Ok so this should be coming to an end/close soon. Because I'm skipping time again.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Ceremony

The weeks passed quickly and by the end all preparations were done. All that needed to be done was for the ceremony itself and Wyper to be painted once again. Avery pretended to fall asleep that night. When Wyper did fall asleep she carefully extracted herself from his arms. He had started to sleep in a cloth skirt at nights, he'd complained about how the grass one itched as he sleep but she'd woken up enough times to him hanging out that she didn't believe him. And she knew that he snored, not loudly but he made soft sounds that were snores and yet still sounded masculine.

Avery snuck out of the tent and into the woods. She made sure she was quite far away because she had a few finishing touches to do on her little project. All week she'd been working on this and normally it would be another week but most nights she snuck out to work on it. She was far enough away from the camp that no one could hear what she was doing, nor could they see the light from her small fire. The paint on one of the pieces was finally mixed enough with the metal that the metal was no longer silver but a bright red that she had to melt down two nights ago and formed the previous night. Tonight she needed to cut it to the correct size then heat the metal enough to bend it into the needed shape.

It was a long tedious job. And when she was finished with that she still had another piece to work on. A silver piece that she needed to cut down to the correct size, heat it up to get it in the right position. Cutting out a specific design that was not easy considering that the design would be in two parts. An inside and outside. Then she had to weld the inside onto the red metal, and fix it up to look nice. Before doing the same to the outer design.

She'd finally finished it and looked up. "Oh shit!" She cried. The sun had risen and she was already late. Taking her screw driver she took care of the new plate. But she'd sort of expected this to happen, not as late as it was but she was half way prepared. There in the forest she changed into the ceremony dress. It wasn't anything special, but it was a mint green with little colored boxes around the hem at the chest and bottom. She'd not grown an inch anywhere since she'd turned seventeen and this was the ceremony dress that she was supposed to wear that time.

The bandana on her head forgotten and her upper left arm had a cloth tied around it. She ran as fast as possible and had to hike the dress up revealing her long, smooth legs. It felt like flying, the wind rushing against her face mixed with her feelings to create an air of joy around her. "You're late, again." Wyper said as she showed up. He was painted and dry. Each line, each curve, upon his body told of his past. Every fight, every win or loss, every illness and pain. It told his life, and it was laid out right before her. The black of the paint stood out even against his tanned body.

"What's a few minutes compared to six years?" She joked. He smiled at her morbid humor. She stood next to him and he noticed the cloth. It held a metal plate onto her arm that was still heated red around the edges, what had she been doing? The thing was welded in place and the cloth was making sure that it did not slip or anything as it cooled.

The ceremony started then. The chanting of the Shaman started and ended. The Chief spoke then stopped. Wyper spoke and when he stopped Avery continued. They finished and Avery's father Gan Fall, who had for some reason disappeared with most of the Skypiean's not long after the straw hat's had left. There were many complicated parts to this ceremony. Things she didn't understand and others that seemed redundant or useless. But she said not a word.

It seemed that as the day progressed and the ceremony continued Wyper relaxed more and more, even smiling half of the time. It finally was nearly done as the sun was setting. They had lit fires to keep light for the ceremony. "You, woman who bares Wyper's mark-" The Chief cut off then and many people started whispering. They'd forgotten about that. This ceremony would have to be repeated now. Because she did not bare his mark.

Avery reached up to the white cloth on her arm and tore it off. She held her head high as many people gasped. She hadn't forgotten, she never would. Back then it had been her pride and she'd stopped wearing sleeves just to show it off. Just to let everyone know she belonged to Wyper.

And there, on her left arm, was the mark. The two metals were welded together so perfectly that it was impossible to see where one ended and the other started. The red shone through the gaps in the silver, the mark was once again on her arm. Her blood and sweat had gone into making it. Her hand had blisters and the metal fingers melted at certain points, needing to be replaced. Every day and night she'd slaved over that fire making this perfect. And the pride in Wyper's eyes made it all worth every drop.

The Chief continued with the last part of the ceremony. It was late and fully dark when it ended. All that needed to be done now was to 'seal the deal'. They needed to have sex and the next day hang it out for the people to see. People cheered and then everyone started to dance. Wyper danced with her for a while until Gan Fall cut in. And soon enough she'd couldn't remember who she'd danced with anymore. Though at one point she did dance with Spring. And her last dance would be with Wyper, her next dance.

But right now she was dancing with Sora. The little boy who's sister was Saint. She let him stand on her boot clad feet. No one had noticed her old and worn boots before. She'd forgotten the thin slippers that she was supposed to wear. But she didn't care, she was officially wed to Wyper like she'd wanted for all these years. The dance ended and Sora ran off to find his sister. This would be the last dance and he was going to dance with his sister.

Wyper came up behind Avery and held her to him. "It's almost time." His husky voice whispered in her ear. He then spun her around and made her face him. They started to dance. "Is this why you've been disappearing day after day?" He questioned as his hand swiped over his mark on her arm.

"Nights too." She informed him. "That's why I was worried about how soon this was going to be. I barely finished it in time."

"I saw, it was still red around the edges when the ceremony started." She just grinned up at him as they finished dancing.

People separated and soon Avery and Wyper ended up in their tent. It had been moved. It was now near the edge of the woods where no one should hear them. Though if they were real loud people might, though no one would care. It was time to finish the ceremony, time for them to finally be together.