Midnight

It has started with a small cough. Barely noticable, even Morgan almost missed it. But ever since she was twelve and first laid eyes on newborn Luna she could tell when something was off, even from one small movement. She considered it for a minute but didn’t think it could be anything serious. Sure she was getting up there in age. Morgan herself was getting way too close for 30. But Luna never had any serious illnesses before. She was happy, she ate well. She was as spry as always and her fur barely showed any signs of ageing. She napped a lot. Mostly on Morgan. Regardless of the position or how many laptops were already occupying her lap beforehand.

Morgan was distracted that morning. One of her teammates, Tania, just announced that she was leaving the team. And not even in person - she just wrote them a long-winded letter in their group chat. She would be leaving effect immediately, without an official statement and she asked the others to not say anything regarding her leave to the press either. "Personal issues" was the reason that she gave them, and Morgan knew exactly what this meant for her: she was also fighting with mental illness. But what Morgan couldn’t picture was how being a magical girl made it any worse. If anything, for her it was a chance to express herself the way she was never allowed to, and she was rewarded for it at every step. Sure, the team was a lot sometimes, but what friend group was perfect?

Of course, she felt bad for her and wished for her quick recovery.. but Tania leaving wasn’t a blow because Morgan would miss her a lot, the two of them were never really that close. If it was one of the other girls.. that would have been a real blow, she didn't even want to picture it. Not even hypothetically. It was just that it was fairly unheard of magical girls dropping their contracts once they were lucky enough to secure one. You had to be consistent and you had to make some changes to be able to work well as a team, but once you got in, you were set for life.

Team Midnight wasn’t one of the most popular teams, but they worked well enough as a team which seemed like a nice balance for Morgan. It’s not that they didn’t try to gather some more fame, but they simply couldn’t decide on a common goal as a team. They barely came up with a name and that was only after they had their contracts in their hands and their sponsors made them choose one for marketing purposes. Even that involved a lot of arguments and sighs. And the fact that Tania would leave the team without an official statement meant that it would cause them some awkwardness. It would be the only thing the media would be asking from them for the foreseeable future. And they would not be able to comment on it or they would be violating her wishes of being left out of any future discussions. Their team would definitely make the tabloids this time around.

Luna picked at her food without her usual enthusiasm and looked up at Morgan to meow at her. Morgan bent down to pat her head and pulled out her phone to see when her next check-up at the vet would be. Two months. Other than this morning nothing seemed off about her before - maybe Morgan was just overreacting. Did this really warrant another appointment?

Her phone chimed as Neil and Melody called in a group meeting for lunch. It was Morgan's one day off for the whole month where she was supposed to have no work-related meeting but the others reasoned this was more important than her date. Be there for the team. Morgan supposed they were right. She sighed as she quickly apologized to V.

morganite: hey! sorry to cancel on you last minute but i don't know if i can make it today! emergency team meeting..

vsantiago: Oh. Is everything okay? Are you ok?

morganite: i'm fine.. it's just work stuff.. i was looking forward to the café you told me about :(

vsantiago: I understand.. It can't be helped. :(

Morgan was probably not allowed to say anything about the Tania situation yet. So instead she snapped a cute picture of Luna, honestly all pictures of her were the cutest. She didn’t trust herself to be able to hold back from typing “drama at the team” so she instead just sent the picture as a consolation prize.

vsantiago: Ahhh, she's so cute! Give her a hug for me!

Vanessa started gushing at her about Luna and as they chatted away, Morgan feeling comfortable and warm, she barely noticed when it was time for her to leave.

morganite: sorry, i have to run!

vsantiago: Take care and let me know when you're free to meet up.

morganite: ok! ttyl

Of course she knew they wouldn’t do anything fun today, but she could still make herself look cute. She wore her signature purple hair in low pigtails, a pair of long black boots with platform heels and a cute skater dress in black with shining little rocks. It’s not that her fashion style really changed a lot due to the magical girl stunt, if anything it just allowed her to dress every day the way she always wanted. Her mother used to call her eccentric and childish but at the end of the day, she was the one with the influencer account garnering an actual income.

❧

Morgan set out for their team meeting with an anxious knot in her stomach.

She decided to take a walk instead of hailing a cab, and tried to prepare herself for what was to come. Tania might not even show up. Melodie and Neil were are already freaking out, if the 600+ unread notifications were any indication. She wasn’t sure how involved Devorah would be - sure they were on good terms with Tania but they never really hung out, just the two of them. She could probably be Morgan’s rock until things settle.

The neighborhood was not the most expensive one, but still generally well situated so Morgan didn’t have to worry too much about people pestering her. Sure, she stood out among the families walking their kids or dogs but usually she ran into no trouble. This was not one of those days.

There were some guys that just made her skin crawl. This one was obviously not short on money, if the slick black car he was sitting in indicated anything. A lot of the times these men were the scariest: rich, arrogant, measuring you up like a slab of meat he was going to purchase. This guy definitely made Morgan’s skin crawl and when he stared at her she felt like she was going to need a hot shower to cleanse herself and forget this moment forever. When she used to be powerless, these moments were much much worse, there was also the fear. She wasn’t making any offers or advances yet the man took something away from her that wasn’t his to take. She would pull herself smaller and find the keys or the gas spray in her coat pocket and pray that when she looked behind herself there would be no one following her.

Now, though, she could just flip this asshole off and know that if he did try anything, she would have nothing to fear anymore.

❧

As Morgan finally lost the guy and rushed into the meeting room she felt relieved for a moment to see her teammates, but her relief only lasted for a second. Maybe it would had been better if she was late.