Chapter Text
At last, the Riptide Pirates have reunited Zamia and Star. They're grateful to see each other again, and though they've received so much help already, there is one more favor that Star has to ask of Gillion.
"Of course, anything," he says. "I think I have Ceremony prepped if you want me to make it official."
"Wow, um," Star mumbles.
"You never know what the next day brings, right?" Gillion adds. "So you two, I figured..."
Zamia is shocked by how perceptive he is and blushes furiously. Nobody said anything about wanting to get married, but he immediately hit the nail on the head.
"It's not a big deal," Gillion continues. "I've actually officiated a wedding before! Not that it was honored." He glares directly at Chip, who silently begs him to cut it out. Though it's becoming harder for Chip to hold onto his memories in his undead state, the one thing that Gillion refuses to let him forget is that he abandoned his wife.
But Gillion considers the fact that Chip is no longer alive. "Actually, wait. 'Til death do us part'. Shit. Uh. I guess you're good now, man."
"Holy shit, you're free," Jay says.
"And all it took was losing your mortal fucking soul," Gillion says, incredulous at how Chip managed to end his marriage. The last thing they told Amanda was that he was dead, and now it's actually the truth.
"Divorce!" Chip cheers. "There's always a positive!"
Star interrupts to bring back the topic of their favor. "Actually, yes. Before you leave, we would like to hold a wedding in the palace," she requests.
"Oh shit," all three captains say. Gillion himself is also surprised at how precisely he guessed what this would be. "Yes, it would be my honor. I would be happy to help."
Igneous explains the preparations necessary for the wedding, to make the palace safe again and shepherd the attending townsfolk. The Riptide Pirates will have to wait a while before it comes time for their involvement. In the meantime, Igneous offers to assist them with whatever else they need to do on the island.
Chip explains that they need to recover the treasure left behind by the Black Rose Pirates. It's not quite as grand as Gillion's destiny, or the latent power in Jay Ferin's blood. But it is his legacy, and it is part of the reason that he embarked on this journey in the first place. Igneous can relate. The impact of the black sea is a trauma they both share, and though they may not have been born with something special, they still have their own paths to carve and stories to write.
Feeling confident from his earlier guess about Zamia and Star, Gillion speaks up again. "I've seen this before. Do you guys want to get married?"
Igneous is taken aback by the absurdity of this suggestion. "Gil..."
"Being close to your husband will increase your defenses for a week. Think about it," Gillion says.
Chip thinks about it. "Igneous? Nah, I'd rather get married to you instead."
"What?" Gillion says in surprise.
"What?" Igneous repeats, still thrown off by talk of another marriage.
"What?" Jay says, though she's not quite as surprised as Gillion is. "Dude, you just got free of your last marriage, and now you're jumping into another one instantly?"
"I mean, yeah," Chip says, shrugging his shoulders and avoiding eye contact with Gillion. "That's kinda why I wanted to get out of it," he mumbles.
"Is this just for the increased defenses?" Gillion asks. "Because I can always cast Shield of Faith when you need it, and it would be just as effective."
Chip shakes his head. "No, I mean actually getting married."
"I don't know you guys very well, but this seems really sudden," Igneous says, concerned. "Do you understand the weight- the emotional connection, the burden of shared finances, and just-"
"I share my finances with him already," Chip says casually. "To be honest, I kinda feel like we're already married. We might as well make it official."
"I never thought of it like that," Gillion mumbles to himself, remembering when they cosigned on their loan.
"So, we're having a double wedding?" Star asks, curious about how this will complicate the logistics.
"Oh, no, no!" Gillion says, snapped out of his thoughts. "I wouldn't want us to intrude on your special day."
Jay still can't quite believe what she's hearing. She's picked up on something between them, but they never openly discussed their feelings, let alone got into an actual relationship. "Are you seriously going to marry Chip?"
Gillion smiles. "Yeah, why not?"
Chip didn't think it would get this far either when he made the suggestion. "I was gonna say I was joking if you turned me down, but shit, I guess we really are getting married."
Gillion turns back to Star. "Should we have our wedding the day after yours so that we can have separate ceremonies? If it's at the same time, the spell might accidentally get all four of us married to each other."
Zamia nods. Star agrees with his plan. "That would be wise, yes."
"Now hold on a minute," Igneous interrupts. "You're all rather young. You'll have time to actually plan this in the future, and-"
"Not really," Jay says.
"Yeah, it'd be best to get it done before we go to the hole in the sea," Gillion explains.
Star's expression immediately changes to one of concern. "As a cleric of Aster, I feel obligated to stop you from going there. Or at least try to stop you from-"
"Don't," Jay says with a slight chuckle. "Nothing you say would matter. We're going to the hole in the sea anyways."
