"Zeon-kun? Surely you don't plan to stay in your room throughout the entire wedding ceremony!"

"You know damn well I will, Koruru."

It had been a month or two. The passage of time became of no consequence to me--it could have been one-hundred years and I would not care. My father would still be married and he would ask me kindly, with a voice that implied that I didn't have to, to call her mom. And I would oblige and call her mom, and a little piece of me would die every time I said it until I was thoroughly rotted from the inside out. But my father would not know because then he'd fall apart in ruling the kingdom. I was his son. This shell of a body was his son.

Koruru and Eduron's servant--named Gash, I soon found out--had comforted me throughout the entire month. Koruru tried vainly to get me up and talk things over with my father, and she also left me food and water. Gash talked to me, and had a great sense of humor I realized. He never failed to make me crack a smile every now and again. With their combined help I thought that maybe it was okay. Maybe all of this would go okay. As Koruru so often told me, "happiness lies trapped in misery," so in all this misery I'm sure to find great happiness. Their words, their presence, and their comfort kept me from going insane from rage.

But the day that I had dreaded since I learned of it was upon me, and there was nothing I could to to escape it. Not even Koruru's kind voice nor Gash's tastefull jokes could stir me from my foul mood. Meantime, from my room I could hear the ceremony going on. Koruru and Gash were bounded as servants to attend, and I would have to be alone and suffer as I listen to my father's vows. If I stayed up here, maybe I could stop myself from doing something that I will regret dearly later. If I go down there, I think something horrible will happen. The air of calmness had been imposing on myself for many days now would shatter and I would lose my mind. 'Zeon' would cease to exist, and all there would be would be an enraged beast that used my body to hurt those whom had given birth to it.

"Zeon-kun, you must come downstairs. I know you don't want to and I know it's the last thing you want to do, but you have to! I agree--your father has no place breaking your promise that he would never remarry, but sulking about it won't stop it from happening. Listen! Do you hear what's going on downstairs?" Indeed I did. I heard music and laughter and uncompared merriment. My father was cracking jokes only an hour before the ceremony. I hoped that it wasn't too late. Maybe halfway through the ceremony he'll remember my mother and realize what he's doing is wrong. He promised mom and me he would not do this. He promised. I recognized the voice as Gash's."I know you hear it. Well, your father is still going through with it even though you're not there. You being there will make him think you support this and it'll make him feel better about it. It will make him happy."

I clenched the pillow closer to my face. The soft, fluffy thickness make it hard for me to breathe but if I died then maybe it'll be worth it not to live like this. I turned my head to my nightstand where a pictureframe sat. It was an onyx pictureframe and quite shiny. His father--younger at the time, blue eyes sparkling and blond hair tumbling down to mid-back. He had quite the thick beard and kind laugh lines around his face. He stood beside a woman holding a bundle in her arms. You know the bundle was a baby--one pale arm stuck up from the fold, hold onto Daddy's finger. The woman had purple eyes and although she was not an albino, her skin, was equally as pale. Tears came to my eyes and I wiped them away. "What about me? What about my happiness? Did he ever stop to consider that?"

"Not everthing in the world it about you! Your father has only thought about you for how many years? Fifteen! Fifteen Zeon! Are you too spoiled to realize that everything he's done in all those years was for you? Ever bit of money spent, every descision made was made with you in mind and what would make you happy! Goddammit Zeon, it's your Dad's turn to be happy now. He may be a king and he may be your father but he's as much a demon as you are and he needs some happiness too!"

I tried to think of some snide remark. I grasped my mind for some flaw in what Gash was telling me. But just like before, like that time, he was right, and what he was saying was true. Nothing my father had ever done since I was born was done merely to enhance himself. It might have done that as a side effect, but the main reason it was done was to make me happy, and make my quality of life even better. I frowned at this whole situation.

"Fine. Give me a half-hour to get ready."

I heard the two rejoice at their success on the other side of the door.

