“So we have a few days until the wedding finally kicks off,” Kyle told the others as they went and met up at the Library on the same spot as before a few weeks ago. Lissa’s wedding is four days from now and they’ve prepared everything they can to stop the wedding of Lissa.

However, the problem is that the said wedding is a private matter with only the Ikross Family and the Ahrys Family therefore any party that wants to pull the ‘I am Against the Wedding’ card is out of the question. This means they have to crash a wedding knowing full well that they’ll be facing some security who are probably also Axis Liberation Coalition Members.

“Now what?” Kyle said crossing his arms.

“Well, I thought of a nice plan for the whole event,” Louis said with a confident smile, nodding to Ren and Oscar who had finally recovered from his Concussion who exchanged fist bumps. “Thanks to Ren and Oscar we were also able to get a background check on the security.”

“Not to mention we have enough evidence to tip off the Military Police about this,” Jun said with an equally confident smile.

“I guess that leaves us to deal with one person left then,” Ester commented as they all glanced at Thomas who was burying himself with more and more books as the days went by. When Ester asked him about it, he’s just doing some extra credit work from someone. Of course, no one believed him simply because they all know full well that he’s just trying to distract himself from the problem, but none of them decided to intervene.

“We should go and talk to him later,” Kyle said in a worried look causing Petra to nod and stand up only for Kyle to stop her.

“We’ll do it,” Kyle interjected as she was about to go and do just that, this only caused Petra to simply shoot another worried look at Thomas one more time and sat down with a disappointed sigh.

Later that evening, Thomas let out a yawn as he crashed on his bed. He glanced at the Wedding Invitation on his desk and frowned, he found that in his room a few days ago implying that whoever sent this wanted him to come.

“For fucks sake,” Thomas commented as he placed it on the trash bin. “I don’t even want to go there in the first place.”

He heard a knock at the door, he raised a confused eyebrow wondering who would go and visit him at this time. While he had his suspicions he opened the door nonetheless and found Ren, Oscar, Louis, and Kyle waiting outside the door.

“Uh hey?” Thomas asked slightly confused as he let them all inside.

“So what’s up?” Thomas asked hoping he can figure out why are they here, all of them exchanged looks as if waiting of one of them to make the first move with Oscar looking at Ren, prompting Ren to look at Louis, who then forced him to look at Kyle who simply stared at Thomas.

“Okay, I’ll be blunt then.” Kyle sighed as he crossed his arms and looked at Thomas. “We’re helping Lissa stop the wedding, and we’re wondering if you want to join us or not.”

“I understand what you mean,” Thomas said with a nod opening his terminal showing the files that he got from Ren the other day. “But why are you guys wondering if I’m coming when really I’m–”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Oscar threw his hands in the air and began to leave the room. “He’s giving us the whole ‘we’re not even friends’ bullshit, I’ll be right back.”

“Look Thomas, I understand that you’re ‘not friends’ with her,” Kyle said fighting the urge to make a quotation mark gesture on the word not friends as it’s quite obvious that the two view each other as more than that. “But think of it this way, will it sit well on your conscious knowing that she is married to an ALC operative and that they only need her for her family’s wealth?”

Kyle has a point. Thomas thought silently. While she never sees him that way he can always try and intervene even if she is against it and–

“I’m back!” All three of them turned to find Oscar returning with an empty Rifle in hand and what seemed to be an MP3 Player and earphones connected to it. Thomas was about to question what’s the rifle for until he tossed the said pair to Ren earning a confused look at him and gripped the rifle with both hands and–

Thunk!

“Oscar!”

“What the hell?!”

“For fuck’s sake…”

Louis, Ren, and Kyle all stared at Oscar in surprise as they surprisingly just let him go and hit Thomas in the face with the stock of the aforementioned rifle, or Butt stroke if you will, causing Thomas to hit the bed with a confused look.

“What was that for?!” Thomas asked in a confused tone, Oscar remained silent as he grabbed the MP3 Player from Ren’s hands and threw it to Thomas.

“That’s to knock some literal sense into you,” Oscar said with an annoyed glare at him. “Now do you Love Lissa?”

“Of course I do!” Thomas said in a fit of confused anger, mostly on why the hell would Oscar hit him with a Rifle Stock and then ask him that.

“Why?” Oscar added, meanwhile Ren, Louis, and Kyle. Who was initially confused as well began to catch up on what Oscar was going at and kept silent the whole time and watched the two talk.

“Why? Well, it’s because she’s determined to do her best no matter the situation throws herself into, how in some situations she can be adorable which counters her usual cold and stoic facade she displays at others, she’s intelligent without a fault and…” Thomas paused to take a deep breath as he recalled all the best moments they’ve spent together.

“...She’s just breathtakingly beautiful especially when she drops her serious and stoic facade and just smiles.” Thomas said in a low voice. “I want to be more than just friends with her, I genuinely do.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Alright then give that a listen and well, you’ll see.” Oscar simply said as he gestured the three to follow him only to be met with a reluctant nod and left the room leaving Thomas alone with the MP3 Player. Thomas looked at the MP3 Player and let out a sigh and began to listen to the audio files inside it wondering what the contents in it meant.

"I think I am in love Thomas," Lissa’s voice was the first thing that Thomas heard upon the moment he played the sound files.

(Image Song: Kataware Doki by Radwimps)

"You think?" Followed by Petra’s voice, raising a curious eyebrow as he slumped against the wall earning an amused scoffed from Thomas as he continued to listen while silently noting to ask Oscar why and how did he plant bugs in her room.

