Okay, first things first: this is LONG. Second things second: it jumps time quite a bit. Big gaps mean a timeskip.

Day 28

The First and Last Time

(Sophie/Julian)

Sophie knew something was wrong the moment that she walked into her front room and found Julian and his parents there, as well as both of her own parents. "What's going on?" she asked, freezing in the doorway.

"Ah, Sophie, there you are," her father said in a horribly casual voice that did nothing to assuage her fears. "Do come and sit down."

She was never told to sit down in her own house unless it was a 'family meeting'. And a 'family meeting' with Julian there couldn't be good by any standards.

"Sophie, we have a very important thing to discuss with you," her mother said, beaming. "Mr Konzern has approached your father and asked that you accept his son's hand in marriage!"

One glance at Julian told Sophie that the blonde-haired Italian hadn't been informed of this plan either. "What?" she gasped. "N-no! Julian's my team-mate, I can't marry him!"

"Father! Why was I not informed of this?" Julian asked, jumping to his feet and facing his father. "I knew you were arranging something for me, but to Sophie?"

Both sets of parents fixed their offspring with fierce glares. "Sophie," her father said sternly, "You are the heir to our family name and fortune, and Master Konzern is the same. This would be an ideal match to bring together our families and hopefully expand both of our businesses."

"But daddy!"

"Sophie! Listen to your father." Her mother folded her arms. "You are both of marriageable age now, and we have been attempting to organise a suitable match for you for many years. You won't get a better offer than this, and it will certainly strengthen both our name and our brand if it is coupled to the Konzern family."

"Father, this is a bad idea," Julian was saying. "I... I can't marry a team-mate... a friend. It will end in flames and both our names being dragged through the mud."

His father gave him a stern look. "I expect you to both anticipate that threat and neutralise it. You are my son, and that is what the Konzerns do. We will need this marriage to cement our place in France as a centre of commerce."

Julian looked utterly conflicted. "I..." he began, apparently trying to come up with an argument that would persuade his father. Then his shoulders sank as his quick mind made short work of all the possible options that his parents would allow. "Yes, father."

Sophie was a little slower to realise exactly why her parents had chosen Julian as her future marriage partner. When the shock of the announcement had passed, it all made a horrible sort of sense. Of course. Julian was the oldest child of his family, just as she was the eldest of hers. In the recession, business deals needed some sort of surety to rest on, and a marriage would do that for both families right now.

Julian looked across at her, his expression pained but resigned. He knew what she was thinking.

She didn't love him. In fact, it had been less than a month before that he, Wales and Klaus had been teasing her about staring at a certain red-haired member of the Hundred Schools of Beylin Fist. And she was fairly certain that Julian himself had at least one eye on a young woman who was rising up the European ranks very quickly and looked to be a formidable opponent in a few years.

At least we actually know each other...

She was her parent's daughter, and he was his parent's son – and he was a Konzern. Neither of them could back down from a challenge, not even one as life-changing as this.

They would just have to make the best of it that they could.

"Alright," she said, trying desperately to hide her true expression, and her father beamed.

"Perfect!" he smiled. "We'll make the announcement immediately."

.

The announcement might have been immediate (and noisy – the press were delighted to have the news that two of Europe's top bladers were getting married, though there was some leaning on various editors so that the actual date was not released) but the arrangements took several months to complete. All the way through Sophie and Julian studiously avoided each other. It was easier that way than trying to navigate the quagmire of family politics to reach a place – any place – where their friendship could stand firm again.

The wedding itself, when it finally happened, was quiet, only witnessed by Wales, Klaus and their four respective families. Neither bride nor groom had the heart to invite any of their wider circle of friends to a wedding that was for business reasons rather than love. Even Wales and Klaus had been a difficult decision, despite them both knowing the way that the match had been arranged. Julian's brother stood as his best man, and Sophie had her sister and one of her cousins as bridesmaids. Sophie wore a dress of her mother's creation, asymmetric in design, cream dusted with minute embroidered flowers in silver and gold thread. As was tradition, she wore the full-length lace veil that had been passed down through her family, and when the vows were exchanged, Julian silently lifted it and leant forwards to kiss her gently on the lips. She saw the frustration in his eyes, and tried not to cry. She had wanted her wedding to be perfect. She had forgotten that she had duties to do, and duty came before love.

