The Fool spun the pen in "his" hands as "he" wondered about what "he" should do today. Remembering what happened a few weeks ago "he" wondered how the Tingen Nighthawks were doing in "his" original world.
***
"Leonard, welcome back." Rozanne said.
"Good to see you again." Leonard replied.
"So, how is the high ranking deacon job?"
"Oh, I'm quitting."
"Can you even do that?" Rozanne asked.
"Not normally, but special circumstances have allowed it. Though it's more of a transfer rather than quitting."
"Really? Where would you go?"
"Well this is a bit awkward but I kind of converted to the Church of The Fool." Leonard scratched his nose.
Rozanne raised an eyebrow.
"You should leave then. We don't need traitors like you." Rozanne joked.
Leonard smiled as he leaned against the wall.
"Next time I come over I'll bring a friend." He said looking upwards.
***
Klein rested in his room. He had been experiencing some whiplash from getting revenge on Ince Zangwill to mingling with high society in a short span of time.
"Hello, your dear wife has come to visit you." Hela said entering the room.
"Good to see you. But you shouldn't say that so loud since we're not actually married."
Hela smiled and walked over. All of a sudden she pushed Klein down onto the bed.
"Well why don't we make it official?" Hela said half teasingly.
Klein's face flushed immediately, not even giving him time to try using his clown abilities.
"I let my guard down around you too easily." Klein mumbled.
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing."
"Now about my previous question."
"I already answered that." Klein avoided the question.
"You know I'm not letting you go until I get my answer."
"Well I have time. Let's see how patient you are."
"Wanna bet?"
Hela was now on top of Klein, pressing against him.
"I have a lot of time." Hela whispered in to Klein's ear.
***
Within the Earth Mother's divine kingdom, Adam was currently seething.
"Aunt Lilith, why is Uncle Adam like that?" Lumina said with a mischievous smile.
Adam was breathing heavily, constantly writing and scribbling in his book.
"He… is frustrated." Lilith sighed.
She cradled the small Lumina in her arms.
"I think he should get some better hobbies. Maybe find some romance." Lumina said.
"Do you really think that's possible? He's been around since the second epoch and still hasn't found anyone. Longer if you count pre epoch." Amon joined in.
"To be fair, his options weren't exactly the best. Coming out as a God and all." Lilith pointed out.
"Yeah like you." Lumina said with a shit eating grin.
'Should I just punt this kid to the moon?' Lilith debated.
***
The Fool seemed a little distracted to the Tarot club members. "He" was constantly fidgeting, spinning pens, scribbling in a book and making random shapes out of fog.
"By the way are you two still in bed?" The Fool asked.
"Yeah, because he won't give me a damn answer." Miss Death slammed the table causing the World to almost jump out of his seat.
"Please just end this already!" The Hierophant said.
"I would but this coward won't answer! At this point I'll take a rejection." Death complained.
"Klein, just get married already." Melissa said.
The Tarot club then decided just to have them get married at the next meeting.
***
"You know I don't really like them pushing us around, however they are right about how we should get married soon. With us advancing our sequence we should build a powerful anchor." Hela said.
"You're right. I think we should have the wedding on our own terms." Klein agreed.
"Alright then. So will you marry me?" Hela took out a ring from her pocket.
"Of course."
Klein pulled Hela in for a long kiss. Pulling away Klein saw her light gold hair cascade down upon him, her place face and lifeless looking eyes stared down at him with a soft smile.
"So when are we having kids?" Hela joked.
***
Franca was currently dealing with all the prayers. As she was constantly in her mini Goo form her humanity had been slipping more and more. She was really missing the days in Trier where they would just mess around and deal with low level threats.
"Is that what you desire? How… boring." The voice whispered in her ear.
"Well clearly no one ever loved you, so it's understandable you think that way." She replied to the abyss amalgamation.
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. You decided it was a good idea to stick a seed of malice on me. By the way, ever heard of consent?"
