Days of starting to plan the wedding, setting up the venue, and picking out the look and feel of everything have made Gwendolyn very busy. She has enlisted Xander and her maid of honor, Kali, into helping her pick out everything.

Kayde, Lunette, and Fore, on the other hand, have been able to avoid the chaos, enjoying seeing the sights and having some fun around the city instead. The day before the conference, Sacrosanct Empire ships show up on shore.

Once word gets to Gwendolyn and the others, they head to the port to welcome their friends to what they expect will be an unfriendly foreign land, this side of the ocean still holding resentment towards the Sacrosanct for past conflicts.

“Look who it is!” They hear Alwin call out from the top of one of the ships. He walks down to greet those he hasn’t seen since the battle in the plaza ended.

“It’s good to see you’re alive buddy,” Kayde hugs him first.

“I can’t believe it, Oswald is king and I’m one of his top advisors,” Alwin explains excitedly, everything still feels surreal for him after waking up.

“You may be, but you offer no value to him,” Avesa interrupts, coming up behind him.

“Commander Avesa, it is good to see you,” Gwendolyn greets her.

“Yes, well you all convinced his majesty to come despite my advice so here we are,” she notes begrudgingly.

“Oswald around?” Kayde asks, not seeing him with the others.

“I made him agree to wait inside the ship until the meetings begin tomorrow, no need to put him in harm's way more than what is necessary,” Avesa explains why he isn’t on deck.

“Makes sense I guess,” Kayde comments dejectedly, hoping to see everyone before all this official business kicks off.

“We have much to prepare for tomorrow, if you will excuse us we will be taking our leave,” Avesa starts to walk off and Alwin follows her and waves again at everybody.

They make it back to the airship and see a soldier looking after a brown horse connected to a cart.

“Oh miss Gwendolyn your friend has returned, he is inside the meeting room with your father right now,” the man informs them.

“Where is that?” Kali asks Gwendolyn, wanting to run ahead knowing it could only be Drakthar.

“Settle down, I’ll take us there,” Gwendolyn tells her, glad as well their friend is back.

Inside, they find Drakthar sharing a drink with Grayson. Drakthar stands and turns around to see the smiles of his friends, elated by his return.

Xander is the first to approach him, hugging him while he tells him, “It is good to see you again. There are things we need to talk about”.

“Yes, it’s good to be back, what is it?” Drakthar backs off and asks.

“I know you aren’t going to like this its wedding stuff. Because you are my best man you kind of have to give a speech at the reception after the wedding,” Xander cringes as he informs him of this.

“A speech about what?” Drakthar questions, not aware of what kind of thing he will have to say.

“It’s like…” Xander begins to explain, but Drakthar doesn’t listen. He notices Kali looking at him from the back and he feels compelled to go over there.

“You can explain later,” Drakthar tells the still prattling on Xander, putting a hand on his shoulder as he moves past him. He gets to Kali standing right in front of her, staring into her eyes.

“Hi,” she greets him awkwardly not sure what to do. She is surprised as Drakthar wraps his arms around her and embraces her.

“Oh... didn’t expect that,” Kali comments as she puts her arms around Drakthar as well.

“It’s good to see you again,” he tells her, much to her utter joy, but she does her best not to show it.

“Yeah, you too,” she responds, trying to keep her face from turning bright red.

“I’m sorry I just left. You won and I should have congratulated you instead of running away,” Drakthar apologizes knowing he wouldn’t have wanted her to disappear if he were in her position.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you came back,” Kali tries to let him know she isn’t upset about it, still clinging to him despite the hug having continued for an unusual amount of time.

“Do you want to go train?” Drakthar requests, finally moving out of the hug.

“Yes! Yes,” Kali’s voice cracks on the first affirmative response, prompting her to give another.

Drakthar starts to lead her outside causing Grayson to mention; “You kids know there is a training room in here right?”

“I know,” Drakthar responds, not changing his course preferring to train outside tonight instead.

“How much do you think they are actually going to train?” Lunette asks after they have left the room.

“I mean, they do actually like training... so maybe an hour?” Kayde figures, knowing how the two of them are.

“I have things to do, I will see you kids later,” Grayson gets up and leaves, only there to greet Drakthar.

