“I see… so you bullied her and her girlfriend Bridget,” Julia nodded. They had moved back over to the food court and were now discussing while eating some strange delicacies from the desert regions that were actually quite delicious.

“But… we did so because of how our mother treated us,” Zexa was quick to reiterate.

“We dealt with our own inability to be unique from each-other, the pressures from our mother, the way she made us think that we were perfect and that everybody was below us…” Xeza nodded.

Julia simply nodded in silence while sipping on some hot chocolate.

Zexa frowned. “It wasn’t our fault…” she said.

“Regardless of that, you must have hurt her pretty badly,” Julia pointed out.

There was a moment of silence as the twins looked around, uneasy. Then, something happened that Zexa hadn’t expected. Xeza stood up defiantly. “I know what my new year’s resolution will be. I’m going to apologize to Akita for everything we have done to her,” she said.

Julia smiled at her but Zexa only looked at her sister in confusion. “Why should we apologize? It was because of our mother that we did what we did. Besides, all of that was while we were teens! Why is she not over it?” Zexa asked.

“Zexa, I don’t think that’s the right approach here. Akita is obviously still hurting from what you did,” Julia said.

Zexa folded her arms and looked away. “I have no intention of apologizing. We were young and stupid but we have changed since then. It was all because of mother,” she repeated.

Xeza frowned. “How is Akita supposed to know that unless we apologize and talk to her? We have always treated her terribly and she has no reason to forgive us. Besides, I bullied her because I figured that’s what you wanted and I didn’t want to go against you!” she said.

Zexa gasped and glared at her sister. “Don’t you take the moral high-ground here, Xeza! I did the bullying because I figured that is what YOU wanted to do!” she snapped.

“Okay, cut it out, you two! This isn’t helping anyone,” Julia snapped.

Xeza nodded and folded her arms. “I’m still going to apologize, whether you are with me or not,” she said.

Zexa stood up as well then and started walking back in the direction of the church. “Go then. Do what you must. I’m going home,” she said.

“Zexa…” Xeza said but her sister did not respond anymore, resolutely walking away. Xeza herself didn’t really know what to do anymore at this point. Sure, they had argued in the past. A lot at that. But to have Zexa walk away like this was new. Xeza just stared at her plate of food, lost in thought on what to do now…

“I will go after her. You stay here,” Julia said.

“Wait…” Xeza stammered. “Do you think… is she right? Am I just trying to take the moral high ground to make myself feel better?” She had kind of always had doubts about herself, as did Zexa.

Julia turned to face Xeza, a gentle smile on her face. “Answer me this, Xeza. Why do you want to apologize to Akita?” she asked.

A tear left Xeza’s eye and rolled down her cheek. “We… we’ve been terrible to her… but we have changed and… and I wanted to show that. I feel bad and… and I want to clear my conscience,” she said.

“Then that is all that matters, right?” Julia said reassuringly.

“But… she was right. We perpetuated each-other’s behaviour, bullying and teasing not just Akita but so many others… I just feel like it’s my fault she’s acting like this now,” Xeza said.

“Xeza… come here,” Julia said, opening her arms and inviting Xeza for a hug, which she gladly accepted. “You have both made mistakes. You are ready to own up to that and Zexa just… needs a little more convincing,” she whispered.

Xeza just hugged Julia tightly. She didn’t really have much else to say anymore at this point. Julia was right. She couldn’t falter now, no matter how difficult that was.

Julia released the hug again. “I’m proud of you, Xeza,” she said before leaning in for a kiss. With that, she ran off towards the church in the hopes of catching up with Zexa.

Xeza watched her run away. She sure considered herself lucky to have met Julia, knowing that she and her twin sister could be such a handful at times. Trying to calm herself down, she wiped her tears using a napkin that came with the food and sat back down. That was when some commotion was happening close by, over at the platform where the hourglass time elemental was overseeing the area. Curiously, Xeza stood up and tried listening for what was happening.

“Bishop! Bishop Lavini!” “You have to come to the front of the church!” “It’s urgent!”

