Yaeko is watching her lover pace back and forth, trying to mask his agitation, but his mere body language betrays him and she knows him way too well to be fooled by his nonchalant act. She's also a bit anxious, but the excitement definitely wins over everything else. Today, their perpetuity starts. Today, she'll follow her own path and prove as much to her fellow clansmen, forever accompanied by her utterly unexpected yet just as much welcomed partner. No more duties —not only duties, at least—, and not only will her family come first regardless of the rest of the world. Today, she'll officially have another priority #1, an eternal companion.

She's doing it. She's marrying the love of her life, the match to her soul, the other half of her very being. And today, too, she's transferring herself to a new body, one impervious to time.

So yes, it is a huge leap, but she would not change it for the world.

• • •

All right, he can't deny he's feeling nervous —honestly, he's kind of a wreck right now. Sure, Eko has walked him through all the steps numerous times, and yeah, he knows she's probably one of the most capable sorcerers in her clan and in the last century altogether, but he can't help the sliver of scepticism rooted in his being. It really is a big risk, what she's willing to do for him. After discovering there's no safe way to reverse his vampirism, at least not without giving up the immortality bit for good, they had to think of an alternative.

Eko has sealed an imprint of her soul, magic and divinity —basically, an imprint of herself— in both an alexandrite and silver ring, and a golem-like 'back-up' body created by means of her divine powers. That way, when she's ready, she would be able to hop bodies, and thus prolong her life indefinitely.

And today is that day. She's ready, or so she claimed. As said, Kol has full trust in her abilities, but the method they've resorted to… Well, it's never been done before, so they're going blind here.

He takes note of the Blood Moon rising and slowly reaching its apex — just the sign they are waiting for. It's now only a few hours before the mortality issue is finally dealt with, and they finally get married.

( If someone had asked him about his thoughts on marriage a thousand years ago, he'd have certainly laughed in their face and mocked them until the sun went down and the moon came out to play. He did not do love, much less marriage, with or without love. Solitariness may have been lonely, but it was also the strongest state to be — no weaknesses to exploit, no risk of backing out, no leverage one's enemies could get to threaten you.

Yet here he is, with whom he considers to be his soulmate despite the concept of soulmate not being a real thing —magic or not—, set to take on the burden that is immortality, and about to marry her all in one, swift swop. )

The ritual consists, in simple terms, of causing a quick, supernatural death to her mortal body after drinking to the last drop of an elixir prepared under the Blood Moon —quite the intricate piece of sorcery, that one is. It would be a matter of a few minutes until her freed soul anchors itself to the body they have prepared. The bond that he shares with her should help with that, too.

Lost in his thoughts as he is, he doesn't notice when Yaeko pours the elixir into the silver chalice they have prepared beforehand, nor does he notice when she grabs it and makes her way to where he is standing.

He snaps out of the trance-like stance when he feels a hand rest on his shoulder. His gaze focuses, and their eyes meet. There's an unfathomable wealth of emotions inside the bottomless pits that are her eyes, and he can feel himself gladly drowning in them, becoming trapped, with no way of backing out — not that he would ever want to, in the first place.

She is, after all, the one, only and true love of his immortal life.

She has come barging into his life, a serendipitous encounter, and carved herself deeply onto his soul — her delicate hands leaving a mark on his reanimated heart. He has lived for centuries, most of them sunk in a sea of unending darkness, with the only pharos being whenever he got his hands on a new piece of magic.

He had lost all hope of ever feeling alive again just as he did while still human and practising his witchcraft, but then he is sent a literal gift from the gods — one he very much intends to keep and care for. Nik is the most artistic of them by far, but seeing his treasured Eko there, content in his arms, is enough to make him wax poetry of the likes never seen before.

( Just what have you done to him, darling? Look at him: he's pathetic, he's utterly whipped. And why doesn't he mind?

Oh, love, and to think he once was the psychotic black sheep of his family, forever condemned to a life of forced solitude with incurable loneliness; the forsaken brother, much like Finn. The only one amongst his siblings to never have fallen in love —since at the end of the day, love is a vampire's greatest weakness.

Sweetheart, some might say he was the one who would eventually ruin you, but in the end it was you who ruined him. Albeit, can it be called 'ruin' when all you've done is 'save' him? )

He's pulled into a deep kiss —chastity is for mortals with way too many morals—, and she whispers to him a series of "I love you" like a mantra so sweet that at any other time he might have thought he just swallowed a glass of liquid saccharin.

She takes a little step back, enough so she can tilt her head upwards and, with a soft mutter of "bottoms up", she promptly gulps down all the contents of the chalice. Once she's done, her chestnut eyes meet his dark brown ones; it is time to say goodbye to her mortal, human body.

"Everything will work just fine, darling, and this will be quick, I'll make it painless, don't you worry." His voice is the most fragile it has ever been in a thousand years, and he can feel her body go lax on his hold.

"I know you won't hurt me," she reassures him, a bashful expression he can't help but feel smug about —he has caused it, after all. "Do it. And don't miss me too much, yeah? I will only be out for a few hours." That elicits a startled laugh from him. Oh, how he adores this woman and the fierce fire within her.

Without further ado, he swiftly snaps her neck and catches her body before it can fall to the floor. It's done. Now he can only pray and wait for her to get back up.

