The weirdest thing about it all was how normal everything looked.

Agatha couldn’t sleep that night. She didn’t want to let Demi go, to be alone, for even a single second. For all their talk of changing the world, changing the future, their present, the future they now possessed felt strange and alien.

It wasn’t as though humanity was now obsessed with these two deities. Man cannot live through God alone; they still had time to work, to play, to eat, love. If Agatha had taken a Polaroid of the city one day before they ever traveled back in time, and spirited it to this new world to compare it as the world looked like now, you would have to try very hard to see any of the actual differences.

Agatha sat up and rubbed her eyes. She put a hand to her heart. It was barely beating. Her tongue was dry. The air was chilly, and the weather was cold. But the warmth of the blanket wasn’t enough. It was lonely and suffocating. If only she…

Agatha sighed. She wished Demi were here. Even at school, they hadn’t the opportunity to truly be alone with one another and discuss their new place in this world, and they wouldn’t have it at least until the weekend. Two days in sequence, named “Demuraday” and “Garaday”. The other days of the week had undergone their own transformations, such as Monday now being called Selenaday or Friday being called Venday. However Demuraday and Garaday were the only days of the week named directly for them. Graciously, the months had been the same, though the holidays had all been shuffled around. Currently, this month of October was considered the holiest of months, for during it, the anniversary of most of the Earth’s visits by its twin goddesses occurred.

Demi would like that, Agatha thought. She loved October even back before this had all happened.

Agatha squirmed to her side and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. The light hurt her eyes, but gradually Agatha adjusted. She drafted a quick “Are you awake?” text to Demi before violently scrolling back to the news app, something she had been checking every few minutes arguably since their return to this timeline.

Everything was so… peaceful.

There weren’t any particularly major conflicts. Nations had small squabbles, and of course murder and petty crime were impossible to breed out of humanity. But just as she was watching, the president of the Russian Empire was being given a medal by the Queen for his work in environmental protection. Persia now was the leading producer of clean renewable energy. The entire region of the Mediterranean and Middle East hadn’t seen a large armed conflict in literally centuries.

And at the beginning and ending of every interaction between two people, individuals would clasp their hands together, look up slightly, and recite, “To the Twins.” This would be responded to in kind. Everything anyone in this world did, it would be done in the name of Demi and Agatha.

Of course it’s understood the pair were not literally twins. They were wives, equal to one another in their dominion of the facilities of this Earth. They shared everything, and the strength of their love for one another was second to nothing. Second to it, however, was the strength they had to level everything on the Earth should they be displeased. They had done so several times, and while there are small pockets here and there of those with differing theological beliefs, by and large most of humanity across every continent and region conducted themselves in such a way to avoid becoming the target of their ire. Even those who didn’t believe so – outspoken anti-Duo activist Sal Tucker comes to mind – maintained the affects to their speech, voice, and conduct in polite society. Not saying “To the Twins” before any sort of formal address or public speech is considered to be the very height of rudeness.

Agatha scoured Wikipedia for more and more shreds and tidbits of the world they now inhabited until a banner dropped down from the top of her phone.

“Yeah.”

Agatha’s heart lifted. Here in her cramped, unkempt, lonely room, a bit of the sting had been taken off. Knowing her friend was alive and awake elsewhere in the world, but had Agatha’s full attention, meant the world to her.

Agatha tapped her thumbs on the screen. “Can’t sleep.”

“Same. Isn’t it incredible?”

Agatha smiled a half smile. “It sure is.”

“I love it!” Demi responded with an excited emoji. “I cannot wait until tomorrow so we can really see what it’s like out there! A whole way of life dedicated to us!”

“Aren’t you, like,” Agatha replied, now sitting up in her bed and planting the phone in a nest of fabric between her legs, “scared though? Worried?”

“Hell no! Why would I be?”

“Well… even if we’re the new goddesses, here, we’re still just regular teenagers. They have no reason to believe we’re special.”

“Ha! That’s a good point! You do know what day it is, don’t you?”

