I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

The very first thing that Elizabeth did after getting the confirmation about the date, and recovering from her panic attack was...

"Really? Texting?" Arthur asked with a groan, "Important things should be told in person."

"Not listening to advice from the guy who dresses like he was living in the fifteenth century." Elizabeth snapped back, she really meant that, perhaps on her first year she would have been flustered. But right now?

Right now Elizabeth had more important things to do, that is to say. "I need to get Rossie and Rena herm," get her girlfriends here asap.

That was the most important thing for Elizabeth at the moment, she didn't care about whatever bullshit [The Traveler] wanted to complain about, or what he planed to do.

She didn't care about what Jenna wanted to speak with him while she sent her text messages.

And waited...and waited....last time she had sent a message, Rossie had answered within seconds...now...now almost a minute had gone by and Rossie had just started to type an answer...

Elizabeth would murder whoever set up the slow connection, actually, she suspected something was afoot and did a whole scan around using all the mana types she had available to ensure there wasn't anything disturbing the connection.

There wasn't anything like that.

Even so, after almost a whole other extra minute of waiting, the answer that Elizabeth got...

"Hello again Elizabeth, how are you doing?"

...she was angry.

Rossie was pissed; she never called Elizabeth by her full name, she only had done so on very specific occasions, and each of those was when she was angry at Elizabeth.

"......Crap..." Elizabeth couldn't think what to do; she almost opened a second chat box to send Rena a message, but decided against it.

Best case scenario, Rossie wasn't with Rena, and the other girl was training. Worst case scenario...

They were together.

Which was probably the case, Elizabeth knew of the issues that Rossie went through, and now that Elizabeth was this close to her birthday...Her issues probably were increasing in both intensity and frequency.

"...I should call her," Elizabeth said, looking around, both Arthur and Jenna turning to stare at Elizabeth, "In private."

Was all Elizabeth said before sinking into her shadow, she teleported back to her shadow spire. The travel was...weird.

While she could do this all her life, this time it felt...different.

The atmosphere here felt different, the air tasted...cleaner? More pure? Less contaminated? Elizabeth didn't know how to put it into words.

"Mistress...I was not expecting you..." Mordred said from the side teleporting beside Elizabeth, "We are working extra hard on the atmosphere, your central spire has an atmosphere. So does your apartment; you should be able to reopen the connection to Lady Rossaline and Lady Rena soon."

".... Reopen the connection?" Elizabeth asked as she turned slowly to Mordred, "What happened to the connection?"

Elizabeth's senses expanded all around searching her apartment, and sure enough, it was there. Only...the door into Rossie and Rena's apartment felt....vague.

Elizabeth's first action was to re set the connection to Rossie and Rena's Soulscape, the connection was made quickly and set up against her...Domain.

"..." Rossie walked into the shared apartment a second later, her body...felt ethereal, as if it was here and not.

Rena came in a second later. Her body...her Soul....felt brittle, as soon as she walked in she sat into a chair and closed her eyes, Rossie nursed Rena with a sad smile on her face.

Elizabeth...wasn't sure if she should or not teleport back, she wanted, she so wanted to run there and say to Rossie that it wasn't her fault, that she didn't knew this would happen...or when it happened...or how it happened....

"Out with it Elizabeth," Rossie said sighing, "I know you are listening..."

Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes, a mere flick of her will was all it took for Elizabeth to teleport into the apartment, "Rossie..." Elizabeth started saying, Rossie looked....different.

She hadn't noticed it before, but she looked...tired.

"...Two months....no calls, no messages... the training room that Jenna took you was empty...Nothing," Rossie said shaking her head, "We knew you were okay, because we could still feel the connection...our Souls still joined..."

Of course, Elizabeth would never sever that link.

"Till it wasn't." Rossie said, clutching her fist against her chest, "Then...all we had was these rings...these rings that entwined our souls..."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Rossie said with a smirk, raising her hand; the ring that symbolized the union of Elizabeth and Rossie looked more...faint, while the one that symbolized the union of Rossie and Rena shone with great strength.

"I...am not as good as you with these, I nursed Rena the best I could; your love and care did help Rena strengthen her soul...but even so, two months, Elizabeth...Do you know how bad she got?" Rossie said looking at Rena first, then turning to Elizabeth, glaring at her. "Why?"

"...I..." Elizabeth said, sighing, "I didn't know it was this bad...I...got stuck in a time bubble."