Before the Riptide Pirates can set out on their long term plans, they still need to assist with the wedding. And before that, they still intend to journey across the island to retrieve the treasure left behind by the Black Rose Pirates. Igneous joins them, and the trip is dangerous and harrowing.
As they climb the mountain, Chip can barely hold himself together. Emotionally, it's a little hard to believe that Gillion is planning to marry him. Physically, the force of his flesh being torn apart vastly outclasses any mental distress. He didn't expect to rot so quickly, but corruption and undeath have taken their toll. At least he can maintain appearances with his bandana's magic, long enough to retrieve the treasures and then make their journey back to the palace.
Chip offers the bandana to Igneous once they arrive at the wedding venue, helping him to be appropriately dressed for his role as best man. Unfortunately, the revelation of his skeletal body looks to most people like an omen of death. He guides the guests to their seats, and they're eager to follow his directions, if only to get as far from him as possible and not be subjected to whatever unholy power radiates from this ghastly pirate.
Nobody wants the pre-wedding snacks that Chip cooked, despite the insane amount of effort he went through to make them. There were very few ingredients and rations to work with, and yet he transformed them into elegant delicacies. Perhaps the disgusted reactions were because the finger food looked somewhat like his own fingers had fallen off and landed on the plate.
The wedding venue is beautifully decorated with Gillion's ice sculptures, and Chip briefly wonders if they'll return to the same place tomorrow. But it would make absolutely no sense to come back. To the Riptide Pirates, Daphne Palace is little more than another dungeon they had to crawl through. The townsfolk here today are barely acquaintances. They wouldn't attend the wedding of people they hardly know, right? If there even was a second wedding at all.
Chip still feels like the promise of another marriage is a joke. And if that's the kind of joke his crew wants to make, he might as well tell the same one to Jay. Pretending to be her proud father, Chip offers to walk Jay down the aisle as the bride. Never mind that she isn't even wearing a wedding gown. Jay doesn't take any shit from him, refusing to play along with the stupid joke.
"What, you don't believe in marriage?" Chip teases.
"No, it's not that," Jay says defensively. "I mean, it's hard to meet somebody when you're out at sea like this."
Chip reflects on his own prospects too. "Yeah, who would marry me like this? I would not marry this," he says, half hoping that Gillion is hearing him.
Gillion, however, seems very busy with ceremonial preparations. The standard casting of the spell normally requires powdered silver, but Zamia and Star want to use their wedding rings instead. Jay provided some valuable gems earlier for the rings, though the two paladins and the cleric still have to pray together for some time to focus on this altered magic. Gillion also writes a few notes in his wedding booklet on where to swap out undersea phrases for surface-appropriate ones. And besides materials for the ceremony itself, he also fills out the legal paperwork.
Chip peeks over Gillion's shoulder to take a look at everything. Between all of Gillion's silly behavior, running straight into danger or tossing coins into the sea, it's often hard to remember that Gillion is still truly devoted to the gods.
"Oh, there you are!" Gillion says brightly, moving slightly to give Chip a better look of the second document. "Most people don't change their names during marriage, but since you don't have a surname, do you want mine?"
"What?" Chip says. He leans in to take a closer look. That is not Zamia and Star's marriage certificate.
"Like, your name could be Chip Tidestrider," Gillion continues. He carefully fills in the sections of the document for stating that he's unmarried, and that Chip's previous marriage ended in death.
"No, wait, is that for real?" Chip blurts out, yanking the paper from Gillion and looking it over. A genuine form for a genuine marriage. This prank is going way too far. "You still want to marry me tomorrow?"
"I know, it's so soon!" Gillion says, carefully taking the paper back. "You'll get your bandana back from Igneous, but what am I going to wear? I should probably polish my armor."
"But why?" Chip says in disbelief.
Gillion looks down at himself. "My armor's all dirty and dinged up, and I don't exactly want to get married wearing this," he says, answering the wrong question. "Even if you just want to be married for legal and financial reasons, this kind of ceremony still means a lot to me."
Chip feels like every word of conversation is only making things more confusing. "Wait, hold on, I thought you were the one who only cared about the legal shit."
"I do, that's why I'm asking if you want my surname," Gillion says, holding out the forms again.
"But that's it, that's the only reason you want to marry me," Chip says, not really as a question, just wanting Gillion to confirm those assumptions as facts. As much as he loves Gillion, Chip can't imagine anyone feeling the same way towards him. Especially not while he's like this.
"Of course there's other reasons," Gillion says earnestly, but he almost sounds upset too. "I've always loved you, and I was so happy when you said you wanted to marry me. But if it's just about the paperwork to you, and you'll just leave your spouse again, I-"
"You love me?"
"Yes?"
"Since when?" Chip demands. It wasn't even that long ago that Gillion was harassing him about his ex-wife, and if anything, Gillion is bringing her up again.
