*unleashes cannon* HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! *cheers happily and brings out the party supplies* Voice of Freedom has reached its one-year anniversary, Arc-V revealed a whole bunch of plot twists, more AMAZING stories from AMAZING authors were created over the year AS WELL as the fanart! :D

AND WE ALSO GET A NEW SHOW COMING THIS YEAR! 8D 2016 was a great year...but to start off 2017, here is the great wedding of, drum roll please...*drum roll*

Wait for it...

Almost there...

ZARC AND RAY! 8D And this special story couldn't have been done without the support of four amazing authors/editors, so give a warm welcome and a big round of applause to Donjusticia, Sinking into Ruined Shadows, Swift4Sweeper and Shimmering-Sky! They truly deserve it for the work and support they had given.

Here are Donny's, Sky's and Shadows' words:

Donjusticia: This has been great! It has truly been a great privilege to work with so many wonderful authors. Thank you, CorinnetheAnime, Sinking Into Ruined Shadows, Shimmering-Sky, and Swift4Sweeper to offering your criticisms, reviews, story segments, and editing skills to this project! It has truly been a delight to work with you (and make a mockery of your works with my shameless parodies).
Immense thanks also goes to all of our wonderful readers! You people truly lend me and all my author counterparts immense strength in this project. As a matter of fact, you could say that your guys' support IS our strength! And that is why me, CorinnetheAnime, Sinking Into Ruined Shadows, Shimmering Sky, and every other author who has contributed to this work have resolved to make this story cuter! In fact, if you all wish it, we shall become EVEN CUTER than we already are! Cute enough to destroy the whole world! And to do that, we shall combine our talents together until we become one! SO REJOICE EVERYONE! FOR WE SHALL BECOME ONE! HITOTSU NI!
CorinnetheAnime: HITOTSU NI!
Sinking Into Ruined Shadows: HITOTSU NI!
Shimmering-Sky: HITOTSU NI!
(Everyone else who contributed to this project): HITOTSU NI!
Enjoy the product of our fusion, everyone! THE FUN HAS JUST BEGUN!

Also check this out for the opening.

Obligatory Opening Parody Song (500 points to anyone who can tell me what the original song is).

Yuya: Berserk modes of every stage.
Yuzu: Bracelet girls who are underage.
Yuto: Fuse us together and you will run
Ruri: From this world of fanfiction!

Everyone: THIS IS FANFICTION! THIS IS FANFICTION!
The authors never get our characters right!
This is fanfiction! Crazy imagination!
Serious readers will die of fright!
Leo Akaba: EVERYBODY RUN!
Himika Akaba: EVERYBODY RUN!
Everybody: From this world of fanfiction!

Shun: I'm the one that's keeping Ruri chaste,
fists ready to pound Yuto into paste.
Horakhty: I'm the one who will bring forth the light
Yubel: I'll watch you sleep in the dead of night

Everyone: This is fanfiction! This is fanfiction!
Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction!

Reira: In this world, where we play
Reiji: We're gonna marry Zarc and Ray.
Darkness: In this world, don't we love it now!
Armityle: Everyone is waiting for the shadows to rise!

Rin: Down that chapel hall
Selena: Crawling through the castle walls.
Natsumi: OCs popping in just to relieve tension!
Yoko: This is fanfiction.
Yusho: White and Black.
Yuri: Purple too.
Reiji: Want some logic?
Zorc: Well, none for you!
Leo: Read it once, read it twice
Shun: We will not be acting nice
Leo and Shun: Even if they will be wed tonight! NO!

Yubel: Everybody run!
Reiji: Everybody run!
Everyone: From this world of fanfiction!

Yugo: I'm the boy with the adorable face
Ready to beat you in a race!
Ruri: I'm the yandere with long flowing hair.
Rin: I'm the tsundere who doesn't care.
Selena: I'm the girl who's actually cool.
Here to make all my fan boys drool.

Everyone: This is fanfiction! This is fanfiction!
Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction!
Fanfiction! Fanfiction!

Yubel: Readers of these fics usually laugh.
Zorc: And if you don't you will feel my wrath!
Yuya: You will smile, cause it's lots of fun!
Yuzu: In this world of fanfiction!

Yuto: In this world, don't we love it now!
I actually get to have some screen-time!
Yuri: And Yuri, the demon, might fuse with his counterparts!
Summon all the dragons and tear this world apart!

Everybody: This is fanfiction! Everybody Run!

Reiji: You'd better escape to a more canon fic.

The parents: Zarc and Ray are gonna tie the knot today
Everyone hail to the bride and groom now!

Everyone: This is fanfiction! This is fanfiction!
Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction! Fanfiction!

Everyone: In this world, on this day,
Celebrate the wedding of Zarc and Ray!

La! La! La! La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Sinking into Ruined Shadows: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome, everyone in the ARC-V fandom who has not died from Zarc overload yet, to the wedding mentioned in possibly every fanfic published by CorinnetheAnime, Donjusticia, and I in the last two weeks!
Thanks to Corinne and Donny for the invite to write this, and to Shimmering-Sky for editing this fanfiction along with the rest of us crazy people!
Now, have fun reading this I-don't-know-how-many-words-there-are wedding...don't worry, I already lost my sanity when I met said people mentioned above.

Shimmering-Sky: Oh, wait, I get an Author's Note? All I did was point out like two little mistakes and suggest a reference to a meme! Um, wow, dunno what to say...

Joseph: *Appears* EARTHBOUND GOD CHOCOLATE MAMA!

S-S: *Eye twitch* JOSEPH, I TOLD YOU TO STOP THAT! I EVEN GAVE YOU COOKIES TO MAKE YOU SHUT UP!

Joseph: Lucy and Meri stole them all.

S-S: *Sigh* Of course they did... Alright, I'll go get you some more. Make sure Natsumi behaves, alright? *Leaves*

Joseph: ...I'm... in charge...?

But, but I can't adult.

Natsumi: *Appears* It's alright, Joseph! Neither of us are adults yet!

Joseph: Haha, yeah, that's true. *Pulls out a bag of baby carrots* Floor carrot?

Natsumi: *Happy gasp* YES PLEASE!

And now, without further ado, LET'S CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR!

For the first time in many years, Ray was suddenly and abruptly brought to consciousness.

What was happening? Did it work? She was certain it had worked. She had sacrificed everything to create a peaceful universe, a universe that would not be ravaged by Zarc, the physical manifestation of man's own evil. She had given up her body and soul to create four new individuals to watch over the reincarnations of Zarc, and she had placed them close to each reincarnation so that there could be a continual balance.

So what was she doing here now?

Struggling to gather her scattered senses, she felt her essence fly forth from the bodies of her four counterparts in order to coalesce into a coherent spirit. When she opened her golden eyes, she was shocked at what she had found.

"No! Father!" she screamed.

But nobody heard her, all she could do was watch as her father, well-meaningly but foolishly, imprisoning her reincarnations within a great machine in order to revive her. What had he done!? Hadn't he understood the meaning of her sacrifice!? Didn't he understand what would happen if her reincarnations weren't there to halt Zarc's resurrection!?

Yuya and Yuto were standing before her father, with shadows pouring from their spirits as Zarc took control. Leo would surely be killed by their wrath if something didn't stop them. How had this happened!?

Slowly…her memories began coming back to her. Although the memories were dim, she could feel the pain of each and everyone of her counterparts who had been sacrificed.

"YUYA!" Yuzu screamed, as she slowly lost energy.

"YUTO!" Ruri gasped as her life essence faded.

"Who the heck is Yuya?" Rin asked before she exploded in a cloud of dust.

"I'll be taking a nap," Selena yawned. "Wake me up when the writers decide to give me some screentime again."

And with that, the last of the bracelet girls popped out of existence. It was harrowing to think of, that they had been each sacrificed so sadistically for her sake, but Ray didn't have time to think about that right now. Right now, Zarc had to be stopped!

Things, however, were outside of her control. Everything seemed to be happening in a blur. She watched as Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, truly the most evil and vicious dragon of them all, sadistically tore apart Yugo's last defenses before Yuri maliciously devoured the poor Synchro duelist's very soul. She watched as Yuto and Yuya quickly became consumed by darkness after Yuri went on to destroy Yuya's father. She watched as they began their battles, Yuri inexplicably performing well below his usual skill level, until Yuya pulled another victory out of thin air, and then…and then…

The worlds were merging; it was as Ray had feared. There was no more Yuya, or Yuto, or Yugo, or even Yuri. Zarc was standing before them, laughing maliciously as his dreaded servant, Astrograph Magician, merged the dragons into one to bring havoc to the world once more.

"Where's Yuya!?" Sora shouted, desperate to find his friend.

"YUYA!?" Reiji shouted, unable to believe that the universe was unraveling before his very eyes.

"Hey, wanna team up and take down the Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V! equivalent of the devil?" Kaito asked Shun.

"You betcha!" Shun agreed, running after the "second" best character in Zexal.

"YUYA!" Reira screamed, eyes widening as a massive shadowy dragon rose up in front of them. Ray was also looking around, trying to find Zarc, trying to understand what had happened and how she could stop it!

That's when he came, a shadow pouring from the dragon's head before landing on the ground to reveal who was inside. Ray gasped in shock and horror as Zarc/Yuya lifted his hulking demonic body off the ground before raising his demonic fists into the air and leering at his puny opponents.

"YUYA SMASH!" Yuya roared, slamming his fists into the pavement and ending all four worlds.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ray screamed, waking up from her nightmare in a cold sweat. Her sleep had not been helped one bit by her chronic anxiety over her approaching wedding.

"What is it!?" Yuzu asked, concern in her voice.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Ruri pressed, gently stroking Ray's hair as Selena and Rin each got out of their mental beds in Ray's brain to see what was going on.

"Oh, it was awful!" Ray moaned, panting heavily as she reclined on her pillow.

"Well, why don't you tell us what happened?" Rin soothed, patting Ray on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, you're a tough girl and we won't judge." Selena reassured her reincarnation.

"Well…I was having a dream about Zarc and our universe," Ray explained, "You were all there, but you were all EXTREMELY minor characters!"

"What!? Minor characters!?" Yuzu gasped.

"The very idea!" Rin huffed.

"And then Yuya, Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo were dueling, but NONE of their Duel Monsters were talking!"

"What!?" Leo Dancer hissed, hopping out of her card. "That's absurd! What kind of horrific, nightmarish world were you dreaming of!?"

"Yeah! Ain't no way you could have a livable world where we ain't got no personalities!" Bloom Prima agreed.

"It is kind of scary!" Assembly Nightingale twittered, her feathers puffing out in fear.

"Hold tight to me, Gale!" Winter Bell admonished, wrapping her icy fins around Ruri's ace monster in order to comfort the frightened bird-woman.

"But that's not the worst part!" Ray continued, wiping some tears from her eyes. "Starve Venom was there…"

"Was he giving people cookies again?" Leo Dancer groaned, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"No! That's just the thing!" Ray explained. "He wasn't like himself at all! He was acting so evil!"

"That's unbelievable!" Winter Bell tinkled, remembering how nice Starve Venom had been to buy Clear Wing and herself tickets to the Melodious Christmas Concert.

