Word Count: 3639

Thank you so much for the follows/favorites/reviews! The next chapter should be up Sunday.

Much to Arthur's surprise, the week passed quickly in a bundle of nerves and terror. He managed to keep himself relatively busy and distracted the first few days, catching up on paperwork that he had neglected since his failed execution and sorting some new letters and announcements that the new King hadn't gotten to yet. It was a relatively low workload, but the King was constantly busy dealing with the more time-sensitive work while still learning his way around the palace. At any rate, it was extremely easy for Arthur to avoid Alfred entirely, and, in the beginning, his wedding.

Two days before the marriage, Arthur found himself unable to avoid the situation any longer. The castle staff were all busy with preparations for the ceremony, part of which included preparing the King and Queen. The maids chattered on as they retook Arthur's measurements for a new wedding gown. Some were excited, or at least feigned excitement. Some tried to talk to Arthur, saying things like 'I've always loved royal weddings' or 'second time's the charm!'. Arthur's favourite maids were the ones who ignored him entirely, treating him instead as another decoration to be properly prepared and placed for the ceremony.

The last time he went through this, Arthur had attempted to engage in conversation. He had never been a particularly sociable person, but at the time he was bursting with anxiousness and anticipation over what was to be his 'Big Day'. The maids were perfectly willing, even happy, to offer their advice on how to make a good husband and how to be the perfect married omega. They were much more enthusiastic back then. Of course, Arthur realized that many people would consider this wedding a disgrace since it was generally frowned upon for an omega to be mated to multiple people, even after their partner died. For the Queen, there was apparently an exception. Lucky me, he thought.

Even he felt that this wedding was a mockery of a proper one. Now that he knew what to expect from his marriage, any excitement Arthur may have erroneously felt last time had been replaced with rightful terror and dread. The day before the wedding, he became tense and agitated. He paced his room, feeling the confines of the walls press in on him more than ever. A million scenarios ran through his mind, a million ways to get out of the wedding, each more desperate than the last. Over time, Arthur became pale and shaky, vomiting several times to the worry of the maids watching him. When a last-minute rehearsal was called the night before, Arthur refused to attend, locking himself inside of his bathroom and refusing to come out or say anything.

On the actual day of the wedding, Arthur somehow felt even worse. I can't do this, he thought. That same thought ran through his mind on repeat throughout the morning, his anxiety-ridden mind unable to come up with any other coherent thoughts. He was silent as the maids flurried around him, dressing him and applying makeup. They held a mirror up to him. He recognized the reflection, the same one that had stared at him only a couple years ago; a doll before it was broken.

The panic from the previous day had left Arthur by then, replaced now with a tranquil sense of acceptance. He could do nothing to change his fate. Arthur tuned out the hurried speaking of the maids who were rushing to prepare last-minute details. All he could hear was the ticking of one of the many clocks in the palace; or perhaps the ticking was just in his head. The feeling he had was oddly reminiscent to what he felt in the prison, but worse. He felt like he was waiting for something worse than an execution.

"I need to speak to the doctor," Arthur said out of the blue. A couple of maids stopped to stare at him, dumbfounded.

"Are you feeling ill?" a maid asked. "Can it wait until after the ceremony?"

"No," Arthur said firmly. "I need to speak with Doctor Afonso. Now."

The maids glanced at each other uncertainly before one of them hurried out of the room to get the doctor. They began asking him questions to find out what was wrong, but Arthur brushed them off. A few minutes later Afonso arrived, out of breath and concerned. He bowed slightly.

"Is there something I can do for you, Your Majesty?" he asked politely.

"Yes," Arthur replied, "I would like to speak to you alone." Both the doctor and the maids looked bewildered at the request.

"Your Majesty," a maid said hesitantly, "we need to leave for the ceremony in just a few minutes."

"I'm well aware of that," Arthur snapped impatiently. He took a deep breath, calming himself. "I only need a moment."

The maids hesitated again before nodding, exiting the room respectfully. Afonso hesitated a moment, waiting for the Queen to speak, before speaking himself.

"Are you feeling sick, Arthur?" he asked, dropping the formalities.

"Of course I'm bloody well feeling sick," Arthur said irritably. "I can't do this again, Afonso."

Afonso frowned in understanding. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I'm not sure what I can do."

"I need sleeping pills," Arthur said bluntly.

"…sleeping pills?" Afonso said with surprise.

"Yes. I-" Alfred glanced away, toying nervously with the edge of his gown. "I know that I can't do anything to stop any of this. But," he looked at Afonso with renewed determination, "I can at least control how aware I am of it."