"Of course you did," Rossie said shaking her head, "When we lost the connection...the Valkyries warned me that something had happened to you. And then...we lost contact with them, almost all of them. A few stayed and helped..."

They did?

Elizabeth...couldn't find all the Valkyries even now.

"They returned almost 10 minutes ago, and they reported you had returned and that, for them, barely any time had gone by." Rossie said shaking her head, "They checked on us and asked us what we wanted to do. As it was, we could sever the connection cleanly since you had weakened, even if it wasn't intentional."

"....And?" Elizabeth asked, "What...what do you want to do?"

"...What is the date Elizabeth Starbright." Rossie stated, "What day is today?"

"...September thirteen...." Elizabeth said in a small voice, "...One day...one day for my birthday?"

"...Yes, I fantasized about it, about what we would do...about what we could do finally...What you would say and do..." Rossie said, sighing, and then sat beside Rena, "But...then this happened...And I almost lost Rena...And...it broke my heart...the fact that...the fact that I had never even thought that could hurt me like this...I...I never considered how much it could hurt me seeing Rena like this..."

"hnng...." Rena seemed to be hurting, and instinctively, she moved to hug Rossie; as soon as she did, her expression calmed down. "...Eli......"

Rossie smiled sadly at that, "Even like this...she still calls for you...we knew you would return, she said that to me the first week, and I believed that too...I could survive it, you know, the severing...I willingly cut to the limit my connection to you so I could strengthen hers even...That's how I know..."

She did what?

"Elizabeth, I can survive without you." Rossie stated.

Elizabeth didn't believe that, not for a second.

"Rena can't." Rossie said afterward, "So answer me this, Elizabeth Starbright, what is that you will do to prevent this from happening again?"

"...It was an accident," Elizabeth said, "And I am sorry, I didn't think this could happen..."

And why had it happened?

"...It was a defense mechanism, probably because of the trap I fell into," Elizabeth reasoned as soon as she started to think about it, "I fell into a [Time] trap, the time for my Soul and body got out of sink, my Soul started to age greatly. It didn't matter since my Soul's composition, but if it had happened to you both..."

"....If our Soul aged quickly without your soul's contact, we would die," Rossie finished for Elizabeth, "I didn't say it wasn't without reason that it happened; I asked what are your plans to remedy this."

"... I'll strengthen the link, make sure this can't happen again." Elizabeth swore, both aloud and to her heart, divinity and Soul.

"How?" Rossie asked, smirking at Elizabeth, "What can you do to ensure this can't happen again? That Rena will not suffer again, that I will not suffer like this again...It hurt me, Elizabeth, the feeling of the link being severed, the idea that you...that you had turned away from us...That you had found something better."

"...Rossaline Singh," Elizabeth said as she took her breath and centered herself, "This place is my Soul, my Domain, the most important part of my self."

"Yes, the amount of power necessary to manifest something like this is something beyond the ranks of S-Tier and closer to a divinity." Rossie said, nodding, "What of it?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes, she needed to focus, to center herself, to prepare her full Core for it, for what Elizabeth would do, was both dangerous and foolish.

And Elizabeth would do it anyway, "I swear to you that I will never stop loving you, that I'll do my best to make it up to you, that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you and Rena are healed to perfection..." Elizabeth spoke, the world around them resonating as her words were engraved into herself. "And I will promise you this, that if after you both are healed, that you no longer require my presence to survive...that if you decide to leave me...I'll not stop either of you and do my best to accommodate what you need..."

And Elizabeth meant every word of what she said.

"....I knew it," Rossie said nodding. "But that means nothing without you committing; all it says to me is that you will heal us and then let us do whatever we want. Tell me plainly, Elizabeth, no Goddess of Shadows or Dragon Empress. Tell me what Elizabeth Starbright wants to do, what does she want to do with us?"

...

"....will you marry me?" Elizabeth said as her whole presence plummeted back to mortal when all her posturing went away, and all that remained was Elizabeth's flushed face. "...I...I want to marry you...and Rena..."

"...And?" Rossie said with an impish smile on her face.

"....And...." Elizabeth said as her eyes started wandering around Rossie's body, licking the pink-haired girl's figure with her eyes and imagining each layer of clothes disappearing, "...I want to...kiss you..."

"Only kisses? You can kiss me without marrying me." Rossie shrugged, lowering one of her shoulder straps to showcase a little more of her body to Elizabeth, "I may even let you touch me."

