434 A wedding to die for

Beautiful piano music carried along the gentle breeze blowing off the calm sea. Smiling faces all dressed in exquisite outfits lined the few rows of seating on either side of the center aisle. Tiny shells were mixed with the many white roses and orchid blooms littering the path. At the end of the aisle was a wide arch of driftwood, decorated with white ribbon, roses, and orchids. Some shells were strategically placed along the flowers and ribbons. A small pillar stood at the center the bottom level with only two other people spaced out on either side, Andy to the currently empty side and Peg standing just a step below a nervous groom.

A wide smile spread across Peg's lips. "I never thought I'd see you like this… Here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Just in case you need to go over it one more time while we wait…"

Arei nodded as he took the paper, his palms already damp with sweat. "You'd think after such a long wait, I'd have the exact words for this day memorized."

Andy stepped over and gave his arm a squeeze. "You've got this, and we're here for you however you may need us today… We couldn't be there when you needed us the most in the past… but just know… we are today."

Peg gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. "What she said."

"Like I said, it's going to be an adlib kind of thing. I'm just as in the dark as you, right now." He said in a hushed whisper. His gaze moved to the end of the aisle as a new excitement seemed to charge the crowd. His heart jumped in his chest, and his eyes grew wide and moist. It was one thing to see her in her dress standing inside their home, but to see her standing at the end of the aisle ready to walk toward him… It caused all of his anxiety to suddenly morph into overwhelming joy and excitement. He didn't take his eyes off Joslyn as he pressed the paper against Peg's chest.

Hera stepped onto the platform and took her place on the top center. Her eyes moved from Joslyn still standing on the far end of the aisle over to Arei. "I suppose this has been a long time coming… an early congratulations." She gave him a slight nod. "Now please focus, if you will."

Jos squeezed Shiori's tiny hand as Poseidon stepped beside her. He bent and placed a kiss on her temple. "My dear, you look simply radiant today… you all but glow, child." He lifted and gave her chin an affectionate nudge before holding his hand out for Shelly.

Shelly stood with Cam in tow. She moved over and gave Jos's arm a quick squeeze. "I can't believe it's finally happening! I'm so excited!" In her excitement, she stepped into Poseidon's waiting embrace. She tried to move away but realized quickly Cam and Shiori were already clasping hands. She tilted her head with a laugh. "Well, it looks like we'll be walking down this thing a little closer than planned…"

Poseidon chuckled as he shifted Shiori into the bend of one arm and through the other around Shelly. "That is perfectly fine by me."

Shelly balanced the pillow with the rings tied to them as she held Cam. She leaned over and whispered to the kids. "Ok, guys make flowers rain down." Without any other directions, the kids squeezed hands and began making roses and orchids fall all around the backyard. Shelly couldn't hide her giggles as the stunned guest tried catching the illusions as they passed through their grasp.

Zeus shook his head as he stepped beside Jos. "I'll never cease to be amazed at what those two are capable of."

Jos nodded. "Especially at such young ages."

"Indeed." He muttered as he held his arm out for her to take. "Tell me, what is the plan with those two? Do you plan to train them?"

Jos shrugged. "Rin, Cam's dad, will be doing training with his boys, and I'll only imagine Shiori will be a part of it considering how hard it is to separate them already… but aside from that I'd hoped to let the majority of her abilities form naturally. I know what it is like to be forced into abilities that you don't understand or even want… and I don't want that for my child."

Zeus frowned. "And I suppose you blame some of that on me as well?"

Jos shook her head. "No, that was entirely Mother's doing. To blame any of her actions on you would also be to blame Poseidon as well as the others who knew and did nothing… That would not be fair."

He nodded. "You are a very wise and understanding individual. I regret not making better attempts to amend our relationship before this."

Jos bit the inside of her jaw as she blew out a sigh and nodded. She took his arm. "There is always today." She took a single step forward. "There is always the path that lay ahead… as long as we are moving along it and not looking behind us, all shall be right in the end."

