CHAPTER 1

"Water? More food? You didn't even eat the last food I brought! Honestly, Belgium. Chocolates are your favorite-"

"Canada. Honestly. You're acting more insane than I am." Liechtenstein murmured, giving him a huge hug. "You've been such a good helper today, Canada. Please. Just go take it easy. Go... help Romano and Sweden check the guest list, alright?" She reached up and ruffled his hair, causing the older nation to blush. She knew after today, he would go right back to being a nobody; the countries would ignore him again, and she herself would probably be ignoring him too. He'd been such a darling this whole time, even through planning the wedding. He'd helped Holland and Japan with the flowers, helped Austria compose a new song just for today, helped Poland decorate, helped Belgium with the cake, and even tried his hand at helping Hong Kong and Japan with the calligraphy on the wedding invitations, but it was a miserable failure and he had to settle for helping Greece train the cats to play their parts. Liechtenstein hadn't understood it at all; everyone else seemed to fit into the part they played, but Canada had no reason to help so much.

"Ah, Canada! There you are!" Belgium stepped into the room, a big smile on her face. She stepped over to him, tilting her head slightly. "Hey, I need some help putting the rest of the decorations on the cake. Some of the sugar flowers won't stay on." She grabbed his hand, and started towards the door. Canada blushed even more, turning back and waving goodbye to Liechtenstein before he and Belgium disappeared.

If that girl can't see he adores her, she's blind. Lili sighed, going and sitting down at the huge vanity she'd been provided in the dressing room. Everyone was gone, off getting themselves ready for the day's festivities, except for Wy. Liechtenstein glanced around, reaching towards one of the doors with a lazy yawn. Suddenly, she was aware that her specially-made ribbon wasn't where it was supposed to be, and she panicked. It had been difficult getting a good-looking hibiscus out of season, and even more difficult drying it so that the colors stayed relatively vibrant and crisp. "It can't be gone!"

"What's gone?" Wy looked up from where she was sitting, bewildered. Australia had sat her down in that chair two hours ago and told her to stay there until the wedding started. Although she normally wouldn't give a shit about what he had to say, but today was different. She had to be serious. She was the flower girl, after all. Liechtenstein didn't answer for a moment, desperately sifting through the drawers of the vanity before standing hastily, she turned towards Wy and pointed a finger at her as if to say, "stay here", and then rushed off out into the hallway. Poland and Lithuania were there, arguing about putting "wicked hipster pink" streamers everywhere.

"Poland you've really lost your touch. I think designing the dresses really took all your decorating skills awa-" Lithuania's sentence dropped off as he noticed Lili approaching. The Baltic nation smiled warmly, turning away from Poland, who pouted even more.

"Like, what the hell are you looking at?" Lithuania scowled at him, then reached over and spun Feliks around. When Poland noticed Liechtenstein, he gasped slightly, seeming to forget all about the streamers. "Lili, you look totally fa- beautiful," Poland smiled warmly, but noticed she didn't look happy. "What's wrong, kochaine?"

"China. Have you seen China. Go find China." Liechtenstein seemed calm, but her voice relayed growing panic. "My ribbon is gone. The cake isn't even finished, is it? France and Italy haven't even shown up with the food yet! They're probably sleeping. They're going to sleep right through my wedding. And isn't France bringing England? Everyone is going to miss the wedding. No one cares, Poland! What if I mess up? France and I spent hours working on my vow-" Poland silenced her with a hug. "Poland. You're going to ruin my hair. Do you have any idea how long it took Monaco to do this." By "this", she was referring to the fact that her hair was now expertly curled- Monaco had a way with a curling iron (meanwhile, Hungary had been banned from hair preparations after almost getting Wy in the face with the iron).

"You're so stressed out, Lili." He went to stroke her hair, but he was met with a death glare. "You've gotta calm down. We'll find your hairband. Think. Who was in your room?"

"Well, Belgium, Canada, Wy, Hungary, Monaco, Seychelles stopped by earlier but she left, Taiwan should be floating around here somewhere, and Prussia came in to get scissors out of the vanity to help decor-" Liechtenstein stopped, scowling. She raised her voice slightly, pointing down the hallway. "Prussia has my goddamn ribbon! Go tell China to tell Prussia to give it the hell back. I swear, I'm going to kill him. Who even invited him. He's not even a country anymore!" Lithuania and Poland glanced between one another, trying to contain their laughter. There hadn't been many weddings between the countries – and never one under the circumstances of love rather than alliances – but it always went the same way. In fact, Poland recalled Hungary being ten times worse. "Don't fucking laugh at me!"

"Lili, such language is very unbecoming of a young lady," Lithuania reminded gently, and Liechtenstein suddenly seemed to melt back to normal, sighing sadly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just really stressed out. Could you please just go find China?" Her voice was slightly shaky, and neither of the elder nations seemed to catch it.

"Alright! We're on a China hunt! And don't think we don't know how to weed 'em out! We're totally Holland, Liet! Get it, weed 'em out?" The duo walked off down the hallway, Poland cracking several more (terrible) jokes, and then they started calling out for China.

Meanwhile, Lili stayed where she was, now obviously on the verge of tears. She walked past her dressing room, into the one that had been reserved for Taiwan and Vietnam. She entered cautiously, however after a few moments she deemed no one was nearby, she stepped inside and sat down on the small loveseat-like piece of furniture that adorned the other end of the room from the vanity. She curled up, the best she could in what she was wearing, and stared out the window. I'm just a baby. She reminded herself. I have no idea what I'm doing. Countries aren't even supposed to get married. We're not people. Liechtenstein clenched her jaw, desperately trying to will the tears away. It didn't work. "People are lucky," She murmured, burying her face into the loveseat, "they don't have to feel this sort of indecision forever. They're expected to make rash decisions... especially out of love." I'm a country. I'm designed to be a puppet for my people; a scapegoat. Am I even supposed to feel love? She couldn't help it. She'd been careful not to think of things like this while they were planning the wedding (especially after Swiss agreed to pay for nearly everything). However now that she was here, alone with nothing except her thoughts, the tears of months upon months of regrets and apprehensions finally managed to escape.

"China. What the hell. I don't like, enjoy playing the weed 'em out game." They'd checked the kitchen, the dining hall, and that was pretty much the only two places Poland could think of, or had the attention span to check. Huffing, Poland placed his hands on his hips and drew his face into a pout, sucking in a deep breath.

"Poland-"

"CHINA WHAT THE FUCK, LIKE, GET IN THE DINING HALL RIGHT NOW!" Poland yelled so loudly it seemed to echo through the entire, ginormous building. Lithuania glared at him in an, 'Ow my ears' sort of way, but seemed to forgive him instantaneously as they waited for China.