This fic is based on the manga cause it's happier!

I felt I needed to add a fic to this lonely section. Hamel fans must unite! There aren't enough of us! Ah yes, and there will probably be images to go with this story soon! I'll post a link when I have it

-CCV

Once upon a time in a land far far away, in what is apparently a universe far far away, with characters whose minds are probably the farthest from home one could possibly venture, there was a group of traveling nimrods... I mean traveling heroes that were sometimes known as the five great hopes...except that there were actually like seven of them cause they had picked up some baggage along the way...Anywho, the point is that- Oh screw that whatever! I'll just start over.

Ahem!

Hamel, Flute, Raiel, Trom, Oboe, Sizer, and Ocarina were lost. Yes, lost. They had been traveling back to Sforzendo after a nice fun journey of hunting down some random enemy, possibly Orgel, but he was dressed like Kestra, and making a mighty ruckus down in some town called Accupello.

Hamel and the gang unfortunately had arrived a little too late, because by the time they had gotten there the entire population of the town had been driven mad by Orgel's or was it Kestra's? I dunno, maybe it was Vocal. The point is, they were all raving mad when they got there and the whole lot of 'em had to be shipped off to the funny farm where they would rot in their little padded rooms with their happy plastic flashlights for all eternity! Muahahahahahaha! coughs

"Are we there yet?" Whined Trom as he slouched along a little behind Flute. As well as being lost, the group was totally broke and everyone was tired and hungry.

"I'm pretty sure I saw a signpost a little ways back saying that Sforzendo is only a couple of miles this way." Raiel said.

"A couple of miles?" asked Ocarina "We've been traveling this way for hours!"

Raiel thought for a moment and shifted his giant golden piano to a more comfortable position on his back.

"Oh wait, it was a couple hundred miles. My bad."

"I'm not sure that did much to help everyone's self esteem..." said Flute.

"Gonna die soon..." huffed Hamel dejectedly.

Meanwhile in Hameln...

Bass was having a bad day. He had woken up on the right side of the bed that morning, which was a bad sign for any self proclaimed baddies. Then Lute accidentally banged him on the stair rail coming down to breakfast, and Orgel... or was it Kestra? Screw them, it was Vocal, had gone out and harassed a bunch of stupid villagers leaving him with the paperwork and bill for their medical care.

'I swear! If anybody bothers me today-'

"Bass-sama! Reports just came in of Harp-"

BOOM!

Bass used his magic to blow the un-expecting little lackey to bitty pieces.

"Damn, how I've needed to do that!" he proclaimed.

Back to Hamel's group...

"Sizer-san?" Raiel asked shyly.

"What?"

"Oh nothing! Never mind!" Raiel blushed and looked away.

'There he goes again,' Hamel thought as he watched the small exchange between Raiel and Sizer. He rested his arms behind his head and yawned. 'It's not like it's that hard to tell someone you like them! Raiel is such a drama queen. I mean, if it were me then Sizer would probably already be my fiancé... not that I think about her like that or anything, ew, that's just gross! She's my sister!'

"Hey Hamel, whatcha thinking about?" Flute asked him, a big smile spread wide across he face. Hamel blushed and quickly looked away.

'I am such a hypocrite!' Hamel glanced back over at Flute who was still smiling very prettily. 'It's all her fault, she shouldn't be allowed to smile like that.'

"Hamel? Is something wrong?" she asked innocently. Hamel quickly thought of a way to redirect her face.

"Nope nothing at all- Hey! isn't that Sforzendo castle?" Hamel pointed off in a random direction. Flute looked off where he was pointing to find-

"Oh wow! look everyone we're here!" She yelled excitedly.

"Wha?" Hamel looked in the direction his finger was pointed. There it was, Sforzendo in all of it's glory. Hamel fell over backwards anime style.

"Hamel? Why are you on the ground? Come on, I want to make it into the city before dinner time."

...ooo...

The group made their way through the bustling streets towards the huge, enormous, gigantic, colossal, really really big castle.

"Are you sure that castle is big enough Flute? I'm not sure it quite touches heaven yet." Hamel said.

"You say that like I have control over it," She responded dryly.

"Let's take a poll, raise your hand if you haven't gotten lost in it yet." Ocarina suggested.

Nobody moved.

"Even you Trom?" Flute looked surprised. "But you've been there more than any of us."

"Those rooms rearrange themselves I swear!" Trom tried to defend himself.

