Today was the big day. Official. Definitely. Confirmed, and nobody who could change that.
Today was the day on which King and Queen would finally get married. And because of that, it wasn't any sort of calm, mundane day either.
Everyone at Card Castle was frantically hustling and bustling to finish the last few preparations. They had done the majority of it yesterday already, which mostly consisted of the decorations, fences and many seat rows on the roof.
Fortunately for the Card Castle peers, the peers from Queen's Mansion were currently present as well so they could lend a few more helping hands before the grand happening.
A frantic mass of chefs were busy in the kitchen, and in the kitchen's most secluded corner with the only single-spot stove, Rouxls was just as busy preparing his famed roux again.
Whereas the mass of chefs consistently seemed to shove one another aside and squeeze themselves in between some of the others like crazy, Rouxls just let all of that go by like the wind. He was happy enough in his own little bubble, where he could simultaneously mentally prepare himself to be King's best man in a few hours.
Some of the servants made sure that the least self-evident rooms were as clean, neat and tidy as possible. They were busy vacuuming the many square metres of flooring, dusting the shelves but being careful with the fragile vases here and there, scrubbing some of the gnarliest and longest-forgotten floor spots… if only such a grand cleaning would take place more often, like the majority of this group of servants even thought themselves!
Tasque Manager, while mentally preparing herself to be Queen's best lady, made sure that all of the computers that were present at Card Castle would temporarily be locked until 6 a.m. the next day. No guest ever would be permitted to go onto MyTube, Oldgrounds and all that jazz, and their e-mail wasn't allowed to be checked either. Today was all about King and Queen, not about gross cartoons, funny pictures or nonsensical greetings and ads.
Queen happily helped Tasque Manager lock the computers, like she promised over Spyke. While she did, she, too, mentally prepared herself for the wedding. How would it be? Would positivity linger in the air during the wedding? Fate only knew.
All of the teamwork resulted in everything being done significantly quicker than usual, and everyone being prouder of themselves than usual as well.
"There" Aurea sighed as she tossed her ragged cloth into the laundry bucket. "A lovely, spotless floor. The whole cleaning reminded me a lot of when the kids were still little."
"It reminded me of my college student era" Tobias said. "None of my housemates ever cleaned up after themselves, and I was often the guilty cleaner…!" He dumped his bucket of now dirty water empty into the big sink of the supply closet. "Only better that I chose to take the civilised path soon after. I wonder if those housemates regret their paths by now?"
"Wouldn't really surprise me if they did, hahaha!" Aurea emptied her bucket of water into the same sink. "It'd be a big nightmare for me to be married to someone who never tidies up after himself. Good thing Castiel is just as tidy as I am, and that our kids perfectly took after us." She hung the bucket on one of the hooks by its handle.
"Queen also seems like a tidy lady, doesn't she? King, on the other hand… to be fair, the opposite. And yet they're a good match? This universe is pretty weird, really."
"Queen never seems to mind having to tidy everything up after King. It's probably because of her high level of love towards him, like the majority of lovers initially experience before concluding whether they actually love one another or not."
"Interesting theory."
The two Head Hathies headed out of the supply closet, but were suddenly stopped by a quick, almost incomprehensible sight happening just near them.
Milo and Nico, who had signed up to help set up the buffet on the castle roof, were rudely interrupted by something that had gone off with their tablecloth, and chasing that something frantically.
"Hey, hey!" Tobias said. "No running, twins! Lower your pace, please!" But this warning ultimately fell on deaf ears.
"What phenomenon is happening now?" Aurea asked out loud. "First, it was seemingly a knight of sorts, and now…?"
Milo and Nico made a diving jump towards the 'something' that had stolen their tablecloth, but accidentally harshly bumped their heads into one another in the process.
"Ouch!" the twins yelped in unison.
The 'something' that they had chased down turned out to be a little white dog, who was now no longer holding on to the tablecloth due to Milo and Nico apparently successfully having retrieved it despite the accidental collision.
"Oh?" Aurea said as she came towards the dog and swiftly picked it up in her arms. "How did you get there? And why are you causing such ruckus on such an important day? Neither King nor Queen invited you today…" She headed her way towards the main entrance of Card Castle. "I'm afraid I'll have to escort you out of here, you annoying dog."
"Are you two alright?" Tobias asked as he came towards the still befuddled Milo and Nico, who indeed held on to the tablecloth that got stolen from them beforehand.
