~ Kurane: Ok, where the heck are Krayon and Erutis?
Raenef: I think they went to the sparring field.
Kurane: Oh for the love of -! Those two picked a wonderful time for a date!
Meruhesae: Has anyone seen Eclipse?
Kurane: Meru! You get to do the chapter intro while I go round up the rest of the crew!
Meruhesae: (raised eyebrow) Meru?
Chris: The evil fox demon hopes you enjoyed the story so far, and here's chapter four.
Meruhesae: I think that was supposed to be my line. ~
Chapter 4
If Ren and Cael had been nervous before, they were terrified now. Their fear stemming largely from the number of demons in the room, not to mention the fact that Eclipse was seated not too far from them. A glance from Meruhesae sent Prince Cael running to grab her a chair and after everyone had taken a seat, there was a tense silence.
Cassandra glanced over at her daughter, "Darling, who is our new guest?"
Miralyn glanced over at Eclipse and had to stifle a laugh. The powerful and terrifying Eclipse...was hiding behind his demon lord. She stood and excused herself before teleporting a safe distance away so that Eclipse wouldn't hear her laughter. Erutis sighed and shook her head, "This is Meruhesae. She's a demon seer and all around pain in the ass. Happy?"
Her mother smiled blissfully, "Very."
Meruhesae gave Erutis an annoyed look, "Watch what you say little girl, who do you think is going to be officiating your wedding?"
Ren and Cassandra burst out, "I think not!! Our little girl is not going to have some demon officiating at her wedding!!!"
Krayon coughed, looking somewhat uncomfortable, "Actually...we do need Meruhesae to officiate or my demonic kin won't recognize it."
Erutis shot him a glance, "When were you planning on telling me this?" He shrugged apologetically.
Miralyn returned at that point and suggested, "Why not have Chris officiate? He is a priest after all."
Raenef grinned, "That's a great idea! Chris is a priest of Rased, so he could do it!"
Krayon flinched, "Somehow I don't think asking Rased to bless the marriage of a demon and a human is such a good idea...." Eclipse stood and excused himself with a bow before disappearing.
----
When Eclipse returned moments later with a rather crispy looking priest, the argument was at a standstill. Miralyn sighed as she approached Eclipse, "Excessive force, as per usual. Good thing I'm skilled at healing magic."
"I wonder why that might be." Erutis muttered under her breath as she glanced at her chosen fiancé. Krayon's servant smirked slightly before returning her attention to the crispy priest.
Krayon pulled Erutis close to him and smiled contentedly, "It will be very nice to have everyone at the wedding, won't it?"
His fiancé curled up against him, "Hmm. Somehow I don't think this will be ending very peacefully. As per the usual."
Her parents both arched an eyebrow, "Oh? Did something happen, dear?"
"…Not really, no." She muttered evasively.
Krayon looked down at her, "Hm? You mean you don't want to tell them about how you were kidnapped, almost killed, and then rescued?"
"WHAT!?!"
Erutis sighed, "No, I was hoping to leave that part out."
Her fiancé shrugged, "Oops."
----
It took a while to run through the story of being kidnapped by Saryn - the now deceased, but formerly fourth eldest demon lord -, then being thrown off a parapet, and being rescued by Krayon. After the story was finished, there was a long silence that went unbroken by any of the people seated in the room.
Such silences, as always, do not last very long…
Cassandra pulled her daughter into her arms, "You must have been scared." Erutis stiffened slightly; her mother was unpredictable and could change from sweet to homicidal in the blink of an eye.
Several moments passed in silence. No sudden outbursts from her mother, no comments from Chris or Prince Cael…
"I was so worried about you!!" Her mother suddenly wailed, "You never wrote to us to let us know how you were doing or where you were! WHY didn't you write to us!?!"
Erutis shifted uncomfortably, "Mother, do we have to talk about this right now? Can't we talk about it later?"