"I deeply regret my actions and will think before I act in the future." The pitch black fiend said.
"Good, now as repentance, handle these prayers for me."
"I'm the devil. I lied."
"I hate you. By the way, do you think it's possible to track down where they went using my connection to Lumian?" Franca asked.
"Probably as the Lord of the Mysteries managed to send a message from wherever they are. Though it would probably require a trigger on the other side."
***
"You asshole!" Adam was currently cursing at Amon while chasing him around Lilith's divine kingdom.
"You need to touch some grass instead of writing your dumb novels." Amon said as he was currently being chased around in a grassy field.
Adam called upon the Chaos sea's power transforming in to light to catch up with Amon. Mid air he grabbed Amon by the colour.
"Let's call this a first warning. Next time don't scribble out my careful planning."
"Alright." Amon had a rather mad smile.
"Good."
***
"Mum, dad! I need some help to plan for a wedding!" Audrey burst in to the room.
Her family was just relaxing together and when they heard her words immediately stopped what they were doing. Hibbert dropped his cup of coffee, Alfred's mouth had coffee spilling from it, Earl Hall was clenching the newspaper so hard it was about to rip and Caitlyn Hall nearly fell from her seat.
"Audrey, we haven't even met this person and you're getting married!" Caitlyn said with a shaky voice.
The others had similar sentiments as Audrey let them state their case while she laughed inwardly.
"It's not my wedding. It is still far too early for that. I am just a wedding planner helping Mr Dantes." Audrey explained, placating herself to prevent any laughter.
"It seems that his womaniser ways have caught up to him. Maybe he got a woman pregnant and she is making him marry her." Caitlyn said.
"Mother, those are just rumours. Mr Dantes isn't like that. Who do you think he is, Emperor Roselle?" Audrey chuckled.
The others looked at her with confused looks.
'Oh, right. I need to be careful about referencing things from the Tarot club out here. Actually I might as well, tell them about it before it becomes a burden.' She thought.
"I will explain after the wedding. Anyway this is a good opportunity to help out business wise as there are some high ranking members of the Church of Evernight. Plus it's at no financial cost to you." Audrey tried shifting the topic.
"Well I suppose that is a good deal. What is the budget?" Earl Hall asked.
Audrey checked her notes from the meeting.
"Well, I already have a few ideas for the venue which is already almost decided. Some other things like entertainment are in the hands of others. Guests are all but confirmed so we should have about 100 people at most. So we are in charge of most of what is left. Oh yeah, don't worry about the budget."
***
"We are not having the wedding in the corpse cathedral," Klein said. "Also no you are not being the priest."
"I am being the priest. I can drop the corpse cathedral but that is non-negotiable." Adam said.
"Deal. By the way I heard you were planning entertainment with the others. How is that going?"
"Umm… secret."
***
"Why did we let the tone deaf guy be the lead singer? We should know who is a bad singer at this point." Eternal Darkness argued.
"Are you going to tell him no?" Lumian said.
"Yeah, I'm going to right now as this is horrible."
"At the very least it isn't Alger." Evernight entered the conversation.
"Oh, why don't we let Adam sing." Lilith suggested.
"Hilarious. The only songs he can sing are rap songs." Eternal Darkness pointed out.
"They're good songs." Adam appeared.
"This is a wedding, not a concert."
"Why don't you sing then?" Lumian provoked her.
"Fine I will." Eternal Darkness took the challenge.
"Hi, I'm back. I was thinking of adding some party games and an arcade. Also how about a planetary RTS or TTRPG. Well I guess it wouldn't really be table top. We could scale down to a continent if we want to play multiple games." The Fool suggested.
"Klein, that's great. Get back on that as you're replaced as lead singer. So just focus on special effects." Eternal Darkness tried to get him as far from the performance as possible.
"Can't Adam envision them? Would probably be more efficient." The Fool argued.
"He's not sequence 0. Even with the Chaos sea he can only get the sequence 1 abilities of the neighboring pathways. You should know this."
