"HERE YE! HERE YE! TEN MINUTES TO GO UNTIL THE FULLBUSTER-HEARTFILIA WEDDING REHEARSAL!" The town crier yelled out as he ran a bell, walking around through the center of town and right past the house of said young man who was suppose to be attending this wedding rehearsal...
Gray Fullbuster, a rather emotionless young man, sat alone in his room at his desk looking out of the window. In a cage, he had a small yellow canary; he was drawing it, getting every detail spot on perfectly. Once finished, he calmly opened his window, then the bird's cage, allowing it to fly outside. He gave a small grin as it flew away. Down below him, he saw his mother and his older brother standing there, and his mother looked quite aggravated.
"Gray! Come on now Gray, get down here!" His mother proclaimed, not realizing her youngest was looking down on her. He sighed, and closed the window. Taking a minute to think about what was going on today, he remembered, wedding rehearsal. He had to get married to some aristocratic young female that he had never even met before in his life because that's just how the time worked. Weddings were arranged, you had no say in who it was you got to marry, and it didn't matter if you knew them, or if you even loved them; it would have to happen eventually. He dreaded this. Gray would much rather spend all his time alone then with some girl he had never met before. He knew absolutely nothing about this girl besides the fact that her family was a wealthy aristocratic family. Things never really seemed to go his way anymore, not since his father died.
"GRAY!" His mother yelled again, bringing the young man back into reality.
"I'm... I'm coming!" He responded, not really sure if he wanted to do this or not. Actually, he had no say so, he had to do this against his own will. Why was life so difficult? Why couldn't people make their own choices? He didn't know, and it bothered him that he didn't.
At the Heartfilia Mansion, a young maid was helping a young lady with blonde hair pulled up in a bun get ready for today, for today was a special day, it was the young lady's wedding rehearsal. The maid began to work and started to tighten the young lady's corset. Now usually the young lady of the house was always so happy but today she just seemed to be so sad. As Virgo tightened the corset some more, the blonde let out a gasp, "Virgo, what if Gray and I don't..." her corset got tightened once again, "like each other?"
"Ha," her father stood in the young girl's doorway staring at her with his usual serious expression, "like that has anything to do with marriage Lucy. Do you honestly think that your mother and I liked each other?"
Lucy looked her father's way and offered a gentle smile, "surely you must have... a little."
The man laughed again, "of course not! Now Virgo get that corset laced properly. I can hear her speak without gasping." He then turned and walked away, leaving Lucy and Virgo alone.
He ran outside of his house and joined his mother and older brother outside by their carriage, who was driven by the family's butcher at their fish market, Wakaba.
"There you are," his mother said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, here I am," his response showed no emotion, none.
"You don't seem too thrilled little brother, something going on?" Lyon, his older brother, asked.
"I just don't understand why I have to do this," he began saying as his family got into their carriage, "it's just that I've never met this girl and I have no idea what her name is. I understand that we've all gone through this however I don't feel as if anyone would want to marry me, I'm not outgoing like Lyon; I tend to enjoy being alone."
"Come now Gray," his mother's words reassured him, "you'll grow to love this girl. I understand that you may not think this is the right thing to do now but give it a few years, you'll think differently by then."
"Shouldn't this girl be marrying a lord or something?" Gray asked.
"Nonsense. We're every bit as good as the Heartfilia's. However I feel as if I deserved better than a fish merchant's wife."
Gray sighed, "but I've never even spoken to her."
"At least that's a plus," Lyon mumbled before being hit in the chest by his mother.
Gray simply drowned them out and looked out the small window on the door, watching all the scenery pass him by and he waved to all the people who waved to him. His family was well known around town so his marriage was no small thing. Everyone knew of it and of course they were excited for it, however Gray on the other hand didn't want this. Was their any way for him to get out of this? No, probably not. However, he was willing to bet anything that he could find a way. He wished he at least knew this girl instead of being set up with someone totally blind and possibly ended up with someone who was loony and not all there. He just sighed and shrugged it off like it was nothing. He did know one thing about her now though, her last name. Wakaba coughed and Ul, Gray's mother hit the carriage wall between her and him with her palm, "WAKABA! Silence your blasted coughing!"
His family arrived to a very old looking mansion. When a young butler opened up the door Ul was busy tucking in Gray's shirt and was criticising him on his terrible standing posture. The butler, named Leo, chuckled which got the woman's attention. She turned and gave a soft giggle. The three whom were standing outside entered the mansion slowly, looking around and taking in all of the details, "such grandeur! Such impeccable taste! Oh, beautiful, innit?" Ul chimed. Leo's eyes followed them and then he scoffed when they didn't thank him for opening the door.
