"F-FABULOUS! ABSOLUTELY, FANTASTICALLY FABULOUS!" Nago said with a voice as gay as can be.
"Yeah! What he said!" Gii laughed nervously at the recently engaged couple, "Ha, ha... I'm not so good at this kind of thing, but really! The princess is getting married! Whoo-hoo!"
"Earplugs. Must. Get. Earplugs." Ragna groaned in his mind as he covered his ears from all this fabulous talk.
Rachel sighed and shook her head with a smile at her two loyal guards, "Honestly, you two. That was a bit over the top, but I thank thee nonetheless." She turned her head to her butler. "Valkenhayn, you really pulled the strings on Ragna like a puppeteer, haven't you?"
Valkenhayn bowed to his longtime master, "My apologies, madam. I couldn't sit idly bye and watch a long-held dream go to waste. I also knew that it would do both of you good if Ragna proposed to you. You would have your dream, and Ragna would step up to be a proper man worthy of being your husband."
The blonde vampire sighed again, "Honestly, what am I to do with you, Valkenhayn. Regardless, you have our thanks, right Ragna?"
Ragna felt a sinking feeling in his stomach from suddenly being dragged into the conversation. "Y-Yeah! Sure, what she said. Yeah... Thanks." He said half-interested. He just wanted to get this out of the way as quickly as possible.
Valkenhayn could not wipe off the smile he had on his face since he heard Ragna and Rachel making it official to them, "This calls for a celebratory dinner for one such occasion. I shall prepare it, posthaste!"
"If you please," Rachel obliged as she gave a light bow to her butler.
Ragna rolled his eyes at the two of them, "Not another dinner here... I always have to have the rabbit hassling me over my so-called table manners." But suddenly, Ragna's mind remembered something, "Hey! Uh, excuse me!" He called out to both Valkenhayn and Rachel.
"What is it, dear?" Rachel asked curiously, slightly startled by Ragna's rare outburst.
"Uh..." Ragna began. "I'm not too big on weddings and I recently touched up on it, but isn't the father of the bride supposed to give her away or something like that?"
Rachel gasped, although slightly exaggeratedly, "Why, that is absolutely correct! With my father gone, there is currently no one to do the deed. Ah. Then there's only one suitable substitute, then. Valkenhayn!"
Valkenhayn turned with his eyes wide, "M-Madam! A-Are you seriously suggesting that-"
Rachel grinned at the old man's expression. She knew he was becoming overcome with joy. Ragna just looked away, not wanting to see things get sappier than they were.
"Give me a break..."
"Yes," Rachel begain, "I call upon you to give me away to Ragna when the time comes for it in the upcoming ceremony. Will you accept it?"
Valkenhayn reeled back a few steps. He felt his head spinning slightly. Then, he proceeded on his emotional ramble, "In all my years in service to House Alucard, I never would have dared thought that I'd be called upon to be the one to perform the sacred duty. And in all my years, I never wanted to cry tears of joy so much as I do now. So for this one moment, please forgive me for shedding these tears," Said he as his face started to become wet with tears.
"Eww! Eww! Old man tears! Eww!" Ragna said in his mind as he shuddered, still looking away from the scene.
Valkenhayn took out a handkerchief, and then gently wiped his face clear of tears.
Rachel huffed at her butler, "Stand strong, man! I did not ask for sniveling! I am counting on you to perform this task! Now, puff out that chest and give me your answer like a proud servant of House Alucard would!"
Valkenhayn stood stiff as a board, and then gave a solder's salute. "Yes, madam! I humbly and proudly accept the task given to me to give the bride away at the ceremony! I shall not falter! I will perform this task to the best of my ability! All for the sacred honour and greater good of House Alucard!"
Although the long-time butler said that, he could not halt the flow of joyous tears coming from his eyes.
"If you are about to die happy, old man, I'd be glad to prepare your funeral..." Ragna mentally said as he scowled while looking away from the scene.
"Very well," Rachel said as she yanked on Ragna's arm to turn back in her direction, "Ragna, I believe it's time we go around Kagutsuchi to break the news."
