Archive of Our Own

Today’s morning was quite the beauty if Nerissa were to say so herself. The sunlight was a tad too harsh for her liking if she wanted to take her routine flight, but it was picture perfect for some sunbathing. Considering it was a Saturday and just in time for the summer season right around the corner, the raven was definitely gonna seize this opportunity for herself.

And for her loved ones. Could never forget them.

That was why she was currently within the confines of her spacious room, one of many inside The Lookout after it was relieved of The Gods’ influence. Hers was admittedly more flashy than the others by a long way, but she felt it was warranted considering her new work life. Being a singer so well regarded that many big name studios would desire to have her name even so much as slapped onto their titles, it wasn’t gonna be possible to keep her humble abode to a reasonable scale. Still, she wasn’t exactly flaunting anything spectacular in it; only displaying what mattered to her passion and loves as a whole.

The room itself was a 12x14 square feet structure decorated in the same dark blue as her hair. From the entrance way, one is immediately greeted with a bathroom to their left that was big enough to contain a tub, a shower and a sauna booth in each corner. Stepping deeper into the space, to the right were a collection of instruments - some hers and others borrowed from Cecilia - stacked onto a 3-tier shelf, while in the back was a round mirror with a frame designed after the shape of wings. The left side of the room beyond the bathroom was where the main attraction was, specifically the queen-sized double bed slapped in the middle, a closet containing all of her amenities and a glass door leading out to a small balcony area. It most certainly looked the part of a famous musician’s personal home.

The thing that really stood out the most, however, was her bamboo clothing rack situated right next to her bed. That was Nerissa had kept some particularly special items- ones that belonged to each of her closest. Those that originated from Advent were gifts during times of longing when the five of them needed reminders that they still had each other despite their circumstances. On the side of Justice, they were physical signifiers of trust as their group still felt at fault for her pains due to the prejudice forced onto them by The Gods. To the singer though, it didn’t matter where or how these possessions came to be. All that was important was that they had come from them.

Her beloveds meant the world to her, on par with that of her blood family- a feat she’d never thought anybody could ever hope to achieve. But somehow, they’d all manage to find a way to worm into her demonic heart, and she would cherish them for all their worth. Especially on a special occasion like this.

Speaking of whom-

“…il demone, are you sure we should bring this much clothing to the beach? This seems a little much…” Their resident big pink cat, Raora, asked in a somewhat confused manner. She was currently folding a pile of clothes that they were planning to bring in a couple hours.

To be fair to her, the amount of lingerie within their group’s collective briefcase was frankly absurd when you consider the fact that this was meant a one-night trip at the beach and a booked hotel. There were enough clothes in that poor package for its hinges to practically be begging for the sweet release of death. Whoever’s vehicle they were gonna go on was certainly gonna face an absolute ringer of a carry job.

“It’s very necessary, actually! I mean, you never know what could happen on the way, right?” Nerissa responded, mostly in jest. It also gave her a good chuckle when seeing the cat’s look of pure bewilderment. “Besides, you’re not gonna complain about getting to see me in those, now, are you?” With a seductive wink on top, the raven positively lit Raora’s face aflame with her question. It was fun having someone she could trade pokes with rather than always being the butt of the joke.

“Agh-?! I didn’t say anything like that?!” Bless the panther for her amazingly adorable hand movements- one of the greatest gifts to mortal kind in Nerissa’s eyes. When her laughter didn’t end up ceasing any despite Raora’s complaints, she simply gave up and flopped down onto the bed, pressing the still-open briefcase on her back. “Hngh… stop that…” Her smile completely betrayed the embarrassment that her words were trying to exude.

“Careful now, you might break it~” Nerissa teased gleefully, still keen on messing with the pink cat a little. When Raora didn’t respond right after though, the raven thought that she might’ve not been loud enough. They weren’t exactly far apart in terms of proximity as they were both on the bed, but maybe she just wasn’t clear enough? “Okay for real though, you might wanna get off that thing before it breaks.”

Still no response. Odd. “Hello? Raora, darling, you hearing me?” Still nothing. Glancing back from where she was sitting, Nerissa saw that Raora was still laying down as if she hadn’t heard anything. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong since she still had that dopey grin adorning her features. “Helloooo?”Did I upset her? Gods, I hope not. She was probably overthinking it, but… something didn’t sit right with her.

Nerissa proceeded to shuffle over to the panther’s side before giving her a gentle poke on the head. Almost immediately, Raora jolted up a couple meters and nearly fell off the bed with a shrilled screech. “HEEK- What the-?! Rissa, what was that for?” The girl steadied herself up to face the raven with a grumble and her hands on her hips, so at least she seemed to be in good shape. Yet, Nerissa still felt like she was missing something.

“So-sorry! You weren’t responding, so I thought I’d upset you.” The raven replied earnestly, not wanting to poke the cat any more despite her cute pouting. That seemed to trigger something in Raora’s mind though, as she looked… confused, at Nerissa’s statement.

“Eh? You were? I didn’t hear anything ‘till now.” From the glint in her eyes, it was clear that Raora was being genuinely honest, no leg pulling to be found. Which only further cemented Nerissa’s confusion and, frankly, worry. She must be overblowing it, right?

Turning to the side and away from looking at the panther eye-to-eye, Nerissa pondered for a little. “Weird… darling, are you sick? Did you catch something earlier?” She waited again, trying to think of with some kind of reasoning in case what she just said didn’t turn out to be true.

Only to realize that Raora hadn’t responded to her question. Again.

“Are you saying something, Rissa? I can’t quite hear you.” Once more, her question was fully honest and innocent with not a speck of deceit present on her form. That merely made Nerissa internally panic even worse as she turned back to her panther for a second time.

“I-I did! How did you not hear me? I wasn’t being that quiet, was I?” She actually hoped that that was the case, but a quick head shake  from the other smothered that possibility away in an instant.

“No no, I can hear you fine now. Don’t know why I couldn’t hear you before, though.” Raora scratched at her head absentmindedly, in a similar state of confusion as the raven before her was. Seems like she herself didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, at least until she suddenly whipped back and forth to her sides as if she was searching for something just out of sight. “Do you hear that? Where’s that buzzing coming from…?”

…Huh? “Buzzing? Darling, what are you talking about? I don’t hear anything at all.” Somehow, this only ended up digging deeper into the rabbit hole of turmoil as Raora simply looked at Nerissa as if she was out of her marbles.

“Eh? What? You have to be hearing this, right? It kinda sounds like a small bee?” She was glancing all around again, before pointing towards her left with no clear target. “It’s right around here I think…?” Still, Nerissa was unable to hear whatever this noise was that Raora was speaking of. Was her own hearing a little off today? She knew her usage of headphones and speakers were excessive even for a musician, but she didn’t think it’d-

Wait a minute.

Oh god.

It seemed like the most plausible theory at the moment, but- that couldn’t be the case, right? Surely one of them would’ve noticed beforehand!

Without saying anything, Nerissa unfolded one of her wings and used its’ feathers to grab ahold of a pair of headphones from underneath the pillow. She took it in a slightly erratic haste and lended it over to Raora, much to the panther’s befuddlement. “Can you put this on for me, please? I wanna see something…”

“O-okay…” After putting away her glasses onto a nearby table, Raora placed the headset over her human ears and set the volume down to a sensible level. Then, with her phone already at the helm and on her home page, Nerissa began to play one of her songs linked via wireless connection.

“Listen. Can you tell me what you hear?” Nerissa asked, genuinely praying that her hypothesis was off the mark. Those prayers were unfortunately dismissed, given Raora’s reply.

“…eh? I know this song, but- why does it sound off? Is this some kind of weird mixing going on? ‘Cause I can only hear it on my right. Or is the headphone not working well?” Raora questioned, utterly oblivious to the turmoil that she just sent the raven into with her answer. Nerissa knew for a fact that those headphones were perfectly functional- she literally tested them a mere hour earlier before this conversation. The song itself was just the official upload onto all of her sites for the public to see too, so there was no faultiness that she could point to for that either.

That was the only answer left, wasn’t it?

“Raora… can you not… is your ear…?” She couldn’t find it in her to say it. Couldn’t find the strength to believe what was threatening to vomit out of her. The vagueness of her words seemed to catch Raora off guard at first, before it all clicked in the panther’s mind as well as her eyes lit up in recognition.

Raora’s left ear had become deaf.

“Ah- that explains it… I didn’t notice.” She took her headset off to rub at her non-functioning ear, getting a grasp of her new condition. Then, as if it was the most normal thing in the world and didn’t make her look psychotic, Raora chuckled. “That’s on me for using these so much. Ah, you think Ceci can help with one of her augments? Hm…”

The contrast between Raora’s cheery mood to the fact that her life was quite literally turned upside down - one of her _senses was now unusable, for god’s sake! - shook Nerissa out of her temporary stupor. She wasn’t sure if she should be angry or horrified at her friend for not taking this as seriously as she should. “Wha- Raora, what the hell?! Why aren’t you- you can’t hear properly! Why are you so calm about this?!”

Her voice was unnecessarily loud considering the size of the space surrounding her. Or at least, it _should’ve_ been, as Raora didn’t get startled at all and was actually struggling to register her panicked remarks. “Oh- I guess? I mean, it’s not the worst thing I’ve experienced. A little annoying, but nothing too bad.” Before Nerissa could deconstruct that can of worms, she was promptly cut off by Raora who gave a sheepish giggle. “I guess being a part of Justice made me used to all this. I mean, it’s kind of tame by comparison to everything I’ve gone through, no?”

…how was she even supposed to respond to that? These girls were gonna lead her straight into Mori’s arms sooner or later if they kept this up. Just because they already endured the worst doesn’t mean they shouldn’t treat themselves properly! Knowing that she was gonna get nowhere with this due to just how stubborn Justice could be, Nerissa relented her internal anger with a tired sigh. “Still… shouldn’t we like, I don’t know, get you a checkup or something? See if we can do anything to help you?”

She still looked far too calm for Nerissa’s liking, especially with that small smile. “That can wait. I mean, we are supposed to be preparing for the trip, are we not?” Raora stated, pointing over to the long-forgotten briefcase for emphasis. At least her enthusiasm for the occasion hadn’t dimmed any.

“…still doesn’t feel good knowing that, you know? I’m worried, Raora.” She closed the distance between them while grabbing ahold of both of the cat’s arms. Raora’s hands were callous and scarred underneath its rings, only intensifying the sorrow in her gut. Nerissa was doing her best to keep her dread contained to not let it overwhelm her from the subject at hand. “I don’t want you to forget about yourself. You’re all too keen on playing hero, so someone’s gotta remind you, right?”