“Selenaday?”

“What?”

Agatha sighed and briefly explained in text the different names of the days of the week.

“Oh. Weird. Well, yeah, I guess. But also… ?” Clearly an invitation for Agatha to respond.

“My great aunt’s birthday?”

“Oh come on, Agatha, the science fair!”

Agatha stopped typing, and she simply stared at the phone. That was today. The very reason they were building the machine in the first place. The impetus for this life-changing journey. The origin of their desire for power and domination over humanity.

“OH YEAHHHH” Agatha texted, unable to convey just how hard it had slipped her mind through text. “I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!!!”

“The perfect place to showcase to the world our divinity!” Agatha could not see Demi’s face, but Agatha was unsure whether she would be able to stop herself from just kissing Demi on the lips, unsolicited, if she could.

And our lo… Agatha typed out to begin, but she then erased it all and drafted a new message, “That’s right. We’ll show them all.”

“I’ll bring the coach around to pick up the machine in the morning. Be ready!”

Agatha reacted with a smiling face emoji and put her phone to her chest. Her heartbeat was fast and fluttery once again. Like a bolt of lightning, Demi had recharged her, and she was finally ready to get some rest.

******

The drive across town to retrieve the device and Agatha herself was silent even as Juliet was driving with Demi. Her hands were on the steering wheel, eyes locked on the road, unable to even fathom how mesmerized Demi was watching it all go by. It was as though everything in creation had been turned two degrees crosswise. Things were the same but different. Houses of worship of all kinds had been replaced with iconography meant to evoke the duality between light and dark, as well as carvings and stained glass windows of Demi and Agatha’s visages.

And then there was Juliet herself. She had insisted on watching the presentation when the group all arrived at the school, a presentation which even Demi was unsure of how it was going to go. And the possibility that it could result in untold devastation for everyone involved filled Demi with…

Uncontrollable excitement.

She peered at Juliet like a predator stalking its prey. She didn’t have any ill will toward her sister, none at all. By all means, Demi loved her sister. But Juliet here and now, in this automobile capsule, represented the culmination of everything that Demi and Agatha had worked for. They knew not where they would end up when this adventure started, but this was always how it was going to be. Humanity at their beck and call, worlds upon worlds that were theirs for the taking. Finally being appreciated, loved, respected, and deified like the gods they were always meant to be. And that was something no time machine could take away.

Demi’s drool threatened to spill out of her mouth, and Juliet had already turned into Agatha’s parking lot by the time she finally addressed her sister with a bit of embarrassed consternation.

“Heh heh, uh, you okay?”

Demi licked her lips and responded, “I will be.”

She looked outside and saw Agatha waiting, waving. The time machine was in tow, nestled in the carriage of a rusty red wagon, the chair and energy pack having been disconnected from one another so they could fit into the trunk. Agatha was wearing gray sweatpants and a tank top, jacket, flip-flops, and she had finally combed out her hair for once in her life, letting it fall around her shoulders in wondrous curls.

Demi’s heart raced as she grinned uncontrollably, waving back to her friend to help her load the machine into the car.

******

“Are you ready?” Demi turned to her partner. Her familiar black eyeliner and dark jacket was a comforting sign. Around the group, dozens, perhaps even hundreds were awaiting the pair’s presentation. The clocks were striking fourteen. The aisle was free and clear for them to proceed henceforth to the raised auditorium stage where their machine sat, intact, waiting. It had been inspected by the judges prior to assure its safety, a process which nearly gave Agatha a heart attack, but on the whole nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. The time was officially now.

“Now that we’re together,” Agatha said, taking Demi’s hand in hers, “I’m ready for anything. When I’m with you, Demi, I feel like I can fly. I feel like I can face any challenge. Take over the world,” Agatha continued, now lowering her voice to a mere whisper in the ear of the one she loved.

Demi’s eyes began to tear, but years of holding it in to keep her makeup perfect had trained her for this moment. She swallowed her emotions and hugged Agatha, who accepted the embrace and started to giggle as soon as Demi’s electricity came in contact with hers.

