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Shiori had always had words tattooed on her body, cheerful smudges with impeccable calligraphy that contained such a curious phrase that it made her wonder what kind of phrase that were. Always moving and jumping whenever she did anything, pushing her or somehow telling her to be careful, it was endearing, It was cute.
She didn't really care about soulmates; in a way, it was almost annoying to think that a god had marked her to find someone in the future. She didn't like it.
On the other hand, the mark on her body almost felt like an exception, such strange words, yet ready to send her energy and support her, moving to the position of her heart whenever she felt doubt and coiling around her wrist as if it knew Shiori liked seeing it. It was annoying, it was stupid, and she couldn't help but be curious about the person behind the words.
And then she was in the cell.
The gods cast her into the deepest prison and lost the key while chaining her up so she could never escape, without considering that Shiori would never allow such a thing.
It was then that she realized the power of the words that clung to her arm every moment in the cell, a declaration against the gods themselves. They made Shiori laugh a lot, giving her a comfort that felt silly and stupid, but there was a silly and stupid person somewhere saying them with such certainty that Shiori couldn't help but smile and feel better every time the pain of the chains became too much. What an irony, right? To love so much a mark placed by the gods who imprisoned her.
She met the other people trapped in the cell, Nerissa, Biboo, and Fuwamoco, so unjustly imprisoned that Shiori could only do the only thing she could do, and well, with her own personal fan in the form of letters that jumped every time she thought about the possibility of escaping and keeping the others safe, she couldn't help but save them after all.
The best decision she'd ever made, honestly. She wouldn't mind falling back into that prison if it meant saving her girls, who deserved a glimpse of the outside world after all the years they'd spent disconnected.
Though the fun didn't last long, not when a group began relentlessly tracking them, following and intercepting them if they stayed in one place for too long, a truly annoying group.
"Halt, criminals! You won't be able to continue your escape from the cell. You are hereby informed that you must surrender without resistance" the leader said to them during their initial encounter, staring intently at Shiori as she spoke those weighty words.
"Oh, you think you and your team can catch us, Herald?" Shiori replied mockingly. Honestly, she'd let herself be captured in that first encounter, more out of curiosity to see her pursuers and what they were capable of, while she already had an escape route planned.
“That’s certainly true, Archivist. No criminal in the eye of the gods will escape” The herald of the gods stared at her intently as she spoke, fire crackling around her.
“Well then, let’s begin this game of cat and mouse” Shiori smiled, fully aware that she had the first move, providing an escape route for her girls. She left the herald running toward her, sword drawn, only to find herself trapped on the ground in a pool of useless ink.
It definitely wasn’t a perfect first impression, nor was there even a second or third. Each one was followed by a constant struggle where Shiori was tasked with discovering what made her pursuers hesitate, giving them more time to escape. So naturally, it wasn't hard to see the herald's weakness for her mark, proudly displayed on her neck, yet so likely to start stuttering slightly as she asked if there was a Mrs or Mr.Bloodflame. The herald truly had a soft spot for their soulmate, though at that moment she didn't grasp the full extent of it.
It was fun, exhausting, perhaps a little less so when Justice began to soften their stance against them as they seemed to be coming to terms with Advent's imprisonment, but unable to stop as long as there were gods who wanted them back in their cells.
Honestly, it was a breath of fresh air when Hololive appeared, a company full of powerful beings willing to offer them protection in exchange for work, work that, at the end of the day, aligned perfectly with each of their values.
What she definitely didn't expect was for their pursuers to arrive at the same place. The line about them only being monitored was forgotten as a joke while they were busy entertaining themselves.
It was interesting, a bit like their last battles but without them raising their weapons against each other, allowing them to get to know their pursuers better.
They even learned more about that weak point of Liz's that was fun to exploit even If she no longer had to distract her.
"Oh, it seems Lady Bloodflame is happy," Shiori teased playfully at Liz after seeing her enter the meeting room. Liz looked happy as she walked with her neck in the air, her pulse throbbing steadily.
"What? Nooo, I'm just happy, definitely nothing more," Elizabeth laughed nervously.
"So, the half hour in front of the mirror was nothing?" The rest of Justice entered as well, Gigi smiling as if she'd dropped a bombshell.
The jumble of words Elizabeth uttered after that was entertaining to watch, seeing her blush as she tried to explain that it was something technical and had nothing to do with her soulmate.
Shiori couldn't help but be amused by her reaction, her own mark resonating with amusement and joy, which only made Shiori amused even more by the ticklish feeling.
