BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. THE MEN IN SUITS OUTSIDE MY HOUSE JUST WANTED ME TO TELL YOU ALL THAT.
I know that some of you wanted the wedding chapter to come soon, but more of you wanted me to wait a bit, so here's what I'm gonna do: I'm going to do this episode chapter, then a Christmas special (yes, I'm doing one of those), and then the wedding, and then I'll finish the story. Enjoy!
Ben 10: Unlimited
Chapter 27
To Another Shore
The Watchtower
The news of Ben's proposal to Kara spread like wildfire through the Justice League, and the couple was flooded by congratulations. It wasn't just the League that sent well wishes, however; once Verdona found out that her grandson was getting married, after allowing herself to be giddy for a while, she sent a message to Ben's friends back in his universe to let them know what happened, as well as Ben's invitation to the wedding.
As for the wedding itself, it wound up being organized by most of the female members of the League, led by Batgirl, who was beside herself with excitement over both her best friend's wedding, as well as being named the Maid of Honor; the men of the League, on the other hand, did their best to stay out of their way. Unlike with Green Arrow and Black Canary's wedding, which had been very sudden, there was plenty of time to get ready. Speaking of Green Arrow and Black Canary, both had been named as a groomsman and bridesmaid respectively; Diana had accepted Kara's invitation to be her second bridesmaid, and Bruce Wayne had ended up being Ben's other groomsman, much to everyone's surprise.
"I still think it was weird that he accepted while giving me a Bat-glare," Ben had commented later.
Even though the wedding was going to be prepared quickly, there was still the issue of finding a date that everyone could attend; the League was constantly busy, and it was difficult to find a day off for every member. Still, that didn't stop the Leaguers from talking about it whenever they got the chance, which was what Ben, Green Arrow, J'onn and Mister Terrific were currently discussing.
"So, has Kara gone dress-shopping yet?" Green Arrow asked.
"I think so," Ben replied, "she came home a few days ago with a package, but she moved too fast for me to get a look at what it was."
"Definitely a dress," Mister Terrific said, not looking up from his computer. Ben didn't mind; Mister Terrific wasn't being rude, he was just smart enough to do a dozen things at once.
"I have a question," J'onn said, "will… will your grandmother be attending, or will she be called in to save something in your universe again?"
This caused even Mister Terrific to look up in surprise; why was J'onn so interested in what Ben's grandma was doing?
Ben tried his best to hide a smile; Verdona had, in fact, asked if J'onn was going to attend, or if he was going to be stuck on the Watchtower again. Ben wasn't sure when his grandmother had taken an interest in the Martian, but it was nice to see her moving on, just like him.
"She told me she would be there," Ben said, finally giving up on hiding his smile, "but she was hoping that a certain green alien would save her a dance."
J'onn stood up a little straighter. "Ah, I see; then I will do my best to attend."
The other three men all snickered, until a voice behind them called out.
"Something funny?"
Green Arrow turned, then gave a wolf-whistle. "Lookin' good, Diana; got a hot date with a certain billionaire?"
The archer was right, Diana did look good; she wore a smart business jacket over a stylish shirt, as well as a short skirt. For the first time since meeting her, Ben saw that she had tied up her hair into a bun, instead of leaving it flowing down her back.
The princess then shook her head. "No such luck, Ollie; I'm actually representing Themyscira in the climate change conference in Norway."
Oh, that thing, Ben thought; while most of the world had accepted climate change as a real problem, and was working on ways to fix it, several countries had outright denied the existence of the problem. This wouldn't have been a problem, save for the fact that some of those countries had resources vital to some of those projects, hence the reason for the conference.
"Way to go," Green Arrow cheered, "Save the planet!"
"More like, 'save my relationship with my mother'," Diana said ruefully, crossing her arms.
"At least you're speaking to each other again," Ben said, trying to be helpful; when he saw Diana's eyes narrow, just like she did before she started fighting, he added, "Please don't take your sword."
"I'm serious," she said, "I don't want to go by myself; J'onn, how about you come with me?"
"The Justice League currently has over twenty active missions at the moment," the Martian replied, "Only I can effectively coordinate them."
"You can let Mister Terrific handle it," Diana said, "he's smart enough to coordinate missions and do the morning crossword."
"Heck, even I can do it as Grey Matter," Ben added.