Afonso looked extremely uncomfortable with the whole idea. "You want to… sleep through your wedding night?"

"Yes," Arthur said resolutely. The doctor chewed at his lip, torn between helping his friend and respecting tradition. Was a person allowed to sleep through their wedding night? Finally, he nodded.

"Alright," he said, pulling a seemingly random bottle out of one of his many pockets. He liked to keep some basic medicines on him at all times, just in case. "I'll give you two sleeping pills-"

"Just give me the bottle," Arthur said immediately. Afonso frowned, opening the bottle and shaking out a couple of pills.

"These are pretty strong. Just," he held the pills out to Arthur, "take them if you need to." Arthur stared at the offered pills for a moment before accepting them and slipping them into a pocket on his robe.

"Thank you," he said, oddly detached. Afonso bowed slightly, expression grave.

"If you need anything, just call. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow," he assured before excusing himself. Arthur palmed the pills in his pocket, holding onto them as though they were a lifeline.

The wedding ceremony, as with the coronation, was identical to the last one Arthur took part in. He stood just outside the door to the chapel, holding his flowers in a death-grip as he waited for the music to start.

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Arthur was going to smash that damned clock. He was going to smash every clock in the Kingdom if they kept it up. It truly was a form of torture.

The music started. Arthur's stomach dropped to the floor. The door opened, and he was ushered forward. He didn't trip or stumble, but instead walked stiffly and formally. Like a prisoner marching to his execution.

At the front of the room stood the marriage officiant and the King.

Tick, step. Tock, step.

Alfred watched the Queen walk down the aisle. Arthur walked with a perfectly regal air, just as he always walked. It was almost too perfect, in fact; he nearly seemed to float, gliding across the ground without touching it. He carried an ethereal, otherworldly air about him. It was as if the world couldn't touch him, as if he was part of something far beyond mere earthly concerns. To Alfred, and anyone else that ever saw him, it only served to accent his cold, aloof appearance. To Arthur, it was exactly as he wanted to appear; unbreakable and untouchable, always.

The Queen walked perfectly in time with the music. He had stopped being able to feel his body and found that his own mind seemed to disconnect from him. It was as though he was simply observing the ceremony from outside of himself, an indifferent bystander to the whole event.

He reached the front of the room as the music stopped and he turned to face the King. A distant part of him noted that Alfred seemed nervous. He was smiling unsteadily and looked horribly uncomfortable in his wedding robes. As the officiant droned on, Arthur found himself slowly returning to himself.

He saw that Alfred looked the same way he did on his coronation day; apprehensive but excited. Perhaps there was a bit more nerves, seeing as a wedding felt a lot more personal than a coronation.

As Arthur watched though, he found himself overwhelmed by a sudden surge of anger at the King. King Alfred, who was smiling nervously, looking like a little kid playing dress-up in his father's clothes. King Alfred, who had been thrust into his position with no warning and suddenly found himself on top of the world. King Alfred, who was probably worried about whether he would be a good King, if he would adjust to living in the castle, if he could fulfill his duties and responsibilities faithfully.

The King, who could do anything he wanted while Arthur could do nothing. Alfred, who might have spoken to the maids of his nervousness for the wedding while Arthur was in another room vomiting in terror. They had both lost everything, being forced into these positions of Royalty, but Arthur felt that he had lost so much more. He could fulfill the responsibilities of the King; who could fulfill the responsibilities of the Queen?

Alfred was an alpha. He had had everything handed to him. While Arthur had struggled to prove himself in school, to prove that he could be more than a homemaker and child-raiser, Alfred would have breezed through without any problems. When Arthur fought for his right to take alpha and beta classes, to learn skills he 'wouldn't need', Alfred would have had no such limitations.

Alfred was afraid of marrying an omega he didn't love, and having an unhappy marriage. He could find a mistress in a day if he wanted. Arthur was afraid of being raped and abused, of having no say and no power.

He hadn't had any power to begin with.

It occurred to Arthur that Alfred probably didn't even think of any of that. He had no idea of the turmoil Arthur had been in the past few days, weeks, years. They lived in two different worlds, an alpha and an omega world, and Arthur would kill to have only to face the petty fears of an alpha. Fate had been cruel to make him an omega, and infinitely crueler to make him a Queen.

"Now, I will ask the alpha and omega for their vows," the officiant announced. Arthur broke out of his tumultuous thoughts at this. It was almost over.