“Hey, Gwendolyn? Have you thought of what you want to do for your bachelorette party?” Lunette excitedly brings up.

“No... not sure I was going to have one,” Gwendolyn responds, more focused on planning the wedding than anything else.

“Kayde and I have found some high-class brothels for women while we have been here, why don’t we go to one of those?” Lunette appoints herself to plan it.

“Uh... I don’t know how I feel about that,” Gwendolyn is hesitant to say anything in front of Xander.

“Oh come on it will be fun!” Lunette starts to insist on it.

“You should do it! You can mess around with this guy whenever. Just have some fun one last time before…”

“It’s fine, Lunette really,” Gwendolyn cuts her off knowing where she is going with this.

“What about you Xander? Same offer if you want?” Kayde throws it out there.

“You know my answer,” he walks out of the room, knowing he has things to do before the wedding.

“Lunette, about that bachelorette party, I have an idea,” Gwendolyn starts to talk to them once Xander is out of the room.

The next morning, they all meet up towards the center of town near where the summit is set to take place.

The desert group makes their way through the square, Jorge who is among them splits off and greets them, “Hey lads, good to see ya here. I see Drakthar is back”.

“Yes, I had things to take care of,” Drakthar explains his previous absence.

“Jorge, are you doing anything important for the Summit?” Gwendolyn asks him, which he finds weird.

“No, why?” Jorge asks curiously.

“All the groomsmen need to go get their suits fitted for the wedding tomorrow, so if you weren’t busy could the four of you go over to the tailor I talked to earlier to get fitted?” Gwendolyn requests now that Xander, Kayde, Drakthar, and Jorge are all there.

“I guess I can go with the lads,” Jorge agrees, not having much else to do with the conference. They begin to head over to the tailor Gwendolyn specified while the women go to a similar type of place for their dresses.

“What kind of speech am I supposed to give tomorrow?” Drakthar asks Xander now that they have some time to talk.

“Oh yeah… let’s see… you are supposed to talk about Gwendolyn and I… I think the best speeches are usually stories or something... but don’t choose something too embarrassing,” Xander explains trying to think about how it usually goes.

“All you have are embarrassing moments lad,” Jorge notes, laughing before taking a swig of whiskey.

“Thanks, Jorge,” Xander comments, not appreciating that.

“I will think of something,” Drakthar tells him, not happy having to do this but understanding it is important.

After their time at the tailor, they meet back up with the others and make their way outside the building where Oswald and Hector are having their discussion.

“Hey, we have something to go do,” Kayde mentions remembering something when he sees Lunette.

Her eyes get wide and then she smiles when she remembers, “Oh yeah, we will be back”.

“Hold on, if they finish up soon we will know what happened, you know what they agree on,” Xander tries to stop them from leaving, he thought Kayde really wanted to know the outcome of the summit.

“It’s okay, you can tell us later,” Kayde calls out to him as he, Lunette, and Fore head off for some reason he is not aware of.

“So… we just waiting for them to say something now?” Kali asks as they all stand around awkwardly.

“Yeah, I got extra booze if ya want some,” Jorge offers to the others.

“No, I’m good I’ll maybe take some if they tell us the war is over,” Gwendolyn refuses for now.

“We’ll be drinking tonight anyway,” Kali mentions not thinking much of it.

“Oh yeah, ya gals having a bachelorette party? Hold on, are we throwing the kid a bachelor party?” Jorge realizes what is more important, looking forward to attending such a thing.

“Umm… yeah, we are…” Gwendolyn admits, not able to hide it because of what Kali mentioned.

“Nothing too crazy though,” Kali backs her up, not knowing this was something people didn’t know about.

“I’m probably not having one Jorge, sorry. You and the others can go out tonight, but it’s just not my thing,” Xander disappoints him.

“I understand lad. Drakthar ya want to…” Jorge stops, realizing who he is talking to, “never mind”.

Just as they finish this discussion, they notice both military groupings start to leave the building, Oswald and Hector talking chummily in the middle of the mob.

“I’d say things went well,” Jorge comments from seeing the mood.

“You guys come here,” Avesa orders the five of them once she spots them.