• • •

When she comes to, all she can feel is the arms of her beloved Kol wrapped tightly around her middle —as if she would disappear if he doesn't embrace her hard enough—, head resting on hers, and heart beating steadily, a regular rhythm playing a familiar pattern under her cheek. She's impatient, she cannot contain the excitement that threatens to consume her, and she knows Kol will be just as ecstatic once he catches up on her awakening. Thus, she purrs, melodic voice like a soft caress to a violin's strings: "missed me?"

• • •

Oh gods, he's finally passed on from his days of walking aimlessly all over Midgard and has at long last ascended to Valhalla.

The ritual has worked. Yaeko is immortal, like him.

Yaeko will stay by his side until time itself dies.

Loki blesses him, for he would not be able to bear it if this is just a dream — his darling Eko is very much a dream, but shush, you know he is talking about the situation itself, of course Eko is as unreal as a chimaera of times long passed.

"Hello there, new face," he answers right back, honeyed words a remembrance of the first ones he ever spoke to her. "May I get your name, pretty one?"

"And who might be asking?" She follows, lips shaping into a playful smile. Temptation incarnate this one is, he swears.

He closes the space between his lips and the ones his gaze has been fixated on for the past several minutes, and he feels her responding readily to his demands. He breaks the kiss to keep looking down at her, uttering his next words in a breathless exhale. "Kol Mikaelson, born under a lucky star for having you, at your service."

"It is a pleasure to meet you. And yes, it is Yaeko Inazuma, soon to become Inazuma-Mikaelson though." Words that strike fast and hard, piercing him like one of Freyja's seiðr chants. Not even Nik with that little blonde girl was this terrible. Oh my, he has it bad, doesn't he?

"So right," he nods at her statement, obviously satisfied. He manoeuvres them so he has an arm draped across her shoulders in a half hug. "However, much to my own chagrin, you must first go see your brothers and cousins. I'd rather not be given another shovel talk, you know?" He plants a delighted kiss to her crown.

It seemed that was a cue clear enough for the mentioned people to enter the lounge Eko and him where staying at. In a single, graceful motion, his princess is pulled by her brothers into a hug of their own. Minato's eyes meet his above Yaeko's head, and they give each other a nod in mutual understanding. Yeah, they got it from here.

He leaves his love and her family in the hall, and steps outside the house, where it seems his siblings have been waiting for him to come out. Rebekah is the first one to approach him, followed by the rest of their siblings not long after.

"So?" She questions him, an eyebrow quirked in askance. Truth is, he's well-aware that she's as impatient as Yaeko and him for their wedding, since they have allowed her to be the one to organise the entire thing. He suddenly feels the need to tease her, just a tiny bit.

"I guess you've already heard them, what with your vampire hearing and all, dear sister," he so very obviously deflects. This prompts a 10-minute complaint about how much of an idiot he is, all the while Nik and Lijah try to contain their snickers —without much success on Nik's part—, and even the ever impassive Finn seems amused.

Once Bekah has finished, he merely raises his head defiantly. "Are you done? Because I can hear my darling and her family coming closer to the door, and I'm sure you cannot wait to turn into a clingy koala once more." Like, Bekah. you're the literal definition of 'clingy paramour'. Really, poor Kai, what he'll have to endure, Kol laments internally.

She ignores him.

While she goes away to look for her partner, and Finn does so as well after giving Kol a pat on the shoulder, Nik and Elijah adopt a more sombre expression. Kol's confused when they look at each other —Nik forlorn, and Elijah scolding—, but then confusion turns into unadulterated surprise when he's given his silver dagger. Without warning, Nik just flashes away, most likely to look for the Forbes girl. Elijah then does something he hadn't done ever since they were human, and draws him into a hug. Before he too darts away, he hears him whisper to his ear: "congratulations are in order. Really, I'm happy for you, brother. See you this evening at your wedding."

And just like that, the small fractures left in Kol's heart that hadn't been repaired already by Yaeko's mere presence start to mend back together.

• • •

Later that evening, wedding ceremony

Rebekah has certainly outdone herself, Kol thinks, watching the mixture of Norse and Japanese flairs —a strange combination, but she somehow managed to make it work.

He really cannot believe it, feels as if he's deep inside a realistic simulation but it's, in truth, nothing but an illusion. Yaeko is immortal. They are getting married. All their relatives have gathered together today — Yaeko's parents and siblings, her cousins on both sides of her family, even a couple of those Elders that seem like they don't leave the compound for anything. Then there's Kol's siblings, including their long-lost sister and each respective paramour.

Everything passes in a blur. Needless to say, he does remember the ceremony itself, but the highlight of his day is, beyond any doubt, when they have already said their vows and he hears a "you can kiss your bride". And oh, he surely does. Her arms go straight around his neck, one of his hands makes itself at home at her waist, the other at her hip, and he dips her. They're the only ones in the altar, the rest of the world fades out as if it wasn't there, and all they can feel is the love they have for each other — like White Oak roots to the soil, it adheres to both their hearts.

Her lips taste like he supposes Iðunn's Apples must taste —sugary, soft, with a pinch of the immortality they will spend together. Meanwhile, Yaeko believes his to taste like freshly reaped persimmons, and all she can think about is how all she's done, all they have gone through together, is completely worth it.

Everything for an eternity with him.