"Do you, Alfred Jones, take Arthur Kirkland to be your lawfully wedded omega," he began, "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

Arthur watched with an unreadable expression as Alfred took in a deep breath and shakily said, "I do." The King smiled as his Queen, proud of himself for getting through it. They were almost through it.

"And do you, Arthur Kirkland, take Alfred Jones to be your lawfully wedded alpha; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?"

Arthur felt sick. He felt like laughing. Hysterically laughing. This was hilarious, didn't everyone see it? To love and to cherish. Alfred was smiling at him in a way that could have been endearing, but to Arthur was only dopey and annoying. He was so young, so naïve; why did he get to be young when Arthur had been forced to grow up so fast?

"I do," he said finally. Flip, swish, snap. Arthur could hear the blade of the guillotine falling.

"Then with the power vested in me by the Kingdom of Spades, I now pronounce you alpha and omega. You may now seal this union with a kiss."

Arthur stared, numbness washing over him once more, as Alfred leaned forward hesitantly. The Queen acquiesced, leaning in and giving him a chaste kiss. A detached part of him was amused by how much the King was blushing.

They had gotten through the ceremony, but that was only one part of the wedding. Next was the reception.

By the time they'd gotten to the reception, Alfred's nervousness had melted away into an odd sense of euphoria. The whole situation was still rather messed up as far as he was concerned, but it was a wedding. Weddings were supposed to be happy. Alfred made a conscious decision to enjoy his wedding as much as possible.

Plus, there was cake.

Unlike the coronation banquet, the wedding reception was very structured at the beginning. Instead of wandering around the room and greeting whomever they came across, the King and Queen first had to stand in a reception line. They, along with the Jack, greeted every guest. The guest list, as far as Alfred could tell, was made up entirely of nobles and high-ranking foreign dignitaries. None of the other kingdoms' Royals could attend, but ambassadors were sent to pass on congratulations and strengthen their kingdom's ties to Spades. It was very much a political event, so Alfred put on his brightest smile and gave every guest a proper greeting.

Next was the cake, which turned out to be fairly disappointing. It was a magnificent looking cake, consisting of seven layers and elaborately decorated with spade symbols and topped with mini figurines of the King and Queen in their wedding gowns. Before they cut the cake, Yao gave a toast thanking the 'most honoured guests' for attending and saying a few nice words about the bright outlook for the Kingdom of Spades. He ended the toast with a blessing for the Royal couple: "May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past."

After Yao's toast, which was ridiculously long and drawn-out in Alfred's opinion, they finally got cake. He cut the first slice with Arthur ('my husband,' Alfred thought disbelievingly) and they fed a bit to each other, as per tradition. Alfred noticed that Arthur still seemed really out of it and wondered if he was feeling sick. He'd heard that the Queen hadn't been feeling well the past few days, but Alfred hoped that he would feel better once they were finished with this whole wedding business.

The cake was disappointing not because it wasn't delicious, but because they were only allowed one piece. Apparently, even seven layers of cake went fast with as many guests as they had. Alfred was typically one to forget etiquette in favor of good food, but he did not want to invoke Yao's wrath. As it was, the King had more social obligations to fulfill.

The last formality of the reception was dancing. The Jack dragged the King and Queen out on the dance floor and without further ado, the first dance began. Alfred heard the song during the rehearsal the previous day, but since Arthur had been too sick to come to rehearsal Alfred hadn't been able to practice with him. Luckily, Arthur was very proficient at dancing. The King himself had never been particularly fond of waltzing, but he had practiced enough that he was able to keep up with the Queen.

They kept to basic, simple steps. Alfred was not very confident in his ability to pull off more sophisticated steps and Arthur still looked troublingly dazed. After a song or two, the King was pulled away to dance with one of the guests. He saw Arthur begin to dance with some other guest, so he went along with it.

Half and hour and far too much dancing later, Alfred managed to escape to the food table where he found Arthur sipping from a glass of champagne. As he went over to talk to Arthur (they still hardly knew each other, but almost everyone else was a complete stranger to Alfred), a man approached Arthur with a wide smile.

"Hey, Artie, it's been a while," he said brightly. Alfred grew worried at the look on the Queen's face; he looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Alfred reached the pair and held out a hand to the guest.

"Hello, I'm Alfred," he said cheerfully. "Do you know Arthur?" The man seemed startled, but he recovered quickly and shook Alfred's hand.

"Yup, I guess I do," he said in a thick accent Alfred didn't recognize. Arthur opened his mouth, about to speak, when two more men appeared. They were a bit shorter than the first man, who was taller even than Alfred, and something in Alfred's mind clicked as he recognized the similar comically oversized eyebrows on all of them.