Moved, he tightened his hold on her and stepped along the path with her. "That's a very lovely, kind thing to say." He allowed his eyes to move over her features. There was an icy beauty to her well-styled silver hair and stoic artic blue eyes. He couldn't tell if it was just the overabundance of white surrounding her today but for some reason, the aqua eyes he'd become accustomed to seeing seemed to hold a nearly white hue as well. His eyes trailed over her fingertips that clung to his arm. He clasped a hand over her hand with a light chuckle, completely misreading Joslyn's features. "Your fingers are nearly blue… Relax. It seems like a big ordeal right now, but it will only be a pleasant memory in a few hours. There's no need for all these nerves."

Jos paused, taking a deep breath to suppress the Kraken's impulse as Zeus continued to stand so close and even touch her so freely. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, before opening them once again and forcing a smile up to him. "You're right… by tonight this will all be nothing but a pleasant memory… something to cherish for years and years to come…"

He smiled brightly down at her as he raised and finger and brushed away a stray curl. "There are those bright eyes I've grown used to seeing. Shall we continue?" When Jos nodded, he bent and whispered against her ear. "May I just say, how lucky my nephew is… you are quite a beauty, my child."

Jos bit down painfully on the inside of her jaw, tasting the blood as she fought back a cringe. "Thank you." The closer she got to the arch and Arei the easier it became. She no longer had to mask her tension or suppress the monster lurking just under the white satin and lace. Zeus released her arm and stepped away, she quickly turned and caught the sleeve of his cream tux. She lowered her head working up her best seductively sad expression she could muster before lifting her head to him. "Please stay by my side today… it would mean so much." She hid her glee as she watched his surprise morph into charmed happiness.

"Of course, child. Anything for you on this day."

Jos sent him her sweetest smile. "I shall hold you to that possibly later." She didn't wait for a response as she quickly snapped her attention back around to Arei and clasped both his hands eagerly. "My love… I've waited so long."

Arei smiled lovingly down into her shimmering eyes. "As have I…"

Tears streamed down Jos's face as the words she'd longed to hear for more than 500 years poured freely from Arei's lips like the sweetest poetry. Her hand trembled as he took the ring from the pillow left by Shelly and Cam on the pillar and slid it onto her finger. It fit perfectly onto the elaborate engagement ring he'd fished from the spring back in Tampa what seemed like a lifetime ago now. She clasped her free hand the necklace he'd had custom made for her over 500 years ago on one of their first trips together… a cumulation of all their memories together, all the people that meant the most to her, all the words she'd waited so long to hear from him… and everything she, in turn, had been waiting so long to say to him… If this was to be the day she died, then so be it. She would die with no regrets. Joslyn whispered in a low sing-song tone the words she'd repeated in her head hundreds of times over the years, her eyes watering more with each word as she went. Her hand trembled so badly as she retrieved Arei's ring, she nearly dropped it, But Zeus was quick to catch it and place it snuggly in her palm. He curled her fingers around the band and gave her a wink. Too bad his show of chivalry would do little to sway her decisions here today… Jos shook as she slid the band onto Arei's finger. "With this ring I, Joslyn Octavia Decker take Areion Kalos Cavollo as my wedded husband until the end of time or death, whichever shall find us first."

Hera nodded as she indicated for Arei to flip his palm over. She placed Jos's hand over Arie's hand and had them clasp one another's wrists. Her hand hovered over their interlocked hands as a golden ribbon materialized and bound around their hands. "As the goddess of marriage, I now sanction this marriage as binding. In the eyes of Olympus and the earth below you are now together until the end of your time. Even shall you perish and depart to the underworld, shall your souls find one another there, they shall be bound by this connection I have blessed here today."

Arei and Jos both nodded happily as they stepped closer to one another.

"You may now kiss your bride," Hera said.

Arei wasted no time as he scooped Jos into his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

Ry grasped Jaden and Russ's hands as he leaned forward toward Shelly and Rin. "It's time to get the kids and get the fuck out of here. That's our cue to leave."