"Right… Chaos sea."
"Alright, so Adam have you decided on a venue with Klein?" Evernight asked.
"Yeah. Your house."
She stared blankly at him before asking.
"Why not Sefirah castle?"
"..." Adam inwardly prepared himself. "Because I thought your reaction would be funny."
"Well, are you satisfied?"
"No. Anyway, of course it's going to be Sefirah castle."
"I'll plan the venue after I'm done with the games." The Fool took out a notebook and began jotting some things down.
***
Amon went out looking for a suitable wedding gift with Lumina as they weren't allowed to be involved in the plan.
"For my speech. I should read out all of Adam's fanfics. I mean reasonable developments to them." Amon mentioned as he walked around.
"Do I get a speech?" Lumina asked.
"Probably." Amon shrugged as he tried on a pair of black gloves which appeared in his hands.
"Is that what you're giving them?"
"Probably not. They are pretty cool though. Would fit the Gehrman persona. Maybe I should give them a child. Like stealing a… yeah probably not."
"Yeah, Hela probably wouldn't want to carry that around."
"Who said Hela was going to be the one carrying it?"
Lumian stared at Amon processing the words.
"We should stop wasting time. I have to shop for big brother Lumian since he's doing the band thing. At least the others are shopping on their own."
***
"Dammit, what should I get them? Maybe I could write a novel about them." Fors said
"We both know that's not going to be finished." Xio said.
"You're right."
***
(Skits are back, not canon though)
***
(Professor Grisha)
Klein in front of an old fashioned television. Dusting off a tape he inserted it in to the slot and hit play.
A blonde haired man in a lab coat walked on to the screen.
"Hello there! And welcome to the world of pok- beyonders. My name is Grisha! People call me the beyonder Professor." He introduced himself.
An off-screen voice then interrupted.
"No one calls you that!" Evernight called out.
Grisha Adam looked noticeably annoyed at the interruption before continuing.
"This world is inhabited by cre- beyonders. Well I guess there are also creatures but that's beside the point. For some people, beyonders are… calling them pets doesn't exactly work. Give me a minute to think."
A minute passed by as Grisha deliberated what to say.
"For some people, beyonders are guardians. Others view them as miserable wretches."
"Hey, the Church if Evernight is calling for copyright infringement." Evernight interrupted once more.Who are you? Nintendo?" Grisha joked.
"Well they would probably try to sue us if they were alive to see this. Even if the game is several thousand years old."
"Surely the copyright has expired by now."
"If beyonders were around they would probably have a sequence 0 lawyer working for them"
The camera then turned towards Roselle and Farbauti sitting nearby and eating a sandwich. He looked up and waved awkwardly. Returning to the stage Grisha began speaking again.
"Myself… I study poke… beyonders as a professor. We're going to do a retake after this right?"
The camera switched to The Fool sitting in the director's chair giving a thumbs up. Going back to the stage Grisha checked the script to remember his lines.
"Since this is a video we skip the asking names thing right?" Grisha asked.
"Yeah." Lilith called from behind the camera.
"Your very own beyonder legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with beyonders awaits! Let's go!"
Grisha gave a thumbs up to end however it still kept recording.
"You know it's a bit misleading. I don't even think I can call it sugar coating. This is just straight up misinformation. I get what you want to do with the pokemon reference but no one who watches this will understand." Grisha argued.
"Yeah but it's funny. We'll fix the script and come back later." The Fool said.
Lilith came on stage and helped Grisha remove his make-up and handed him something to eat.
The video ended and Klein was left in the empty room staring at his reflection.
"I miss you guys." He muttered to himself.
Notes:An alarm went off as Zhou Mingrui awoke. He picked up his phone and checked his messages.
"Hey, want to meet up?"
Zhou Mingrui replied with a thumbs up. He then got dressed leaving the house.
***
Amon threw the black glove at Adam.
"You have disrespected me for too long, I challenge you to a duel." Amon said in a pompous tone.