“The front of the church?” Xeza pondered. But… wasn’t that where Zexa was headed?! Anxiously, Xeza wandered a bit closer to the platform.

“Has something happened?” the bishop asked.

“The nun sent us!” “It’s one of the trinkets in the display case!” “It’s glowing!”

“Glowing, you say? I shall come at once!” Lavini said. She then turned around to look in the general direction of where Xeza was standing. Curiously, Xeza raised an eyebrow.

“Estella! Are you still here?!” Lavini called out.

“Huh?” Xeza wondered when there was a loud voice right behind her.

“I’m here mother!” it shouted. Turning around, Xeza was faced with the pink-haired nun yet again. It seemed that she was wandering around here, hand in hand with a young lad. “Excuse me, gotta pass!” she said, prompting the confused twin to step aside.

“Estella, gather your aunts. We might have our fourth around here,” Lavini said.

The girl called Estella gasped. “I get another aunt?! Or maybe even an uncle!? Awesome!”

“Yes, but hurry up. It could be anyone at this party,” Lavini said.

“Alright, I’m on it mother! Let’s go Craig!” Estella said excitedly, dragging the guy she was with off towards the game corner where Akita was. Lavini instead started walking towards the church, a bunch of curious onlookers trailing behind her. Xeza had to admit she wanted to know what was up as well and considering Zexa and Julia were there right now anyway… she might as well just follow the crowd.

------------------------------

Zexa paused as she approached the front door again, still a little angry about how they had approached this. Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed that the pale nun was looking a little hectic, carrying one of the dial trinkets they had seen earlier in her hands. It was the moondial and it was emitting an ethereal silver glow. She was being crowded by a decently sized group of people, all wondering what was going on.

Still, that didn’t really matter to Zexa though. She had poured so much energy and time into changing her ways, trying her best to contextualize her mother’s treatment of her and her sister, but it still wasn’t enough? When was she done? When would she be considered a good person by her peers? When could she escape from her mother? It frustrated her beyond belief.

But the stupidest part about it all was that she knew deep down that Akita and Xeza were right. She knew that she and her sister had done and said terrible things. She knew she should be apologizing but doing so felt like taking the blame for something her mother did! It wasn’t her fault. It just wasn’t…

“Zexa! Wait!” came Julia’s voice from behind her.

Zexa paused. Of course Julia would come after her. She had expected as much. However, she was not planning on being swayed. Not even by Julia. “Go away!” she hissed.

“I won’t, you know me better than that,” Julia said, finally reaching Zexa and grabbing her hand.

“I know…” Zexa admitted. “Have you come to scold me for not apologizing?”

“No,” Julia said. “I’m here to help you get through this.”

“Help me get through this?!” Zexa snapped. “We’ve changed from the way we were! I don’t want to be involved in the past anymore! I don’t want to be held down by something our mother did! I’d much rather look to the future!”

“Yes, your mother hasn’t been the best parent, but you aren’t without blame,” Julia said calmly.

“So you think that we’re terrible people too ,” Zexa yammered.

“I don’t think that at all. I know you and your sister have become wonderful people over the past few months,” Julia argued.

“Then why do we need to apologize?!” Zexa yelled.

“Because even though your mother has manipulated you. Even though you have very good reasons for what you did. It was ultimately still you and Xeza who did it and it is your responsibility to own up to your own mistakes,” Julia said.

“But but!!” Zexa tried to argue, her words failing her.

“Zexa, I’m saying this for your own benefit as well. If you walk away now, if you shove the blame onto others, you would be doing the same thing your mother would do,” Julia said resolutely as she stared deep into Zexa’s eyes.

Zexa's argument died in her mouth as tears began to drip down her face. As all her anger, her hatred crashed into the harsh truth of Julia’s words. Those words had stung more than she wanted to admit and she suddenly felt her strength leave her as she fell to the ground. Was it… really true? Was she acting like her mother??

She felt the strength, no, the warmth of Julia wrap around her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so harsh but I think we both know letting this linger would only make it worse.” She spoke softly yet held her so warmly. “Sometimes we need to face it head on if we want to break the cycle of abuse.”