Luckily for the sword master, Meruhesae was too busy teasing Eclipse to comment at that moment. Cassandra's eyes narrowed, "Why would we need to leave it for later?"
Before Erutis could say anything, Raenef burst in, "We need to plan the party for the wedding!" All eyes turned to the blonde demon lord before sharing glances of consideration. There were a few nods that turned to murmurs of agreement and suggestions of locations. Rising from the sofa, the sword master excused herself and went outside for a breath of fresh air.
----
Erutis sighed, "I knew this was a bad idea."
"Oh come on, your family isn't that bad Erutis. Besides, you knew this was going to happen eventually once you agreed to marry the curly haired idiot." Chris pointed out as he moved to stand next to her. To his surprise, he wasn't smacked senseless or yelled at. "Erutis? …You really are worried about this, huh?"
"No...yes…" Erutis frowned in annoyance, "Hell, I don't even know right now." She began pacing in irritation, "I wasn't expecting Prince Cael to drop by, and I sure as hell didn't expect to find out that we're technically betrothed."
"You can't just tell him the arrangement is cancelled? I don't think he wants to compete with a demon lord." An amused smirk curled his lips, "Especially not with Eclipse around and obviously on your side."
The sword master chuckled, "True enough." Her smile turned into a frown, "Even if that does work, I don't have the faintest idea of how to plan this sort of thing…damn this is going to be a headache."
"You can leave the planning to me if you wish, my lady." Miralyn's voice came from behind the two.
The bride-to-be turned to the silver haired woman, "Really? You would be willing to take care of it?"
Krayon's servant smiled, "Of course. I already have a few ideas for the ceremony as it is, so it won't be a problem."
Erutis hugged her, before pulling back and giving her a stern look, "Nothing too girly or sappy, ok?" There was laughter before she was assured that there was no need to fear.
----
Chris wandered back into the house and went in search of Prince Cael, he had a few ideas of how to discourage the man from trying to crash the wedding or steal the bride. He found the man hiding out in the kitchen and sat down at the table with him, "Greetings Prince Cael, we haven't really had a chance to be introduced, have we? My name is Chris, the next High Priest of Rased."
The prince smiled at him, "Ah yes, that's right. I find it somewhat odd that a priest of Rased would be associating with demons. How did that happen?"
"It's part of my training." Chris replied casually, as he changed the topic with an unusual lack of tact, "So, what are you planning to do about your arranged marriage to Erutis? Now that she has chosen a fiancé, I mean."
Cael blinked, "I plan to take it to the Royal Court, of course. My arrangement to marry her was cemented first, so I should gain the fair Erutis' hand in marriage."
'Wow, he's dumb.' The priest thought with a sigh. He shook his head, "I'll be blunt with you; don't. Erutis will hate you forever whether you win or lose since you will have spoiled things for her, and Krayon or someone else will be very likely to kill you if you try." He smiled, "I'm only telling you this because I want things to go smoothly for Erutis."
"….I see. Perhaps you have a point though, I would not want to invoke the wrath of Eclipse…or Erutis." Cael shuddered.
"No, no you wouldn't. I know from experience on both accounts."
The prince blinked and eyed Chris with new respect, "And yet you still live…"
----
Cassandra smiled as she approached Chris, "Thank you for stopping that irritating prince. He would have ruined everything for Erutis.
"I didn't do much, all I did was tell him the truth."
She chuckled, "I especially liked the part about Krayon or "someone else" killing him if he interfered."
The priest blinked in surprise, "Ah, you heard that did you? I just hope Erutis didn't, she might get annoyed."
----
To no one's surprise, Prince Cael announced that he was no longer a contender for Erutis' hand. Naturally, this news made a certain sword master and her demon fiancé rather happy. Miralyn handled all the arrangements and before anyone knew it, two months had passed and the big day was upon them.
----
Erutis paced nervously in her room, she was more than a little concerned that Miralyn had not mentioned a dress in the whole two months leading up to this day. "What is she plotting?"