"My head hurts…" both twins said in unison, while Milo couldn't help but cry out of pain.
"Could I get you anything? A painkiller, or a cold pack?"
"Both would be nice…" Milo groaned.
"Could I have one half less of the painkiller?" Nico asked, rubbing their older sibling's shoulder to console them.
"I'll take care of that." The friendly male Head Hathy took the tablecloth from the twins' grasp as well. "How unfortunate that this had to happen today exactly. Shall I leave your little task to someone else instead while I help you two out?"
"No, no" Eiji said as he suddenly came towards Milo and Nico with a first aid kit. "Tobias, you should take care of the tablecloth while I take care of the twins. I've recently graduated as an official doctor, after all."
"You've got a very legit point there, young man. Sorry to bother you all, I'll get to work."
"No need to apologise. I know you're also trying to do your best, and that's only a good thing." Eiji settled down, opened the first aid kit and first took two little cold packs out, which he handed to each of the twins. "There you two go. Are any of you nauseous, if I may ask?"
Meanwhile, Tobias headed towards the roof to ensure the large buffet table of the long, white tablecloth.
On the roof itself, it was still very quiet. Peaceful, even. The soft sound of the wind was heard, as well as the soft rustling of the nearby small fountain. It sounded almost like one of those parks in the Light World, where everyone would go on a typical day during the Light World Summer.
Tobias would've loved to stay to enjoy the silence while he still could, but he still had some more tasks to do, unfortunately. He somewhat reluctantly went away from the roof so he could help the florist, who was currently present in the throne room, arrange the large bouquet that'd soon stand at the altar, because what wedding could possibly be a wedding without such a ginormous bouquet of black, white and light blue roses?
While he left, the Pandora Palace Orchestra, which consisted of at least a hundred different musicians (good thing that the castle roof is ginormous!), happened to arrive after having had a brief meeting about the most important parts of the requested songs that they had scheduled to play, and as soon as they found themselves on the roof, they had their respective seats on the stage just behind the altar, where they started tuning their instruments to peer perfection before revising those requested songs for a few more times.
Speaking of music, Swatch had been too nervous to continue helping Rouxls with the veil-like draping and almost invisible fairy lights in and around the hallway that led to the roof, so Rouxls permitted them to have a break and play the grand piano in the dining hall.
The five 'Skittles' were as kind to help Rouxls with those decorations instead, and all six of them were very proud of the final result. It looked like one could possibly step into a fairy tale of sorts once they'd go into that hallway from the throne room.
Swatch, in the meantime, was busy playing a whole assortment of frantic classical songs to express his nervousness, and indirectly that of all of the others at Card Castle as well. The current song that they started playing was From The Dark World 4th Movement by Anthony De Vulkin, which echoed through all of Card Castle. Yes, even its least expected rooms.
"Music speaks louder than words for sure…" King said as he got his formal cape prepared in the nearby dressing room. "Right now, I feel the exact same way."
"I feelst this way as well" Rouxls said as he adjusted the collar of the cape. "I bet that our Queene feeleth like this just as mucheth."
"How is she doing, anyway? She… she seemed so off this morning."
"She art just as nervouseth as thou, mine Kinge. Doth thou feeleth bugs crawleth through thy stomach? Not in the literal senseth…"
"Ah, the nervous butterflies. Yes, I surely do feel those going on from the inside. They… they just popped out of their cocoons, and they're still s-sensing the world around them." A while of silence. "That's how the position of my other mouth might describe it, at least."
"Ay, that art a terrificst way to describeth it. Very… poetic. It perfectly describeth what I art picturing." Rouxls carefully adjusted the bow tie underneath the collar of the cape, to make sure that King could still breathe properly. "Thou lookst gorgeous, mine Kinge. Thou lookst just perfecteth. There, thy bow tie art also niceth and straight. Wouldst thou wanteth to taketh a look?"
The spadeling nodded with small head movements, being a tad too nervous to speak up.
The young Duke of Puzzles turned King and his seat towards the mirror behind them…
"W-wow…!" King quietly said. "I… I look…" He couldn't help but shed a few happy tears. "I indeed look just perfect…!" He grabbed a handkerchief from his inner pocket and dabbed at his not-directly-visible eyes. "Thank you very much, Rouxls. Usually, I don't think as highly of you… but your skill of dressing me formally is out of this Dark World…!"