"I know, right!?" Selena agreed, gawking at Ray with incredulity. "I mean…it's not like the writers went out of their way to make Starve Venom as hideous and demonic-looking as possible so we would all assume his personality was evil! What kind of crazy dream was this!?"

At least Yuya was there to spread egao…right?" Yuzu asked, looking concerned.

Ray shook her head.

"How scary!" Yuzu shuddered.

"But it's all okay because it was just a dream," Ruri reassured Ray. "Don't worry, the wedding will go just as planned."

"But how can you be so sure?" Ray whimpered. "You KNOW how crazy our family can be! Leo's gonna be there along with my real mom and my kind-of-mom, Himika. My crazy siblings are gonna be there, Zarc is bringing along his older brother, Darkness, each of your dads are coming, there's just so much that could go wrong!"

"But we've planned for this." Rin reassured Ray.

"Yeah." Yuzu agreed. "We've got some new authors to help with this fic so it can be more serious."

"Donjusticia's been successfully bound and gagged." Selena added.

"Plus, I've made sure that Natsumi will be sitting next to Shun so he will be distracted through the whole thing," Ruri soothed. "Don't worry, everything will be okay."

Ray wasn't too sure about that, but relaxed a little anyway. There was no denying it; it would be a miracle in and of itself if they didn't bring about another apocalypse with the wedding when all was said and done.

Meanwhile, Zarc was having his own problems. If the day could go by without ten sightings each of Yandere Shun and Overprotective Super Saiyan Dad Leo amongst other things, he could call the wedding a success.

It didn't help that his counterparts were each going crazy in their own way inside his head.

"So technically...does this mean I'm getting married to Rin or Ray?" Yugo questioned, scratching his head in confusion. The other counterparts, however, looked at him with a blank stare on their faces. Only Yuri showed any signs of annoyance.

"RIN IS A PART OF RAY! SO TECHNICALLY BOTH!" The Fusion counterpart yelled in annoyance, still trying to process the fact that he was technically going to get married to Serena.

Yuto and Yuya shared a glance before shrugging and accepting Yuri's hurried response. Yugo just looked even more confused. "But how is Rin Ray...I mean, how is Ray Rin...ugh, but Ray looks nothing like Rin...she's too old."

That brought Zarc's attention.

"Excuse me?" Zarc's eyes glowed a dangerous gold at the statement. He did not like it when someone degraded Ray by her age, and that often led to smoking craters where a duel had commenced.

Yugo realized his mistake and started frantically waving his hands. "Nothing, nothing!"

Yuri took this opportunity as a chance to knock Yugo out. "NO, IT WAS SOMETHING! Go on, tell him what you said, Fusion-kun."

Yugo gritted his teeth. "The name is Yugo, not Fus-!"

"Don't know, don't care, you're in trouble either way." Yuri then smirked his usual evil and condescending smile, which was the straw that broke the camel's back for both Yugo and Zarc.

"SHUT UP!"

"YURI!"

Yuri's smile widened to impossible lengths at the enraged yells of his incarnation and fellow counterpart. "Well, Zarc, since you asked so nicely before-"

"You know what? Just shut up," Zarc sighed, rubbing his forehead and also shooting down any of Yuri's hopes of getting Yugo in trouble. "I don't need it."

"But you do need the encouragement, Zarcy-boy..."

"Don't call me that, you sound just like your father. And NO, I DON'T."

Yuri scoffed, looking at his nails. "Fine, then. Be that way, I was only trying to help."

Yuya shoved him aside before Zarc could rip the Fusion counterpart to shreds. "Either way, you'll do fine, Zarc. Hey, you braved through the proposal and she said yes...so the wedding should be a breeze!"

Zarc scratched the back of his head, which was slightly painful due to his claws. "But her dad's gonna be there, Horakthy, Ray's uncles, my elder brother from GX or somewhere, my parents, it goes on and on!"

Yugo blinked. Twice. "Did you memorize the guest list or something?"

"I remember the key people!" Zarc yelled in exasperation. "Yuya's parents, Kurosaki-!"

"Natsumi'll be there," Yuya reassured. "Now, get out of bed and go freshen up. You've got a groomsmen party soon."

Zarc face-palmed himself. "Great. I have THAT to look forward to."

"I hope there's cake." Yugo added, making everyone look at him weirdly.

"You know...you're REALLY something, Fusion idiot," Yuri drawled.

"Oi, shut up!" Yugo snarled, just as Yuya slapped handcuffs onto Yuri's wrists and threw him into a spare mind-space often used as a prison cell for the Fusion boy. It worked very well, since Starve Venom made a small playpen in there for extra entertainment.

"Oh, hi, Yuri!" The dragon's instantly recognizable cheery voice said from the mind-space. "Did you come to play? How fun! Let me get you some tea!"

"ACK! NO, VENOM! YUYA, I HATE YOU!"

Zarc sighed, leaving Yuri to his fate, and slowly climbed out of bed. "Thanks, Yuya."

Yuya smirked. "Anytime! Now go, you can do this!"

"But..."

"Go!" And before Zarc could protest even more, the boy then somehow literally shoved the demon-dragon-man out of his own mind, returning him to the present...with him laying down on the bed.

"Wow," came Yuto's voice, talking to Yuya. "I didn't know you were that strong."

Zarc groaned. "Didn't I just get out of bed a moment ago?"

"That was all in your mind," another voice informed him, slightly feminine. Zarc recognized it instantly.

"MOM!? WHY ARE YOU WATCHING ME SLEEP?" Zarc did not appreciate the attempted Twilight reenactment as he instantly scrambled up into a sitting position.

Yubel giggled and pranced into the room. "I haven't seen you sleep in such a long time, and since you were so peacefully resting, I thought I would peek in. I just lost track of time."

"But STILL..." Zarc pulled up the covers to cover most of his scales, feeling a little embarrassed. "You could've knocked!"

Yubel smiled nevertheless. "Anyway, I was waiting for you to wake up to tell you that the wedding is starting in an hour...as of now."

"AN HOUR!?" Zarc yelled.

"An hour." Yubel smiled sweetly. "Your brother's here already, and so is your father."

Zarc muttered something under his breath that his mother thankfully did not catch. She walked back to the door, still smiling sweetly at her son.

"Now, get dressed. You have two minutes." Zarc waited till she closed it with her shadow powers, then scrambled out of bed and raced to the closet for his tuxedo, searching wildly for it.

"Where is it, where is it, WHERE IS IT?!"

"It might be in Ray's room at her house," Yuto mused lowly. "She was keeping all the outfits."

"I took it from her last night," Zarc snapped back, being hurried and slightly annoyed at the slightest interruption. "I can't go into the bride's room on the wedding day, remember?"

"Stupid traditions..." Yuri muttered from his mind-space prison.

"It's not just that, it's also respectful," Yuya retorted back. "But if you took it from here, then it should be in there somewhere. If not, you can always ask your mom and dad if they know."

"True," Zarc affirmed after searching the closet, and opened the door to his bathroom. The tuxedo was there, hanging from the tower rack and slightly rumpled. "Oh...there it is."

"See?" Yuya said in a cheery voice, always the amicable one (at least, when he wasn't destroying dimensions as Zarc's reincarnation). "You have one minute left to meet Yubel's standard, by the way."

Zarc cursed silently, quickly slipping into the bathroom and getting dressed as fast as possible...which was as fast as you could expect from a person who had horns, wings, and a tail to deal with.

But after some time, he was in his tuxedo, however ruffled it was.

"You're late," Yubel commented, checking her watch, "by fifteen point six-seven-four-two-one-nine seconds. You need to learn how to be punctual, Zarcy-dear."

Zarc face-palmed and decided to ignore the statement. "You said my brother was here, right?" he asked, raising one eyebrow in suspicion, making sure he heard her correctly a few minutes ago.

Yubel nodded, leading Zarc to the room where Darkness resided in. "Yes, I did, and he's been DYING to see you again since the whole 'Gentle Darkness' incident."

"Feeling's not mutual," Zarc muttered under his breath, knowing just how rowdy and emo his brother can be, hoping that he would have a somewhat normal day.

Then again, since when was it EVER going to be normal? He was marrying Ray, he, a demonic dragon overlord that destroyed the Original World, marrying Ray, half-angel by birth and the one who opposed him. In terms of normalcy, they were supposed to be ENEMIES, but yet...they weren't (not that he wanted them to be enemies or something like that), but it still proved his point.

And knowing his family and hers, their wedding would be rather...interesting. But now he had to deal with his brother, who was already waiting for him rather impatiently (judging from the tapping of his skeletal spectral foot).

Slowly, Zarc edged into the room, trying to keep his brother's attention off him for as long as possible. Which, of course, didn't work.

"Zarc!" Darkness jumped off the chair he was sitting on, the very emo metal chains he was wearing rattling against the skeletal outline of his body.

"Oh, great," Zarc groaned. He then was covered in the brother's multiple skeletal arms, pulling him into a tight, bone-breaking hug.

"So good to see you, brother...or whatever," Darkness drawled in a monotone, while Zarc struggled to breathe and move in his grasp.

"Nice...to...see you...too," he gasped, and pushed himself out from his older brother's many arms. Zarc hated Darkness's annoying hugs, even more than he hated kale.

That was REALLY saying something.

"So, brother," Darkness drawled, pronouncing "brother" like "brotha". "What's been rad these past few centuries?"

Zarc face-palmed at his older brother's sloppy and cringy attempt at using very old slang; he'd prefer Dark Rebellion's gangster manner over Darkness's any day. "Oh, nothing much...destroying cities, desolating worlds, creating havoc and death everywhere..."

"Ah, good times!" Darkness chuckled unenthusiastically. "Remember when we created da Black Plague and wiped out all of Europe?! Hehe...never gets old..."

Zarc rubbed his neck. "Yeah...I remember that."

"And I've heard you's gettin' married too!" Darkness crossed his limbs and tapped his foot again, much to Zarc's annoyance. "Um...to dat weird angel girl, nah?"

Upon hearing Darkness's unsatisfactory description of his fiancee, Zarc's eyes narrowed. "Don't call Ray that, brother."

"Ohh!" Darkness chortled. "So ya gettin' protective ova her already? Oh, wittle Zarcy, growin' up so fast!"

Yubel quickly jumped in before Zarc could explode and throw a fist of pure unadulterated energy at the older brother. "Alright, Darky-baby, Zarc has to go prepare now. You'll see him later, okay?"

Zarc was thankful for his mother's intrusion, but his brother remained unhappy. "Really? But we just been togetha for 'bout thirty-eight secon's!"

Zarc was quick to reply, wanting to leave as soon as possible. "Actually, I do have t-!"

"He has to get ready for the wedding, but you'll both can get together afterwards!" Yubel smiled, dragging Zarc's arm before Darkness could protest.

"Have fun, brotha!" Darkness sneered as Yubel and Zarc disappeared around the doorframe. "You'll need it."

"Yeah," Zarc muttered angrily. "Like I'll have any fun with you around."

