The 3 in the morning arrived much sooner than Celica expected, the fatigue accumulated in her finally beginning to deplete her bateries. His brother Zeke's library was extensive and full of interesting things to see and read, but not even with all the superhuman energy inside her was enough to keep her awake and standing. Or at least entertaining enough to ignore her biological clock.

As Eva had verified several centuries ago and Morgan had confirmed 9 years earlier, the bodies of the Goddess and the Heirs were able to function beyond all logic, ignoring fatigue or any physical need. That doesn't mean that without prior thinking it was easy to abandon normal breathing or sleep cycles correctly. Although that did not mean that without some prior meditation it was easy to stop breathing or sleeping. And of course the soft sound of her beloved's breath, of Abbie's body movements while sleeping was too magical and delicious not to attend their meeting every night.

"Do you really think Abbie will be in your bedroom? I know she left with Hope ... and I haven't seen them in her room before when I came back to pick up the books I have lent Alexa" Zeke asked without looking up from the book he was holding. Among siblings with no one else present, verbal communication used to be set aside in favor of a more pure mental / spiritual communication, although on this occasion he decided to assume that the cloudy state with worry of his little sister will make it it too inaccurate.

"You know Abbie literally an hour less than me, and yet you make the very common mistake of underestimating her" Celica rose smiling, closing the holographic screen in front of her couch where she was watching a South Korean drama. “Abbie is much stronger than she looks, as strong or more than us! Your unpleasant words from before would not have been enough to defeat her, not if she had Hope's support!” Zeke didn't answer, just hanging his reading glasses (totally unnecessary) from the neck of his sweater. More annoying with himself than with the stubbornness of the human, the young man decided to limit himself to trusting the words of his little sister.

Hope had always been an inspiration to the family and Cesar was not far behind, both much better at homework than what himself or Mythra would ever achieve. The last months with the sudden trips of both to the lunar base were being more difficult than he had ever thought and that awoke two fears that not even with all his power managed to respond:

• What would happen if Hope and César decided to become independent.
• And how much they would achieve between him, Mythra and Sirius to keep the peace at home.

"Your silence is my answer!" Celica smiled approaching her older brother's luxury chair, kneeling behind him. Leaning her arms crossed on armchair's head just enough to tilt it backwards (which was not too difficult, not at least with her current size and weight allowing her to impose himself even in front of an armchair designed for a person of 2 and a half meters) Celica smiled rubbing his forehead. "I know you're not one of those who apologize, but I know too that my Abbie would appreciate it very much. These days have not been too kind to her and maybe if you apologize as you should she would consider it a victory!"

“I can apologize without any problem. The point is that no matter how I do it or how much I do it… Abbie will become more and more frustrated and that will not change as long as she remains defeated by her fears. Have you thought about asking our parents for help? I know we shouldn't bother Joel with this but maybe Henry or Emilia could help her!” This time it was her chance to remain silent, not finding or not being able to deny the truth or the idea that that Zeke had said. And that didn't make her feel especially like a good girlfriend. 

"Abbie doesn't want to extend all this she is going through too much." Zeke couldn't suppress a guilty little laugh. "I know ... Abbie and I took the therapy last year in silence just with mom's permission for this.As neither of the two siblings managed to find a common point, Celica decided to end the day by saying goodbye to her brother. With the floors interspersed between boys and girls to make the most of the space that their rooms required each trip to take advantage of Zeke's library was always accompanied by a long and cold walk down the hall trying to make the minimum noise to not wake anyone. (more knowing how prone the fights were between the siblings late in the night and how much the building staff hated those fights)

1 minute and a half late of tiptoe up the stairs, the giantess opened the door of her room in absolute silence, forcing even slightly upwards so that not even the sliding of the carpet could serve as a warning. It was no use since Abbie was sitting on the main couch watching the same drama the giantess had left in Zeke's room. "Running away from me until 3 in the morning? Really?"

Celica growled jokingly, turning to the couch in the most comical way she could think of. "That's not fair and you know it! You are the first one who wants her space after a confrontation!"

