Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Dreams ❯ Epilogue

Epilogue

Serin rushed into the room with more speed than even Ryuhi was capable of, and began tearing off his old clothes as he searched desperately for his formal wear.

Standing off to one side, with his Masamune ever-present at his side, Sephiroth grinned at the scene in the mirror as he gave his tie one final tug to put it in place. "Hit the sauce a little too much last night, huh?"

"Go to hell, Seph," Serin responded good-naturedly, but with more than a hint of venom in the words. "Damn Ryuhi…spiking the punch like that…Urawa putting a sleep spell on me…Why didn't you wake me up?"

Sephiroth blushed furiously as the memory of his last night came to mind. "I, uh…um, I was busy?"

The paladin paused for a moment, and peered suspiciously at his comrade. "You just couldn't wait, could you?"

Sephiroth shrugged, not about to make any apologies. "We had fun. And if you came in late, so did you."

The word `late' seemed to spark his friend back to action, as Serin whipped on clothes with unimaginable speed. However, when he got to his own tie, all he succeeded in doing was making it into a hangman's noose.

With great difficulty, the swordsman commented levelly, "Though that is the unofficial symbol for today, somehow I doubt the humor would go over too well. Here, let me." With a few quick movements from his hands, Sephiroth was finished, and allowed his friend to view his handiwork.

Upon doing so, Seph glanced down and pointed to Serin's cufflinks. "Hey, aren't those…?"

The paladin smiled sheepishly. "Yeah…Endymion said he'd consider it a great honor if I wore them today. Since he's my brother-in-law, who was I to refuse?"

Nodding, Sephiroth suddenly had flash of self-consciousness, and began to look himself over in the mirror once more, even going so far as to see what he could do with his stray strand of hair that refused to stay back.

"Hey, Seph, today's not your day to be nervous. Save that for me, okay?"

The swordsman laughed. "Are you?" he asked.

Serin wiped a hand across his brow. "Never been more so. I'd almost rather face a hundred Zeromous' than this."

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at him, and Serin raised a finger, punctuating his reply. "Almost. I'm not stupid, you know."

Calmly, the two made their way through the outer chambers before they made it to the chapel, whereupon Sephiroth and Serin took their places, after Serin shot a withering glance at both Ryuhi and Urawa, with the former ignoring the look, and the latter maintaining an innocent look.

Finally, the music changed, and everyone present stood as the main doors opened.

First came Chibi-usa, who was more than happy to be the flower girl for her friend's wedding. As she went down the aisle, she spread pink rose petals, which Serin had found out to be Mako-chan's favorite. Next came Diana in her human form, who carried the wedding rings on a green and white pillow with sugar pink lace all around it. Somehow, Serin was not surprised to see that, as Mercury had taken it upon herself to do that part, as well as many others, all by herself. The paladin made a mental note to thank her for that job.

Third in line came the senshi of the court, which again was no surprise to Serin, but seeing Kara in line with them was, especially considering that all of them lined up in the area normally reserved for the maid of honor.

Leaning over, Sephiroth muttered, "Must be hard to choose a maid of honor when you've got no relatives and eight best friends."

As he was about to reply, Serin happened to glance over to the door…and was speechless.

Makoto stood at the door, her arm taken by Endymion, who had been chosen to give her away. Dressed in a long, light green gown that was accented with a sugar-pink bow at the back, and a white veil and headdress, she was, to say the least, stunning to Serin. Time passed by in a flash as she approached the altar, and she stood expectantly in front of him. Barely aware of his trembling fingers, Serin lifted her veil to stare into her shimmering eyes.

Lost in those eyes, Serin acted on autopilot for the rest of the evening as vows were exchanged and rings placed on the partner's finger. Then came the moment that both parties had been waiting to hear…

"You may now kiss the bride."

Reaching up with his hands, Serin smiled slightly, and leaned in. As soon as their lips touched, Makoto threw her arms around him, bouquet and all, holding him close to her. As they broke, she whispered, "I don't ever want to let go of you, my shining knight."