"Go ahead, J'onn," Mister Terrific said, leaning back in his chair, "I'm already finished with the crossword."
"You did it in ink again, didn't you?" Green Arrow said in mock-irritation, while Mister Terrific only shrugged.
"Mister Terrific is more than capable," J'onn admitted, "and Ben has proven that he can handle this kind of responsibility, but I insist that I remain where I'm needed."
"Turn around and talk to me," Diana tapped her foot until the Martian did just that, "You've been cooped up here like a hermit for almost two years now; when was the last time you went out on a mission, when we went to Ben's universe?"
"I can better serve the League…" J'onn began.
"Dude," Ben interrupted, "you've got super-strength, near-invulnerability, intangibility, shapeshifting and telepathy; you're made for fieldwork."
Diana nodded, then glared at J'onn. "The only reason you're not out there right now, helping humanity, is because you don't want to be; you don't actually like humans all that much, do you?"
"I don't… dislike them," J'onn finally said.
"You aren't the only one who isn't from here," Ben said, "I mean, you remember how surprised I was when I found out there were more superheroes, and that was just one difference; you can't like something until you explore it more."
"It's worth the effort," Diana added, "humanity is worth the effort."
"They're right, J'onn," Green Arrow said, "you've got to mingle; maybe you should take a few meals in the cafeteria?"
"My Martian physiology doesn't require as many meals as humans do," J'onn said.
"You know what he means," Diana said, "you must be terribly lonely."
Maybe that's why he wanted to see Grandma, Ben thought.
Diana glanced at her cell phone, then looked back at J'onn. "I've got to go, but we're not done talking about this."
As she left, J'onn turned away, and the other Leaguers left him alone with his thoughts.
…
Secret Society Headquarters
"Status report, Mr. Luthor?" Gorilla Grodd asked his newest associate.
"I've successfully augmented the powers and abilities of over a dozen of our associates," Luthor said, leaning back in his chair, "but I've had the most success with Atomic Skull."
Several of the other villains in the room who'd had their powers enhanced nodded at Luthor appreciatively.
"And what about Devil Ray?" Grodd asked about the Society's underwater specialist.
"Ready for action," came Devil Ray's synthesized voice, as he strode into the conference room; he was a tall man, with blue-and-black armor, and a wide helmet over his face. "I feel stronger than ever."
"That's because you are," Luthor explained, "the enhanced strength is the least of the gifts I've given you; your stingers, for example…"
"Perfect timing, Lex," Grodd interrupted, "I've got an assignment that's right up Devil Ray's new and improved alley."
"Just tell me where." Devil Ray punched his open palm in anticipation.
"First, let me tell you a story," Grodd said, leaning back in his chair, "In Scandinavia, early in the Tenth Century, lived Prince John, the greatest warrior of his era. His tremendous skill and valor won him fame throughout the world, as the legendary Viking Prince. His adventures were epic, as were the legends that grew around his exploits.
"Now, this part we know to be truth: on a broken battlefield, Prince John was the sole survivor of a bloody war, its purpose lost to time, met a Valkyrie; a messenger from the Norse gods, she was sent to bring the souls of fallen heroes to their reward in Valhalla. Impossibly, she and Prince John fell in love, and swore their hearts to each other. But Odin, king of the Norse gods, discovered their illicit affair; enraged, he banished the Viking Prince from Valhalla. Prince John pleaded with Odin for mercy, begging to be allowed to remain with his love; Odin agreed, saying that if John died a heroic death, he and his love would again be together for all eternity.
"But Odin was a crafty god, as well as cruel; before exiling John, he gifted him with invulnerability to harm, from metal and fire, to wood and metal, to man or beast. The Viking Prince soon realized that he would never die a hero's death because no weapon on Earth could slay him. Still, he traveled the world, seeking adventure and battle, as well as an honorable death, but distancing himself from humanity. Eventually, weary of the endless fight for justice and despairing in his loneliness, he sailed north, beyond the boundaries of the known world and passed from the knowledge of man."
Grodd leaned forward and placed his furry elbows on the table. "Until now, that is."
"That Viking ship that was found in a glacier in Norway last month?" Luthor guessed, "You think it's his?"
"I know it is," Grodd said confidently, then pressed a button on the table, bringing up an image of the still-frozen ship; Grodd pointed at a symbol on the sails. "That's the standard of King Rick, his father; the Viking Prince is on that ship."