"Might as well have some before yo' weddin'!" Darkness cackled from down the hallway. "Egyptian Gods know how hard it will be to enjoy an apocalypse with that naggin' angel chainin' you down!"

"Go jump in the world of Darkness!" Zarc grumbled as the sound of Darkness's footsteps faded away.

"Aw, don't be like that, Zarcy," Yubel chided, tapping his forehead. "You know your brother really means well!"

Zarc sighed. "It sure doesn't seem like it."

"Now, now," Yubel smacked Zarc on the back of his head, eliciting a yelp from the demon. "Be nice. You're going to meet Leo before you go to the ceremony."

"Oh, joy," Zarc drawled sarcastically. "One egotistical maniac after another."

"I can't say that I agree with you," Yubel shrugged. "Zorc is in there with him, so you'll have a calming presence."

"That's calming?!"

"He's your father, so why wouldn't it be calming?" Yubel replied wittingly, giving a knowing wink.

Zarc sighed heavily again, feeling his nerves acting up again, which invoked his own powers to destroy a random object within close range (which turned out to be a lamp). "I can list a few reasons on why it wouldn't..."

Yubel quickly picked up the shattered pieces of lamp and dropped them into a wastebasket nearby before turning back to her son. All signs of her witty, cheerful demeanor had disappeared, and in its place was a mother who was ready to start preparing her son for his wedding day.

"Look, Zarc, you know he loves you, and you know he wants you to enjoy the best moment of your life. So you need to act your best around him, and he'll act his best around you, okay?" Yubel patted her son on the head like a dog. "I know you haven't been on the greatest terms with your father or your brother...but c'mon, today's the day of bonding-!"

"For Ray and I, not those two!" Zarc protested, but Yubel held up a hand, an expression Yuya recognized from his mother on the face.

"Uh-oh," Yuya said, a slightly scared tone in his voice. "Zarc, shut up and listen for your own health and sanity."

"Not another unkind word from you, lest you want to take part in another Game of Darkness," Yubel warned, with Zarc listening intently to every word. "Remember, it's our special day as well as yours, because we're your family."

"Bu-!"

"No buts! Now, go and join your father. He needs some company with his son anyway."

While Zarc grudgingly began walking towards the room to where his father and father-in-law were, Ray was having her own familial troubles.

"No...mom...hey...I told you!" Ray protested as Horakhty continued fussing over her hair and dress. Horakhty, however, wasn't listening.

"Oh, this brings me back." Horakhty reminisced as she fastened a massive Egyptian headdress to Ray's head. "To think that not too long ago I was cradling you in my divine arms and letting you nurse from the Milky Way."

"Are the Pharaoh's Crook and Flail really necessary?" Ray protested when her mom handed her the artifacts. When her mom didn't respond, except to recount even more memories of when Ray was a baby, she turned to her monsters and counterparts, who were watching nearby.

"Guys! A little help here!?" Ray pleaded.

"Sorry! Selena and I are busy watching the monsters!" Ruri apologized as she and Selena tried to keep Leo Dancer from clawing at the curtains again while Assembly Nightingale pecked at a bowl of birdseed, and Winter Bell hung by her head on the rafters of the roof, waiting for the wind to pick up again. (Trust me, everyone, that's comfortable for her).

Ray huffed. "Well, where's Rin and Yuzu? I need some help over here!"

Serena grabbed Leo Dancer's paw and tugged it away from the curtains, then turned to Ruri while handling her ace monster. "Last time I remember...Leo Dancer, stop that! Argh...Yuzu was helping Bloom Prima with the flowers...I don't know where Rin is, and LEO DANCER, STOP CLAWING ON THE COUCH!"

"Never!" Leo Dancer hissed.

"I'll give you some catnip if you behave!" Selena coaxed.

Leo Dancer settled down on the carpet, digging her claws and thorns inside.

"I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice!" Selena huffed, before pulling out a ball of blue yarn and throwing it to her ace monster.

Instantly, Leo Dancer hopped up from the carpet and began bouncing the ball of yarn between her four paws while biting playfully at the string. Using the distraction to her advantage, Selena was just about to help out Ruri (whose dress had been splashed once Assembly Nightingale had gotten bored with the birdseed and had decided to hop into a massive bird bath), when Ray's older sister, Armityle, burst through the door.

"HEY HEY! WHASSUP, Y'ALL! " Armityle whooped, snaking through the room on her long serpentine body. "How's my lil sis doin' now she 'bout to slap family tradition in the face and marry a demon!?"

"Hey, he means well, you know!" Ray snapped. "Besides, you're not exactly the most...angelic sibling, you know."

Armityle snorted, crossing her arms. "And I suppose you are? Look...I don't think it's a good decision."

Ray copied her movements. "Well, have you ever been in love?"

"Gurl! I KNOW what love is! Now what've you got goin' on, gurl!?" Armityle interrogated, bobbing her head back and forth with each syllable. "You meet this dragon-demon hottie on one date where y'all end up destroyin' the world together, add in a couple more apocalypses after that one, and BAM! Y'all's gettin' hitched 'fore you knows what's happenin' to ya! Gurl, why you ackin' so cray-cray!? Y'all know you's just bein' played! Zarc's probably just gonna make off with the family treasure once it passes to him!"

"Family treasure?" Ruri asked, before getting pelted with another spray of water as Assembly Nightingale shook the water from her feathery wings.

"You know!" Armityle replied, rolling her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "All them ancient artifacts and currencies that've been collectin' in the bank on compound interest for millennium without end, making our family the most wealthy divine family in all of existence!"

Ray was left slack-jawed, still processing her sister's words. "We have a family treasure?" She looked up at Horakhty. "Mom, is this true? Do we really have a family treasure or is Armityle lying again?"

Horakhty laughed heartily. "Of course we have a family treasure! I mean, why else would I help the Pharaoh fight Zorc in Egypt?"

"I thought you did it to save the world from darkness," Ray muttered lowly, sidestepping to avoid another spray of water.

"Well...that too." Horakhty shrugged. "I mean...I DEFINITELY am never gonna let Zorc destroy the world! What would happen to the family fortune, then!?"

"I'm starting to think you're not quite as angelic as most people make you out to be." Selena mused as Leo Dancer curled up onto her lap where she started to purr contently.

"Gurl, you have no idea!" Armityle sighed, causing Horakhty to glower at her with disapproval.

"I guess everyone can have some skeletons in the closet," Ruri sighed, ringing some water out of her hair before helping Assembly Nightingale clean off the Parasite Fusioners who were clinging to her chest. "But, at least, we can all look forward to a bright future after this wedding."

"But just for a few precautions...well, in case your fiancé isn't hiding any secrets, maybe you should maybe keep an eye on him, Ray." There was a hint of condescension in Armityle's voice, which the girl was quick to catch. "You know...to make sure he doesn't do anything...to get the fortune."

"Me? Spy on my own future husband?" Ray questioned. "But...that doesn't seem right!"

"Yeah!" Ruri agreed. "Ray should trust Zarc implicitly just like I trust Yuto implicitly!"

"I don't know, boys can act very differently when y'all ain't around to watch them." Armityle smirked knowingly. "Especially when it comes to Yuto."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Ruri huffed, glaring suspiciously at Armityle.

"Ever heard of Braceletshipping?" Armityle asked.

"Braceletshipping?" Ruri asked, looking confused. "What the heck is Braceletshipping?"

Armityle showed her a clip of episode seven on her phone.

"I will never let you get hurt again!" Yuto vowed before kissing Yuzu on her hand as he bravely defended her from Shingo's wrath.

Ruri's eye began twitching in utter disbelief.

"That...two...timing...cheating...piece...of...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She hollered, before joining Leo Dancer in tearing apart a cushion.

Yuzu heard a distant cry of anger from her counterpart who usually wasn't angry...which was Ruri and most definitely not Rin (no one knew where she was). "Hey, what's wrong, Ruri?"

"DID YOU MAKE OUT WITH YUTO?!"

"Make out with...WHAT!?" Yuzu sputtered, wondering if she had heard her right.

"DON'T DENY IT!" Ruri roared. "I SAW YOU!"

Yuzu tried to make a reply, but her voice failed to reach Ruri, both because of the distance and because of the fact that Ruri by now was screaming way too loud to listen to anybody.

"What's her deal?" Yuzu asked as she and her monsters began arranging some tulips.

"I dunno." Bloom Prima shrugged before she and Bloom Diva began weaving some flowers into wreaths for the flower girls to wear.

"Ruri," said Selena, surprised that SHE of all people was trying to reason with Ruri when it was usually the other way around. "I'm sure it was all just a misunderstanding."

"Maybe he thought you were Yuzu." Assembly Nightingale helpfully added.

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" Ruri's muffled voice screamed as she buried her face in a pillow. "HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY CONFUSE HER FOR ME!? DO I LOOK LIKE YUZU?!"

"...Yes?" Selena, Assembly Nightingale, and Leo Dancer replied in unison, wondering if that was the right answer.

Ruri raised an eyebrow. "Really? But she...I..."

"You two do look somewhat identical...then again, we're all counterparts, so we all look identical in a way," Serena concluded, crossing her arms.

"BUT THAT DOESN'T JUSTIFY ANYTHING!"

"Girls, we can argue later!" Ray hollered, grabbing Ruri's and Serena's attention.

"Y'all just think about what I just said." Armityle snickered as she slithered out of the room. "They say it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride 'fore they get hitched, but it's even worse luck for the bride NOT to see what the groom's been doin' behind her back 'fore the wedding! TTYL, gurls!"

"Since when was there a rule like that in the wedding book...uh, Ray, where are you going?" Serena questioned, raising an eyebrow upon noticing her reincarnation taking off the dress and slipping out of the room when her mom wasn't looking.

Ray placed a finger to her lips, gesturing her to be quiet. "Nothing much," she mouthed.

Serena was quick to catch on (since Ruri was still huffing and puffing and blowing almost everything down with her anger). "No...you can't be serious."

Ray was serious, and while Selena was stuck with Horakhty as the Creator God began showing her each and every one of Ray's individual baby photos, Ray began secretly making plans to prove her older sister wrong, by ironically doing exactly what she suggested and spying on Zarc.

Zarc, of course, was unaware of Ray's plans.

"You want to WHAT again?!" Yuya exclaimed, his eyes nearly bulging out of his sockets.

"No, no, no, and NO!" Yuto repeated, swiping his arms with emphasis.

"BUT THAT MEANS NO MORE SUNSETS FOR RIDING!" Yugo exclaimed, waving his arms wildly.

"That is an EXCELLENT IDEA! WHEN DO WE START?!" Yuri, however, being the evil, little trolling monster he is, was overwhelmed with joy at Zarc's idea.

Zarc had been completely bored as he listened to Zorc and Leo recount old war stories like a couple of senior citizens. He had been relieved that they hadn't been arguing with him, but outright ignoring him hadn't been too nice either.

In the stifling dullness of the situation, Zarc's mind had been drifting to thoughts on his future with Ray. Most of it was very beautiful and sweet, them cuddling by the fireplace, raising kids, and having conversations at the dinner table...but then his mind began drifting to what his brother had last said to him. As he thought on the future, and his role in that future when it came to providing for a family like a responsible adult, Zarc had realized something.

