The Wedding
Three weeks later.
Sunny stood in front of the mirror, tugging at the collar of his suit with barely concealed irritation. The fabric was expensive, perfectly tailored, and undeniably suffocating.
He had faced Nightmare Creatures that could shatter mountains, had walked through the abyss and back, but apparently, the true final trial was wearing a damn suit.
'Damn this suit and rich people.'
Kai, lounging nearby chuckled. "You look good, man. You almost seem like a respectable person."
Sunny shot him a flat look. "I feel like a corpse at my own funeral." He pulled at the tie again. "Tell me again why I can't just wear my armor?"
Kai smirked. "Because your bride would incinerate you on the spot. And because, despite all your grumbling, this is probably the most important day of your life."
Sunny sighed, reluctantly meeting his own reflection. He barely recognized himself.
The suit was dark, the colour shifting between deep shadow and faint silver, a subtle echo of what he was.
Who would of known, a lowly outskirts rat who believed to have nothing to live for, would turn out to be marrying the Changing Star of the Immortal Flame and achieving supremacy.
Kai watched him, his teasing expression softening. "You ready?"
Sunny was quiet for a moment. "I don't know."
Kai nodded, as if he expected that answer. "Scared?"
Sunny let out a dry laugh. "Terrified."
Kai grinned. "Good. Means it matters."
The silence that settled between them wasn't uncomfortable. It carried weight, the kind of weight that came with surviving impossible things together, even though one remembered and one didn't.
"This is weird," Sunny muttered, glancing at his friend. "We're standing here like civilized people. You're my best man. I'm getting married. None of this feels real."
Kai leaned against the dressing room wall, crossing his arms. "That's because, for the longest time, you never thought you'd make it this far. You never let yourself believe that you could have something like this."
Sunny was quiet.
Kai smiled, a little softer this time. "But you did, Sunny. You made it. Even though I may not have recollections of each other."
For once, Sunny didn't have anything to say.
A knock at the door broke the moment, and Effie's voice came through, impatient and amused. "Are you two lovebirds done with your moment? We have a wedding to get to."
Kai rolled his eyes. "She's been dying to make that joke."
Sunny exhaled sharply, shaking his head. He looked at himself one last time in the mirror before turning away.
"Let's go," he said.
And with that, he stepped out, leaving his past behind.
********
The ceremony was being held at Twilight.
It was fitting, in more ways than one.
For all the battles fought.
For all the blood spilled.
For all the graves left behind.
They had reached this moment.
They had survived.
And so had the people gathered here today.
Sunny stood at the altar, his hands curled into fists at his sides, his heart a steady weight in his chest. He had stood in front of crowds before, had faced horrors that defied comprehension, but this… this was something else entirely.
They were all here.
The survivors of Falcon Scott, the ones who had lived through hell and still found the strength to rise again.
Luster, standing near the front, dressed in something surprisingly formal, fidgeting but grinning like he still couldn't believe this was happening.
Kim was next to him, watching the proceedings with that same measured composure, though there was something softer in her eyes today.
The cohort was there, of course.
Effie was standing near the aisle, hands on her hips, dressed in something uncharacteristically elegant but somehow making it look effortless. Her usual smirk was replaced by something warmer.
'For once she's serious.' Sunny thought.
Cassie stood beside her, her golden hair pinned in soft waves, the ever-present blindfold in place, but there was a rare, quiet happiness in her expression.
Kai stood to Sunny's right, his posture relaxed, but his sharp eyes taking in everything. His best man. The same Kai who had once been untouchable, an idol, now standing at his side like it had always been meant to be.
Jet was there, standing tall, her sharp gaze softened just slightly. She had been through too much, seen too much, but for today, just for today, she looked… at peace.
Rain stood near the front, watching with wide eyes, her hands clasped together as if afraid the moment would slip through her fingers if she let go. She had once been a child, lost in a world that had no place for her. But now, she was here, watching her very brother getting married.
Aiko was next to her, nudging her playfully, though there was emotion brimming beneath the surface of her teasing grin.
There were others, too.
They had all come to witness this.
To witness him.
Sunny exhaled slowly, his fingers still curled, his heart still heavy. He had never been good with moments like this. Had never believed in things like fate, or destiny, or happy endings.
But when the doors finally opened, when the soft hush of anticipation swept through the hall, when the light hit the silver of her hair and she stepped forward…
All of that melted away.
Because there was Nephis.
And suddenly, nothing else mattered.
The vast broken world they had fought for, bled for, lost everything for, ceased to exist.
All that remained was her.
Nephis.
