Disclaimer – I don't own Hetalia
Chapter 29
Alfred's point of view
It was the day of the wedding. The horrid, repulsive day where Alice would float down the aisle and exchange vows with that creepy Prince guy, the day I had been dreading ever since it had been announced. At first I had been depressed about the news of Alice being married. I was miserable in having to except the fact that I couldn't have her and that my life had to go on without her. I was ready to give up, but after Feliks, my sassy gay friend, stormed my apartment and had given me a pep talk I wasn't gloomy anymore. He had refilled me with hope and determination and now the wedding wasn't going to be my misery, it was going to be my battlefield. Because I, Alfred F. Jones was going to fight for the girl I loved and save her from her terrible fate. So now a small group of my friends and allies were gathered in my kitchen as Feliks went over a plan he concocted that would be the key in rescuing Alice.
"Alright," Feliks announced to the group with fire burning in his catlike green eyes and his hands placed on his hips. "You like all totally know why you have been called here today. Alice is taking the walk of doom in like two hours so we have until then to go over this plan I've come up with to get her back."
The people in the room eagerly looked at Feliks, ready to hear the plan and spring into action. The rag tag team consisted of myself, Feliks, Toris, Kiku, Lili and Vash, Antonio and this guy named Feliciano who came with him. Antonio said that Feliciano was the twin brother of that grumpy waiter called Romano who served Alice and I dinner when we went to Vargas's. Although I didn't know Feli I didn't mind him joining the rescue team. He was really friendly and he even brought over some of his restaurants' pasta for me. Anyone who gives me good food deserves my friendship.
"As you all know the royal wedding has like been opened to the public which means that everybody and anybody who is a resident of the village is totally welcome to come," Feliks continued. "However, the one person I'm assuming that the king will totally be against coming is Alfred. I'm like pretty sure that knights will be stationed at every door the palace has keeping a lookout for him."
"So if there are going to be knights crawling all over the building then how will we get in?" I asked him.
Feliks grinned at me then said, "We're going to have to disguise you, it's the only way to get in without being detected."
Lili raised an excited hand and Feliks called on her. "What is Alfred going to wear?" she asked with sparking eyes.
Feliks giggled which I assumed couldn't be good knowing the type of person that he was. "You'll see soon, now for the rest of the plan, here are your positions…
Toris and I will totally enter the palace first but instead of following the rest of the crowd into the royal ballroom where the wedding is taking place we'll like slip off to a nearby corridor and wait there. Next, Lili, Antonio, Feliciano and a disguised Alfred will enter in a group because it would be totally suspicious if Alfred arrived to the castle alone. Lili and Alfred will like then break off from the group and Lili will escort Alfred to where Toris and I are hiding. She'll then go back to the ballroom and Toris and I will like help Alfred change into regular clothes that we've snuck in with us. Then like the three of us will wait in the corridor until the wedding starts and when the time is right we'll totally send Alfred in to crash it. While Alfred, Toris and I move in to get ready to crash the wedding Kiku and Vash will like take down the knights at the entrance of the doors to the ceremony so that we'll be able to get in."
After the blonde finally finished going through that enormous amount of information everyone looked over at him in surprise.
"And when exactly did you become a combat strategist?" Toris asked his boyfriend amusedly.
A smile crept onto my face as well. "Feliks, this could actually work. I didn't know you were capable of planning something like this."
Feliks pouted and raised an eyebrow at me. "Like why would I not be capable of thinking of a rescue plan?" he inquired.
I scratched the back of my head, looking for the right words. "You're just…kind of, I don't know…girly and not into this kind of stuff?" I offered.
I expected him to be furious with me but instead of going into one of his dramatic rages like he normally would have done Feliks put on a fierce battle face and said, "Well then prepare to see a totally new side of me." Then turning back to the group Feliks began to speak once again, "Alright people like I've said we've got like two hours to practice this and make sure we've got it down to a science. If one of you fails then we like all fail. But no worries, we are all like so totally amazing I know that we can do it."
At those words of encouragement the team cheered and we began to get down to business. And as we worked together I felt more and more confident. This was possible; I was going to get Alice back. Those two hours just couldn't come fast enough.
…..Line Break…..
"Feliks…" I began, trying to keep the anger and embarrassment out of my voice.
He looked at me with his big green eyes like there was nothing wrong. "Yes?"
I took a deep breath. I wanted to stay calm but that wasn't really working out so well. "WHY DO I HAVE TO WEAR A DRESS!"
Feliks blinked at me then said as if it were obvious, "well we had to disguise you somehow and this was the best way."