Her attempt at giving herself more confidence would be downright pitiful if it were anyone else, but it definitely reached Raora if her shaken form was to be believed. Sometimes, it could all be so easily forgotten just how damaged these girls were. That beneath all the shameless grins and exasperated laughs, they were all so broken. They were never vulnerable enough to be viewed like that in the public eye, but within these small bubbles of time, it was as clear as the summer daylight blazing outside.

At least they had each other.

“I guess it didn’t occur to me as a probleM…” Raora trailed off, not sure if this was a topic that she’d want to bring up now. But, it couldn’t be helped in this particular case as she took in a deep breath. “I think it’s because I’m getting older, too. These kinds of illness don’t surprise me much more at this age.” She snorted a little after that one, muttering, “That made me sound like a grandma.”

Oh, wasn’t that the most heartbreaking thing?

Nerissa had never really considered the consequences of her naturally long life until after her escape from The Cell. While she did indeed befriend some who had much shorter lifespans than hers, they were all still alive and well by the time she was captured. She’d missed them greatly in the midst of decaying within the confines of her cage- despite her bond with Advent being unmatched thanks to their similar circumstances, she still wanted desperately to meet with her old buddies again once she got her hands on freedom. Then, that day came and with her heart soaring high, she searched far and wide for her old friends-

-only to find out that in the nine thousand years she was locked away, they’d all passed on long before she even got the chance to say goodbye.

It was that day which caused Nerissa to suddenly be well aware and absolutely petrified of her own mortality. A sound demon- no, a demon in general was capable of living several hundred times longer than most other mortals could ever dream of lasting. It had been a great comfort for her to remember that the rest of Advent either had century-long lifetimes themselves or were fully immortal in Shiori’s case. It was the only silver lining back then and despite going against what she’d always craved - connection - Nerissa became unwilling to indulge in any more relationships involving the average mortal. The dread of knowing that no matter what, they’d age faster in a year than she would in a hundred was too unbearable for her to imagine, let alone actually experience.

Then Justice entered the picture, and somehow, all of the walls she’d so carefully built to confide within collapsed in one fell swoop.

No matter how much her mind was screaming at her to not dare commit such an act, Nerissa’s heart stood no chance in resisting the four of them. Perhaps it was admiration- seeing people who were just as, if not more passionate about their lives as she was, made her feel all fluttery inside. Perhaps it was sympathy- witnessing those who were even more trapped by the chains of those who understood nothing about them than she ever was, made her emotions ignite in untamed ire. Whatever the case, her internal fears were shunned away as she wanted nothing more than to have them by her side for as long as she lived.

It is most unfortunate that she will only get to know them for a fraction of that time. Three of their members - Elizabeth, Gigi and Raora - all had normal human lifespans despite their own specific biological alterations. A hundred years or so at most; eighty years on average.

They were already over halfway towards their expiration date.

It wasn’t like Cecilia was much better off than them either. Even though she was “technically” immortal as long as they were transferred from body to body, there was no guarantee that the process would be one hundred percent successful or even link up correctly. It was essentially a multi sided dice roll on whether or not they would be able to keep their memories or become someone entirely new. As The Automaton had put it herself, “I either get all my memories or I’m shit out of luck.”.

There was no two ways around it. Justice were on a far stricter, far crueler time limit than Advent were.

Before she could spiral down further into despair, Nerissa’s trance was paused by a finger snap right in front of her face and the familiar touch of skin grabbing ahold of her chin. Briefly stunned, her head was turned over to see Raora giving the gentlest, most devastatingly soft smile imaginable- which only twisted that sickening feeling in her stomach even more. Gods, why couldn’t she have more time?

“il demone, it’s alright. How ‘bout we talk about this later, no? I think we should do something else for a change, like…” Even with her own internal conflict, it was nice to see that this news didn’t hamper Raora’s mood at all. The cat was still as rambunctious and excitable as ever, as proven by, “Oh! Can you sing for me? Any song, whichever you want! Pleaseeeee?”

…at least she’s still happy. Nerissa couldn’t say that her enthusiasm wasn’t infectious, either. “Sure, why not? Actually, I have an unfinished piece that I wanna try out- wanna be the first to hear it~?” Managing to find her composure again after a silent beat, Nerissa was able to mask away her emotions for now. It seemingly worked on the surface, as Raora was overly ecstatic at the prospect, practically jumping in her seat with her tail wagging back and forth at a thousand miles per hour.

So, with their “special day” temporarily forgotten for the time being, the two of them spent the next hour inside that cozy room displaying their love for art with one another. Despite the typically enthralling set piece, Nerissa wasn’t able to stop that unsettling fear from nesting inside her mind. That whenever Raora wasn’t looking or was doing something else alongside her singing, she couldn’t help but glance closely at the other’s features. Her lashes hid distinct, dark creases right beneath their lower eyelids. Some of her hair was beginning to lose their rosary form, now bleached by strings of grey.

Such a beautiful girl would become tainted by age over the sands of time, while she would remain immobile against its’ everlasting winds.

Nerissa reigned it all in, to not put any further pressure than need be for the other girl’s sake.

If she cried later that night, it was only her who’d ever know.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Left. Right. Left. Right.

Strafe one way, dash another. Foot forward, foot backwards. A deep breath, pull and a swift release.

*THUMP*

One hand swung, collar doused in blue, blocked by a sharp elbow. Another’s arm cut through the air, aiming below the gut only stopped short by a firm palm.

Both figures, eyes glinting against the sun’s gaze, pulled back upwards with their opposite limbs, attempting a double close line-

*SMACK*

-before being promptly cut off by a forward push from their would-be receiver, sending them backwards and nearly knocking them both off balance.

“Hagh-!”

“Hoeh-!”

Stumbling back from their opponent’s force, the duo’s thoughts were briefly interrupted by a light cackle, filled with pride yet all too kind.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Keep it up and you’ll be as hot as you look!”

“Go Gigi, Go!”

“Luv, aren’t you supposed to be cheering for them instead?”

Autumn! The season of daylight breezes with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sunshine! With such a serene air cultivating the land that one walked upon, it was the time of year for outdoor activities to take front and center stage as the main attraction. It was from that proposition that five girls found themselves inside a public park, using the local grassland as a makeshift fighting arena.

They were currently attempting to finalize their training in hand-to-hand combat, specifically Gigi and the twins. Elizabeth and Bijou had already finished their part of the exercise with fencing - mostly due to an embarrassing fall by the rock girl after screwing up a lunge - and now they were mostly content with watching the other three test their skills against one another. Even if the idea of Gigi being a teacher of any kind sounded absolutely terrifying to anyone outside of their group, she was surprisingly good at it when she wasn’t distracted (so about half of the time).

See, for the longest time, Advent didn’t find much use for everyday martial art techniques. Most of their encounters were against people who would either easily fold to their magic or could be overpowered with enough force, which came packaged in with the ex-convicts inherent abilities. Three demons, a gem and a girl-monster-hybrid-thing combined together, made it so that most folks would not stand a chance against them even without proper combat training. For Fuwawa and Mococo in particular, they had gained quite a bit of confidence after their escape from prison thanks in part to their strength playing a crucial role in the breach. They didn’t exactly need any more training than the ones they undertook in Hell before their capture, did they?

Then Gigi Murin happened.

She kicked their ass.

Frankly, the memory leading up to that moment was so ridiculous that it sounded like it was ripped straight out of a shonen, at least that’s how Shiori had described it. When Justice were first deployed to capture Advent by The Gods’ will, they had thought that they’d already figured everything out regarding their hunters. Fuwawa was able to sense Gigi’s ravenous tendency to overextend her attacks, allowing the blue twin to dodge her with relative ease. Mococo meanwhile, thought that she could eventually out power the gremlin in a straight head-to-head as in their early day duels, she’d been able to hold her ground against her fists.

Their first taste as to what their foes were actually capable of came about a year after their first contact. On a stray path after raiding a local supermarket for supplies, Advent were suddenly ambushed by hordes of bounty hunters looking to turn them in for the millions that the ones above offered for their imprisonment. What seemed like a simple confrontation against a group of hotshots way over their head, quickly escalated into a full-on bloodbath as other mercenary groups took over the area and were all trying to have their piece of the Advent pie. The five of them were getting overwhelmed from the sheer chaos of it all, and combined with their energy being depleted from a previous run-in with Justice a couple hours earlier, they probably wouldn’t had made it out alive had there been no outside interventions. Not without casualties, at least.

But there was one. An intervention far beyond what any of them were expecting in fact.

The appearance of one Gigi “Gonathon” Murin.

Gigi had told them later on that she was actually a mercenary herself for most of her life long before joining Justice’s ranks, going by the title of “Gonathon The Chaser” as her associate name. As such, with her prior connections to most of the syndicates around the nation of Freesia and their gang wars, it was no surprise in hindsight that she’d be able to sniff out trouble brewing as soon as word began to spread regarding the conflict. Even without this knowledge back then though, Fuwawa and Mococo were still able to tell that she was a big deal around these streets, judging by the frightened reactions of the other mercs upon her entrance.

”Yo-you’re kidding! Why is she here?!”

“Oh bloody hell- Why now?! I’d thought she’d left this dump years ago!“

“Fall back, boys! We can’t take her alone; regroup this INSTANT!”

To be fair, she did also enter the scene by literally exploding via magic out of a nearby abandoned apartment window and causing the building to collapse afterwards, so maybe that helped make their fears feel more validated.

The battle that ensued was what blatantly insinuated to the former prisoners that they were nowhere near on the same level Justice as they thought they were. Gigi’s movement on the battlefield was simply immaculate to the soul- it was hard to tell with the naked eye what her exact game-plan was not only due to her sheer speed (Fuwawa couldn’t even move that fast and that was her entire thing!) but also how accurate each of her steps were. The truly bewildering part though was the fact that there were no signs of Gigi’s usual habits for cocky strikes or overconfidence in her abilities; the most they got was the occasional smirk and quip whenever she’d slow down enough for them to see, but otherwise, she fought with a deliberateness that felt completely alien to the supposed chaotic gremlin of Justice that they’d come to expect.

Plus, there was the small fact that she was protecting them as well.

Gigi didn’t come here to gloat or boast about her strength over them or even to her fellow ex-colleagues, she came here to protect Advent and wouldn’t leave with anything less. The little talk she had with the five of them after it was all said and done only solidified that notion (Mococo in particular, remembered her words down to a tee as she’d mulled over them for the coming months after that encounter). It was one of the rare times that she didn’t drop a tease or remark towards any of them, which made sense with what they know now about her past. Gigi didn’t take much comfort in killing others when it was for the sake of keeping a roof over her head ever since childhood.

