June 15th, 2094 - The Wedding Day
Xavier stood at the altar, hands clasped in front of him to stop their trembling, and tried not to cry before the ceremony even started.
He was failing spectacularly.
The venue was perfect—that garden his mother had found, with the ancient oak tree that reminded them both of Philos. White chairs arranged in neat rows, filled with family and friends.
Flowers everywhere—white lilies mixed with blue forget-me-nots, colors that matched his eyes and her favorite shade. The late afternoon sun cast everything in golden light, and a string quartet played softly in the background.
Xavier's father stood beside him as best man, patting his shoulder sympathetically.
"You alright, son?"
"I'm getting married," Xavier said, his voice already rough with emotion.
"To her. Finally. After a century of waiting, after five lifetimes, after—" He couldn't finish. Just pressed a hand to his chest where his heart was racing.
"You're allowed to be emotional," his father said gently. "This is everything you've worked for. Everything you've dreamed of."
The music changed. The wedding march began.
Everyone stood, turned toward the aisle.
And Xavier's breath stopped completely.
Nana appeared at the end of the aisle, her arm linked with her father's, and Xavier had to grip his father's arm to stay upright.
She was beautiful. Had always been beautiful across every lifetime, but this—THIS—was something else entirely.
Her wedding dress was elegant and simple—white silk that flowed like water, embroidered with delicate silver patterns that caught the light. A veil covered her face, held in place by small flowers. Her auburn hair was styled elaborately, with loose curls framing her face. She carried a bouquet of white lilies and blue forget-me-nots, matching the venue decorations.
But it was her expression that destroyed Xavier. Even through the veil, he could see her smile—radiant, joyful, tearful. Could see her eyes locked on him like he was the only person in the world.
The same way she'd looked at him across five lifetimes.
Tears spilled down Xavier's cheeks before he could stop them. He didn't even try to wipe them away. Just stood there crying openly as his Starlight walked toward him, finally, FINALLY becoming his wife in a ceremony that wouldn't end in tragedy.
His mother was crying in the front row. Several of his cousins were grinning, probably already planning to tease him about this later. But Xavier didn't care. Didn't care about dignity or composure or maintaining his mysterious image.
All he cared about was the woman walking toward him.
Nana's father—stern Mr. Wang who'd been skeptical of Xavier at first—had tears in his own eyes as he walked his daughter down the aisle.
When they reached the altar, he lifted Nana's veil, kissed her forehead, then turned to Xavier.
"Take care of my daughter,"
he said quietly. "She's been searching for you for so long. Don't make her search anymore."
"Never," Xavier promised, his voice breaking. "I'll spend the rest of my life making sure she never has to search for me again."
Mr. Wang nodded, placed Nana's hand in Xavier's, and stepped back.Xavier looked down at Nana's hand in his—small, warm, real.
The hand that had once carried a star-shaped mark connecting them across lifetimes. The hand that had held his through deaths and rebirths and impossible distances.
"Hi," Nana whispered, her own tears falling freely.
"Hi, Starlight," Xavier whispered back.
The officiant cleared his throat, smiling.
"Shall we begin?"
The ceremony was traditional with personal touches. They'd written their own vows—Xavier had spent three weeks trying to find words adequate to express a century of love.
He'd failed, but he'd tried.
When it was his turn to speak, Xavier took both of Nana's hands in his, looked into her eyes, and let everything he'd been holding back for five lifetimes spill out.
"Nana," he began, his voice already shaking. "I don't know how to form words to explain how much I love you. I've tried. God knows I've tried. But there aren't words big enough, deep enough, true enough to capture what you mean to me."
He took a shaky breath. "You are more than my love. More than my soulmate. You are my reason for existing. Across five lifetimes, through four deaths, through sixty years of separation—you have been the only constant. The only thing that mattered. The only thing that made sense when everything else was chaos."
Tears were streaming down his face now, but he kept going. "I was the Crown Star of Philos. I had kingdoms, power, immortality. And I gave it all up for you. Threw down my crown, abandoned my duty, traded my cosmic existence for a chance—just one more chance—to be with you. And I'd do it again. A thousand times over. A million times. I'd give up anything for you. Everything for you."
Nana was openly sobbing now, but Xavier wasn't done.
"I love you more than the stars. More than the cosmos that created me. More than existence itself. You are my Starlight—the light that guides me home, the brightness that makes life worth living, the reason I chose to be human instead of eternal."
His voice cracked completely. "I love you. I've loved you since you fell out of a tree at twelve years old. I'll love you until my last breath. And whatever comes after—whatever existence there is beyond death—I'll love you there too."
He squeezed her hands gently.
"Thank you for being born. Thank you for searching for me. Thank you for not giving up even when it seemed impossible. Thank you for being you, Nana. My Starlight. My everything."
There wasn't a dry eye in the venue. Even the officiant was dabbing at his eyes.
Nana took a moment to compose herself, took a deep breath, and began her own vows.
"Xavier," she said, her voice trembling.
"You beautiful, selfless, impossible man. You traded immortality for me. Gave up being a star—literally gave up HEAVEN—just for the chance to love me one more time."