My face burned a bright red and the room suddenly felt hot. The dress was ridiculously heavy from all the poofy skirts weighing it down and it was hard to move around in. How on earth did Alice put up with wearing these things? "Couldn't you have disguised me as a male?" I asked him.
"Well like I guess…" Feliks started to say, pausing as he pulled a hat box out of thin air. "But this is more fun!" he giggled as he took the top off of the box, revealing a blonde wig that was styled into two long pigtails.
My mouth dropped open in protest. This was just too humiliating. "B-but!" I stammered.
Feliks silenced me with a finger to my mouth then began to attach the wig to my head. "Alfred, like also keep in mind that men's clothes totally aren't my forte," he told me as he put bobby pins in to keep the fake hair in place.
"Fine," I mumbled as my flamboyant friend dolled me up for the wedding. "I'll do it for Alice."
"Good," he said to me with a smile. Then, after Feliks had fastened the wig securely onto my head he took a step back to admire his work.
The rest of the team, who was dressed up for the event as well, saw that Feliks had finished transforming me into feminine Alfred and began to crowd around so that they could have a look. They all oohed and ahhed about how great of a job Feliks did, causing the designer to blush from all the praise he was receiving. I however was not amused by these comments; especially the one Lili gave me about being "one of the prettiest girls she's ever seen."
Once all the commotion over me cross-dressing had died down Feliks and I herded everyone over to the apartment's front door. The wedding would be starting in less than an hour which meant that phase one of the plan was starting now.
"Like okay, Toris and I will be heading off now," Feliks announced to the group. "The next group should be prepared to start walking in like five minutes and then five minutes after the second group leaves the last group will totally head out. Good luck to you all and don't be nervous, we are so totally going to get Alice back." And with that last little pep talk Feliks and Toris departed from us. Toris giving us a small farewell wave and Feliks blowing kisses.
With the two of them gone the rest of us all waited in the threshold of my apartment, counting down the minutes until the next group had to leave. As we waited we saw our fellow Hetalians walking down the cobblestone street towards the direction of the palace. Everyone had on their best clothes and their hair done up nicely as they frolicked down the lane to the castle. It seemed that nobody wanted to miss out on such an extravagant event like the royal wedding.
"Ve~" Feliciano mused, looking at all the people that were heading out for the occasion.
"There sure are a lot of people who wanna watch Alice get married," Lili added in.
I nodded my head in agreement as more and more people appeared and began to stroll down my street. "They all look really excited, I hope they don't mind us crashing it," I chuckled.
Kiku gave me one of his rare smiles. "I think if anything you'll make the event even more memorable."
I was about to say something back but Vash cut me off saying that five minutes were over and that Lili, Antonio, Felicano and I had to get going. "Good luck," Vash and Kiku both chorused. And before we knew it the four of us were off my front porch and in the street, being pushed towards the palace by the sea of eager Hetalians.
It was a struggle to walk in the dress and it was even more of a challenge to move around while being pushed by a huge, wedding-crazy crowd. I would have fallen on my face at least twenty times by now if it weren't for Feli and Antonio holding me up steady and keeping my balance for me. Lili noticed that I was struggling and she offered me the tip of holding my skirt up a bit so that my feet wouldn't get tangled in the material. It really was good advice and pretty soon I was able to walk properly allowing my group to pick up speed and cruise along with the thousands of other Hetalians who wanted to get to the palace.
As we walked along the pathway, the castle coming closer into view with every step, Antonio looked over to with a dopey smile and cooed, "How romantic, you going through all of this for the one you love!"
"Ve~!" Feli chimed in. "When this is over come back to my restaurant and I'll give you and Alice all the pasta you could ever want!"
I grinned. How did I manage to find such awesome friends? "Thanks guys, thanks for doing this all for me," I told them appreciatively.
"We'd do it any time, mi amigo," Antonio said. "Anything for the passionate young love between you and your Alice!"
"We're here," Lili suddenly alerted us.
The three of us hadn't realized that we had arrived since we had been busy talking with one another but looking up we saw that Lili was right and that we were now standing in front of the palace's front gate. We watched as Hetalians of all ages pushed past one another, feverishly trying to get inside the entrance. Knights were stationed at the opening that separated the castle from the village, they tried to organize everyone and get them to calm down, assuring them that they would all get inside and that they didn't have to push.
"This is crazy," I breathed out as I looked at the disorderly people around us.
"I know but we have to get in," Antonio said. "It's necessary that we're on time if we want this plan to work."