Ragna became slack-jawed, "Aww, come on, rabbit! You gotta be kidding me! I just went through all that shit of proposing in the first place! Now we have to practically tour the city to tell people? Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
"Nay," Rachel replied unsympathetically, "While the iron is still hot, we must strike."
Seeing as how there's usually no way to change Rachel's mind once it's set, Ragna had to begrudgingly accept and surrender, "Fine, fine. Let's just make this quick and painless..."
Rachel smiled at her fiancé as she said, "Don't worry. We'll start off easy. Perhaps, Jubei?"
Ragna had to admit that she was right. It would be easy to start off with Jubei, at least. "What the hell? I'll bite."
The two of them met up with Jubei, a good friend of Rachel's and Ragna's Master. They were in the outskirts of Kagutsuchi when the couple told him the news.
"Heh, heh, heh. Looks like you finally decided to grow up and be a man, didn't ya, Ragna? Heh, heh, heh." Jubei was always one to crack jokes at people's expense. Especially his former student.
Ragna couldn't look Jubei in the eye after listening to him being all snarky.
Rachel gave off a slight giggle at him, "Oh, he grew up, alright. But not before majorly struggling to properly do the proposal. Not only that, he got the terms 'husband' and 'wife' mixed up not once, but twice! The first time, he asked me to be his husband, and then the second time he asked to be my wife!"
Jubei was practically cackling, "HEH! HEH! HEH! Oh man, I thought I was a nervous wreck when I was fixing to propose to Nine, but that's just a trainwreck, wouldn't you say...Nine?"
Ragna's eyes nearly popped. "Nine?! Oh shit, don't tell me she's-"
"Yes, Ragna, I am." The sorceress said right behind him.
Ragna squawked as he jumped around and looked at his Master's wife, who was practically his mother. They say mothers can be scary, but she takes it to a whole other level.
Rachel backed away slightly and watched in silence as Nine used both hands to pinch Ragna's cheeks and then listen to his groans of agony to the pain.
"No! I completely forgot about her! Goddamn it, Rabbit!"
Nine said with genuine outrage as she continued to pinch Ragna's cheeks, "You should have proposed much sooner than you did, boy! Why, if I was there instead of Jubei to educate you on marriage, I'd be making sure you wouldn't leave my sight until you get it through your thick skull that you should propose!"
The former member of the Six Heroes lowered his head, "Actually, Nine, I knew ya'd be too hard on the boy. That's why I made sure to stay two steps ahead of ya when it came to Ragna. And you can let go of the poor boy's cheeks now. I reckon he's about to bruise if ya keep that up.
Nine scoffed at her husband as she mercifully let go of Ragna's face.
"G-Geez, lady! I thought you were gonna break my face!"
Nine continued on after sighing, "I suppose better late than never. Although, you two have a ways to go before you're on our level when it comes to marriage!"
Jubei clenched his teeth out of fear, "Now, now, Nine. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. They're not even married yet! Give em some slack, why dontcha? I'm sure we're not the only ones they have to break the news to. So why don't we hug em and let them be on their way?"
Nine huffed at Jubei, "You're too soft!" The sorceress cooled down by giving a loud sigh, "But really, congratulations, nonetheless, you two."
"Thank you," Rachel said. And with that, she promptly teleported herself and Ragna out of there.
"We didn't even embrace them," Nine said to Jubei.
Jubei said as he shook his head, "That's because you came in too hot on em. They're just kids. Let them have their moment, Nine."
Next up, was the NOL crew. Thankfully for them, they were all out in the main cathedral chatting amongst themselves when they arrived or, teleported in. Kagura, Noel, Jin, Tsubaki, Makoto, and Hibiki were all there.
Jin became slightly startled at the sudden appearance of his brother and he said to the two, "Why are you both here?"
Ragna sighed as he rolled his eyes at his younger brother, "I'm not here to pick a fight. We're just here to say that-"
"Ragna has finally done the deed and proposed to me. We're getting married." Rachel interrupted and spoke in Ragna's place.