"And?" Devil Ray asked.
Grodd didn't even look at him. "I want you to steal his corpse."
Luthor understood. "You want me to reverse-engineer the secret to his invulnerability."
Grodd smiled. "If we gained that power, all of us, we'd have nothing left to fear from the Justice League, and we'd be that much nearer to my ultimate goal."
A young woman named Killer Frost spoke up. "That's something that I've noticed you haven't told us yet."
It was true; Grodd had often talked of how he had an endgame in mind, but hadn't shared it with anyone.
"Patience, my friends," Grodd said, smiling magnanimously, "the grandest prizes are worth the wait."
…
Norway
Diana sighed in irritation as she left the conference; she had spent several hours trying to convince the representatives to accept that climate change was real, and that they were needed in order to fix the problem. Unfortunately, those representatives were stubbornly denying any evidence, despite anything that Diana or the politicians that had gone with her had said, even the Viking ship that had partially thawed out of the ice thanks to climate change.
Eventually, the Amazon Princess has told the stubborn fools that if they continued to act against the best interest of the world, her mother was considering military action, and most Amazons were almost as powerful as her. She had gone on to assure them that that was a last resort, but had left to get a breath of fresh air soon afterwards.
She was brought out of her musings by a familiar person standing on the balcony in front of her.
"Agent Faraday?" Diana asked, surprised to see the government's liaison to the League, "What are you doing here?"
The agent turned around and blew a bubble with his gum. "Not smoking." He held out a pack containing more gum. "Want some?"
"No thanks," Diana said with a smile.
"I'm here with security," Faraday explained, "since the Vice President's in town; you should know that, since you almost backhanded him into a wall during your little rant."
It was true; Diana waved her arms a little during her talks, and she wasn't looking where she was moving. If her Amazon training hadn't kept her so sharp, she might have accidentally broken the Vice President's neck.
"By the way," Faraday continued, "if you raise your voice in the VP's presence again, my men are under orders to shoot you."
Diana only smiled and rolled back one of her sleeves, where her indestructible bracelet gleamed; then her smile faded, and she sighed again.
"Something else on your mind, Princess?" Faraday asked.
"Just stressed," Diana responded, "between this, my normal duties and helping to plan a wedding, I've got a lot to do."
Before Faraday could ask about the wedding, an explosion rocked the ski-resort that the conference was being held at. While Faraday left to organize the security forces, Diana spread her arms and spun around; in a few seconds, she was in her Wonder Woman outfit, and ready for battle.
She flew down to the glacier below, where she found the villain Firefly melting the ice around the Viking ship, while security forces were engaged with Devil Ray, Killer Frost and Giganta. The soldiers did their best, but they were simply outclassed by the villains. One of the men, who was still conscious, saw Firefly trying to free the ship.
"Stop!" he yelled, "If you pull that ship out, half the mountain is going to come down!"
"So what?" Firefly asked.
"So I'm not going to let you do it," Wonder Woman said, as she flew towards them; Giganta grew in size, but Wonder Woman was undeterred, and punched the size-changer in the face. "Out of my way, jumbo!"
Wonder Woman easily beat back both Giganta and Killer Frost, but then her shoulder was hit by something, and the next thing she knew, she was in unbelievable agony. Within seconds, she was dizzy, and only barely made it to a chunk of ice, which she leaned against.
"You were hit by a poisonous stinger, sweetheart," Devil Ray said, even as he reloaded his wrist-mounted weapons, "It'll kill you slowly and painfully; but today's you lucky day, because I'm about to put you out of your misery."
Just before Devil Ray was about to fire, a withering barrage of bullets bounced off against his armor, Giganta's enormous body, and Killer Frost's shield of ice. Wonder Woman looked up to see two dozen men, armed with jetpacks and automatic rifles, led by Faraday.
"Move it, you gold-prickin' yahoos," he yelled, as he aimed his weapon, "Pour it on!"
Even though they weren't being hurt, the gunfire was enough to force the villains back; while Faraday checked on Wonder Woman, his men provided covering fire.
"You okay?" Faraday asked the now-stumbling Wonder Woman.
"Arm's numb," she said through gritted teeth, "Stomach's not doing so good, either."
