Chapter 123: Arc 1 FINALE: A Night To Cherish (3)
Rissa teleported behind the frozen in place Sasha and grabbed her hand. "Don’t leave him standing there! It’s Sora and Brie’s last night after all!"
Sasha took a deep breath and found the courage to step forward when she saw Levi’s handsome face smiling at her. Everyone else circled around the dance floor in anticipation.
Sora smiled. He was happy for his best friend and in his mind, Sasha saying no wasn’t a possible outcome.
"Why is Auntie Sasha’s head swirling with green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, grey and red? What does grey mean?" Xander asked his parents.
Sora laughed and asked, "What about your mama? What color is hers?"
"Orange and grey."
"Well Brie, what other emotion other than surprise are you feeling right now?"
"Clueless. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on." Brie admitted with a smile.
"Well buddy, I think we have our answer. Auntie Sasha is happy, feels loved, confused, surprised, nervous, uncertain and angry all at once! What color is her body? Dark green?"
Xander nodded. "So is Levi. Most of the party is. The only different colors are the Original Vampires and the mythics. They’re body isn’t gold but it’s silver."
"Interesting. That means they’re very noble people. What about Julius?"
"Uhhhhh. He’s also silver. Sera is dark green though. Now I’m confused."
"Maybe silver isn’t noble, it means they’re unique," Sora suggested.
"Sasha’s finally by Levi," Brie whispered while motioning for them to be quiet.
*****
"Levi... you know I hate attention."
Levi smiled and gave her a quick kiss. "I know, but it’s not like I could do this secretly."
"Oh my gosh..." Sasha said as her face went red.
Levi got on one knee and opened the box. A beautiful golden ring with pink and green gemstones embedded in a cross glimmered in the ballroom.
"Sasha Valencia, will you marry me?"
Everyone in the ballroom let out giant cheers, whistles and "awwwws"
Brie stood up in amazement and yelled "IT’S ABOUT TIME."
Everyone, including Levi and Sasha laughed.
"Yes!" Sasha screamed in joy. She allowed Levi to put the ring on, showed it off to the crowd before finally kissing him.
"Seriously though. Your mama’s right. Levi and Sasha have known each other and been in the party since the day after I met her!" Sora laughed.
Bishop said congratulations on the mic as party member after party member teleported to them to say their congratulations.
Levi and Sasha looked so happy. Sora and Brie were soaking it all in. They knew this was going to be a lot more difficult than they originally anticipated.
*****
Around 3 am, guests began getting tired and Xander kindly let them home through a portal. Soren and Lyra asked to stay the night, which wasn’t a problem.
Once everyone was gone, Sora asked everyone to meet him in the living area for one last goodnight.
"This is going to be a lot harder than I imagined. I’m going to miss all of you dearly.. If Azazel comes, kick his ass."
"Ok so I totally don’t want to steal Levi and Sasha’s thunder and I wouldn’t bring it up unless our leaders were leaving, but Leila and I have agreed to get married. For us, it’s completely different. So, don’t worry about a wedding or anything."
Sasha and Levi smiled, although Levi turned to look at his brother. Once he saw he was smiling, he made a mental note to talk to him about it later.
"Glad you two finally realized it. No offense Lionel, I sincerely mean that. It’s just different for us. We’re Ancient and mythical creatures. Our bonds are simply different," Bishop said emphatically. "You’re a great guy and honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Athena didn’t drop a woman in your life soon."
"I told them to stop worrying about me and to stop fighting it. I appreciate your sincerity Bishop. I just can’t believe Sora and Brie are going to come back in 16 days with an 18 year old son." Lionel laughed.
"Oh that’s right! Xander, take care of your parents up there. They can be goofballs sometimes," Johnathan laughed.
"He’s right. I know we haven’t been in the party long, but seriously, everyone here is great to be around," Jax added.
"What’s Paradise like anyway?" Connor asked. "Koda is also curious."
"Sorry everyone can’t reveal. Otherwise what’s the point of waiting for that surprise?" Celeste said with a laugh.
"It’s an amazing place with a lot of amazing souls. Rest assured, we will pass on our love to Luna for you. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see us." Sora said cheerfully.
"Well everyone, sleep well. We won’t leave without saying goodbye unless you’re sleeping. We leave no later than 10 am and we can’t tell you from where!" Brie laughed.
Everyone came and hugged them. They all gave Xander words of encouragement. He loved seeing how happy everyone was when talking to his parents. He was glad his dada was back and glowing a dark gold, just like his mama always did.
*****
No one slept well that night. Despite their tight bond, everyone knew how much the Lockhearts meant to the Savior party. Each of them had been personally invited by Sora, Brie or Xander and for Connor and Koda, it felt like their closest friends were leaving.
Xander fell asleep peacefully. Sora picked him gently, walked him to his new room, set him gently on the large mattress and tucked him in neatly.
Sora and Brie laid in bed reminiscing for a bit before finally spending some sensual time together.
By 7 am, Leila and Ignis were the first in the kitchen, brewing a pot of coffee.
"So what did dragons do for marriage?" Ignis asked while taking a sip.
"Just got married. No ceremony, just something common in the community. The only difference was for Lox and me because I was Queen.
"Ah, I see. I’ve never been married but for the people on my planet, they spent 6 months engaged and then automatically became married. My parents died when my brother and I were young and my brother stays in his Phoenix form most of the time. We should visit there soon. I need to check on him."
"Why don’t we get married by your ancient flame?" Leila suggested as Celeste walked in and said "morning and that’s a great idea!"
Slowly but surely everyone made their way to the living area by 830 am. They knew they were early, but didn’t want to miss saying goodbye.
Sora, Brie and Xander walked into the room, dressed in casual clothes and Sora only packed his dimensional void with clothes for the family and a few cameras.
He pulled one out and recorded everyone sitting, talking, laughing and reminiscing. Sasha was sitting on Levi’s lap, several were admiring Iris and everyone was happy. He planned to watch this video when times got tough in Paradise.
Brie snapped pictures of everyone, who began posing and begging for a picture with the three of them.
An hour passed and everyone tried to stay emotionally strong.
"Well everyone, don’t miss us too much. We’ll be back in 16 days!" Sora shouted, trying to sound excited.
"Do you have time to do a livestream?! How else are we going to explain to the citizens Xander is 18?!" Celeste said frantically.
"I don’t want citizens to panic and I don’t want Azazel to catch wind of it. He may already know, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!" Brie said while blowing kisses.
Xander ran to pet Koda. "Bye buddy. I’ll miss everyone!"
Koda licked his face and Xander ran back. They waved and disappeared to their room, where a golden shiny portal stood in the back of the walk in closet.
"No turning back. I love you both very much. Let’s go help Paradise!" Sora said while he grabbed both of their hands. They walked through the portal and Xander’s eyes widened in excitement.
"Nana Fena!"
******
[Thank you so much for following me on this first arc’s journey. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The second arc will pick off right where the first one left off!]
