The S.T.F. Files, Book 4: DIATON

S.T.F. Wedding Part I

Third Person POV

"That one looks pretty." Alicia smiled, pointing at a nice white dress in the display window. She, Aly, Riza, and Cleo were walking outside of a bridal store in a nearby town. The quartet walked inside and gazed at the wide array of dresses in the small store.

Aly bit her lip as she looked around, flustered. "I don't want anything extravagant. We'll be outside in the woods and the last thing I need is to get a rental dirty."

"Agreed." Riza smiled, laughing a little at her best friend's nervousness.

Cleo grinned. "Cleo didn't say we were getting huge dresses. What's the point of that? What if we have to kick butt again like at Cleo and Moron's wedding?"

"Don't jinx it, please... We're finally done and over with everything." Riza sighed.

An old woman walked out, the one who owned the store, and smiled at everyone. "Welcome. Who's the lucky girl today?"

"Both of us." Aly pointed to herself and Riza.

The old woman blinked in surprise before looking the girls up and down. She pulled out a measuring tape from her pocket and walked over to Aly and Riza. She pulled Riza first, who nearly stumbled, and stripped her of her clothes.

"A-Ah, just a moment!" Riza's eyes widen as she tried to gather her clothes. The old lady pulled her up straight, then measured her body before stepping back. Aly laughed at her friend's red face as Riza tried to put her clothes back on.

"What are you so red for, child? We're all women here." The old lady shook her head before pulling Aly over to do the same thing. It was now Riza's turn to laugh as Aly tried to gather her clothes.

"Such skinny children. You need to eat more." The woman put her measuring tape away and disappeared to the back of the store.

Alicia walked around the store, looking at the dresses. "Well, that was quite eventful."

Aly fixed her shirt and pouted, sitting down on one of the chairs. "I am not that skinny. I had three kids!"

The elder lady came back with two dresses. Both were simple; one had short sleeves with an embroidered bodice and the other straps with a cream ribbon around the waist. The lady gave the first dress to Aly and the second dress to Riza.

"Ah.. that one looks nice, but what about that one in the corner.." Riza asked as she had been eyeing that one since they arrive.

"No!" The old woman was quick to reject her. "That dress will make you look fat as cow. I know what looks good on you. Take these or don't take any."

Aly smiled, laughing a little at Riza's shocked reaction to the woman's harsh words. She decided to trust the woman's words and take the dresses. Once they paid for them, the two girls wanted to head back to the house but Alicia and Cleo stopped them.

"Let's take a detour, shall we?" Alica hooked arms with Aly as Cleo took Riza. The two grinned mischeviously at each other before waltzing away with the two brides-to-be further into town.

Back at the house, the men and children were fixing up for the wedding. Nada begrudgingly helped to tie old linen sheets, that had been cut in strips, to trees as streamers. Dimitri and Damien worked together to make a wedding arch by tying twigs together. Al rolled out some old off-white fabric from the attic to make some sort of "red carpet" for the brides to walk on.

Alicia and Nada's children, Karin and Russel, brought out the dining room chairs for everyone else to sit in.

"Daddy said I could throw the flower petals!" Hazel whined.

"Nuh uh! I'm throwing them! You're too young to do it!" Brook glared at her little sister.

The two steady fought over the flower petals they picked from nearby flower bushes. As they fought, the two slipped on the rolled out fabric and the flower petals went everywhere.

"See what you did!" The two yelled at each other. Dimitri had to stop making the arch and go get his daughters under control as his oldest and only son, Ashton, rolled his eyes at his sisters' antics and went to pick more flower petals.

Hunter and Leo glared at each other as they made it a race to see who could tie ribbons the fastest.

"Where's Max?" Al looked around.

Dimitri looked up from his daughters. "Damien.. Where's Ariel?"

Damien's eyes widened and he immediately dropped the twigs he was tying and looked around. "Oh no..." He quickly rushed and looked around the house.

"How do you lose your kid? You only have one Damien.." Nada snickered.

"That's even worse!" Damien yelled at him. "Don't you dare speak of any of this Cleo!" He ran into the woods with Al close behind him.

Dimitri watched them go until they disappeared and shook his head in disapproval. "They're way too gullible."

"You know where they are?" Nada looked around as the rest of the children got back to work.

Dimitri nodded. "By the pond picking flowers for the bouquets."

Back in town, the girls sported different shopping bags with small dresses and nice shirts for the children. Alicia and Cleo bought shirts for the men. They had small conversations here and there as they made their way back to the house.

"I wonder how they did to the backyard.." Alicia whispered to Cleo.

"How they did? They better have done something. Whatever they did, it better look right too." Cleo threatened under her breath.

When they arrived, Cleo made a whistling noise, which was the signal so everyone else knew they were home. Alicia and Cleo ushered Aly and Riza into the house and upstairs. Cleo made sure the two didn't look outside into the back yard as Alicia went downstairs and got all the children ready. Once they were in place, Cleo and Alicia got ready in some sundresses and called out the two brides to the backyard to see all the hard work the men and children put in.

As the two brides came down the stairs, Alicia pushed Nada in front of the wedding arch as commencer of ceremony. Nada, who didn't want to have any part in it, stood in front of the arch swearing up a storm under his breath.

"Why do I have to tell them to put on rings and kiss and stuff? I'm the HellMaster, not God."

"Keep talking and you can add dead to that list too." Alicia raised her fist up as she threatened him.

"Sh! They're coming." Damien said. Everyone stood and turned their attention to the two brides walking out of the back door.