“I... don’t... want to ‘hick’ be like her…” Zexa bubblered and stammered through her tears.

“You won’t be, I know you won’t be. You’re better than her and you’re better than that,” Julia said reassuringly. Zexa just sniffled in response before planting her head into Julia’s shoulder, hugging her tightly. Julia simply responded by softly stroking her hair and letting her cry it out.

“Take your time. Considering the church we’re in, I guess taking your time would be appropriate,” she whispered softly. It was a good thing that most people around them were too focused on what was happening with the dial or else, all eyes would be on them.

However, that soon changed as another crowd of people showed up. It appeared that they were following the Bishop Lavini, who was headed for where the nun was still standing with that moondial of hers in hand. One of the people split off from the group, dashing towards Julia and Zexa the moment she spotted them.

“Zexa… you’re still here,” Xeza asked, a relieved smile on her face.

Zexa looked up and tried wiping her teary eyes. “I thought… you’d be off to apologize by now…” she stammered through her tears.

“You are my sister. If we’re going to apologize, we do so together, right?” Xeza said.

“That’s a good idea,” Julia nodded. “So… it is up to you, Zexa. What do you wish to do?”

“I…” Zexa started, thinking about it for a moment. Perhaps following this path… was the right path to follow after all. It was incredibly difficult for her to do so but finally, she stood back up and gave her sister a tight hug. “You’re right… I’m sorry I ran away… we should apologize,” she finally whispered.

Xeza returned the hug as tears streamed down both of their cheeks. All Julia could really do at that point was take both twins into her own bear hug. That was when all three of them realized that there were a lot more eyes upon them at that moment. Right next to them stood the bishop Lavini as well as the nun, who now not only held the moondial but also the sundial which had seemingly started to glow as well.

“Uhm… what… is happening?” Julia asked, confused.

“We… have reason to believe that we have found the rightful owners of these dials,” the nun explained.

“Owners?” Zexa asked.

“Myself and my sisters of time were chosen by divine trinkets to become time elementals, permanently. Seeing as these two dials right here are reacting to your presence… it would appear that you have been chosen as well,” Lavini explained.

“Us?!” Xeza gasped.

“Why us?!” Zexa asked.

“You have the right qualities for this transformation, should you choose to accept it,” Lavini said with a gentle smile on her face.

Zexa and Xeza stared at each-other and then moved their gazes over to Julia. “Don’t look at me. I think they’re talking about you two here,” Julia said.

“But we don’t know anything about time,” Zexa said.

“Let alone your goddess, Ali… what was it?” Xeza added.

While the nun raised an eyebrow, Lavini couldn’t help but giggle. “All of that is something that can be learned. What matters is who you are as people,” she said.

“I…” “ahm…” “but…” “we…” Zexa and Xeza stammered at each-other. Who they were as people, huh? Had their decision to go apologize to Akita really impressed these dials this much? Could they really do this? Could they really accept this transformation? Then again, it was a matching set, just like they were themselves. Wordlessly, they looked to Julia for a second time.

“I think this is your decision to make,” Julia said softly.

“Even… if it’s permanent?” Zexa asked.

Julia grinned. “So long as you’ll still be you, it makes no difference to me,” she said.

“Nine have come before you. One will follow after. Will you two accept these holy trinkets and take your places among the Keepers of Time?” Lavini asked.

Zexa and Xeza exchanged glances. They had always known each-other so well. They could almost always guess what the other was thinking, now was no different. Neither of them had even the slightest clue about this church. Yet, if they were chosen by these dials here, that must have meant that they were chosen for a reason. What would they end up looking like? How would it feel? And… if they were going to be time elementals at this church, wouldn’t that also mean working alongside Akita? And, though they hadn’t seen her yet, presumably Bridget as well? Well, seeing as they were both ready to make amends, both of them nodded to each-other.

“We do,” they said simultaneously, reaching forwards to take the two trinkets in hand. Zexa grabbed for the sundial while Xeza carefully accepted the moondial. They braced themselves… only for nothing to really happen just yet.

