@lonergirl: sadly I am already starting to get overwhelmed just juggling my two ongoing stories and school, so I'm not anticipating myself adding any new projects any time soon. Another oneshot, maybe- if an idea starts gnawing at my brain. But I'm looking at the 50+ page monstrosity that Uncertainty Principle has become (not even halfway done! Aaaaah!) and... yeah. Another long story is not going to be happening any time soon.

OH MY GOD.

Can't believe I've only just read this! (I actually started it a couple weeks back and forgot to finish. -_-)

It was ridiculous amounts of excellent. Got me crying and everything at the funeral... Absolutely love it.

I'll probably be starting Uncertainty Principle soon, but I've got some stuff I have to try and finish first (schoolwork is gross). Definitely looking forward to the reading, though.

Two in the morning and the last guests were petering out, as the white-vested waiters wheeled away the last trays of food.

There was something so melancholy about a wedding hall after a wedding. The lights seemed so dim, the space echoing in its emptiness, the clicks of the occasional path of footsteps a dull, quiet contrast to the revelry of a mere hour previous.

The floor was littered with food but that would be cleared by morning, when the 'wedding hall' would be the wedding hall no longer bur rather just the usual castle ballroom.

He'd never be able to think of the same way, he thought, even as he felt himself already sinking back into normal life. He'd always remember how up there in the front of the room was where she had turned and said 'Yes', not in private but in front of an entire room of witnesses, so she couldn't deny it now, the way her...

Her smile had lit up the hall before fading, quickly, to something demure and respectable and...

"D'you think he polishes his head, or does it come natural?" She'd whispered in his ear and it had been cruel of her to say it so straight-faced, because he'd had difficulty speaking the entire rest of the ceremony, for fear of bursting into laughter.

And that would have been... disgraceful. Of course.

He thought he was quite possibly tearing up, from happiness or sadness or just plain exhaustion he didn't know. But no, it was just... dust in his eyes, and he blinked it away and coughed. But there was something... bitter, in the back of his throat, and he found himself desperate for air, fresh air.

No one stopped him from wandering out of the hall. Why should they? He was King now, he was...

And where was Mel? He thought, half-desperate for her as the thick grey walls of the castle pressed in on him, stale and old and inescapable.

There was a draft coming from somewhere and he followed it, up the stairs to a door wide open and a balcony.

And...

She was sitting there on the balcony rail, face turned up to watch the sky, balanced lightly with both hands holding the rail and her feet kicking out. On the floor, discarded, lay the crown and veil and.... other things, he thought, only vaguely familiar with the concept of slips or crinolines or whatever those were.

"Oh, hey," she said. "Come to join me?"

"You could fall," he said.

She laughed. "No, I couldn't. But if I did there's a tree right below, so you can stop looking all worried and depressed at me, y'know?" She paused. "You feeling any last-minute regrets? That you got yourself tied down to me?"

"No, that I got you tied down to me," he said. "That you... That I trapped you with me in the life I hate most, with the people you hate most..."

"Yeah, you're right about that," she said. "It does kinda suck but- Oh, for pete's sake, don't start looking like that, I'm not done am I? At least let me finish what I'm saying before you start kicking yourself in the head, okay?"

"Um," he said. She had reached up her hand and almost instinctively he had bent his head towards her, so that now she was ruffling his hair as she talked, her fingers combing through the strands almost like a nervous twitch and yet so relaxing, how it sent shivers down his spine.

"I chose this, didn't I?" she said. "I knew exactly what I was getting into and let's be honest here, I was in a state of shock that I even accepted because this is... This kind of stuff is really scary for me. And really, really weird, I mean I almost still keep expecting myself to wake up and these past two years will turn out to have been a very, very strange dream. Only not really. Because it's a bit long for a dream and, um... I probably couldn't have dreamed up the people in it anyway, not, um..."

She had gone scarlet.

"Anywaaaaaay back to the subject. Which is that you shouldn't be worried. Because I'm fine with this, really. And I don't hate you or anything and actually it's quite the opposite and um I think I'm going to shut up now."

Inside him somewhere a string had snapped. He sagged against her, pressed his face against the side of her neck and just... breathed.

"Um, Edward?" She said, even as her fingers curled tentatively against his back.

"I hate this place so much," he whispered.

"I know," she said, softly.

"I thought they might respect me, after I went on a serious quest. But... but vampires don't exist, you know?" He said, bitterly.

('It should be easy to bring proof if what you say is true,' they had said, leaning back in their seats and smirking. 'You were traveling with a vampress, couldn't you simply show her to us?'