"Easy, Princess," Faraday said, "let me look at the wound." He saw the stinger in her shoulder, but didn't wince; he'd seen worse. "The stinger is still in there."
"Take it out." Wonder Woman spat.
"There's a barb," Faraday warned, "If you want a bullet to bite, there's plenty lying around."
"Now!" Wonder Woman steeled herself as Faraday pulled it out then, with all of her willpower, forced herself to stand tall. "Now, let's take them down."
However, in her weakened state, Wonder Woman wasn't that helpful, and the security force found itself overmatched by the supervillains; soon, the Amazon found herself back-to-back with Faraday.
"We should retreat," the man advised.
"I'm not backing down from a fight!" Wonder Woman ducked as Killer Frost shot a blast of ice her way, "But I don't suppose calling for help is backing down."
"I gotta say, it ain't," Faraday agreed, as Wonder Woman reached for her communicator.
…
The Watchtower
"J'onn," Wonder Woman's voice, frighteningly weak, came out over the observation deck, "I need help."
"The Watchtower's sensors picked up tremors near your location," J'onn said, though he and the other heroes looked worried, "I knew you were on the scene and assumed you could handle it."
"Well, I can't," Wonder Woman replied, making them even more worried.
"What's going on?" Ben asked, worried for his friend.
"I'm outnumbered, and I'm not feeling well; Devil Ray hit me with something toxic."
"We're still shorthanded," J'onn said, "I can spare Green Arrow, Ben and Mister Terrific…"
"Take whoever you want, J'onn," Wonder Woman barked, "But I need you!"
…
Norway
Wonder Woman and Faraday were taking cover behind some ice, the only ones left who weren't either unconscious or frozen solid. Faraday fired one last burst from his pistol, before he ran out of ammo.
"Well," he said, only slightly worried, "that bites."
Giganta stomped over to the pair and reached forward, but an exploding arrow struck her hand, causing her to flinch in pain and look for whoever did that.
"What's the matter, honey?" a voice taunted, "Break a nail?"
Giganta looked at the source of the voice. "Green Arrow!"
"Yep," the archer replied, as he nocked another arrow, "and I brought company."
Then J'onn flew forward and decked Devil Ray, while Killer Frost found herself bombarded by spines, courtesy of Porkuspine. Wonder Woman, getting her second wind, went after Giganta, while Green Arrow joined Porkuspine in his attack.
"Never liked ham," Killer Frost remarked, as she blocked another barrage of spines with a wall of ice.
"Maybe yer gonna like tiger better?" Porkuspine said, before turning into Rath.
Killer Frost sent a wave of ice, but Rath jumped out of the way; Green Arrow, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, and was coated in ice.
"Let me tell ya something, Killer Frost!" Rath shouted, "Nobody freezes Rath's teammates! Now you're gonna get it; it's time to go Ultimate!" Rath disappeared in a flash of green light.
"ULTIMATE RATH!" the Ultimate leapt at Killer Frost, his claws outstretched.
"Uh oh," Killer Frost said under her breath, then used her powers to carry herself away on a bridge of ice.
While Ultimate Rath kept her busy, a green, circular blade cut through the ice, and Green Arrow climbed out of his cage.
"And Black Canary said that a buzz-saw arrow was self-indulgent," he remarked to himself.
The rest of the fight was fairly even, though Ultimate Rath did punch Giganta hard enough to slam her into the side of the mountain; still, the villains did everything they could to keep the heroes away from Firefly, who was still melting the ice. J'onn floated down to Wonder Woman, who was taking a breath, her system still fighting the poison.
"They've had every opportunity to retreat," the Martian remarked, "but they keep fighting; what makes that ancient vessel so important?"
"If I can get my lasso around one of them," Wonder Woman said, reaching for said lasso, "I can make them tell."
"Good idea, but save your strength." The Martian's eyes glowed as he stared at Giganta; as soon as he tried to read her mind, he was struck by waves of telepathic feedback, which nearly overwhelmed him. Still, he heard the words "Viking Prince" and "invulnerability to harm", as well as the face of a gorilla.
Giganta cried out in agony and fell backwards, crashing into Firefly and knocking him out, while J'onn fell to the ground.
"J'onn," Wonder Woman asked, "Are you okay?"
"I couldn't get it all," the Martian said, "but we cannot allow them to get that ship!"