“Uhm…” “What do we do now?” they asked.

“Maybe you should combine them?” Julia proposed.

Well, they did look like they could fit together. Carefully, the twins tried to bring the two dials together to form one whole disk. It was at this moment that both of them hummed to life, snapping together into one almost instantly. While Zexa and Xeza gasped, it began floating into the air above them. They had to admit, they were getting a little scared of what was to happen now. They grabbed each-other’s hands and stood there, back to back, looking up at what this disk was going to do.

Then, the golden and silver blades on either side of the combined dials detached themselves and slowly floated down to their heads. They both trembled and tightened their grips on each-other’s hands as both blades inserted themselves into their foreheads. They yelped and they could hear Julia’s concerned gasp next to them as well. However, it… thankfully wasn’t painful. They could feel a change beginning to happen within both of them though.

Before they could truly begin figuring out what it was, the disk shifted. The center  opened up, as a glowing yellow orb began forming at its core. It was warm and bright, almost as if it was a miniature sun? Slowly it moved, hovering over Zexa and basking her in its warmth. She looked up at it and was momentarily blinded but managed to recover herself soon enough. She had always preferred the day to the night. She enjoyed feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin. She loved the liveliness of the day. So of course, it made sense for her to be blessed by the sun itself.

Then, Zexa felt herself changing. Slowly, her skin started taking on a sheen. More and more, it glowed in the sun until she realized that her skin… was slowly turning golden. As golden as the sun itself. She looked down over herself. Not one bit was spared. Even her hair appeared to have turned golden. A smile formed on her face. She actually felt really great about this. Better than she had even anticipated. However, she didn’t quite feel like a time elemental yet, not that she knew what that was all about but so far she didn’t feel all that different from being a human.

The sun above her then started dimming in its glow. It receded back into the disk but instead of vanishing into it, it simply passed through it, switching over to a silvery white light instead. A light that was a lot dimmer than the sun had been. It also went from being a full orb to a more crescent shape. Of course, it had turned into the moon and it was slowly hovering over towards Zexa’s twin sister Xeza.

Xeza, though she hadn’t yet seen what was happening to Zexa behind her, did feel her sister’s skin morph into something harder, smoother, and metallic. It was only natural for Xeza to expect the same thing to happen to her as she spotted the small moon from the dial coming into her vision. She had always liked the night and the moon was of course a big part of that. Nighttime was quiet and serene. Some of her favourite animals would only come out at night, like bats and owls. It therefore of course made sense to be blessed by the moon herself.

Xeza just basked in the gentle glow of the moon as she, too, felt her skin changing. Her skin also took on a faint sheen at first. Just like her sister, she soon felt her skin hardening, turning more metallic until finally, she could feel that her skin had turned silver. It… was quite pretty if she had to admit so herself.

With both of their bodies transformed, the transformation halted for a moment. There were murmurs around them from several people watching but it was all a bit of a blur for both of them. Even Lavini, Julia, and the nun seemed to fade away for a moment, for they were both very much focused on what was happening to themselves while the moon hovered over them in the center once more.

‘I’ve never felt anything like this,’ Zexa thought to herself.

‘Me neither…’ Xeza agreed.

… wait… what?

‘Xeza?’ Zexa thought.

‘Zexa?!’ Xeza thought. Both of them opened their eyes wide. Neither of them were speaking out loud were they? Could they… actually read each-other’s minds?!

‘I…’ ‘... we…’ they both thought, confused. Their thoughts blurred and blended together. Thoughts would pop into their heads and neither of them were certain whether it came from Zexa or from Xeza, or perhaps even both of them at once…

No, they could not lose their unique identities. Not again, after having found them all those months ago. Of course, they both agreed on this. Though they could now hear each-other’s thoughts, they were still Zexa and Xeza. They were still two people.

With this in mind, they could feel both of their clothes shifting. They had been dressed in winter clothing since it was so cold but that was about to change. Zexa could see that her winter coat was turning into a dress and thanks to her new mental connection with Xeza, she knew that the same thing was happening to her twin.