"...I..." Elizabeth was not able to think straight, there were many things that she wanted, "...I want to make love to you...I want to kiss you, I want to explore your body, I want to bask upon your nude body...I want to spend my life with you..."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, "I want to seed life into your body, I want to nurture that life with you, to raise it with you...And I want you to do the same to me...I want to feel a new life made from you and me to grow within me...I want to nurture it and make it come to this world..." Elizabeth wasn't even aware that she wanted that.

Honestly.

"I want to help you achieve your dreams...I want to know that you are healthy and safe, I want you to be your own independent person and still want to stay with me..." Elizabeth would make sure of that even if it was the last thing she did, "I want to offer you the world, everything in this world and Zaanam...And I want you to still choose to stay with me."

"And Rena?" Rossie said pointing to Rena, "What about her?"

"...I want to heal her, I want to kiss her, I want to love her..." Elizabeth said without thinking, "I want to hear her laugh, I want to see her smile, I want to see her in cute girly clothes, I want to see her to look at me...To love me, I want to tie her and ravage her all night long...I want her to beg for my love...And I want to answer those pleas..."

Perhaps her love to Rossie while being one more passive, her love to Rena was one more active.

"That is not a sane relationship goal you have there Eli-Eli," Rossie said shaking her head, "Neither for me or for her."

"I know," Elizabeth said, nodding, "And I don't care...It is what I want and it is what I'll do."

"Good," Rossie said, nodding, "You still need to apologize to Rena when she wakes up."

"*Yawn* I'm awake, oh. Good morning Eli," Rena said stretching herself and standing up, "See Rossie? I told you Eli would not discard us. It barely took any time at all!"

"It was two months Ren-Ren," Rossie said, shaking her head, "And I also said that she wouldn't discard us like that without a reason."

"See! Barely two months!" Rena said walking towards Elizabeth, "Two months is nothing, the real discard play is at at least six months!"

Elizabeth did not want clarification on what that meant or what she was saying, she could imagine of course, but did not want to think about it.

"I'm sorry about that Rena," Elizabeth said shaking her head, "I promise it will not happen again."

"I trust you, Eli, I know it wasn't your fault." Rena said, smiling at her and walking beside Elizabeth, "Thank you for returning."

"Ren-Ren, Eli was just telling me something~," Rossie said, smiling and walking beside Rena to hug her arm. Usually, Rossie hugged Elizabeth's arm while Rena hugged the opposite one. So seeing her like this was weird to say the least.

"Yes?" Rena asked, "What is it?"

"....Do I have to?" Elizabeth said, looking at Rossie on the other side, "I mean..."

"Yes," Rossie said, "You must, you must totally do. Unless you didn't mean it?"

"....You know I mean it," Elizabeth said, sighing, "Rena....will you marry me?"

"No." Rena said immediately, "You are marrying Rossie, and I am happy for you both, but I can't, will not, and must not take Rossie's spot."

"...I mean, she is marrying me, of course," Rossie said, nodding, "But afterward, don't you want to marry us?"

"....Of course I do," Rena said, slightly blushing, "Of course I do...But..."

"But nothing," Rossie said a second later, "Eli-Eli, do you want to Marry us both?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said nodding, then standing in front of Rena she repeated herself, "Watanabe Rena, will you marry me?"

"...Yes." Rena said nodding slowly, with her face blushing and looking down, "Yes I'll do that...After you Marry Rossie...then you can marry me."

"Or we can do the whole thing in one go," Rossie said, shrugging, "I know a couple Priests who owe me some favors, besides... No one will say no to Eli-Eli asking. No one sane anyway."

"Why would they say no?" Elizabeth asked, confused, "Aren't same-sex marriages a thing? Even with all the Magical Girls going nuts and...loving each other?"

"Yes Elizabeth," Rossie said nodding, "Even with all the sesbian lex going around, same-gender marriages aren't that much of a thing, they have become somewhat more common after your Father ascended, since the whole [Family] thing became important and to be respected, but they are rare."

"...Well, I don't care if they are rare or not, we are marrying in a cathedral even if I must build the stupid thing..." Actually..." And if they don't let us build it, I have one lying around that we can use."

It wasn't probably a real cathedral, but Elizabeth did have one...The one that had been the first Soulscape she used, the ruins of that Cathedral/Library was lying in the ocean floor at the north pole of Terra Nexus.

Why not use that if they refused them?

Elizabeth wouldn't mind dropping that in a random corner of Zaanam and just teleporting the guests over there.