One week.

Lewis was asleep on the second floor of Raile’s shop. There were a few extra beds, and due to some personal reasons, Ayaa had informed Raile that she would not be back for some time.

When he finally stirred to wake up, he noted that there was a unique situation on his face. The young man opened his eyes, and surely enough, there was Simone’s chest practically smothering him as she cuddled his head. In fact, somehow her entire body was wrapped around his in some weird, impossible situation that lead him to believe that Simone may not be quite as human as she thought she was.

But he was content.

“Simone…wake up,” he muttered into her chest. “It’s time to wake up…”

Simone was going to be having the time of her life. She cared so much about Lewis and she hadn’t forgotten anything now. She was squeezed his head to her breasts a bit more before she popped up awake. “Sorry,” she looked down at him and smiled.

She heard the knock at the door and she lowered herself down and pulled the blankets upon them. They had a few days of intense sex and quite frankly everyone downstairs was getting fed up with it a bit. Rhenakos had yelled something about making it a competition but Osiria was tired and on bed rest for the time being from such activities.

Leilah opened the door, “Hey you two! I went ahead and did what you were thinking about Simone!”

Simone actually blushed and shot up, “WHAT?! I haven’t even asked Lewis.”

“It would be rude if he denied you. We only have a few more days with you before he kills you! I think it’s a good idea. Lewis, we need to fit you for a suit and we have a dress for Simone picked out! Kali is even making rings.”

Lewis’s face made Leilah smile a bit more, “You are getting married silly.” She closed the door and let Simone rubbing the back of her neck.

“I made the joke that we should get married since… I’m dying soon.”

Lewis grumbled when Leilah came in. At this point it was a regular occurrence for them to be walked on while naked, and it was getting to the point where he hardly cared. “Yeah, yeah, whatever…” He yawned, laying back down. “Just a few more minutes and I’ll get rea-” He shot back up in the bed.

“Married?” He looked to Leilah, and then to Simone, and then back to Leilah. “You’re…joking…” Leilah simply smiled, and left, leaving him and Simone alone. His face flushed. “Marriage…I…” It was weird. What was this new emotion? Shame? Embarrassment? He took a deep, calming breath.

It’s not like she’ll be alive much longer anyway…perhaps…I can manage. He sighed. “All right. Fine. We can get married. Is there anything else on the bucket list that I should know about before it surprises me?”

Simone saw his blush and giggled softly before kissing each of his cheeks. “Just spending it together with you. That’s it. Maybe a small honeymoon but I don’t care where really.” She took his face and kissed him deeply. “Thank you for doing this for me.”

Her heart was still quite heavy but it appeared like her personality had melded together now that she could be whole. While she had experience beneath her belt she was capable of feeling warmth. Though there was still a part of her who was mischievous, which is how they got in their current predicament.

Simone got dressed and held onto Lewis’s arm as they made their way downstairs finally. Her eyes got large at what she saw.

Downstairs was a hectic mess as arrangements were being made. Leilah had moved quickly and the venue had been obtained through sheer pregnant tears and silver. She may have also told the venue owner that the bride to be was terminally ill and dying very soon. He wouldn’t really deny Simone her dying wish, would he? With pout eyes, she even got them a discount.

The dress she got Simone wasn’t white but she figured that exceptions could be made since it was so short notice. She hid it up in her room getting all the jewelry and flowers she could. Osiria was busy making a bouquet and she was surprisingly calm. “We decided on blue for Lewis since he would be more comfortable it in than pink. We called in a favor from one of our cousins who is going to tailor it for you.”

Kite had out all of his tools and he sighed. “This is really all last-minute Cousin Leilah.”

“I know! I had to ask Tempest to help too!” There was an explosion and a rumble followed by maniacal laughter.

“So… I see… I have to stop my twin from destroying all of Jayou,” he bowed to Lewis and Simone. “TEMPEST PUT THE DRAGON DOWN!” He yelled as he slammed the door.

“NEVER!”

Leilah looked pleased, “Raile is securing all the food right now. It won’t be very big but we want to have a feast for you guys. I already messaged my mother about being the one to marry you both since it’s so short notice.”