Xeza could see that her new dress was turning into more of a ballgown, and it was turning white. The same thing was naturally happening to the dress her sister wore, as she knew through her new mental connection.

Their dresses poofed out and both of them noticed small differences between each-other. As a nod to her sister’s skin colour, silver hems appeared on Zexa’s dress. The opposite happened to Xeza’s ballgown of course. At the bottom of Xeza’s dress appeared what looked to be golden small intervals. 29 of them in fact! At the bottom of Zexa’s dress, however, appeared 12 intervals, each indicated by silver numerals, much like those on the grand windows of the church itself.

They both realized then what was happening. The disk that was transforming them were the combined dials after all. Why hadn’t they realized it sooner? Zexa was turning into a sundial of sorts, maintaining the current time during the day within the bright light of the sun. Xeza, however, was turning into a moondial, keeping the current day of the moon cycle during the night within the gentle light of the moon. Of course, the blades that had entered their foreheads were the blades of the dials through which a shadow would be cast down upon their dresses, so long as the dial’s light was in the right position above their heads.

Zexa realized that her dial blade vanished from sight while Xeza’s blade stayed around. Of course, it was currently nighttime, so there was no need for Zexa’s blade at this time. The dial’s moon, meanwhile, came to hover over Xeza once more as a stick of sorts appeared below it, which Xeza grabbed instinctively. For some reason, she knew exactly where to hold the stick in order for the shadow to be cast on the correct position on her dress.

And just like that, a new feeling swept through both of them. This must have been it. This is what this transformation was all about. This must be the feeling of time, ticking through them. And it felt fantastic. It was interesting for Zexa to still feel the flow of time, even though it was currently night-time. Perhaps she was feeling it through her new mental connection to Xeza?

Whatever the case may be, both twins paused for a moment as silence fell all around them, save for the soft murmurings of the spectators to their transformation and the soft trickling of sand within Lavini’s body. They were panting, for the transformation was quite intense. They had done it, and they knew that there was no way back now.

Then, wordlessly, they both turned around slowly to look at each-other. They already knew what they looked like thanks to this new mental connection but it was still shocking to see each-other transformed with their own eyes. Xeza was clutching the dial’s staff tightly in her hands, ensuring it stayed in the correct position above her. Zexa reached forwards, touching Xeza’s cheek and feeling how smooth it was now, much like her own skin. Xeza admired Zexa’s golden skin while Zexa simply loved Xeza’s silver skin. They now truly looked unique from each-other.

But this new mental link they shared… Sure, they had always had their own kind of secret, unspoken language and they were almost always together but now? There would be no privacy between them anymore. Always together. Sharing everything. Was that… good? Or bad?

They turned to Julia. Their love, both still looking rather confused.

“You look stunning,” Julia said with a modest smile on her face. It appeared that she, too, had many questions but there was sincerity in her words at least. “How… are you feeling?”

“We are…” “... feeling great,” the twins responded. They quickly exchanged glances again as they realized what had just happened. They both came to the same answer at the same time. Mentally they had agreed that they felt pretty great about all this. Naturally, they both wanted to answer the question but in their confusion about all of this, they had actually finished each-other’s sentences? This was definitely something they would have to try and get used to.

“What are your names?” Lavini asked calmly.

The twins turned to face the bishop and the nun again. “Our names…” “... are Zexa…” “... Xeza,” they answered rather slowly, for they still had to get used to this new way of speaking. Surely there would be a way to speak separately from one another?

“Well then. Zexa, Xeza, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our church of time,” Lavini said. There was a slight shift in her facial expression but she managed to hide whatever she was thinking quite well. She and the nun then bowed their head, after which the spectators around them started clapping and cheering. The twins had just become the newest priestesses at the church of time… even though they absolutely had no clue yet what that entailed.

Regardless of that, Julia took both twins into her arms and hugged them close. “Whatever happens now, I’ll be right here with you,” she said to them.

“And who are you then?” Lavini asked.