Devil Ray dodged another swipe from Ultimate Rath, then saw the partially-melted ice. "Close enough."
The man pressed a button on his gauntlet, and an advanced submarine rose from the water; the sub then aimed a pair of cannons at the semi-frozen ship.
"Fire!" Devil Ray ordered; the cannons launched two large claws, connected to the ship with long cables, then began to drag the vessel away. As it did, chunks of ice began to fall towards the ski-resort, creating a massive avalanche.
"Ben, Green Arrow," J'onn said, "go after that ship; it cannot fall into the wrong hands! I'll handle the avalanche."
Ultimate Rath and Green Arrow nodded, then ran towards the water. After turning back into Rath, Ben then turned into a tall fish-man, with sharp claws on his webbed hands, massive jaws with jagged teeth, and a lure on his head, similar to that of an Angler Fish.
"RIPJAWS!" the fish-man rasped, then leaped into the air; as he did so, his webbed feet were joined together by the loincloth-like skin on his legs, merging them into a large tail. Once he was in the water, Ripjaws sped towards the sub, while Green Arrow fired an arrow with a zip-line on it. The arrow connected to the sub, and the archer zipped over the water, then landed on top of the sub.
As Green Arrow fought his way inside, Ripjaws swam over to the cables and began to chew on them; in only a few bites, the cables were beginning to come apart. Before Ripjaws could finish, however, a stinger shot past his face, narrowly missing his eye. The alien spun around to find Devil Ray aiming at him.
"Try to bite that again," he warned, "and I'll be having fish for dinner."
Ripjaws didn't answer, instead swimming at the villain and tackling him; using his claws, he carved several gashes into the man's large helmet, but Devil Ray punched him in the face before he could breach it. Ripjaws was stunned by the blow long enough for Devil Ray to fire a stinger at him; Ripjaws had no time to dodge, so he angled his head in just the right way so that the stinger bounced off of his large teeth.
Devil Ray lowered his stingers in disbelief. "No way that that should have worked…"
Using the distraction, Ripjaws darted forward and wrapped Devil Ray's helmet in his powerful jaws. Using just enough pressure, Ripjaws cracked the helmet, allowing water to pour in; Ripjaws pulled the man to the surface to prevent him from drowning, then knocked him out.
After handing him to Wonder Woman, who was looking weaker by the moment, he dove back underwater and resumed chomping on the cables. After a few minutes, the cables were severed, and the Viking ship was free.
…
While Ben was saving the Viking ship, J'onn had cornered Killer Frost, dragging her between the resort and the incoming avalanche. As he saw the terrified civilians, J'onn was reminded of why he joined the Justice League in the first place; he wanted to help people, and while he could organize the League effectively, there were others who could do it better. It was here, on the ground, where he mattered the most; he would never forget that again.
"Let me go," Killer Frost demanded, "Or so help me, I'll freeze you in places you didn't even know you had places!"
"Use your powers," J'onn ordered, "Stop the avalanche or everyone behind us will die!"
"Why should I care?" Killer Frost asked sullenly.
"When it hits," the Martian explained, "I intend for both of us to be standing right here."
"I don't even know if I'm powerful enough to stop an avalanche that big!" Killer Frost said, panicking once she'd seen the deadly serious look in the alien's eyes.
"Let's find out, shall we?" J'onn let her go, but kept close enough to grab her again if she tried to run.
Snarling at the hero, Killer Frost turned and drew upon every bit of power she had, creating a wall of ice that was twice the height and five times as thick as the Hoover Dam. Even with all the power behind the avalanche, it was still stymied by the massive wall. Killer Frost fell backwards, not only from exhaustion, but also from relief that she wasn't going to die; fortunately, J'onn caught her.
"You did well," he complimented.
"Kiss my frozen butt," the villainess weakly shot back, before passing out.
As J'onn stood up, he heard cheering behind him; turning, he saw dozens of people smiling and waving at him. J'onn couldn't help but give a small smile back.
If I had decided to stay on the Watchtower, he realized, it's possible that no one would have been able to get Killer Frost to stop the avalanche.
…
Inside Devil Ray's sub, a panting Green Arrow fought through yet another pack of thugs; unlike many supervillains, Devil Ray had a large amount of people working for him. Of course, this didn't make Green Arrow's situation any better.