Kali came over and took Lewis’s finger to measure it before doing the same to Simone. “I’ll do Lewis’s… Simone’s finger is much too small for me to do it quickly.” She held up the measurements as Tempest bounded over and tackled it out of her hands.

Tempest was a small girl not that much younger than Lewis. She had long brown curls and her hair was singed. “Yo!” She waved up at Lewis and Simone. “I’m Tempest Rose-Wintercrest. I’m a prodigy blacksmith and yada… yada. You already met my twin brother Kite!” She had goggles in her hair. “Yeah, I can do this. You said… Fire and ice right?!” She looked at Kali. “I can do that. Sapphires and rubies? No problem!” The girl twin got up and bolted back outside grabbing a small dragon on her way out.

It looked like the Rose family was all pitching in. “I’m… shocked at how many of you are trying to help.” Simone had a look on her face that borderlined being overwhelmed.

“We all heard your story and we like to help. Should see what we do for our actual family,” Kite smirked a bit. Unlike his twin sister he had shoulder-length blonde curls which he was pulling back.

“Kite is right. We help where we can,” Leilah was holding flowers up to Simone now to see which ones she liked more.

“I fucking hate this,” Osiria growled, “but I like Simone so I fucking guess,” she threw her hands up and let the bouquet hit the wall. “I need to start again.”

Lewis was almost in shock at the insane amount of work everyone was putting in at such a moment’s notice. It hadn’t really dawned on him how big the Rose family actually was, and it never was relevant enough to note that both Rhenakos and Raile were technically a part of that family. It was a strange sense of camaraderie that made him think back to the guild, helping others just to help, expecting nothing in return.

While it was impressive to watch, he felt almost an outsider to it all, and overwhelmed at what he was supposed to be doing. None of it made sense, so he just went along with whatever anyone told him to do at any time. He got lost in a flurry of congratulations and measurements within the first few minutes of being downstairs, and he had no idea what else he needed to do, or when, or even how.

It was around this time that he saw Rhenakos and that other man, Aeolus, at a table in the corner. Rhenakos motioned for him to come, and Lewis pried himself away from the commotion and sat down.

Rhenakos was kicked back like always, and surprisingly, Aeolus had Lexia in his hands. The baby was cooing and giggling happily, content to be watching the mad house that was Raile’s unfortunate shop. Lewis was just thankful for the craziness to stop, even for just a few moments, even if it was Rhenakos he had to deal with. But for once, rhenakos eemed laid back and unnerved by Lewis.

“Doesn’t it…bother you?” Lewis asked. “All of this?”

“Eh,” Rhenakos replied, shrugging. “After awhile you just…get used to it. It’s a strange familial kindness that comes with the territory. It’s one of the reasons I actually agreed.” He glanced over to the young assassin. “But the reality is, we’re not the ones who have changed. It’s you.”

“I don’t understand,” Lewis shot back.

“Of course you don’t,” the hunter replied with a smirk. “Well, let’s just say…you’ve done a lot of growing. And I expect you’ll do a lot more.”

“Precious coming from you,” the assassin shot back.

Rhenakos smirked. “Besides…I can’t wait to see you in a suit. I’ll burn that image to memory till the day I die…”

“You wouldn’t fucking dare…” Lewis was about to go off, but Rhenakos smirked and stood up.

“Let’s get going.”

“What the hell do you mean,” Lewis shot back.

“Aeolus and I are gonna take you suit shopping. This guy actually has a good eye for it. Shocking, I know…” Aeolus gave rhenakos a stern look, but was mostly preoccupied with Lexia to really care about his remarks.

Lewis glared. “I refuse.”

“Oh, but you’d break poor little Simone’s heart…” Rhenakos cooed back. “You wouldn’t want to do that, would you?”

Lewis was quiet for a moment. “Fine. Let’s just…get this over with already…”

Leilah took Simone upstairs with Kite while the boys were away. She helped Simone get into her dress and Simone was looking in the mirror. “This is really nice for last minute,” Simone smiled at Leilah.

“I thought so too. They didn’t have any white but I figured this was an unusual wedding for an unusual pair so the hell with it.”