“Hey, it’s you guys and Jorge. I just wanted to thank the four of you, Kayde, and Lunette for this. If you hadn’t have intervened this could have never happened. You six deserve all the credit for ending the war and starting the prosperous relationship between the two of us,” Hector thanks the four of them officially.

“Yes, thanks to you the desert and the Sacrosanct Empire will go from fighting to helping each other to improve conditions for the both of us,” Oswald mentions what they agreed upon.

“Now, more importantly, your wedding tomorrow,” Hector brings up.

“I wasn’t going to attend, but things have gone so well between Oz and me here that I can’t say no,” he lets them know.

“Great, that’s good to hear. It will be an honor to have both of you in attendance,” Gwendolyn thanks both him and Oswald.

“Now we are going to share a drink, do you all want to come with us?” Hector offers to the five of them.

“Ya know me Hec, of course, I’ll come along,” Jorge agrees instantly, Hector always gets him the good stuff.

“I think we are going to have to decline, there are some small things we are going to need to get done before tomorrow,” Gwendolyn turns them down.

“No problem, see you all later,” Hector notes before leaving them behind to head to the tavern he considers the best in Melusarej. The others break off finalizing some things before the wedding tomorrow, for some, it is working on their speeches, for others, it is explaining to those who will be doing the decorating tomorrow morning how they want it done.

Xander, Gwendolyn, Kali, and Drakthar group back up for dinner, it is fairly quiet, made awkward because of everyone knowing about the bachelorette party that is going to occur later, well it isn’t awkward for Drakthar, he is just more focused on eating his food than talking.

“I think we are supposed to get going, Lunette is waiting for us,” Kali mentions making it even weirder in the room of the airship they are eating in.

“Yeah, okay let’s go,” Gwendolyn agrees, hugging Xander before she leaves.

“You seem bothered by that,” Drakthar comments once the women have left.

“I don’t know man. I understand the idea of that sort of thing, but it feels wrong to me. I’m not going to tell her not to though,” Xander explains how he feels.

Drakthar shrugs, it being Xander’s decision what he does.

“Hey, guys!” The door flies open, Kayde being on the other side of it with Fore at his feet.

“I saw the girls just leave, I know you said you didn’t want to do anything, but how about you at least have some of this really expensive alcohol I picked out,” Kayde suggests thinking maybe Xander will reconsider now that he knows Gwendolyn and the others are going out for the night.

“Yeah okay, I guess I’ll have a glass,” Xander agrees so it will take his mind off things.

“Cool, alright now you have to have the first drink. O’Malley recommended this so let’s see how it tastes,” Kayde notes as he fills the glass in front of Xander with the brown liquid.

Xander picks up the glass and downs it, more bothered by what is going on that he thought. “My head feels fuzzy,” he slurs as he feels his mind go and he passes out, his head slamming into the table.

“What did you just give him?” Drakthar asks menacingly, sure that Kayde knocked him out using that drink.

“Settle down Drakthar, it was the only way we are going to get him to go out tonight. He deserves to have a little fun too,” Kayde starts to explain, ready to bolt if Drakthar doesn’t take this well.

“Fine... but I’m not going to be a part of this,” Drakthar lets Kayde have his way, leaving the room to see if Grayson wants to spar with him tonight.

“Great! Now how am I going to drag him out of here?” Kayde starts to think out loud as he stares at the incapacitated Xander.

Xander’s head is throbbing as he comes to. His vision is fuzzy but he notices a brown figure in front of him. As his eyes clear up and his head returns to normal he notices the figure is a woman.

He sees her, basically nude, only sheer white undergarments, a necklace, and a bunch of rings, not leaving much to Xander’s imagination. He tries to shield his eyes with his hand but when he attempts to lift it up to his face he realizes it is tied down to the chair he was put in.

“Looks like you are finally awake,” the woman smirks when she notices. Xander looks around, trying to find the exit so he can switch his way out of this. He only sees the bed in front of him and a few bookshelves to the right, no exits.

Either way, he switches himself with the woman so she is in his position tied up in the chair.

“Woah, I didn’t expect that. They told me you liked being the one tied up,” she comments, not letting his escape ruin the mood.

“What? No?” He disagrees as he tries to look around, rummaging through the books on the bookshelves assuming one of them is a switch that will get him out of here.