”Watch yourself. You may think you’re all the hype, but a stray bullet to the head and that’s it. Don’t play dumb!”

Safe to say, when it came time for the nine of them to duke it out again, the twins were more than a little eager to challenge Gigi to an actual brawl. They were quite insistent with their demands, lamenting over the fact that they hadn’t gotten the chance to face a strong opponent in ages (that was definitely their demon blood speaking). Even Bijou was pushing for a chance to fight despite her unwillingness to do so in their previous duels.

At the time, Gigi merely laughed them off fondly, stating that she’d consider it once the dust settled and they didn’t have to deal with the threat of a rising dictatorship over their heads. Fast forward a couple years and The Hellhounds would indeed get their wish as she’d officially accept their challenge on The Lookout. They even had a little audience with the rest of their girls watching from a nearby table.

Fuwawa and Mococo both woke up with severely aching backs for the next week.

”If it’s any constellation, you still looked fine as hell after I railed you!”

In short, the two of them got absolutely, diametrically, apocalyptically wrecked. When the twins were actually faced with a fighter who could keep up with their supernatural strength, their lack of experience reared its ugly heads back up as they simply could not outdo what Gigi was capable of. The gremlin didn’t even have her gloves on hand as she had passed them onto the other Justice members for maintenance checks, yet she still served their behinds on a silver plater. Fuwawa - to this day - has nightmares of the tail-leg-sweep into overhead cross up combo that was delivered to her.

Even so, this was unequivocally a strong start to something new between the nine of them. As despite her initial laughter at the twins’ expense after their unceremonious defeats, Gigi did genuinely feel bad for going overboard in that fight and still does now. It was the whole basis for why she even offered to train them in the first place, even with her lack of credentials as a teacher. Unfortunately, due to Justice’s importance to their nations’ military efforts, they didn’t actually get the chance to properly test one another until the beginning of this year after they all “retired” per say.

That is how they were brought to the present day. Fuwawa and Mococo were in the final stage of their test, aptly titled by The Chaser as “The part where you punch me really, really hard”. With all the basics like which type of stances they preferred now out of the way, their last challenge was to beat Gigi outright in a duel with no strings attached. So far, they were going 0 for 5 as they’d routinely find themselves getting battered by mixups, but they improved extremely quickly overtime. This newest attempt was proving to be the most fruitful as they were no longer on the back foot and could actually maintain themselves relative to their opponent.

Fuwawa tried to scour out an opening in the gremlin’s guard and with time, she figured out that her opponent had a habit of going for higher blocks since those were the attacks that the twins would most commonly pull out. But Gigi wasn’t defenseless against lower shots either, rather, she merely put less force into blocking them than higher ones. The correct move here was simple: The blue dog sped up and jumped over Gigi with a pounce, drawing the girl’s attention onto her. Mococo followed up with a quick jab near her back that was blocked by her opponent’s tail. She bought just enough time for her sister to attempt a jumping sidekick that was similarly cut short, though not without effort on Gigi’s part if the growing sweat on her temple was any indication.

The three of them then fell into a consistent rhythm as Gigi played defense while the puppies continued their onslaught. This loop was something that Fuwawa and Mococo always fell back onto when practicing as they were able to sync considerably well after some time spent in it, but it had never panned out well so far when fighting the gremlin due to how unpredictable she was. Now that they’ve gotten in a couple of tries, they finally managed to figure out a lot of her tricks, and now what mattered most was to improvise whenever she pulled out something new.

A sudden grapple after faking a jab? Push forward with a sweeping strike to throw her legs off balance. A roundhouse kick to catch a would-be cross up? No point in forcing an unfavorable situation; instead, pull a quick spin dash away and land on her tail. Their tails in general became a sort of built-in mixup tool, as Gigi pointed out to them that using said appendage for most attacks was less than ideal due to how easy it was to spot. As such, they were best saved for bursts of mobility or to throw the enemy off their timing at a crucial moment rather than as a traditional limb to fight with.

Throughout the trio’s constant exchange of blows, the twins were able to see that Gigi was actually getting tired for once. The girl herself was in a black-and-white tank top that reached below her chest rather than her typical hoodie, so her steady exhaustion was far more noticeable than usual. They’d certainly seen her sweat before - perhaps a little too many times, considering how recognizable the sight of the substance dripping down her jawline to her neck was (they were NOT staring at her abs, nuh uh!) - but never to this degree. If they kept up their pace, this could the best shot that the dogs had at beating her fair and square!

Ignoring the fact that it was a two vs one, but you know, semantics!

Meanwhile, the side of Bijou and Elizabeth was far more calm by comparison. Sensing that the trio was gonna be in a stalemate for quite some time, the two of them decided to practice on some light magic tempering in the meantime. While their magic types differed in overall effect and use case, both gem and flame were performed through similar means: the mental. It was imperative for these elements to be controlled in the correct state of mind, else their powers get pushed into disarray.

Being the titular Gem of Emotions herself, Bijou always struggled with making the magical side of her stones work properly. Despite being over three thousand years old at this rate, she was only now maturing into adulthood by golem standards. Because of that, the girl had no idea how to deal the newfound changes in her anatomy. Thankfully, Elizabeth was comparatively an expert at mental magic thanks to her years as a soldier, so she was able to pass down the lessons that she’d acquired throughout her tenure. At the very least, she was certainly a more effective teacher than Gigi was.

“Take a breath, sweetheart. You’re overdoing it; patience for this part, remember?” Oh, she got lost in thought there for a second, oops. Bijou steadied her breathing to a crawl, simultaneously unwinding her gem’s “waves” in the process. The small patch of grass surrounding them - which previously glowed a fluorescent light - returned to their natural color as her magic became stabilized. Clasping her hands and legs together as her dress clung to her form amidst her shifting, Bijou tried to keep her focus on the singular rock, honing in on where and how she wanted to affect the environment around her. It was admittedly a little difficult due to her excessive brainrot intake kicking in, but she managed it after a while.

Her “emotion control” ability was… to be blunt, really confusing. Since every sapient and sentient being was capable of feeling emotions one way or another, it meant that with the correct state of mind, she could theoretically influence anybody with her gems in any way she’d like. She could practically become the puppeteer of a whole stage play if she tried hard enough.

In theory. In practice, it was a whole dang mess.

Actually applying her abilities onto others was extremely volatile due to how easy it was for her to lose control. If her grip on someone’s feelings was loosened for even a moment, the results could be catastrophic. The pavement of nature that they were on served as a strong example. If she had a good grasp of their roots, she was capable of utilizing them as if she had plant magic despite having never learned it herself. If she didn’t have control over them, there was a very high likelihood of the plantation turning on her and actively try to kill her in response.

There was no silver lining to her powers unfortunately. If she were to use them for direct control, it was bound to roll tails at one point or another. As such, Elizabeth had recommended that she was better off using her shards to either amplify or tamper with another’s current emotions, rather than forcing them into a different one. That way, it would minimize the chances of the process going haywire as Bijou would be working with much smaller scale pieces than before. She was slightly ashamed that she didn’t figure this out for herself earlier, but better late than never!

Regardless, it was definitely a lot more reasonable of a method than going all in on emotion manipulation. Right now, she was testing the differences between how she could affect the local plant life within their current conditions- that being under the sunlight. She had just gotten finished amplifying their energy - which was the cause of the glow - now, she was focused on dampening them instead. It felt… bizarre, to say the least. If she had the compare the two sensations, it’d be sort of similar to the differences between a pond and an ocean. Though both contained the same basis, one remains calm in motion while the other’s waves fluctuate and intensify with each passing second. The leaves almost looked a little wilted with their “emotions” in a much more subdued state.

“There we go. You’re getting the hang of it, luv.” Elizabeth praised, earning a giddy nod out of the gem in response. Bijou was starting to get why Nerissa was so into receiving compliments from the redhead in particular.

Together, the two of them flicked their wrists to the side and took the aroma that had been inflicted upon the plants back into their own cores. The vegetation around them returned back to their all natural roots; neither weakened nor empowered. The scenery regained its color as it was no longer clashing with warped elements. “What’s next? Do I get to use this on something cool? Oh! Maybe on an animal like a fish or a bird- that’d be awesome!”

A small chuckle came from Elizabeth at her enthusiasm. “Not yet, Biboo. I’m not exactly in the best shape to help you further, so I think it’s best if we call it quits for today.” Bijou grumbled in annoyance at that. They really couldn’t get to the fun part now?

“Awwww, but I wanted to get to the cool stuff too! Can’t we continue for just a little longer, pleaseeee?” Bijou begged whilst pulling the best puppy eyes she could achieve, batting her eye lashes for maximum effect. It certainly would’ve worked if it were a couple years back when they both first got to know each other, but clearly, Elizabeth had grown resistant to it. Probably helped that four out of five members of Advent were capable of that.

“I know, I know. But I think I might keel over if I push myself more- I’m an old granny, remember?” Elizabeth had meant it jokingly considering the literal grandma voice she used, hoping to light her gem up by reusing one of her past remarks regarding the royal’s age. It was a fun running bit for the rock to resort to whenever she wanted to get something.

Now though, said gem girl felt a sudden shiver down her spine upon hearing that. Though she wasn’t entirely sure why as normally she’d be more than willing to banter back, Bijou couldn’t find it in her to continue that line of thought. The burn marks on the other’s skin from magic usage - a sight that she’d always found remarkable beauty in - were strangely scaring her. “Ye-yeah, you’re probably right. You sure you’re okay? I don’t wanna see you get hurt.” She hushed out the last part a little shyly, yet couldn’t quite discern the reasoning behind her own actions. Elizabeth seemed pleasantly surprised at the tone she spoke with, but returned it with a similarly caring smile.

“Appreciate it luv, but I’ll be alright. I’ve still got a couple years left before I have to hit the hay for my own safety- I won’t waste it, promise!” Despite the redhead’s declaration, Bijou still couldn’t match her excitement. She was probably just being overbearing, but still-

*PLUNK*

“GOT YOU!”

Her mind was temporarily taken elsewhere by the sounds of two girls yelling triumphantly alongside a slam down to the grass below. Glancing to her side at the ruckus, Bijou saw that the twins had actually managed to pull it off: They had Gigi pinned to the ground in a constricted grapple and were currently counting up until their victory. Fuwawa took the job of holding the gremlin’s arms, while Mococo took care of her legs and tail all in one. They were winning, and it seemed to spread a sense of elation to both the fighters as well as the onlookers alike.

