  The moan that emerged from it made Gwen’s crystal pinken with a blush.  “Donna?”

“Oh, love, we’re here,” sang the crystal in a high, fluting voice.  “And so, so much better.”

“Thank you for keeping our soul,” said Duncan fervently.  “You were right.  As you always are.”

Gwen chuckled softly.  “Don’t go putting me on a pedestal.  We’re going to get more than enough of that from the rest of the world.  Saviour of humankind, and all that.”

Duncan laughed.  “We suppose we will, at that.  And are.  Now that we are whole, all of us feel the power pouring our way.  It’s... incredible.”  Their attention turned to the waters below.  “And connected.  The reason Vanessa’s Gift glows when the Moon is dark...”

“Is that it is infused with the divine,” finished Gwen.  “It doesn’t feel usable, though.  The gift is... to the world itself?  What is it doing?”

Dia rose into the air, and spread their mind wide.  “Healing the world.  Drawing in the poisons and... huh.  Not eliminating them?  Just... concentrating them here.  We should talk to Mackie.”

Agent Mackenzie responded to the first ping of his crystal.  “Thought you might be busy.  What’s up?”

“Gwen has been rescued, and we have been reunited with our soul.”

“Excellent, that was quick.”

“Vanessa’s Gift helped.  We’re studying it now, it appears to be infused with divine magic, a gift from her to the world.  It seems to be pulling in the Cobalt-60 in some sense.  Could you compare a recent radiation scan to one from shortly after That Night?”

“Everyone’s calling it The Invasion now.  Let me look at the... wow.  The curl near Murmansk is gone, as are several others near settlements in our north.  It’s like it’s being... pruned back?  The rest is in retreat, but more slowly.  The radiation around the lake itself is growing more intense.  I can’t imagine anything mortal can survive in the area, and may not be able to for centuries.  Moot, I suppose, the whole area was scoured during The Invasion.”

Duncan surveyed the terrain around them.  “I wonder if the intense radiation was also part of her plan.  It doesn’t affect us at all – this place is not for mortals.  Our fortress of solitude, if you will.”

Gwen chuckled softly.  “You would brood up here.”

“Fits.”

“Don’t go brooding.  You’re whole and healthy now, you have your soul back.  Right?  It feels like you’re doing way better now.”

Donna sighed softly.  “We know you mean well, and having our soul back helps immensely.  There are still things we cannot take back.  Things we can never remember, others we can never forget.  Pains that have not gone away.  Anger that still calls us...”  Donna’s regard turned to the east.

“Donna, no!  Don’t give in to your anger.  Do something constructive.”

Donna formed their crystal body into a head just so that she could grin.  It was a very wicked looking grin.  “I have just the thing.”

*** *** ***

“Magaret we have a problem.”

President Dupuis looked up from the papers on her desk.  “What is it?”

“The security detail on your mother’s house just went dark,” replied Mike, her head of security and general right hand man through the crisis.

Margaret sighed.  “It’s the full Moon tonight, isn’t it?  Time to pay the piper.  Show him in when he arrives, I’d rather not have my secretary turned into a dog.”

“What if I wanted to try it out?” called her secretary through the open door to the Oval Office.

“Just ask,” chimed Duncan’s voice.

“I...”  The secretary licked her lips, staring at the shining crystal humanoid that had appeared in front of her.  “I’d like to have some control of it?”

A collar appeared on the desk in front of her.  “It will only work when the Moon shines in the sky.  And you may find it challenging to take it off, so tell a friend.”

The secretary touched the white leather collar, and the stone in the center of it shone as her hand started changing into a paw.  She snatched it away, and watched it change back with wonder.  “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, as are all who come to us with wonder in their hearts.”

Margaret glowered at the glowing figure.  “And those of us who have worry in our hearts instead?  What have you done to my family?”

Duncan approached Margaret’s desk, and set a glass-domed diorama on top of it.  Under the dome was a miniature house.  Margaret gasped.  “That’s my Mother’s... what did you do?”

A tiny figure emerged from the front door, and waved up at Margaret.

“They’re all safe and sound.  Nothing of this world can touch them, or harm them in any way.  They do not need to eat or breathe.  And they will stay here, on your desk, until the day you leave office.”

Margaret’s eyes were leaking, slightly, though her face remained stern.  “I’ve been so worried about keeping them safe... but this is...  Is this a gift or a curse?”

“Yes.”

Margaret chuckled weakly.  “I should have expected that.  Why?”

“You threatened our family.  This is the price.  They are safe, and with you every day.  Witness to all the terrible decisions you have to make.”

That broke the tears out fresh and hot.  “Mon Dieu.  How can you know?”

“Many hard decisions were made that night,” replied Duncan softly.  “We know.”

“Millions died, and other millions lived, with little enough reason to either.  I have to make a call that will abandon millions more to starvation and death, but...  How?  It’s one thing to make a snap decision in the heat of the moment, but this... to coldly decide is monstrous.”

“Tell us.”

Margaret sighed, and wiped her eyes.  “Transportation.  If we don’t devote every ship we can spare to getting oil flowing again, the world will grind to a halt by spring.  At the same time, Europe cannot produce enough to feed itself, and lost a lot of its stockpile to The Invasion.  Can’t feed people cobalt contaminated food.”  She shot a heatless glare at Duncan.

“Where would the food come from?  Africa isn’t producing anything.”

“We have more than enough.  Warehouses full of food that would save tens of millions, and... I can’t get it there in time.”

“Where is it, and where does it need to go?”

Margaret pushed one of the two folders in front of her toward Duncan.

“Done.”

Margaret blinked.  “Just like that?”

Duncan inclined their head.  “It will take us a few hours to finish the task.”  A crystal appeared beside the dome.  “If you have need of us, you can reach us with that.  Even if it is just to talk, one great power to another.”

Margaret chuckled weakly.  “I do not much feel like a great power, especially in your presence.  I see why people are deifying you.”  She studied the glowing figure in front of her intently, then shook her head.  “I cannot get a feel for you.  What kind of god do you aspire to be?”

Donna’s voice took over, and their figure shifted toward the feminine.  “A loving and playful goddess, we hope.  Doing this,” they gestured to the dome, “brings us no pleasure, just... closure.”

“Thank you for the gift.  It has two edges, sharper than swords... but it is a great relief to know they are safe.  Can I... can I talk to them?”

“There’s a telephone inside.  It can reach the phone on your desk.  They can hear you without it, of course.”

“Of course.  Would it be wrong to say, ‘Go with God’?  You will need guidance.”

Donna smiled broadly.  “Believe me, we have it.  And after this, we will do better at listening to her.  Be well.”

“If Europe will not starve, I shall be very well indeed.”

Donna saluted the President jauntily.  “Then we shall see to our task.”  They vanished.

*** *** ***

At a dozen warehouses around the United States, pallets upon pallets of food dwindled away to sparks, then flitted off into the night.  Approximately two hours later, the sparks regrew inside warehouses in Europe, under watchful, wondering, and most of all thankful eyes.