“Julia, Lady Bishop. I am the significant other… of both of them,” Julia replied, chuckling nervously.

“Well, then I suppose we should be welcoming you to our church as well,” Lavini said.

“Thank you!” Julia said.

The twins smiled at their girlfriend and were about to say something to her when they realized that the cheering had died down somewhat, and that an opening in the crowd had formed behind Julia. There they were. Akita, accompanied by a transformed Bridget as they had correctly guessed.

Akita had her visor down again to hide her face. She was trembling slightly and was clutching Bridget’s hand tightly, who had forced a smile upon her face through gritted teeth. However, it was the pink-haired nun Estella who spoke up first.

“Two new aunts for the price of one! Heck yeah!” she cheered with the biggest grin on her face.

“Estella!” the pale nun hissed, causing some giggles to go through the spectators.

“Cassie, dear. Could you please move on over to the food court in my stead?” Lavini asked the nun next to her.

“Of course, Lavini,” Cassie replied and began looking for a way to get through the crowd of people.

“And Estella, can you then look after the game corner?” Lavini asked.

“Of course, mother! If… that’s okay, aunt Akita?” Estella asked.

Akita hesitated for a moment longer with her answer. “Go ahead,” she finally said.

“As for all of you people, I thank you for witnessing this momentous occasion but I believe we have certain matters to discuss among ourselves. Most of the spectators heeded the advice and began dispersing, with only a handful of people still curiously sticking around and watching from a short distance.

The twins exchanged glances once again. They were definitely in for it now… However, they had chosen this for themselves. There was no backing down now.

When they were certain that the guests were out of earshot, Lavini leaned in a little closer. “Zexa and Xeza. So you are the twins that I have heard so much about from Bridget and Akita here,” she said.

The twins looked down. “So you,” “know of us,” “already…” they said.

“Of course she does. How could we not have told her about you two?” Bridget hissed.

Akita remained silent for a moment, carefully considering her next words. Finally, she turned her gaze away from the twins, removed her visor and looked at Bridget. She looked distraught. Her eyes were filled with anger and sadness. “For years, you two have made me feel like I was worthless. It has caused me such a lack of self-esteem. It took a transformation into a time elemental before I finally saw that I could actually be someone I could be proud of. And now, I’m supposed to welcome you into our church with open arms,” she said, her voice trembling with anger.

Bridget turned to Akita as well now and placed a hand on her cheek. “You can go if you wish,” she said softly.

Akita shook her head. “No. I’m not running away anymore,” she said.

“With all due respect, I believe Zexa and Xeza have something that they would like to say,” Julia interjected.

Zexa and Xeza exchanged glances once more. They had both made up their minds and agreed mentally. “We…” “We are so,” “so sorry for,” “everything we have,” “done to you,” they said, bowing their heads.

There was a moment of silence, safe for the distant murmurings of the guests and the ticking of the various clocks. Finally, Bridget spoke up again. “Are you really?” she asked plainly.

“Yes!” both twins said simultaneously.

“If I may, I do believe that their decision to apologize to you two has led to their transformations in the first place,” Lavini remarked.

“Is that why,” “only one of the,” “dials glowed at first?” Xeza tried asking the question to Zexa by herself but the latter couldn’t help but join in on the sentence.

“Of course. You,” “decided to apologize,” “before I did,” Zexa responded, with Xeza filling in the blanks. It was probably one of the strangest conversations that they had had so far and since this was now their new normal, it was not going to be the last one.

Lavini chuckled at the display. “As such, I do believe their apology is sincere,” she said.

“Please…” “give us a chance,” “to explain ourselves…” the twins pleaded together.

“What is there to explain?” Akita hissed.

The twins nodded to each-other, knowing what to say here. “We… we come from,” “a household of abuse,” they finally said. This certainly shocked Lavini behind them and it even caused Bridget and Akita to look them straight in the eyes. Well, Bridget did. Akita’s eyes kind of darted around for some reason.

“Abuse, you say?” Lavini asked.

