Act 20 - Dreams Do Come True
Yumeko walked slowly down the long hall, commonly referred to as the Hall of the Dead. The sound of her heels on the floor echoed loudly throughout the empty, silent corridor. Strangely though, she felt no sense of fear or loneliness, even though many people would comment that it was a fairly depressing place. Certainly not the kind of place where people would visit very often.
At the end of the hall, Yumeko stopped in front of the last silver door and read the small golden plaque that adorned it: Helios, King of Silver Millennium and Priest of Elysion. Tears threatened to fall at the sight of her father's name on the door, so permanent and final, but she forced herself to take a deep breath to compose herself before she went inside the room.
The room was dark except for a small eternity candle that stood beside the glass coffin that held Helios' body. Yumeko felt along the wall and switched on the light switch, revealing the many pictures and drawings that hung on the wall. Her eyes immediately focused on one of the beautiful sketches, the one her mother was working on right before Midnight's attack. Serenity had finished the drawing of Helios praying in front of the fire, but Yumeko could notice a certain sadness in the soft pencil strokes. His eyes, usually calm and peaceful during prayer, looked dark and sorrowful, as if he understood the pain his family felt, and the sacred fire wasn't blazing as brightly as it normally did. The faint outline of wings could also be seen behind Helios, giving him the appearance of an angel. In Yumeko's opinion, it was the most achingly beautiful picture her mother had ever drawn. It perfectly
captured the emotions of a grieving wife.
She tore her eyes away from the haunting, melancholic beauty of the sketch and turned toward the glass coffin. It was strange to see her father like this. Helios was always so full of life. The tears came back, but this time Yumeko didn't try to hold them back.
"Papa, I miss you so much," she whispered, placing one of her hands on her stomach. "Especially now."
It had been about a month since the battle against King Scorpio, yet things still hadn't returned to normal in the palace. Yumeko suspected that things would never be the same again. Her life, as well as the lives of her friends and family, had changed forever. Sometimes she still couldn't believe all that had happened over the last few weeks. Falling in love with Shadow… Phoenix's death at the Battle of Fort Crystal… Witnessing her father's death… Fighting Scorpio…awakening as the Golden Dream, the new priestess of Elysion… It was all so much. A person of lesser character would probably have gone insane, but Yumeko realized that all these things shaped who she had become. She may be the princess of Silver Millennium, the champion of love and justice, and the new guardian of dreams, but underneath it all, she was still simply Yumeko, the slightly absent-minded girl with a beautiful dream. Nothing would ever change that, not even the little surprise she had discovered this morning. Again she rubbed her stomach and smiled.
"Yumeko?"
A pair of strong, comforting arms wrapped around her, filling her with a warm feeling all over. The man lightly kissed the top of her head. "Your mother told me you were down here," he said. "Is everything alright?"
She nodded, turning around and giving Apollo a kiss on the cheek. "Everything's fine," she insisted. "I just miss him so much sometimes…"
"I know," he replied, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Come on, Yumeko. Let's go for a walk around the grounds. Poppy-san finally finished the winter garden. It looks incredible."
"That sounds like a nice idea."
Apollo walked over to the door and opened it, but was surprised that the princess wasn't following him. She instead kissed her fingertips and placed them on the clear glass of the coffin.
Goodbye, Papa…
"Yumeko, are you coming?"
She reluctantly took Apollo's arm and the couple exited the room, heading toward the back door. Once outside in the gardens, Yumeko immediately felt her spirits heightened. Everything looked so incredibly beautiful, bathed in the bright light of the rising sun. It had snowed the night before, covering the ground in a soft blanket of white. Playfully, Apollo grabbed a handful of snow, forming it into a sphere about the size of tennis ball and threw it at his girlfriend.
"Hey, that hurt!" she exclaimed (joking, of course) as she brushed the cold flakes from her sweater. "I'm going to get you for that!"
"I'd like to see you try," he said, hiding behind one of the trees as Yumeko began preparing a missile.
"Apollo, get out here and fight like a real man!"