"Guys," he had whispered to his components, "before I get married and settled, I...well...just one more time...I want to destroy the world."

Hence all the reactions above.

Yuto, Yuya, and Yugo were all firmly against destroying the world once again, all having lost something in the last apocalypse. Yuri, however, having had so much fun in the last war, was already polishing his duel disk.

"You do realize Ray will hate you for that, right?" Yuto tried to act as the voice of reason, with Yuya nodding along.

Zarc scratched his head sheepishly. "She'll forgive me later."

"But it's...destruction...of the ENTIRE WORLD," Yuya replied bluntly, trying to also reason with his reincarnation that it probably wasn't a good idea to do such an act ON his wedding day.

"Relax, maybe I'll just destroy part of it...maybe leave a pattern of burnt material that says 'I love you, Ray' or something."

Yuto crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, Zarc, don't do such an unnecessary action. Ray just might be watching you right now."

Which she was, eyes narrowed and crouched uncomfortably in a corner. "Destroying the world...don't tell me that Armityle of all people was right..." She was hoping that Zarc wouldn't do such a thing.

Zarc, however...

"What are the ODDS that she is doing that at this very moment?!" he shouted exasperatedly at his counterparts.

Yuri sneered and picked at his nails, his duel disk already on his arm. "7.8/10?"

Yugo rolled his eyes. "Obviously 10/10!"

Ray winced and shuffled her feet. Unfortunately for her, Zarc heard the shuffling.

"What was that?" Ray muffled a gasp; he heard her!

"Probably just a squirrel," Yuri drawled, looking through his cards.

"There are no squirrels in this room!" Zarc exclaimed loudly. "We are INDOORS!"

Yuri shrugged, stacking fifteen Polymerization cards on top of each other and plopping Starve Venom's card down. "Then go check, if you're so worried."

"Maybe I will," Zarc snarled, rising from his chair as his claws gouged the armrest to pieces.

"Say...didn't your father once keep a squirrel for a pet?" Yugo asked the dragon-demon overlord curiously, scratching his head.

"That was for my dinner...when I was younger..." Zarc snarled as he checked behind the curtains and opened all doors in the room, finding nothing.

"Gross," Yuri groaned, whilst stacking more Predator Plant cards. "You ate squirrels as a kid?"

"I. AM. A. DEMON!" Zarc yelled in exasperation.

Yuri rolled his eyes. "I know that, but still!"

"You know what?!" Yugo placed his gloved hand over the Fusion counterpart's mouth. "That's enough out of you!"

Yuri glared at his rival, mumbling some insults into his hand that should definitely NOT be written down in this fanfic.

"Now, Yuri," Shadows whispered into his ear. "We're trying to keep this fanfic K+, okay? Whatever careless freedom Donjusticia gave you before is gone now, so behave."

Yuri snarled and turned his attention back to Zarc, who had stepped out into the hall to search.

"Do you think there's an intruder here?" Yuya asked cautiously, feeling a little scared. "What if it's not Ray or any of her counterparts? What if it's someone else...?"

"Like her mom? Or her sisters?" Yugo pondered, making Zarc very agitated.

"I don't have time for this..."

"Um...shouldn't we get ready for the wedding that starts in...half an hour?" Yuto asked.

Zarc threw up his hands, being fed up with their suggestions. "Fine, fine! I won't destroy anything! But now, there's nothing to do for a bachelor party!"

Yuya smiled and held up his deck. "How about a four-on-one duel?"

Zarc turned to the boy with a wry smile on his face. "That could work, but you're all gonna lose, you know."

Yuri's ears twitched. "I'm sorry, what was that? Me? Losing?"

Zarc nodded with a confident smirk on his face. "You did lose to Yuya, after all."

Yuri's face turned the same color as his floating bangs. "THAT WAS YOUR FAULT! YOU MADE ME LOSE TO HIM!"

"Hey, don't doubt my egao skills!" Yuya protested, brandishing Smile World in his hand.

Yuri jumped and screeched: "VILE CARD! VILE, VILE, VILE!"

Yugo scratched his chin in confusion, before snatching the spell card from Yuya's hand. "I don't see what's so bad about it. It actually looks really nice."

Using the distraction, Ray scooted from her spot and went to find another, bumping into Rin as she did. "Rin? Why are you here?"

Rin shushed her by placing a hand over Ray's mouth. "Be quiet, or they'll notice!"

With wide eyes, Ray grabbed her hand and shoved it out of her mouth. "Okay, but you didn't answer my question," she whispered.

"I'm just here to make sure Baka Yugo doesn't get into any trouble."

"Trouble?"

Rin gestured to Yuri, who had a murderous expression on his face at the sight of Smile World's printed smiley faces...which was being held in Yugo's hands. That was explanation enough.

"Ah," Ray sighed.

"What about you?" Rin asked hastily in a whisper. "Why're you here? Aren't you getting married in like twenty-five minutes?"

Ray gasped at the realization. "Oh, wow, twenty-five minutes already? My, time does fly after all."

"You didn't answer my question either."

"Oh...um..." Ray tapped her fingers together, unsure of what to say to Rin about her spying on Zarc to see if he was gonna destroy the world or not (and was relived to find out that he wouldn't). "N-nothing."

Rin let out a sneaky grin. "Suuuure..."

Ray blushed a bright red, her fingers tapping even faster. "Nothing! Just nothing!"

Her yells were immediately picked up by Zarc's keen hearing. "Is that Ray yelling? Where is she?"

"...Crud," Rin said, voicing Ray's thoughts exactly. "Great job...now I'm going back to your head."

"Thanks a lot," Ray muttered lowly as Rin transformed back into her semi-transparent ghost form and then zoomed back into her head. She then shivered as footsteps started to approach her location.

She was trapped, so Ray involuntarily leaned back and closed her eyes...only to fall backwards through an open window, plummeting backwards a couple feet onto the ground.

"Owww," she groaned, rubbing her sore tailbone. Luckily, she wasn't wearing her wedding dress. "Why was that window open..?"

"Ray?" A voice called from above. "What are you doing?"

She looked up to notice Zarc looking down at her, a curious yet concerned gaze gracing his features. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times, trying to think of an excuse.

Zarc's eyes narrowed. "You weren't spying on me before the wedding, were you?"

Ray shook her head furiously. "Definitely not! Rin just escaped from the preparation room, and Horakhty sent me to track her down. I found her spying on Yugo and panicked."

Yugo, who had manifested as a person (best not to think about this too hard, guys. Just go along with it), leaned out the window next to Zarc. "Rin? She was spying on me?"

Rin, inside Ray's head, grumbled angrily. "I still only like you as if you're a brother!"

Yugo pouted, lowering his head and whining like a dog. "But I thought we were a thing...I am even technically marrying you indirectly!"

"Aw, that is sweet...but I still love you as a sister, even though we are not related in any way!" Rin hollered back.

Yugo gave another high-pitched whine and disappeared back into the room, leaving Zarc alone at the window.

"Ray, you need help? The wedding starts in twenty minutes!" he called, but Ray shook her head.

"I'm fine! I've got this!"

Zarc mentally slapped his forehead, forgetting that he shouldn't even see her before the wedding. "Okay, if you say so!"

Then again, this was already an unorthodox meeting for the bride and groom.

"I'll uh...just...go?" Zarc lamely blushed, not certain if he should insist more strongly on helping her.

"Yeah, you do that." Ray blushed, wishing she hadn't ever come. It was all stupid. Why had she even listened to Armityle? What had she expected to find? What was even the point of coming?

In a nearby bush, Darkness and Armityle watched as their vague and ambiguous plans unfolded.

"Well, Armityle, my girl," Darkness drawled to his girlfriend, "looks like your plan to bust up the weddin's ended up busted itself."

"I wouldn't count on us failin' just yet!" Armityle snickered. "I still got my trump card!"

"What trump card?" Darkness asked, scratching his bony scalp in confusion.

MEANWHILE, IN RURI'S ROOM...

"MUST...KILL...YUZU!" Ruri hissed before throwing a feather quill at a picture of Yuzu. "Don't worry, my love!" she promised as she stroked Yuri's action figure of Yuto she had stolen. "I'll save you! I'll destroy anyone who gets in the way of me capturing your heart!"

"Uh, Ruri...you still up there?" Serena called from downstairs, having successfully gotten their house (which was really a beautiful castle) ready for the wedding (since Horakhty insisted that they do it there).

"Yeah, are you alright, Ruri?" Yuzu voiced as well, creating a few bouquets of flowers for the flower girl and the rings for the ring-bearer. Ruri let out a feral hiss before crawling up a nearby vent and leaving to enact her own plans right before the others came in.

"Ruri?" Yuzu called again before noticing the mess that was Ruri's room.

That's when she noticed the state of Ruri's room.

"Ugh! Are those locks of Yuto's hair lying on the carpet?" Yuzu exclaimed with disgust.

"Well, she was growling earlier about someone taking her precious Yuto away from her..." Selena muttered, tapping her chin in contemplation.

"And those are definitely wrappers of the gum he was chewing," Yuzu sighed. "Has Ruri been acting all right?"

Selena looked uncomfortable.

"Don't tell me she turned into a yandere again..." Yuzu then widened her eyes and placed her hands on her mouth. "Oh, please don't tell me..."

"What is it?" Serena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That means..." Yuzu then raced back to the door and out the room, "The boys are in danger!"

Serena was still in the room, more confused than ever. "What?! How?"

"Selena, if Ruri becomes anything like I became when I found out that Meiru was hitting on Yuya, then we have GOT to stop her before she destroys EVERYONE she sees as a potential threat to her OTP!" Yuzu urgently explained, grabbing her Fusion counterpart's wrist and dragging her along with her.

"I still don't get-...!" Selena sputtered.

"One day...you and Yuri...one day!" Yuzu sighed in exasperation.

Serena glared darkly at her implication. "No! Yuri and I will never be a thing! I HATE HIM!"

"Maybe for now, but that's not important at the moment!" Yuzu groused, swiveling her head around to look up at the vents in the walls of the castle-house. "We have to find Ruri!"

"See, this is why I wanted to go out with Rin, but nooo...Ray said to stay here and guard the castle from any onlookers," Serena muttered.

"SHHHH!" Yuzu hissed, clamping her head over Selena's mouth. "Do you hear that!?"

"Hear what!?" Selena angrily whispered.

Yuzu put her finger to her lips, indicating for Selena to be quiet.

Cocking her head to the side, Selena eventually did hear it. It was a quiet but piercing sound, like a whistle, but neither of them could tell where it was coming from.

"Is that...steam?" Selena asked.

Yuzu shook her head, eyes growing wider as she listened to the sound that was reverberating throughout the walls, almost as if it were inside the walls.

"It's not...steam." Yuzu anxiously whispered, cocking her head to the side. "It's too...controlled...too...girly."

That's when the noise changed.

"Little sky lark...
Gentle little sky lark...
Little sky lark
I...will...pluck...your...head."

Yuzu let out a scream when a statue in the hallway began falling towards them, seemingly out of nowhere. Fortunately for Yuzu, the sheer shock of the incident activated her bracelet, enabling both herself and Selena to warp a few feet away from the falling statue.