“One…!”

Upward kicks from both legs were attempted, but Mococo was able to steady herself for extra time.

“Two…!”

A full throttle push was tried from beneath with her tail, nearly causing Fuwawa to be thrown off balance. The blue dog maintained her strength in spite of it.

“…THREE!”

And with that, all the force between the three combatants flew off one another as the timer hit an end. The sisters jumped up an impressive height as the ground beneath them blew away dust, positively overjoyed with their accomplishment. Despite not having risen up to commend them just yet, the unabashed grin etched onto the gremlin’s feature spelled out her own happiness even with her loss. A pair of footsteps approached them - the sounds of shard clattering and metallic clamoring filled the air - as the three of them were joined by Elizabeth and Bijou in congratulations.

“YAAHHHH! We- we actually did it, Moco-chan! We really did it!” Fuwawa practically screamed in ecstasy as she and her sister hopped up and down with their hands clasped together, not a speck of anything around them mattering at the current moment. She probably would’ve taunted Gigi a little for her loss had it not been for how happy she felt at the moment.

“HAEH! Ohhh, we gotta get something after this- this calls for a party!” Mococo replied with just as much excitement in her expression, their tails wagging all over the place like a windmill doing 90s.

“BAU BAU!”

“You guys actually got her, dang! Aww, now I have to pay Nerissa up, hmph!” Even though she appeared outwardly angry at the result, the small snicker that emerged from Bijou afterwards portrayed her actual thoughts. It was a silly bet, really- something that they’d partake it for the thrill of it and nothing more.

“Good job, girls! You’ve improved fast, I see?” Elizabeth beckoned the two of them closer to her with her hands high, very blatantly promising head pats. Ones that the hounds were more than willing to receive as they nearly ran Bijou over on their way to the redhead’s strong arms.

“HE-HEY! Watch where you’re going!” Bijou chastised as she nearly tripped onto the floor for the second time that day.

“Alright, alright, slow down girls! I have two hands for a reason!” Elizabeth chuckled wholeheartedly as the twins attempted to play a game of whack-a-mole with both jumping over one another to steal the royal’s attention all for themselves.

“Heay- she’s mine!”

“Noeh- she’s mine!”

“Oh, dang it, they’re at it again…” Still, Bijou let them have this little victory lap without interference, seeing that the much taller Elizabeth was handling the two of them just fine on her own. As she was about to walk closer to them to inspect the chaos for herself, however, she was interrupted by a lowly giggle coming from behind her.

Only then did she realize that Gigi hadn’t gotten up during that entire exchange.

Gigi. Of all people.

“Oh- you okay back there? I thought you were already up!” Bijou called out to the gremlin as she turned back to look at her to see that Gigi was indeed still laying on the ground, not having made an effort to get up. At least, not at first glance. “Gigi…?” Okay, she was actually getting kinda worried.

“I’-I’m okay! A litt-“ Cough. “-little winded, that’s all.” Despite her jovial tone, the gem was not at all convinced that she was fine, especially with how rough her voice sounded. Considering the lack of noises coming from the other three, it seems that they caught wind of this as well. Her concern only grew tenfold as Gigi stood up with a sharp hop and both arms to her sides in a shrug, “See? Still good to g-“ before doubling over onto her knees and falling back down to earth as a disgusting-sounding crack echoed through the air, holding onto her stomach with all three of her arms and coughing repeatedly.

That immediately got everyone to drop whatever they were doing and rush over to the girl’s side, with Bijou being the first with one hand over her shoulder. “Dam-Damn… hurts a lot more than I thought it would…” Even though she was legitimately hurt, Gigi couldn’t help but sneak in a snicker alongside her remark. As the remaining three caught up to the pair, Gigi’s eyes darted over to the hounds in particular, a grin back on her lips- though this one was much more lopsided out of exhaustion. “You girls sure know how to hit hard, don’t you? That’s what I wanna see!”

For the meantime however, her compliments went ignored as both sisters surrounded her and inspected the damage they’d accidentally dealt onto the gremlin. It was alarmingly bad; her arms and legs were starting to tear into themselves while her stomach had a visibly nasty looking crack slapped in the middle of where her bellybutton should’ve been. It instantly shot a wave of guilt over them both as they stared at her, already hushing out apologies to Gigi. She quickly shot them down before they could get any further though with a chuckle.

“I-I’m sorry! I di-didn’t think-!”

“Hoeh, are you okay, Gigi?! Did we-!”

“Ah, come on! It’s not so bad! I can always piece myself back together!” Gigi said confidently to try and dissuade their fears… only to deliver a more sheepish laugh as she seemed to finally register something about her injuries. “…although, I think you might’ve broke one of my ribs. I don’t know if I can fix that- ouchies.”

That did absolutely nothing to help with their distress, nor Bijou’s. Ultimately, it was up to Elizabeth to resolve as she gave out a small sigh, her shoulders slumping down in similarly tired fashion as her gremlin. “I think it’s best that we call it a day. No good use pushing ourselves any more than this.” She offered a hand down to Gigi, her face a little saddened seeing the shorter girl’s state. “How ‘bout we go on a piggyback ride? Probably sounds better than walking for you right now, innit?”

Ain’t no way in heck was Gigi gonna refuse that. “Woah… yeah, I’d like thaaaaaaaat.” The Chaser said with a slightly over exaggerated drool, not even bothering to hide where she was looking at (Liz’s chest, duh), which gave everyone a good enough laugh to alleviate the tension a bit. With some help from the rest of their five man band, Elizabeth brought Gigi up to her back and began to walk back home alongside everyone else. “Go, my noble steed! Onwards!” Another group chuckle was shared thanks to her silliness.

Still, despite the mood not being as down in the dumps, the other three girls shared their worries for the girl being carried along. The comment about her potentially broken rib stuck out like a sore thumb in particular, with Mococo apologizing profusely as she was the one who handled the lower half of the gremlin’s body. Gigi didn’t seem to mind though, stating, “I’m getting old anyway- a broken rib or two’s expected, right?” Elizabeth hummed in agreement to that statement.

Really, that should’ve been the end of it. The two girls were gonna be fine and the three of them managed to get what they wanted today. If anything, this should’ve been a cause for celebration like Mococo had insinuated earlier.

Instead, there was a distinct feeling of dread that settled within the trio that they couldn’t quite put their finger on. Why did this exciting moment feel so… lifeless?

The three girls glanced at each other as they walked behind the two Justice members - blue and pink irises meeting purple under the light of dawn - and none of them seemed to know the source of this fear weighing in their gut.

They’d carry on that day, yet nothing ever felt right. Not their victories. Not even The Chaser nor The Scarlet Queen’s smiles (…did they always have those wrinkles on them?).

Perhaps they’d have to ask someone who’d know best. Who always had an answer to all their questions.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“…are you sure this is necessary, Shiori? I’m not exactly complaining, but-“

“Ssshhh, I almost got it, don’t move too much! How does it feel when that hits your skin again?”

“My wires? I don’t know- some kind of weird scratchy thing? Feels like a cat just cut me with its’ claws.”

“Scratchy… cat claws… hmm…”

“You sound like you’re describing me as some kind of zoo animal, hehe.”

“Hey- it’s very important research, I tell you! Can’t write an accurate novel without having first hand experience now, can I?”

“…Shiori, I don’t think that’s how that works.”

The winter time was a downright gorgeous affair for some and the worst thing ever conceived by Mother Nature for others. The ever present cold airs running the streets alongside the avalanche of endless snow were essentially death sentences for most people who wanted to be outdoors. Nerissa in particular was especially bummed out by the season’s arrival, as not being able to take flight at all for an extended period of time definitely soured her mood.

On the opposite end however, winter also gave credence to a special coziness within every family’s home. Without the outside world to focus on, the main way to pass the time was to be by one another’s side under the bright Christmas lights (presumably Christmas anyway), snuggling on a couch or under a pile of blankets. If they had the wealth for it, a fireplace could be heard flickering flame just nearby as the skies dimmed towards ghoulish night. This was the side that Shiori found herself on as she was currently doing some experimentation with one of her girls- The Automaton to be exact.

Okay maybe calling this an experiment was a wee bit of a stretch, but it wasn’t exactly incorrect!

The reason for why they were together in The Lookout’s workshop - a dingy space that was more machine and wire than room with how much junk was laying around - was actually quite simple. Cecilia had been looking forward to winter as it was the only time of the year where new parts for her body didn’t cost their entire yearly payroll (it was still stupidly expensive but at least it was tolerable), and she had wanted to replace some inside cogs and gears that had ran past their due date for a good while now. Of course, being the mischievous, prodding little archiver that she is, Shiori tagged along with her (both through online and in person shopping) to try and see if she could spot some goods for them that they might’ve passed by.

Cecilia didn’t mind; spending time with any of the girls was a treat no matter the circumstance, especially a fellow yapper like the goth. Plus, Shiori was great to have around as a second pair of eyes incase they happened to miss something that could be useful.

She was also really good at embarrassing the hell out of her in public.

”No.”

“Whaaaaat? I didn’t say anything~”

“I am not buying the chest plate that has fucking nipples on it, what is WRONG with you-“

At least she was good company!

After managing to scour for the most fitting circuits and components for their model, the two of them headed back home after getting into a impromptu skating session and making more than a dozen pokes at each other’s expenses whenever either of them tripped their face onto the icy pavement. Could never go wrong with a little high-school-tier mischief!

Once they got back safe and sound, they went straight to The Lookout’s workshop, located on the same floor that housed Cecilia’s own room. Despite the dusty air that remained eternally no matter how hard everyone - Cecilia excluded - had tried cleaning it, the station was still the go-to area for anything related to device testing and mechanical restructuring. So, that was why they both ended up in the danky, cramped square with only a couple of lightbulbs up top to shine the way as they prepared for The Automaton’s maintenance check.

At first, Cecilia actually ended up doing these checks on its own accord. That was because throughout the lives of its past models, the equipment required to keep the doll up and running was primarily done by The Gods and their highest ranking officials. Due to the sheer technological gap between when it was first produced compared to what was actually available to earthlings at the time (about the age of the Roman Empire’s fall, funnily enough), all of Cecilia’s variants had to fix themselves without much external help aside from a couple of immortals/otherworlders here and there who had the knowledge for it.

(Occasionally, Cecilia could still hear Immergold complaining about how good she had it compared to them only to be reprimanded by a very annoyed Immerred and a sleep derived Updatilia not long after.