"Here it comes..." Ragna rolled his eyes again.
Makoto and Noel both squealed out loud, and hugged each other out of joy.
"OH MY GOD! HE FINALLY SAID IT, NOEL!" Makoto said rather crazily in her moment of joy in Noel's face. She was practically spitting.
Noel giggled, looking at the Beastkin, "Hee! Hee! I'm happy that he did, Makoto! It's finally happening!"
"Goddamn it! Where are my EARPLUGS!?" Ragna scowled as he covered his ears.
"Congratulations, Ragna!" Both Noel and Makoto said in a mad dash to congratulate the former SS-Criminal.
Ragna put both hands on each of their faces respectively to hold them at bay, "No way! I'm not in the mood for sappiness! Go do that to Rachel!"
"Fine, party pooper," Makoto taunted at Ragna before turning to Rachel, "Congratulations, Rachel! We're SO happy for you!" Both the blonde and beastkin embraced the petite vampire on one side each.
Meanwhile, Tsubaki couldn't resist glaring intensely at Ragna. However, Jin noticed this, and then said to her, "Look, Tsubaki. He's MY problem. You just stay focused on what concerns you. Okay?"
Tsubaki nodded slowly hearing Jin's words, "Fine." Tsubaki honestly wanted to protest vocally to this, but when she saw how Rachel Alucard, a woman she was on good terms with, chatting with the girls about Ragna's proposal and making them laugh, she'd thought she might as well not be the one person who ruins everything and congratulate just the vampire, and especially on Jin's urging.
Slowly, Tsubaki walked up to where the vampire was chatting with her two other friends and said, "I offer my congratulations to you, Ms. Rachel. May you find happiness together with him." She said with respect as she bowed her head.
Rachel smiled at Tsubaki and said in reply, "Thank you very much. You're just in time by the way. Feast your eyes on what Ragna gave me for a proposal ring. She slowly raised her right hand to reveal the glorious ruby ring."
All three of the girls gasped at the mere sight of it.
"It's so beautiful..." Noel said, practically hypnotised, "I'm jealous! I wish a boy proposed to me with that kind of ring..."
"Now, now, wait your turn, sis," Makoto giggled at the blonde.
Ragna sighed at seeing Rachel and the girls having a little girl-chat amongst themselves. "I swear that this is taking much longer than it has to be..."
"Ragna, my man!" Kagura said from behind him.
He gave Ragna a big slap on the back out of a congratulatory sense, "Ow! Not so hard, Kagura."
Kagura couldn't wipe the grin off of his face, "It's about damn time, man! I thought you'd never go through with it!"
Ragna shrugged his shoulders, continuing to shrug off how much of a deal this actually was, "Look, Kagura. I don't get it. It's not like I was going anywhere. I mean, Rachel's the only one I wanna be with so what is even the point of this stupid ceremony?"
"AWWWWWWWW!" Both Noel and Makoto said in unison upon overhearing the guy-time.
"SHUT UP!" Ragna screamed at the two of them.
Kagura chuckled once more at Ragna and he answered, "You know, bro, you got a point, man. But, the point of weddings is to solidify the bond you have with the person that you love as well as swearing in front of millions of friends and family your eternal faithfulness and love to each other. A relationship takes two people, after all. So, a husband a wife would be looked at like the sun and the moon; two halves of a whole."
Ragna groaned, "Sure... Whatever that means..." He wasn't one for romance. Never was, never will be. He knew that all too well about himself.
"I must give my congratulations as well to both you and Rachel, Ragna. May both you and her find happiness together," Hibiki said as he gave a bow.
Ragna turned back to Kagura to see that he was holding a bottle in his hand. His eyes popped and then he asked Kagura, "Okay, maybe I might have missed it but, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT CHAMPAGNE?"
Kagura laughed sheepishly, "Uh... Drink first, ask questions later? Aww, who cares? Congratulations again, my man. Now, to make arrangements! Ragna, I promise I'll make the best bachelor's party you ever had!"
"Bachelor's party? The hell kind of party is that?" Ragna asked with a slight bit of fear in his voice.
