I felt like time was standing still. People say that all the time, and it always sounds hokey to me, but in this case, it was the only phrase that fit. It was like I got stuck between one heartbeat and the next because I literally couldn’t process how perfect my fiancee, no, my WIFE (at least in a minute or two) looked at that moment.
People were talking, birds were chirping, and a thousand other things were making some kind of noise, but I couldn’t really hear any of it. The world was just gone, and all I could see was the love of my life at the end of the orange carpet laid over the grass, smiling softly back at me.
She looked like an angel. No, more like a goddess, floating across the grass in a black lace ball gown studded with shining black crystals. Her hair was woven through with orange flowers, somehow blending perfectly with the rest of her look.
I stared into those bottomless blue eyes as she walked down the aisle, the music barely audible to me, until suddenly, she was in front of me, and I was drowning in love and adoration and pouring mine right back into the bond. We stared for a minute or two, until my mom finally cleared her throat. “Shane?” She said in amusement.
Blinking, I turned to where she was waiting to officiate. She’d volunteered to do it, because as a literal Saintess she was more than qualified to do the ceremony.
“What?” I said dumbly. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing at that moment.
She smirked, suppressing a chuckle. “I believe you mentioned that the two of you wanted to say your own vows. I just got to that part.”
I hadn’t heard her do the introductory part of the ceremony, but I’d been distracted, so I took a deep breath and turned back to Callie, taking her hands in mine as I stared into her eyes. “I guess I can go first.” I said with a laugh. “But honestly I’m not sure where to start. You mean so much to me, how do I put that into words? How do I say what I’ve said a thousand times even more emphatically, because every time I’m with you the love I have for you only grows.
“I think.” I said after a moment. “I’ll start with fear. Or rather. Without it. Because that’s what you give me. Ever since I first started this journey a few years ago, my life has been constantly threatened, I’ve been thrown from one enemy to the next and I’ve almost died a dozen times. But I wouldn’t trade a second of it for the world.”
Pausing, I tried to force the words to express everything I felt, but it wasn’t enough. I just had to keep trying until it clicked. “But when I met you, everything changed. The scary things about entering a dangerous new world melted away, and all that was left was the joy. The excitement and the adventure of being with you has made my life one of discovery and beauty. Since the first time we spoke, my life has never been the same, and I’ll love you for that more and more every day of my life.”
Her eyes were wet, though she was trying not to cry, and she closed them slowly, taking a deep breath before responding.
“Shane. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She said hoarsely. “I spent so much of my life alone. I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone, like I’d just be thrown away when I wasn’t convenient, and like I was just a useful tool for anyone who did invest their time.”
Her eyes shone like cerulean stars as they bored into me. “But from the first time I came to get you to go to that fight club with me and you freaked out about riding on my bike, I knew you were special. You didn’t care about my family, or my name, or any of that nonsense. You were fun and brave and a little silly, and I adored you for it.
“Thinking of spending the rest of my life with you doesn’t scare me.” She said firmly. “Because I’ve been doing that for months. Since before you proposed I’ve been spending my life with you. Because I knew you were it. You were everything I’d ever need. And getting to show everyone we love that we belong together forever makes me so happy. Getting to share how much you mean to me with everyone who is important to us means the world to me.”
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My mom beamed at us. “It certainly sounds like you’re both very serious about this. Do you, Shane Elijah Wyndham, take this woman to be your wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, so long as you both shall live?”
I squeezed both of Callie’s hands, willing her to feel my certainty. Holding hands was something Callie and I did often. It was a way to show support without speaking, to lend physical strength to each other silently. And now, it was a way for me to show her that I wouldn’t ever let her go. That I’d hold onto her for the rest of our lives.
Glancing back, I found a miniaturized Randall toting a little orange pillow tied around his neck, and on it sat the ring. I picked it up, sliding it onto Callie’s left ring finger as I responded. “I do.”
She turned to look at Callie. “And do you, Calliope Reynolds, take this man to be your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or for poorer, so long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” She breathed, her own hand taking the ring from Jessie and sliding the black metal band onto my ring finger.
My mother smiled so widely I thought her face might freeze that way. “It’s a big commitment.” She said gently. “To pledge yourself to someone, especially another Ascendant. Talented young people like you can live for thousands of years, tens of thousands. To help start off your life together, members of my family have a tradition, a ceremony we perform on those we help usher into their new lives. Would you like me to perform it?”
