Chapter 251 - 3.8 The Reminder They Needed

Ignis didn’t spend long in Paradise and was back in the vampire settlement quickly. The next few days were quiet while Hades helped Persephone install eyes in their latest batches of creations. They continued to improve each set and they were hoping one of them would finally catch Sora’s party by surprise.

The party caught wind of the victory at the settlement but no one celebrated. People from both sides were dying and they were in war so there was no reason to celebrate one battle. Everyone wondered how long it would be before Hades’ turned his attention to the general population.

"What do you think, dad?" Xander asked Sora.

"Not sure. As long as we catch it in time, he shouldn’t be able to do anything. I can freeze time and you can manipulate it enough to work around him. It’s just whether or not those creations actually become untraceable."

"Aren’t you worried what the general population will think if that happens?" Julius asked. "I don’t think anyone would blame you or Brie or anything, but it’ll look bad won’t it?"

"Anytime people die it looks bad, especially when it’s the regular population. We have barriers and protections in place. We just have to hope they hold long enough for the people to remain safe."

"What about the people who will turn and join Hades? That hasn’t happened yet but I’m sure it will." Diana sighed.

"When it happens, it happens," Brie frowned. "We can’t exactly control all the people in the world. It’s their choice."

"That’s true. I guess we’ll just wait it out then." Xander said while hugging Diana. There was nothing for any of them to do. They had eyes from above and nothing else to really do, so they decided to watch Brie and Sora’s wedding.

******

Sora thanked both of them and the priest started speaking.

"Today is a very joyous day and a very unique day, as for the first time, we shall bear witness to two people, blessed by Athena to be married and as absolute rulers, blessed by Aphrodite and Cyrus for marriage and if they followed elven tradition, will receive the elven blessing of marriage, where they will each share a small part of their soul with one another. If the fireworks are green when I begin the marriage process, Sora and Brie did not see or attempt to communicate with each other. Let us begin," the priest said eloquently.

An Orchestra began playing music, and Brie and her father finally appeared.

Brie’s veil covered her face but it was still visible enough for Sora to see how beautiful she was. He immediately noticed the haircut and loved it. He also pieced together the wardrobe ensemble and realized the theme was their eyes.

Green fireworks blasted off in the distance and everyone began cheering. Sora’s party stood up and clapped, and everyone else followed, including the King and Queen.

"I’ve never seen people stand. That was pretty cool," Xavier whispered to Mina.

"Yes it was! They look amazing," Mina whispered back.

Brie’s father finally got to the end of the silk walkway, pulled her veil up for her and gave her a big hug.

"I love you Brianna!"

"I love you too dad. Tell mom I love her and thank you both for coming!" Brie said emotionally.

"Are you kidding? We wouldn’t have missed this for the world. Elves?! A god husband?! I’m glad you chose your own path kiddo. Your mother and I were wrong about you focusing on school," he said as he turned and gave Sora a smile.

Sora went to the stairs to lend Brie a hand.

"Nice haircut! You look absolutely amazing," he whispered with a large smile.

"Thank you! You look quite handsome yourself and it looks like you got a haircut too. Is that what they were like on Earth?" Brie asked joyfully.

"Pretty much! Let’s go get married," Sora whispered as they walked together to the altar.

*****

"Today we are here to join and bless Sora Lockheart and Brianna Reinhardt as husband and wife. Before we move forward, I would like to ask each of you to answer one question. No worries everyone, the ceremony isn’t that quick!" the Priest boasted excitedly.

"Brie, do you wish to be blessed by the elves and share a portion of your soul with Sora Lockheart?"

"Yes please!" Brie shouted ecstatically.

"Sora, do you wish to be blessed by the elves and share a portion of your soul with Brianna Reinhardt?"

"Absolutely!" Sora matched Brie’s enthusiasm.

"Vanh a sha sey, Poe vey ma sha sui!" the priest chanted in a trance-like state.

"Yes system, thank you."