And while it was fun to find that weakness of the Herald, it was even more entertaining to see why it was so important. Well, it was more entertaining to get the information about why it was important but potato, patata.
Liz wasn't just a swordsman; she seemed to have memorized several titles and books about her country's history, her family's history, and the deeply ingrained meaning it held for them.
Liz was no different in that sense of how important the history was for her, telling Shiori what she remembered from those books, which were a bit harder to find in that dimension at the moment, explaining the religious and spiritual significance the mark brought her, the personal importance it held for her.
Shiori found it all a bit too elaborate, so much fuss over a mark from some random god they'd given her, though she could understand the spiritual aspect somewhat, mainly because of the idea of a being torn in two to be placed in different, separate bodies destined to meet again. It was…something, though perhaps it was just Shiori herself feeling the warmth the letters on her skin gave her and having a bias towards Liz's customs for that reason.
The exchange of information was constant. Liz seemed happy to share information about the books she had read as a young woman with Shiori, especially those that could only be found in her homeland and which Shiori was always keen to record in her files.
Perhaps that perspective on books and her thirst for knowledge blinded her to what should have been obvious.
At least until they had to leave for Justice's first fest.
It was exhausting, with some of their schedules slightly altered, Advent a little more accustomed to it than Justice, as they navigated the entire fest up to the closing party they were hosting.
She saw Liz leave the room briefly at some point during the night, following a few steps behind.
"Erby emby, too much in the party?" Shiori asked as she walked her outside, to a small area next to the party with windows and a bit less of the karaoke noise.
“A little, or I think Gigi gave me her cold,” Liz giggled, her voice a little husky, whether because she was right or just from all the singing.
“Or maybe you’ve just been working too much,” Shiori gave Liz a little nudge as they settled into their seats.
“Pfft, that’s definitely not the reason at all. Work? What’s that?” Liz laughed, adopting the most obviously fake tone, aware that by now everyone knew she was juggling too many projects.
Shiori rolled her eyes, amused, smiling as she watched Liz contort her body to match her tone, too theatrical for a living person, but that was just Liz being theatrical.
“What are you working on now? Last time you weren’t so busy, but Henma said you’ve been filling out paperwork almost constantly,” Shiori asked, curious about what was filling Liz’s time.
Liz paused for a moment, not in her usual way, with a soft hum when speaking to someone and pretending to think before her response. Instead, she remained completely silent, as if unsure of how to phrase it.
"It was mostly a report for the gods," Liz said softly, understanding that it was a rather delicate matter with the Advent leader. "Good things, of course," she quickly countered, raising her hands with a somewhat nervous smile.
"They'd better be the best things," Shiori pointed a finger at her, narrowing her eyes seriously before smiling, her hidden nervousness subsided before she spoke again. "Are they still trying to catch us, or are they seriously considering having your team monitor us forever?"
“Don’t worry, I’ve been sending reports many times so that the monitoring would be the only thing, but it’s only now that they’re accepting it, so now they want all the reports with more details.” Liz hummed a little, her shoulders a bit more relaxed as she recounted the positive update.
“Ah I see, so you're writing a bunch of lies for us, how nice." Shiori couldn't help but laugh when Liz turned to face her, yelling the "The Frig?!" she was used to hearing.
"So you know, I only write the truth and nothing but the truth!" Liz retorted, amused by the small rose at first, but focused on her indignant act.
"Sure, thanks, Herald, you're saving Advent from lie to lie." Shiori couldn't help but laugh as she continued.
"Hey!" Liz couldn't help it, letting out a giggle.
It took them a moment to calm down, well, more like Shiori, who couldn't help but laugh every time she saw Liz again, even with her indignant face. It was so silly.
When they finally calmed down a bit, Shiori felt she had to thank Liz a little. Of course, the gods weren't actively pursuing Advent anymore; part of that was definitely due to the other Hololive members, but Shiori knew that wasn't an impediment for them. Instead, Justice's watchful eye was something more tangible for the gods.
Honestly, Shiori hated it, but in a way, she couldn't hate it either, not when Justice got along so well with his girls and they weren't really doing their monitoring job beyond appearing in the chat of their streams. Instead, they were just having fun together, so Shiori couldn't find herself hating them, no matter how much she hated the gods.
"Thanks, Liz," Shiori said, relaxing a bit. Moment.