Shelly frowned as she nudged Raven. "It's time…"

Raven shook her head. "You guys go. We're going to stay and help."

Poseidon arched a brow. "I'll not ask. Here." He handed a sleeping Shiori to Rin. "You can handle her as well?"

Rin nodded. "I've improved my teleporting." He quickly wrapped Shelly, Cam, and Shiori in his arms and vanished.

"That leaves us. Dad… Just zap us to the SUV and we'll be gone…"

Poseidon frowned. "You're not even going to tell your dear ol dad what's happening?"

Ry shrugged. "You can come with us…"

Poseidon blew out a heavy sigh as he glanced over his shoulder to Zeus standing beside Jos and Arei. "No… I don't think I need too much of a rundown on the matter… be safe kids… I'll stay and do what I can here… Just… just tell me they have a better plan this time."

Ry shrugged. "Better help, maybe…"

Poseidon placed his hand on Ry and the three of them vanished. Without explanation, he leaned forward and pressed April, Mattie, and Drake together. "Find Ry in the parking lot." They vanished in an instant as well. He leaned back against his chair, his eyes moving to Raven and Isha. "I know I need not help the two of you, shall we be accomplices together then?"

Raven nodded. "Till the bitter end, I guess."

He gave her a nod as he flicked his wrist and produced a decanter of whiskey. "Very well then."

Once the kiss had ended, Joslyn pressed her palms against Arei's chest and whispered into his chest. "Run… fly far away…"

Arei tightened his hold around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. He leaned down and ran kisses along her cheek and temple. "Together forever, until death do we part… I'll follow you to the underworld, even Tartarus if I must…" He whispered in return.

Jos nodded as she pulled away and sent him a final accepting stare. She released her hold on him and turned her attention to Zeus, unable to hold back her cynical laughter any longer as darkness began to shroud the ceremony. "You are so blissfully blinded to everything. You still don't see what is right before your very eyes."

The remaining guests all gasped in stunned shock as the eerie sound of children's laughter echoed from the end of the aisle as Nyx's two youngest twins came skipping hand in ghostly hand down the path, their bodies blurring in and out of shadows and fog as they did.

The empty seats began to fill with the ghastly figures of her other children, but Jos was not surprised at all. She simply let her head fall to her shoulder as she turned to face them all. "You're late… you've missed the ceremony…" A familiar chilling fog carrying the scent of poppies encircled her before a pale hand extended from the thick fog and stroked her cheek. Arei took an involuntary step back as Andy ran to Peg's side behind him.

"Ha, but the fun is only just starting." The mist purred in his usual hypnotic lull before moving on to warp around Hera. "Isn't that right, my dear?"

Hera recoiled as if bitten by a venomous serpent. "Get away this instant!"

Hypnos fully materialized before her as he followed her footsteps while she backed away. He caressed her face and arms as she did. "Now is that any way to speak to an ex-lover, my dear?"

Hypnos's words were enough to snap Zeus from his dumbfounded confusion and insight rage instead. "What is the meaning of all this?!" But no sooner did he try to advance on the platform, did ghostly, clawed hands snag and tear at his crisp cream tux. He struggled against the many clawed hands coming from every shadow, but there was no point. He was powerless against them all.

A wide smile curved Hypnos's lips as Hera was bound by similar hands against a wall of shadows. He shifted into smoke and wrapped himself around Zeus before finally materializing before him. He blew some of the sleeping powder into his face making Zeus groggy. "Tell me, Oh king of gods, what makes you think you can take on all of us when you have already fallen to me twice before? Had it not been for others coming to your aid, you would not have faired against me." He looked around the now-dark backyard. The regular guests were all frozen in their seats while his siblings taunted them. "Do you think anyone here will be coming to your rescue today?" His sardonic gaze moved to Hera. "What of you, Love?" Do you think anyone will give a shit about the queen of curl punishments? Doubtfully… Most likely everyone will be glad to finally be rid of the two of you."