Both of them started tearing up and sniffled a few times before starting their explanation. They told their story, not to make what they did right, but to give context for why they acted the way they did. Why they thought the way they did. They spilled out everything and whenever they could not go on, Julia was right there to support them and pick up from where they had left off.

When they were finally done, another silence fell. Bridget and Akita exchanged glances while Lavini seemed quite lost in thought with her hand on her chin. Finally, Bridget spoke up first. “I don’t think one apology is going to make up for what has happened,” she said before turning to face Akita again. “It’s a good start though.”

Akita, however, did not say anything, obviously lost in thought on what to say or do at this point. She had always been the same back in high school. Akita would always just stand there angrily, taking in the twins’ abuse without saying or doing anything in return. Back then, it had seemed so funny to Zexa and Xeza. Now, they really wished she would do something, anything other than remain silent. Finally, Akita turned around, took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You are on our terrain now. You will do as we say. Lessons on time and the goddess start next week,” she said and she began walking off again, to join Estella back at the game corner..

Bridget watched her walk off before turning to the twins once more. “Lavini… can you…?” she stammered.

“Of course, Bridget dear,” Lavini nodded.

As Bridget left the scene as well to go after her lover, Lavini scraped her throat to demand the attention back to herself again. “Considering that we do not have any sort of shared history, you shall not receive any sort of animosity from me. You are two strangers to me and I shall not act biased,” she explained.

“Will… things be alright then?” Julia asked, unsure.

“Undoubtedly so,” Lavini nodded with a smile.

“Did they,” “accept our apology?” Zexa and Xeza asked.

“That I cannot say. This is quite a difficult and delicate issue, after all. Rest assured, I know Akita and Bridget well. I am certain they will come to forgive you. Perhaps not straight away but time is one of the best forms of healing,” Lavini explained.

“And what,” “can we do,” “to make it better,” “in the meantime?” the twins asked.

“My advice is for you to simply be yourselves and that you do not overdo it. As Akita has said, you will be taught everything as soon as possible and when we deem you ready, you may even hold your own mass,” Lavini said.

“Do you think you can manage that? Hold mass?” Julia asked.

For the first time since Akita and Bridget had showed up, Zexa and Xeza grinned again simultaneously. “Are we ready,” “to be the center of everyone’s,” “attention? We think we,” “are,” they said.

Julia couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Why did I even ask?” she said.

“As for your accommodations. Each of us live here in the living quarters below the church. There are still several vacant rooms that we have kept free for any new time elementals,” Lavini explained.

“You mean,” “there is a room,” “ready for us?” the twins asked, to which Lavini nodded.

“Does that… also include me?” Julia asked.

“You are their significant other, are you not? If you ask me, you are welcome here as well,” Lavini said.

“Well?” Julia asked, turning to the twins again.

“We have been,” “living at our,” “mother’s place for,” “long enough…” they said before gasping as the realization hit. “What will our,” “mother say to us,” “now?!”

Lavini gave another chuckle. “All in due time. For now, please. Enjoy our festivities. Transformation or not, you came here as guests and I for one wish for you to be treated as such, at least for tonight,” she said.

The twins smiled. “Thank you,” they said simultaneously.

This evening certainly hadn’t gone as they had initially expected. They had run into their old bullying victims, they had transformed into time elementals and they had even been granted the ability to come live at this church, as well as a job as priestesses here. So much had changed in the span of less than an hour. 48 minutes and 33 seconds, to be exact. How were they going to be getting along with Bridget and Akita now? Could they still consider themselves unique now that they had a shared mental connection that kind of blurred some of their thoughts together? And how was their mother going to react to their new appearances?

One thing was for sure. They were going to face all of this together, with Julia by their side to help them along this path.

Xeza held the dial proudly above herself and interlocked her arm with Julia, as did Zexa with Julia’s other arm. The three then went off again. Tonight was a night of celebrations, after all.

------------------------------

“Ouch, right in the gizzard! He got you good!” Estella said into the microphone while pressing the button to stop the simulation from her comfortable position in Akita’s control room. The latest participant was actually Craig, the guy that she had been hanging out with for the past half hour. He presented himself as very confident but it turned out to all be just for show. Well, that didn’t matter too much to Estella, so long as he was a good sport about it.