Her hands were steady at her sides, but he knew her well enough to see the tension in her fingers, the way they curled slightly against the fabric.
Not fear, no.
Never fear.
But something quieter, more fragile.
Anticipation.
This was Nephis.
The woman who had faced horrors beyond imagination.
The woman who had survived the dream realm for 2-3 years.
The woman who had risen from the ashes time and time again.
And yet, right now, she looked almost… hesitant. Almost like the girl he had first met, the girl who had stood at the academy gates with her headphones on.
Sunny barely realized he had stopped breathing.
The weight of the moment pressed into his chest, heavy and immense, and for a brief moment, he was overwhelmed.
Because Nephis was walking toward him.
Because this was real.
Because for the first time in his life, he was about to reach for something that wasn't for the purpose of saving humanity.
For the first time, he was reaching for her.
He heard the distant whispers of the gathered people at the wedding
But none of it mattered.
Not the whispers. Not the ceremony. Not the future.
Only her.
The forgotten shore, The dark city, The spire, His home, Mongrel, The ball, The club.
The Third Nightmare.
With him.
He had lost everything once. Had lost himself, had lost the world, had lost the very memory of his own past.
But not her.
She may not have remembered, but she knew. She knew his longing.
And now, she was here.
She stopped before him, close enough that he could see the faint shimmer of emotion in her silver eyes. The same eyes that had once looked at him with an unreadable expression, then later with fire, then later still… with something gentler, something quieter.
Something like love.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The silence felt as if it was ten folded, as if the entire world was holding its breath.
And then, finally, Nephis exhaled.
"Sunny…"
Sunny swallowed hard, his fingers flexing at his sides.
His mind, usually quick and attentive, was scouring through his library of words for something to say. Something to break this silence
But nothing came.
Because nothing he could say would ever be enough.
Because how could words possibly explain what she meant to him?
How could words capture the way she had burned through his life like a star falling through the void, changing everything in its wake?
How could words ever hold the weight of the nights spent in silence, standing side by side, knowing that the only thing keeping them from falling was each other?
They couldn't.
So instead, he simply held out his hand.
Just for a second.
Just long enough for him to see it.
That brief moment of hesitation, the smallest glimpse of vulnerability before she reached forward.
Her fingers slipped into his palm, warm and steady, and the breath he hadn't realized he was holding finally left him.
The world around them blurred into nothingness.
The cheers, the whispers, the weight of countless eyes watching.
It was all distant, insignificant compared to the woman standing before him.
Nephis' silver eyes shone as she gazed at him.
The way her fingers curled just slightly tighter around his. The way her lips parted as if to say something, only for the words to be swallowed by the moment itself.
The pronouncement's voice rang through the air, steady and unwavering.
A wave of sound crashed over them.
Cheers, claps, laughter.
Someone whooped.
Someone else cried.
Effie's voice rose above the noise, unmistakably teasing.
"Well? What are you waiting for, Sunny? Kiss her already!"
He barely heard it.
His heart beat loudly in his chest, his hands instinctively reaching out to Nephis.
One arm encircled her waist, the other lifted to cup her face, thumb brushing lightly against her cheek.
She didn't hesitate.
Nephis leaned in, closing the last of the distance between them, and when their lips finally met, the world itself seemed to exhale.
It was not a soft kiss.
It was fierce, filled with the weight of battles fought, of years lost and won, of a love neither of them had dared to name until it had become undeniable.
It was fire meeting shadow, light colliding with darkness, and yet, in that moment, there was only warmth.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling him impossibly closer, as if afraid he might slip away.
He understood the feeling, he had spent years fearing the same thing. But there was no distance now.
No dreams to separate them, no war, no fate waiting to rip them apart.
There was only them.
A storm of applause surrounded them, and when they finally pulled away, Nephis' breath was warm against his lips, her eyes slightly dazed. Sunny felt himself grin, his mouth stretching across his face in a way that was almost foreign to him.
Because this was real.
And he was standing.
The Library of Memories flashed before his eyes, countless echoes of pain and struggle, of suffering and survival. Each moment flickering past like pages in a book, each one leading him here, to this.
And then-
For the first time in his life.
It all stopped.
The massive burden he carried on his shoulder since he was born.
It all stilled.
And in its place, realisation settled in.
He was Sunless.
And with that came a slow, undeniable realization.
He was happy.
Truly, impossibly, unimaginably happy.
A genuine and unrestrained laugh bubbled up in his chest, and as it escaped, a wide, unshakable smile broke across his face.
Because after everything, after all the hardship, after all the pain…
He had won.