Title: Wedding Grotto
Ship: Yubel x Juudai
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 1,500
Genre: Romance||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO GX: Yubel x Juudai: C40, fluffy; Soulshipping Week Day #5, vows
Notes: This takes place in the past life. I've been sitting on this idea for how weddings were back then for a long time.
Summary: A vow of eternal love is all well and good. But Juudai wants something a little more official as well. So he gets married.
Juudai slipped his hand into Yubel's, squeezing a little as he did, and together the two of them entered the dark, quiet grotto. He hadn't ever been here before, but with every step he took, he felt as if he were returning home.
He knew why, but tonight it didn't feel as if it mattered. Tonight, all he really cared about was Yubel and what they were about to do.
Yubel stayed in step with him as they walked down the pathway. The corridor here had been crafted long ago to be large enough to accommodate those of any size. In a realm where people from as small as his ankle to twice as tall as he was could come for their vows, it only made sense that everyone could be accommodated.
Soft carpet lay underneath their feet. Juudai loved how it felt, wriggling his toes a little. He'd removed his shoes before they entered this place – that was tradition. No one ever acme shod into this place. He probably could have gotten away with it, but he didn't want to try.
Underneath the carpet rested wood and stone intermixed. The walls arched up over them to the ceiling, mirroring the wood and stone. Gemstones rested every ten paces or so, each glowing a soft, gentle color to light the way – red, yellow, orange, green, blue, indigo, and violet, then the cycle repeated itself with the next set of stones.
Neither spoke as they approached the end. That too was tradition – that no one said a word once they passed the entrance and before they reached the main grotto. Here was a time and a space of utter silence, meant for those who walked it to contemplate themselves and those they came here with, to ensure that they'd made the right decision.
Juudai knew very well that he'd made the right choice when it came to Yubel. Yubel chose to be his guardian forevermore, no matter what happened. He knew that they loved him; that they'd loved him since before the transformation. He'd never questioned their choice of never being exactly male or female, even before the change into a dragon. It hadn't ever made a difference to him.
Again he squeezed Yubel's hand, enjoying how it felt in his, so much larger and stronger. Yubel smiled down at him. If they could have reached, Juudai suspected they would have ruffled his hair. Yubel liked to touch him. He certainly had no qualms about being touched.
But their free arm remained on the other side and neither really wanted to let go. That wasn't tradition but he wasn't going to release Yubel until they emerged from here.
At the end of the corridor there hung a curtain of deep green vines and leaves woven together. As they approached, the curtain pulled back. No one could see who did it. Juudai could feel that no one was there to do it. The curtain moved because they were there and it was time for it to move.
Without a breath of hesitation they passed where the curtain hung and into the true grotto beyond. The ceiling rose high overhead; even Yubel wouldn't be able to touch it unless they flew to the top. The walls encircled them, wide as well, with the implication that this was both the entire world and a grotto just big enough for the two of them.
A small stream flowed to one side. Light softly pulsed from a source no one could see, giving just enough so they could see one another. Underneath their feet the ground was now dotted with soft moss and flowers that sent up a glorious aroma that filled the air.
There was a sense that something watched them here. There was no judgment – the awareness only watched. Juudai knew if he tried he could feel it both ways. He would be the watched and the watcher. But he didn't try doing that, not right now.
Together they moved forward, then turned to face one another and taking their free hands, holding them at shoulder-height. A slender flame burst into existence between them, one that held itself there without any visible means of support. It cast no shadows – not that it needed to. The grotto held all the shadows that were necessary.
Juudai took three long, deep breaths. Then he began.
"I will love only you, Yubel. I swore that one already but I do it again, here and now, forever. You are mine and I am yours, and there is nothing that will ever change that. There is no one that I will ever want the way that I want you and no one else that I will love as I love you. We are one, and if ever I can make that more than mere words, I will do so. It doesn't matter how long I live or how many lives we live. I love you." He'd worked hard on crafting his wedding vows since he'd asked if Yubel wanted to do this.
Yubel's eyes shone, reflected in the dancing flames and the surrounding shadows, and he wondered if there were tears there. But Yubel spoke and their voice was as strong as ever.
"I love you, Juudai. I loved you before this happened and I will love you forever after. I protect you because I love you. No one will ever harm you while I exist and should anyone try, I will ensure they regret the attempt. You are the savior of all that is and I will protect you from the Light of Ruin, the Darkness of Nihility, and whatever else might attempt to harm the life you have brought into being. For all time, for all lives, for now, and forever, until the very end of the universe and beyond, I love you."
Juudai released one of Yubel's hands and put his down. There he found a crystal goblet of some of the finest wine, which he raised first to Yubel's lip. Yubel sipped the traditional three sips, then with their free hand, took the goblet and held it to his own lips. Juudai sipped, and Yubel set the wine goblet down. If they'd looked, it wouldn't have been there anymore. In accordance with its nature, it existed only for those moments it was needed.
Now Juudai wrapped his fingers once more around Yubel's and leaned in to rest his wine-touched lips to theirs. Yubel returned the kiss, pulling him closer, releasing his hands and wrapping arms and wings around him. Juudai leaned in, breathing deeply, hardly believing this happened, and yet so pleased that they were there, that they were together, that this had happened.
Together they headed back down the corridor. Save for the sound of their own voices when they spoke their vows and the faint trickle of the stream, there hadn't been any other sounds in the grotto. One could fail to realize at all that it rested in the heart of the royal city. It wasn't the only one of its kind; there were plenty of marriage grottoes all throughout the realm, and probably beyond. But this was the one for the members of the royal family, and so there Juudai chose to pledge his vows.
Only a few waited for them outside – King Aodh and Queen Kaien, a few of his royal bodyguard. Aodh smiled at the sight of them.
"My dear son," he declared, as proud as he must have been when he and Juudai's mother did the same thing in their youth, "you've completed your vows?"
Juudai's grin lit his face, bright as the stars in the sky. "Yeah!" The two of them held their arms up and around their wrists were the slim silver and black bands that indicated a successful bonding. Neither had noticed the bands coming into existence – because they didn't until those who'd pledged their vows stepped out of the grotto.
Cheers broke out from the viewers – Elemental Hero Bubbleman and Featherman most of all. Burst Lady and Lady Heat merely both nodded, while the others murmured in approval.
"We have the feast waiting for you," Queen Kaien told them, her smile of greeting as pleased as her husband's. "Are you ready for it?"
Juudai's stomach roared in agreement at the mere mention of food. Yubel snorted softly.
"Your Majesty, when have you ever known Juudai to not be ready to eat?"
Everyone there knew that Juudai's constant appetite came from the fact every aspect of his life force drew on the Gentle Darkness. He channeled a lot of power just by existing and he needed to replace it somehow. That in no way meant Yubel wouldn't tease him about it.
Together they started up towards the castle, Yubel and Juudai still hand in hand, ready to start on a life together – an infinite amount of lives, in point of fact.
Lives involving promises both broken and kept, in ways that neither of them could imagine.
The End
Notes: They've been married a long, long time. No "til death do us part" here. Their love is not severed by death.