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“You can still back out of it, you know?”
“...You do understand how expensive this was to plan right?”
“Money? You have Ningguang, Keqing, and Diluc at your side. You could literally buy your way to the moon and back, and what you’re worried about is money ?”
“You guys are overreacting…”
“How could we not be worried?”
“He isn’t that bad…”
“This is Childe we’re talking about.”
“...”
Lumine puffed her cheeks up into a pout. She couldn’t deny that. Ajax could be quite a handful at times...or many a lot of times...scratch that, most of the time...However, she thought that her friends were being overly dramatic. He had his equal share of good moments when it came to it. They just probably didn’t know.
“You know, he can always die in an ‘accident’ before it starts. That would get it canceled.”
“ No killing anyone .” Lumine deadpanned.
Lumine was against their idea for numerous reasons.
One, as much as she loved excitement, she would rather not see anybody die on her wedding day of all things. Her friends tended to be very overprotective of her and she knew that they weren’t lying when they said that. The would 100% carry out with a murder plan today and pretend to not know anything about it if they weren’t stopped now.
Two, as she already told them a few seconds ago, this wedding had taken up way too much money for her liking. Though Ajax hadn’t even blinked when he saw the amount of money that went into the preparations and she hadn’t even spent a single penny from her own wallet, she thought it would be a waste to let all that money go down the drain.
Three, she didn’t want to be widowed even before the wedding ceremony. She was too ‘young’ to be a widow already.
Oh, and she loved Ajax too much to lose him already, she guessed.
“I don’t understand what you see in the boy,” Ningguang shook her head to express her disapproval.
“You’re just jealous that you can’t awaken an old, ancient god like him.”
“Wipe that smug look off your face before I do it myself, Beidou.”
“Come on guys, I thought we were out for Tartaglia’s blood...not each other’s !”
Lumine didn’t know what to be more surprised about: the fact that Amber had gotten Ningguang and Beidou to stop arguing before a fight began, or the fact that they were all so insistent of her soon-to-be husband’s death.
“Them wanting to kill Childe aside...are you sure you’ll be ok?” Jean, ever the most mature one out of them all, ignored the ruckus that the other girls in the room were making to make sure that Lumine was ok.
“Well, I expected to be quite nervous since this is a once in a lifetime event but…” Lumine glanced at her group of friends who began to plan out the murder of her lover right in front of her and grinned softly. “I’m too busy preventing you guys from committing a crime to even have a chance to feel nervous.”
Jean chuckled into her hands, nodding in agreement at the bride’s comment.
“But you truly look beautiful today, Lumine.” Jean complimented as she tucked the stray piece of hair that was randomly sticking out behind Lumine’s ears. “I’m sure you’ll be the one shining the brightest out there tonight.”
Lumine was thankful to Jean for many things. However, the biggest out of all her reasons was just the simple fact that she had been one of the first people she had met when she had woken up in Teyvat: she was one of, if not the , first people that she had confided in. Ever since their first meeting all the way up until today, on her wedding, Jean never failed to be the best older sister figure Lumine could have ever asked for, and she was grateful for that.
“Thank you Jean.”
“Give us one good reason we shouldn’t kill you right here, right now.”
“Never knew you were a patient one Diluc. Why wait when we can just go ahead with it?”
“Have mercy on my poor soul. I’d rather not go out there and walk the aisle looking like I just came out of a battle, though that does sound fun.”
Meanwhile, on the groom’s side, the mood was completely opposite of the one in the bride’s room. While the girls were too busy fretting over the bride and complimenting how beautiful she looked, the boys had their hands full sending death glares and threats left and right to the groom.
“I’m not sure what Lumine even sees in you,” Diluc, the one who had been the most vocal in his disapproval of the pair’s relationship, snarled out.
“Please refrain from killing the groom until after the wedding.”
“And here I thought that you of all people would be supportive of me, sensei!”
“Get your hands off of Morax.”
It seemed like everybody was a critic here. Ajax didn’t know whether or not he wanted to laugh or cry at how disapproving they all were about their marriage. Though, he had to admit, they were right on one thing: Lumine was much too good for him. Someone of her caliber - someone who was loved as much as she is - could have easily gotten a much better man than someone like him. However she had chosen him over everybody else, and he was grateful to her for that.
“It truly is interesting how you two came to be. I had expected her to end up with a person that is...smarter. However, I won’t question her decisions.”
“Albedo, your jealousy is showing.”
Though Ajax knew that he had been the winner of the race for Lumine’s heart and would be walking down the aisle with her in not even an hour, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease whenever he saw her around these guys. These were all men that felt affection for his soon-to-be wife in some kind of way, shape, or form. He felt that one of them would steal her away from him if he let his guard down for even a second.
At the sound of the door creaking open, Ajax snapped out of his thoughts and looked to see who his visitor was. Once his eyes landed on the ‘unexpected’ newcomer, his eyes widened comically, much like the others who were currently present in the room with him.
“You’re really here...”
She was beautiful.
She was stunning.
She was out of this world.
There were absolutely no words that could describe how he felt as he looked at the love of his life slowly walking the aisle towards him.
Jean was right.
Even in the night, more so than any other stars or lightings that lit up the area, she seemed to be the one shining the brightest out of them all. She was like a star herself. His own, personal star .