“Hey, you don’t have to thank me,” Liz assured her, smiling. “Honestly, it’s all your own doing… especially since you really don’t have to stay in that cell.” Liz frowned slightly, aware that they truly didn’t deserve all the treatment they’d received in the cell. “What’s more, if you somehow become wanted criminals again, I’ll stand with you to defend you, like, I will fight the gods if that means doing the right thing, like protecting you” Elizabeth said seriously, with a determination as she finally turned to Shiori, as if to show her that her words were sincere. “None in Advent deserve to be locked up again”
The words tattooed on her forearm were jumping and moving, burning as if their speaker had finally uttered the magic words, burning as if they wanted to mark Shiori’s skin even more than it already was.
And it all hit Shiori hard, the words she had been cherishing since she’d been in the cell, spoken by the person she least expected, the very beat of her heart. While she processed what that meant, the fact that she had to process it because it meant something.
The realization hit her as she remained silent, Liz beside her, completely unaware of the impact her words had had, simply closing her eyes and enjoying the night as if she knew those kinds of words had an impact, but not the kind of impact Liz had thought.
Shiori watched her, unwilling to say anything, just observing the electrocardiogram on Liz's neck, going wild, rising and falling frantically in sync with her own heart.
Because, oh.
Liz was her soulmate…
And because she had fallen in love with her…
There was something disgusting in her gut as that thought continued to strike her. Elizabeth, the person in love with her soulmate even without knowing her, simply appreciating her because she knew she existed, with that heart line constantly pumping, the person who would definitely give her life for her soulmate… and that soulmate was Shiori of all people.
The blow to her gut… It intensified.
Her.
Her of all people.
It shouldn't be like this.
She swallowed, trying to calm her own heartbeat, to calm the throbbing in her neck before Elizabeth noticed it.
"Well, Herald, don't let anyone know you have a soft spot for Advent," she scoffed, easier to manage, easier to pretend she was referring to the rest of Advent who deserved those kinds of words more than she did.
"A soft spot? As if the Herald of Justice had such a thing!" Elizabeth laughed, starting loud and melodious before ending in the peculiar snore that Shiori realized she was starting to notice more. "Well, maybe," she relaxed. Maybe her chains weren't as literal as Advent's back in the Cell, but she definitely had them, and Advent's escape had, in a way, also helped Justice escape, so maybe yes, she did have a soft spot for Advent.
Shiori left that room as quickly as possible as soon as she had the chance, looking as casual as possible while she calmed down all the thoughts flooding her head.
If it was suspicious that she avoided Elizabeth in the following days, it wasn't noticed (or if it was, then her girls were smarter at not saying anything at all; she was especially referring to Biboo, who raised an eyebrow at her every chance she got, and Shiori simply couldn't tell if it was because of one of her memes or if she definitely knew something) She tried to act as casually as possible, attempting to suppress the pain in her gut and the words that burned her skin as if she were begging to speak to the owner of those words, but she ignored it every time.
Honestly, for having kept things under control for a few days, Shiori did quite well. A little longer and she could have gone home without anyone suspecting a thing, though in the end, that's not what happened.
Instead, she found herself cornered late at night by Liz in the hotel hallway where they were all staying, having stepped out of her room for a moment to get a small snack from the vending machine.
The surprise when Liz stood in the hallway for a moment, smiling with that joyful expression as she greeted her and approached, Shiori's heart pounding against Liz's neck like a painful reminder.
"Shiori, hi, it's been a while since we've seen each other. Busy days, huh?" Liz walked past her, getting her own snack from the vending machine before standing next to Shiori.
The mark on her arm was bubbling with heat.
"Yeah, busy days," Shiori thought, considering taking out the sleep card, going back to her room quickly, and finishing things there.
"Yeah, we should hang out sometime. Nerissa said the other day that you wanted to go to a library for some special copies from here, right? I was thinking of going with you if it's not too much trouble," Liz asked, smiling gently.
The smile stung her, especially since she was aware of Liz and her search for interesting books that would trigger the emotions she felt through her mark, aware that Liz was searching for books for her.
That she had been searching for books for her for so long, and even though Shiori didn't really have that direct connection to the mark, it made her heart leap at the thought of Liz searching for her.
...
...
...
The leap of her heart reflected in Liz's neck was like the last straw.
“Why do you have to be you of all people?!” Shiori finally exploded, the bubbling in her gut of repressed emotions, the mark now on her arm burning fiercely as she pulled Liz to the ground, placing her hands against her neck, against the mark that bound her to Liz's fate, the mark that bound Liz to HER fate. “WHY?!” she screamed as her hands tightened around the redhead's neck.