"Is that what happened tonight? A confrontation? A fight between us?" Celica rolled her eyes as she approached the sofa, gently placing herself to sit. Only there was no delicacy on the part of the giantess who barely hid a mischievous smile. Abbie saw her life pass in front of her eyes while the huge ass she loved so much fell by her side, close enough that the impact would lift in all the cushion where she was throwing it through the air. (The feeling identical to that of a few years ago when a Celica of only 9 feet jumped without warning to the trampoline where she was jumping innocently)

Everything around her seemed to move in slow motion until the enormous hands of her girlfriend caught her, leading her to bury her entire torso between the breasts of her beloved giantess. "I am very sorry how insensitive Zeke has been. His maternal vein is sometimes too much ...-" "Odiously maternal?" The two burst into laughter, perhaps even too much for such a silly comment. Perhaps the laughter came from how much they both needed it, perhaps it was nervous laughter on the subject every day more present. The only thing they both knew was how much they loved to hear each other's laughter, the image and the sound of them laughing was enough to lengthen the laugh in a snowball effect that led Abbie to cry from laughing so much. Following the intimate game Celica took out her tongue licking the cheeks of her girlfriend (which really was just putting the tip of her tongue to cover almost the entire side), retracting to enjoy the taste. "Ugh ... Salty"

"That's disgusting, you big jerk!" Abbie shouted without being able to stop laughing.

"Licking your tears is disgusting? My dear, I've licked much worse things from you!"

"That even more disgusting!"

"There is nothing that your body can produce and that I find unpleasant, you know?" Celica herself fell silent realizing how terrible her last sentence had sounded (although it was technically true and the giantess was open to anything her girlfriend wanted to try), which made Abbie laugh even more, this time to its limit beginning to cough drowning. Celica assisted her girlfriend as best she could, pressing her fingers on her back so that her energy returned the normal flow of air to her lungs. And that of course caused the human to remember the origin of all her problems again, Zeke's voice echoing in her head remembering that with the adaptation operation Celica should not even have touched her to attend. "Better?" The giantess asked slowly removing her fingers so that the cut in the flow of energy did not cause a small relapse in her discomfort.

The energy of Eva and her children, simply called Energy by Eva's inability to choose a more appropriate name, was as powerful as it was mysterious and all Arcadia and its inhabitants had checked it throughout their history together. Not only by feeding their superhuman bodies and allowing them to use their entire arsenal of miracles (a term that both the mother and the children hate to use in favor of closer ones such as charms or magic), also through physical contact they were able to infuse other beings living and inert objects with the same energy.

The effects on others that were not the Heirs themselves or Eva were always hundreds of times less effective no matter what they were trying to do, one of the biggest and only defects of the family that was within what the adaptation operation partially solved. "Is it a cheat question or are you starting to doubt your Curaga spells?" Abbie joked hugging the giantess's hand, who was smiling back to see that it was okay. "You know? You may live with this all the time, but you have to know how stupidly good it feels when you do that! It's like ... as if you put the sweetest lemon milkshake and condensed milk directly into my soul!”

“Do you describe my energy as a lemon shake? I know you like it but it's like you tell me I'm sour and sweet at the same time!” Abbie thought about trying to explain, giving up almost instantly. Trying to explain to Celica (or any of her siblings on the other hand) how she felt about things what it was as basic to them as breathing was a task that the experience had proved totally useless. And that thought led to another, and that other finally gave the human an idea of r03;r03;how to solve her inner fears. "Celica, do you remember when I told you before that I forgave you for getting into my head without permission?" The giantess nodded her face full of doubt. “Well, I withdraw it! Now I'm still angry and I want a favor in exchange for your offense by getting into my head”

“First stop repeating what you put in your head! And second, do you really think you need to turn to the most cumbersome blackmail in history to help you? I always cover your back, you don't need tricks with me.” Abbie laughed heartily, noticing how easily her girlfriend had caught her (not that she herself had put much effort). “And I cover yours, metaphorically clear. I need to clone several times to cover your back literally! Well my love, listen carefully… You may not like it, but I'm sure it's the only way I can have the operation to shut up Zeke and everyone. "”

(...)

