Aoi Hyoudou: I decided to move this special away from the main story because my beta reader felt that it was a good way to prevent confusion when the actual next chapter is posted during spring break. I agree, so don't be surprised if this special was removed from PokéHearts, along with the other special involving Ash's Nobody. Hope you guys understand!

Marry Me

{...}

It was another ordinal day.

The Jaegers were enjoying their herbal tea and snacks, prepared by Bols at the dinner table. Wave was trying desperately to start a normal conversation with Kurome, but to no avail. She still refuses to share her snacks with him, crashing the poor teen's spirit altogether.

"Hah…"

Everyone's ears quickly perked up when they suddenly heard a soft groan coming from the hallway, followed by a room door closing. Entering the room was an exhausted Ash, dragging his feet along with the floor as he sluggishly walked over to the dinner table and taking a seat next to Wave. The party could tell the poor teen didn't have a good night's rest. His once pure auburn eyes were now replaced with bloodshot eyes, a pair of bags dangling beneath them.

Ash planted his face firmly on the cold wooden table and groaned groggily.

"Rough night?" Wave offered his friend a sympathetic smile.

"You could say that…" the latter mumbled weakly with another groan.

"Here, Ash." Bols walked over to the teen's side and placed a cup of herbal tea on the table just for him. "Maybe this will help you refurbish your strength."

"Thank you, Bols." The weary Keyblade wielder offered the masked man a weak, but genuine smile.

He might not able to see the man's expression, but behind his mask Bols had a compassionate smile on his face.

Ash gradually lifted his head off the table and slowly raised the cup of herbal tea with both hands to his lips. The moment the delicate fragrance flowed into his nostrils, his mind and his body relaxed as he gently took a sip. The taste was bizarre, but refreshing, feeling his strength slowly returning to him.

"Oh, by the way-" Wave said suddenly when he remembered something important that crossed his mind until now. "-Have you heard?"

"Hm?" Ash wasn't really paying any attention to anything Wave was saying because he was busy enjoying his tea.

"Esdeath's been going around and spreading the news in the Capital that you two are engaged and you guys are getting married soon." Wave informed.

Ash's eyes immediately widened as he spat out the tea from his mouth and coughed roughly, alerting Bols and Seryu to rush over his side and start patting and rubbing his back to calm him down. "W-What?!" he asked with a raspy voice, glancing to his friend.

"Oh, I guess she didn't tell you, then."

"No, she didn't." The Keyblade wielder wiped the saliva from his mouth, his voice returning to normal.

"Well, sucks to be you. She's a real firecracker. Good luck, man."

"We're not getting married, Wave!" The embarrassed teen immediately stood upright from his seat, knocking his chair over to the floor and flailing arms frantically. "I'm too young, and she's-"

Right on cue, Esdeath casually walked into the room and noticed the commotion, walking towards the group with a hand on her hip. "What's with the commotion?"

"Esdeath!" Ash stared at the woman before him. "Why are you telling people we are getting married?! We are NOT getting married!"

Her lips twisted into an amusing smile. "Oh, so you heard that? That's correct. We are indeed getting married." Ignoring the teen's protests, she turned to her special unit with a genuine smile. "Everyone is invited to our wedding." She received mixed reactions from the group.

"This is so awesome! Congratulation you guys!" Seryu chirped happily. Koro barked in agreement.

"Oh, I can't wait to tell my girls about this!" Anime tears streaming down from Bols's eyes onto his cheeks as his body wiggled back and forth in excitement.

"What a turn of events." Dr. Stylish chuckled in amusement.

"Have a good life, you two." Run congratulated the soon-to-be married couple with a smile.

"Yay." Kurome said bluntly with a blank stare.

"What kind of reaction is that?" Wave replied with a sweat drop.

"Esdeath!"

Esdeath glared sharply at the Keyblade wielder with an icy and intimidating tone of voice. "A good husband should know when to stay quiet."

Ash flinched, but immediately shook off his fear and glared back. "No! I'm not backing down, Esdeath! We're not doing this!"

Esdeath smirked in amusement. 'So cute.' "Since we're getting married soon-"

"Are you even listening to me?!" the poor teen cried.

"-We should practice how you should carry me, Ash." She ignored the Keyblade wielder again and finished.

"Wait, what?!" A shade of crimson appeared on his face.

"You heard me, Ash. You're going to practice carrying me so come here." she barked firmly at him like a master would do with her puppy.

Ash glanced over to the Jaegers and gave them a pleading look, hoping that they would help him out but they immediately turned away and stared at the wall.

'Guys…' Anime tears were streaming down from his eyes onto his cheeks because his so-called friends abandoned him in his time of need.

"Now, now, don't be shy, Ash." Esdeath teased her 'lover' with a straight face.

'I'm going to kill Xhäs for this.' Ash thought with an angry grumble. 'I can't believe he passed Esdeath off to me.'

Reluctantly, the Keyblade wielder walked over to Esdeath and glared at her, which didn't go unnoticed. "Now what?"

"Silly boy, now you have to lift me off my feet into your arms." Ash's face was turning bright red from the embarrassment as he could see at the corner of his eyes that some of the Jaegers members were actually snickering behind his back.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes." came Esdeath's quick response.

Ash sighed dejectedly, but reluctantly complied. He quickly scooped the general off her feet and held her into his arms, bridal-style. Thanks to his special training, he was able to keep her steady in place without stumbling backwards. He noticed a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. And it didn't help when she was caressing his cheek affectionately, making it really difficult to keep his composure in check. He began carrying her around the room for a solid minute until she told him to stop and ordered him to do something else.

"Good, now spin me around."

"What?"

"Do it!" She used her firm voice.

"Fine..." He sighed again. He proceeded to twirl around in a 360 degree rotation with the woman in his arms. The Keyblade wielder could tell Esdeath was actually enjoying herself, a genuine smile on her face.

"Now do something unexpected."

"Now you're just pushing it." Ash glared at the woman, who glared back.

"Do it!"

'So pushy…No wonder Xhäs ran away.'

Then his lips curled into a small smirk when an idea came to him. He suddenly heaved her into the air, startling both the Jaegers and Esdeath. As she was coming back down, he quickly caught her into his arms and twirled around in a 360 degree rotation before glancing down at her surprised face. "Was that unexpected for you?"

Esdeath blinked once, twice, and thrice and smirked in amusement. "Sneaky little devil. Very well, that'll do it for now." She quickly hopped off from his arms and walked casually out the room, satisfied.

"Dude-" Ash glanced to Wave, who looked absolutely surprised. "-I don't know what you did, but you managed to stop her from ordering you to carry her into her room."

"Wave, please don't give her any weird ideas..."

A/N: This was a fun special, although I hope this meets Mewtwo23's expectations since he was the one who requested it. Keeping a psychotic character like Esdeath in character was kinda hard to do. I hope she wasn't too off from her anime/manga-counterpart. I'm thinking I might do another short special or two before I start working on the next chapter for the main story until Tuesday.