Not lifting her eyes from the mark, terrified of Liz's reaction to her outburst of emotions, she was more focused on trying to extinguish with her own hands that mark that throbbed uncontrollably just like her own heartbeat. There on Liz's neck, that dark black color mocking her and the emotions that filled her.
Her hands turned yellow as she clenched them, her heart beating in sync with the mark, fear, anger, rage, love, so much swirling within her that she didn't know how to express it. She didn't know if she simply wanted to erase that mark on Liz's neck or erase her own mark on her arm so Liz could have a better soulmate, so she wouldn't be bound to her.
Although it seemed her hands weren't doing much, not when Liz gently placed her hands against hers on her neck. The touch stirred Shiori a little, finally grounding her enough to lift her gaze slightly to the woman staring at her.
To say she was staring was an understatement; she seemed astonished, definitely by the Archivist's outburst, but her gaze was also filled with admiration as it shifted between Shiori and the words on her arm, which glowed with the same intensity as they burned.
"It's you." Liz's words were soft, too soft. Her eyes shone enchantedly in the light as she see's Shiori's. As if she had found the greatest treasure of all time.
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked… in love. The sight was definitely another blow to Shiori, who finally reacted.
She didn't know what to say, didn't know how to feel. A torrent of words and ink on the tip of her tongue tried to find an excuse. Maybe she could pretend and make Liz believe she was mistaken, that she wasn't her soulmate. Maybe she could pretend the words on her arm were nothing more than a silly tattoo. Maybe…
But she couldn't do any of that.
"Oh, you-you have a kink about being choked, don't you? Yes, you definitely do." Shiori couldn't help but laugh as she finally loosened her grip, which had only left a red mark on Liz's neck. She felt her whole body tense and relax as she breathed between each almost hysterical laugh.
"Wha-no?? What?? No, no, no, I-I don't have a kink????" Liz was too defensive, unsure how to respond. “You’re the one with one!!!”
“Ah, so you’re projecting, huh? Haha!” Shiori laughed, and then she cried, tears she hadn’t realized had been forming earlier, spilling from her eyes as everything hit her again.
“Hey…” Liz, being… Liz, sat up slightly, adjusting Shiori so they were both sitting, and reached out to wipe away her tears. “Hey…”
Shiori couldn’t help but feel the warmth she always felt from Liz’s words on her skin, but this time it was transmitted through Liz’s skin, the skin of her soulmate.
She closed her eyes, content to say nothing as she tried to calm her emotions, savoring the moment like a dessert that would end at any moment.
“How long have you known?” Liz asked, not with reproach in her voice for Shiori knowing, just curiosity.
“Only when you said It" she replied softly, opening her eyes to scan her mark, the letters shifting and settling on her arm so that not only Shiori could read them, but now Liz too. “Although you’d be assuming it’s been much longer, right?” she snorted listlessly.
“A little…although that explains why you’ve been so nervous lately,” Liz hummed, not referring to Shiori directly, but to the emotions emanating from her mark. That was definitely a rather potent snitch. “Although it doesn’t really explain…why? Why did you get like that?” Li asked gently, almost sounding apologetic for the question being so intrusive, her nerves pricking her neck.
“I’m not worthy enough for a soul mark, Liz,” she tried to deflect with that lie. She wasn’t worthy of Liz, not after everything she’d done, and not with Liz being the foolishly righteous girl she was.
It was fine when the fool was a faceless person, but knowing that the fool to whom those words belonged was Liz…
“Now you’re lying,” Liz gently chided her, grasping the arm that now held her words, seeing and processing them. “You’re the person who cares most about your loved ones, who would risk everything to protect them at any cost.” She ran a finger over the letters, the memory of Advent being protected by Shiori during the first few times Justice ambushed them. “You pulled them out of the depths of hell because you cared so much for them.” She kissed her hand, softly, quickly. “That doesn’t sound like someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Shiori felt her cheeks flush, her heart pounding so hard and fast she didn’t even need to see Liz’s neck to know it.
She lowered her head to hide against Liz’s shoulder, concealed in that hallway next to the vending machine, Shiori rethinking everything she had assumed about her soulmate, everything she had decided to stop thinking about and ignore the moment she learned who was.
Everything, except that she was a fool who loved her soulmate and all the little quirks that her mark transmitted to her, that she loved and supported Shiori even before she knew her.