The Oracle

Epilogue

AKARI

"You may now kiss the bride!"

The entire crowd cheers as Sekai dips and kisses Gambit in her white mermaid cut wedding dress, her long veil trailing behind her. I clap and beam with joy for the two of them, watching as Sekai swoops up Gambit bridal style and she gasps, grabbing ahold of her veil to keep it from falling off as Sekai runs down the aisle with her.

Gambit and Sekai invited all of us to their wedding in Elvenowl, having me be the maid of honor and Sora be the best man. Gambit also had Kit, Aikaterina, Evory, Isabella, and Miroslava be bridesmaids, Sander, Merrick, Darius, Kaito, and Reverence standing across from them.

The wedding having been concluded, we head to the reception, Gambit changing into a black and purple ballroom dress to dance in. The reception was booked inside a ballroom that has white fairly lights strung around it, dark purple and black balloons, a dance floor, several round tables with black cloths over them and purple mood lighting candles, a chocolate fountain, and light purple silk curtains.

Music blares through the DJ that Gambit and Sekai hired's speakers and the guests begin to eat at the tables, stand around and talk. Sekai and Gambit have their first dance before people begin to join around them. Kaito comes up to me and bows, smiling as he offers me his hand.

"May I have this dance?" Kaito asks.

"You may," I grin, taking Kaito's hand and following him to the dance floor.

I place my arms around his neck while he places his hands on my hips and we begin to slow dance together, ending up beside Evory and Darius. Evory glances over and smiles at us before she rests her head on Darius's chest and he pulls her closer, sending us a small smile as well. Meanwhile, Sander and Kit whirl by and spin around Gambit and Sekai.

"Hey!" Sora shouts as him and Merrick join us on our right.

"Hey, yourself!" I shout back, grinning.

"It was a beautiful wedding, don't you think?" Merrick asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "I'm happy for Gambit and Sekai. They deserve it."

"Hey, that makes me wonder," Merrick hums, leaning up to brush his nose against Sora's. "When's our wedding going to be?"

"O—our wedding?" Sora stammers, his face going red. "Shouldn't you slow down a little?"

"I'm just teasing you," Merrick chuckles. "Although, I wouldn't be opposed."

"R—right," Sora sighs, making Merrick laugh again.

"Come on, let's go check out the chocolate fountain," Merrick says, leaning back to grab Sora's hand and drag him off.

As they turn to leave, one of the waitresses asks Merrick and Sora if they'd like any drinks. Sora politely declines and Merrick warily eyes the silver tray in front of him as he holds up his hands.

"No thanks," Merrick says, making pride bloom in my chest. "I've given that up a long time ago."

Sora smiles warmly at him and drags him off to the buffet table, catching him by slight surprise and making him nearly stumble on the way there.

"Merrick's really come a long way," Kaito says, watching as Sora and Merrick interact at the buffet. "He's more like himself than he's ever been."

"Yeah," I nod, breathing out, "but so have you."

"Huh?" Kaito furrows his eyebrows, his eyes flickering to meet mine. "You really think so?"

"Of course," I smile up at him. "You put your pride and your jaded envy aside to listen to your heart. You changed your ways to try and care for the ones you love like they've taken care of you. You chose to better yourself, and even if you still have your moments where your old self creeps back in, you're still trying. That's what matters the most."

"Well, I had to," Kaito frowns. "You always take care of everyone else, but then who takes care of you? I couldn't let you walk away, couldn't stand the thought of you leaving, not when I knew deep down that you were right, not when I knew that nobody else would've tried as hard to save me as you did. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if something had happened to you and I wasn't there. I owed it to you to try and change, to become worthy of having someone as special as you in my life. And I owed it to myself too."

"Yeah..." I breathe out.

"And yeah, maybe going after you was reckless," Kaito leans down, his nose brushing against mine, "but if only fools rush in where angels fear to tread, then mayhaps I've always been a fool."

"Hey, Kaito?" I ask quietly, my eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips. "Can you just kiss me already?"

Kaito laughs before he leans down to kiss me and I smile as I kiss him back, feeling that for the first time in a long time, everything just might be alright.