Kagura chuckled insidiously at Ragna's ignorance, "You'll know in time." Kagura took out his phone as he said to his assistant, "Hibiki! Take notes! We're going to be planning one hell of a party for Ragna, here!"
"Right away, sir!" Hibiki complied obediently.
The two of them went off as Ragna shook his head at them, "I still get left in the dark on shit like this. It still pisses me off..." "Huh?"
Ragna noticed that Jin was within talking distance to his brother. "...Yeah, Jin?"
Jin looked down for a moment, then looked back up with a faint smile, "Congratulations, brother."
Ragna wasn't really expecting anything at all out of Jin, but he returned Jin's smile as he replied, "Thanks, Jin."
Nothing more was said between the brothers as Jin went off to do other business he had to attend to.
A few moments later, Tsubaki had already gone off to assist Jin in his current endeavors as Noel and Makoto went off still chatting eccentrically with each other about Rachel's ring.
Only Rachel, Ragna, and Kagura remained.
"Hmm..." Ragna began, "I don't think it's really important to tell Kokonoe this."
"As do I. I'm inclined to skip her," Rachel replied to Ragna.
"What do you know? For once, the rabbit agrees with me on something!" The former criminal thought sarcastically to himself.
"I think you two should tell her." Kagura said to them.
"Hey! Don't decide for us who has to know!" Ragna snapped at Kagura.
Kagura didn't take Ragna's sass into account at all, "You might as well tell Kokonoe. After all, SHE'S there, isn't she?"
Ragna titled his head in confusion at Kagura. "Who the hell are you- Oh... Right. Well, I think it's better for her to hear it from us, rather than somebody else."
Rachel nodded as they teleported themselves on their way.
They were in Kokonoe's main lab when the two arrived inside. Again, by fortune, all the people who they wanted to tell the news to were in the same room, already. Lambda-11, Nu-13 (Especially, Nu-13), Iron Tager, and Kokonoe herself. All characters present in the room looked over at the pair that just warped in uninvited.
"Sup?" Kokonoe casually asked as she took a lick out of her lollipop. She lost much of her psychological tension since there was no longer a Terumi to worry about in the world. Therefore, Ragna and Rachel were much more of a welcomed sight to her.
Rachel nudged at Ragna to say it, and he slumped over briefly before standing up straight to say it.
"So, uh, Kokonoe... The rabbit and I; we're getting hitched."
The entire room felt silent for a bit before Kokonoe flashed a grin, then a laughed a hearty laughter that sounded rather similar to her father, Jubei, "Wow! You're getting married?! Damn, you picked a keeper, Ragna! You better cherish her!"
Ragna deeply frowned at the cat-woman scientist, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Ugh, I don't know how much more of this I can take."
The vampire giggled and felt inclined to add onto Ragna's misery, "You see, when Ragna proposed to me, he-"
"DON'T-SAY-THAT-BECAUSE-YOU-KNOW-I'LL-KICK-YOUR-ASS-IF-YOU-DO!" Ragna motormouthed to Rachel.
Rachel grinned at him, "Fine. I'll let it go for now."
"Aww, can't tell me? Fine..." Kokonoe stuck her tongue out at Ragna which made him glare at her.
Iron Tager cleared his throat and said to the couple, "Congratulations, you two. I wish you both happiness together."
"Th-Thanks." Ragna said to the Red Devil. But then he noticed that both Murakumo, Lambda and Nu were silent this whole time.
He looked over at the two that were sitting in a pair of chairs together. Damn it, he wanted to hear from those two the most. There's no telling how either would react, especially Nu, the person who loves Ragna with all her heart. Although she was aware that the two were dating, he feared that this piece of news may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
The silence was finally broken when Lambda came forward and gave a warm smile, much to the couple's surprise. She slowly walked towards them, and hugged both of them simultaneously.
Lambda broke the hug and said to both of them, "Lambda's...happy for both of you. Rachel...thank you...for making Ragna happy."
"Most welcome," Rachel replied.