...000...

The group was admitted into the castle and greeted by Clari who had a strange expression on his face. He glanced at Flute but looked away immediately.

"Is something wrong?" Oboe the ever observant one asked him.

"No no, everything's all right... Anyway, welcome back. I assume you didn't face any major difficulties on your trip."

"Uh..." was the popular response.

"Besides Hamel," he corrected.

"Oh! then not really no." Sizer said, everyone else (save Hamel) nodded in agreement.

"Stupid prissy homo!" Hamel muttered under his breath. Clari ignored him.

"I was told to let you know that there will be a formal supper tonight, so you should all change into clean presentable clothes. Princess Flute, Lady Sizer, and Lady Ocarina are to come with me."

The girls exchanged confused glances.

"What's with Clari? He's acting so formal and serious. Usually you two would have been fighting to the death by now," Raiel asked Hamel quietly.

"Dunno. It's like someone died or something." Trom replied.

"He's probably just 'PMS'ing," Hamel stated.

Oboe sighed.

...000...

Hamel, Raiel, and Trom headed to their respective quarters to freshen up for that evening, though why they were told to look nice was beyond Hamel. They had always just wandered about wearing whatever they had wanted in the past. In the end he concluded that this was just some form of royal ceremony or something so he should just go along with it.

Upon entering his room, Hamel found that someone had set out some clean clothes on his bed along with a note instructing him to take a bath and change, then meet everyone in the formal dining hall at sunset. He could tell from the hearts and signature that the message was written by Cornet.

The bath was nice after traveling for so long, and he had to admit, it did feel good to be clean. However, he didn't really like the idea of being assigned clothes. He was used to his regular outfit and felt more comfortable wearing it. He considered ignoring the note and wearing his own clothes, they were nice enough for almost any occasion, but the thought of being chewed out by Flute was enough for him to put his opinions aside and just do what he was instructed.

The new garments were definitely nice, very high quality and expensive. Put together, the outfit reminded him of Clari's clothes, but more in the style of the ancient people of Hameln. There was even a matching hat that Hamel was grateful for because he really didn't want everyone seeing his horn.

Around sunset he set off for the formal dining hall. The place wasn't used very often so he almost expected to see dust covering everything. He was actually surprised to see the usually dark grand hall well lit, clean, and very colorful. There were long tables lined across the room, all very carefully and colorfully decorated, as well as another even fancier table at the head of the hall facing all of the others.

The most surprising thing was all of the people. The place was teeming with all manners of people all dressed their very best. There were hundreds of servants roaming around setting out heaps of delicious looking food. Palace guards lined the walls, all standing very stiff and regal, and everyone Hamel had met around the palace as well as hundreds more people he didn't know were milling about or sitting and chatting.

Hamel caught sight of Raiel and Trom standing up by the head table and went to join them. Both were dressed in fresh clothes that had probably been set out for them as well. Trom bore the colors and style of Dal Segno, and Raiel was dressed in the standard Sforzendo attire. Hamel noted that Raiel looked uncomfortable while Trom just looked bored.

"Hamel!" Raiel exclaimed and waived when he saw him approaching. "Wow! You look so different I almost didn't recognize you!"

"Do you two have any idea about what's going on?" Hamel asked hopefully.

"Not a clue," Raiel responded.

"It's probably just a ceremony for something or another, nothing to do with us." Trom said casually.

"How do we know where to sit?" Raiel asked.

"I'm supposed to sit at this table because I'm royalty, " Trom pointed at the head table.

"They labeled everyone's seats and I found both of yours while scouting for mine. We all sit together with Sizer and Ocarina." He then pointed a couple seats over to the two middle seats of the row of chairs. They were taller and more elaborate than the others. "Queen Horn and Flute sit there."

"Oh."

"Hey look, it's Sizer and Ocarina," Hamel said. The two women had just entered the hall and were now heading toward them. At first glance Raiel had to cover his face to control his nose bleed. They were both dressed in very pretty not to mention low cut gowns. Sizer's was a deep elegant shade of red that matched her eyes and Ocarina wore blue to match her hair. Gold necklaces sparkling with finely cut jewels draped from their necks and matching earrings hung by their faces, Rubies for Sizer and Sapphires for Ocarina. Sizer's hair was done up and piled on top of her head. Hamel vaguely noticed how the other young gentlemen in the hall's eyes followed them, as well as how they were going to need to change shirts if they drooled any more.