From her spot at a window overlooking the gardens, Queen Lady Serenity giggled as her daughter pelted Prince Apollo in the back with a rather large snowball. The young prince proceeded to pretend that he had been shot, dramatically falling on a mount of soft snow. Seizing the opportunity, Yumeko then kneeled beside him and began tickling the poor guy until he was crying out for mercy.
"They look so happy together," the queen said to herself. "I'm so glad. Yumeko deserves a little bit of happiness after all she's been through."
"It's been rough for all of us," her guardian cat Diana replied, walking onto the balcony.
"Yes, it has, Diana."
Serenity sighed, thinking about the events of the last few weeks. It was difficult to remember what life had been like before Helios' death without wanting to cry, but it was slowly becoming
easier. Having Yumeko around made it easier to deal with the grief. She was so much like her father, it was like he never left. Especially in her eyes…
"What should we name her?" Helios asked. "Serenity?"
She contemplated the question, searching for the perfect name for their little girl, as the baby opened her eyes to the world. Her eyes were the same golden color as her father's.
"We shall call her Dreama Aurora, our beautiful golden dream," she replied.
"Dreama Aurora," Serenity whispered, placing a hand against the glass. "may all your dreams come true."
"Okay, okay, I surrender," Apollo screamed, barely able to breathe because he was laughing so hard.
Yumeko rolled her eyes, but stopped her tickle attack. "Weakling!" she teased, brushing the snow out of his hair.
"Who do you think you're calling a weakling?"
"You."
"Me? I'll show you who the weakling is!"
Apollo then expertly rolled her over, pinning Yumeko to the ground. He smiled cockily as the princess tried in vain to get out of his grip -- as is she really wanted to. "You were saying?"
She giggled. "Come here, Hercules, and give me a kiss."
"That can be arranged."
He bent down and kissed her passionately on the lips, causing the coldness of the snow around them to melt away. However, unbeknownst to her lover, Yumeko had grabbed another handful of snow, which she managed to put down the back of his pants. She couldn't help laughing as Apollo yelped in surprise.
"That's not funny, Yumeko!" he exclaimed, dancing around to get the snowball out of his pants.
"Oh, yes it was. You should have seen the look on your face. It was hilarious!"
Still slightly annoyed, he shot Yumeko a dirty look, which immediately broke into a huge smile. He could never stay mad at her for long. Not with those large amber eyes…
"Did I ever tell you how incredibly beautiful you are?" he asked, sitting back down beside her, suddenly becoming very serious. "Because you are."
"Apollo…"
"Don't try to deny it, because you are, inside and out. You are the woman of my dreams, Yumeko, and I would give anything to have you by my side forever."
"I want to be with you, too, Apollo."
"Then marry me."
Her eyes widened in shock at the unexpected proposal. Was he actually asking her to be his wife? Just to prove his point, Apollo pulled out a gorgeous diamond engagement ring and placed it on her finger.
"Will you make my dreams come true, Yumeko?" he asked, bringing the hand up to his lips. "Will you marry me?"
She didn't even have to think twice. "Of course I will," she whispered, positively beaming. "But as long as we're asking big questions, do you mind if I ask you one?"
"Sure, fire away."
"What do you think about fatherhood?"
This time it was Apollo's turn to be shocked. "Wha…what? Fatherhood? As in like taking care of…? A baby! Are you…?" he stuttered, apparently losing all knowledge of speech.
"That is the general definition of the word," she chuckled, enjoying the look of amazement on his face. "I'm pregnant, Apollo."
"But how…? Well, of course I know how… Pregnant!…. Are you sure?… I'm going to be...? I can't believe… That's great!"
After a couple of more minutes of incoherent speech, the father-to-be eventually managed to calm himself down long enough to kiss his fiancée. Then he pulled up her sweater and began kissing her belly all over, causing Yumeko to giggle uncontrollably. "That tickles!"
"It serves you right, after what you did to me earlier," he joked, his eyes filled with laughter. "So, when is my son due?"
"Well, first of all, daughters kind of run in the family, so I'm pretty sure the baby is a girl. As for the due date, I estimate around late June or early July."