They didn't bother with a honeymoon, simply disappearing off to one of Julian's holiday homes for a couple of days. They spent their time either on the beach (cleared, as usual, by the strength of Julian's family name) or beyblading against the locals, who were very surprised to find a pair of world-champion level bladers descending on their town. Most evenings, Sophie would curl up in the armchair and read, and Julian would play the grand piano until one or both of them decided to go to bed – in separate rooms. To be any closer was more than they were prepared to do.

.

Time drifted by slowly. Most of the time, it was alright. Neither of them had to associate with the other outside of the time they spent as a team, and then Sophie was more than happy to pretend that Julian was nothing more than her team-mate, her captain, her friend.

There was a silent, tacit agreement between them that, should any affairs be begun, the other would be quietly informed and all press kept out of it. After all, they jointly decided, they deserved happiness. Julian went back to the tournaments in a managerial capacity, helping to fund them as the world slowly got back on its feet, and watching the young firecracker who was shooting up the ranks very closely. Sophie exchanged many letters, parcels, designs and ideas with a young man in a mountain fortress on the other side of the world.

But nothing came of it. They both came back home to the mansion alone, and sat down in front of the fire with their books and their music, quite content.

.

The first big news came when Tsubasa was made the Director of the WBBA, only five years after Nemesis was defeated and only three after Sophie and Julian's arranged marriage. The appointment wasn't the news, oh no. They'd been expecting the silver-haired young man to take over from Ryo for ages.

No, the news was the announcement that Beylin Temple were not going to be attending the local tag-team tournament because they were attending a wedding. And not even one of their members' weddings. This was the double wedding of Bao and Aguma to their own pre-arranged partners, Mara and Takara. Sophie wondered at the fact that she was genuinely happy for Bao, as not only was he now in the same situation as she was, but she had also been nursing a crush on him. It was quite the shock to her to discover that said crush had vanished some time ago, and she had no idea when.

But Bao and Aguma seemed to have been the lucky ones. When Team Excalibur went to battle in a charity tournament in China, Sophie managed to spot them in the crowd and wandered over to talk to them on the pretext of checking with Bao how their joint ideas were coming across. Instead, she found out that yes, the weddings might have been arranged, but the participants had been willing from the beginning; childhood sweethearts, almost.

When she heard this, Sophie couldn't help but feel jealous. If she followed her family, she would lose one of her best friends. But if she kept her friend, she would lose her family.

How was it that some people just seemed to get everything?

.

"Did you hear?" Julian said one day, looking over the top of his finance records at her. "Apparently there's been some big to-do down in South America. Their team broke up. The girl, Selen – she's run away."

"Run away?" Sophie sat up straight and looked at her husband. "Really?"

"Well, eloped," he admitted. "Her and that strange cat-boy. Sources think that they're going to try and open a cat shelter together."

Sophie frowned. "How odd," she said. "I was certain she was with Damian."

.

Things very slowly began to change in the house. Some nights, Sophie would put down her book and go to help with the financial records for their now-joint company. Others, he would put down the records and come and read with her. They started on separate chairs, but eventually they found themselves sitting side by side on the sofa.

It was on one of these occasions that Sophie suddenly laid her bookmark across her page and poked her husband – her friend – until he looked up at her.

"What is it, Sophie?"

"I've been invited to Mei-Mei's wedding," she said. "She wants me to be one of the bridesmaids."

She was half-expecting him to just say "Hmm, oh yes?" and move on, but instead he looked up at her. "May I come along?" he asked.

Surprised, she told him yes before checking. Not that it mattered. Mei-Mei's wedding was one of the most beautiful ceremonies she had been to for many years, and it was clear that the groom utterly adored her – and was adored in return.

Julian returned from the wedding quiet and pensive, and didn't speak to her for a couple of days. She wasn't hurt – he'd not spoken for a week once – but she was worried. He was her closest friend and she didn't want him to be miserable. But soon enough he snapped out of it, and the daily grind was restored.

Except that, when he finished his books in the evening, he came over to sit on the sofa next to her, and fell asleep on her shoulder.

.

When Madoka announced to the world that she was retiring from mechanic bey repairs, there was an original outpouring of grief at the soon-to-be loss of a valued member of the beyblade community. But when she admitted that she would be going to live with Dynamis, the newspapers suddenly got more excited than Tithi in a beybattle.

