THEN I FOUND YOU [mcd]

chapter twenty six

Zianna seems so professional sitting tall at the head of the dining room table. Kandi sits to her right, and Garroth and I to her left. Kandi has her papers sitting in front of her with a pencil beside them. I don't think I've ever seen her so professional before, but we're finally able to plan our wedding again.

We've knocked out our wedding cake already. There was a gleam of happiness in Garroth's eyes when he learned that Zianna and Kawaii~Chan were teaming up to make the cake. Zianna bakes it, and Kawaii~Chan decorates it. Kawaii~Chan has such a gentle hand that her designs always come out beautifully done.

We've decided on a color scheme, and we're beginning to touch on the flowers. Garroth is starting to tune out at this part, as he doesn't have a large interest in flowers. I'm unsure if he can identify more than three types. He can't even tell me if a dandelion is a flower or a weed. He says it's a flower. But once the word "weed" comes into play, he can't answer anymore. It's cute how flustered he gets.

"Can't you plan the flowers when I'm not here?" Garroth asks. His voice sounds whiny, and I giggle when Zianna scolds him for his words. He sits up straight from slouching at her words and lowers her gaze to the table in shame. "Sorry, mummy. I just can't help but think that there's something more productive we can do while I'm here."

I look over to Garroth with a timid smile. I understand that this isn't his cup of tea, but I don't want only us females to plan our wedding. We could touch on the topic of invitations, but Dante is cooking dinner, and it may run into when it is finished.

Instead, Kandi looks down at her list and tries to look for some easier things to do in the meantime.

Garroth is questioned about things like his best man. We then pick out the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Cadenza is my maid of honor, whether she likes it or not. She doesn't know she has that role yet either, but I can only assume she's expecting it since I was hers. Also had to give her away.

"Alex, who's walking you down the aisle?"

I fall quiet once again. It's like when Garroth fell quiet when he was asked who would be his best man. He was able to answer that question after a few seconds of thinking, but I could see the pained expression he was trying to hide.

I knew he was going to say my brother, but he couldn't.

Laurance won't come to our wedding. There's no way for us to even tell him of our wedding. We know where he is. I'm not five. I know he's in the nether. There's no way to communicate with him, and I'm not risking my life by entering the nether to try and have a single conversation.

Shadow Knights are only becoming more of a problem as days pass by, and I'm not going to be the reason Phoenix Drop starts to crumble once again.

"Alex?" I've spent too much time in my own thoughts, where it seems to me I've worried both Kandi and Zianna. Zianna reaches over to place the back of her hand against my forehead to check my temperature. "Are you feeling alright, sweetie? You're pale."

"I-I need a moment."

The room feels heavy on my shoulders as my chair slides against the wooden floors to get out of the room. The front door opens, and this allows for a gust of wind to burst into the entrance.

My legs wander to where they want to go as my head spins.

I wish this wasn't a subject that messed with my head the way it does. It's silly really, it really is. I'm upset over the idea that I don't know who is going to walk me down the aisle. It's the silliest thing in the world.

I placed expectations on myself that I couldn't amount to. I can't control who lives and who dies. Who stays and who leaves. Dad? He passed, and I wasn't even there. What kind of daughter am I if I couldn't even say goodbye before he was gone forever? I wasn't at his funeral. Cadenza was. I wasn't.

Cadenza? She's already giving me away. She's making my wedding dress. My maid of honor. That's too much to place on her.

Zianna? She's not even my mother. She's Garroth's mother. While she's admitted to enjoying the idea of having someone that resembles a daughter to her, it isn't the same.

Then there's Dante. Dante has always been there for me. He's like a father to me now because of our age difference. Before, like a brother. But he's close to Garroth too, and he's already been given the role of Garroth's best man.

I could walk myself down the aisle and call it a day. Give up and act like I'm stronger than I actually am. I'd probably crumble onto my knees when it's my turn to walk down.

Amongst all of this all, I don't know why this is so important to me. Why it bothers me so much.

I stumble into the ruins of Meteli. I've somehow managed to walk into a place that meant so much to me at one point. A place I feel as though I have failed in every way by watching it burn from across a body of water. I didn't do anything to stop it. I watched it burn. Crumble into ashes. I watched it die and burn, and my childhood went down with it.

I look around for any sight of Castor. I don't want to be around him at this moment. Kidnapping my sister as a chicken, calling my brother stupid and insisting that Laruance needs to pay him back. I especially don't want to hear the bocking of his stupid chickens.

I sit against a ruined building and rest my back against it. The grass has grown back to a bright green color. The pathways remain intact. The buildings destroyed just like any book that proved its existence. I suppose Zane destroyed Meteli's name before Vylad could.

A shadow casts over me, and I look up to see Garroth. He sits down next to me with a huff and puff. He complains there's a pebble under his butt, but he doesn't do anything to fix that.

"You can't run from your problems," he says.

I shake my head. "No, not running. Hiding. Hiding from my problems and Castor and his chickens."

"His 'people.'"

"Same difference."

He chuckles at my annoyance and grabs onto my hand. He twists the ring around on my finger before he eventually loses interest in it. "You're hiding from the fact that you don't know who to walk you down the aisle. Why don't you choose someone close to you?"

I look at him unamused before sighing and placing my head on his shoulder. "It feels hard when it shouldn't be. I had it all planned out, and it fell apart. I know it's a clear choice, but I'm still scared nonetheless."

He squeezes my hand again before kissing it and lifting me up to my feet. He looks at me and tries to give a little pep talk. He and Dante with their stupid pep talks.

Eventually it works, and I insist we quickly leave before Castor finds us and questions where his money is. I'm not "stupid stupid Laurance," and I don't give my money to men who get kicked out of a small village for being a wack job and trying to run for lord. To think he and Laurance were best friends at one point.

"Hey Gar," I say, trying to get his attention on our walk back. "I'm not calling Old Meteli Chickenteli. That's the stupidest name I've ever heard in my entire life."

"I don't know," he jokes. "I kind of like it."

"There's always a couch you can sleep on for the night."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Garroth sits me back down in a chair. Zianna seems worried by the time I can be seen at the table after walking back into the house. Dante and his family will be here any minute now for the dinner we invited them to. We had questions to ask them regarding being involved in our wedding.

"Are you feeling alright now? You gave us quite a scare."

I nod my head and smile timidly. A knock on the door sounds, and Kandi places her supplies into the living room before going to the kitchen to retrieve what's for dinner.

"The fresh air did wonders. I feel a lot better now because of it. In fact, I think I can answer that question now, though."

We watch the four come in and get settled. Garroth moves to sit at the other end of the table, while Dante and Kawaii~Chan sit on either side of Zianna. Kandi and I sit on either side of Garroth, and the children sit in between us.

I turn to Dante with a smile when dinner is dished out. "Dante, will you walk me down the aisle?"