So bracing ourselves for impact the four of us charged into the mob, determined to reach the entrance. It was complete chaos. I was being shoved and pushed back and forth and I felt myself losing my balance again due to the dress. We all held hands, not wanting to lose one another in this mess. The scene going on around me was turning into a blur but I swore I saw Feli accidentally get elbowed in the stomach and Lili get her foot stepped on. However we kept on fighting. We were going to make this plan work, we were going to get inside, I was going to save Alice. I just prayed that my wig didn't fall off.
Finally Antonio managed to find a slip in the crowd and pulling the three of us through it we found ourselves at the front of the line and in the presence of a knight.
"It's really disorganized out here huh," the knight said to us.
We didn't bother to answer; instead we all let out heavy, ragged breaths causing the knight to chuckle as he opened the gate for us, allowing us to go inside.
Once we had left the pandemonium of the crowd and were safely on the other side of the gate we all let out a sigh of relief, thankful that we hadn't been trampled.
"Well thank god that's finally over," I said appreciatively as I adjusted my skirts which had gotten messed up by the mob of barbaric townspeople.
My companions agreed with me then waited a moment so that I could fix myself up. Once I was sure that the dress was still in one piece and that the wig was intact we began our walk to front doors of the palace.
The grand entranceway of the castle had festive silk banners draped over it, bright blues and reds and purples decorating and welcoming the guests who had come to witness the royal wedding. The knights were lined up nice and orderly along the walkway. Their sliver armor gleaming in the sunlight, letting people know that they too spiffed up for the occasion. As we passed them by they gave us polite nods and smiles, one of them even winked at me much to my horror.
"Maybe Feliks did a little too good of a job turning me into a girl," I muttered to Lili.
She laughed, "Well it's better than them recognizing you as a guy and throwing you into the dungeon again."
"True," I nodded to her just as we arrived at the front entrance.
Our group was about to enter the building when then all of a sudden no other then Sir Henry Smith himself stepped out of nowhere, blocking our path. He was all glamoured up in a midnight blue suit and he wearing this huge smile on his face. His right hand was extended out towards us, waiting for us to take it so that he could welcome us to the palace.
"Hello all of you," he said enthusiastically. "We are so happy that you're all able to attend the Princesses special day."
One by one the members of my group shook the head knight's hand. First Antonio, then Feli, then Lili then lastly me. For a moment I was afraid that despite my epic disguise as a girl Sir Smith would figure out who I was and arrest me (again) but instead he smiled at me and as he shook my hand said, "That is a lovely dress you're wearing madam."
At his complement I felt my mouth go dry and I almost toppled over in embarrassment. Then as quickly as Sir Smith took my hand I pulled it away from him and said in an awful falsetto voice that I had to go back to my friends. Once back in the safety of my group I grumbled in repulsion, "I think that was even scarier than trying to get inside the front gate."
"Oh stop complaining about looking like a girl and start celebrating," Antonio told me. "Don't you see what just happened? We got in! Phase two of the plan is now underway!"
I grinned. "You're right. You ready Lili?" I asked the pintsized blonde.
She nodded and hooked my arm with hers. "Yep!"
"Okay," I said, turning to Antonio and Feli. "We're going to find Feliks and Toris, they should be somewhere in a nearby corridor. You two go into the ballroom, Lili will be there shortly so save her a seat."
Antonio wished us luck and Feli gave me a salute and with that Lili and I started down a corridor in hopes of finding our friends.
….Line Break….
It didn't take us long to find them, especially when we could hear Feliks' loud whispering from down the hall.
"You do realize it's called hiding because you don't want people to know you're there right?" I asked them as Lili and I approached the spot where our friends had chosen to camp out.
They had squeezed in-between two tall statues of armor and were curled up with their knees to their chests on the floor. Feliks jumped up in surprise at our sudden appearance.
"Oh my god! Don't scare us like that!" the blonde shrieked angrily.
"Shhh!" I hushed him, covering his mouth with my hand. "Do you want the knights to hear you?"
Feliks removed my hand from his mouth. "Like how did you find us so quickly?"
"You're a really loud whisperer," Lili tweeted.
Once our friends had gotten over the shock of having us "sneak up on them" we began to execute the plan. Off came my blonde pigtailed wig, which I was glad to be rid of and next would come the dress.
"Okay, Lili, it's time you go back and join Antonio and Feli in the ballroom," I said to her.
"Aye Aye Captain," she sang, and after she gave me a good luck hug she skipped back down the corridor to the ballroom.
With her gone I disrobed, flinging the frilly ball gown to the side and changing into the normal guy clothes Feliks had brought me. "God it was a nightmare wearing that thing," I told them as I stepped into the pants.
Feliks pouted, "hey I like worked hard making that!"
I had finished putting on the pants and was now pulling a shirt over my head. "I know and you did a really great job," I said to him sarcastically. "A couple of guys even started flirting with me."