As she shakily got up from the ground with a groan, Selena briefly noticed a flash of lilac hair and pink eyes from a nearby vent before the figure darted away with a reptilian hiss.

"I sure hope the boys are doing better with their wedding planning." Yuzu groaned, wondering why things ALWAYS had to get out of hand like this.

"I'm sure the girls are doing better with their wedding planning than us," Yuto muttered to himself as he and Yuya stayed out of the current argument between Yugo and Yuri (the twenty-sixth one for them today as of now).

"NO, WE ARE NOT RIDING OVER THERE ON YOUR STUPID D-WHEEL!"

"WHY NOT? I THINK IT WOULD BE VERY ROMANTIC TO DO SO!"

"YOU ONLY WANT TO RIDE TO IMPRESS YOUR PRECIOUS RIN, WHO, BY THE WAY, DOESN'T LOVE YOU THE WAY YOU LOVE HER!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU TWISTED, PURPLE, STINKY CABBAGE HEAD!"

"I AM NOT A STINKY CABBAGE HEAD!"

In other words, it was a stupid topic to even think about, let alone speak. And between the argument and his own agitation, Zarc was being driven absolutely berserk.

No, literally.

"DESTROY...YUGO...AND YURI...AND EVERY OTHER...STUPID...COUNTERPART!" Zarc rumbled, veins pulsating on his face as he struggled against his demonic urges.

"Just calm down!" Yuya pleaded, "Think about Ray! She'd want you to be happy right now! You'll be a father soon, so you shouldn't be destroying ANYTHING!"

"DESTROY?" Zarc rumbled.

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT BE THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW!" Yuya hissed.

"Can't...must...destroy...something!" Zarc groaned, as he clutched his demonic head in agony.

"What do we do!?" Yuya gasped as he struggled to pin Zarc down. "I already tried using Egao, but it didn't work!"

"How about we just throw that ridiculous bachelor party so Zarc can get the destructive tendencies out of his system," Yuri suggested with an evil grin on his face.

"That's a stupid idea!" Yuto retorted.

"Rin would know what to do." Yugo groaned, gazing longingly at his miniature Rin figurine.

"That's it!" Yuya exclaimed. "We think like the Bracelet Girls! I'm sure they're coming up with perfectly reasonable plans of their own to save the wedding that'll be happening in literally just fourteen minutes!"

"I've got it!" Selena exclaimed, snapping her fingers as a flash of inspiration came to her.

"What is it?" Yuzu asked as she brushed some dust from her hair.

"Follow me!" Selena explained, as she led her counterpart into a small room with multiple television screens, a laptop, a fan, and two large metal doors with large red rectangular buttons next to them.

"What is this place?" Yuzu asked as she gawked at the various pieces of equipment.

"This is the main security hub." Selena explained, "Rin showed it to me when she first started spying on the boys while they were sleeping."

"Creepy." Yuzu shuddered.

"She has weird hobbies," Selena shrugged, "but anyway, Rin abandoned this place after she noticed how little power these devices have."

"What do you mean by little power?" Yuzu asked.

"We're already draining power just by looking at the cameras." Selena sighed, indicating a meter that showed they were already at 95% power.

Yuzu whistled in astonishment at the flimsy tech.

"I know." Selena sighed. "And the doors are even wackier. They're supposed to be an added security measure, but get this, it takes power to keep the doors CLOSED, so if we run out of power, they somehow find the energy to just pop back open."

"So why are we even here!?" Yuzu asked.

"Because this might be our quickest way of finding Ruri." Selena explained, indicating the many cameras that monitored the hallways, vents, and the various Frightfur animatronics Sora had donated for the wedding. Yuzu quickly flipped open the laptop lid and glanced through the various cameras.

"Oh...um, she's in camera 2B...and wowza, that is a scary expression on her face!" Yuzu yelped, covering her eyes from the shocking horror...which was Ruri's uncanny, evil grin.

"So she's right outside our door..." Serena trailed off as she heard a disturbing jingle that was reminiscent to that of a certain opera...

It was Carmen.

"Oh, boy..." Yuzu squeaked as she came face-to-face with a pair of crazy pink eyes.

"I don't know, Rin." Ray sighed as Rin helped her into her dress again, "I just feel like Zarc and the other counterparts are in trouble! I don't know if Armityle is just making me paranoid, or if there really is some ridiculous apocalypse looming over our heads yet again, but I just feel like I need to do something!"

Rin rolled her eyes playfully, being unable to talk as she had a bobby pin in her mouth between her teeth. She did nod in tandem with Ray's words, and continued to fix her dress as the girl continued her monologue.

"I mean, don't you get that sinking feeling in your stomach that there is an impending danger just waiting to happen?"

A nod.

"Like something really, REALLY bad is about to happen?!"

Another nod.

"Like...almost as if...Zarc is going through Armageddon withdrawals at the prospect of having to settle down as a responsible father and Ruri is about to stuff Yuzu and Selena into a Frightfur animatronic suit in a sordid scheme to get rid of any competition she has for winning Yuto's heart!"

A confused look as if Ray had completely lost her bracelets.

"Are you okay, Ray?" Rin asked through a mouthful bobby pins. "I'm sure nothing of that sort is going on at the moment..."

Ray shook her head vehemently. "The bad feeling ISN'T GOING AWAY!"

"Then make it go away. Don't think about it."

"Except I'm now thinking about it MORE THAN EVER!"

Rin sighed; there was only one way to resolve this. "Let's get you ready quickly and go over there, then."

Ray hefted her skirt up; she'd specifically requested a dress with only one layer of silken fabric to make it easier to walk. "The veil?"

"Horakhty is supposed to put it on you just before you begin the harrowing walk down the aisle," Rin said, setting the pins down. "There, I think you're good."

Ray stood up from the chair and looked in the mirror, being quite content with her lovely, pink-white wedding dress, which also sported some floral designs and lace lining the edges of the skirt.

"It's perfect." Ray smiled to herself; Zarc would indeed love it. Rin seemed impressed with her own work as well, but then gestured to the door.

"Alright, let's go. We still have some time left."

"But I'm in my dress...I can't let him see me like this outside the wedding!"

"Then just keep your body here and investigate in your golden spirit form," Rin suggested.

Ray paused upon hearing those words. "Hmmm...why didn't I think of that before? But...hmmm..."

"Well?" Rin had an expectant look on her face.

"I'm just not sure if Zarc or the others would be able to hear me. Could you speak for me? I don't want to bother Reira again."

Rin chuckled, knowing how the little boy was quite sensitive to the presence of spirits...or the spirit form of his oldest sibling in this case. "Alright, if you want me to."

"Okay..." Ray then used her angel powers to transform herself into her golden spirit self...with wings.

"How do I look?" Ray asked.

Rin, however, looked like she couldn't see her. "Ray? Ray? Are you there? OH, MY GOSH! DID I JUST KILL RAY!? I've got to find the others! Quickly!"

And rushing out the door, she began zooming in the direction of Yuzu, Selena, and Ruri.

Ray sighed in exasperation. "Whelp, time to call Reira again. I wonder what he's doing right now."

Reira was residing in his room, his eyes bugging out of his head as he completed his last drawing of four individuals. "They shall be called...Enoch, Aiko, Aiden, and Leilah!" he prophesied. "And they shall bring about...the end of the world!"

Ray phased into his room and immediately, Reira sensed her presence and looked around the room, eventually finding her winged spirit form with wide eyes.

She waved. "Hey, little brother, I was wondering if you could help me with somethin-!"

"I see an angel." Reira interrupted.

"Hmm...well...I guess that's true." Ray shrugged, having long since gotten used to Reira's sixth sense antics. "Whatcha drawing there?"

Reira quickly picked up all four drawings, crumpled them into a massive ball, popped them into his mouth, and swallowed. "Nothing that would spoil the future," he replied with a bland expression on his face.

Ray was disappointed, but decided that it probably wasn't important anyway. She did have a few other problems at the moment. "Okay...well, can you help me?"

"Resistance is futile." Reira droned, "All that is meant to come to pass shall come to pass."

"I guess that's pretty much the closest I'll get to a 'yes' from you." Ray shrugged before taking her brother by the hand and leading him out the room.

Meanwhile, Serena and Yuzu were doing their best to keep Ruri from destroying them so that she would have no competition in having Yuto as her boyfriend. They tried reasoning with her, begging, insulting, and almost every single way to get the Lusicinia to calm down.

Nothing worked. So they had to fight her as a last resort...

"I summon Leo Dancer!" Selena roared, busting out her ace monster.

"And I summon Bloom Diva since she is actually way better than Bloom Prima!" Yuzu added, bringing out her own monster.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." Ruri hissed, her pink eyes darting back and forth between the two Yuzu girls standing in her way.

"Uh...Ruri?" Assembly Nightingale twittered. "You're gonna summon me...right?"

Ruri leered back at her ace monster with an expression that would have made both Yuri and Sergey proud.

"Ruri?" Yuzu asked, as Ruri steadily grew crazier.

"I am not Ruri," she giggled as her face contorted with insanity. "Thanks to you, my feelings have enabled me to evolve into a higher form! A darker form!"

"Okay, the crazy/Dark Signer Ruri joke is getting way too overused, Ruri." Selena protested before Ruri silenced her.

"QUIET, WORMS!" Ruri roared. "I told you already, I am no longer Ruri! Thanks to my feelings of love for Yuto and feelings of utter loathing for the rest of you, I am now...Rur-evil!"

"Uhhhhhhh..." Yuzu and Selena buzzed in unison.

"It is now time to introduce you to the power of true darkness!" Rur-evil cackled, "USING THE SHEER POWER OF MY LOVE, I BANISH THE ENTIRE LYRICAL LUSCINIA ARCHETYPE, THE ENTIRE WIND WITCH ARCHETYPE, THE ENTIRE MOONLIGHT ARCHETYPE, AND THE ENTIRE MELODIOUS ARCHETYPE IN ORDER TO INTEGRATION SUMMON...!"

"There you guys are!" Rin suddenly exclaimed, bursting into the room and interrupting Ruri's revival into the Supreme Yandere Queen Rur-evil.

Yuzu and Serena sighed in unison, both relieved. "There you are, Rin! Where were you the past few thousand words?!"

"I was actually helping Ray getting ready...and spying on my Yugo," Rin explained, adding the last part under her breath.

"Well, we could REALLY use your help here!" Yuzu urged, indicating Ruri.

"What's up with her?" Rin asked.

"The usual," Selena shrugged.

"Yuto related?"

"Yuto related."

"SILENCE, MAGGOTS!" Ruri bellowed in an utterly demonic voice. "SOON, I SHALL DESTROY EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE BUT MYSELF AND YUTO-KUN! THEN, HE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE ME AND NO OTHER YUZUS!"

"We'll stop you before that happens!" Rin promised, fighting back against the dark hurricane winds Ruri was conjuring with the sheer power of her feelings.

"NOBODY CAN STOP ME!" Ruri cackled. "NOT EVEN SHUN CAN STOP ME!"