But of course Te'ijal wasn't a vampress anymore.

'So not only do you expect us to believe that vampires exist like in the old lore, but also that they can be turned back?' They had said, and he'd lost before he'd started.

Gyendal was clearly a madman, they had said, and would be locked up for his own safety as well as the public good. And that was all he could get, such an insufficient nothing, such a...)

"You don't have to worry what those fat idiots think of you," she said.

"No, I do..." He protested, and found that he couldn't explain to her, what it meant to be a puppet king, to have no power of any consequence-

Standing there on the little white-draped platform before the priest, he'd been so aware of the myriad eyes, fixed on him, hungrily seeking weaknesses- Of which they'd found plenty, he knew. He was nowhere near perfect, but even if he had been he wondered if they would have been satisfied.

"They want to use me," he said at last, "They think they can get away with it. If I'm not careful, they will be."

"And..?" She said, because she could tell he was going somewhere with this and if she didn;t push him he wouldn't get there.

"There's so much!" He said, pulling away from her so he could pace across the small floor, waving his hands. "There's so much that needs fixing, there's so much corruption amongst the nobles-"

"Hear, hear," said Mel.

"And there's a housing inflation going on right now combined with an import/export disparity and a civil services public funding resources option under dispute and the entire transportation system is crippled by inefficiency, public education needs to be revamped and there's-"

"Woah, slow down," she said, "I didn't process more than a word or two of that."

He waved his hand dismissively. "That's not the point, it's just... I'm not going to be able to do any of it at this rate."

"Alright, alright," she said. "You're over-thinking this, or should I say you're thinking too big picture and stressing yourself out. It's not nearly as bad as you think and if we just take this a step at a time..."

"We?" He said.

"Yes, 'we', you idiot," she said, scowling at him. "I might not understand everything you're planning but you can always explain it to me and it can't possibly be bad to have a spy and a former th- person of my talents at your disposal. So you're not alone, okay?"

"I-" He said.

"But first things first," she said, cutting him off. "I don't have shoes. And the stones are cold and I don't feel like walking across them barefoot. So what-" She said, smiling up at him- "are we going to do about this very pressing problem?"

He laughed and obediently scooped her up. "I thought you were more independent than this, Mel."

"There's 'independent', and then there's 'getting things the easiest way available, preferably free', Edward. We have long since established which one I prefer."

"You only think this is free," he said, heading towards the door. "And what happened to your shoes, anyway?"

"I didn't bother wearing them," she said, unequivocally. "Haven't had 'em on all night. No one even noticed, and my skirt was so wide I didn't have to worry about anyone stepping on my feet."

And as he was starting to laugh, at the realization that all night long she had pulled one over everyone's heads, she tugged his shirt and pointed at something over his shoulder.

"Look! A shooting star!"

"Too far away for us to chase this time, though," he said.

"Someone else can have it," she said, and he took advantage of the proximity of her face to kiss her, slowly and lingeringly.

"My carrying services are offered only at a price," he murmured, just to drive the point home.

"Mmmmm," she said, and he carried her down the hall.



ETA: In the aftermath of TLO I think of this story as what might have happened if it had all ended at GoN. And I come away feeling almost glad it didn't end there. Because Ed got a chance to grow up in TLO and I think it would make all the difference in how a wedding scene at the end of the next game (ASSUMING THERE IS ONE- PLEASE OH PLEASE AMANDA DON'T BREAK MY FRAGILE HEART AND HAVE THEM BREAK UP-for reasons of the prophecy or angst or whatever I DON'T CARE- I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DEAL).
Anyway. Yeah.

A lovely story.

They were both lovely stories, especially "Wedding Dress." I love how you capture Mel's character, and how you flashed back to Stella's funeral, so sad. You wrote about Te'ijal and Galahad really well too.

Thank you ^^

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Both of those make me heart Mel so much.

I love this. It's so sweet! And it does make Edward seem more busy than whiny. Which is good.

I think he has some wangsty issues involving his... country and their, um... well, they don't exactly hide their opinion of him at the ball in the game so my personal canon is that they don't hide their opinion of him at all, other than sucking up to him when he's actually around. Except possibly his peers, who miss the political overtones and are all "Ooh shiny! A prince!" (Lydia, we're looking at you here, although on he other hand Lydia could just be conniving and vain which is my personal interpretation)


And yet at the same time he's... well, he's both an idealist and very very intelligent so I see him as the kind of person who would want to fix things.