"See? Thou art a higheth and mighty Kinge, and the way thou art dressed now art something that shalt be obvious proofe soon!" Rouxls swiftly checked his wristwatch. "Ah, looketh like it art time for us to headeth towards the roofe… art thou ready?"
"Yes, my Duke." King slowly got up from the velvet stool he sat on, and nervously accepted the hand that Rouxls held out so the two could head upstairs together.
Meanwhile, in the dressing room that was the closest to the throne room, Tasque Manager only just finished preparing and fully charging Queen.
"Just perfect" Tasque Manager said once she had adjusted Queen's veil nicely in front of the latter's face before unplugging her charging cable from the nearby socket. "You're the perfect mystery bride, my Queen, and you're perfectly charged for the occasion now, too."
The cyber monarch simply started laughing loudly in response, her now mostly covered visor showing the text 'LMAO' while she did.
"And look at those beautiful wreaths that perfectly match your contours… white lilies perfectly suit you! I honestly would've never thought that, and to think I'm the one who came up with this idea in the first place since you didn't want a dress…"
"Flowers Are The Perfect Substitute For: A Dress" Queen said. "Can I Take A Look At Myself In This?"
"Of course, my Queen. Wouldn't want to go to the roof unprepared soon." Tasque Manager carefully turned Queen towards the mirror that was just at their right side. "Well, what do you think?"
"Oh My Circuits…" The cyber bride was quiet for a little while. "This… This Is A Perfect Work Of .BMP I Mean Art…" She, too, couldn't help but shed a few happy tears, her visor showing the ';u;' emote while she did. "I Look More Beautiful Than The Castle Courtyard…!"
"You surely do. You look beyond gorgeous, in a way that'll even make the Lightners more than jealous." The feline maid carefully dabbed at Queen's not-directly-visible eyes with a handkerchief. "Don't want to ruin your pretty veil this way."
"I'm Super Sorry Tasque Manager Sweetie I Can't Help Those: Happy Tears…"
"No need to apologise. Aren't we all nervous for the wedding? Even Swatch's musical ability currently speaks louder than words, and we're very likely not the only ones to think that!"
"I Second This Opinion." Queen took a few deep breaths. "Okay Queen You Can Do This You're Ready For Your Wedding." She slowly got up from her velvet stool. "Even Mum Will Be Proud Of You Up There…"
"She surely will, my Queen. I can feel her smile in more than just approval."
"I Feel It Too. It Feels Like: Rays From The Light World Sun. Pleasant And Warm."
"You took the words straight from my mind." Tasque Manager carefully grabbed Queen's right hand. "Come, we most likely have a whole bunch of people waiting for us soon."
Slowly but surely, everyone else from Card Castle and Queen's Mansion finally headed their way towards the roof of the castle to have their seats, whereas Swatch made their way towards Queen since they were her best person now.
Rouxls, Swatch and Tasque Manager impatiently waited until it was completely quiet outside of the dressing rooms, which was when the entry to the aisle would eventually start for real…
All of the guests in the seat rows nervously chattered and whispered in the anticipation of when King and Queen would possibly show up. What would they be dressed in? Would it suit them? And wouldn't anything bad happen soon? Questions, questions…
The chattering and whispering were soon interrupted by the tapping of the baton of the conductor of the Pandora Palace Orchestra (who, by the way, was a Swatchling dressed in red), of which neither she nor her musicians seemed nervous, most likely since they followed a very strict practising schedule beforehand.
One, two, three, one, two, three… that's how the baton indicated that the musicians would be about to start playing the music.
An array of violins, cellos and contrabasses started with the first few notes before briefly being interrupted by a short timpani part. There it was. Spadehoven's 9th Symphony 2nd Movement, which sounded just as beautiful as a colourful flower garden in the spring.
On the aisle, Tasque Manager came first with her basket of black, white and light blue rose petals, which she carefully scattered on and around the red velvet carpet.
As the string instruments and a few woodwinds gradually started playing louder and some of the trombones eventually came in, it was the turn of King, Rouxls, Queen and Swatch to head outside and slowly go towards the aisle.
At the timing of the 'chorus' of the song which had been indicated by the brief timpani part through the strings beforehand, the bride, the groom and their best people slowly made their way over the petal-decorated aisle, with all of the guests and Tasque Manager, who had taken a seat in a vacant chair in the front row on the left, looking at them in a mix of nervousness, amazement and joy.