The last hours of the night before dawn advanced slowly, Anchorage Point finally resting once Eva's barrier made them invisible again to all radars. Once the third son Ethin delivered the body of the murdered journalist while the rest pick up new candidates for citizens in Arcadia 4th the next week  the base could finally head for their home in another corner of the world. With that thought all the civilians of the island rested quietly, only the guards and soldiers of the night shift staying awake in their posts. (Although many were celebrating that the situation had not escalated excessively)

Eva slept in her titanic custom bed, nothing compared to her bed in her authentic home but more than enough for her alone. With her husbands and wives divided between their respective positions in Arcadia and Anchorage, her youngest children safe in her home in Arcadia and the oldest in the summer house the Goddess enjoyed a more than deserved night for herself.

Or so she believed.

"Mom, mom wake up please ..." A soft voice that Eva loved so much took her out of the world of her dreams, absolute darkness being no impediment to her superhuman eyes. Seeing her little Celica  waving her arm with both hands brought so many memories to the Goddess of her first years as a mother, as every night she had to fight so that Hope, Zeke, Mythra and Morgan did not try to join their baby sisters in bed of their mother. So many battles that Eva always ended up losing, always unable to throw her children back to their respective beds.

If it had not been for the hard hand of her wife Olivia and her husband Henry the children would have ended up being too spoiled, and frankly Eva herself knew that she would not have cared either. "Mom!" "Aunt Eva!" Abbie joined the screams trying to wake her up from her position in Celica's head, hooked on the special tape of the giantess's hair so there was no chance of falling.

Abbie had been in her life as much as her own Celica and Rio, her mother having to give birth so unexpectedly that there was no choice but to divide a small section of the private infirmary of the Goddess's home where the matriarch Olivia was giving birth to the twins. (In the fifth month of pregnancy against the sixth month of pregnancy for Mythra and Hope, the two twins much larger together than Olivia herself could endure)

Loving her as if she were one of her daughters was the simple result of the passage of time, and knowing that she would remain forever in the family thanks to being Celica's vital companion saved Eva from having to make her one of her wives. (a limit that Eva herself was not willing to cross as much as necessary)

"I'm already awake ..." Eva replied without opening her eyes, extending both hands to take Abbie in one and grab Celica by the arm. With a simple pull with the minimum of its strength the goddess forced her daughter to lie next to her, the giantess of almost 20 feet tall not even able to offer resistance to be attracted against the body of natural 60 feet height of her mother. Leaving the little human on one of her breasts covered by her favorite winter nightgown (an image that Eva herself couldn't help finding too adorable), Eva smiled stroking the backs of both young women. "It hasn't dawned yet," she said without having any way to check the state of the sky or the time around her. "What are you doing here? Homesickness has catch you both and now want to sleep with mommy?”

"Pfff, what?" Both answered at the same time, the two young women trying their best to pretend that they didn't like the idea.

"So? Is there a fight in L.L.garden?” The goddess kept asking, preferring to find out about things from her daughters than having to extend her precognition. Celica didn't answer by simply curling up under her mother's arm, more than enough so that the goddess didn't have to use her powers to read the situation. Eva continued without opening her eyes, stopping her daughter's caresses to focus on the one that really needed them. "Adap-”

Abbie nodded immediately, taking Eva's index finger with both hands, trying to guide him to her head. "Aunt Eva, I need you to enter my head and destroy my fear against the adaptation operation"

Neither mother nor daughter expected the turn that Abbie had given to the situation, Eva noticing how Celica tensed at her side while biting her lips. "Is that what you want?"

"It's what I need! Zeke has made it clear, my status as a human its now too small and weak for my position as the vital companion of Celica ... and frankly, it is hard for me to sometimes not be afraid to see the force emanating from each movement of her. The year is ending and I don't want… I don't want to start the year bringing more problems to my family, At least I want to end these problems of mine before a new decade begins”

Eva kept silent keeping the index on the human's head. “Abbie, you are my daughter too…-” “But I am not!” The human completely cut off the gigantic goddess, not even importing the absolute difference in every way between them. “I am human and that is the problem! I have been a year and a half behind the other vital companions because of discovering what happened to Uncle Joel!” “But Abbie, that was a mistake! A terrible mistake, an absolutely terrible one but error after all! The operation has been perfected to the maximum-”