As he ran through yet another corridor, a man with a rifle stepped in front of him.
"What are you doing in here?" he demanded, before Green Arrow knocked him out.
"Well, for one thing," the archer said, "it's freezing out there!"
When he finally made his way to the bridge, he found that Ben had already freed the ship, so he decided to go with Plan B; in this case, Plan B was to wreck everything on the bridge, making it unusable. Before he could start breaking stuff, he heard the sound of cocking guns; he spun around, but the thugs behind him had him dead to rights.
"If you move," one of them warned, "we're gonna have to mop what's left of you off the floor."
Green Arrow slowly lowered his bow to the ground. "I don't suppose you boys want to talk about this?"
The archer had no idea if the thugs were going to answer, because a light on the bridge began to blink under the words "incoming transmission".
"That's probably for me," Green Arrow said.
Ignoring the archer, one of the thugs activated the communications.
"Attention unidentified craft, this is Special Agent King Faraday. Your vessel is currently surrounded by three United States Navy Seawolf-class submarines. While I strongly suggest that you surrender immediately and prepare to be boarded, I really like firing Trident missiles at tiny subs, so the decision is entirely up to you."
The thugs looked at each other briefly, then tossed their weapons to the deck.
…
A few hours later, the Leaguers, as well as soldiers from several different countries, surrounded the captured sub, as well as the Viking ship. Green Lantern looked at Wonder Woman in concern.
"How's the shoulder?" he asked.
"Better," she answered, rotating her recovering arm, "the antitoxin that was in Devil Ray's belt did the trick; thanks for that, Water Hazard."
Ripjaws had turned into Water Hazard after some of the soldiers got the wrong impression when he smiled at them; he didn't want to start a fight by accident.
"No problem," he said, "I'm just glad that you're okay."
"I still don't get what this was all about," Faraday said.
"They think that the corpse of the Viking aboard that ship holds the secret to invulnerability," Green Arrow explained, then turned to J'onn, "Right?"
"That was their plan," the Martian confirmed, "or as much of it as I could learn before something shut down Giganta's mind."
"The same thing happened to Metallo when we questioned him," Water Hazard added.
"So, these guys were working with Metallo?" Faraday asked.
"And perhaps with others," J'onn said, "Therefore, we cannot leave Prince John's body here; they may attempt to take it again."
Wonder Woman looked up at the frozen ship. "The legend of the Viking Prince is known even to my people; he deserves to be laid to rest according to tradition, and we can do that, as well as make sure that no one can use his body."
"On top of this, something weird is going on," Water Hazard said.
"Yeah," Green Arrow agreed, "strange thefts, supervillains with their heads wired to shut down if you question them… we've got a real mystery here."
"True," J'onn said, "and it is a mystery that you will solve with me at your sides." The Martian looked at Wonder Woman. "You were right, Diana; I have been keeping away from humanity, because I forgot that there were still good people, people that were worth saving. I was reminded of that today, and I won't forget it again; I've decided to take on missions again."
"Great!" Water Hazard clapped the Martian on the shoulder, "I won't be the only shapeshifter on the team anymore!" then he leaned in close and whispered, "And I bet a certain Anodite will be happy to hear it, too."
…
The next day, a group of Leaguers boarded a Javelin with the Viking ship, as well as the Viking Prince, in tow, to pay their respects while Wonder Woman recited a traditional Viking funeral speech, then launched the dead prince into the sun. It was a somber ceremony, but the heroes took solace in the fact that Prince John had done one last heroic act, even in death; he'd kept the power of invulnerability out of the hands of evil.
If that didn't give him a pass into Valhalla, Ben didn't know what did.
And that's the latest story chapter, yay! I know that Ben wasn't focused on very much, and Kara didn't get anything more than a mention, but this chapter was mostly so that I could address one thing that ticked me off to no end in JLU: J'onn leaving the League. I hated it, and I think the only reason they did it was because they didn't know what else to do with him, sort of like Supergirl. And yeah, I plan on getting J'onn and Verdona together; it'll have implications in the sequel, plus it gives me more of a reason to even put her in the sequel.
Now, I've got a Christmas special coming up next, and then, the moment you've all been waiting for:
The Wedding.
Before I go, a shout-out to Kingsid98 for this quote:
Screw the rules, I have muffins!