As soon as Rouxls and Swatch had respectively escorted King and Queen towards the altar, the musicians perfectly played the loudest and happiest part out of the music piece before gradually playing calmer and letting themselves fade out, just like in the snippet of the symphony that all of the Windows XP computers have in their sample music folder.
The guests applauded and cheered once the music had ended. Not just for the orchestra, but also for King and Queen on the altar, of which the arch looked like a flower garden fairy tale with its mix of black, white and light blue roses with fairy lights in between them.
Soon, a brief but nervous while of silence lingered over the surface of the roof.
Clover watched the altar quietly. This was the first wedding she ever attended, and it felt like a perfect romantic story that just popped out of its book.
Rolek, who stood at the bench of the altar, cleared his throat before starting his speech.
"Dear denizens of the Eastern Dark World and the Cyber World" Rolek then said. "I thank you all for being present on this very day. A day that most, if not all, of us were waiting for with all of the possible anticipation that we could possibly gather out of thin air." Some silence. "Today is a beautiful day for us. The birds will sing, the flowers will bloom, and our hearts will smile in a swift response to that. But especially the hearts of our King and Queen, who had been yearning to be together for many, many days now. Together forever. Their hearts were desperate, but now, this very day will finally make their hearts' desires come true, like a rose that slowly unfolds and blooms to show us its true colours."
Queen couldn't help but shed a few tears at her stepfather's poetic, philosophical speech. His metaphors were always so beautiful, no matter where he'd possibly get those from.
"Our King and Queen's hearts will bond in the pinnacle of true love, like ivy vines around the many tall, steel fences of an abandoned construction site, on the latter of which many colourful flowers will suddenly bloom and sing like many little glowing angels sent straight from heaven, all in the name of love and peace in all of the Dark Worlds. Never has such a beautiful day like this happened in any of our lives. It's a dream come true for the first time in what seems more than just a simple lifetime."
Many sentences later, at the end of this speech, Rouxls and Swatch carefully opened the little boxes that contained the wedding rings that they had chosen together three months prior, and put them onto the bench behind which Rolek stood, into King and Queen's clearest point of view.
The rings were made of high-quality platinum and lined with many tiny light blue diamonds, of which one was just a little bigger than the rest.
"My King" Rolek said once the rings were fully present, "repeat after me. I, the King of Spades, take you, Queen, as my wife, who will always stand by my side and support me through good and bad times alike, until the ends of our lives will force us to part." He handed the smaller ring to King, who accepted it very carefully.
"I" King said, "the King of Spades, take you, Queen, as my wife, who will always stand by my side and support me through good and bad times alike, until the ends of our lives will force us to part." He gently and slowly put the ring around Queen's right ring finger, causing her to smile in amazement and joy.
"My Queen, repeat after me. I, Serial Number Q5U4EX7YY2E9N, take you, King, as my husband, who will always stand by my side and support me through good and bad times alike, until the ends of our lives will force us to part." The Head Butler handed the bigger ring to his stepdaughter, who enclosed it in between all of her fingers just as carefully.
"I" Queen said, "Serial Number Q5U4EX7YY2E9N, Take You King As My Husband Who Will Always Stand By My Side And Support Me Through: Good And Bad Times Alike, Until The Ends Of Our Lives Will Force Us To: Part." She gently put the ring around King's right ring finger as well, and even slowly adjusted it so that the biggest diamond would point upwards.
King himself couldn't help but shed a few more happy tears at how perfectly his ring was adjusted around his finger, and how smoothly it fit there as well.
"Very well" Rolek then said. "I hereby pronounce the two of you to husband and wife."
In the background, the guests smiled even wider than they did before, and the orchestra swiftly prepared themselves for the next song as well.
"You may now kiss the bride."
King and Queen gently embraced one another, and they soon found themselves in a soft and loving lip-lock, which especially made Queen's core warm up in sheer euphoria.
Shortly after the conductor of the orchestra ordered the musicians to play the part of the Waltz Of The Echo Flowers after its first mundane-sounding minute to take the anticipation away, everyone else applauded, cheered and whistled loudly, for it was now official that their two monarchs were officially married now.
Today was the day of the dawn of a new era, and not just any ordinary one either. It was one that would never be forgotten in the entire history of the Dark World, and not even in its corresponding legend.