After a quick run to the woods, finding the man Ben had nearly ripped in half with his power and getting Thera to heal him before trapping him in his ring, the two went back to enjoy the festivities that remained, eating food and watching the happy couple. Greed presented the hairpiece, leaving his now wife overjoyed, and they both spoke a bit to the crowd, thanking everyone for coming and leaving them to mingle in the end, with all Ben wanted to do was rest.
“You gonna survive?” Thera chuckled. “There should be a band coming soon, I’d like to get at least one dance out of you.”
“Ah, you can get as many as you want from me, I’m just enjoying the chance to decompress right here for a second.”
“Ha, alright. In that case, I wanna stretch my legs for a bit. I’ll find you back here?”
“I’ll be eagerly waiting.”
He watched as she walked off before hanging his head back and taking a breath. It had been a far longer day than he’d been prepared for, he certainly wasn’t ready for quite the level of spite and rage aimed at Greed but at the very least, he’d been able to see to it that his friend got married to the woman he loved and just as importantly, survived the experience.
Yeah, all in all, I think that should count as a good day.
“Well, don’t you look deep in thought,” Gennet chuckled behind him, trying and failing to sneak up on him. “You doing okay?”
“Oh yeah, just a little tired, don’t mind it. How about you? Was this everything you hoped for?”
“And more,” she told him, her smile sharing as much. “And thank you for your work. Greed told me that he was going to commission you, but the hairpiece is really just so lovely.”
“Well, I couldn’t have made it without Greed’s input. He nailed down the design so if you like it then it just shows the guy has some good taste.”
“Of course he does, he married me,” she laughed. “But I just wanted to say thanks while I could, before I do a bit more mingling.”
“Any time. A wife of Greed’s is a friend of mine, so if you ever need a commission, don’t be a stranger.”
“I may just have to take you up on that,” she told him, about to leave but turning back once more to give him a small wink. “And thanks for making sure my husband survived the day, you deserve a nice break.”
She left before he could respond, leaving him to quietly laugh to himself.
Guess we weren’t quite as sneaky about it as I’d hoped.
Alone again, he let himself relax once more until another individual joined him, Jeeves carrying Greed his way before stepping back, giving them their privacy.
“Legs, I gotta say, I can’t thank you enough. The wedding was great, and I didn’t die. Basically went off without a hitch.”
“There were a few hitches,” Ben made sure to point out. “And at least a few people I’m going to have to capture and drag off to prison after this. I’m not sure if I should be going for everyone who intended on murdering you or just the ones who actually put something in motion before I could stop it, but there might be a sizable crowd disappearing before the night’s through.”
“Ah, about that. You think you could do me one last favour and let them off with a warning? Wanting to kill me, well, I don’t really want to hold a grudge today of all days, and I’m still trying this whole ‘being a better man’ thing. I’ve given enough people a reason to hate me with my old love’em and leave’em attitude, I can let things slide just this once.”
“Alright, if you’re sure,” Ben shrugged, making a mental note to invade the minds of the few who’d put their plans into motion before he could stop them to properly tell them off for the attempt, lest they get any funny ideas in the future. “Ah, except I’m not sparing the two that were specifically hired to kill you. They’re being turned in and Cheele’s mother is going to be too. Not to scare you too much but she tried to kill everyone here and letting her go would also mess up some of your son’s goals too. As a believer of Myriad, I’m not getting in his way.”
“Lord, fair. She really was up there as one of the more psychotic women I’ve been with,” the crab groaned. “She really tried to kill everyone?”
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“Yeah, although actually, Gennet probably would have survived. She had a lot of plans to murder you in particular and she poisoned the wedding guests' meals so everyone who ate one would have died, but since Gennet was just eating your guys’ food, she should have gotten out unscathed.”
Ignoring the fact that someone else poisoned that one.
“Ha, she really is luckier than I’ll ever be,” Greed told him, shaking his head before falling silent for a moment. “You really think I can do this, Legs?”
“Do what?”
“Be a husband. My track record with women is terrible and it’s pretty clear I’m trash at being a father too. Even the one I’m trying to raise, I’ll keep doing my best, but I’m still not exactly picking up any good feelings from her. I’m just… I wanna be that guy, you know? But I’ve never been him. I want this family life, but what if I can’t handle it? I definitely don’t deserve it.”