"June or July? That doesn't give us much time to plan a big wedding before the baby comes. I'm sure you are going to want to be married before Junior arrives, right? After all, having a child out-of-wedlock isn't exactly the type of thing a priestess would do."
"I don't really care about having a huge wedding, Apollo," she said. "I would be perfectly happy with a small, intimate ceremony held in the old shrine of Elysion where my parents got married. We could even do it this weekend, before I start to show. And, for your information, the baby's name is not going to be Junior! I already told you it was going to be a girl."
"Hey, I'm willing to compromise. How about Apolla or Apollonia or Apollita?"
She snorted. "Apollita? Is that even a name?"
"It is now."
"We'll talk about it later," Yumeko said, taking his hand and resting it on her stomach. "Do you want to talk to her? I heard that babies can sometimes hear what their parents say."
"Really? Don't they have to develop ears first?"
"How should I know? I didn't pay attention in biology class. Just talk to her."
"Okay, okay," he said, giving in. Apollo began lightly stroking her belly, still amazed that there was an actual person inside, and started talking to the tiny embryo in a soft voice.
"Hey there, little Apollita." Yumeko visibly cringed at the horrible name, but he chose to ignore it. "You don't know me yet, but I'm your father, and I love you very much. You're going to be a very lucky little girl -- or boy -- because I'm going to be the best daddy in the world to you. I promise you I will. I didn't really have much of a father growing up, but I know that I'll be a much better father than Scorpio ever was to me and your Aunt Circe."
He wiped away a tear before continuing. "And wait until you meet Aunt Circe. She's my sister and a real work of art, bordering on the abstract, but she's going to absolutely adore you. Grandmother Eos will love you, too. I can pretty much tell you right now that you are going to be one spoiled little munchkin. My mom loves giving people gifts. Then there's Grandmother Serenity, who is just about the most loving person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. You can expect lots of hugs and kisses from her. Plus, there's your extended family, consisting of the Sailor Dream Soldiers, who are going to love you as if you were their own. You are going to have such a wonderful life, little one…"
"Oh, pardon me," a voice with a distinctive English accent said. The couple looked up and found Poppy standing about ten feet away from them, a shovel in his hand. "I hope I wasn't interrupting something. I didn't expect to find you two out here in the snow."
"That's okay, Poppy-san," Yumeko replied, standing up with a little assistance from Apollo. "Actually I'm glad you're here. Could I ask you a huge favor?"
"Of course, Princess. You know I would do anything for you."
She held up her left hand, showing off her new engagement ring. "Well, Apollo has just asked me to marry him, and I accepted."
"That's wonderful. When is the wedding?"
"It's this weekend at the old shrine. The problem is that since my father is no longer with us, I don't have anybody to walk me down the aisle. So, would you do the honor of giving me away?"
"Me?" Poppy asked. "But I'm just a lowly gardener. Certainly it would be more appropriate to ask your grandfather or your uncle or perhaps King Goku-sama to do the honors."
"But I want you, Poppy-san. You've always been like a second father to me, always watching out for me, and nothing would make me happier than to have you walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. Please say you will."
"Nothing would give me more honor, Princess," he finally answered, giving Yumeko a hug. Tears clouded the old man's eyes. "Of course I will."
True to the princess's word, the wedding took place the next weekend in the old shrine of Elysion. Things had been a little crazy around the palace, trying to plan a whole wedding in only five days, but they finally completed all the preparations. It might not have been the gigantic wedding Yumeko always dreamed of, but it was every bit as perfect.
"I still can't believe it!" her maid-of-honor Tokemi exclaimed, brushing the blushing bride's long, curly blue hair the morning of the ceremony. Elysia was sitting on the vanity, watching the preparations. "Do you realize how absolutely insane you two are? Getting married after only being engaged for less than a week? We didn't even get to throw you a bachelorette party."
"Will it make you feel any better if you hire a male stripper for my baby shower?" she asked, a wicked sparkle in her eyes. Tokemi blushed, then began brushing her hair even faster. "I know it was kind of sudden, but with the pregnancy and all, I thought it would be best. Besides, I love Apollo, and I want to be his wife. I just didn't see any point in waiting any longer than we had to."
