A/N: Originally, this was all one chapter, but I had to split it into two uneven parts to better maintain my cliffhanger. Thank you for the reviews!
And now, the royal wedding.
Hinata's new-found status as the best man meant that he was in the Novoselician Embassy at 11:00 am, three hours before the wedding started, in a changing room with Komaeda and the royal male witness, a tall, blond man (albeit shorter and not as handsome as Byakuya Togami). Gray-clothed royal attendants swept around the room, mostly attending to Komaeda; Hinata and the royal witness had been pronounced to be good enough already, what with their gray suits, and were then lead over to some repurposed sinks so that their hair could be washed (despite Hinata's morning shower) in time for the wedding.
Komaeda, meanwhile, had to wear an outfit befitting someone of his station: golden thread rimmed his suit, and his bowtie and boutonnière had to be the exact right shades of gray and white respectively. The entire outfit had been custom-made in Novoselic, the attendants had explained to a curious Hinata.
And then Hinata and the royal witness had been discharged, their hair now nice and clean (again), their clothes still immaculate, so that the attendants could attend to Komaeda.
And this meant that they then had to wait in the, well, waiting room for three hours until the wedding could start. And this meant that the royal witness lectured Hinata on the wedding.
Unlike in standard western-style weddings, in a Novoselican royal wedding, the bride and groom would walk in, followed by the witnesses of the groom's family and the bride's family. This was apparently a tradition dating back to royal Novoselician weddings where the bride or groom marrying royalty was nobility or royalty themselves; however, even when Princess Sophia Nevermind married a Japanese-American millionaire in the 1920s, the custom was still observed.
In any case, Hinata and the male royal witness would walk behind Komaeda, and Sonia's witness (well, technically Komaeda's, but she was asked by Sonia according to the witness) and the female royal witness would walk behind Sonia.
After that, the witnesses would just kind of stand and watch the couple get married, and then follow them out when they were done. Hinata and the other Japanese witness wouldn't understand the ceremony anyway, since it was performed in Novoselician; they would just copy the royal witnesses.
This lesson over, the door to the waiting room opened and in walked the female royal witness, a tall brown-haired woman, and… Mahiru Koizumi. She seemed to be talking animatedly as she entered the room, but as soon as her eyes fell on Hinata she stopped and said, lowly and coldly, "oh, it's you."
The royal witnesses exchanged looks, and then walked to the back of room to stand next to a royal guard with a semiautomatic rifle strapped behind their back. Koizumi, meanwhile, glared at Hinata. She was dressed in a gray dress that looked remarkably like Nanami's; the two were probably still friends (Hinata had never asked), so he wouldn't be surprised if Nanami sent word to her friend about the dress shop she rented from.
While Hinata was pondering this no-doubt important factoid, Koizumi had been glaring at him and uttering some sort of guttural growl. "Is there a problem?" the guard in the back boomed, but Hinata waved him off.
"Hello, Koizumi-san," Hinata said. He tried to smile. Back in school, Hinata and Koizumi had been friends, although Koizumi had always been closer to Nanami; Hinata also knew that Koizumi had been the one who suggested to Nanami that she break up the engagement before Hinata took that step for her, or at least he was pretty sure it was Koizumi: Nanami hadn't said. In any case, he hadn't talked to her in the past three years.
Koizumi sighed, closed her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. When she reopened her eyes, she eyed Hinata and said, "What're you doing here?"
"Nidai was too drunk to be best man," Hinata said. "So Komaeda chose me."
"Just like a man," huffed Koizumi.
"I didn't drink," Hinata pointed out, "I don't think Komaeda did either."
"Yeah, but you guys never drank anyways," Koizumi said. "Not after what happened in second year with Ikusaba-san."
"After what?"
"You were so drunk you forgot, and Chiaki-chan and I decided not to tell you about it," Koizumi said, "although we barely stopped Hiyo-chan from telling you about it."
"What was so bad-"
But Koizumi buried her face in her hands. "It was really embarrassing," she groaned, "okay?"
"Um, alright."
And then the two of them stood in awkward silence. "So, are you going to copy Fujisaki and tell me-"
"I think that you already know," Koizumi said curtly, "and I already talked to Chiaki-chan and if she's willing to let you live in the apartment, then there's no reason I shouldn't either."
The awkward silence resumed. "Hinata," Koizumi said, "don't hurt her again, okay? She's really important to me."
"Yeah, well she's important to me too," Hinata said. "If she wasn't, we wouldn't be in this situation."