The newcomers looked confused. "What's-" he stopped as he spotted Arthur, snapping his mouth shut. Alfred looked at Arthur in confusion.

"Your Majesty, I'd like to introduce you to my brothers Allistor," he pointed to the first man, "Connor, and Dylan," he said stiffly, pointing to the last two in turn.

The joy of having his suspicions confirmed and the excitement of meeting Arthur's family overrode any reticence Alfred had about breaking the tense atmosphere. "You have brothers?" he asked eagerly.

"He hasn't mentioned us, then?" Allistor asked with amusement. "Can't say I blame him."

"I didn't know you three were coming to the wedding," Arthur interrupted before Alfred had a change to reply. "Are our parents here?"

"Dad is," Allistor said. "And we were invited," he added a bit defensively.

"I don't know, I'm surprised we came too," said the brother named Connor. "After we already attended your first wedding and all." Alfred gaped at the man. That seemed like a horribly inappropriate thing to say to his own brother! Arthur, however, was unperturbed.

"Yes, I'm sure you've already fulfilled your obligations by attending the first time. It really was not necessary for you to be present at this."

"Oh, come on now. It's still a wedding!" Allistor chipped in. "It's a pretty big deal, the whole Kingdom's talking about it." Alfred felt like he was missing something in this conversation. He got the sense that Arthur wasn't particularly fond of his siblings.

"I'm sure," Arthur said bitterly. "If you-" the Queen cut himself off as he spotted someone approaching. Alfred turned to see another man, similar in appearance to the brothers before him, draw nearer to the group. Alfred's first thought was that this must be the aforementioned father, or perhaps another brother. This belief was quickly dashed as the man ignored the others and walked straight to Alfred.

"Your Majesty," he said with a deep bow. "It's an honour." Alfred felt helplessly confused by the situation, but he bowed in return all the same.

"Likewise," he replied politely. The man then turned to the Queen, whom Alfred was alarmed to see looked even worse than before.

"Your Highness," the man said coolly, "may I have a word?"

Arthur hesitated, looking nervous about something, before nodding. "Of course, Father," he said. Arthur and his father left before Alfred had time to recover from his shock.

"That's Arthur's father?" he asked the brothers in astonishment. Allistor grinned.

"Yup, that's our dad. So how're you liking being King?" he asked abruptly. Alfred recovered easily from the sudden change in subject and began getting to know his husband's family.

He'd sensed that all three brothers were alphas, and they confirmed that they were also all older than Arthur. Away from the Queen, the atmosphere relaxed immediately and Alfred found that he got along pretty well with the group. They asked about Alfred's interests, and about his background. Alfred was delighted to find that Connor had also served in the military, so they chatted a bit about that. Then they talked about themselves, and their jobs, and the troubles they were having with some of their coworkers. For Alfred, it felt like the first real conversation he'd had since he arrived at the castle. It was like a breath of fresh air.

He also remembered to ask about Arthur; it was something he'd wanted to know about for a while. Alfred learned that Arthur was considered the troublemaker of the family. Apparently, he had a bit of a rebellious streak in Royal school, which Alfred was definitely going to ask him about later. The brothers also said that Arthur had always been extremely stubborn. They said he never really acted like an omega, and they laughed when they recalled Arthur's determination to finish University at the top of his class and get a job in politics. It had come as a shock to all of them when Arthur, of all omegas, was picked to be Queen.

Alfred felt he could have spent the rest of the night talking to the three. He probably would have, if he hadn't gotten distracted by the increasingly heated conversation Arthur was having with his father. The King was just starting to wonder if he should intervene when Arthur's father hit him with a resounding SLAP!.

A/N I was re-reading this and thought that the wedding vows seemed a bit too extreme emphasizing the alpha/omega thing (especially right after Arthur's rant). But all I did was replace the words 'husband' and 'wife' with 'alpha' and 'omega'. Words are weird. I was kinda thinking, for this omegaverse, alpha/omega and beta/beta relationships are standard and don't really take gender into account at all. Basically, if they can reproduce, it's accepted.

Oh, also, sorry for Arthur's rant during the vows. Understand that that was from Arthur's POV; that's not actually my opinion on Alfred (well, sort of, but I'll get to that later). Arthur is just kind of in an extreme(ly bad) situation, and he's generalized his horrible experiences to all alphas. The story's kind of slow moving, but they've known each other for just over a week now. After the wedding comes some bonding time, don't worry.