"It's not as big as our place, looks a bit shabby really," Lyon mumbled under his breath.
Ul 'gently' hit him in the chest, "shut up."
Leo walked past them after he shut the door and he stood between the two families, "Lord Heartfilia," he gestured to the tall blonde man standing in front of the stairs, "Miss Ul Milkovich, Master Lyon Vastia, and the young Master Gray Fullbuster."
The blonde man raised an eyebrow. He wasn't expecting the boy his daughter was suppose to marry to come from a family with adopted children. It threw him off guard when Leo had introduced everyone with different last names. The young maid who was helping Lucy earlier in the day came running down the stairs. She had a bright smile on her face, she was actually the only thing in this house that looked bright and cheery.
"You must be Miss Lucy," Lyon smiled when she stopped before his family, "I must say you don't look like you're a day over twenty." Ul then proceeded to hit Lyon in the gut again with her fist. He let out a soft whimpering noise before composing himself again.
"My name is Virgo, I'm the Heartfilia's maid," the young girl said as she looked at Lyon. She then pulled all of her attention towards the master of the house, "sir, you should smile. Make them feel welcome in our lovely home."
The man twitched at the thought of smiling but the corners of his lips began twitching and he did eventually make a very frightening and forced smile appear on his face, "well hello. What a pleasure. Welcome to my home."
Ul smiled kindly back, "oh well thank you."
Virgo looked back at Ul and her family, "we'll be taking tea in the west drawing room. Oh, do come this way, it's just through there," she began walking towards a large door.
"Oh, I love what you've done with the place. Who is your decorator?" Ul asked cheerfully as she followed behind Lord Heartfilia, Virgo and Leo.
"Nice tiles," Lyon looked at the floor everyone was walking on before turning his attention to the windows, "shame about the drapes though."
Ul shot him a dirty look before smiling again at Lord Heartfilia, "my eldest says such foolish things. Just ignore him."
"Yes, that's usually best," Lyon shrugged as she stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed close behind.
Gray's eyes wandered and watched as everyone disappeared behind the large ornate door. Gray now stood alone looking awkward. He accidentally backs towards the piano in the center of the large entrance hall and sets his hand down on it, striking one note. He looks around, making sure no one heard the noise from the instrument, and then nervously he strikes another. He then proceeds to sit and slowly plays up a few notes, looking around again and theres still no one there. He starts to play. Lucy, still sitting in her room, hears the music coming from downstairs. It draws her interest and she leaves her room in an instant and walks out in the hall that lead towards the steps. She watched Gray play for a moment before she walked down the steps and inches towards him cautiously until she is directly behind him. Gray looks back at her absently and then he double takes, standing, slamming his hand on the piano keys and proceeds to knock the piano bench over.
"I... I... I do apologize, Miss Heartfilia. How rude of me to... Well..." he lifts the piano bench back into place before his eyes meet hers once more, "excuse me."
"Father won't let me near the piano. Music is improper for a young lady. Too passionate, he says," she offers him a small smile.
"If I may ask Miss Heartfilia... where..." he twists his tie and pulls at the collar of his shirt, "... where is your... chaperon?"
"Perhaps, in..." she places her hands behind her back, "...in view of the circumstances... you could call me Lucy."
"Yes of course. Well..." he was nervous about calling her by her first name. Was that proper? "...Lucy..."
"Yes, Gray?"
"To-tomorrow we are to be m... M... M..." he fiddled with his tie once more. That word just scared him to death.
"Married."
"Yes. M-married."
"Since I was a child, I've... I've dreamt of my wedding day. I always hoped to find someone I was deeply in love with. Someone to spend the rest of my life with. Silly, isn't it?"
He laughed nervously, "yes, silly." Realizing what he has said, he begins stammering with his words, "wait that's not right. I meant no. No. Not at all, no." He then attempts to lean his arm on the piano nonchalantly and then proceeds to knock over a small vase with a violet in it in the process, "oh, dear! I'm... I'm so sorry!"
Lucy simply smiles at him and picks up the flower from the vase and smells it absent mindedly before she looks shyly at Gray and offers him the flower. With a soft grin, he takes it from her slowly. The two of them both gaze at each other in a shy manner before he places the flower in his jacket pocket. The two of them had gotten awfully close to one another, something that wasn't allowed. They didn't even realize that the door everyone had entered earlier had opened.