He had seen her more adventurous side more times that he could count. The two had fought with and against each other on numerous occasions: both as enemies and as allies. He knew that she was a traveler and a warrior through and through. Like him, she lived for the excitement, the thrills , that a good battle sometimes gave, and he loved that side of her.
He had also gotten to see her more ‘domestic’ parts when the two finally ended up on the same side of the war. Lumine was honestly the closest he envisioned a ‘perfect housewife’ to be.
After the two had begun dating, it had been a normal experience to see her in the kitchen, cooking meals for the two of them (and sometimes his family) to eat. And children? The girl practically adored them.
Even when the two were on bad terms, she would always take care of Teucer and his other younger siblings. She loved them, and they, in turn, loved her back. He wasn’t lying before when he said that he was worried his siblings preferred her over him. Their most lovable big brother.
However, what he saw now...the girl who was gracefully walking towards him…
Damn, I think I just fell in love all over again .
He had never seen this more…’feminine’ side of her, and it had honestly caught him by surprise. He hadn’t even known it was possible for a girl to be that...ethereal. How could someone who could beat up fucking dragons and gods seem so elegant? So... fragile ?
“Ajax, you’re staring,” she quietly whispered loud enough for only him to hear when she arrived in front of Barbara by his side.
Ajax stared at her with a dumbstruck expression for a moment before he quickly faced forward to avoid showing her how heated his face had become. There was no way he’d let her know that he had been left speechless at how heavenly she looked right now, he would never hear the end of it after this was all done.
Lumine giggled at the ginger’s obvious embarrassment and faced forward, following his example. Barbara, their officiant for this wedding, took this as her cue to commence her speech.
“Welcome family, friends and loved ones. We are gathered today to celebrate the union…”
Ajax tuned out the remainder of the girl’s speech. As important as he knew it was, he just couldn’t find himself to pay attention to what was being said because of how antsy he currently felt.
He wanted so much to take a peek again at Lumine to get a glimpse of her face, but it would’ve been too obvious; there was no way that she, let alone the entire crowd , wouldn’t notice if he did so.
“Now Ajax and Lumine, please join hands and face each other.”
Before he knew it, they had finally arrived at the final, most important part of the wedding.
Ajax turned to face Lumine, who also copied his actions.
“Ajax, do you take Lumine to be your wife?”
Ajax gazed into the girl’s eyes. Eyes that seemed to twinkle like the stars that were scattered across the sky.
“I do.”
“Lumine, do you take Ajax to be your husband?”
Lumine smiled gently as she looked at the man in front of her adoringly.
“I do.”
The rest had been a blur. All Ajax remembered was taking the ring - the same ring that the two had chosen out together with the assistance of Zhongli - and placing it on her fingers, finally laying claim to the girl he had chased after for so long.
When he saw Lumine do the same, even before Barbara had the chance to give him the go, Ajax had gone in for the kiss. It truly was a shame that this was a public event and he couldn’t go any further than he had in his kiss. It had been pretty dangerous though, when he saw the girl blush shily like that, he had nearly lost his cool.
There was a mixture of teasing jeers and excited cheers when they were finally announced husband and wife by the weary Barbara who seemed to have given up in getting the pair’s attention for the remainder of her speech afterwards.
Before anybody could do or say anything, Ajax grabbed onto both her hands and looked into her eyes with a resolute look. “Do you trust me?” He asked.
Lumine tilted her head curiously at how out-of-character he seemed. He didn’t seem to be excited at finally being proclaimed husband and wife, but it might just be her imagination. There was a possibility that the poor boy was just in disbelief. “Of course. What’s wrong, Ajax?”
Without another word, Ajax smiled and made a run for it through the aisle, his hands never letting go of hers. He ignored the shocked and annoyed looks their guests gave him as he sped past them. He was sure that he heard threats of pain and death being tossed at him but he paid those no mind as well. Their opinions didn’t matter to him anyways, only Lumine’s did.
“Ajax?!” Lumine screeched in confusion as she was dragged away.
The two didn’t have to run for long before they arrived in a field of flowers that was a short distance away from where their wedding ceremony had taken place. With the brightly lit lanterns and torches out of the way, the stars in the sky seemed much more bright and clear, though they were still nothing compared to Lumine in his eyes.
“Ajax, what are you thinking?” Lumine huffed, trying to catch her breath and the sudden unexpected run.
Ajax grinned. “Think of this as your wedding present from me.”
“What do you-”
But before she could ask Ajax what he meant, a voice suddenly cut her off.
“Congratulations on your marriage Lumi.”
An overly familiar voice. A voice she hadn’t heard in ages. A voice that didn’t belong to Ajax or anybody else in Teyvat.
“I-”
“Forgot my face already?”
Lumine eyes widened as she snapped her back to Ajax, bewildered and trying to look for answers. “How-”
“...I might have asked for help from the Archons and Dainsleif,” Ajax admitted before gently pushing her towards the familiar figure that had approached them.
“You-”
Lumine’s eyes slowly began to water as the darkness of the night seemed to fade away, replaced by the lights from the stars, revealing the face of the one who stood before her.
“It’s been a while. I missed you, sister.”
Ajax truly was a gift that the stars had given her.