"I feel like I should be doing something...somewhere...with someone." Shun mused, looking in the direction of where Ruri was throwing her tantrum.

"Yes, it's called make out with me, right here, right now!" Natsumi insisted, pulling Shun closer.

The three girls were having lots of trouble controlling their Xyz counterpart, and as her power grew to extreme levels, it seemed that all hope was lost...until Yuya and Yuya, who had been running to find help, finally arrived, Yuto walking in first.

"Glad I found you, Ruri!" Yuto huffed and puffed, heaving forward from the exertion of running for help. "Zarc's gone out of control again, and I was wondering if you...could...Ruri?" He suddenly asked, looking completely alarmed as Rur-evil turned her dark, pink demonic eyes on him.

Instantly, all traces of darkness and evil left her, only to get replaced with even more intense feelings of...well...love hormones.

"YUTO-KUN!" Ruri cheered, rocketing forward at supersonic speeds and tackling the Xyz user to the ground.

"Uhm...hi...Ruri?" Yuto replied, gasping for air as she began constricting his lungs with the force of her hug. "Yuzu? What's going on?" he gasped.

Suddenly, all the evil instantly returned to Ruri. "WHOSE NAME DID YOU JUST SPEAK!?" she hollered, hoisting Yuto into the air by the throat. "WHOSE NAME DID YOU DARE JUST SPEAK!?"

Yuto choked under her grip. "Ru-...Ruri...cal-calm...ack...down..."

Ruri didn't notice his pained gasps, but she was knocked back by a sudden force that slammed into her face, forcing her to let go of her grip on him. It was Yuzu with her paper fan, with a terrifying fire raging in her eyes.

"He was saying my name and yours, but just so you know, he and I aren't a thing!"

"LIES! ALL LIES!" Ruri hissed. "I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO! You're all in this together! You're all trying to take Yuto-kun for yourselves!"

"Oh, come on!" Selena snarled. "Do you honestly think I'd fall for that guy!? No offense," she said, apologizing to Yuto.

Nobody could quite tell what Yuto was trying to say as Ruri grabbed his throat and began constricting it again, but Selena figured he must have been trying to say, "None taken."

"It's ridiculous!" Rin agreed. "You know none of us are flirting with Yuto behind your back...well...not unless we're in some crazy fanfic where the authors are gratuitously pairing us up with him for their own sadistic purposes."

That only made Ruri angrier.

"What I think Rin was trying to say," Yuzu interrupted, struggling to remain civil, "is that the only canon pairing that involves Yuto in it...also involves you in it. None of the rest of us see Yuto as anything more than a friend."

"THEN PROVE IT!" Ruri spat.

"Prove it?" Yuzu asked.

"YES!" Ruri hissed. "Each of you must marry the person you REALLY love at the wedding!"

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then that means I go with Yuya!" Her realization made her smile happily.

Rin was less enthusiastic. "But I see Yugo as a dear brother!"

Serena...however...

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" she sputtered, eyes darting back and forth with anxiety as she rapidly chewed her nails to stubs. "They can't know! They must never know! I can't let it happen! I AM NEVER BECOMING A THING WITH YURI!" Selena promised.

Ruri's eyes narrowed. "So it's you...Selena. It was always you! You never wanted to be with Yuri because you were in love with my Yuto-kun the whole time!"

"What!? No!" Selena protested, "I've never-...!"

"It makes sense now!" Ruri cackled. "Why you defected from Academia and joined the Lancers! Why you were always so close to Yuya when he was housing Yuto's spirit! Why you joined me in that duel when I was dueling Yuto!"

"Uh...HELLO!? We were both being brain controlled, then!"

"It all makes sense!" Ruri exclaimed with insane giddiness. "All this time, I thought Yuzu was the threat, but I was looking at the wrong girl! Yuri kidnapped me because he never had you to return his love!"

"EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Selena gagged, looking like she would vomit.

"And you never requited his love because you had already given your heart to someone else!" Ruri reasoned. "But that's where you made your mistake, Selena! You don't get to have Yuto, because he's mine! All mine! Ruri no let Selena get Yuto! Ruri destroy Selena first! Ruri destroy Selena! SELENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Selena barely managed to flee the room before Ruri had relinquished her hold on Yuto's throat and blasted through the solid brick wall in pursuit of her Fusion rival. Yuzu and Yuto were left behind to process on what just happened. Needless to say, saying that they were flabbergasted would be an understatement.

"Okay...that happened," Yuzu drawled out slowly, unsure of what to think or say.

"Same..." Yuto pretty much gave up on trying to figure everything out by himself, so he turned to the Standard counterpart. "Mind telling me what happened?"

However, before Yuzu could continue, Zarc entered the room, dragging a protesting Yugo and Yuri by their ears.

"DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" Zarc thundered, his eyes glowing with malevolent red light as his wings flapped through the air with anticipation.

"But, daddy, I don't want to destroy the world!" Yugo protested as he kicked back against Zarc.

"I never thought I'd say this..." Yuri groaned, "BUT I ACTUALLY AGREE WITH YUGO ON THIS ONE! JUST MARRY RAY, SETTLE DOWN, AND STOP TORTURING US, ZARC!"

"Yuri..." Yugo gasped, "you got my name right for once."

"Don't expect it to last." Yuri groaned, "The Fusion-kun joke will never get worn out...just like the kale joke never will."

"SILENCE!" Zarc bellowed. "YUYA, YUTO, YURI, YUGO! LAST MINUTE BACHELOR PARTY! DESTROY WORLD! NOW!"

"Guys! This is getting way too out of hand!" Yuya protested. "We already need to get Selena to confess her feelings to Yuri so Ruri can calm down..."

"WHAT!?" Yuri gagged.

"And then we need to get you to the altar so you can marry Ray! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR A BACHELOR PARTY, LEAST OF WHICH, ONE THAT WILL END UP DESTROYING THE WORLD!"

"I second that!" Reira agreed, sauntering into the room with a gait that looked, strangely, a lot like Ray's.

"What the...?" Yuzu gasped as Reira placed his hands on his hips in a feminine pose of disapproval.

"Now, Zarcy!" Reira scolded. "I did NOT commit to marry you just so you could destroy the world ten minutes before our wedding!"

"Zarcy?" Yuya gawked. There was only one person in the entire multiverse who could use that name and not get killed.

"REIRA?" Zarc gawked, looking just as perplexed.

"I'm becoming the vessel for the eternal light's will," Reira briefly explained with a nonchalant expression on his face before resuming his impersonation of Ray's voice and mannerisms.

"Wait...Ray, why are you possessing your brother?" Yuya asked with shock in his tone. "I mean...that's a little unorthodox..."

"I had a bad feeling that something would happen that would require my assistance, and it looks like something DID happen." Reira-Ray explained, crossing his/her arms and baring an uncanny serious glare on his/her face. "I have good intuition that way."

"That or this fanfic is way too predictable," Yuto muttered.

"I think it's the second one." Rin agreed.

"Regardless," Ray/Reira continued, "I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, Zarc, and yet here you are about to destroy the world the moment I turn my back! Explain yourself, please!"

Zarc replied by shoving both Yugo and Yuri forward, who were glaring darkly at each other. "Them. They're driving me absolutely CRAZY!"

"Don't pin this on us!" Yuri protested. "You were the one who wanted to destroy the world!"

"Yuri, please." Reira/Ray calmly rebuked, causing Yuri to frown upon being scolded by a kid half his age. "Zarc, please elaborate, tell me how these two have been driving you insane."

"I'll give you three guesses," Zarc replied bluntly, crossing his arms while glaring at the two rivals...who were arguing each other again, despite all the warnings and events that had previously occured.

Yuya and Yuto slapped their foreheads, the latter deciding to explain what happened. "Basically, those two were arguing on what flavor the cake should be, then argued about the mode of transportation and on how to get here, and now...well, as you can see."

"I needed SOMETHING to calm me down!" Zarc thundered. "And I figured destroying the world for just a little bit would do the trick, OBVIOUSLY. However, that is something that is apparently frowned upon over here!"

"Zarc, is that really the only reason?" Reira/Ray asked, looking concerned, but sympathetic.

Zarc paused, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Don't worry about it," he rumbled. "It's not...important."

"Talk to me." Reira/Ray urged.

"And hurry!" Yuzu pleaded, "Because Selena won't last much longer against Ruri!"

"OH, EGYPTIAN GODS, IT HURTS!" Selena wailed as Ruri continued attacking her. "WHY ISN'T ANYONE COMING TO HELP ME!?"

"We'll come to help you once we can get someone who can actually stop Ruri!" Yuzu promised.

"I HATE YOU ALL SO MUCH!" Selena growled.

"You could just confess your feelings to Yuri and end this," Yuya suggested.

"NEVER!" Selena promised.

Zarc slowly turned his head towards Ray, looking like he REALLY didn't want to talk about what was on his mind.

"What is it?" Ray pressed.

He sighed; there was no getting out of it now, he had to get it out in the open or they could never be open with each other in their marriage.

"I've been thinking..." Zarc began, "...about the future...about us...and about how we'll...change...after we get married," he began.

"What do you mean?" Ray/Reira asked.

"You know I can't take you seriously when you're speaking through Reira," Zarc grumbled.

"Just tell me." Ray/Reira pleaded.

After a few more moments of thinking on his options (and with everyone staring at him expectantly, which made him even more uncomfortable), Zarc sighed deeply, lowering his head in defeat.

"Okay...well, it's just that...once we're together, then...well, I'll have to change. Like a complete 180 circle, go against my demon instincts and everything! I don't think I can handle that yet..."

"Zarc!" Ray gasped, materializing in her ghostly form next to Reira. "I had no idea! Was this all...was I...too rushed?"

Zarc looked back at Ray, fighting a huge internal battle against himself as he did. Was this too rushed? Was he just not ready to be a dad? Or was this just his doubts talking? Should he just tell her not to worry and that he would be just fine with marrying her? Or should he wait longer, for the right time? But when was the right time?

Armityle and Darkness, meanwhile, were watching the events unfold with glee.

"Well, I must say," Darkness drawled. "I neva' thought you was the one who'd be able to pull this off! Look at them, they's about to break up, and just a few minutes before the wedding starts!"

"They y'all only needed a few shoves in the right direction." Armityle giggled. "A few berserk moments here, a few yandere bracelet girls there, and BAM! They ain't gettin' hitched no more!"

"And then the treasure will be ours when WE get married!" Darkness grinned, taking Armityle's hand in his own.

It was in that moment that Serena just happened to stumble upon them when they uttered the last statement (since she was running and hiding from Ruri). She gasped and then glared at the two conspirators, realizing what they had done.

"What did you say?" The guilty two jumped when they realized that they had been caught.

"Nothin' you'll be blabbin' about once your soul's been trapped in the world of darkness!" Darkness hissed before conjuring a massive sphere of darkness in the air.

Before Selena could react, Armityle had already whipped her tail forward, wrapped up Selena in her coils, and thrown her inside the portal Darkness had conjured.

"Ah, yeah, baby!" Armityle silently whooped so that Ray and the others wouldn't hear her. "Cliffhanga!"

