Love Can Save {An Aphmau Fanfiction}

Aphmau

I had never before known such a time of peace and bliss as those four months after the battle with Tu'la. For the first time in my life, I had my entire family by my side and could proudly call them mine. Levin and Malachi were so grown, running Phoenix Drop better than I ever had and turning it into the largest village in the region. And Lilith and Alina, well, they finally had their father back.

I sat in our room, looking out the window with a mug of jasmine tea warming my hands. Spring was here again, bringing life to every corner of the Island and causing our already bustling Capital to become even more lively. The sun broke over the horizon just a few minutes ago, yet already I could see dozens of people walking through the streets below, either shopping or going to work or returning from guard duty. I pretended that one of the guards I could see was Garroth on his way home to Alice, or another maybe Richard heading back to the barracks. I smiled and leaned back in my chair, thinking of all that had occurred in the past four months.

Just last month, Garroth and Alice had been married, neither wanting to waste anymore time. The ceremony had been absolutely breathtaking, and there were definitely tears shed by most of the crowd, myself included. Garroth had been through so much in the past four years, well, about twenty if you counted the fifteen years we had missed. And Alice's life had been even worse; I was overjoyed that these two friends of mine, two people who had sacrificed everything for Phoenix Drop, could finally be happy with each other for the rest of their lives.

Laurance and Thalia had grown inseparable, and I was convinced that there was something more going on with them that they just weren't sharing with the rest of us. Well, I was pretty sure that Garroth and Evelyn knew; they grinned every time they saw the pair, which often led to teasing and blushing on both ends. Irene, Evelyn had changed so much since she had regained the ability to speak. It still absolutely amazed me that Irene had been able to heal her so completely. There was still a faint scar on her throat, but it was nothing compared to the damage that had been inflicted for so long. She never stopped talking now, but it didn't bother me or anyone else. Kacey and Thalia and Richard acted annoyed, but I knew they were all happy for Evelyn's good luck. She and Richard had grown close as well, and I couldn't tell if they were simply becoming incredibly close friends or something else entirely. I was sure that the truth would reveal itself in a few months.

Thinking of Evelyn reminded me of that battle, the day where I had somehow managed to save dozens of lives. Then again, I couldn't think of the miracles performed that day as being performed by me; Lady Irene had taken control of my body in order to accomplish what needed to be done. I would never have had the strength to heal even two people, let alone everyone in Phoenix Drop. And that incident further proved to me that Lady Irene and I were two completely different people. Yes, I might have once been Lady Irene, hundreds of years ago. But since Vylad had placed the staff by Phoenix Drop to summon the power of Lady Irene, I had become Aphmau, Ever since then, it had been Aphmau who had become the Lord of Phoenix Drop, Aphmau who had formed the Phoenix Alliance, Aphmau who had found the Capital Island, Aphmau who had fallen in love with Aaron. The only time that Irene had actually appeared in this new age was four months ago, when she opened the portal and saved Phoenix Drop. And unless we found ourselves in such awful danger again, I doubted she would show herself again. That part of my past was gone. I only lived for the present now.

I glanced back, looking into the bedroom and catching sight of Aaron, still sleeping peacefully. I smiled again, resting my head against the wall as I watched him. Our wedding was set for tonight, at sunset on the beach by my old house in Phoenix Drop. The first wedding I had ever helped set up had been there, years and years ago that Donna and Logan had since spent building a beautiful family. I hadn't wanted to push Aaron into marriage; I knew he still held a special place in his heart for Lily and Jacob, and I didn't ever want to take away from that. Yet he had proposed a few weeks after his return, taking me by surprise as we had sat in the forest with Lilith and Alina, the girls playing in the clearing that we had spent so much time in before Aaron had gone. "I've missed so much time and so many special moments. I don't want to miss anymore of my life, or yours, or my daughters'." I had been so busy crying that I almost forgot to say yes.