The dress was a beautiful dark blue lace over a light pink satin on the skirt. The bust was the dark blue in a sweetheart neckline with long flowing lace sleeves that ended at her elbows and were off her shoulders. A pink satin bow was around her waist and Kite had pink flowers to pin into it once he was done getting it together. “I don’t know if Lewis will like it but… You do right?”

“Yeah,” Simone smiled, “It’s the best wedding dress I’ve ever had.” It made Leilah squee as she took down Simone’s hair and brushed it out before braiding it and putting pink and blue peonies in it. It took no time at all to get the dress tailored and Simone was instructed to stay put after her make up was done.

Once the boys were back Kite did what he had to for Lewis as well. “Simone is ready up in our room,” Leilah was squealing at Lewis and the others. “She looks so pretty I can’t wait for you to see her!”

Angela gated in and she looked like her usual self. “You are always requesting me at the worst times,” she eyed Lewis. “However, this was Leilah’s idea.” Angela was rubbing Leilah’s stomach and she laughed. “I’ll marry these two for you.” Raine wasn’t that far behind.

“Should I get Anemone?” Raine was bouncy as Angela nodded.

“She’ll be needed if I’m the one marrying them.” Raine ran off after that to go get the high priestess.

Kali came out with a ring and tried it out on Lewis’s finger. It was a plain black band with some rubies and sapphires inlaid into it. “How’s that fit kid?”

Meanwhile, Tempest smashed the door open and ran upstairs to see how her ring fit Simone. After a few seconds, Tempest tore back down and ran up to Lewis. “IT FITS!” She took his hand and put the silver band in his hand. It had two large star gems one ruby and one sapphire that seemed to be intertwined. Small diamonds were around it making it twinkling. “Here, hold onto it and don’t lose it. It’s a Tempest Original.”

“Oh you are just fucking precious,” Rhenakos said as he took a step back in the shop, examining his and Aeolus’ work.

Aeolus nodded, “I agree. This fits you well, Lewis.”

“It’s not too late…I can kill both of you and just-” Lewis looked down to see little Lexia tugging at the cuff of his pants, giggling. The assassin just sighed. “Fine…let’s…just go already…”

When they arrived back at the shop, Raile was behind the counter pacing back and forth, panicking at the amount of damage that had occurred. There was a bit of silence when Lewis walked in the room, sporting an azure blue suit with matching pants and vest, and black undershirt. Despite Aeolus and Rhenakos’ insistence, Lewis had taken some control and ditched the tie.

“Oh, and I almost forgot..” Rhenakos said as he came up behind Lewis and started to strange him with a matching black tie with ornate, azure colored flowers. Lewis fought back, but in the end, succumbed to the ordeal, and was left looking surprisingly dapper.

Aeolus stole a brush off of one of Raile’s displays, and quickly tried to tame a bit of the mess that was Lewis’ hair. Once that was done, the two seemed satisfied with their work.

Lewis grumbled, but even he couldn’t deny that he at least felt the part. “Fine, fine…let’s just…go already.”

Rhenakos, Aeolus, and Raile led Lewis to the small garden, where they instructed Lewis on the basics. Not that any of the three had a decent idea of what a proper wedding really entailed. Rhenakos had, by far, the worst account of the three, and was a little surprised to hear that other weddings weren’t supposed to be like his. He merely shrugged it off, and continued with trying to get Lewis ready.

“Now…we wait,” Rhenakos said as the four of them started to see others join them in the venue.

Angela was in full swing in the garden as they finished up the decorations. Rosemary was hanging up some ribbons and flowers since she could fly. “AEOLUS!” She got excited when she saw her husband and fluttered over to him when she was done. “LEXI!” She caught her baby and spun with her and she kissed her softly. “You look good Lewis. We’re just finishing up here.” There were enough chairs for everyone present at Raile’s shop.

Anemone was standing with Angela. She was a very short curvaceous nymph who was holding a basket of red and yellow berries. “This is the groom?” Anemone looked Lewis over. “I approve he looks well put together!”

“Good,” Angela was flipping through a book. “Better think of any vows you might have for Simone last minute. If you can’t think of anything you can tell me when we get to that part.” Raine and the others were finishing up and soon Leilah came in and shooed Lewis upfront.