“What’s funny?” Demi asked without letting go. From her viewpoint, she could even see Juliet watch their embrace from an aisle seat, her heart melting at the affection they appeared to share.

“It’s just… I remember,” Agatha said, disconnecting and looking into Demi’s eyes. “All our lives, it’s felt like I was the one who was hugging you, taking you in my arms. Telling you it would be okay, that we were going to make it out of it okay. Back when school, life, family, the world, everything seemed so uncertain. But now, Demi, I realize something. It was you.”

“Me?”

“You were the one who kept me sane, kept me grounded. When my father left, when my mother was abusive, when our classmates were awful. It’s always been you. You were my blessing.” Agatha sniffed. “Y-you saved me.”

Demi felt hotness travel from her heart all the way up to her cheeks and the top of her head, and all the way down to her stomach, crotch, legs and toes as Agatha gripped Demi’s shoulders.

“I’m nothing without you,” Agatha said, claws now nearly ripping into Demi’s fleece pauldrons. “I think I… I love you, Demi.”

This was it.

This was the thing that told Demi that it was time.

The universe was telling her it was time.

A glazed look filled Demi’s eyes in the wake of Agatha’s confession, and she now once again took Agatha’s hand into her own, looking at Agatha glassy-eyed.

She loves me, Demi thought, as they traveled down the aisle together.

She loves me! she thought again, feeling the strength of the audience as they watched the pair ascend the stage.

She loves me, she thought once more, even as she recited her half-hearted presentation of the machine’s time-tripping properties while omitting its more curious effects.

“You know… when they stand together like this,” Juliet pondered aloud, whispering, “Don’t they… don’t they sorta… remind you of…” she searched her brain for whatever the answer might be.

“Is it the Goddesses?” Ms. Jones replied from the seat beside Juliet’s, clapping as Agatha stepped in to fill a word that Demi forgot. “You know, that’s where her name came from? The Goddess Agatha?”

“Is that a fact?” Juliet replied incredulously. “You know I was there when she was born? Our mom said she wanted to name her child after the most beautiful thing she could imagine. So she chose the Goddess Demi?”

“Really?” Ms. Jones responded. Then, a half smile approached her lips. “Must be a match made in heaven.”

Finally, Demi beseeched the grace of the Goddesses as the presentation drew to a close, allowing the chance for the demonstration to occur. She assured the audience that they weren’t going to bore them to death to get the first place prize. Any machine this fantastic requires a demonstration.

The machine whirred as the compartment opened to reveal the seat. It buzzed and hummed vibrantly, as though it was alive and responding to the pair’s own energy and life.

Lifting her skirt so it wouldn’t tear on the shell, Demi hopped into the machine. She took Agatha’s hand as she followed Demi inside, pulling the top closed.

Finally, for a moment, the two were alone.

“Five minutes oughta do,” Demi said, to which Agatha giggled.

“Be careful before you send us back five thousand years!” Agatha joked. Demi stuck her tongue out as she finished inputting the numbers.

“Perfect,” Demi said, letting her finger linger on the Go button. She turned to Agatha.

“Do you promise that whatever happens, you’ll never leave me?”

Agatha’s face became deathly serious.

“Demi. I promise that I will stay by your side until the day we die. For all time. I swear it on us.”

Demi turned her head and saw Agatha’s conviction in her face. Her rosy cheeks. Her wind-swept hair. Even the occasional grease stain on her lapel. And Demi was overtaken once again by that universal need.

Pressing the “Go” button, Demi reached in and planted her lips directly on Agatha’s mouth, as Agatha grabbed her. The electricity whirring around them was nothing compared to the energy being created by their combination, as every emotion they were bursting with was released in their passionate love. They kissed one another, again and again and again, until the fans and the wires made it nearly impossible to hear each other, when all of a sudden, Demi stopped, panting, and shouted,

“In case you couldn’t tell, I LOVE YOU TOO –”

FLASH!!!

They were gone.