Two months after their wedding, Michael's wife dies in a tragic accident. Suddenly alone, he struggles to get through his new existence without her, until a panicked Lord Brutus comes to him with a shocking truth:
"Michael, she is not supposed to be dead."
Well. Michael promised to protect her. Human or no, he'll not allow a little thing like death to get in his way.
Michael the Eighteenth and MC from A Date with Yesterday on Love 365. (I did my best with MC's hairstyle in Michael's route, but it wasn't easy to see. :P )
I love Michael so much that I'm writing a fic for him now: She Is My Light
Copic marker and colored pencil by @cherieofthedragonsart
Michael and MC from A Date with Yesterday from Love 365, with Michael in his wedding tux. This was actually inspired to go along with the fic I'm writing, She is My Light.
Copic marker and colored pencil by @cherieofthedragonsart.
Of course this is what you wear to chaperone a bus full of high schoolers. Anyone who says otherwise is just, well, not as magnificent as Michael and Lord Brutus.
All too soon, reason returned. Michael rested his forehead against hers, trying to regain his breathing while he contemplated their next step.
"I'm afraid I didn't plan this far ahead," he murmured with a chuckle.
Chiari ran her hands along his arms, sending pleasant shivers through him. "Michael. What happened?"
He lifted his head so that he could clearly regard her sweet face, marred by concern though it was. Where to even begin? How could he tell her that she'd…
He was rarely at a loss for words, but he was now, and there was no time to dwell on the matter. At this moment, the murderer knew their whereabouts, and that meant the fiend could track their future movements. He needed a way to throw them off the trail…
Running a gentle hand over her hair, Michael smiled. "Explanations will have to wait. We need to leave this place first."
He took out the hourglass.
Her eyes widened, sliding from the hourglass in his hand to his face. Whatever she saw there must have been serious, because she set her jaw and gave a firm nod.
"Okay," she said. "I trust you."
Sometimes Michael truly wondered how he could possibly deserve such undying trust. But then, he would do everything in his power—and even things that weren't—to keep her safe, and so he would never let that trust be misplaced. Perhaps, in that way, he would earn it.
With one arm around her waist, he pulled her close once more. Without Lord Brutus, he could only time travel within their own lifetimes, and being that he was human, he did not think he could handle more than a handful of months. To be sure they would not go astray, he needed a destination on which he could easily focus.
The answer was obvious. Michael closed his eyes and turned the hourglass, concentrating on the day of their wedding.
*
The glare of the hourglass this time was so much worse. Pain shot through his head like a rapier between the eyes. He could feel that they'd arrived, but still he clutched his head, fighting back the agony.
Murmurs of uncertainty reached his ears, and then a soft hand touched his arm.
"Michael?"
The haze of pain receded, and he opened his eyes. He stood at the main table in the reception hall, and the eyes of every guest were on him.
Slowly, he turned his head—and the sight before him took his breath away.
"Oh…"
Chiari was beside him in her white dress, her hand on his arm, peering uncertainly into his eyes. The word stunning could not begin to describe her. The first time he'd seen her in her gown, he had thought there could be no lovelier sight. Now, she was no less than divine.
She looked as though she might panic at any moment, and so he smiled, letting all the happiness filling his soul show on his face for all to see.
"Truly, Chiari, your beauty overwhelms me."
As he expected, her face turned bright red. She ducked her head, but not before he caught sight of her bashful smile.
Good. She no longer appears to be afraid. This whole affair must be terrifying for her, and yet… she's always so astonishingly brave.
"Michael."
A voice interrupted his thoughts — one he would recognize anywhere. Lord Brutus stood at the back of the room, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"You were about to give your closing speech, were you not?"
Michael bowed his head towards him. "Ah, yes, my speech. Forgive me. I let my happiness in this moment distract me, it seems."
After taking a moment to run his fingers gently over her perfectly-styled hair, he pulled out her chair, allowing her to resume her seat. She looked up at him, a myriad of emotions in her expression.
What had he said the first time? He'd spent months and months planning this speech, wanting it to be perfect, and now he could not remember a word of it. There was nothing for it. Chiari had already heard that speech anyway; he would simply speak from the heart.
After a moment of thought, he began.
"When I met Chiari… well, at the time, I believed myself to be magnificent." He cocked an eyebrow at her, striking a confident pose, and she laughed, shaking her head in a slightly bewildered manner. "I was quite certain there was nothing whatsoever that I could not do, and it was only natural to recognize that. Anyone who did not was either lying or blind."
A few awkward chuckles floated through the room.
"I thought I had seen so many wonders, learned so many fantastic things. I deemed it only proper that I lend my wisdom to others and guide them on a worthier course."
His voice had grown serious. Tilting her head, she watched him with glittering eyes.
"When I first saw Chiari, I thought, 'Here is a being who struggles more than she has to. A being who is lonelier than she ought to be.' And I believed I could show her a better path."
He chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Perhaps, in some ways, I was right. I do hope that my presence by her side has lightened her burdens. But I know now that I was also very wrong. Because I was the one who truly needed to find my path. I was the one who was alone. And she was the one who illuminated my way."
He took a breath, focusing on nothing but the emotion in his wife's eyes. "Chiari taught me what magnificence truly is. She demonstrates it in every smile, every kind word, every thoughtful deed. I did not know how dim my world was until she lit it up, like the dawn breaking over the horizon. She is… luminous. Without her, the world would be nothing but a black haze."
His voice was trembling now. "There's no point now in a life without her. She is, truly, my light."
He stopped himself before he could become any more overwrought. The time for eulogies was done. This was a wedding. A new beginning.
"As of today," Michael began again, "I've been given the chance to see that light every day for the rest of our lives. It's a greater blessing than I could ever have hoped to imagine, once. It's a blessing I will cherish to the end of my days."
Tears in her eyes, his precious wife clasped his hand in hers. Words were unnecessary. The love and longing in her gaze told him that she understood, and he squeezed her hand back, silently repeating his vow to make her happy for years and years to come.