"Why Dynamis?" Sophie asked when she went to visit.

"He just felt right," Madoka answered. "He was right for me, I was right for him. We work."

And Julian and Sophie just looked at each other and wondered if they would find someone somewhere who would "work" for them.

.

Lera and Aleksei were the next ones to fall into marriage, and this time both Sophie and Julian were directly invited. They went, watched the happy couple as they danced, and tried not to remember that they had a public meeting to go to the next day, when they would have to pretend to be happily married or else the press would go wild.

Partially to encourage the other couples and partially to have something to do, Julian offered her his hand to dance the waltz, and she naturally accepted. He was an excellent dancer, after all, and she was almost his equal. They even got a round of applause at the end, which Sophie accepted gracefully and Julian ignored.

But when Sophie finally managed to sit down at the table again, she found that she couldn't look at the man who was her husband.

Her skin tingled where he had touched her hand.

.

"Sophie! Sophie! Where are you?"

The shout was loud and rather unexpected. Julian wasn't meant to be home from a meeting with the board of directors of his company for another hour. But there was something strange about his voice. He hadn't sounded angry or merely questioning. He'd sounded scared.

"Sophie!"

That time, the shout had been unmistakably tinged with fear. Her heart almost stopped, and she ran for the stairs that would take her down to the ground floor. She only made it to the second landing when he took three huge, bounding steps up the stairs and caught her up in his arms, holding her away from him for a second as if checking her over for injuries before pulling her back into a bone-crushing hug. For a moment she just stood there, stunned.

"I thought I'd lost you," he said, and he was trembling.

"J-Julian?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "A gang of bandits broke into the estate down at the far end. I thought that the servants would deal with them, so I left it and went out. But when I came back, the front window was shattered and the door was wide open and the police were outside. I... I thought you'd... when you didn't answer, I... Sophie, I'm so glad you're safe."

She couldn't say anything, but wound her arms tighter around his waist, drawing comfort from his strength. She had heard the commotion downstairs and had realised immediately that something was wrong, but when the police had arrived she had decided that it was probably safe to come out of her room, where she had bolted herself in at the first realisation of trouble. Julian had arrived only minutes after the police cars.

She pressed her face against his shoulder, only for him to release her from the hug and gently grip her chin in one hand, tilting it up so that she was looking him in the eyes.

Then, to her complete surprise, he kissed her.

It wasn't one of the faint pecks that they gave each other during public appearances when it was called for. It wasn't the apologetic kiss he had given her on her wedding day. It was a proper kiss, a kiss that should only be given between spouses, soul-mates, lovers. Something in her chest suddenly loosened and she took one of her arms from around his waist and instead twined it around his neck, pulling him closer.

A few seconds later, he broke the kiss and pulled away, face brilliant scarlet. For the longest time, neither of them said anything. They couldn't even break eye-contact.

"Did... did you really mean to do that?" she asked, not wanting to move but at the same time knowing how awkward this could get any second.

His eyes were wide and brilliant. "Yes," he breathed. "Yes, I meant to do that."

"Good," she said, suddenly confident – suddenly happy. "Then you can do it again if you like."

When he did exactly that, she hummed happily and melted into him, every part of her wondering how on earth she had got here but knowing full well that – just like Madoka had said – this was right, this was good, this was exactly where she was meant to be in that moment in time.

He let her go a second time and stepped back, leaving her standing on her own. "I don't understand," he said quietly. "I thought... I thought this couldn't work. We were too different, we were just going to be friends... and then this happened."

But it was working – at least, if the faint flush of red through his cheeks was a blush and not fever.

Somehow, Julian Konzern and Sophie had managed to fall in love, without ever meaning or even wanting to.

.

After that, things suddenly got a lot easier. They no longer slept in separate rooms, though neither of them were quite ready to graduate to the same bed even though they were actually married. They were still feeling their way, not sure of the path, but sure of the one standing beside them, ready to catch them if they fell. Love was a scary place when they had been fighting it for so long.

"Sophie," Julian said one evening as they sat together on the sofa. "I've been thinking. When we got married, it... wasn't the greatest of successes, was it?"

She laughed and tucked her head onto his shoulder. "No, you can say that again. Why?"