“I've already had this argument with everyone, damn it! It's unfair but I'm tired of listening to Zeke, you, Celica, everyone telling me that I should try to reason against my fear! I have not been able to overcome my fear and I cannot overcome too the fear of having to abandon Celica, you and this family! I only have this left, okay? I can only beg you to tear my fear out of my head! Please, Aunt Eva…” The human stopped talking to catch her breath, her crying having completely altered her speech to the point of not knowing if it was clear what she was saying. Deciding to go one step further, she knelt on her gigantic aunt's chest, ducking her head until she touched the cotton cloth with her forehead.

Eva held her breath controlling her feelings, unable to imagine how much the human she loved so much was suffering. Celica drowned her tears against her mother, not remembering ever having heard her girlfriend's voice as broken as she is now. Abbie had always been a combative and proud person, one who did not have any kind of self-control or knowledge when confronting beings above her as she had do so many times in the past (more specifically her explosion hours earlier with Zeke). Especially protective of Celica, Rio and their younger siblings, the human had often demonstrated a praiseworthy fortitude.

And that's why Eva hurt so much to see her like this. Abbie's mother did not overcome the birth, having decided to stop taking her medication so that her daughter was born in the best conditions. From that moment Eva took care of both her and her father, giving them all her support (making for example Abbie's father in the palace's security chief) and affection. The pain did not only come from seeing her so shattered, but from the idea of r03;r03;entering her daughter's mind and altering her even if it was at her request. "Please, Aunt Eva ..."

"Celica" The goddess said in the clearest voice she could at that time of night. Moving his arm slightly, Eva forced her daughter to kneel on the bed on the other side of her torso. "She is your vital partner, the decision is yours"

"What ?!" Celica answered ipso facto. “That's not fair, Aunt Eva! I've asked you not her!” Abbie shouted furiously, hitting the humongous chest with both fists. "I am her vital partner, not her property!"

"You do this for her, Abbie," Eva replied without looking at the human, her eyes focused on her daughter. “All this is to stay by her side, consummate your relationship completely and secure a future where you and her never have to say goodbye. You are willing to let me get into your mind and tear that terror you feel for the possibility of losing your memories, now I want to see if Celica is willing to do it too”

The youngest giantess slammed her head against the other breast of her mother, not even wanting to look at her after the stupid turn she had given to the situation. That was her decision? Her mother, her own mother that all her life and that of her children had been dedicated to remind them that their powers or their size did not mean having the right to exercise control over the lives of other people.

That same mother all of sudden has changed all her personal motto.

Right now that her girlfriend was in such a delicate situation.

The other reason for not raising her head was to avoid Abbie's gaze, the minor giantessess knowing how conflictive it would be at such a time. Accumulated pain coupled with anger and outrage because the solution to that pain now depended on another person, and not on a specific person as well! Celica, the one that represented the whole conflict in her heart.

"Well?" Eva spoke again after giving her daughter exactly 60 seconds. "Can't you decide if you want  to enter your girlfriend's head to tear her fear away?"

Abbie relaxed her shoulders, holding one of her fists on her chest. "Cel ..." The human whisper. Even with all the pain from the situation in which she had put himself inside, knowing that Celica was now between a rock and a hard place hurt her even more. "Mom, leave it ... I'm going to make an appointment with the psychologist and try therapy again..."

"The therapy didn't help you last year, it won't do it this year ..." Celica finally spoke, slowly raising her head. “What do you want, Mom, is that I exercise my voice as your daughter, my voice of ‘goddess’ to decide the future of my beloved? You want me to go against-”

"Please, godness! You bunch of idiots!" A fourth voice interfered in the conversation from the door, not supporting the situation in the room next to her office. Matriarch Olivia, Eva's first wife and mother of the majority of her daughters (including Celica herself), walked along the side of the bed waiting for Celica to lower her arm to pick her up. "Don't be stupid anymore and lower your voice, it's not time to scream!" Celica responded immediately to the presence of her mother, picking her up to leaving her on the mattress. “Thank you, honey, and this doesn't free you from scolding. Can you know what's wrong with you? You are really idiots!”