"Personally, I think that the sooner you two are married, the better," Elysia replied. "It's already bad enough that you're knocked up. Imagine, a priestess pregnant by a man who isn't even her husband. It's positively scandalous! At least this wedding will restore some amount of your credibility."
Out of all her friends, Elysia was the one who took the news of her pregnancy the worst. She knew something like this would happen and was positively dreading what the tabloids would write about them once the story got out. It was a public relations nightmare. However, Elysia did have to admit that her mistress never looked happier.
"Elysia, will you for once stop worrying about what other people think? The important thing is that I'm getting married to the man I love. My pregnancy had little or nothing to do with it. I'm marrying Apollo because I love him, not because of the baby. End of story."
"Well, shot-gun wedding or not, you do look beautiful, Yumeko," her cousin complimented her while weaving small yellow flowers in her hair. "That dress is absolutely perfect on you!"
"Thank you, Tokemi."
Feeling it would be inappropriate to wear pure white on her wedding day when it was obvious that she wasn't a virgin, Yumeko chose a silk gown in a beautiful color of dark champagne which complimented her golden eyes perfectly. It actually belonged to Suki, who hadn't even worn it yet. It had been just hanging in her closet, waiting for the perfect occasion. Suki had been thinking about wearing it to the wedding herself, but Yumeko managed to convince her to let her borrow it.
"Let's see… Suki's dress is the something borrowed, my hair is something blue, and these earrings are something new. Now all I need is something old…"
"I think I can help with that," her mother replied, walking into the room. She was holding the star locket in her hand.
"Your locket, Mama? But you said that you would never take it off. I couldn't…"
"I want you to have it, Yumeko," she said, placing the necklace around her daughter's neck. "It's a family tradition for the bride to wear the star locket on her wedding day. Your grandmother wore it when she married your grandfather, I wore it on my wedding day, and now I want you to wear it. Besides, it definitely fits under the category of something old."
Yumeko reached for the locket, feeling the cool metal warm in her hand, and admired her reflection in the mirror. It certainly was beautiful. "Thank you, Mama. I'll treasure it always."
Serenity wrapped her arms around her daughter, enveloping Yumeko in a tight hug. "I know you will, my beautiful golden dream."
A knock on the door interrupted the tender moment between mother and daughter. Tokemi answered, letting Poppy in. He looked very distinguished in his tuxedo and his gray-streaked hair neatly combed back. It was definitely an improvement over his normal blue coveralls. Yumeko didn't even recognize him at first. Standing up and smoothing out the few nonexistent wrinkles in her dress, Yumeko took the old man's arm.
"Princess, your prince awaits."
Apollo was nervous. There was no other word to describe the handsome groom. He began pacing in front of the altar, muttering to himself. What if she didn't show? What if she decided that she didn't want to go through with the wedding? What if…?
"Apollo-sama, will you please stop walking around like that?" Botan, who was serving as his best man, said. "You're making me nervous, and I'm not even the one getting married."
"You will be someday if Mika-chan has any say in it," the prince replied, taking a deep breath and resuming his position beside Botan. "Then I'll be the one telling you to calm down."
"Don't even mention the word 'marriage' to Mika. She's already been hinting that she thinks it time we finally made it legal, and this whirlwind courtship of yours hasn't helped matters one bit. You should have seen the look on her face this morning when we were getting dressed for the wedding. I think she fully expects a proposal by the end of the day."
"Well, why don't you? You two have been dating for over three years now, right? And you do love her?"
"Of course I do. But marriage? That's a huge step."
"But it'll be worth it, Botan-kun," Apollo assured him. "Just imagine waking up everyday beside the woman you love and knowing that she will always be there for you, forever and… Where's Joji?"
Botan rolled his eyes. "I believe my brother is attempting to convince the lovely Circe-sama that he's the man of her dreams. The poor guy is still madly in love with her."
"Hey, maybe we'll be in-laws before the night is over," Apollo joked, although he highly doubted it. His sister was definitely not the commitment type, no matter who controlled her body. She was an incurable flirt, and once she got what she wanted, she went on to the next victim. Circe just wasn't interested in a relationship.
