Okay, I think it's time for another update! I probably should be writing Something More, but I don't know where I want to take that plot. This one's so much easier. Thanks to those who reviewed, and now for a word to our sponsors:
The true Tai Kamiya - actually, Chapter 20 was longer than Chapter 19, the same length as Chapter 18, and longer than Chapter 17. Most of my chapters are about 3 or 4 pages in Word (size 12 font)… And I know that there are a lot of FF9 similarities here, what with it being a romance story set in a fantasy land, but I think you're looking a little too hard. I honestly do not remember half of the scenes that you think I am alluding to. And I really can't see any similarities between Matt's revelation and Zidane's, other than the fact that they are showing back-story.
Just 4 reviews - It's one of my dreams, to be a published author. I don't know if it'll ever happen, but the hope is always there. As for your ideas, well, you'll see how they play out.
And now, the curtain rises on Chapter 21. I apologise if grammatical increments are missing, the document manager site seems to be eating them…
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The ceremony was being held in the Celestria Castle Great Hall. The pieces were set and the game was ready to play. Mimi was standing in an antechamber with the rest of the official bridal party. Ken was already up on the stage. Mimi could see him through the door ajar, and she could tell just by looking that he was every bit as overwrought as she. In contrast to the innumerable times her mother had met with his, she had met with him only twice. One dinner and one walk through the castle gardens. Both were extremely awkward. Very few words had been exchanged. Ken had been the epitome of courtesy, but nonetheless most distant. Mimi had the distinct impression that he was as unenthusiastic about this wedding as she.
But there was no time to think about that. Mimi heard the bridal march begin. She wanted to run far and fast. But the rest of the wedding party blocked the only exit. The flower girl and page boy moved out onto the red carpet. Mimi couldn't help but smile as they left. So young, so innocent. Completely naïve to the way the world could screw you over in a matter of seconds. The flower girl, Mimi's cousin, wore a frilly baby pink silk dress. Her father was Mimi's uncle and he ruled over a distant town. The page boy wore a miniature tuxedo, with a tiny white and pink rosebud in his buttonhole. He was the son of a friend of Ken's mother.
The carpet was long, opulently decorated with bows and bouquets of flowers, but the children soon reached the Master of Ceremonies. Then, in a perfect unison resultant of three dress rehearsals, Mimi's seven bridesmaids began to stream out onto the floor. Each was accompanied by a sombre looking groomsman. The bridesmaids were comprised of practically anybody of the right age who had come from an aristocratic background, and Mimi only recognised two of them. They were wearing long, dark pink strapless dresses with fluttery fish tails. Each of them had a tiny silver tiara in her hair.
Mimi watched all this with a kind of detached air. It was as if she was floating above her body, watching the ceremony without actually being a part of it. She watched the small accidents and giggle fits and was mildly amused, but ultimately indifferent. It didn't really matter in the long run. In twenty years when she was sitting on her throne beside King Ken of Lochney, taking care of an infinite number of infinitesimally unimportant matters, and wondering how soon death could end her suffering, she wouldn't remember that one of her groomsmen had trod on the hem of his partner's dress. She didn't think she would remember most of this day. Only that it had been the last day of her freedom. The last day that she believed in this thing called love.
Her numb, depressed thoughts were interrupted by her father's soft voice. "Come along, my daughter. This has to be done, so let us get it over with." Her father had always been the more sensitive and sympathetic of her parents.
Mimi's own dress was by far the most luxuriant and overdone item in the room. It was made of the finest, purest white silk. The top was strapless and a real boned corset. Mimi had spent two whole hours being tied in so tightly that she could hardly breathe. After the tightly cinched waistline, the dress billowed out into a skirt with a diameter of a metre and a half. She was wearing five petticoats underneath to ensure this stayed so. The skirt itself was many layered; rippling gently at the bottom like a pool of water after a stone has been thrown in. The train for the skirt was three and a half metres long, and required another seven bridesmaids to hold it up. Mimi's veil fell over her eyes to her chest. At the back it was tri-layered, the longest layer reaching the floor. It was attached to her head with her tiara. As a part of this ceremony, this tiara was removed, and the crown of a queen was bestowed upon her. Then the prince kissed his bride.
As Mimi slowly walked up the aisle in time to the music, she watched the people in the audience. The huge hall had been divided in two. The bride's half, and the groom's half. As a royal wedding was a public holiday, almost all of the citizens from both towns were present. On her side, Mimi saw the butchers, the bakers and the candlestick makers all watching her with a kind of fierce loyalty and pride. But underneath that, she could see confusion. Hadn't this girl just been severely ill? And now she was getting married? It was a strange sort of thing, indeed.
On Ken's side she saw much the same thing. But there was one key difference. At the aisle seat of a fairly empty pew stood a young woman, her face awash with tears. Mimi could tell that she was of a low social standing from the clothes that she wore and the way that she stood. She was dressed in black from head to toe, and her wails were unstoppable. Her long purple hair was limp, and fell over her features. Mimi recognised them well. The body racking sobs of someone losing their love forever.
Turning her gaze up to the central stage, she saw Prince Ken gazing down at this girl, longing in his eyes. Longing to help her, longing to comfort her, longing to hold her in his arms. Longing to be with her. Mimi could tell that her tears were knives through his heart. She suddenly understood why he was so uninterested in their union. They were on parallel courses both headed for destruction if this marriage were to take place.
She soon reached where he stood, and her father moved to join her mother in the front pew. Ken turned to face her, a forced smile playing on his lips. Mimi knew she had to act now. She curtsied to him the way she knew was proper, and then stood. Taking his hand in both of hers, she said, "Your highness, as wonderful as you are, I cannot marry you. Go to her."
He looked confused, torn between his love and his sense of duty.
"Go!" encouraged Mimi, extending a slender arm towards the crowd.
Smiling for real this time, he jumped down the stairs three at a time and ran to the purple haired girl. He grabbed her in his arms, kissed her forehead and held her close.
Whispering into her neck, he said to her softly, "We will be alright. We have been blessed. Everything will be alright."
The guests were most confused. They stood and began complaining loudly with each other. What was going on? What had happened? Was this some kind of joke? Were they still going to get their work-free holiday? It was amidst this chaos that Mimi smiled and slid out of the building, taking off at a run.
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I know this was a fairly short chapter, but I wanted a wedding scene. And that's where I'm leaving it. Enjoy the cliffhanger of doom!
Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular
"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