Craig, however, was not. “Lemme at ‘em again, Stell! He just took me by surprise,” she heard him yell over the intercom.

“Sorry, Craig, one try per person. You’ll have to go back to the end of the line for another try,” Estella said.

“What?! Bullshit! But I thought we had something!” Craig yelled angrily.

For a moment, Estella was silent. Was he only hanging out with her to take advantage of her position? She frowned, even though Craig couldn’t see her. “Get out. Now!” she said.

“Ugh, whatever, bitch!” Craig said while storming his way outside.

“Sheesh, what an asshole… dodged a bullet there,” Estella muttered to herself. It was a good thing that nobody outside could hear that conversation happening, let alone seeing her turn red with embarrassment for that matter. It was at that point that the door to the control room was opened. It scared her for a moment, thinking Craig had maybe come in to take revenge but her fears were unfounded.

“Hey Akita, welcome back!” Estella said excitedly.

“Hey…” Akita muttered back as she closed the door behind her.

Estella tilted her head. “Is everything okay?”

Akita sat down on one of the chairs and let out a deep sigh. “Everything is far from okay. Of all the people, why did it have to be them?”

“You mean those twins?” Estella asked. However, she couldn’t wait for a response as the next participant had entered the simulation room. Eagerly, she turned on the microphone again. “Welcome, sir, to Back-alley Brawler!”

Over the intercom, she could hear the guy that had now entered respond eagerly. “Yeah! I’ll beat ‘em all to a pulp!”

Would he really or would he be on the receiving end of said beating? Only time would tell. “Great to hear! Alright, what’s your name?”

“Solis!” the man responded.

As Estella typed in the name for score-keeping, she began setting up round one. “Alright then, Solis, are you ready for this?”

“Born ready!” Solis hollered.

“Then let’s go!” Estella cheered and pressed the start button. With that, the brawl began and Estella could turn off the microphone again.

“You’re pretty good at this, Gigabyte,” Akita said.

Estella turned around and blushed. “You think so?”

“Might have to ask you again next time we do something like this,” Akita said.

Estella laughed. “I like the sound of that! What’s with those twins though?”

Akita’s face instantly soured again. “Long story short, they were my high school bullies for… most of my time there.”

“Oh. Oh? Oh… and now… right,” Estella responded. She of course understood that that had to be difficult but it actually also made her realize that… she never went to school herself. She could read and write thanks to her parents but she did not have the same experiences of going to an actual school. Well, not in this life at least. Wait, why was she thinking about that now? She should be trying to cheer up aunty Akita, and she knew just the thing to say: distract her with something else! “Well, you’re not the only one having a rough time tonight.”

Akita looked up, curiously.

“That guy I was hanging out with, Craig, turned out to be a total jerk. I think he just wanted to get close to me for favours and then he insulted me when I told him to go away!” Estella ranted.

“What?!” Akita said while raising an eyebrow. “What an asshole…”

Estella crossed her arms indignantly. “That’s what I said.”

“Well, he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on! You deserve a much better guy than that,” Akita said.

“I wish… so far, my exploits have been fruitless…” Estella yammered.

Akita grinned. “One day, there’s gonna be that special someone crossing your path, I’m sure of it. I mean, if I can run into someone as amazing as Bridget by pure happenstance, I’m sure you can too.”

“You know what? Yeah!” Estella said while placing her arms on her hips. “I will definitely meet someone!”

“That’s the spirit!” Akita cheered.

“Wait, what am I doing?! I was supposed to be the one to cheer you up!” Estella gasped.

This actually caused Akita to laugh out loud. “I think you’ve already quite succeeded at that.”

DING!!

It was a surprising sound but both of them knew what it meant. The latest participant had finished round one.

“Well, the Mic’s all yours, oh great game master,” Akita said.

Estella smiled broadly as she turned herself around again. “Alright, let’s go!”