She laughed through her tears. "Do you know how that makes me feel? How do I even begin to deserve that kind of love? I don't think I can. I don't think anyone could. But you gave it anyway."
She looked up at him with so much love it hurt. "I remember everything now. Every lifetime. Every moment we shared. Every time you held me as I died. Every time you waited decades for me to be reborn. Every time you found me again and fell in love all over again. Xavier, the dedication—the absolute DEVOTION—you've shown me across a century is—"
Her voice broke.
"It's everything. You are everything."
Nana squeezed his hands. "I spent sixty years as a star, searching the cosmos for you. Spent five years as a human desperately trying to find you in a world full of billions of people. And every single night, I looked at the sky and hoped. Hoped that somewhere, somehow, my star would find his way back to me. That the Crown Star would land on Earth again. That fate would finally, FINALLY be kind to us."
She smiled through her tears.
"And you did. You came back. You found me. You waited at that wishing tree and prayed for me, and I found you, and Xavier—"
Her voice was barely a whisper now.
"That moment when our eyes met—when I recognized you after sixty years—was the happiest moment of my life. Of ALL my lives."
She wiped her tears, but they kept falling.
"I love you. I've loved you since Philos when you caught me falling from a tree. I've loved you through every lifetime, every death, every rebirth. And I'll love you in this life, in whatever comes after, in every possibleuniverse where we exist. You are my home, Xavier. My crown star. My husband."
The last word made Xavier's composure shatter completely. He pulled Nana into his arms and just held her, both of them crying, not caring about ceremony or tradition or the hundred guests watching.
The officiant, crying himself, managed to say: "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may—well, you're already doing it—kiss the bride."
Xavier cupped Nana's face, tilted her chin up, and kissed her.
It was soft. Deep. Full of a century of longing and five lifetimes of love.
Full of gratitude and relief and joy and every emotion that had been building for decades.
They kissed like they'd waited forever for this moment—because they had.
The venue erupted in cheers, applause, whistles. Xavier's cousins were loudest, shouting things like "FINALLY!" and "ABOUT TIME!" His mother was sobbing into his father's shoulder.
Nana's parents were hugging each other, crying happy tears.
When Xavier and Nana finally broke apart, both were laughing and crying simultaneously, foreheads pressed together, breathing the same air.
"We're married," Nana said in wonder. "Xavier, we're actually married."
"Finally," Xavier said, kissing her again. "After five lifetimes. Finally."
They walked back down the aisle together as husband and wife, hands clasped, both grinning through tears. Guests threw flower petals that caught in Nana's hair and on Xavier's suit. Someone had released butterflies—real ones, not light evol constructs—that fluttered around them like living blessings.
At the reception, Xavier's cousin immediately cornered him. "Dude. DUDE. You cried like a baby! I got it all on video!"
"I don't care," Xavier said, unable to stop smiling. "Mock me all you want. I just married the girl I've loved for over a century. I'm allowed to cry."
"It was beautiful though," his cousin admitted. "Those vows? Man, you set the bar impossibly high for the rest of us. How am I supposed to propose to anyone after hearing THAT?"
Xavier just laughed and pulled Nana closer, pressing a kiss to her temple.
The reception was perfect. Dancing, toasts, laughter. Xavier's father gave a speech about watching his son search desperately for years, about the relief of finally seeing him happy.
Nana's mother talked about her daughter's obsession with finding the "crown star prince" and how everyone thought she was delusional until Xavier proved he was real.
"And looking at him," Mrs. Wang said, gesturing at Xavier,
"I understand why my daughter never gave up. He really does look like a star that landed on Earth. Too beautiful to be real, too devoted to be believed."
When it was time for Xavier and Nana's first dance as husband and wife, the DJ played a song that made them both laugh—a modern remix of an ancient Philos wedding song.
Xavier had no idea how his mother had found it, but it was perfect.
"Did you teach your mother about Philos music?" Nana asked as they swayed together.
"She's thorough with her research,"
Xavier said. "Wanted everything to honor all our lifetimes. She's planning to serve red bean buns for dessert. From that same stall we always visit."
"Your mother is incredible."
"She likes you. Said any girl crazy enough to search for a reborn star deserves all the support she can get."
They danced until sunset, until the fairy lights strung through the trees came on, until the world was painted in soft light and laughter. And through it all, Xavier couldn't stop touching Nana—her hand, her waist, her face—like he needed constant confirmation that this was real.
That she was real.
That they'd finally made it.
.
.
.
.
.
Their First Night Home
Xavier carried Nana over the threshold of their house—traditional, yes, but also because he'd been waiting five lifetimes to do this properly.
Their house. THEIR house. Not his apartment or her parents' penthouse, but the home they'd bought together.
A modest two-story house in a quiet neighborhood between Skyheaven and the university. Not as grand as Xavier's parents' manor or as luxurious as the Wang penthouse, but perfect for them.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Shen," Xavier said, setting Nana down gently in their living room.
"Mrs. Shen," Nana repeated, testing the name. "I'm Nana Shen now. After five lifetimes of being Angelina Wang, I have a new name."
"You can keep Wang if you want. Or hyphenate. Or—"
"No." Nana smiled.