"What impropriety is this?!" Lord Heartfilia bellowed. Gray and Lucy instantly jumped apart from one another, "you shouldn't be alone together! Here it is, one minute before five and you're not at the rehearsal. Pastor Neekis is waiting, now come at once."
At the church, the parents were seated in chairs located just behind the altar where two candles and two glasses of wine are set on either side of a Bible. Gray and Lucy stand before the altar each holding a candle, while Pastor Neekis is behind the altar. The man in front of the two young adults seemed so annoyed, "Master Fullbuster, from the beginning. Again! 'With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine.' Let's try it again shall we?"
Gray nods, nervously, "yes. Yes sir. With this candle..." Gray holds his candle over the already lit candle to the right of the Bible in an attempt to light his however, it just won't light, "this candle..." he tries once more, this time seeming more aggravated than he already was. He sighed, "this candle..." finally! It was lite, but then the flame suddenly flickered out. Everyone let out a groan of frustration.
"Shall I get up there and do it for him?" Ul whispered to her eldest son to her right. Her whisper was still loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"Now now mom, don't get all aflutter," Lyon patted his mother on the hand.
Gray and Lucy had their eyes fixed on the two as they spoke back and forth. The Pastor was now getting more aggravated, "CONTINUE!" Gray and Lucy both looked back at him, "let's just pick it up at the candle bit..."
"Yes. Yes, sir. Certainly," Gray swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. Without Gray realizing it, Lucy leaned in towards him and lit his candle with her own - already lit. Once his candle is lit, she leans back, taking her original position. Gray then proceeds to raise his left hand.
"Right," Pastor Neekis glares down at Gray in anger.
"Right," Gray then realizes that he has the wrong hand raised, "oh," instantly, he panics, throwing his candle into his left hand and then raises his right hand, "right! With this... This..."
"Hand..."
"With this hand..." Gray grabs Lucy's hand in his own and begins to walk forward, "... I... Will..." Gray then causes the two of them to bump into the altar, for he has taken one too many steps and he knew it too.
"Three steps!" The Pastor yells out in anger, "THREE! Can you not count? Do you not wish to be married Master Fullbuster?"
"No! No."
Lucy instantly looks at him, slightly horrified, "you do not?"
Knowing what he had said, he looks at her and begins to stammer again, "no! I meant, no, I do not not wish to be married. That is, I want very much to..."
Pastor Neekis rolls his eyes and then proceeds to hit Gray over the head with the Bible he was holding in his hands, "pay attention! Have you even remembered to bring the ring?"
"The ring?" Gray repeats, "the ring. Yes. Of course."
Lyon winks and gives Gray a quick thumbs up. Gray reaches into the front pocket on his jacket and pulls the ring out of it, however he removed it far too fast and accidentally tosses it behind him. Gray panics and gets down on his knees, trying to scoop it up in his palm as the ring bounces up every so often.
"Dropping the ring!" The Pastor yells out in anger.
"Oh, no, he's dropped the ring!" Ul cries out in shock, and somewhat in horror. Why was this happening to her right now?
"This boy doesn't want to get married!"
When the ring finally came to a stop, it rolled into the congregation seats. He dives for it, not realizing where it has gone, and proceeds to drop his candle in the process, "excuse me. I've got it." His candle had landed on the end of his mother's dress. The flame quickly begins to spread and instantly everyone begins to panic when they realize that she's on fire. Gray looks horrified and all he simply does is stare at the flame.
"Get out of the way, you ninny!" Mr. Heartfilia bellows as he knocks Gray backwards in order to stop the boy's mother from burning, and so she doesn't burn his house down.
"Can someone please get a bucket?!" Ul yells out in pure fear and horror as she has Lyon stomp on her dress in order to try and put out the flame. In a panic, Gray grabs a flute of wine from the altar and pours it on his mother's dress which does in fact put out the flame. Everyone has their eyes focused on him.
"Enough!" The now completely angered Pastor steps out from behind the altar, "this wedding cannot take place until he is properly prepared," he now pulls all of his focus to Gray who is backed up against a door, as if trying to avoid everyone's angry looks, "young man, learn your vows."
Gray attempts to back up even more if that were at all possible. Scared to death, he slams his hand against the large church door and reaches for the handle on the door. When he grabs hold of it, he grabs it and quickly flees the room. Lucy simply watches with a sad gleam in her eyes as she raises a hand up to her lips and bites down on one of her fingernails.
Gray had retreated to a small bridge on the outskirts of Magnolia. He twirls the ring around in between his fingers and looks down at the creek down below him. He sighs out of sadness, "oh, Lucy. She must think I'm such a fool," he sighs once more and runs his fingers through his hair, "this day couldn't get any worse."