"No, if she was important you wouldn't be in this situation," Koizumi said, a flicker of anger passing over her face.
"Yeah, she'd be six-feet-under and I'd be living in the bars," Hinata retorted.
Koizumi blinked and her mouth fell open. "So that's why… I always wondered-"
"Well, you told her that she might as well leave me," Hinata said through grit teeth, "didn't you?"
"Of course not," Koizumi snapped, her anger returned as she took her familiar 'bossy' pose, "I had nothing to do with that! I don't even know who told her that, it wasn't me or Hiyo-chan!"
And then the door opened and Komaeda entered. He looked stunning: his frantic hair was still frantic, but his clothes were radiant in its deep gray and gold trim, his boutonnière was a dazzling white, and he practically exuded confidence. His familiar smirk was in place, and even when his arms crossed his clothes still seemed impeccable. "I see you two are getting along," he said, eyeing first Hinata and Koizumi, then the witnesses and the guard in the back of the room, and then Hinata and Koizumi again. "I don't want any trouble, okay guys?"
"Fine," Koizumi said. She took a seat in a chair and pulled out a phone. "The ceremony will begin soon," she announced.
Hinata checked his own phone in disbelief, but sure enough: it was 1:45. "Where's Sonia-san?" he said aloud.
He was answered when another door opened. Princess Sonia Nevermind entered the room, and she looked absolutely stunning: her wedding dress was fancy, expensive-looking, slightly slim, and gray (the symbol of purity in Novoselic, as noted earlier, due to the long-running trait of gray eyes of the Nevermind family, and who was more pure than the royal family?). Like Komaeda's suit, the dress was adorned with gold, and she also had a very expensive-looking, silver tiara on. From the tiara, a veil hung over her face, obscuring it; that was yet another Novoselican tradition, one common in the west as well, which the royal witness claimed originated from Novoselic.
Come to think of it, Hinata knew a lot about Novoselic now. In any case, the base truth was that Sonia looked amazing. Koizumi held her phone up and snapped a picture, while Hinata stared at her, awed, along with Komaeda.
From beneath the veil, Hinata saw Sonia smile. "I see you all like my dress," she said, and she twirled about, showing everyone the smooth gray back as well. "It was specially made for me, since the last royal wedding dress was destroyed by the bombing raids during World War II," Sonia said, returning to her original facing. Then she advanced over to Komaeda. "What do you think, Nagito?"
"I- ah- you look… gorgeous," Komaeda said, a huge smile on his face. Hinata was surprised that he could talk, and Hinata quickly took a seat next to Koizumi.
Sonia leaned over and whispered something in Komaeda's ear, and he turned scarlet; then Sonia turned away from him and walked over to the royal witnesses and began talking with them in rapid Novoselician.
"Amazing…" Komaeda moaned, and he swayed slightly. Koizumi and Hinata glanced at each other, and then shot over to Komaeda before he fainted. "I'm marrying the best girl on the planet, guys," he said.
"Pre-wedding jitters," said the female royal witness sympathetically, coming over to stand by them. "Traditional reaction for people marrying a member of the royal family."
Outside the waiting room, a Novoselician choir began singing something, probably a wedding tune. The door creaked open and a balding man stuck his head in, barked something in Novoselician, and shut the door.
"Time to go," the royal male witness said. "Komaeda-sama, would you please take Princess Sonia's arm-"
Sonia pulled him up, and she and Komaeda linked arms. Behind Komaeda, Hinata and the royal male witness lined up; behind Sonia was Koizumi and the royal female witness.
The double doors to the waiting room opened up, revealing the main hall of the embassy where the wedding was to take place. A long red carpet lead down the center of the aisle of two massive columns of chairs filled with people, many of whom, Hinata noted, were looking queasy and attempting to glare at the real organ in the back of the room. As for the rest of the room, large, probably bullet-proof windows poured sunlight onto the gathered crowd, and more armed guards stood in front of each entrance and exit to the room Hinata could see.
The balding man was standing to the side, and as soon as the choir switched songs, Komaeda and Sonia started down the aisle, tailed by their witnesses. As the entourage walked down the aisle, Hinata saw many familiar faces in the crowd: the Kirigiris sans daughter on the inner edge of the left column, Fujisaki leaning against an uncomfortable-looking Iyatso Tsuji aka Gundam Tanaka, looking miserable, Mina and her husband in the middle of the right column, Tsumiki and Hanamura a couple of rows ahead of the Kirigiris, and, with a jolt, even Dr. Matsuda and a pretty-looking red-haired girl near the front row. He also saw Nanami with Hiyoko Saionji and the Kuzuryuus in the left-hand second-to-front row. For the briefest of moments, Nanami's dress was white-and-red, but Hinata blinked and she was back to normal, watching the procession with seeming interest.