Feels like the voices in their head were just as dumb as she was.)

Thankfully, with advancements going at a more steady rate, Cecilia itself now didn’t need to go through the agonizing hassle of self-fixes as others now had the tools to give it a proper fresh coat of paint. Back when it was just Justice who lived within the estate, the other three would take turns in giving the maiden a makeover periodically. Gigi and Raora were especially well equipped to handle this process as they both had strong backgrounds in their specific types of craftsmanship, which translated surprisingly well over to automaton rewiring. Elizabeth was also helpful, but her role was saved for any magical enhancements that Cecilia may have wished to acquire.

With Advent now in the mix, it had five people who were willing to give its new settings a spin. Shiori was the more common of the two as while automaton inner workings was one of the few areas where she actually lacked adequate knowledge in, The Archiver was very willing and cooperative in learning to help, both out of genuine desire to do so as well as her own interest in the subject. Nerissa popped in the least overall out of the five, but she was still welcomed whenever she came by as she was mainly there to make sure that Cecilia’s instruments didn’t sound like a broken record. It was greatly appreciated for someone like Cecilia who was either too busy or too lazy to mend their frequently plucked piano keys.

As for Bijou and the twins, well… as much as she loved those three with all their heart, they were not allowed within a ten-foot pole radius of the workshop after they nearly blew the whole thing up last time. She didn’t mind their enthusiasm for the process but what the helly, they made Cecilia look like a goddamn ballerina by comparison with how clumsy they could be (How did Fuwawa even end up on the ceiling??? Whatever!).

Shiori decided that it was her turn to give them a hand, even though Cecilia was pretty sure that it wasn’t actually her time to do so yet. Not like it mattered much anyway- they didn’t really follow the queue for who would be the mechanic next, it was only there as a nice reminder for the doll herself to indulge in. The novelist was pretty good at handling her parts by this point in their relationship, albeit she still had the tendency to mess around a little if they could both use a breather every once in a while.

Such as right now, where Shiori was currently hoisting them up by a couple of ropes with Cecilia’s insides sticking out to see how their body reacted to specific effects.

Told you she was a weirdo!

In truth though, Cecilia did give her explicit permission to do all of this, as Shiori was actually keeping her to write for a character in her newest novel idea. A supposedly forgotten android who wandered the depths of a desolate wasteland long after the end of a war-torn world. Wonder where she took inspiration for that, heh. She was never gonna turn down the opportunity to help bring her girls’ imagination to life, even if it may involve doing something incredibly stupid. It was worth it to see their smiles after the fact; always was.

There was something that had caught her attention over the past few months, though, in regards to her girls. A strange vibe was emanating across all of their interactions, particularly on Advent’s side. It wasn’t anything bad, at least not aimed at Justice specifically. It felt more like… a stormy cloud was hanging over the ex-convicts thoughts that made them not as inclined to join up on all their operations as much anymore, even when offered. Shiori was the only that they didn’t sense any of this “essence” from, so she wondered if the goth had noticed it herself. Wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?

“Hey, Shiori?” Their tone was hushed yet light, deliberately set to draw the other’s attention onto her for a moment, away from the fantastical world within her writing. Cecilia was hoping that they could both face this reality with each other instead of sweeping it under the rug.

“Hm? What’s up?” It worked well, as Shiori’s golden gaze landed on her frame instead of the piece of paper before her table. Propping a hand up on her left cheek with her elbow, she seemed fully attentive and even a little bemused at being beckoned so suddenly. “Something got you in a twist? We can stop this little test if you want- not exactly in a rush to finish this.”

They shook their head; as much of a head shake that they could pull off in her position, anyway. “Nah, it’s not me. Just… I’ve noticed something, that’s all.” She got a raised eyebrow from Shiori out of that one, clearly wanting Cecilia to continue. They took a false breath, trying to find the best way to describe this without sounding insensitive. “Have you felt something… off, with your girls lately? Like, they haven’t been really doing much stuff with the rest of us, especially me and Justice. It’s like they’re trying to avoid them, you know?”

What was only meant to be a small starter to this conversation, actually became far more than what they’d bargained for as Cecilia could see Shiori’s eyes fade in real time. She’d thought that she’d messed up at first and had angered the goth, but subtle habits in the other’s movement told her the full story. She’d gotten used to seeing them by now; a slight tightening of her nails into skin, her own or another’s; an increased tension on her now upright shoulders; her breath took in abrupt bursts rather than their usual smooth sails; the clenching of her teeth ever so slightly, the white pristine against the darkness within the rest of her form.

If you were unfamiliar with her tells, you wouldn’t be judged for wrongfully assuming that she was pissed. The emptiness in her expression would surely be an indication of her rising fury at their audacity, but no.

She wasn’t angry. Not at them for making a remark that could easily be taken by mistake as an accusation against the ones who had rescued her from drowning in the abyss.

She was afraid.

“Ye-yeah, I’ve noticed too. I don’t…” Shiori put her head in her hands as she merely sat there, shaken to her core. The rustling of rebar could be heard near her as Cecilia drove a leftover hand that was still linked to her system over to Shiori and gave her a rub on the shoulder. It helped a slight bit as she leaned into the gentle touch of porcelain and metal after registering it, though her body was still jittery. “I don’t know why they’re acting like that. I’ve asked around, but… I haven’t pried them any. Doesn’t sit right with me to do that, not yet anyway.”

Ah, right. Shiori always had a soft spot for Advent even when she was still upholding the persona of “The One The Gods feared most”. The psychotic human-devil that’d been talked ad nauseam in newspaper clippings and TV outlets could never hide the care she held for her fellow escapees, no matter how hard she tried to appear stoic in combat. She found it difficult to push them on things they wanted to keep a secret despite having the ability to read minds; to her, they’d suffered enough over the ages, why force herself onto them if they didn’t desire a guiding hand?

(The opposite was true back when Justice was first introduced into their lives, as Shiori’s blind hatred for their past generations made it so that when she did peek into their heads, she’d only accept whatever fit into her own narrative. The one that she’d built up in her head to vindicate and solidify her own rage against her past torturers.

She still hasn’t forgiven herself for being so foolishly blind. To think she’d taunted them for “trusting” The Gods back then too, when all she did was fall into their trap even furth-)

“Hey. Stay with me, will you?” Shiori was suddenly jolted out of her stupor as the hand that was grabbing onto her shoulder moved up to soothingly caress her right cheek. She didn’t push the limb back, just letting them comfort her without contention. The two of them let themselves be engulfed in this silence for a while- not stilted, not fragile. Only a quiet peace that they could be comfortable in to recollect their thoughts.

Cecilia was fine with that; She was used to the other’s coping mechanisms by now. Despite the five of them being technically far older than what Justice could ever reach, Advent were still - at least in their mind - lost, young girls who didn’t have the chance to truly “grow up”. Forced to adapt to a world that threw them into isolation and be expected to act the part of an adult. So much of their lives were taken away from their hands by those who could never know their plights, yet the world turned around and plunged their hatred onto them as an “enemy” that must be defeated. As cattle that must be slaughtered.

Then they wonder why Justice - their supposed “golden children” - held such disgust for their ideologies. That Justice wouldn’t be able to understand the girls’ traumas when they’ve known what it’s like to be mere puppets for their entire existences. That they wouldn’t be able to see the literal mirrors of their own paths right before their eyes.

What hypocritical morons. Too high on their horses to notice their own undoings. Painfully laughable, really.

Cecilia could wait as long as the novelist needed to recover. Her heart for hatred ceased its gears when it came to the former prisoners especially. She could complain about a show costing way too much for their whole group to see together, even if the price was fairly reasonable. She could throw dozens of tantrums over having to work around the building to keep its hygiene up to code, lamenting about how boring it all was despite the workload taking a couple hours at most.

She could never force them to heal when they weren’t ready. It was the least that they deserved after what they faced.

Once Shiori calmed down and her senses returned back to normalcy, only then did Cecilia begin speaking again. “How about we call it a night? Piece me back together and we’ll both go talk to them. You see what’s up with your girls, I’ll ask if Gigi did something dumb again; sound good?”

A small chuckle and nod was her answer. Her hair black-and-white hair was still shriveled from how hard she gripped their strings amidst her panic, but otherwise, she seemed okay. “Yeah, let’s.” She didn’t say much more than that. Didn’t need to.

Cecilia understood. Always did, always will, always would.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They ended up finding the rest of their girls in the cafeteria.

It wasn’t exactly surprising in retrospect, given that the two of them had spent the whole morning together with their little escapade session. Thus, when they had gotten all finished and Cecilia had her body up and running again, enough time had passed that lunch was right around the corner. Neither of them particularly needed to eat for obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, but it was an excuse to hang out with the others so they’d always make sure to show up on time to it regardless.

Plus, with what they both suspected, now was a better time than ever to participate. If there was ever a place best suited for dragging the truth out, it was here.

The cafeteria itself was rather enormous, far bigger than any other singular area in the building and was capable of containing hundreds of people at a time. The chandeliers over thirty-feet above them flickered a translucent light, giving the facility a warm yellow glow juxtaposing the navy-blue sky outside. A giant glass window that stretched as far as the walls of the area was on the far left of the room, many of its panels now covered in snow and frost.

The facility being so strangely spacious made a lot more sense when you considered that it was a leftover from when The Lookout was still overrun by The Gods and as such, had way more of their guards and officials residing within its halls. Nowadays though, most of the area went unused as Shiori could still see dust laying atop the many chairs and tables on the outskirts of the room. Only the kitchen in the back and the large table stationed in the middle of it were used as the main place for the girls to dine on and chatter away about whatever misadventures they’d taken part in that day.

Or at least, it should’ve been. As they both recognized right away, the girls were split into separate groups in different corners of the room, the main table completely vacant of any activity. They were seated far enough away from each other that they couldn’t hear from group to group unless someone were to yell at it, which no one was. Not even Gigi or the twins spoke particularly loudly.

That was a very clear sign that something was seriously wrong.

“The heck…?” Cecilia blurted out, their expression tensed around the edges as they subconsciously grabbed ahold of Shiori’s right hand. She didn’t need to say much else- they both recognized it.

“…Let’s split, like you said. Catch up with you later?” Her tone was a far more abrasive than she would’ve liked it to be, especially when it resulted in the doll giving her a concerned frown. Shiori clenched their hands tighter before letting go, putting up the best smile she could manage. “I’ll be fine. Worry about your little group of hooligans for the time being, yeah?”