He stretched his long legs out towards the crackling fire. "I was wondering if we should have a vow-renewal ceremony now that we... well, now that we actually mean the vows. One that our friends can all come to – a proper celebration."

"Like we're having our wedding all over again," she breathed, turning to look at him with shining eyes. "Oh, Julian, that's perfect."

Considering the enthusiasm with which she kissed him, he believed her.

.

As it turned out, planning a vow-renewal ceremony was even more complicated than the original wedding had been. First of all, whilst their parents whole-heartedly supported the endeavour, Sophie and Julian wanted it to be their day, and so they were going to organise the whole thing themselves. It meant many days out to find the best venue, long and complicated phone-calls to caterers, flower-arrangers, kitchen staff, tailors, dressmakers, milliners, hotels and more, and more than one argument over the length of the guest list. But they always made up again afterwards.

"Do you know if anyone's seen Gingka recently?" Sophie asked one evening, looking up from the pile of invitations she was ticking off. Julian frowned.

"I don't think he's been in any tournaments on any level since the Nemesis Crisis," he said. "I think he's been seen occasionally, but he's travelling around the country. Send it to Tsubasa, see if he can find out where he's gone."

She nodded and noted down the address on the outside of the envelope. "I think that's all of them." She put the pen down with a sigh. "Perfect. Now all we have to do is make sure they catch the evening post."

"I'll do that," Julian offered without looking up from his list. "We've definitely got enough room for all of them to stay?"

"Easily," she confirmed. "Even if they bring their families, we'll have enough room."

"Perfect." He stood up and stretched. "I've been stuck inside all day; let's both walk out to the town and get these invitations posted, shall we?"

.

The guests started arriving almost a week before the celebration, due to the time when they were able to get away from their work.

"Sophie!" Hikaru exclaimed as she walked through the main door. "It's wonderful to see you again."

Hyoma, pale-blue hair now worn rather longer than before, held his hand out to Julian. "I'm Hyoma," he introduced himself. "I don't think we've met, but I've watched your battles for a long time."

"And I yours," Julian replied. "Come with me; your room is up these stairs..."

.

To Sophie's surprise, the next group to arrive came from America. Masamune, King, Chris, Zeo and Toby all arrived at once, King grinning as he shook Julian's hand. Sophie hid a smile as she remembered the time when she had wondered if she was in love with King. After all, the young European was so very similar to her husband - but Julian was Julian and King was King, and she only loved one of them.

.

When the large group from Japan and Africa arrived, there was almost no controlling the Americans. Somehow, someone had managed to find Kyouya of all people, and had strong-armed him into appearing (Sophie strongly suspected a mixture of Hikaru, Madoka, Tsubasa and Benkei). Madoka, arm in arm with tall Dynamis, shook her head as King instantly challenged Kyouya to a rematch of their long-ago battle after the Nemesis Crisis.

.

The astronomers arrived next, Aleksei, Nowaguma, Lera and Yuki all together. Lera was very pregnant, but that didn't stop her from keeping tabs on all of 'her' boys almost twenty-four seven. Sophie assumed that she was used to doing it after years of tracking them to within millimetres on board space-craft.

.

They were all sitting in the front room when the butler looked in to tell them that the group from China had finally arrived. All the women greeted Mei-Mei happily, fully aware that despite promises none of them had managed to keep in touch since Mei-Mei's own wedding to the young brown-and-yellow-haired man beside her. On the other hand, Sora didn't even notice that Julian was offering him his hand to shake, as he was too busy staring around the enormous hallway. Da Shan clipped him around the head to get him to pay attention.

Right on the heels of that group came the other half of the Chinese group; the Beylin Fist. Julian had been very surprised when Sophie had insisted that Bao was invited to the ceremony, and of course wherever Bao went Aguma followed. The two Beylin Fist leaders also had their own wives with them, and Bao had his tiny one-year-old daughter asleep against his shoulder when they arrived.

"She's called Zhi," he said when Sophie asked, every inch the proud father.

.

The last people to arrive were (strangely) Wales and Klaus, considering that they lived closest to the pair. When Klaus spotted his old friend Aguma, his eyes immediately lit up, which made Bao and Wales exchange exasperated glances.

"Go on," Bao sighed. "If you're going to fight, just... not in the garden? Zhi's asleep."

.