“I did one last thing,” Leilah bounced. “MY SISTER IS IN TOWN!”

Angela smirked at her daughter who was readying her violin. “Honestly, this is just a family get together.” Holly smiled up at Lewis.

“It’s not a wedding without music but since I didn’t have time to write anything I’ll just do a summer melody if that’s alright?” Angela nodded to her daughter Holy who warmed up.

“Raile is going to walk Simone since she doesn’t have anyone. I thought about making Rhen do it but,” Leilah shrugged as she found a seat and rested her feet. “I did a lot of work today so I’m going to rest my feet now.”

Once everyone was settled Holly brought up her violin and started to play so Raile could bring out Simone for Lewis.

Of all the people to walk Simone down the aisle, Raile seemed to be the most suited. The merchant didn’t even mind, and was honoured to even be asked, accepting with little trouble. And as the music played, and Rale walked side by side with Simone up the aisle, he got to witness each and every one of the attendees and their reactions at the beautiful bride.

What interested the merchant the most was to be Lewis’ reaction. Despite what Xeik had thought, the boy was practically a failure at keeping secrets from the silver tongued man, and he knew more or less everything that had happened in the boy’s life, including between him and Lewis. So, perhaps, if Lewis was capable of this kind of love and emotion…just maybe there was hope for the two of them to reconcile.

Lewis’ eyes were wide as he watched Simone’s slow stride up the center. She had always been so…plain to him, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He barely even noticed it because of the way he was. But her presence was something that he had grown accustomed to. His heart did a strange flutter, and he wondered for a brief moment what that emotion was supposed to be before he looked down, realizing that he must be staring at her.

But he couldn’t stop. He looked back up as she stood across from him on the altar. How was this supposed to work? What feeling was he supposed to display here? Did it even matter? Vows? What?

He heard something in the background, Rhenakos stating he was going to be the best man. Lewis was too overwhelmed to really understand what that meant, and just decided to go with it, but that drew a couple of chuckles from the crowd.

I…think I might be scared? He wondered what else he was supposed to be feeling. Rhenakos, Aeolus, and even Raile were all smiling. Did that mean he needed to feel happiness? Was he happy?

Rhenakos sighed, whispering just loud enough for Lewis to hear. “Don’t think about it too hard. Just go with it.”

Idiot. You would say something so basic and simple minded, it’s not like I can- He saw Simone’s face, her smile and how she gazed upon him. Oh. Maybe…it…really is just that simple.

Osiria was pleased with how her bouquet finally turned out. It had the same pink and blue peonies in it with some white flowers in the mix. Angela was pleasantly surprised by how all of it seemed to come together. It was all so last minute. However, that seemed to be the theme that Simone had going for her life. Lewis was very much last minute for her and she appeared to be the happiest that she had been in a long time. Still, she could feel that the girl found herself to still be too broken to fix.

Simone was taken back by his staring for a moment. He had never looked at her like he was at that moment. It made her blush slightly but still, she found her way up by him. Osiria was up with him since if Rhen was going to be the best man she might as well be his opposite. She took the bouquet from Simone as she and Lewis were told to join hands.

“When I fit met these two I slapped Lewis upside the head,” Angela spoke loudly. “Never would I have thought that the pairing before me could work but stranger things have happened. The trials that these two people have endured in such a short time is more than what most of us could in years. Whether it be for selfish reasons or for something that becomes so much more. This is what dedication is for better or for worse. No matter how short their union is nor how long ago their start was. Time cares for not nor does fate.”

Angela looked at Simone and then looked at Lewis. “I’ll give Simone a chance to speak first since Lewis might need a bit more time. Simone your vows please.”

The fallen princess struggled for a moment as she was put on the spot for the very first time. Normally the vows were written for her. She started up at Lewis and gave him a smile. “In all my life I’ve searched for the way out and now that I’ve found it I questioned how badly I wanted it.” Her hands gripped his. “I know that it has to come but I am glad that I found you. You set me free when so many others failed. For better or worse, I’m always yours.” It was short and sweet.

There was a smirk from the goddess as she looked at Lewis and nudged him. “It’s your turn, Lewis.” This was an improvised wedding if any so she didn’t mind taking a step out of tune.