A soft snicker, all that was needed as the worry on Cecilia’s face faded away, leaving a more determined gaze in its place and a thumbs up. “Yeah! Good luck on your end!” With that, Cecilia hopped and skipped over to Justice’s table, giving a big wave and calling out to them all. In spite of being startled, the three of them seemed to be in good spirits as they acknowledge the incoming doll-missile with enthusiastic waves of their own. At least their side looked to be alright- Shiori felt lighter knowing that.

As she turned over to her own girls who were stationed near the window, she could see that they were momentarily surprised by Cecilia’s shouts too. They probably didn’t expect the duo to arrive so soon given what they were up to in the morning. Shiori drew their attention over to herself with a simple call of her signature ’Shiorin~’. Their eyes seemed to brightened up quite a bit upon spotting her, though they didn’t seem as excited as the others were upon seeing their arrival. Got a lot of work to do, huh?

She should start slow and work her way up. Rushing won’t get her anywhere if they aren’t willing to open up, and she was NOT about to use mind reading on them of all people.

Shiori settled into the remaining empty seat of the circular table, one that would’ve appeared to have been saved specifically for her had it not been for the uneasiness ever flowing from the four of them. They each sat as they’d usually do in most cases - the twins next to each other while Biboo and Nerissa flanked both of Shiori’s sides - but they were positioned in a way that gave off their underlying anxiety. Fuwawa’s and Mococo’s tails wagged slower than usual, Biboo was twiddling with her thumbs as her gaze remained downcast and Nerissa’s posture was far too stiff and crooked for someone who prides herself for her beauty. They weren’t exactly being subtle about it, but it seemed from their frowns that they weren’t trying to be. Did they want to talk about this too?

One step at a time.

“Soooo, what’re my favorite girls up to? Got into any scuffles without me~?” Shiori started against the silence, a question lighthearted in tone and intrigue. It lit the dimmed sparks within the rest of Advent as they all grappled onto the rafter she’d tossed them.

“Of course not, Shiowi! How could we do a little sneaking around without you? You’re the most important part~!” Nerissa chirped back on instinct, already up to speed with the flow and rhythm of their usual banter. She glanced at where the dogs’ sat with a mischievous glint in her eyes, leaning her head back for maximum sleazy effect. “Well, aside from these two, at least. They just couldn’t help themselves, you know?”

That immediately got a reaction out of both of them, so her teasing was certainly a success. “HOEH?! What do you- we-we didn’t do anything! Lies, I tell you, lies!” Mococo spoke first, flailing her arms up and down to try and accentuate her point in protest to this utter slander.

“Yah! We haven’t done anything yet! A little mischief here and there doesn’t count as trouble, does it?!” Fuwawa gave a huff and pout at being accused of such injustices. Their anger didn’t end up doing much though, as it only managed to make everyone else laugh even harder at their expense, making the twins flop down head first onto the table with grumbles in comically synchronized fashion.

“I think you need a better argument than that, Fuwawa…” Biboo said as she pat the blue hound on the back, still cackling with her window scraping laugh. Her comfort did little to satiate Fuwawa’s groans of embarrassment.

They let the moment prosper for but a few fleeting seconds, all their fears briefly forgotten. Such a peaceful trial wouldn’t last considering the point of this conversation, but Shiori was willing to indulge in it for now.

One step at a time.

“You’re nowt gonma grap somethin’, Shiowi?” Nerissa had taken to chomping on one of her five greasy-looking burgers, her mouth still full while talking like the unsightly peasant that she was (Shiori means it affectionately, don’t worry).

“Nah, I think I’m good. I’m just here to vibe, that’s all.” The goth glanced over to see what items the rest of them had picked for themselves (or asked Raora to make for them- could be both).

“Well, at least you’re not slobbering all over yourself like Rissa is. Seriously, even I have better table manners than you do!” Biboo had a small pork sandwich on one hand and a cup of juice on the other, switching back-and-forth between the two of them like she was using a scroll wheel. Perhaps this is what she meant when she said that she had peak gamer posture.

“Buwt it’s soooo gooood thouwghhh…!” She really wasn’t making a good case for herself if she continued being so messy all over the table. Shiori was half-surprised that Nerissa hadn’t accidentally squished one of the burgers under herself.

“Bwaeh, dirty bird, dirty!” Fuwawa was presently eating her shared ice cream serving with her sister, but decided to take a nearby napkin and went to clean up the dripping sauce from the raven’s food. She ended up getting some of it onto her dress, causing a hilariously disgusted grimace on her features.

“E-EXCUSE you?! What, was being called a stinky dog not enough for you?!” It was hard to tell if her rage at the blue dog was serious or not, but it definitely worked in riling both of them up.

“HAGH?! You take that back!”

“Nuh uh!”

“What do you mean ‘Nuh uh’?!”

They proceeded to go on this entire tirade, for the next five minutes, without breaks. The fact that neither of them lost their voices by the end from how long they went off unimpeded was genuinely impressive.

These types of exchange between all of them was fairly commonplace back in the day when Advent had just broken free from The Cell, but had ceased in quantity overtime as their lives had bigger priorities than nagging about each others’ bad habits. It was to be expected considering that they all had their own occupations to take care of, but it was a real shame. Because Shiori did truly miss this sight; watching as Fuwawa and Nerissa chucked verbal blades at one another while pulling as much dirt on each other as they could possibly conceive was utterly delightful. Biboo and Mococo clearly agreed, what with their shared amused grins and the fact that none of them had so much as made an attempt at stopping those two from going at it. Why waste energy on cutting off free entertainment, right?

Eventually, the two ceased their arguing after finally running out of breath and needing to refresh their vocal chords. Nerissa practically begged Biboo for her drink after dissipating hers to the last drop, which the rock caved in to after a bit of teasing, much to the raven’s sobbing dismay. Fuwawa, meanwhile, pretty much collapsed back-first into her sister’s arms, with Mococo having to hoist her up in a panic to ensure that she didn’t fall flat on her face from rolling off. Shiori was regretting not bringing a camera for this- it was so good.

When both of their extravagant debaters recovered from their own self-imposed challenge, they were in bright spirits. Sure, they were still a bit moody at each other for their comments regarding their lack of proper hygiene, but it was all in good fun at the end of the day. Almost made her forget that she was supposed to address something important.

Ah right. That.

Welp. No way around this, Shiori decided.

While the other four were currently chatting on and on, Shiori suddenly clapped her hands together in swift motion, causing a loud enough noise to shock the rest of the girls to her direction. Though her slap probably made a bit more of a commotion than she needed it to, at least it didn’t seem to draw any attention from Justice, as they were still busy talking endlessly on their end.

She hoped that she wouldn’t have to drag them into this. That this was all just her paranoia getting the best of her and nothing was out of the ordinary at all.

By The Gods, she hoped so.

But since when have they ever listened to her prayers?

“So… I, also wanted to come here to talk about something specific. Nothing huge, hopefully- just a small thing that I noticed recently regarding you guys!” She kept her tone as jovial as can be to not scare them into thinking that they were in deep trouble. Shiori probably overdid it though since she got some tiny terrified squeaks out of the puppies.

“Wh-whatever you’re thinking, it wasn’t us! We swear!” Mococo rushed out first, shivering as if she was still being hit by the outside’s cold winds. Fuwawa very hastily nodded right after her, not tempted in the slightest at the idea of angering Shiori.

“Y-yah! It was probably Biboo or someone else- I don’t know?!” The mentioned gem girl was not pleased with getting tossed to the wayside like that, if her angrily hopping in place was any indication.

“He-hey! I haven’t done anything! Why are you throwing me under the bus like thi-!”

“Girls, girls, it’s fine! I’m not mad at any of you! It’s not your fault, I promise.” That stopped the ongoing argument dead in its tracks as the twins and Biboo looked back at her in shock. Strangely, Nerissa remained eerily quiet throughout the whole exchange as her eyes stared into nothing, which did not sit right with Shiori at all.

Taking a deep breath, Shiori recalibrated her options with utmost care. “I… don’t think there’s an easy way to get into this, so I’ll just ask straight away.” A small hum filled the air as The Archiver considered each of her words to be as precise as a sharpened spear. “Have you been… avoiding, the girls over at Justice lately? I haven’t seen you guys interact with them much at all recently.” She made sure that she didn’t sound accusatory in her questioning. It wouldn’t get her anywhere, not at this rate.

Her answer? A frozen, dead silence. She could sense that same pestilence crawling under their expressions once again- the kind that rots and takes and pulverizes all that it consumes. Staring into each of their eyes, she saw how deep their abyss sunk into their very being. They were rendered back to being those same girls who had their rights and freedom stolen before they could even so much as muster why. Shiori despised seeing it on them- such an unsightly spiral tasted like poison on their features. She has to remove it. She must.

“Um… we… I…” Fuwawa was lost for words on what to say, clicking her tongue repeatedly in hopes that something would manifest, yet none did. Mococo wasn’t much better as she didn’t manage to speak of anything herself, merely fidgeting the end of her hair in place.

Biboo was the first one who provided a real answer, though the staggering within her voice marked clear doubt. “…ye-yeah, we have been. I guess we didn’t do a good job at hiding it, did we?” Such self-deprecating remarks did not fit the sweet girl’s pained smile, but it was the only thing that she was able to show. “I-it’s not their fault either! They didn’t do anything wrong- it’s just…” The golem wanted to continue, wanted to say something, anything, but even without direct confirmation, Shiori could tell that she was unsure of what emerged from her mouth to begin with.

The goth moved closer to the table itself as her dress rustled quietly against the wooden material, now enough to reach for Biboo’s empty left hand. The gem was briefly stun locked by this, as were the twins, but she didn’t reject her. She couldn’t- not after all this time. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not mad, remember? We can take this one step at a time. No need to rush, okay?”

Her message was quiet, but it held up so much of the weight on all of their shoulders. She could feel Biboo’s arm shake less overtime, and from the corner of her eye, Shiori saw Nerissa’s form ease off some of her built-up tension. The puppies got a lot of their energy back, too. “Yaeh, good idea, Shiori!” Mococo exclaimed, looking much more relaxed than how she was a mere few moments earlier.

“Let’s see… give me the rundown as to what you’ve been up to. What do you think could’ve happened that made you not want to talk with them as much?” She started with something simple, hoping to get at least some confirmation for a foundation first before moving onto other theories. Shiori received a couple of head shakes and shrugs at first.

“Um… I don’t know if there was. I think… we kinda just stopped wanting to meet them after a while. I’m not sure what caused it…” Mococo spoke timidly, a little ashamed that she wasn’t able to give a proper answer. Fuwawa and Biboo nodded along, seemingly in a similar boat to the pink twin in terms of uncertainty.