Joji finally showed up fifteen minutes later, right before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, and he was definitely a sight to behold. His face was covered with several smudges of the Passion Red lipstick Apollo knew Circe preferred to wear and his shirt was only halfway tucked in. Unable to keep it in any longer, Botan and Apollo burst into laughter as Joji attempted to make himself presentable.
"Really, Joji-kun!" Apollo chastised, attempting to sound disappointed but failing miserably. "I would think that you and Circe would have enough decency not to do it in a shrine!"
"Well, technically, we weren't really in the shrine. Your sister and I were just taking a little walk around the lake when one thing lead to another…"
"We get the picture."
By that time, Kagami's boyfriend Toki began playing on the piano, signifying the start of the ceremony, so the three men quickly pulled themselves together and turned their attention toward the back of the room where Tokemi was walking slowly down the aisle. Apollo could feel the butterflies return as he glanced around the room. What if…?
It really was a small wedding. They had only invited about forty to fifty guests, who barely even filled up half the seats in the chapel. Other than their families (including Masago and Kado, who weren't sure they were going to be able to leave the Gates in order to attend the wedding) and the royal families of the planets, there weren't really many other people there. Poppy's reclusive daughter Violet was there, sitting in the back pew, as well as Mai's, Suki's, and Kagami's respective boyfriends. A couple of the guys he met while working in the gardens were invited, and, of course, Mika, Botan's girlfriend was there, her eyes filled with tears of happiness even before the wedding began. Conspicuously absent was Aiko, Joji's date for the Crystal Ball, which Apollo took to mean that they had broken up after the Midnight fiasco. There were also a couple of other people whose names escaped him at the moment, but who he knew were schoolmates of Yumeko's.
Once again Apollo couldn't help feeling guilty that they weren't able to have a huge wedding. He knew Yumeko had always dreamed of getting married with great pomp and circumstance at the larger shrine, where at least two thousand guests could sit comfortably. A small ceremony in the tiny former shrine of Elysion was about as far away from her dream wedding as possible. However, the shrine did look incredibly beautiful today, decorated with hundreds of white candles and perfect yellow roses from the magical garden of Delos.
As Tokemi took her place on the other side of the altar, Apollo began nervously tightening his tie until he thought he would choke. But when Yumeko and Poppy finally appeared at the entrance to the shrine, he could feel all his nerves disappear. Across the room, Yumeko smiled he locked eyes with her.
"Wow!" he breathed, complete enraptured by his bride's beauty.
Poppy escorted the princess down the golden carpet covering the aisle, looking very much like proud father giving his daughter away. Yumeko tightened the grip on his arm, afraid that she would faint from happiness and didn't let go until they reached the altar.
"You look beautiful, Yumeko," Apollo whispered as he took his bride's soft hand in his own. She blushed, causing her beauty to become even more noticeable.
The priest officiating over the ceremony stepped forward, placing his hands over the couple's grasp and chanting a prayer ensuring their eternal happiness. After that, he took the rings from Tokemi and Botan, which he blessed with holy water.
"Place this ring on Dreama Aurora's finger and repeat after me," the priest said, handing Apollo the simple gold band. "With this ring, I take you as my partner in life and promise to love you completely, with all my mind, body, and soul until the day I take my final breath upon this soil."
With a voice trembling with emotion, Apollo repeated the priest's words as he slipped the ring on her finger. The priest then handed the other ring to Yumeko and asked her to place it on Apollo's hand. Her golden eyes welled with tears as she repeated the same vow that he had made to her.
After they finished saying their vows, the couple then lit a large white eternity candle, a symbol of their forever lasting love and devotion.
"May the Lord keep this flame burning eternally in the hearts of these two lovers. I now pronounce you husband and wife. Apollo, you may kiss the bride."
Taking her chin in his hand, Apollo passionately kissed Yumeko on the lips, causing everyone in attendance to smile brightly. The locket around the bride's neck opened and began to play its mystical melody. Serenity and her mother exchanged a knowing look.
Dreama Aurora and Apollo were meant to be together, always and forever.