He hears footsteps walking along the cobblestone roads in town so it pulls his attention towards sound, coming from the town crier. He knew that this was probably going to happen eventually, "hear ye, hear ye! Rehearsal in ruins as Fullbuster boy causes chaos! Fishy fiancé could be canned!" The town crier now looks towards Gray, not realizing who he is, "Heartfilias all fired up as Fullbuster disaster ruins rehearsal!" The town crier walks more into town still yelling and screaming - and of course ringing that damn bell of his - the news about the wedding rehearsal.
Gray sighs and walks off the bridge and enters into a forest, "it really shouldn't be all that difficult. It's just a few simple vows." He takes a deep breath and continues on his way, going deeper and deeper into the forest with every passing step, "with this hand, I will take your wine," his shoulders drop down and he lets out a sigh, "no. With this hand, I will cup your," he lifts his hands up to his chest and his hands are acting as women's breasts, he gasps, and jumps, quickly moving his hands, "oh, goodness, no." He sighs and continues walking, accepting his defeat with the words for the time being as he thinks them over, "with this... with this... with this candle, I will..." he sighs, remembering what had happened earlier, "I will set my mother on fire." He sits down on an old tree stump and places his hands over his face, defeated, "oh, it's no use." What made him think of this, he will never know, but he suddenly remembered the flower that he had received from Lucy earlier and he takes it from his jacket pocket, observing it. A soft smile creeps its way onto his face as he proceeds to take in the flowers sweet scent. His smile then widens as he stands and places the flower back into his jacket pocket. He now had the confidence that he needed all along, "with this hand," he raises his hand into the air, "I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine," he then approaches the nearest tree that seemed to remind him of Lucy's father, "what's that Mr. Heartfilia? Call you 'Dad'? Well, if you insist sir. With this candle," he grabs a small twig and smiles gleefully as he makes it act like a candle, "with this candle, I will light your way in darkness." He instantly drops the twig and grabs the ring from his pocket, "with this ring..." he holds it in between his index and middle finger as he smiles proudly, "...I ask you to be mine." He places the ring on a tree branch before him. A crow from a tree branch above his head lets out an ominous cry. Gray begins to tense up as he reaches back towards the tree branch to receive his ring. As he grows closer, the tree branch twitches and grabs hold to his wrist. He struggles until he manages to break off whatever has the hold on him, only to his surprise it is a hand that simply tightens its grip around his wrist. He gasps and out of shock he falls back onto the ground. Suddenly, the ground below him begins to shake and there is a break appearing in the snow where the 'tree branch' was and a body is slowly crawling out of the ground. Gray's eyes widen in pure shock and horror and he blinks, as if he's seeing things. When the body is further out of the ground it is clear that it is a woman. She stands and steadies herself out as she pulls back her veil, the snow falls away from her, only to reveal that she is a corpse dressed in a tattered wedding gown.
"I do."
Gray, out of shock, stands and shakes the hand on his wrist free and runs into a tombstone in the small cemetery. He flips over it and falls on his back. He sits up, and shakes his head in order to try and clear his vision. He sees the corpse bride draw closer to him so he stands and continues to run through the trees heading back to the way he originally came from, trying to return back to town. This was all just a bad dream. He runs past a tree and his suit catches on it. Out of fear, he struggles to get his arm free and the lose branch that he was caught on snags his jacket, causing a small rip to appear. Too scared to care, he continues to run, not looking back behind him. His breathing increases and he can see the bridge coming into view. He's almost back to town, he's almost safe. Just a few more feet. His shoes make a clattering noise on the old wooden bridge when he finally steps on to it. He places his hands on his knees and begins gasping for air. Taking in one final breath, Gray composes himself and looks back into the woods. As he begins backing up, his back hits something. He turns and sees the corpse standing behind him. She pulls him close to her and he begins to tremble in her arms.
"You may kiss the bride," she draws closer to him, pulling him into a kiss. Gray's eyes widen as he gets closer and closer to this woman. What had he gotten himself into?
Author's note: Did you guys enjoy this? I sure did! I wanted to write something that was totally different and so unexpected. I decided to mix two of my favorite things together : anime and Tim Burton. I'm trying my hardest to make everything seem like the movie so if you've seen it I would love to know if you thought I did I good job capturing the movie in this chapter. I feel as if I did since I can pretty much recite the whole movie by heart but I'm just curious to know what everyone else thought. So leave your reviews and I'll update the next chapter next week. Love you all!