It had taken me thirty minutes to get fully ready, as I had not been trying that hard to look presentable. I had hunted down the suit my father had begged me to wear and went downstairs to meet him. He smiled at me and brought me into his arms in a bearhug the like that I had not seen in years. He began blubbering and tears sprang forth from those kind blue eyes and he said over and over, as though it was some sort of mantra: "Thank you son. Thank you. Thank you so much son. Thank you." He had never seen his father cry, not even when his mother died did those blue orbs shed tears. But now, something like this, gave birth to the first tears ever shed by this great man. He wondered why.

As the best man, he had to stand at the front with his father and control the bile trying to rise up from his throat. Not only because this was happening--something that for the longest time he had slipped into a world where something like this couldn't happen--but honestly moreso because the woman that his father was going to take and mark as his own looked ugly. She wore make-up that would have looked astonishingly beautiful on anyone else, but on her it made her face look heavy and old, like something one could buy for pennies on the dollar at any nearby whorehouse.

I searched among the faces of the servants and finally found Gash and Koruru. They both merely looked at me and gave me dual thumbs up. I was doing great. But /i could not say the same for myself. Sure I had not allowed the bile to take over me yet, but I had to give a speech to the new couple. To my new mother, and to my new family. I could not do that--absolutely not. But I thought of my father, and how he had weeped so opened that I had chosen to attend this wedding. I spent much of the time musing over what I would say. I decided that my own spin would be better that thinking about it too much.

At the reception--which took place in the gardens, surrounded by the blooming roses and tulips with a smattering of monkshood and casablanca lilies floatign artistically on the clear lake full of koi fish. Stargazer lillies mixed with babies breath and sunflower petals rested on every table, and Queen Eduron's daughter went first. She spoke about how her father had been killed in and accident and how hard it was for her and her mother to cope. She paused every now and again for a dramatic sniffle. Her tear jerking speech ended with how glad she was that her mother had found someone, and how overjoyed she was that she finally would have an older brother. She handed to microphone over to me and I took a deep breath.

"My father was always thinking about others' happiness before his own. I, originally, did not want him to remarry after my mother's death because I felt that it was a betrayal to my mother's memory. To me I thought that there was nothing that I didn't want to happen more. And right now, even after the vows have been said and they are 'officially'--" I lifted my hands and put air quotations around the word "officially"--"married, there is still nothing that I wish hadn't happened more. So, why am I standing her talking about this if I didn't want this to happen? Why did I even bother attending? Because I learned that my father was always doing things for my happiness, and I had almost never done anything for him. Because I thought it was his obligation. It is his obligation to take care of me. It is a matter of choice, however, to make me happy. So although I do not like my stepmom, nor do I like my stepsister, I will bear with it because for once, if only once, I want my father to be happy. Thank you."

I sat down to applause and saw that Gash and Koruru were clapping for me loudest of all. I smiled at them and mouthed a thank you. Once again, they both gave dual thumbs-up. My father was hitting me on the back with tears in his eyes once again. He wasn't saying anything, but it seemed obvious that he was happy and very proud that I had chosen someone over myself for once. It felt good. I knew at that moment that it would not be the last time.

I wasted no time going to sit with the others. Gash's servant clothes were switched for something slightly more better-looking than normal. Koruru sported a beautiful pink dress with one strap over the shoulder held up by a flowershaped button. They looked--and this opinion suprised him, one whom was always so particular about what looked good and what didn't--good. Even with such a difference in clothing quality both of them looked amazing.

"That was a good thing you did Zeon-kun," Gash said, a wide smile on his features. I had been correct about him--sulight suited him far better than moonlight did.

"Please," I said, raising my hand to the both of them. "We're... friends, are we not? Just call me Zeon."

"Right, Zeon."

"Zeon, may I have this dance?"

Koruru was standing beside me, and I stood as well to join her on the dance floor. Gash stood and watched us as we danced and spun and laughed. At the end of the song Gash danced with her, and the third song, just for laughs, me and Gash danced. Being taller, that made Gash the female in the dance. When the fourth song started the three of us danced as one. And then the fifth we all freestyled, drawing attention to ourselves.

I had to admit--for something I dreaded happening, I had a lot of fun afterwards.

Yay! Zeon's happy!

NAO HE MUST FACE TEH JUDGMENT

Review? Please? I luv you?

Yes, I know I switched to third person for a little while there. force of habit. ^_^U