Mom hadn’t mentioned that to me, but I trusted her, and Callie did too. We both nodded, and she closed her eyes, raising her hands, allowing them to flare up with white fire.
She reached out for us, placing a hand on each of our heads, but I didn’t flinch or resist. When her hand made contact, flames flowed through my body, and I felt myself heat up in a strangely cleansing way.
“Marriage is a difficult thing.” My mother said, eyes still closed. “And it can test you as surely as fire tests gold. Before you enter this new phase of life, let me first cleanse your insecurities, cleanse your doubts, cleanse your worries and your fears. Be washed clean of the poisons that might taint your happiness, and emerge free of burden.”
I wasn’t sure if that little ceremony actually DID any of that, but I felt like it was cleansing something. Purifying my body, mind, and soul. I really did feel unburdened, and as she opened her eyes and stepped back, all I could feel in my heart or Callie’s was joy and peace.
“In the name of the Red Revenant, of the Radiant Pope, and in my own name. I pronounce you man and wife. May your loves be forever intertwined, and may your love for each other carry you across a thousand oceans and through a thousand storms. You may kiss the bride.”
And I did. My mask retracted like it always did and Callie threw herself into my arms, pressing her lips to mine as the bond lit up like a supernova, flooding with all the love and happiness. In fact, the light began to shift, and I felt the bond changing as it overflowed with those feelings and evolved, rising to Expert level in one step.
Callie stiffened for a second, but relaxed against me as she recognized the feeling too, and finally we pulled away from each other. Callie’s eyes were overflowing with tears of joy, and she was smiling wider than I could ever remember seeing. I could feel her even more deeply now, like she was part of me, like she’d replaced the heart in my chest, and it just felt…right.
We turned to see the others, our friends and family, here with us on the most important day of our lives…and froze. Among the groomsmen and the bridesmaids, several figures had drawn weapons, pressing them against the throats of some of our friends. Cicero had a knife against Abel’s throat, and Valk had gotten close enough to threaten my sister.
At the end of the aisle, looking relaxed, was the driver from the other day, the one I’d noticed before, standing in the middle of the carpet, unbothered by the multiple powerful Ascendants surrounding him. “Oh by all means.” He said with a smile. “Don’t let me interrupt.
My mother was glaring at him. “Who are you? How dare you threaten my daughter? I could snuff you out like a candle flame.”
“I’m sure.” He said without worry. “But you won’t. Those knives they’re using are specialty weapons. They’re hooked through the edges of the soul, if they’re withdrawn before being deactivated…well, bad things happen. We were very careful when arranging all this, so just be good and let me get through my speech. It’s important to toast at a wedding.”
I glared at him. “Who the hell are you? I feel like I recognize you from somewhere, but my Danger Sense isn’t going off. Even now, when you’re so close.”
“Well, that would be the arrangements I mentioned. Cloaks from Delthrys, god of Secrets. I do have to thank you Shane, you’ve been such a busy bee. If you hadn’t made such a nuisance of yourself I could never have gotten the resources to make this example of you. As for my identity…” He pouted, then ran a hand over his face. As I watched, the features melted, rearranging into a familiar visage that reminded me of betrayal and agonizing pain. “I’m hurt.” Said Travis. “I thought for sure you’d figure it out once you got the first hint.”
Valk’s face, Cicero’s face, and the faces of several other guests melted away, revealing different (though still unknown) visages.
I stared in horror at the hostages, at my mother, who didn’t seem to be able to do anything, and at my wife, whose panic I could feel through the bond. “Please.” I said quietly. “This isn’t necessary. You want to hurt us, I get it. Make your example. There are plenty of witnesses to spread the word. I’m the most notable target. Just take me. Make a spectacle, it’ll be so much more impactful.”
Travis, the rat bastard translocator who had stabbed me in the back, betrayed us to Hatescream and caused Perit’s death by my wife’s hands, stared at me for a second. “You?” He said through his giggles. “You’re not the example Shane. You’re just the garnish. No, the example isn’t one person, it’s this whole PLANET.” He slipped an object from his pocket and threw it at the ground.
There was a colossal blast of red light that obscured all vision, and when I looked up, my blood ran cold. My mom, Zeke, Callen, Felicity. Every person at the wedding above E-rank was gone. Above us, the sky began to warp, lines of light, far above the aurora, up in the atmosphere, began to arrange themselves into endless shapes of mazes. “Now.” He continued in satisfaction. “We can REALLY start the fun.”