However, despite Armityle's hope that the chapter would end right then and there, Ruri came running seconds later, pink eyes glowing with malice and a dark aura licking her form. She noticed Armityle and Darkness both crouched in the corner and immediately began her harassment on both.

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS THAT ANNOYING PEST THAT THINKS SHE CAN STEAL MY TOTO-KUN FROM ME?!"

Armityle and Darkness shared a look.

"Uh...in here," Armityle gestured to the sphere of darkness containing the Fusion counterpart.

Ruri didn't care as she immediately ran towards it and actually started SHREDDING it with her newly manufactured lady claws. "SERENA, COME OUT FROM THERE!"

Serena, inside the sphere, began thinking about her two life choices. "Should I confess my nonexistent love of Yuri and stay inside this surprisingly comfy sphere? Or should I let Ruri get me and hopefully not maul me too much?"

Ruri, unchallenged by Armityle and Darkness due to her insane demeanor, began tearing apart the sphere even faster.

"Confess?"

Cue angry snarling noises from Ruri that made Serena sweatdrop.

"Or get mauled?"

Ruri was almost inside, creating a small opening. Serena sighed.

"Get mauled, it is. It's a better fate than being married to that stinky cabbage head."

Somehow, Yuri, from six rooms away and two hallways over, heard her. "I AM NOT A STINKY CABBAGE HEAD!"

Serena gulped as Ruri's claws reached into the hole, scrambling for the Fusion girl herself. "SERENA!"

Her claws hooked onto Serena's brand new dress that was bought specially for the wedding, and with an intense tug, yanked the poor girl from the sphere. "OH, CRUD!" she screamed.

"HERE'S RURI!" the girl yowled in a terrible reference to a certain Stephen King horror movie as she dragged Serena out of the dark sphere and onto the ground, her sharp claws bared.

Despite her fear, Serena mentally sighed. "Why am I the one who always gets kidnapped?"

"RURI!" Ray screamed, barreling down the hallway like one of Allen's locomotives. She'd apparently located her own body again, and her hair was tangling in the sheer effort put into sprinting in a wedding dress. "GET BACK HERE!"

Ruri's head snapped to look at Ray so fast, Serena swore she got whiplash. "WHAT IS IT?!" she yelled questioningly, surprised that her reincarnation was back.

Darkness and Armityle looked scared. "Oh, no, we have to get out of here before she finds out!"

"Before I find out what?" They gulped upon recognizing Ray's voice. Said bride was standing above them, eyes narrowed and two squirming counterparts loaded in her arms. As Darkness and Armityle watched, both girls dissolved into a golden mist and disappeared back into Ray's subconscious.

Both gulped nervously; even if Armityle and Darkness were powerful combined, Ray, when she was furious, outmatched them both.

"So, Armityle," Ray brushed off her hands and placed them on her hips. "What's this I need to know?"

Armityle waved her arms. "N-nothing important."

"Oh, really?"

"Y-ya," Darkness shuddered.

Ray huffed. "Stop lying to me, I know you're both up to something. Spill it, what are you two hiding, and don't deceive me, Armityle. I know when you're lying."

Armityle and Darkness shared another uneasy look. If they spilled the beans, Ray would most definitely summon Horakhty and Yubel right here and now, and they were doomed. If they didn't tell, Zarc would probably get involved, and even Darkness couldn't stand up to the overwhelming might of Zarc's anger.

So they only had one choice: the two ran. They could make it out of the building and far away by the time Ray could gather a force to catch them.

Or so they thought.

Ray rolled her eyes as she used her angelic powers to sprout her wings. "They're definitely hiding something, and I'm gonna find out what!"

Serena voiced a question in her head. "Hey, can you deal with Ruri first while I get Zarc to take care of the siblings?"

Ray quickly shoved Ruri into the prison cell at the back of her mind, much to the Xyz counterpart's protests, and let Serena loose, the girl once again appearing as a corporeal person. "Go! Quick!"

Serena immediately sprinted towards the room Zarc had been ushered into, disappearing at an alarmingly fast rate down the hallway.

Ray then turned her attention back to her siblings, well aware that she had very little time to catch up to them (probably only ten minutes or so before the "wedding" started). Spreading her wings, she zoomed after them at top speed.

Meanwhile, Serena finally caught up with Zarc and the other occupants of the wedding ceremony, noticing that the dragon overlord himself seemed to have calmed down a bit.

But unfortunately, she had to tell him about what happened with Armityle and Darkness. "Zarc."

Said demon/dragon/overlord turned to face her. His eyes were back to their normal gold, and standing with a hand on his shoulder was Yuya. The entertainer looked physically drained and his fingers were carefully arranging Zarc's collar back to normal.

"Oh, hello, Serena," Zarc said, leaning back in his chair. "What's wrong?"

"Armityle and Darkness are currently being chased by your bride-to-be," Serena deadpanned.

Zarc raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why is that?"

Serena pinched her brow, sighing heavily to herself. This was gonna be hard, telling him the real reason of everything.

"Okay...before you get angry...in, do you wanna know why your counterparts were going crazy in the first place?"

Zarc immediately shot up. "Tell. Me. Now."

Upon hearing Serena's statement, Yuya gulped and turned back into a spirit, quickly finding his way back to Zarc's head.

Serena averted his gaze. "Apparently, your brother and Ray'a sister conducted a plan to keep you two apart by somehow driving Yugo and Yuri crazy, thus making you angrier and frustrated, which led to you and Ray's brief argument...and yeah, almost calling the wedding off and all that."

Zarc's eyes returned to red, but this time, it was bloody crimson red. "What the...HOW DARE HE!"

Before Serena could utter a word, Zarc was out of the room, leaving behind an equally angered Yubel and Horakhty. Zorc pretended to look ready to slap his elder son to kingdom come, and Leo was muttering something about if only the plan had succeeded.

Serena slapped her forehead. "Great, I was hoping that this wouldn't happen."

"You and me both, half-sister," Reira mumbled lowly, clutching his teddybear.

Reiji simply pushed his glasses up his nose and typed another sentence onto his laptop, presumably begging the authors to fix this mess before the wedding started. His scarf was gone for once, and Sora was eagerly taking pictures of the elder Akaba as Yubel and Horakhty exited the room as well.

Reira returned his attention to the wall, blankly staring at it for a few moments before furiously writing something down. "Aiko...A-i-k-o, right?"

Serena sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose again, and headed out the door to find Ray. It wasn't that hard.

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN GIVE YOU BOTH A PIECE OF MY MIND!" Apparently, she also found out on what their plans were...somehow.

Zarc stomped outside and clenched his fists. "DARKNESS, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

Yubel and Horakhty joined in the yelling. "YOU TWO ARE SO GROUNDED FOR THE NEXT FEW MILLENNIA!"

Armityle and Darkness were both cowering in a corner, hanging to each other for dear life as the circle of four furious siblings/parents closed in on the guilty couple.

"Let me get this straight," Zarc snarled, his eyes flaming red. "You wanted me to break up with Ray a hour before the WEDDING, just so you and Armityle could inherit whatever once you two got married?"

Darkness could only nod in pure terror as Zarc's darkness exploded around his form, the berserk forms of his counterparts appearing around him. Yuri was cackling with insane glee (and somehow brandishing a black chainsaw...no one knew where he got it from), excited that he was finally able to destroy something, while the other three were smiling those creepy smiles you'd find on those dolls in cheesy horror flicks.

Ray's own irate counterparts had appeared, all of them brandishing some form of weapon...save for Serena, who hadn't had the chance to arm herself. Ruri was glad she was finally able to maul someone, even if it wasn't the above-mentioned female Fusion counterpart.

"Anyway, who gets near my TOTO-KUN shall SUFFER!" she laughed, making Darkness and Armityle particularly fearful of her. Armityle let out a pitiful whimper and dug her nails into Darkness's skeletal frame.

Ray crossed her arms as she glared at her sister. "So it was you, all you! You wanted Zarc and me out of the way just so you can marry Darkness and have the treasure all to yourselves!"

Zarc snarled in agreement, but raised an eyebrow at Ray. "Wait...you guys have a family treasure? When did that happen?"

"You didn't know?" Ray sighed. "Well, that's a relief."

"How's that a relief?" Zarc asked, looking confused.

"Long story." Ray replied, checking her watch.

"Either way, you two," Horakhty gestured to Darkness and Armityle, "are going to have a long talk with me and Zorc after the wedding."

Zorc pretended to care about their punishment, but silently gave a thumbs up and mouthed, "I'm so proud of you, son".

"It was worth a shot." Leo sighed as Yubel and Horakhty briskly escorted back Armityle and Darkness to their separate rooms, both to be put under 24/7 surveillance with Shun on guard. "I wonder what my grandkids will look like."

Reira silently snuck away, hiding crayons behind his back.

"So, does that take care of everything?" Ray asked, looking around to (thankfully) see that most of the heavily contrived conflict had been resolved.

"Not quite everything." Yuto sighed, pushing another sweaty purple spike of hair from his eyes. "Ray, may I visit Ruri for a moment?"

Ray glanced over at him, knowing what he wanted. "Sure. Ruri!"

Said mentioned girl snapped her head at her reincarnation, her eyes still sporting a feral yandere look. Ray retaliated by shoving her over to Yuto, in which she instantly lost all signs of craziness.

"Yuto-kun wanted to see me!?" Ruri panted, looking relieved. She looked around to find no signs of any other Toto-stealing Yuzus nearby.

"Of course, Ruri." Yuto promised, "You'll always be the most important person in my life...even if you do have a few maniacal tendencies thanks to Shun's DNA," he added under his breath.

"But why were you with Yuzu in episode 7!?" Ruri protested, a frustrated expression coming over her face.

"Oh...uh...well..." Yuto looked VERY embarrassed.

"He pretty much had the same problem Yugo has," Ray supplied, shaking her head at Yugo, who at that moment, had taken Yuzu's hands in his own.

"But why do you only see me as a brother, Rin!?" Yugo begged, looking deep into Yuzu's blue eyes, while Yuya looked on with a furious expression on his face.

"THAT IS NOT RIN!" he snarled uncharacteristically, moving forward to separate Yuzu and Yugo with a rough shove at his clearly-blind Synchro counterpart.

Rin was also quite unhappy. "I'M OVER HERE, BAKA!"

"See what I mean?" Ray asked rhetorically, proving her point.

"I still don't get it!" Ruri huffed, "I mean...I can tell the boys apart based on their individual scents..."

"Individual scents?" Yuri asked, looking VERY uncomfortable.

"I wonder what Yuri smells like," Yuzu wondered in Ray's head, much to Serena's chagrin.

"A STINKY CABBAGE!"

"So why aren't any of the boys able to-...?" Yuto "shushed" her with a gentle hug.

"It's okay, Ruri," he reassured her. "We might make mistakes sometimes, but I know you'll be there to set us straight."

"You better believe we will." Yuzu agreed, whipping out her fan.

"Anyway...now that that is taken care of..." Ray looked over at Zarc, catching his attention and making him look at her beautiful gown.