"Usually it's a white glove." Adam said.
"Being racist now are we?"
"All I said was for you to stop stealing the snacks."
"I did not do that. I believe it was that man over there. Don't know him though." Amon pointed towards an avatar.
"Yeah sure and what is his name?"
"He surely has a dignified name unlike his actions. I believe it was something that started with an A."
"Seems like an asshole honestly. Ruining people's hard work."
"Must be named Adam then." Amon shrugged.
***
The Fool toured Klein and Hela around the venue allowing them to make changes as they wished.
"Wow you really went all out on the details." Hela complimented.
"Yeah, these carvings are incredibly intricate. I'm glad this was free as I don't think we would be able to afford this." Klein said.
"Well it is a god's divine kingdom. But then again Mr Fool would probably rent it out for 50 pounds if he was desperate enough." Hela joked.
"I can hear you." The Fool said.
"Anyway, what about the entertainment?"
"We got a few different artists playing. Like the Beatles." The Fool said, handing the schedule over.
"Right, historical void projections… Why is Mother Tree of Desire there?" Klein asked.
"Oh right, I'll just plug her in to the speakers."
"What's the blank spot?"
"Secret." The Fool grinned.
Klein and Hela quickly put two and two together realising what was going on.
'Better not be the rap god.' Klein lampooned.
They continued walking and discussing the schedule, making a few changes to suit their tastes.
"I see we have a few games. But your selections do seem to take a while." Hela pointed out.
"Yes, but I specifically chose a planet where a year is a few minutes here."
"I guess but it still doesn't seem to fit in the schedule as that can take hundreds of years in game. Also is this ethical?"
"King of space time, remember? Also probably not but I don't think it's illegal so we should be fine." The Fool shrugged.
'Whose laws are you going off of? Also I don't think anyone is going to try and get the Lord of the Mysteries to stand trial.' Hela lampooned.
***
Audrey carefully checked the quality of the food with the "food critic" making sure everything was perfect.
"Where is the sweet iced tea?" The Fool asked.
Audrey smiled, understanding this was probably best in order to suit Klein's taste. However this was still a high end wedding. Though she knew she couldn't stop him as he could always just summon historical void projections and was already responsible for half the food since they couldn't recreate a lot of the food from Earth.
"Mr Fool, you must remember many high class attendees will be here so sweet iced tea isn't exactly the best choice of drink. Imagine the tycoon Dwayne Dantes slurping down sweet iced tea." Audrey explained.
"I don't see the issue. Also we're using Klein's new face." The Fool adjusted the fake moustache and glasses.
"How am I supposed to explain that," Audrey rubbed her forehead. "By the way do you have any actual experience reviewing food?"
"I lived in the foodaholic empire of course I know my stuff. Also do online reviews count?"
"Good enough I guess. Your taste hasn't failed us till now. Are there any fine dining restaurants you reviewed?"
"I was a hardware engineer who was only a few years out of university." The Fool said.
"I'll take that as a no." Audrey returned to checking the food.
***
Everyone secretly gathered backstage as The Fool's avatars posed as them while distracting Klein and Hela. They scrambled to make sure their speeches were perfect.
"Who's the maid of honour and best man again?" Evernight asked.
"You!" They all shouted. "But actually we have no clue who the best man is. Klein just said to choose whoever."
"Leonard you do it!" Adam said, panicked.
"Ring bearer?" The Fool asked.
"I'll do it!" Amon raised his hand.
Everyone stared with a knowing look.
"Mr Fool, please do it." Lumian requested.
"He's literally the god of the robbery pathway!" Amon complained.
"To prevent a thief you need a better thief." Lumian said.
"Alright, we now need someone to crash the wedding." The Fool muttered.
"Why?" Asked Eternal Darkness.
"Drama."
They all turned their attention to a certain monocle wearing angel. He put on an innocent expression though his mouth was slowly curving in to a sly smile.