This was all well and good, but Ragna was starting to get nervous. He was staring over in Nu's direction, getting nervous at her prolonged silence. After what must have felt like an eternity of waiting, the pale girl finally tilts her head to one side, and gave a sincere smile.
Everyone was startled, especially Ragna. He was honestly expecting the worst, but felt a huge sense of relief that Nu didn't take things the wrong way.
Iron Tager took a step back.
Kokonoe merely widened her eyes.
Lambda blinked a few times.
Rachel kept that stoic expression on but was still intrigued.
Nu finally spoke, "Nu is like, so happy for you, Ragna! As long as you're happy, then Nu is happy!"
Ragna chuckled nervously, "Uh, right. Thanks for your congratulations, Nu."
"But Rachel..."
"Yes?"
Nu giggled, "If you make Ragna unhappy, I'll have to kill you!" She said innocently, "Are we clear?"
Rachel's right eye twitched. "Excuse me? I-"
Not wanting to see how far things would get before a bloodbath would occur, Ragna simply embraced Rachel and said, "Okay! Thanks for your congratulations, everyone! Just get us out of here right now before things get really bad!"
Rachel leered at Nu before teleporting themselves out of there.
Rachel had one last person in mind to greet before being on their way home...
Ragna finds themselves in...
"Orient Town?" Ragna asked, confused. "Why here? Who could be here that we're greeting?"
Rachel pointed to Ragna's left to see a flamboyant man teaching a dance lesson with his students.
"Yes, that's right, darlings! With elegance and rhythm!" The dancer said to direct his lesson.
Ragna groaned, "Hell no! That guy is a serious pain in the ass!"
"It's the last person, Ragna. I promise." Rachel smirked at him.
Ragna rolled his eyes at her, "I HOPE you'll keep your word on that, rabbit, because I'm starting to get dizzy from warping all over the place with you." "Not that I even have much of a choice here..."
The two of them approached the dancer slowly, and then Rachel clears his throat to attract the dancer's attention. Amane slowly turned his head to the couple, and then immediately said to his students, "Hold your positions, please! Someone wants to chat with little old me!"
He walked to the couple in his usual fabulous manner as his troupe of dancers watched and listened in silence, and then said to Rachel, "What is it, dear? Not bad news, I would hope."
"Nay," Rachel replied. Rather..." She lifted her right hand to show off her ruby ring, "Ragna has done the proposal deed and now we're currently engaged."
Amane's eyes opened wide as he gave a high-pitched scream out of joy.
Ragna covered his poor ears that were about ready to go deaf on him by now, "THAT'S IT! I am definitely demanding earplugs after this!"
"Oh my goodness! This is an incredible time for you! I am so happy that I could dance the night away!"
Amane's troupe overhears this, and they all start to applaud for the couple with a mixture of cheers of their own.
"Please don't..." Ragna begged in his mind.
The fabulous dancer proceeded to take both of Rachel's hands and softly kiss them both, which made the vampire giggle softly. Then, Amane flashed a grin at Ragna and then wrap his arms around his neck, kissing his cheek for a prolonged amount of seconds.
"Gah! Get off of me!" Ragna yelled at Amane. This attracted the laughter of his troupe, making Ragna want to knock them all out. It was certainly in his power, but he mentally said that they were lucky he wasn't here to pick a fight with them.
Amane backed off and gave the couple some distance, and then said to the both of them, "Allow us to express our joy in the only way we know how!" He spins around to face his troupe and said to them, "Oh dearies! Quickly! Line up and let's dance for our recently engaged darlings!"
Ragna was practically seething. He could not take a dance routine after being kissed on the cheek like that by Amane. "Rachel, PLEASE. I'm tired and I just want to go home! PLEASE call him off! I'm begging you!"
Rachel sighed, both in disappointment and understanding of what Ragna was feeling, "I'm sorry, Amane. But it's been a long day for the both of us. Perhaps you and your troupe can do your routine some other time."
Amane giggled sinisterly at Ragna, "Okay, then. Ragna, you know where to find me, hon!"
The sound of Ragna's loud groaning echoed as Rachel teleported them out of town.