Feliks eyes widened. "Ooh! We're they hot?"
Toris smacked this boyfriend on the arm which Feliks replied to by saying that he wasn't interested in them he just wanted to know if his clothes attracted cute boys.
I was now completely back to normal. Dressed head to toe in guy wear with no intention of ever cross-dressing again. "Hey guys now isn't really the time to be talking about hot guys who wanna take me out on a date. We should be focused on me getting Alice back."
Toris nodded and Feliks grinned. "Phase three is totally happening as of now."
….Line Break…..
Kiku and Vash were already waiting for us outside of the ballroom. Kiku wearing his signature I'm-bored-out-of-my-mind expression and Vash looking irritated as usual.
"What took you so long?" Vash asked us when he became aware of our presence. "The wedding is starting in two minutes!"
"Sorry," I apologized. "Did you take care of the knights?"
Vash grinned, "of course, it was easy. Kiku may not look it but he has really good martial arts skills and me, well I'm just scary enough as it is. They won't be bothering you for a long time, I give it an hour before they finally wake up."
I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you do to them?"
Kiku spoke monotonously, "A good warrior never reveals his secrets."
The two of them then wished me luck and disappeared inside of the ballroom. I heard a bit of music float out of the room when they opened the door. I recognized that tune. It was the sound that a pipe organ makes when it carries a young girl down an aisle. The wedding had begun.
I almost had a panic attack. Okay, deep breaths, in and out, in and out. Just breathe Alfred you can do this! You're the hero! Toris must have noticed how nervous I was so putting a comforting hand on my shoulder he said calmly, "Relax, you've got this."
I nodded, he was right. We had gone over the plan a million times back at my apartment, I was confident and I was going to rescue Alice from that slimy French bastard no matter what. I wasn't going to back out. "I'm sorry it's just that I can't believe we made it this far. And in a few minutes I'm going to see Alice and profess my love to her in front of thousands of people, it's a lot to handle. But you're right. I can do this. I'm awesome and I'm going to own this moment."
"That's the spirit," Toris grinned.
All my worries were put aside in that moment. I was so pumped and so ready to just have the girl I loved back in my arms that I would've flung the ballroom doors wide open right now if it weren't for Feliks suddenly jumping onto me in order to hold me back.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"You like can't just go in there! You like have to wait for the right moment!" he said as if it were obvious.
I sighed and shook him off of me. "Well when is the right moment?"
"The priest will like say 'if there are like any objections speak now or forever hold your peace' and that's when you'll totally storm in and shout that you love Alice and that you object."
"Okay that sounds good but how do we know when they say it? The doors are closed and we can't exactly open them to hear without people discovering us," I asked.
Toris suddenly entered the conversation and said, "Look there's a small glass window above the door, I'll hoist Feliks up and he'll look inside the ballroom to see what's happening then say when it's time for you to enter."
"That's perfect," Feliks exclaimed as he went over to Toris so that he could put him up on his shoulders.
Once they were situated Feliks pressed his face up against the window. "Wow there's like a lot of people in there."
"What's happening?" I asked.
"Like nothing really the priest is kind of just talking. The king is totally decked out in fur and the Frenchie is like wearing some weird tux type thing and OH MY GAWD!"
I jumped at the sound of Feliks' shrill voice. "What! Did something happen?"
"No but the fabric they used for Alice's dress is so last season!"
I let out a sigh. "Could you not scare me like that?" I asked him angrily. I thought that someone had dropped dead or something…
"Like okay," Feliks apologized. "I'm sorry but LIKE OH MY GAWD!"
"What is it now?" I snapped.
"They said it!" he yelled at me. "The priest said it! Go! Go now!"
My eyes widened. This was it, the moment where I would save Alice from her terrible fate. I flung the doors to the ballroom open.
"Any objections at all?" the priest asked again.
I grinned. "Yeah, I've got one!" I shouted from where I stood in the doorway.
There were horrified looks from everyone in the room (minus the ragtag team) and gasps of complete shock. I ignored them. They didn't matter. I was only looking at Alice. She stood at the front of the ballroom poised, perfect and beautiful, looking like an angel in her flowing gown of white.
The rest of the room seemed to melt away as I began to run to her and before I knew it I was there. I was staring into those emerald green eyes that I knew so well.
She wore a look of disbelief. "You came back?"
I took her hands into mine and grinned. "Well what kind of hero would I be if I didn't?"
Author's note: Mawhaha! Cliff Hanger! Review if you want an update ASAP XD
P.S. I failed all of my other exams except for History, thank you Hidekaz Himaruya for not making me a total loser! :D