***
Audrey nervously walked up to her family who were preparing to attend the wedding.
'Why did I put this off for so long?' She questioned inwardly.
Clearing her throat as they were about to step in to the carriage.
"So, I wasn't really honest about the venue."
"Did you not get it handled?" Caitlyn Hall asked.
"No, it's just the location is… a bit special and we will need to get there through equally special means."
"Where is it?" Earl Hall asked.
"Well first there are some other things I must confess. While the wedding is for Dwayne Dantes that is just an identity he is using. Also it is in a divine kingdom and I am also in a secret organisation. And I'm actually a sequence 5 beyonder." Audrey bombarded them with information, hoping it would soften the blow.
"We'll talk after the wedding. So Audrey Hall, how do we get there?" Caitlyn tried to sound calm.
'Is this how Fors feels? Mr Fool, please give me strength.' Audrey prayed. "Ahem, so I will summon our ride. You can remain in the carriage however as we will go through a gate."
Audrey cleared her throat and set up a ritual.
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era."
"Did you just say The Fool?"
Audrey felt daggers being stabbed in to her back.
"Mr Fool, please help me!"
A gate of starlight opened as two marionettes wearing butler suits and clown masks emerged. Alfred Hall immediately realised they were at the very least demigods.
'Audrey, what have you gotten yourself in to?' Alfred questioned. "Audrey, are you perhaps a member of the Tarot club?"
"One of the founders actually. I go by the code name justice." Audrey said, proudly
"Murdering an Oracle of the aurora order is dangerous. You should be prepared for retaliation." Alfred said.
'I probably shouldn't tell them that their god said it was fine.' Audrey nodded before responding. "We have experts at anti divination so the chances of being caught are almost none. Also I was wearing a disguise."
"How about we just go and discuss things after the wedding?" Earl Hall said.
***
They rolled in to the door, emerging in front of a large castle which seemed to stretch past the clouds. The area around them was covered in a blanket of grey fog which stretched to the horizon. It looked to be night with the sky being dotted with countless stars. The moon, unlike the usual crimson, was white.
"Isn't this a bit disrespectful to the goddess? Changing "her" divine symbol." Caitlyn mentioned.
'It does resemble her divine kingdom.' Audrey recalled.
"Honerable guests, welcome to Sefirah castle. I assume you are here for the wedding of Klein Moretti and Hela." An attendant bowed.
"Yes. Here is our invitation." Audrey took out a Tarot card numbered 11, handing it over.
"Welcome, Miss Justice and the Hall family. Please take these masks for the sake of privacy between certain guests."
Audrey took the mask which perfectly matched her outfit. The design on it resembled the parts of the justice Tarot card identifying her.
Entering the castle they were taken to a banquet hall. Noticing the food that they catered there was a slight feeling of pride as it was acceptable to a deity for their blessed. Though they quickly remembered that The Fool was an evil deity, though the Church of Evernight had no stance on "him" it was best to be careful. On the other side however there was an assortment of goods they didn't recognise aside from one thing.
'Sweet iced tea…'
"Audrey! Finally you're here!" Fors waved from across the hall.What happened to privacy?' Audrey lampooned.
Though she noticed her family's reactions weren't quite right for the situation, they seemed oddly calm.
"Who is that Miss Justice?" Her mother asked.
"Miss Magician." Audrey answered. 'Must be some Sefirah castle shenanigans.'
"So she was the one who helped you kill the oracle."
"Mhm."
"Audrey, go have fun but remember to keep up appearances."
***
Alfred Hall, as the MI9 members he was, did some snooping around in order to gather information on The Fool.
"Excuse me sir, could you please move?" A beautiful lady wearing a dress which seemed to be made from the night sky requested.
"Of course. But may I ask for your name?" He asked the lady who despite not wearing a mask he couldn't seem to properly remember her face.
"You can call me the High priestess. I would like to extend a thank you from the Church of Evernight to the Hall family for your generous donations."