"Plotting? Now that's not very nice to say about the one who planned your wedding." The demon commented as she entered the room with a garment bag in her hands.
"Miralyn! What's in the bag? I was worried that you never even mentioned a dress during the planning, but I should have known you would have something in mind already." The nervous bride-to-be exclaimed as she approached the other woman.
Miralyn sighed, "Take a breath, dear girl. It won't do you any good if you freak out before the ceremony. Besides, if you panic, Krayon will be…unhappy." She set the garment bag on the bed and opened it to reveal the gown.
"That brings back memories…" Erutis smiled faintly as she trailed her hands over the material.
The silver haired demoness smiled, "I thought it would, now we need to hurry and get you ready or Krayon will get impatient."
----
"What do you think?" Raenef asked as he opened the garment bag he had brought into Krayon's room, "It was Miralyn's idea."
The demon lord was silent for a moment before smiling softly, "I think I owe her a great deal more than I ever could have imagined."
Raenef grinned, "Let's hurry and get you ready, it's almost time!"
Krayon bit his lip momentarily, "It's odd, I feel…nervous."
"That's normal. Everyone gets nervous when they're about to tie the knot." Chris replied as he closed the door behind himself. "Raenef is right though, you need to hurry and get ready."
----
The ceremony was smaller than Erutis had expected, with a small handful of powerful Demon Lords, and a few people from Erutis' hometown that came to watch, and it was conducted in an old chapel with stained-glass windows. Miralyn had spent a great deal of time cleaning the place up and decorating it with flowers, cream-colored streamers and pale gold candles.
With Meruhesae and Chris, both in formal officiating-priest/demoness attire, standing at the front of the room, Krayon walked up the aisle with Raenef following and waited for Erutis to make her entrance. The demon lord fidgeted slightly and Chris gave him an annoyed look, "Just relax already, this won't take long and then you can hide away with Erutis for a while."
Krayon was about to make a reply to that when the music announcing the bride's entrance began. His breath caught in his throat for a moment when he saw her walk in on her father's arm in a very familiar gown. The demon lord smiled, she was wearing the exact same gown she had worn the night of their blind date.
Erutis smiled at her curly-haired idiot, he was wearing the light blue suit from the night of their blind date. Her father noticed the smile and asked curiously, "Is there some private joke I'm missing?"
The bride chuckled quietly, "Something like that."
Ren shrugged and brought Erutis to where Krayon was waiting, "Take good care of my little girl." The demon lord nodded, promising that he would.
Erutis smiled at Krayon as they approached the two officiators, "I'm kind of glad we didn't write our own vows, that would have been too sappy."
"Perhaps." He smiled, holding her closer.
----
After the officiating was more or less over, Chris glanced at the audience, "If anyone has any objection to these two being wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The room was quiet, except for the muttering of the demon lords, and after an appropriate length of time, Chris and Meruhesae continued, "We now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the -" Before they had the chance to finish that statement, Krayon's lips were already locked on Erutis'.
Chris shook his head and muttered, "Curly haired idiot."
----
The bride and groom stayed for the reception and to speak with the demon lords, but after a couple hours of this, Erutis wanted nothing more than to leave. Chris must have said something to annoy Eclipse, because the next thing everyone knew, there was a loud explosion from the other side of the hall. All eyes turned in that direction, and the guests wandered over to see what had happened. Krayon glanced down at Erutis and whispered, "I think now would be a good time to make our escape, love."
Erutis grabbed his wrist and the two ran for it, leaving the wedding reception behind as they teleported to Krayon's castle. A sigh of relief escaped the bride, "Finally, some peace and quiet." The curly haired demon lord chuckled mischievously and picked her up, carrying her bridal style towards his – now their – room.
(A/N: It's finished! Yay! The characters went kind of OOC, but oh well. Anyway….as you know by now, I do not own Demon Diary or the characters. I own only the plot of this fic. Sorry, this is the end, and there will be no more chapters to this fic.)