He realized what just happened, accidentally breaking the tradition of not seeing his bride before the wedding. "Oh...uh, shall we?"

Ray smiled nevertheless. This had already been a pretty chaotic day, but now they could at least continue with the ceremony and not worry about anything else.

Aria the Melodious Diva began playing "Here Comes the Bride," over in the chapel area where they were to be married. Figuring that things could hardly get any weirder at this point, Zarc handed Ray over to Leo before he raced over to the alter to wait for his bride-to-be.

Over in the chapel, everyone related to Zarc, Ray, and all their counterparts had gathered together. Yoko and Yubel were weeping out of sheer joy; Yusho was smiling proudly at Yuya; Shun was sitting next to Natsumi while fixing Yuto with a hard look; Z-One was monitoring events from the control room of the Ark-Cradle; Don Thousand was talking to his brother, Eliphas, about how proud he was of Ruri; Shuzo was literally bursting into flames as his hot-blooded passion consumed him with joy; Sartorius was predicting the future with his sister, Sarina; Pegasus was embarrassing the heck out of Yuri by loudly bawling into a fancy embroidered handkerchief; Zorc was standing in the back of the room with Darkness and Armityle in their own separate cages; Hamon, Uria, and Raviel were each holding their own bouquets of flowers that Bloom Prima and Yuzu had carefully arranged; Horakhty and Himika were standing next to each other in the back (with Horakhty having placed the veil on her daughter), and Reira was bearing a pillow with the rings, a vacant look in his eyes. Reiji had already submitted to cardiac arrest due to the sheer amount of illogical activities happening at the moment.

At the head of the altar, Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth, stood ready to unite the Demon of Darkness and the Angel of Light in holy matrimony.

Zarc still wasn't sure if he felt ready for the commitment, but now, he was almost okay with that. Maybe NOBODY felt ready on their wedding days. It still didn't mean he and Ray had gone through a whole lot of preparation to make this all work.

As she walked down the aisle, similar thoughts began going through Ray's mind. Together, she and Zarc began recounting all the past experiences that had led up to this absolutely wonderful moment.

"Ray...there was something I wanted to ask..." he averted his gaze from hers, rocking his heels in nervousness while keeping his hands behind his back (the wings helped with concealing the surprise).

She turned to him with a curious look in her eyes. "What is it?"

He then revealed what he was hiding from her...which was a beautiful red bracelet, sporting a onyx gem as the centerpiece. "I mean...I know now that you miss the bracelets your counterparts have, so I thought I could give you this one that I made myself...as an early wedding present."

She looked at it with awe, admiring the beauty of it. "Tha-thank you, Zarc." She gently took it from his palm, but he proceeded to place it around her wrist for her.

"BEGONE, FAMILY OF OURS! FOR WE ARE NOW ONE!" Zarc/Ray/Owarc/Kaishi/...and Ruri exclaimed in unison, conjuring a heart-shaped globe of romantic energy and casting it at their opponents.

"We...we can be together!" Ray smiled with joy and immediately glomped on Zarc. He was caught off-guard by the sudden weight, and they both fell to the ground backwards (much to their parents' surprise and amusement).

She returned his gaze, clasping hands again. "I love you, Zarc."

"I love you too, Ray." he murmured softly, caressing her cheek...before locking his mouth with hers, kissing her gently.

"Um...Zarc?"

"Yes, Ray?" he asked, setting down the book he was reading (which was "The Count of Monte Cristo" if anyone was wondering).

"Merry Christmas!" she beamed, giving him a present that she had secretly kept hidden behind her back. "I hope you like it, even after all the craziness we went through today."

He looked back at her warmly and pecked her cheek before quickly opening his present, finding it to be more cards to support his Deck archetype. "Wow, thank you, Ray!"

"YURI! FOR THE LAST TIME! STOP TRYING TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE WITH MY DRAGONS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" Zarc bellowed, waving his claws angrily in the air.

"NEVER!" Yuri mischievously cackled before Ray and Selena tackled him from behind, putting an end to his ambitions.

"Thanks, Ray," Zarc called.

"No problem." Ray grinned. "It was the least I could do after you helped me stop Yuzu from destroying the universe."

"You and I are gonna make a great team." Zarc beamed.

"Yes, we will." Ray sighed.

Yes, things had been crazy. With the way their demonic/angelic family was, things would probably ALWAYS be crazy. But that didn't matter, because no matter how unprepared either of them felt individually, that didn't truly matter. They were in this together, supporting and carrying each other through even the wackiest of times.

Zarc took Ray's hand in his own as they knelt before the altar and Sophia began the wedding ceremony.

"DEARLY BELOVED DEMONS, ANGELS, AND MORTALS!" the ram-faced goddess boomed. "WE Y'ALL ARE HERE GATHERED THIS DAY TO BE A WITNESS TO THE UNION OF DIS DRAGON/DEMON/OVERLORD, AND DIS ANGEL/DEMIGOD/GIRL, who happens to be my precious sister, IN THE HOLY TIES OF MATRIMONY!"

Leo and Shun, at the Sophia's exclamation, shared a look across thirty-something wooden benches where everybody sat. They were both thinking the same thing:

"If only I had an 'Action Magic: Wrath of the In-Laws' at the moment..."

Meanwhile, up on the altar, Sophia continued her loud speech.

"And now, the rings." Reira moved up with the pillow, allowing the two to take the symbols of their love from it before quickly dashing off to find more crayons.

Sophia cleared her threat, turning toward her sister and best friend, her voice slightly hitching. "Do you, Ray Akaba, take this...man, Zarc, to be your lawfully wedded husband, through sickness and health, high and low, till death do ya part?"

Ray's eyes were filling with happy tears, and she could barely choke out the words as she reached for his hand and placed the ring around his finger, "I do."

Cue the loud groans from Leo and Shun. Quickly, before they could make any more raucous noise that the authors will edit out of the scene, Horakhty and Don Thousand slammed their (hands?) over their mouths.

"And do you, Zarc, take this woman, Ray Akaba, to be your lawfully wedded wife...sickness and health, high and low, till death do ya part, too?" Sophia continued despite the interruption.

Zarc looked deep into Ray's eyes as he placed the ring on her finger. "I do."

"Then...by the power vested in me as minister, I hereby pronounce you as husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Sophia ended, closing the book and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"I love you, Zarc..." Ray looked up into his beautiful golden eyes as he removed the veil to show her face, smiling lovingly at him.

He gave a warm grin in return, tilting her cheek with his index finger and thumb and caressing her gently, his soft gaze being filled with passion and affection. "I love you too, Ray..."

Their faces drew closer and ever closer...till they were enraptured in a searing, gentle kiss, one that was slow, breathtaking and passionate. Their love for each other poured out all at once, Zarc's wings stretching out behind him from the sheer intensity of the kiss. He cupped her cheek with his clawed hand in a caring manner, enjoying the holy moment with her.

He never wanted to let this go; he never wanted to let her go.

All noise of their friends and relatives cheering and weeping happy tears for them were drowned out, the two lovebirds being too entranced with each other and in their devoted love. They smiled as the reality of what had just happened sunk into their minds...

They were officially married, evident by their wedding rings that sparkled in the light and the kiss that they had shared with each other. Zarc felt nothing but ecstasy and unending love for his partner, his wife...his mate (since he was still a dragon somewhat), knowing and hoping that whatever might happen in the future, one thing was certain:

He was no longer alone, and now he never will be. He was finally accepted, finally loved, finally cherished...by someone.

And that alone pushed away any destructive tendencies he and his counterparts (well...except maybe Yuri...and Odd-Eyes) might've carried at the moment. After all, why should he ruin this perfect moment?

His heart fluttered lightly once more at the thought of it, silently grateful that his partner had truly accepted him. For the first time in his life, he was loved...he had a family and a future to look forward to.

Still caressing her face with his hand, his smile widened to new lengths, solely reflecting the joy resting inside his heart.

"Thank you, Ray...my love."

And thus ends the New Years wedding of these two lovebirds. :) Congrats on such a big celebration, you two. And congrats to everyone for another great year of Arc-V and fanfiction in general. Stay strong to the end, my friends, as we will continue this couple's many adventures...

Now, to end this story, here are Donny and Shadows. Thank you guys SO MUCH for your support and contributions; you are all amazing, all wonderful, and God-gifted, talented authors indeed. :)

Sinking into Ruined Shadows:...and Zarc and Ray are finally married!
I wonder what comes next...*winks at CTA and Donjusticia*.
Thanks for reading, and have a great 2017~!

Donjusticia: Wasn't that a wonderful ending, children? I certainly thought it was wonderful! This has been such an honor to create with so many talented authors. Zarc and Ray's story, sadly, is probably coming to an end, so you guys should definitely not expect something like:
ZARC AND RAY'S FAMILY THAT IS SURPRISINGLY NORMAL ALL THINGS CONSIDERED!
Next year. Why are you guys looking at me like I'm not serious? Are you accusing me of lying!? The very idea! I certainly NEVER joke about things so gravely serious! *wink, wink, nod, nod.*

Ah, but you are all probably wondering how things are going for our other counterparts! How did THEY experience the wedding!? Well, I would certainly like to find out. So…for your enjoyment:

How Yuzu and Yuya experienced the wedding:

"Yuya, you don't have to hold me THIS tightly." Yuzu complained, enjoying their spiritual union nonetheless, even though Yuya was squeezing her a little too tightly at the moment.

"I am not letting Academia kidnap you AGAIN right after we have finally reunited," Yuya whispered in her ear. "We will be together…FOREVER!"

"Awwwwww…" Yuzu blushed, "That's so sweet…and creepy."

How Yuto and Ruri experienced the wedding:

"Precious!" Ruri whispered, stroking Yuto's hair as they were spiritually bound by the holy bonds of indirect matrimony.

"I love you, too." Yuto smiled, pecking her on the forehead. "It's a shame about your brother going into cardiac arrest, though."

"He'll be fine." Ruri shrugged. "In a few moments, he will be fully recovered and ready to completely destroy you."

"I'd better prepare for that." Yuto sighed.

"Nothing can prepare adequately for Shun." Ruri warned.

How Yugo and Rin experienced the wedding:

"So are you telling me you STILL love me only like a brother?" Yugo teased as he playfully nuzzled Rin's cheek with his nose.

Rin smiled to herself, not minding the fact that for once Yugo wasn't directing his affection to one of her counterparts. "That all depends on how good you are to me." She sighed, patting Yugo on the back.

"More than a brother?" Yugo asked hopefully.

"Hmmmm…more like…my favorite brother…who I'm also indirectly married to…and who I occasionally kiss." Rin replied.

"Okay, that sounds SUPER awkward...and wrong." Yugo replied. "I think it's more like-…!"

"Just kiss me." Rin interrupted, planting Yugo's lips on her own.

How Selena and Yuri experienced the wedding:

Selena and Yuri stared at the matching rings that had appeared on each of their left hands.

"NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" They wailed in utter horror.

Happy New Year, Everybody!

Have a very merry Happy New Year, fans and friends! May the Lord be with you all, may the future be bright and filled with His glory, and until next time, this is CTA out! AND MAY GOD BE WITH YOU! :D