---

What I love most about Mel is she has easily the most interesting motivations of all the Aveyond main characters, simply because she's not interested in "Being good" or "doing the right thing" so much as... surviving? But she ends up being good anyway because Edward pushes her to (have I mentioned how much I love this pairing's dynamics, interactions, and chemistry? aaaaah).

It doesn't help that, in the game, you don't really see that anything is wrong with the country... So he just seems to be kinda irresponsible (which is put off by the whole trying-to-save-the-world thing).

Mel is a great character. I love her thiefiness.

irresponsible in what ways? *curious*

It's the way he's always talking about wanting to escape and hide from his princeliness... And because it doesn't seem like the king and queen ever really do anything (we drop by unexpectedly, and they're still in the thrones XD), it seems like he's just being irresponsible.

He's also very eager to be on this adventure, even before it turns serious. (Well, he could've also just expected it to be short, but still.)

Hmmmm... I guess in my interpretation that entire "irresponsible" thing is erased by how much sense it makes for him to want to get away.

I admit that my interpretation happened because when I first played the game it seemed like he was being portrayed as the cliche "reluctant noble" without any reason. And then I... tried to give a reason.

Did the same for Mel, actually, and her hatred of nobles, although Marabelle did it better, funnier, and with less need for new canon in Night Falls.

That is true. My opinion on characters in general totally varies with my mood/what I'm reading, too, so... :/

But you're both really awesome.

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Oh, pshaw! I learn about Mel from your stories, dear Blurbie!

I did not expect to see an update to this story, so I was completely thrilled when I did! I love it! The ending in particular made me melt into a warm and contented puddle of Marabelle. I love the romantic, grown up type stuff, particularly when it's loving, as it was here.

Mel's support of Edward is truly wonderful, and makes me love her even more, and Ed's concern for involving her in a life they both hate touched me deeply. I feel so much for Edward, and the difficult responsibilities he eventually accepts.

Rhen had to face much the same thing. One could probably do quite an interesting treatise on the subject of accepting responsibility in the Aveyond universe. It seems like a major guiding force in characters, major and minor.

To wander off to Te'i for a sec, as I'm wont to do, here is a character who claims to take very little responsibility for what she does (Mel is also this way too, and a comparison between those two characters would also be intriguing, at least to me!) and yet, she takes great responsibility for what is happening to the world, and to the people she surrounds herself with, including her cranky, wayward, somewhat suicidal hubby.

Contrasts... totally fascinating... anyway, I'm rambling in my fatigue here. So, let me just say... I LOVED it! And I'm so glad you wrote more of it, because it was like literary ice cream to me on a hot August day. Yummers!

I didn't expect an update either. This was that... image I mentioned to you that I couldn't find the right words for. Today I managed to, or at least something close enough to get down in writing.

I did tell you I wanted to write something showing how healthy they are for each other... this was pretty much it.

Responsibility, yes, but with the interesting and weird factor of prophecy. Reponsibility mixed with fate is the idea here- You are told what you are supposed to achieve and then you... do.

Of course Te'i is somewhat different as she has no prophecy, just her own quirky sense of... ugh, word re-use much but responsibility in a different sense.



Anyway.
I'm very glad you liked it.
Thank you for the comment (I have been shamelessly waiting for it sine i posted this)

*laughy*

That's okay, I wait for yours too. We have quite the mutual admiration society going on. Story love triangle with Rena. I agree with you completely on the added complication of prophecy, and Te'i's sense of ... hmm... yes, responsibiliy... duty perhaps. She's clearly got some affection for the mortal world beyond the snackability of its inhabitants.

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XD I seem to be a part of a lot of triangles, actually. New favorite shape? ^.^

I totally follow both of your comments. You just do such good analyses!

Oh! Those stories are great. I especially like the portrayal of Mel in the Wedding Dress. It was really well done. Hopefully you'll write more, perhaps more about Lydia? Anyways, I love how you portrayed Mel. She had another, more caring side to her in these stories, one that you don't really see in the game. It's just really nice.

But yeah, I'm hoping to see another update to this story, based on Lydia, but anything is good. It's a really great story! =D

I actually very much want to write a story about Lydia and I have a vague sense of what it would be if I ever got around to it.

But while she will probably receive a sympathetic portrayal, she's still going to be... Lydia. I.e. selfish, self-assured, and vain.

lol. I would be angry if she were not like that. That's what makes her my favorite character. XD I'm excited for that, if it will ever be. You're a really good writer. ^,^