"I want your name. Want to be Nana Shen. Want everyone to know I'm yours."
Xavier kissed her softly. "You've always been mine, Starlight. Name doesn't change that."
They walked through their home together, Nana seeing it properly for the first time. Xavier had moved in two weeks ago to get everything ready while Nana finished finals. He'd wanted to surprise her.
The living room had pastel walls—soft blue and cream, calming and warm. Fairy lights were strung along the ceiling, creating a gentle glow. Shelves filled with books (Xavier's mythology texts mixed with Nana's art books). A couch that was definitely too big for the space but Xavier had insisted
"we'll need room for family someday."
And plushies. Everywhere. On the couch, on the shelves, scattered across every surface. Star-shaped plushies mixed with regular ones, all accumulated over their months of dating.
"You kept them all,"
Nana said, picking up the bright yellow star plush she'd made for Xavier's birthday years ago—the one that had been the fourth star tassel in her gift tradition.
"Of course I kept them. I keep everything you give me. Always have, always will."
Nana moved to the walls where wedding photos were already hung—professional shots from earlier today. Xavier and Nana at the altar, both crying.
Their first kiss as husband and wife. Walking down the aisle together. Dancing under fairy lights.
And mixed among them, older photos. The two of them at the Chinese New Year festival where they'd reunited. Their first official date. Xavier carrying sleepy Nana home. Candid shots from family dinners.
A timeline of their love in this lifetime, preserved in photographs.
Nana stopped in front of one particular photo—Xavier and Nana sitting under an oak tree, Nana leaning against his chest, both looking up at stars. The caption below read: "Like Philos, Like Always."
She broke down crying.
"Hey, hey," Xavier immediately wrapped his arms around her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Nana sobbed.
"Everything's perfect. That's the problem. Xavier, we're married. We have a house. We have a future. This—" She gestured at the photos, at their home, at everything.
"This is what we dreamed about in the Qing Dynasty. What we planned but never got to have."
She looked up at him with streaming tears.
"In that lifetime, we were married for political reasons. An alliance. I didn't remember our past lives, didn't understand why you looked at me so desperately. But this time—" Her voice cracked.
"This time I remember everything. This time I chose you with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole accumulated memory of five lifetimes. And Xavier, that makes all the difference."
Xavier held her tighter, his own tears falling into her hair. "I know. I know, Starlight. This time it's real. This time we get to keep it."
They stood there in their living room, surrounded by evidence of their love, crying tears of joy and relief and overwhelming gratitude that fate had finally—FINALLY—been kind.
The backyard had an apple tree, just like Xavier had promised. "For climbing," he'd said when they'd first seen the house.
"I know you can't help yourself."
The front yard was full of flowers—roses, lilies, forget-me-nots.
"So you can enjoy the beauty in the evenings," Xavier had explained.
The kitchen was small but functional. And completely empty except for—
"Is that instant noodles?" Nana asked, looking at the single package on the counter.
"I forgot to buy groceries," Xavier admitted sheepishly.
"Was too focused on getting the house perfect. So our first meal as husband and wife might be... very simple."
"Perfect." Nana grinned. "Let's see these cooking skills you keep bragging about."
They made dinner together—instant noodles because the fridge was genuinely empty.
Xavier boiled water while Nana found bowls. They added too much seasoning and not enough water and it turned out slightly burnt, but neither cared.
They ate sitting on the kitchen floor because they didn't have a dining table yet ("we're shopping tomorrow," Xavier promised), sharing chopsticks because they couldn't find the second pair, laughing at how ridiculous this was.
"Our first meal as husband and wife,"
Nana said between bites, "is burnt instant noodles on the kitchen floor."
"And it's perfect," Xavier said.
"Because we're together. Because we're alive. Because this is ours."
After dinner, they sat in the living room surrounded by fairy lights and plushies and photos.
Nana curled up against Xavier's chest in their too-big couch, his arms wrapped around her, both just existing peacefully.
"Husband,"
Nana said softly, testing the word.
Xavier went very still. Then his arms tightened around her almost painfully.
"Say it again."
"Husband."
Nana smiled against his chest.
"My husband. Xavier, my crown star, my husband."
Xavier was crying. Again. Third time today, but he didn't care. He'd been waiting over a century to hear her call him husband while remembering everything, while choosing him freely, while being his wife without political arrangements or cosmic curses.
"I love you, Starlight," he whispered into her hair. "My wife. My Nana. My everything."
"I love you too, husband."
She tilted her face up for a kiss.
"Always have, always will."
They kissed softly, gently, with the knowledge that they had time now. All the time in the world. A whole lifetime stretching ahead of them with no curse threatening, no cosmic forces separating them, no tragedy looming.
Just them. Just love. Just forever finally beginning.
Outside, stars twinkled in the dark sky. And the space where Xavier used to exist as a star remained empty—a sacrifice he'd never regret.
Because down here, on Earth, in this modest house with burnt instant noodles and a wife calling him husband for the first time with full consciousness—
Down here, he had everything worth giving up heaven for.
.
.
.
.
.
⭐⭐⭐
To be continued __