Hinata could feel his heart beating faster as the procession finally reached the minister overseeing the marriage, an unusual sight for Japan considering how marriage worked, but apparently yet another Novoselican tradition. The priest was tall, balding, and hook-nosed, and began speaking… in Novoselican.
And thus began perhaps the oddest marriage of Hinata's life. It was clear from Komaeda's expression, as held Sonia's hand, that he hadn't the faintest idea what the minister was saying, but when Sonia squeezed his hand, Komaeda said something- probably "I do" in Novoselician- and then the minister turned to Sonia and began saying something similar but not identical in Novoselician. Then, once she had also said the phrase, the minister spoke at length, still in a language that no one understood save Sonia's retinue, and then a chubby bearded man with white hair in the front row stood up, said, "Congratulations for finding the love of your life, Sonia! Your mother and I love you and welcome the new Prince-Consort Nagito Komaeda-Nevermind into the family!" and repeated the phrase in Novoselician.
Then his wife, a thin woman with a lined face and thick gray hair, said, "And I hope that your days may be as numbered and as filled with love as that of my mother-in-law Queen Sophia, whose legendary reign was said to be blessed by God Himself!" Then she, too, repeated herself, and sat down.
The minister said a few more words, and then the royal witnesses produced gold rings. The male witness inspected his, handed it to Hinata, who copied the gesture, and handed it to Komaeda just as Koizumi handed her own to Sonia; then, Komaeda and Sonia exchanged the rings, placing them on their right ring fingers, and the minister said something that probably meant "You may now kiss the husband," since Sonia pulled her veil off and kissed Komaeda deeply, full on the lips. The audience broke out into applause, causing a few people, such as Fujisaki or Nidai, to glower at the audience, and then it fell silent as the king stood again and announced, "and now, the Kingdom of Novoselic will provide its tribute to your love: may you have one-hundred years of peace and purity! Sound the twenty-gun salute!"
The audience cheered and broke into applause again as the first gun went off. Boom. Hinata twitched badly when it went off, but he grit his teeth. Together, Komaeda and Sonia began walking back down the aisle, followed by the royal witnesses, Koizumi, and Hinata himself.
Boom. The chapel seemed to shake from the sound of the cannon. Hinata felt himself slowing, ever-so-slightly, but he refocused and stared straight ahead.
Boom. More dust fell from the ceiling, and for a moment, Hinata thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, cracks forming on it. When he quickly glanced at the ceiling, the cracks were not there, and he realized that he was slightly behind the royal witness again.
Boom. The procession was now a fifth of the way down the aisle, walking slowly, just past Nanami's aisle. Hinata craned his neck to glance at her, and saw her giving him a look of concern. He glanced to his left and saw that Dr. Matsuda and his friend were also watching him, but with interest instead of concern.
Boom. Hinata refocused again, this time on his boss and her husband. Makoto, he could see, was starting to tremble and clutching Kyouko's arm so tightly Hinata could see her flesh paling from his position; Kyouko, for her part, seemed paler than usual.
Boom. Now Hinata could feel his body slowing, and his peripheral vision seemed to be narrowing. He staggered forward, and could hear people start muttering in the crowd.
Boom. More dust fell, and Hinata thought he heard a distinctive, "Get out, there might be more bombs!" Which was impossible, seeing as Mukuro Ikusaba was missing…
Boom. Hinata put one of his hands to his head and risked a look back into the crowd, and saw Nanami and the Kuzuryuus rushing forward.
Boom. Hinata bumped into something- it was the royal witness. Fear welled up in Hinata, and then he tripped and fell into the witness, knocking them both to the floor.
Boom. He heard someone snap, and he looked around, but all he saw was Sonia in a blood-soaked wedding dress, and then when he looked at Nanami and the Kuzuryuus they were also wearing blood-soaked clothes, and even when he looked down…
Boom. He didn't ask for this. His clothes were turning red as well, and soon the red was all he could see and he heard someone rushing forward and he began screaming and screaming and screaming...
A/N: Before you ask, yes, I have researched this. I have actually done quite a bit of research for this- for instance, the rail format from the airport, the layout of apartments at Roppongi Hills Residence B, and PTSD/stress-related attacks, and the wedding (which I based on Polish weddings). I'll put up the second part later today- until then, if you have any questions or comments, please review.