Eva, Celica and Abbie closed their eyes, looking away from the matriarch, totally terrified of her. "My love ..." Eva whispered as she noticed how her wife climbed her arm, stomping throught her body to make her message clear.

“Shhh! I'm very angry with you! How do you think… sorry I will start again because I have seen you many times commit stupidities in these almost 400 years and very few like this! How do you think of telling your daughter to do what you have always refused to do, DUMBASS? I can understand the goal of making them face in a middle spot... but frankly Eva, it's fucking hypocritical of you try to be your daughter who enters the mind of another person and commits something as terrible as altering it as much as Abbie is asking you!” Without stopping to even breathe, Olivia turned on herself to face Abbie directly. “And you, idiot? Damn Abbie, we haven't raised you like this so that your solution is to alter your mind! Isn't that the same as losing your memories, uh?” The matriarch's words were harsh but so true that the human could not help but want to sink her head in the ground so as never to get her out. "It may be because I have been at the office table for almost 5 hours answering the call of our MWCommonwealth allies ... but frankly I think this has a much easier solution."

"Which one? Because therapy and mentalizing have not helped me, not all these months of relaxation have done much either!” Abbie yelled, or rather tried to scream before a murderous look of the matriarch silenced her.

“I will be frankly honest with you, and goddess knows that I need to sleep… it is the third time I say frankly in two sentences. Abbie, you're going to  have the adaptation operation-” "You can't force me!" The human responded immediately.

Olivia waited for silence as she walked through her wife's body until she came face to face with Abbie. "Yes, I can. I can and I will do it-" "You're not my mother, aunt Olivia -" “I am your family, and that is more than enough. Your fear is frankly stupid, much more seeing that Marisa overcame her fear and the operation was done without any error or side effect and that is something that you know as well as I do. Dark times will arrive soon in our family and if I don't know that you will be safe next to Celica and Rio I need you to get away from them, do you understand?!”

The human blinked for a few seconds trying to make sense of what she just heard, especially the first mention she heard about "dark times." Looking away to her girlfriend, Abbie could see how confused she was also with what her mother had just said. And seeing her aunt Eva it was obvious that she was also as confused or more than she was.

Departing from Celica, Rio and the others was not an option that had never even occurred to her, and that was going to continue. "I can ... I can ..." the human murmured without much success, found no way to express herself among her doubts and fears.

“We will accompany you. Everyone will” Olivia promised while she take her goddaughter's hand. “We will do it on the 30th, I want you to start the year clean of everything, and that goes for everyone here! Eva, bring my pillow, Celica, take Abbie and curl up next to us. I've been listening to advice and recommendations on how to leave our planet if necessary for too many hours and now I just want some quiet sleep surrounded by my family-”

"I can't ask everyone to come, make that clear." Eva responded to the thought that had only appeared for a few seconds in her wife's mind, stretching her free arm to bring some of her husbands pillows to her cleavage where Olivia already was getting ready to sleep. Celica did the same, lying on her back so Abbie could snuggle between her breasts while her mother put her arm around her shoulders.

Olivia clapped twice, making lights, not taking a few minutes to fall to the world of dreams. Eva followed her quickly, just leaving the younger giantess and her girlfriend awake.

"It has worked? Are you really ... going to have surgery?” Celica asked in the lowest tone of voice that her vocal cords managed to find.Abbie nodded even with doubts.

“I don't want to separate from you or Rio, I don't want to separate from anyone… and if those dark times are going to come I want to be prepared. Hey, maybe that's why Aunt Eva has hired Lucy! She may actually be some kind of super incredible agent or bodyguard!”

"If I came to know that all it took was to be scolded in this way, we would have saved so many hours of stupid therapies and saved so many innocent onaholes ..."

"That last is totally your fault for being a beast... but I don't want you to think of me as being a spoiled woman who needs a scolding to work" Abbie whispered angrily, biting her giantess's finger that kept her clothed.

"I don't think about it at all!"

"Good" Abbie smiled giving her one last regret and kissed her finger as an apology. “Is this the power of a mother? I imagine it must be something similar… Dark times, uh...”