Sophie couldn't really be nervous about the vow-renewal. After all, she'd done it all before, years ago. But at the same time, it was all different. This time, the friends she had made over the years were all around her. This time, she had bridesmaids who hadn't been pulled from the ranks of her family members at the last minute to make up numbers. This time, she was actually going to mean it.

"Ready to go?" Madoka asked her quietly. "Dynamis says they're ready for you."

Sophie drew in a deep breath, feeling the fabric of her golden silk dress move with the flow of air. Tiny gold and silver flowers, just like the ones that had been embroidered on her first dress, were woven into her hair, but the dress itself had tiny pearls and crystals as decoration. The veil, not traditional but somehow feeling necessary, was sheer gold chiffon with scalloped edges in gilded thread and beads. It was a masterpiece of design, and it was all Sophie's, right down to some of the stitching.

She had been the first to get married, barely eighteen and still completely unaware of what love really was. And now it seemed that she was going to be the last out of the girls to get married as well – married properly, that was. In its own way, this was one of the biggest steps in her life.

All the people who had come to support her and Julian here had taught both of them so much about life, and about love.

The group from the Dungeon Gym had taught them that no matter what, true friends stood by you. All of them had learned that the hard way – Chris and King through abandonment, Masamune, Zeo and Toby through illness and mental subjugation.

Hikaru and Hyoma had taught them to be steadfast, and to hold on in the face of adversity.

Madoka and Dynamis had taught them how to predict each other's every move, just by knowing the other inside out and back to front.

Lera and Yuki had taught them that sometimes your passion could be unexpected and unusual – and that it wasn't always impossible to follow your dreams, even to the stars.

Mei-Mei had taught her the value of saying no when you weren't sure. Sora taught Julian the value of never giving up. Together, they had taught the pair how to laugh at themselves, and how to make up after a fight.

Kyouya had taught them to be fierce. Benkei had taught them to follow each other even into the valley of the shadow of death, because at least then there was someone to talk to. Yuu had taught them to be gentle. Tithi had taught them to be kind. Kenta had taught them that nothing was impossible. Tsubasa had taught them to be honourable and to keep to the rules. Aguma had taught them never to judge by appearances.

And Bao?

Bao had silently placed a strong metal box on the table in front of her the night before, a box covered in the finest silver filigree designs. Inside, safely wrapped in layer upon layer of cloth for protection, was the most beautiful glass cake-topper she had ever seen. The woman's dress was an exact replica of her own, and the man was the spitting image of Julian. She had recognised the handiwork instantly – Bao's own, and the box was Aguma's through and through.

"Glass princess, you and your husband began the trend of investing in indigenous crafts, and almost single-handedly saved the market," Bao told her when she had tried to protest that he couldn't give her this, it was far too much (part of her mind burned when she realised that he was still calling her by that old name). "Because of you, the Hundred Schools of Beylin Fist are now renowned for the beauty they produce as well as their strength. We owe much of our existence to you. We'd have starved last winter without those funds from selling the stuff we made."

"And what he's not telling you is that it's his masterpiece," Aguma whispered to her when Bao was out of earshot. "Nearly fifty hours of work in that to make it perfect."

The gift had been nearly priceless. But the friendship and the love offered to her so freely by not only Bao and Aguma but by every single person who had turned up on their doorstep with bags – and often families of their own – in hand was beyond all price.

Every blader – every friend – had always had something to offer them.

And so this time, when she walked down that aisle and let the veil fall at last and said "I do," she would say it with all of her heart.

Well, that's the end. I'd be interested to find out what your favourite pairings/chapters were, so go ahead and tell me!

A formal request for critique on the whole of the fic – I'd like to know if there's any areas where you'd have liked to see something improved/suggestions for how I could make things better etc. I want to learn and get better.

On a personal level, I still ship Hikaru and Hyoma, but I now also ship Mei-Mei/Sora, Selen/Johannes with past Selen/Damian, Sophie/Julian, Lera/Yuki, and Madoka/Dynamis or Madoka/Gingka depending on the situation (no Madoka/Gingka in this chapter, for example, because Gingka is missing...). Talk about crack!

These pairings may make their way into some of my other fics as background, especially if my characters are older.

On another note, like I said earlier I will not be uploading very much (please note, I'm not saying I won't upload AT ALL, just hardly anything) for a while as I have university to pass. Normal (or better!) service will resume once I've stopped procrastinating on my dissertation.