"I don't know if what I feel for him is love or something less than that, I've never fallen in love with someone before and I've heard of incidents where people mistake feelings of infatuation as Love and ended up being heartbroken down the line," Lissa explained, Thomas knew what she meant. He had his early share of heartbreaks also from false flags when it comes to women especially when on the first try cause it’s hard to tell when you genuinely loved someone when you haven’t have the slightest bit of experience of it.

"If you do Love Thomas Orphen, then what and why do you love him?" Petra asked, for his part, Thomas just sat there listening to what he said slowly convincing himself that he truly did deserve that rifle stock to the face.

“Everything, I love everything about him. From the way, he always goes out of his way to just for me despite my initial reluctance and then there’s the fact that for all of his brilliance and skill he can be a bit of a dork for trying to make me smile and warm up to others.” Lissa simply said Thomas smiled remembering the first time the two met. How lonely she looked when she walked which prompted him to go out of his way to get her to open up.

“And you may point out that Louis, Jun, and even Nina have gone and befriended me as well. Thoams...it was different for him, while he never told me outright that he’ll be there for me. I can tell from the way he behaves around me that he’s there for me no matter what.” Lissa said with a pause. “I wish I had figured out then that he does love me but everything just went straight to hell.”

“So you’ve lost in any chance of reconciliation between the two of you and decided to just give up?” Petra asked in a worried voice.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Lissa spoke in a soft voice as if silently crying. Thomas removed the earphones and looked at the wall. He took a deep breath and proceeded to headbutt it hard enough that the next room overheard a frighteningly hard noise.

“Yeah…” Thomas trailed off with a nod. “I deserve that hit in the head.”

He proceeded to make his way outside his room and looked at Ren, Louis, Oscar, and Kyle waiting for him.

“You guys wanna crash a wedding?” Thomas said, upon saying that both Oscar and Kyle extended their hands towards Ren and Louis both of which earned an irked sigh and handed them both a handful of Thrones.

[Axis:Legacy]

It is common knowledge that when an Axian Child is born, they are given a cord that was made by the combination of colors from the Parents. This Cord would not only symbolize their heritage as an Axian but also a representation of the memory and love the parents had, as such when a couple is to be married in Axian culture that process is simply known as the ‘Cord Ceremony’ where both couples would present a thread that they would make once they come of age, this thread that they will present would serve as One half of the cord that is to be passed on to the child as a symbol of their love for one another that would result on the birth of the child.

Lissa frowned as she looked at her thread, it was a pure silver thread that she had prepared when she came of age not long ago. She had chosen a simple silver thread that was neither gaudy nor too plain. To her the silver thread would represent purity that should a child be born into this world it would be considered a pure child that contrast to her upbringing as an Illegitimate child.

She then looked at herself in the mirror one last time. Her outfit was a simple and white dress with gold accents that reached to her ankles, her Axian Cord was tied neatly into a butterfly knot into her hair. For a brief moment, she didn’t recognize the woman that stood before her with her beauty and elegance, something that in her opinion towards her usual self, lacked in general.

She heard a faint knock and turned around to find her Mother, Elizabeth Ikross, entering the room with a concerned look.

“Are you alright?” She asked in a low voice as she held both of her hands. “You can always back away if you want.”

“It’s alright Mother.” Lissa faked a smile and shook her head. “I’ll be fine, I can’t turn back now.”

I’m sorry mother, Lissa thought as her Mother helped put on her veil for the ceremony. But I’ll end up ruining my wedding.

She was then guided by her mother to find the rest of her family waiting for her. All of them had the same happy but concerned looks that Elizabeth had as they saw her.

“You look beautiful!” Her half-sister Liza greeted her with a wide smile and pulled her into a hug. “I saw the groom earlier and he was handsome!”

“Wanna switch?” Lissa asked jokingly earning an amused laugh from Liza and their mother but that did not remove the strange uneasiness in the air. That was likely brought to the increase of security in what was meant to be a private event with a handful of Lissa and Desmond’s family and close friends that were present, though it was mostly the latter.

According to Desmond, two members of the Axis Liberation Coalition Broke into their Estate and stole several of their documents which are about their properties across the Ferrus Region that they hope to use as safe houses for their soldiers and by refusing to let them use their properties they have painted a target on themselves.

Of course, Lissa knew better knowing full well that those two members were Oscar and Ren and that they are the ones who are affiliated with Axis. But for now Lissa had to pretend to play along.

As Lissa and Desmond walked at the end of the hall where the Minister is to begin the ceremony, Lissa took note of the increased security that guarded the hall. It was around 20-30 Men and women all armed with 9mm Sub Machine Guns, Lissa pondered the possibility of a Shootout worrying that she left her Twin Rapiers at home with only nine of them taking on that many ALC Soldiers while making sure that her family and any other participants nearby would get caught in the crossfire.

Any option of getting help from the Military Police despite being informed the night before of a possible gathering of ALC Members is out of the question as according to Jun, all Military Police were called in to deal with an Operation hours ago and it will take a while for any Squad to go and check-in and assist them.

“You look nervous,” Desmond said with a low chuckle.

“Who wouldn’t be at their wedding after all,” Lissa said with a low chuckle.

“Are you two ready?” The Minister asked with a small smile, before Lissa and Desmond can both respond the doors swung open causing all eyes to turn and look at Thomas. Who was just in his uniform while dragging his Sword-Mace in mild exhaustion.

“Stop...the Ceremony...” Thomas panted in exhaustion.

“Thomas?” Lissa said immediately in surprise, she did not expect him to come and stop the wedding personally instead of the original that the others prepared.

“I–”

Bang!

Lissa stared in horror as Thomas was immediately shot multiple times and fell to the ground with a sickening thud as his Sword-Mace fell to the ground with a dull Thunk!