Alfred was confused but then pieced the puzzle together and realised why the Church of Evernight had not released a stance on the Tarot club.
"It is no issue Madam High priestess. We are simply trying to show our faith how we can."
Alfred guessed based on her title and words that she was perhaps an Archbishop of the Church of Evernight.
"One more thing. Some changes are on the horizon. The world as you know it will be completely changed," A foggy dome then enveloped them. "And as a tip. Don't trust The Fool."
***
Klein happily looked at his friends enjoying themselves while they celebrated him and Hela. However despite the joyous occasion he was slightly melancholic.
'I wish you two were here.'
Hela grabbed his hand, reading his thoughts as usual. Looking over he noticed her own sullen expression. He tightly gripped her hand and tried his best to wear a smile. After all, today was a joyous occasion.
***
Hela walked down the aisle with a smile. Despite missing home she realised that there were still many people who she cares about and the most important of them was just a few steps away, waiting for her.
***
Adam whose robes seemed to glow slightly more smiled as Hela approached the stage. He turned to Klein and nodded. The ceremony started as Adam noticeably eyed the door.
Klein and Hela exchanged knowing glances as they carried on. Finally the trigger words were said.
"Any objections?"
The door in the ceremony hall opened as Amon burst in through the door.
"I object. Klein got me pregnant in an alternate world!"
The Fool immediately disappeared upon hearing the words.
"Hela I demand a duel for his hand in marriage." Amon threw a black glove at her.
"Isn't it usually white?" Hela questioned.
"Please leave your biases out of this. Since I am so nice you can both fight me." Amon tried his best to imitate a stuck up noble.
Klein and Hela took one glance at each other with happy grins as they jumped Amon. The earlier feelings of sadness completely faded as they beat the angel of deceit.
"Wait, you forgot to kiss!" Adam yelled.
In the midst of the "fight" Hela pulled Klein in for a kiss.
***
"Will you do the same at my wedding?" Lumina asked as she picked Amon up off the ground.
"Depends on who you're marrying." Amon replied.
***
The Fool managed the games as "he" watched the others play. However there was a constant nagging feeling in the back of "his" mind.
"He" knew exactly what "he" should have felt. Joy, perhaps some sadness, maybe even some jealousy. But here "he" was not even knowing who "he" is. Unable to enjoy this moment for "he" was just a puppeteer strangled by "his" own strings.
***
Eternal Darkness wondered why she felt like this. She was happy that her friend was happy. But there was a clawing pain in her heart revealing just how empty it was.
Though as she continued to think. She began to realise an unsettling truth or rather a mystery. Who was it that she really fell in love with? Whatever she was feeling didn't matter though as it may soon be over.
***
Adam cheered alone as he grabbed Lilith's hands.
"It finally happened!"
"Yeah it only took… how many volumes did you write?" Lilith asked.
"Four and a bit." Adam answered.
"By the way… are we really going to carry out the plan?"
Adam looked down, not giving away his feelings on his face.
"I-I don't know. It feels wrong but I believe it is what we have to do." He stuttered.
"And if you regret it?"
"I don't think I have enough humanity to regret."
"Well you're improving."
***
Lumian had been feeling lost ever since arriving here. The short time before and after the apocalypse had become blurred together only made worse by his fragile state.
But since coming here he has experienced so many things that have brought him great joy. Bonding with his fellow Great old ones has been fun and he was glad they were getting along. But as The Fool fell into madness. He still couldn't bring himself to carry out what he had to do with his whole heart.
Despite how whimsical everything has been so far, what happens during this journey is perhaps the most important thing for their world and themselves.
***
"The connection between me and Lumian is strengthening for some reason and the barrier between us has weakened as well." Franca said.
"Quick, seize the opportunity. Be careful who you select to go through though." The pitch black fiend told her.
"Umm, I don't think that's possible."
A vortex of starlight appeared above them as Sefirah castle grabbed her as well as a few other figures before pulling them through.
Notes: