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Elizabeth had woken up one day to the sight of a red string on her ring finger. She was young, didn’t quite understand it, and had asked her parents what it meant, only to realize she saw a red string between the two of them, attached by their ring fingers.
The red string of fate, it was called. Apparently something not everyone could see, but was a gift granted by her bloodline. Her parents had been elated that their daughter had a soul mate, as not all did, or some had platonic soulmates tied to their pinkies. Some thought it liberating, to not have fate dictating your destiny, but Elizabeth saw it differently.
Elizabeth had always seen the red string on her ring finger as a promise. A silent declaration that she wouldn’t be alone.
But, as Elizabeth grew up and began her fated duties as a Harbinger, she did not find her soul mate. She thought she might find it in her coworkers with how close they all became, but it wasn’t meant to be. If anything, Elizabeth found herself smiling in amusement watching them dance around each other.
Elizabeth had never heard of a three way string before, but Gigi, Cecilia, and Raora all had red strings tied to each other. None of them seemed to see it themselves, which made their antics all the more amusing.
It soothed the ache in her heart, just a little.
Elizabeth still hadn’t found her soulmate.
…Until one fateful day, a simple guard duty job until new guards were hired. It should have been normal. It was normal.
Except…
Elizabeth had stepped into the Cell’s halls with a practiced calm. She knew what she was here for, and she had no qualms doing her duty.
The others were busy at the moment, leaving Elizabeth alone to address the situation. One of the demon dogs had seriously injured multiple of the guards and left most of them out of commission, something about disciplinary action going wrong?
Elizabeth wasn’t afraid though. She was as strong as they come and well trained, she could handle it.
…What she didn’t expect when she first checked in on the perpetrators was to find… Two young looking girls, not much younger than herself, both connected by a red string on their pinkie fingers. One of them was muzzled and shackled to the floor, growling lowly when Elizabeth approached.
“W-Wait- Moco-chan didn’t mean it- Don’t hurt her more!” Another voice begged her. Elizabeth turned her head, spotting a similar looking girl in the cell beside her, looking at her with utter desperation in those pink eyes.
“I have no such intentions, I am simply checking in on each of the prisoners.” Elizabeth replied with slight confusion. What exactly did the previous guards do to make this girl so afraid of that, of her?
The taller of the two offered no answer to these questions, just eyed her warily with pinned back ears. The shorter offered no answer either, just weakly trying to stay propped up on all fours as her bindings burnt her. Were they silver? Why- Why would they outfit her with such a thing, it was hurting her!
Elizabeth wanted to do something about that, but she doubted her superiors would appreciate her putting herself in danger to rectify the situation without informing them first. She’d have to bring it up when she finished her rounds…
Next was another demon. The case file warned her about not opening the cell door for too long, lest the demon use its powers.
Elizabeth carefully opened the window into the cell, this one walled rather than covered with bars, though that didn’t stop the red string slipping out the bottom of the door.
When she looked inside, it appeared that the cell was padded quite a lot, as if to soundproof it. It was rather quiet inside, and there was only one occupant. A beautiful-looking demon with dark raven wings curled around her as she sat in the center of the room, humming to herself.
In an instant the demon’s gaze snapped up to her, expression morphing into confusion when she registered who was there.
“...You’re not one of the usual guards…” The girl mumbled, voice sounding scratchy from either under or over use.
“Well, one of your friends almost killed a dozen or so guards, so I am replacing them for now.” Elizabeth explained, she saw no reason not to.
“..Really? I- I don’t know much of what goes on, I can’t hear anything outside this cell unless the window’s open…” The demon shrugged, giving a weak smile.
“I see… Well, you seem uninjured, so I shall conclude my-”
“W-Wait-”
Elizabeth paused her hand on the window, glancing down at the demon with a raised brow.
“...Can I hear the outside just a little longer?” The demon asked quietly, wings twitching just enough to show the red string was indeed attached to her, specifically to her ring finger. A non-platonic soulmate, then. Elizabeth supposed that answered the question of whether or not demons had soul mates at all…
…Elizabeth couldn’t find it in her heart to deny that request. She chatted a little with the demon, letting her hear the outside world for a good ten or so minutes before she had to move on. The demon seemed extremely grateful for that, giving her a tearful smile.
And Elizabeth… Found herself wondering what this demon could’ve done to earn her lot in life. She seemed kind, if not clearly suffering from this extreme isolation…
Elizabeth moved on to the next cell, only for her eyes to widen when she saw the demon’s red string was trailing across the floor, slack, and crawled under the door of the next cell. There were two pairs of soulmates imprisoned here? Though she supposed the twin’s platonic soulmate tie wouldn’t count as much to certain people…
The moment she opened the window, she saw just how dark the cell was. It was hard to see inside, outside of a tiny glint of something reflective and the faint glow of the red string.
“...Light…” A small voice whimpered, the sounds of something, or someone, shuffling closer reaching Elizabeth’s ears.
Elizabeth expected some sort of grotesque creature, some sort of towering vampire or something of the like that required total darkness.
What she saw was a small girl covered in gemstones that looked as though she could burst into tears at any moment at the miniscule amount of light cast on her.
A red string on her ring finger.
“...Are Nerissa and the twins okay?” The small girl asked in an equally small voice, the gemstone on her chest a sad deep blue color.
“If you mean the demon and demon dogs, yes. The demon was rather chatty, the dogs less so.” Elizabeth answered quietly. This poor girl looked as though she were slowly drowning in despair from the darkness. Why would her superiors do such a thing to a prisoner, even if this girl had somehow done something horrible?
…
Elizabeth allowed the window to be open for ten minutes without the gem asking her to. She felt awfully sad just looking at this girl, and wanted her to feel at least a little better. It seemed to help, at least a little, and the gem didn’t scream or shout when she closed the window, just… Cried silently.
Elizabeth’s heart felt heavy.
She kept walking though, down to the last occupied cell in this block. Nothing unusual, entirely ordinary.
…Until she saw her string go slack. It had never done that before, so what-
…
Unless the other end of the string was nearby.
“...No…” Elizabeth mumbled to herself with wide eyes and she grew closer and closer to the cell door, only for her heart to sink.
The string led under the door of the last cell.
Her soulmate was on the other side of this door. A criminal. Someone so dangerous they were in the Cell.
Elizabeth’s hand shook as she went to open the door to the cell.
…
On the other side of the door was one of the most beautiful girls Elizabeth had ever seen. Beautiful golden eyes, hair split down the middle between black and white, and dressed in a rather gothic style.
…And two red strings were tied to her, one on each ring finger. The one on her left hand was frayed and no more than the torn remnants of thread, while the other was attached to Elizabeth’s own ring finger.
The girl was sitting on the bed of her cell, a well-worn book in her hands she had been reading. She glanced up with utter disinterest, only for her eyes to widen when she saw the redhead.
It was silent for a few moments, the two just… Staring at each other.
“...You aren’t the usual guard.” The girl remarked.
Elizabeth was speechless. She had half a mind to close the door and pretend she never saw anything.
“Doing your best impression of a fish there with the gaping mouth and all? Got a name, fish girl?” The girl joked, smiling a fanged smile.
The queen swallowed hard.
“...My name is Elizabeth.” She said shakily, not making eye contact.
“Gotcha… Mine’s Shiori. Did Mococo do that much damage to the guards that they sent one of their figureheads instead?” The girl, Shiori, asked with more than a little snark in her voice.
Elizabeth flinched.
“I- I’m a Harbinger. I had no other pressing assignments, so I was selected to check in on all of you.” Elizabeth explained, trying to suppress the urge to step back.
“Oooh, a Harbinger, lucky me that you took time out of your schedule to deal with us riff-raff. Didn’t dirty your hands with our blood yet, did you?” Shiori chuckled mockingly.
“I… I have tried to be as pleasant to you all as I can. I gave the Demon of Sound and Gem of Emotion extra time with sound and light, and I did not harm the demon dogs.” Elizabeth scoffed at the insinuation that she’d beat these defenseless prisoners for no good reason.
Shiori eyed her for a few moments, looking dead serious. Elizabeth tried not to fiddle with the thread around her finger, something she tended to do when she was nervous.
“...Okay. If you’re telling the truth, you’re better than the usual guards, so I guess it’s a good thing one of those idiots tried hurting Fuwawa in front of her sister.” Shiori drawled, turning back to her book. Now that Elizabeth was looking, there was a single small shelf that had a few books on it, all well-worn and old, so much so it’d be a wonder if she could read any of them…
“I am indeed telling the truth. I’m… I’m not quite sure why you all are being held in these conditions, they aren’t particularly acceptable.” Elizabeth sighed with a frown.
“Hmpf. You and me both.” Shiori shrugged, turning back to her book.
“I… I can try to talk to my superiors, but I’m not sure if they’d listen to me…” Elizabeth trailed off, brow furrowed.
“I mean, they’re pretty awful people, so I doubt it.” Shiori rolled her eyes at that.
Elizabeth felt a surge of indignance at that. After all, her family trusted her superiors quite a lot, and they had given her many great opportunities, but…
She couldn’t argue with the facts she had witnessed today.
…
“Well, I’ve confirmed all of you are in your cells and haven’t harmed yourselves or each other, so I will be taking my leave.” Elizabeth nodded to herself, starting to head out, but.. Paused. Spared a glance at the thread on her ring finger, then to where it connected on Shiori’s.
“...It was… Nice meeting you.” Elizabeth said, before quickly leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Elizabeth found her back pressed to the wall,
…Her soulmate was a prisoner of the Cell. Was a criminal so dangerous she was put in one of if not the toughest prisons the Gods had to offer.
Yet… Shiori didn’t seem evil. None of the prisoners did. They all seemed perfectly kind and were clearly suffering.
Something was wrong with this.
But Elizabeth elected to not think about that too hard.
…At least, for now.
Elizabeth found herself checking in on the inhabitants of The Cell rather often after that day. It was her job, but she would take up shifts intended for her coworkers quite often, which wasn’t particularly hard in the case of Gigi or Raora, they didn’t like patrolling the Cell very much and happily handed over their patrols.
Cecilia on the other hand didn’t, insisted on not letting the queen work too hard, assuming it was just their workaholic leader being herself again.
…But it was far more than that.
Elizabeth… Found herself breaching protocol. Would spend longer than necessary with them, would give them little things here and there to improve their spirits. She was just doing it to ease her conscience, to ease their suffering.
…But they all steadily grew less wary of her, even began looking forwards to her visits and patrols. The prisoners saw her less like a warden and more like a friend.
Elizabeth knew she was doing something she shouldn’t, and it wasn’t to make herself feel better about the situation.
She was doing it because it was the right thing to do.
But if breaking the rules was right, what was wrong?
…
Elizabeth didn’t know.
It didn’t help that she found herself spending more time with Shiori as time went on either. At first it was an accident, truthfully. Then it became a pattern, and…. Then a habit. Then a routine. Something she did every time without fail.
So much so, that…
“Hey Liz, you’re early.” Shiori remarked one day as she sat in the corner.
Something was wrong. Her smile was strained. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach.
…
And there were eyes and ink all over her.
Elizabeth hardly had the mind left to close the door behind her before she rushed in, eyes wide with concern and hands hovering anxiously, unsure on what to do.
“What- What happened?!” Elizabeth asked frantically.
“...Side effect of my curse… It’ll pass…” Shiori tried to handwave the concern, but it didn’t quite work.
“...Curse?” Elizabeth asked, slowly making her way over.
“Wow, your bosses really- Really don’t tell you anything, h-huh?” Shiori asked with a chuckle followed by a wet-sounding cough she covered with her hand. When she pulled it away, eye-covered ink coated her palm.
“Is- Is there anything I can do?” Elizabeth asked, brow furrowing.
“...Not really, it's just… It’s… It’ll pass, don’t- Don’t worry about me.” Shiori sighed, only for her main eyes to widen a little when Elizabeth moved to sit beside her.
“Then I’ll stay with you until it does.” Elizabeth said resolutely, now allowing any room for argument. Shiori stared at her for a few moments in disbelief, then chuckled weakly, daring to lean her head against a warm strong shoulder, a shoulder that jumped slightly at the unexpected touch.
“Your boss isn’t gonna like this…” Shiori sighed softly.
“They- T-They don’t need to know. Besides, it’s my job to make sure you all are okay.” Elizabeth replied firmly, or at least as firmly as she could after that.
“If you say so.”
It was quiet for several minutes after that. Neither really knew what to say. Shiori just tried to make herself comfortable and Elizabeth let her, in fact she dared to wrap an arm around the Archivist’s shoulders. Something about it felt… Right.
Elizabeth had a pretty good idea as to why that was. Their red threads were almost tangled from how close together they were, though the frayed one on Shiori’s other hand was undisturbed.
Elizabeth had half a mind to ask about that, but then she’d have to reveal she could see the strings and that would probably lead to more questions she couldn’t really answer…
“...You really aren’t like the others, huh?” Shiori spoke quietly, an edge of a weak laugh in her voice.
“I just wish I could do more to make things better for you all…” Elizabeth sighed softly, brow furrowed.
“You’re already doing a lot, don’t sell yourself short…” Shiori chuckled weakly, leaning further into the touch.
They stayed like that for what felt like an hour, but was probably far shorter than that. It took time, but the ink receded, as did the eyes, and Shiori stopped looking as pained.
Elizabeth didn’t want to let go.
…But she had to. Especially because she didn’t want to, she… She couldn’t fall for Shiori, even if it was fated, even if the very universe was screaming at her to do so.
She didn’t do a very good job at ignoring destiny’s call.
Elizabeth had gone out of her way to learn the various members of Advent’s birthdays, bringing them little trinkets or food when they hit, or giving them extra time with the window open in the cases of Nerissa and Bijou.
But… For apparent reasons, she felt the need to really think hard about what to get Shiori for her birthday. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could get away with taking over patrols and she’d like to leave something for her soulmate to remember her by when that day of separation came.
So, Elizabeth thought long and hard about it, and came to a conclusion that she thought was a good one. She had the present hidden under her coat as she finished her rounds and made her way to the Archivist’s cell.
“Knock knock.” Elizabeth chuckled as she opened the door. Per usual, there was Shiori on her bed and reading those faded old books.
“You’re a dork.” Shiori snorted with a fanged smile.
‘I’m your dork.’
Ah. Yeah no, she couldn’t say that.
“I brought you something.” Elizabeth said instead as she closed the door behind her.
“...You remembered?” Shiori mumbled under her breath, eyes wide.
“Of course I did. I, erm, got you this.” Elizabeth smiled shyly, handing over the present.
“Wow, you wrapped it and everything, red carpet treatment.” Shiori chuckled, though it was clear she was genuinely touched.
She went silent when she unwrapped the gift.
Three books, decently sized ones at that, all in pristine condition, a far cry from those in her bookshelf. Shiori looked between Elizabeth and the books, jaw dropped.
“Now who’s a fish?” Elizabeth tried to joke, but it didn’t quite land with how nervous she sounded.
“O-Oh ha ha, very funny Liz.” Shiori huffed, tracing the lettering of one of the covers with her fingers.
“...Jokes aside, thank you, seriously… This… This means the world to me.” Shiori spoke softly, sending a weak smile her way.
Elizabeth could’ve sworn their red thread glowed just that little bit brighter.
“I’m just happy you’re happy.”
Ah. She shouldn’t have said that. She needed to move on fast.
“I- I g-got you a few of my favorites, I hope they’re to your liking.” Elizabeth gave her own weak attempt at a smile.
Shiori set the books aside to stand, making her way to the Harbinger.
…And hugged her.
Elizabeth held her arms out awkwardly, eyes wide and frozen on the spot.
“Thank you… This means more than you know.” Shiori whispered, holding her that little bit tighter.
“I… Of c-course, I…”
“Just hug me back, dummy.” Shiori giggled.
Elizabeth found herself physically incapable of denying that request.
She could almost feel how their string tangled around them, could almost feel its warmth and low pulse like a heartbeat between the two of them.