He suddenly hears a tearing sound and notices two hands full of rings ripping his shirt in half from behind. Turning around only hastens the process creating tension for her to tear the rest of it off.

“Wow, you’re one of the fittest guys I’ve been with. Most have large bellies if you know what I mean. This is going to be a real treat,” the woman tells him, placing a hand on his abs.

Xander backs up into the bookshelves so she isn’t touching him anymore.

“How did you get free?” He questions, thinking she would be stuck in the chair like he was.

“I’m much smaller than you silly, I mean I’m a big girl but you’re an even bigger guy,” she explains, having just slipped out of the ropes.

“Look, I’m only interested in the woman that is going to become my wife. So sorry to disappoint you but nothing is happening here,” Xander lays it out for her, turning back around to try and figure out what is up with the bookcase.

Like before the woman has no intention of letting him have what he wants, pulling down his pants, and getting a good look at his behind. Xander quickly tries to pull them back up but she is standing on the back of them.

Xander gets very annoyed, teleporting away so he can pull them all the way back up.

“You really need to stop this,” he demands in a raised tone. He gets confused as she giggles, starting to break out into very familiar uncontrollable laughter.

“Wait... what?” He tries to comprehend where it is from. He comes over to her and looks at the rings on her fingers. He reaches to try and take them off, but she pulls back her hands and is now the one running away.

“Why don’t you take the rings off?” Xander asks, knowing exactly who the girl stuck in the room with him is.

“No, they are very precious to me,” the woman refuses cheekily, pretty sure he knows what is going on at this point.

“Come on, take them off,” Xander doesn’t hold back, pinning her to the wall, each of his hands on her wrists. He forcefully rips each finger until the one that was crafted by Lunette is revealed. Finally, he finds the right one revealing an also very nude Gwendolyn in front of him.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Xander asks as he lets go of her hands.

“No, I was waiting for you to find out,” Gwendolyn retorts, wrapping herself around Xander.

“So where are we?” Xander asks, this prison-like space foreign to him.

“Kayde and Lunette set it up earlier today, we kind of came up with this plan to mess with you a bit. Did you like it?” Gwendolyn asks as she starts to pull down his pants again.

“In the beginning no. I mean that was really rapey,” Xander explains frankly feeling really uneasy in the beginning.

“Yeah… Kayde thought that too when he planned it... but you have to admit this is much better than me going to a brothel with the others right?” Gwendolyn asks him.

“Yeah… I can’t argue with that,” Xander agrees, remembering how much it was bothering him.

“Now, do you want me to put the ring back on or?” Gwendolyn asks, continuing to mess with him.

Xander grabs the ring and throws it to the corner of the room, “No, I like what I see right now”.

A few hours later, after some extremely strenuous physical activity, Xander asks Gwendolyn, “So how do we get out of here?”

“Oh right, I guess you thought you were trapped in here,” she notes, forgetting about their plan after the last few hours.

“You want to leave?” She asks cheekily.

“I mean, I feel like we should sleep in an expected place the night before our wedding,” Xander notes, not wanting to wake up in some random building.

“Okay, get up then, and you might want to put your pants back on,” she tells him as she goes over to find where he threw the ring in the corner.

“Why are you putting that back on?” He questions, confused as to what it has to do with getting out of here.

“I don’t want to go out there naked, would you rather me wrap myself up in the sheets instead?” Gwendolyn asks, giving him the choice.

“Yeah, I would actually,” Xander tells her, not wanting to deal with that ring ever again.

“Fine,” she goes over to the bed and takes the sheets off it. Gwendolyn knocks on the wall opposite of the bookshelf in an odd pattern. She stands back as a part of the wall slides away.

On the other side is Lunette, “Hey guys, did you two enjoy yourselves?”

“Hold on, were you out here the whole time?” He finds it kind of weird if she was.

“Yeah, but I was doing other things, totally not listening or anything,” Lunette tells him in a way he can’t tell if she is being sarcastic or not.

“Thanks, Lunette, we are going to go now,” Gwendolyn lets her know.

“No problem, have a nice night,” she waves at them remaining in the room to later recollect the ring for reasons. Mainly because she worked hard on it and doesn’t want to see it just thrown out.