“Hmmm… how about a rough estimate? When did you drift away from them, exactly?” Shiori trailed a different line of thought; one that could still give her a good idea of what’s going on if they could give her something to work with. Thankfully, it seems that this question held more merit as Biboo piped up upon hearing it.

“Oh-uh… I think I know when? It was around the same time as you two, right?” She asked The Hellhounds for their inputs, which they replied with nods and “yaeh’s” of their own. Biboo seemed to be content with that as she turned back to Shiori. “I think… it was back during September when we had that one sparring session. You know, the one where we- we broke Gigi’s… yeah…” The hounds shuddered in place at the mention of that ‘incident’.

Ah. Yeah, that would do it.

“…Yeah, I can see why. I’m guessing you’ve been afraid of hurting them ever since?” Shiori asked gently, no mockery nor sneer to be found in her tone.

“…I guess, but… I don’t know, it’s like they look so…so… fragile, to me now. You get what I mean, Moco-chan?” Fuwawa poke at her sister with an elbow, her movements still shaky.

“Haeh. I don’t know if I really wanna spar again if we’d only hurt them more…” Mococo added meekly.

“Same with me and Liz. I know she said that those burns don’t actually hurt her all that bad, but… it just doesn’t sit right with me.” Biboo followed with a similar sentiment, all three of them feeling dreadful at the thought of such an event occurring.

“I see… Then how about w-“ Just as Shiori was about to drop her suggestion on where they might go from here, the sound of teeth clenching and table scratching could be heard off to her right. That was when she realized something horrifying.

Nerissa had not said a word since this conversation started.

“Rissa…? What’s wrong- are you okay?” Shiori was already on the move, quickly hoisting herself closer to Nerissa’s side in a blink. The rest of her girls followed suit, hopping off their seats and moving over to the disheveled raven.

“…” She didn’t say anything at first, simply holding onto the other’s extended hands like the most important lifelines in her world. Then, with a trembling voice, Nerissa spoke her mind. “I think I know what you’re feeling. It’s the same thing that I’ve felt this year, too.”

Shiori sat up straight, beckoning the demon to continue forward. All along the way, Biboo and the twins offered their own brands of comfort- the gen hugging her from behind while the twins rubbed her shoulders soothingly. No matter how much they may bicker over the most minuscule of things, they always have each other’s back. It wouldn’t change now.

Then the dam broke.

“Have you… ever thought about how, we’ll live far longer than they will?”

“…huh?”

The question came out so suddenly that Shiori had no idea how she was supposed to react. Her mind couldn’t even keep up with what Nerissa was spouting, as if all her time spent archiving her memories amounted to nothing in front of this impossible dilemma. From the outskirts, Biboo and the puppies weren’t looking much better either, with their own expressions of horror seeping through each and every layer of their skin.

Nerissa kept going despite that. “I’ve… been thinking about it a lot. You remember how I was the one who found out about Raora’s deaf ear before anyone else?” Despite her own shock, Shiori was able to nod along, yet any words she may have had felt lodged deep into her throat. “Everyone was preoccupied with finding ways to help her, and I’m so glad that you were. But… I couldn’t help but think what it meant for us in the future.”

Slowly, she spiraled further and further into that same drop of fear. “If this is what entails only ten years after we met them, what’s gonna happen in the next thirty? Am I gonna have to push Gigi on a wheelchair one day when her legs stop working? Will Liz still be able to sing to us by tomorrow? Are we even gonna get to see them grow that old? Human lifespans aren’t always accurate, right? Are we-“

“NERISSA!”

Cutting off her ramblings entirely in a flash, the rest of Advent screamed her name in unison, almost rupturing the entire dining area through its sheer echo. Each and every one of them held onto Nerissa in a vice grip to wrangle her back into reality- something that the raven was more than willing to accept.

From amidst the chaos, Shiori could hear the sound of rustling and concerned cries from behind her. When she turned back however, she saw that Cecilia was holding the other members of Justice back with translucent, magical strings and giving Shiori a reassuring nod. She appreciated that; this was own her responsibility, but the doll’s support was more than welcomed.

“There, there… It’s okay. ‘S nothing wrong with feeling that, Rissa.” She gave her some time to calm down first, with small whispers of comfort in her ear as her heart rate fell to a more stabilized level. Only once Nerissa was okay, did Shiori press on with her own scrambled thoughts. “I… haven’t really thought about it much, honestly. It hadn’t crossed my mind until now.”

She wasn’t the only one, as Biboo added her own personal opinion to the equation, her voice now much more quiet. “I didn’t think about it either, but… now that you mentioned it, what I’ve been feeling makes a lot more sense.” The sisters gave their sounds of agreement as well, though they refrained from talking for the time being.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but… I don’t know what to do. I thought that maybe if I’d avoid them for a couple of months then it’d get better- but nothing’s changed…” Nerissa was close to tearing up, but reeled it in to not worry the others any more than she already has. By The Gods, this really was just a repeat of last time.

“I can’t say I know what to do either. I mean, they’re my first human partners since I became… well, this.” Shiori pointed at herself to emphasize her point, a bit of ink dripping from her nails onto the table only to dissipate shortly after. “I don’t have any experience with outliving people, and… god, now I feel terrible.”

“Hoew?! Why?! You haven’t done anything wrong, Shiori!” The fuzzy dog exclaimed after being quiet for some time, her ears perking up at such an outrageous statement. The rest of Advent followed suit, with even Nerissa temporarily broken out of her thoughts.

“…It’s ‘cause I’m supposed to be the one who has all the answers. That’s been my entire thing since we made our little group…” Shiori muttered, a small tear in her voice as its strength steadily dissolved. “Feels like I failed you all if I can’t even give you a single idea, you know?”

Even without the horrific implications regarding the mortality of her other partners taken into account, The Archiver felt so hopelessly lost. If she couldn’t manage to give even just a barely tolerable answer that could suffice for their plight, what was she even good for to begin with? She’s their leader, for crying out loud! She should be better- should know better!

Of course, her girls were NOT about to let that slide. “That’s not true at all, Shiori! You can’t know everything- you’re bound to mess up sometimes and that’s okay!” Biboo retorted instantaneously, not caring about how high she raised her voice whatsoever.

“You’ve always been here to help us no matter what! A little mistake here or there is nothing, okay?” Fuwawa followed up with a strong sense of determination, her fuzzy sister not far behind as she joined in with similar noises of encouragement as well.

“Darling, don’t blame yourself for this. I don’t think any of us have a real answer ourselves, so you don’t need to make it seem like it’s your fault. We can figure this out together, can’t we?” Despite her own doubts for this situation, The Sound Demon didn’t want this to seep into Shiori’s insecurities as a leader any further. Why did she have to be so stubborn when it came to this specifically?

Their words most definitely helped, but Shiori still found it difficult in her to truly believe them. Her heart knew that they were right, but her mind refused to bend the knee. “…still, shouldn’t I at least be able t-“

“You know, if that’s what you were dealing with, you could’ve just asked me.”

In an act that came completely out of the blue and certainly did NOT give Advent a collective heart attack (shut up), Shiori glanced up at the direction of the uninvited voice to see Cecilia standing right next to her with the goofiest grin and side eye known to man. She was clearly enjoying the reaction she’d gotten out of them considering her key was spinning at mach five, so fast that their head could probably take off to the skies if she decided to detach it. Why was she even here to begin with- where did the rest of Justice go?

“Hi!”

“HWUAH?! Don’t do that! You scared me!” Fuwawa shrieked a very lady-like and totally not embarrassing squeal at the doll’s arrival.

“Hoeh… feels like my heart just jumped out of my chest…” Mococo barely squeaked out, looking very much like her soul was exorcised from this mortal coil.

“Where the heck did you come from, anyway?! And where’s everyone else?” Biboo’s crown wings fluttered erratically alongside her newfound annoyance.

“Oh, them? They had some extra work they needed to do so I sent them off.” That made a bit more sense, at least. Though it is strange how this ‘work’ they mentioned hadn’t popped up on her radar until now. “As for me… well, I heard most of what you were talking about, and I wanted to chime in.”

Oh.

Ohhhhhhh. Crapbaskets.

That was the subconscious response of the five of them at Cecilia’s remark, with the addition of a couple coughs and choking sounds from Biboo and Nerissa respectively. She really heard most of that? The shock and genuine fear must’ve really shown on their faces considering how hard the maiden cackled at them. “What? A girl can’t eavesdrop a little here and there as a treat? Wow, so strict.”

Shiori gave an aggressive head shake, not sure if she should be miffed or terrified by the other’s presence. “That’s not the point- you don’t have to be here, Ceci! This isn’t your problem to solve, trust me.” Even if it was related to Justice, she didn’t want to drag them into this mess if she could help it.

Cecilia disagreed entirely. “No, I think it is. I mean, I’m the only one here who has experience with outliving my friends, am I not?”

Ah.

“Ceci, you…” Nerissa choked out, feeling her heart sink ever deeper when she saw Cecilia’s subdued expression. “You wanted to help, ‘cause… you already knew this was coming? That we’d ask about this?” The Automaton didn’t give an immediate reply, but the smile sculpted onto their face was much too somber for such a cheerful girl. It was a quiet acceptance of what they knew was inevitable, a fate that she didn’t bother to fight against the tides of. “Oh, darling…”

“Ah, it’s fine. It was to be expected- I’m surprised you guys are only asking about it now, honestly.” The giggle that’d normally pull at their strings with its warmth, sounded more like metallic scratching near their ears than anything else at the moment. “I can tell you a lot about it if you’re down to hear some. Besides…” She tugged at one of her sleeves, their fingers gently crossing its golden bracelet. A pair of past gifts from someone long passed.

“It helps me remember the ones I’ve already lost. Brings back a lot of good memories, you know?”

Cecilia’s reminiscence was placed onto the table for everyone to see, but Shiori could feel their emerald greens staring directly at her in particular. Good memories, huh? “…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. You’d have a better shot at giving an actual answer than me, anyway.” Her little self-insult did not go unnoticed by the rest of Advent (and Cecilia herself) given their piercing glares, but they let it off the hook for now. Seems like all of them could use the path that the doll was offering to guide them through.