Gods, why did her soulmate have to be a prisoner?
…And why was Elizabeth allowing herself to fall in love with her?
Elizabeth had no answers. She just held Shiori close and savored the moment. She wasn’t sure she’d get the chance again.
…And she was right.
Elizabeth awoke to a loud clamor and her colleagues racing around in a panic.
A prison break.
…The Archivist’s powers were fueled by literature. She had broken all of them out, and the Gods had sent one of their top agents to find them.
Elizabeth’s fault. Her failure to control her emotions caused this. It was her burden to bear, and her mistake to correct.
…Even if part of her had silently longed for the girls to escape so they would be free and safe.
But Shiori couldn’t hide from her though. They were connected after all.
So Elizabeth raced to find them, to warn them if nothing else. It sounded like the Gods had no interest in bringing them in alive, and Elizabeth would rather die than allow her friends to come to harm.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?!” Gigi asked frantically as Elizabeth drove their cruiser like a woman possessed after her own string.
“Positive! Just- Just hang on, we should be arriving there soon-”
A stabbing pain in her chest.
Her red string grew taut, then loose.
….Started to fray.
Elizabeth’s heart stopped beating for a few moments.
She slammed her foot on the gas and tore towards the thread, ignoring the concerned shouts of her coworkers, traffic laws, all of it.
Nothing but saving her soulmate mattered to her right now.
They reached it in record time. Elizabeth could see the remnants of a tornado of destruction, leading through the street and out of town, towards a small farmhouse.
The trail of ink made Elizabeth’s stomach drop.
“No… NO!” Elizabeth shouted, hitting the brakes and practically leaping out of the car before it even came to a complete stop, racing towards the barn that had its doors ripped off.
…The corpse of the Gods envoy was ripped to pieces and littered all over the outside of the barn with the culprits clear.
Their motivation for the brutality was even more clear.
Shiori laid on the ground inside the barn, bleeding.
The thread was fraying.
“...Shiori…” Elizabeth whimpered, stumbling towards her soulmate. Advent was too busy brutalizing the culprit of this that they didn’t even notice her approach.
“...Hey t-there…Beautiful…” Shiori smiled weakly, before her smile turned to a grimace as she coughed up black blood.
“I- I can fix this, somehow, I-”
The thread was pulling taut, tight, looking as though it could snap at any moment.
“...Guess I’m n-not the only one…With a d-dead soulmate…” Shiori laughed weakly, holding up her hand with the frayed thread.
…
“You… You knew?” Elizabeth rasped.
“Since….The start…” Shiori smiled weakly up at her.
There were a thousand questions in Elizabeth’s mind, a million more in her heart. But she didn’t have time to ask them, didn’t know how.
“...I wish things were different. I wish- I wish we just got to meet at a cafe or something, I wish you weren’t a fugitive and I wasn’t a Harbinger.” Elizabeth whimpered, holding Shiori closer.
“...I wish I was allowed to love you.”
The string grew tauter still.
“...M-Me too…” Shiori gurgled.
“I just wanted you to be happy…” Elizabeth tried to speak, but tears were starting to fil her eyes and her voice.
“I am… M-My girls… Are safe… T-That’s all I want…” Shiori chuckled weakly.
“So… Thank you. And… Liz?”
“...Y-Yes?”
“L-Love you.” Shiori let out in a breathless sigh.
…Nothing more.
Shiori took one more breath.
…
The thread snapped, leaving a frayed thread on Elizabeth’s ring finger.
Advent and Justice both came back to the barn to the sight of the Harbinger wailing in utter sorrow over the Archivist's corpse.
Their fated end. The outcome expected from a love forbidden by the Gods themselves. What else could one expect with the odds so stacked against them?
Sometimes life doesn’t have a happy ending. You struggle and claw, fight tooth and nail, but it’s not enough against the cruelty that is fate.
All our threads snap and wither eventually. All we can do is make the most of the time we have before the Fates cut our strings with cruel jagged sheers and matching sneers.
But that doesn’t change that the love was there. And as they say, it’s better to love and lost, than to never love at all.
…
Or perhaps not.
Fate is fickle like that sometimes.