Both Brie and Sora felt a strange tingling sensation come from their stomach, then their hearts.

To the amazement of the crowd, a small blueish clear orb came from Brie’s heart, and a small golden clear orb came from Sora’s heart. Each of the orbs touched one another, then the golden orb entered Brie’s heart at the same time the blue orb entered Sora’s heart.

They both temporarily stood unconscious, as the priest continued his chant of, "Vanh a sha sey, Poe vey ma sha sui!"

They both illuminated and regained consciousness.

"Congratulations! The blessing was a success," the priest exclaimed.

Both Brie and Sora smiled. The entire week of not seeing each other ended happily.

"Now, Sora, is there anything you’d like to say to Brie?" the priest asked.

"I promise to always love you and cherish you for eternity. That first night, when you slapped me for using water magic to wake you up and called me a pervert—only to knock my mask off and realize it was me. The look on your face that day is one I will always remember, and I think I knew then you would be the person I’d be spending the rest of my life with," Sora said joyfully with a huge smile.

The crowd laughed, which was Sora’s intention, at slapping him and calling him a pervert. They all gave an "awwwww" at the end.

"Brie, is there anything you’d like to say to Sora?"

"Sora, I will also love and cherish you for eternity. Even on my worst day, you’re still the kindest person to me, always. On your worst day, you’re still the humblest, level-headed person I’ve ever met. I’m the luckiest woman alive and am happy to be your Queen. I’m glad to have met your Mother in my dream, and I know your parents are looking down from Paradise and smiling at us right now," Brie said as tears filled her eyes.

She was right. In Paradise, Aphrodite, Cyrus and Jessica stood together enjoying the festivities. Somewhere in the Underworld, his Earth father didn’t even know or care to look.

"Lily, could you please bring me the rings?" the priest asked excitedly.

Lily was around three and a half feet tall and wore a pretty golden dress. She skipped up to the altar, handed the priest a small basket that held the rings and skipped back down to sit with her sisters. Everyone applauded her.

"Levi, Sasha, would each of you come and grab a ring please?" the priest asked.

Sasha and Levi walked to the altar and took the rings.

Levi whispered to Sasha, "you look very beautiful, Brie is lucky to have such a great best friend."

Sasha’s face turned beat red and she quickly said, "thanks you look nice too," and hurried back to her spot.

Sora and Brie smiled. Brie turned and winked at Sasha, which made her laugh. The crowd was enjoying this wedding. It was far from ordinary.

"Sora, please place the ring on Brie’s left index finger and Brie, please do the same for Sora," the priest stated calmly.

"By the power of Athena, the gods, goddesses and all of the great elven kings and queens, I now declare you as husband and wife." the priest said.

*****

"How the hell do you still look exactly the same?!" Rissa laughed. "Even Lily is like 2 now with the way time moves there. I still haven’t been."

"Well, maybe that’s what we can do next?" Xander asked with a smile. "I mean once this is all done."

"That’d be nice. It’ll be nice to be able to do normal things again. I feel like I haven’t done anything normal since I met you and Julius in High School." Diana laughed.

"I still think it’s weird Xander AND Diana are older than me now." Julius chuckled while shaking his head. "I mean, I guess it was always going to be that way... but still. Weird."

Sora grabbed Brie around the shoulder and kissed her cheek. They hadn’t watched their wedding in years so it was a nice reminder of what they were fighting for.

"I still can’t believe we had to go an entire week without seeing each other, that was something!" Brie giggled.

"I can’t believe you two had to do that either. You two are always so... together." Xander facepalmed.

"We’ll watch the demons. Take Diana, Rissa and Julius to MeadowSong, Xander." Brie said with a smile.

"Seriously?!" They exclaimed.

Xander opened a portal, Brie whispered the password and they were gone.

"That was nice of you," Sora smiled.

"How else was I ever going to get any alone time with you?" She said while grabbing his hand teleporting them back to their room.