"S-Sizer-san you look b-beautiful!" Raiel managed to stutter out all the while blushing madly. Sizer giggled girlishly and fluttered her eyelashes at him, then leaned in until her face was only centimeters away from his.

"You really think so?" she purred playfully. Hamel rolled his eyes.

"Kami! Get a room you two!"

They were interrupted by Percuss' voice calling for everyone to take their seats. The group went to their part of the table to find Oboe there waiting for them. Hamel sat in his spot next to Trom and Raiel and noted that there were a number of finely dressed young men sitting on Trom's other side. Percuss and Clari sat to the sides of the Queen and Flute's places, and a number of finely dressed older men and what Hamel suspected were their wives sat at the other side of the table. Trom seemed to notice them too.

"Those are the Kings and Queens of the other major countries of the world!" He looked amazed. I wonder what they're doing here!"

Percuss stood and the hall gradually quieted.

"Welcome everyone to the ceremony for the Council of Kings." his voice echoed loudly and clearly through the large chamber.

'Council of Kings?' Hamel wondered silently.

"It is my great honor to present Sforzendo's reigning Queen, Queen Horn!"

The large doors to the hall opened and Horn walked in and down the center isle of the hall over a long red velvet carpet. The applause was enormous, there was even a fair amount of cheering. She smiled and looked around at the enormous crowd that had gathered for the ceremony then took her place at the head table.

Once the applause had died down Percuss cleared his throat and continued.

"I would also like to present her royal highness Princess Flute!"

In walked Flute looking somewhat nervous but steady. She was as beautiful as Sizer and Ocarina if not more. Her hair was down and a crown of white gold studded with opals sat atop her head. She wore a long sparkling silver gown bearing the Sforzendo cross as well as long dangling cross shaped earrings. The silver complemented her red hair quite well in Hamel's opinion. (Not that he'd ever admit it.)

The applause was just as loud for her if not more, and there were some calls of 'Mary me Flute-sama!' from the men. This made Hamel strangely angry, though he couldn't quite understand why.

Flute took her seat next to her mother, a light blush spread across her cheeks.

Percuss sat down as well and everyone took that as their que to begin eating. Raiel reached for some butter marinated fish.

"Looks like Flute has become popular among the gentlemen." He said.

"That's true," Trom agreed. "What are you going to do about it Hamel?"

"What do you mean?" Hamel crossed his arms indignantly. "Who Flute likes is of no concern to me."

"You just keep on telling yourself that buddy." Raiel smirked.

"Humph!" was Hamel's only response as he too began to serve himself. There was silence between them for a couple minutes before Ocarina spoke.

"Don't you think Queen Horn looks unhappy about something?" she asked. They looked over at the queen. Indeed she did look uneasy. She kept fidgeting and looking at one of the hall's clocks.

"You're right," said Oboe. "I wonder if maybe she received some form of unpleasant news, or if something she knows something we don't."

...000...

After about two hours the servants came around to collect the platters and prepare the desserts. Queen Horn stood up. The room hushed again immediately.

"I thank you all for being here this night," she began, her troubled expression was more apparent now than ever. "As you all are most likely aware, the turmoil between Human's and Demons is growing. Already we have lost three of our great nations to their forces. Sforzendo too would not be here today if it weren't for these great heroes," She gestured to Hamel, Oboe, Raiel, Sizer, Ocarina, Trom, and Flute. "As well as our nations own magic Corps lead by the high priest Clarinet." Clari inclined his head.

"Because of these attacks the Council of Kings, which hasn't been summoned since the time of my grandmother before the last Sforzendo war, will be held so that we may try to come up with a better method of defense and possibly a plan for attack."

The hall was dead silent as the majority of people clung to Horn's every word.

"Alliances are very important in times such as these," she took a deep breath. Her face held the look of someone who really regretted what they were about to say.

"In accordance with ancient tradition, all eligible princes from the ten original kingdoms of the world have been summoned to Sforzendo..." Another deep breath, "So that one of these kingdom's may strengthen their alliance with us..." She looked at the floor and bowed her head.

'Wait, she couldn't possibly mean...!' the truth began to dawn on him, and his expression slowly changed to a look of horror.

"...Through marriage with my daughter Flute..."

Flute's eyes widened and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. Sizer and Ocarina looked dumbfounded and Raiel's jaw dropped.

Queen Horn sat and dessert was served.

Tsuzuku

(To be Continued)