"Gods, probably since we met," Gillion says, thinking back over the past months spent sailing together.
"Then why the hell did you keep trying to make me go back to Amanda?" Chip shouts, clenching his fists.
"Because I only wanted you to be happy!" Gillion shouts back, making far too much noise in the back of the hall. Some of the wedding guests have turned around in their seats to listen to the drama unfolding behind them.
Gillion takes a deep breath to calm himself down, something that Chip no longer has the luxury of doing. "Excuse me. I still need to help another couple be happy together," he says, walking to the front of the hall and leaving Chip behind. Chip takes his seat in the back, leaving more than a dozen empty rows between him and every other attendee.
Gillion carries out the ceremony without a hitch. Knock presents the rings, and Gillion recites the spell that he practiced earlier. Divine magic flows into the rings as Zamia and Star place them on each other's fingers, culminating in the glorious radiance of holy light as their lives are joined forever.
Chip pretends to die again as the light hits him. Once it fades away, and a feast is summoned into the hall, he crawls into the corner of the room. The improvised pigs-in-a-blanket he made earlier had fallen on the floor and were now officially abandoned. He stuffs a few into his mouth and tries to swallow. His throat is dry. Half of the food gets lost and falls into the cavity where his heart used to be. The bits that made it to his stomach don't feel right. It's starting to feel like eating food was a mistake when he doesn't even know if he can digest it anymore.
Meanwhile, Jay is trying to wipe her tears and snot on a napkin in between sips of wine. She's still rambling to anyone who will listen about how beautiful the wedding was.
Gillion takes a seat near her and starts taking apart some crabs to eat. After a few, he notices the ominous skeleton creature in the corner of the room. He gets up and asks Igneous to return the bandana, then gives it back to Chip.
Chip immediately puts it on and disguises himself back to looking like his living self. He follows Gillion back to the table, though he's given up on trying to eat. He'll just watch Jay drink more wine and Gillion eat more crabs. Actually, it seems like Gillion is picking out the crab meat and setting it on Chip's plate.
"Sorry, can't," Chip says politely. "I think it'll make my throat hurt."
"Oh shit, you're allergic?" Gillion says, pulling the plate away.
"No, no, I've eaten crab before," Chip explains. "But I kinda got my heart ripped out through my mouth and eating doesn't feel good."
Gillion puts the plate down. "Oh, right. I sort of forget whenever you make yourself look normal again."
"I don't think I can really digest anything either," Chip says, looking down at himself. "Might be sick later. I'll try not to ruin the party."
"I'll take care of you," Gillion assures.
Chip mumbles his thanks. He tries a nibble of the crab meat anyway, since Gillion already went through the effort of preparing it for him. It doesn't taste like anything anymore. Just feels vaguely soft. Still, it reminds him of eating seafood with Gillion on the ship. At first, Gillion didn't understand human limitations when it came to things like guts and bones. But after a while, he learned which parts humans considered edible and would prepare the meat ahead of time. Chip took that for granted back then, but he's realizing now that it was one of many ways that Gillion expressed his love. Even if he was just peeling a shrimp for Chip.
"You really do love me, huh," Chip says, looking at the plate Gillion made for him, rather than braving eye contact with Gillion himself. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"
"You've done everything for me, Chip. You saved me," Gillion answers.
"Hey, it's not like it was possible for you to drown when I pulled you out of the water," Chip says dismissively with a slight chuckle.
"No, I can breathe water just fine," Gillion over-corrects. "I mean, when I had to leave the undersea, you took me in with your crew and brought me on so many adventures. I didn't think I could call myself the Champion of the Undersea anymore. Now I can call myself a Riptide Pirate too."
"Yeah, and look where that landed us," Chip says, dismissing the illusion from his hand for a moment to reveal his skeleton again.
Gillion holds that hand, clasping those cold, hard bones with his own damp, webbed fingers. "We'll bring you back. I know we will," he says with conviction.
Chip grips Gillion's hand a little too tightly. "I wish I could actually feel your stupid wet hands," he says, choking up on his words. Though he can't cry anymore, he can at least appear to be.
Jay, who has definitely had far too many glasses of wine by now, witnesses this and begins sobbing again on Chip's behalf. "Oh my gods, you two are just so, so fucking cute together," she says, stumbling on her words.
"I just hope we'll actually stay together," Gillion says to Chip.
"Of course we will," Chip replies. "What makes you think we won't?"
"We gotta," Jay starts, making a noise that's a mix of a hiccup and a burp. "Tell everyone about the, uh, the teleporter on our ship. Help them to get them to go out of the Black Sea. From here."
The hall goes silent for minute. Nothing can be heard except the clatter of a single fork dropped on the floor in shock.