“…You’ve all gone through the ‘bargaining’ phase, yeah? Where you try to find some kind of loophole that’d make you feel better?” Shiori could feel some of them reeling back at Cecilia’s very direct callout, but they nodded along regardless. Denial would get them nowhere at this point. “I’ll admit, avoiding them is a not a bad idea. It can really help you get yourself together in a couple of months, but eventually, you’ll have to face them, and…”

A tired sigh that sounded way too loud against the cold silence of winter. “I’m sure you’ve heard some people say that it gets easier with time, yeah? That you can ‘get used’ to losing people after a while?” Cecilia chuckled to her audience of five, but her laughter only served to creep them out. “Well, allow me to tell you the truth that they don’t want you to know:”

*SLAM*

”They’re all full of shit.”

The extreme contrast between their deceptively calm voice with her outburst and swing down to the table genuinely scared most of them in place, though Shiori was only mildly surprised herself. The others were definitely shrieking their heads off behind her though. Cecilia was always one to be passionate whenever they liked or hated something, but this seemed like it was on a whole new level compared to what they’d expect out of her. After recovering from her rage, Cecilia calmed down a peg and starting talking again, sounding much more monotone than before.

“It doesn’t get any better- it really doesn’t. I can calculate it, I know when it’s coming, and it still fucking hurts. Each and every one of them that I have to see go when I’m still gonna be here for the next however long this body decides to stick.” They gripped and twisted at her hair with nearly enough intensity to tear some of it off their skin, not too dissimilar to a butterfly shedding off its cocoon. But before Shiori could even consider the act of comforting her, Cecilia glanced back up at them… and somehow, looked genuinely at peace. “That hasn’t stopped me from wanting to meet new friends. Hasn’t stopped from spending every last second that they have with them. You wanna know why?”

She pointed outside to something right behind them. Shiori followed where her finger was aiming at, and saw… a perplexing sight. “That’s why.”

It was the other members of Justice hanging out on the other side of the window, very clearly not “working” as previously entailed by Cecilia. It seems that the ongoing blizzard did not deter them from having a bit of fun, whether in the snow or somewhere not too far away. Elizabeth and Gigi were currently attempting to freeze one another in a snowball fight, neither of them being successful for their own reasons (flame or stubbornness, your choice). Raora was dangling up and down from a branch of a nearby tree, using her hoodie’s belts and her tail as a makeshift swing. Though their voices were blocked off by the glass in-between, their smiles told a thousand words.

It was such a simple, innocent sight.

And it was wonderful.

“You really think I’d want to miss that?” Cecilia said a small bell of silence, her voice firm yet kind as she absentmindedly tapped at the table. “It will hurt like hell to see them go- I’m not gonna lie to myself and say that won’t happen. But I’d rather pick up a stupid broom again than ever give up on seeing them like this.”

That rang true for all of them, too.

“Yeah, you’re right! Why are we being all moody when we could’ve just been hanging out with them all this time?” Biboo was the first to take up the mantle, her gems brightening in realization.

“How many years do we have left with them? I think it was 40 or so? That’s still a lot!” Fuwawa and Mococo jumped up shortly after, already prepared to run out the door and join the fun.

“It’s only a rough estimate, but… I think you’re right, Ceci. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it like that!” Nerissa spoke, a little sheepish but filled to the brim with passion in her voice again.

Cecilia gave off an awkward laugh at all the girls’ simultaneous comments. “Holy moly, you guys turn heads fast, don’t you? Already so eager!” The look on their face was one of genuine pride. “That’s a good thing, though. It means you’re all set for this- just needed a little push in the right direction!”

Then, there was subtle bonk noise coming from the direction of the window. When everybody’s heads turned, they saw Gigi comically smooshing her face on the glass, pressing her entire body into it like a pancake. ”Hey! Are you guys done with the boring stuff yet? Come on- get out here!” Her voice was barely discernible, but her enthusiasm leaked through regardless.

“Haegh! Biboo, Moco-chan, whoever gets out last pays everyone in cookies! GO!” Fuwawa suddenly declared before booking it for the hills in a blink.

“HOEH?! HAEY! Get back here- that’s not fair!” Mococo trailed right behind her fluffier twin, knocking over more than a dozen stools along the way.

“Aw, dang it! I really wanted those cookies too, hmph!” Biboo pouted, taking a more leisure stroll as she knew there was no way she was gonna be able to catchup with the twins. Nerissa swooned closely behind, giving her a sweet laugh.

“Darling, no need to be so grumpy~. How about I pay up this time around, my treat for our last bet?” The Gem of Emotions immediately perked up hearing that, her eyes sparkling like a kid being offered a lollipop. Before the two of them went off, Nerissa turned back to see Cecilia and Shiori stay stationed in their seats. “You not goin’ with us, guys?”

Shiori was about to say she would, but Cecilia grabbed ahold of her lifted hand and settled it down, speaking for her. “We’ll catch up later! I got some stuff I wanted to tell Shiori first.” Wait, they did?

Nerissa looked between the two of them, contemplating before wiggling her eyebrows in the most obnoxious manner possible that insinuated what she was really thinking. “Sure you do~. We’ll let you borrow her for a minute- treat her well!”

“I-agh…” Cecilia couldn’t even manage to get a rebuttal in as Nerissa had already hopped and skipped out of the door by then. Mumbling an aggravated sigh, they slumped down into their chair and tilted her head over to see Shiori give an equally cheeky grin as her raven. “Oh god, not you too…”

“What~? If you wanted to ask me out, you didn’t have to be this smooth with it.” The novelist teased the doll as she grabbed a strand of their hair and twiddled it around her thumb, giggling all the while.

“God, you guys really are the worst…” Despite what she said aloud, Cecilia could barely fight off her own snickers at their own expense. They slowly sat up to look at Shiori in the eye, holding onto her hand again and causing the goth to lose her breath for a second. They seemed really determined about this. “It’s more so about what you mentioned earlier. The whole ‘feeling not good enough to be their leader’ thing.”

Ah, she must’ve not done as good a job of masking that as she thought she did. “It’s fine, don’t worry. I was just being pedantic, that’s all.” Shiori tried in vain to reassure her doll while closing her eyes, knowing full well that she was about to get a whole rant dropped on her head. It wouldn’t be undeserved this time around, she’d say.

Surprisingly, it didn’t happen the way she’d thought it would. As she heard the shuffling of a dress to her side and was awaiting the inevitable lecture coming her way, she instead felt two metallic (but also soft) arms surrounding her body. Opening her eyes back up, she glanced around to see Cecilia merely giving her a small smile instead of all the expected rambles she’d assumed out of them. “Heh, it’s like I’m staring into Liz’s mirror whenever I look at you. Just as pretty too, honestly.”

Unsure if that was an attempt at flirting or if Cecilia had somehow snuck a sip of alcohol in somewhere along the lines, Shiori looked at her with a remarkably dumbfounded expression. Giggling just a tad, Cecilia continued on. “I can’t exactly force you to not feel like that, but what I can tell you is that you are way too smart to be thinking like a simpleton. Don’t blame yourself for not knowing about something this obscure, you idiot!”

Even though it was the most Cecilia way to comfort somebody ever, it actually did work on Shiori as she chuckled hard in the other’s face. “Wow, Ceci. And I thought Gigi’s pickup lines were questionable! That was shit!” The flustered whine that came out of Cecilia only made the novelist laugh even more before the doll broke into giggles of their own. By The Gods, they were so stupid. “But… thank you, genuinely. I’ll get better at it, I promise- you won’t have to nag me like an old lady every time.”

“Good! I’m pretty sure my voice box would kill itself if I had to!” Once they both quieted down, they looked to the window outside again, seeing that the rest of their girls were all tussling under the frosty breeze. They even turned the aforementioned one vs one matchup between Liz and Gigi into a full 7-way snowball brawl, which was incredibly amusing.

Suddenly, Shiori felt a tighter onto her right arm as she turned to Cecilia pouring daggers into her again. Confused, she was about to ask what was wrong before The Automaton cut her off first. “Shiori… can you promise something as well? For both your sake and theirs?”

Though not exactly certain what the other meant by that, she gave a hum of agreement anyway. Then, they spoke with a sense of conviction. “Remember to spend the time you have with your girls too.”

Briefly stunned, Shiori could only ponder out loud, “What do you… mean by that, Ceci?”

“…I know it’s easy to forget when compared to my girls - or hell, even me - but… Shiori, yours aren’t immortal either. They might live longer than mine, but they will age sooner or later.” Cecilia took in a gulp despite not needing to pause for it, considering her words correctly. “Don’t waste what you have with them right now, alright? You’ll only regret it.”

Just like that, Cecilia dragged out a fear that Shiori wasn’t even aware that she may have had and destroyed it before it got the chance to fester. The goth couldn’t help the thankful smile that creeped onto her face. “Yeah, I won’t waste it. I can promise you that much.”

“Good. You better keep your word.”

She wasn’t sure how long the two of them had actually ended up sitting there, simply basking in one another’s presence and warmth against the cruel coldness of the world around them. But, each and every time they felt like they were falling ever further into the abyss, the other would pull them out of it. Each and every time they couldn’t see outside of the blizzard that incased their hearts, all they’d need to do was remember their beloveds and let their lights guide them forwards.

Each and every time.

“…By the way, you definitely told them to go outside just to prove your point, didn’t you?”

“Hey, I killed two birds with one stone, you know?”

“Dramatic, aren’t we?”

“Pfft, as if you’re any better!”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As spring approached and the new year set its sails, a new road for a blossoming tomorrow was opened up for all to take part in. Amongst the masses were nine girls working through their individual avenues of life, yet culminating in with the desire to reunite with one another.

A raven singing encores in front of hundreds of thousands pulled from different continents all over the world in front of a stadium-sized concert, alongside a queen of similar notoriety standing right by her side. Behind them laid an enormous orchestra to play melodies that were heaven to the ears, two of their members being a passionate violinist of an automaton and an upstarting pianist with the mantle of an archiver. Even though they called for the attention of their millions of fans, their own eyes always gleamed in the direction of five figures in the front row seat, cheering them on with ecstasy.

Meanwhile, a gremlin sat at home as she fixed up some faulty electrical cabinets to ensure that her gem would be able to record and play to her heart’s content. Similarly, a big pink cat led the way for a pair of puppies towards the freedom of their new life, showing them the ropes through the beauty of art. Their home’s peacefulness was a stark contrast to their partners’ usual activities, but they welcomed it. Such quiet coziness was a place for all doubts to be put to rest, especially when their four beloveds returned to a barrage of hugs and affectionate laughter.

Their days could be tiring, could be dreadful, could be unforgiving. But they’d always have each other’s back no matter the stakes.

Even as the clock ticked down and time is running low, their hands will never hold onto emptiness. Whether they’re gone or remain for eternity, the others’ shall always keep them safe.

In the end, isn’t that what truly matters most?