“I think you’re worried over nothing. You love Gennet enough that you didn’t call the wedding off the second you realized what you were being thrown into and you’re going to keep making your life together, and as for raising Saph, well, while I was running around, trying to deal with just how many people wanted to kill you, she’s the one who let me know just how crazy this wedding was going to be. If she didn’t give me that heads up, I might have focused on other things, and as for your other kids, Cheele spoke to me a bit about getting to see you too and how he felt and what I’m getting at is, I don’t think you’re doing as bad of a job as you seem to think.”
“Really?”
“Really really,” Ben nodded before going on. “And besides, after all I went through to make this wedding a success, on no notice I might add, you’re actually not allowed to screw it up. You’ve gotta spend the rest of your life making your wife and kids happy.”
“Ha, you got me there,” Greed told him, lightly hitting Ben’s arm with a claw before falling into a thoughtful silence once more. “And Legs? There’s actually one more thing.”
“God, I guess I’ve got putting out one more fire in me still.”
“No, no, not that. It’s just… sometime, before the next wave rolls around, come and see me.”
“Alright, sure, but why? What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on, there’s no reason for it. Can I not just want to see my buddy one last time before the world goes to hell?”
“... Yeah, of course, man. I’ll make the time.”
“Good,” he cleared his throat, feeling awkward about bringing the mood down. “And make sure you say goodbye today too before you guys head out, you hear? I’ve gotta do a bit more mingling but I’m not gonna forgive a vanishing act.”
“Ha, no worries, Greed. It sounds like I’ve got some dancing to do too, so I’ll be here for a while yet. Go see the rest of your guests and I’ll catch you before I head out.”
With the crab having more to greet and surely more than a few awkward exchanges left to make, Ben enjoyed the bit of peace once more until the sounds of music began, the band starting to play and creating the chance to dance.
Hearing it, how could he leave his girlfriend to wait? Forcing himself to stand, he turned and instantly spotted her amidst the crowd, beginning to make his way over to her before stopping in his tracks.
No, surely not. I’m just being paranoid. Everything is fine.
It was what he was telling himself at least, but he couldn’t just not check. After all, the band hadn’t been there before the ceremony had started.
Veering off to the group of five, four on instrumentals and one singing, he got close enough to check their minds, leaving him to groan at one guilty one among them.
A person who was against what Greed had done to the music scene of the world, his famous show affecting what others would put out and perform as well, when he’d gotten the job of performing the wedding, he intended to use it to make a bloody statement, one Ben wasn’t going to allow as he pulled the man directly into his mind, speaking before the other could understand what was happening.
“Hello there, the apostle of Myriad here to give you a few little words. So listen, it’s been a very long day and while I’ve been doing my best to make sure no one else murders Greed as politely as possible, I’m honestly pretty sick of being polite at this point so instead I’m going to tell you this. I do not care about the frankly incredibly stupid reason you’ve decided to try and kill my friend. Either give up and play your damn songs like you were hired to or I swear, on my authority as the apostle of Myriad, I’m going to materialize a handful of razor blades directly inside of your throat. Am I making myself clear?”
“Got it,” the singer gulped, fully unprepared for such an encounter and watched as Ben nodded.
“Good, and on a more personal note, my girlfriend is in the crowd so I’m expecting a good performance. Put your heart into it and maybe I’ll forget about just what you were planning here.”
Releasing the man, there was a single second where the singer needed to gather himself before putting his everything into the song, letting him finally join Thera’s side while she swayed.
“You moved,” she told him as she grabbed his arms, wrapping them around her, which he was more than happy to lean into.
“Sorry, there was one last thing for me to finish, but it’s done now. May I have this dance?”
“You may. The band’s surprisingly good, I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a shock that Greed has some good connections in that area.”
“Ha, it definitely makes for a nice way to end things.”
Enjoying the dance and finally getting a bit of peace, he was more than happy to focus on the moment, content just to have Thera in his arms.
Alright, arc end so lets see what we’ve got. Ben with his two new awakenings to pair oh-so-nicely with his sacrilege, souls modified across the world, a mythic item opened, and Greed’s wedding. In all, not one of the more high stakes arcs but I had fun with it. One thing I’d like to improve on is tightening up my plotting a bit but overall, I paid off and set up the various things I wanted to this arc.
Although I suppose on the note of plotting, how I feel I might improve deserves a bit more focus. Since the end of the second wave, I’ve had significantly smaller time jumps than before. When I’d previously do time jumps of weeks to months, since then it’s been more a matter of days. There’s a couple reasons for that of course, trying to show Ben make every last minute he count and to reflect the current speed at which he’s growing but working on that is a pretty significant aim of mine, with the hope I’ll improve significantly as the end comes ever close into sight.
Until then though, thanks for listening to my ramblings and I hope you all have a fantastic day!