With a mischievous glint, Serin asked, "Why should you have to, princess?", and with that, swept her off her feet as he began to carry her down the aisle in his arms, to the catcalls and hoots of those present. As they reached the end of the aisle, Makoto called out, "Wait, Serin, wait!" Looking back over his shoulder, she called out, "All those who want to remain single or are already married, you'd better get clear! This item is non-negotiable!" And with no more warning than that, she turned away, and flung the bouquet as hard as she could over her husband's shoulder.

As soon as the floral missile headed up, every hand was outstretched, trying to get to it. As it happened, though, the bride had put so much power into her throw that it hit Ryuhi in his forehead, rebounding neatly into his outstretched hands. The photographer on duty had time to catch one snapshot of the martial artist's horrified glance before it melted away.

With much laughter, and more than one shout of encouragement, the two newlyweds climbed into their hovercar, and with a final good-bye, took off for the night that would change their entire lives.

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Elsewhere in the world, a lone figure, seated in an imposing throne, observed the events from afar, thanks to the crystal shard that hovered nearby. As the two newlyweds sped off, he settled back and let out a barely audible `hm'.

"Master?"

Appearing out of the shadows, a young boy in plain leather robes gazed expectantly up at the first, with a quizzical expression on his face.

"The foolish senshi and their allies just defeated the Lunarian mage, Zemus. I just didn't think it would happen, is all." With that, the seated figure waved his hand over the shard, dispelling the image.

"Do…do you want me to do anything, sir?" the boy asked.

"Why?"

"Well…I thought that…was unacceptable," the youth stated hesitantly, with a touch of fear.

As he rose, the seated being chuckled. "Well, certainly it causes me to revise a few of my plans, but it's far from being a catastrophe. Besides, if I was defeated by them time and again, I highly doubt that you would fare much better."

Anger flared on the youngster's face as he gritted his teeth. "They'd pay for the victory, at least."

"I don't doubt that, Medivh, but for now, we must refrain from throwing ourselves into meaningless battles. Now is the time to gather our strength and gain new allies. Then, and only then, can we hope to stand a chance against those brats."

Medivh looked back up at his leader with a small smile. "You're right, milord. That's part of the other reason I came to you…I think I've located a few suitable allies for our forces."

Stepping out of the shadows himself, the figure grinned viciously at the thought as the light shone on his short blonde hair and icy blue eyes. "Excellent. Very soon now, they will recognize the price of resting on their laurels." And with those words, the figure's laughter filled the entire mountain stronghold he had just taken residence in, chilling the bones and souls of the entire Desert Fox clan….

Final Author's Notes:

WOW! 5 LONG FRICKIN' YEARS LATER, this fanfic is finally DONE!!! As you've probably guessed there will be a sequel, but like a certain favorite game of mine, not everything is going to be wrapped up in the sequel. I may have to (GASP, SHOCK, HORROR!) make this a trilogy-perhaps longer if I have enough positive input!

Anyway, I know that there are several questions about my choice of characters in this story. Let me hasten to assure each and every one of you readers that I have a story behind the two questionable characters (I'm sure you're all wondering why Ryuhi and Sephiroth are in here). Theirs will be explained eventually, so I'm just going to ask people to be patient. Also, in the case of romances…Urawa/Ami was a given, agreed? Agreed. Serin/Makoto…okay, that's questionable, but I wanted it to work that way (she's my favorite). Sephiroth/Saturn…get that thought out of your head, Saturn is 19 in my story, and Sephiroth…well, since he doesn't have an `official' age, I pegged him at about 23.

My thanks go to the following people:

Squaresoft Japan/America, for making such a ROCK ASS RPG series!

Naoko Takeuchi-sama, for making the anime series that got me into anime.

Rob Reeg, for encouraging me to continue with this story, even when I had to start over because my first one sucked.

Ramiah Powers, for his `unique' encouragement in finishing this story (no amount of craziness was too much for him)

Erykah Fasset, for putting up with my `bastardizing' her favorite senshi and RPG villain. At least they were happy, right Erykah-chan? Uh, Erykah, why do you have that mallet that you pulled