Chapter Text
The rest of the war is so quick and painless that you almost start to believe you’d imagined it. Without the bishops, without their spiritual center, the armies of the Holy Ovum Empire crumble into raiders and bandits; driven back across the eastern border of the Dreamlands by an alliance, however contrived, between all four other nations on the continent. It was about as close to world peace as you think you’ll ever get.
You helmed the charge for a while, with Jack as your second in command while Alex and Tommy recovered. You’d had help from O’Hara too, intent on staying at your side to continue to keep her promise to Niki. But you never saw combat again, never had to run into a fray and search for missing comrades, missing lovers. You considered that a blessing, at the very least. One good thing, blooming like wildflowers from all the suffering you’d witnessed. But all things, even good ones, must come to an end.
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“Niki! Where the hell is Tommy? This thing starts in five minutes!” you call out, as Fundy struggles to untangle the fringe of one of your epaulets as you wait backstage for the event to start. The inauguration. It was finally time.
“He’s here somewhere!” she calls back, before finally stepping out from behind the dressing room screen, dressed in a sharp new uniform, a pin just like the one they’d buried Wilbur with stuck to her lapel. She looks wonderful, regal even. “Good?” she asks, spinning to give you a better look at her outfit, as if the answer could possibly be anything other than yes.
“Very good,” you reassure, as Fundy gives her a decidedly platonic thumbs-up. “Showing off for someone in the audience, huh?” You tease, and her face goes red, she tries to hide her blush behind a raised hand.
“You’re a brat,” she chides, though you can tell there’s no real malice behind it.
“And you’re not subtle. At all. Just ask her to stay. I’m sure she’ll say yes.” Anyone with eyes could see just how sad she was that O’Hara would be leaving with the Las Nevadas royal contingent in a week. If no one else was going to point that out to her , then you’d have to do it. “We can turn it into a diplomatic swap.”
“Do you really think she would?” she asks as she crosses to stand next to you and Fundy, just at the edge of the stage curtain. “If I just asked ?”
“She followed me literally across the world because you asked her to keep me safe. I think if you asked her to jump the only question would be ‘how high?’.”
“You’re the worst,” she laughs and shakes her head as Tommy comes careening up the stairs at the back of the stage, nearly knocking the railing over in his haste. He quickly stands tall and readjusts his uniform, the mass of medals on his chest rattling like coins.
“Jesus, kiddo. What took you so long?” you ask, and he just sighs and shakes his head.
“Overslept,” he says simply, as you try (keyword: try ) to fix his awful case of bedhead. Lost cause, no hope. A staffer pokes their head around the curtain, sees the four of you ready to go, and as they disappear you hear the band start to play, the national anthem blaring out into the crowd at full volume. “That’s us, then,” he says, stepping out onto stage before any of you get the chance, to raucous applause, with no sense of suspense or pacing. You hurry out after him, facing what could very well be the final public appearance of your career. At least one with an audience this large. You take your place at the podium as Niki and Tommy take seats in their pre-assigned chairs behind you. You hold your hand up, calling for silence, and slowly, very slowly, a hush falls over the crowd.
You start to feel your nerves set in, feel the pressure of everyone’s eyes on you for the first time in a very long time. Like you’d told Alex, it never did get any easier. You were really starting to hate being right all the time. Scanning the crowd, you see a variety of familiar faces. Jack, of course, gossiping with some of the Dreamlands delegation, who were now flying the banner of King George above their allocated seats. Your eyes continue to scan, and you finally catch sight of the people you’d been most hoping to see.
Alex and his generals are sitting right in the front row, flanked by about 20 or so of L’manburg’s best soldiers. Nothing wrong with being a little too careful, especially now that the Empire has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that even kings can be killed by mortal men. You weren’t going to take that chance. They’re clearly trying to talk to him, but his gaze is locked on you. He’s got this blissful, almost proud grin on his face as you lock eyes with him, safe and alive. You had to remind yourself of that sometimes. You were safe. You were alive. And so was he.
“People of L’manburg, allies of our great nation,” you begin to address the crowd when they finally descend into just hushed whispers instead of screaming cheers. “Today, we stand before you to usher in a new age for our country, for our people, for democracy. As you know, our country is still young, still in its infancy. And there are no better people to guide it than the two people sharing the stage with me.” You gesture back to them with a wide smile as the crowd once more erupts in cheers and applause. You give them a moment to bask in their praise, the praise of your people, before turning back to the crowd. “Through war, death, revolution, they have stood beside us and fought for the people of L’manburg, both on the battlefield and in the senate. Even...” you clear your throat, pause for a second as a wave of sadness threatens to overtake you. You don’t let it. “Even when we lost dear friends, they kept their resolve and piloted our war efforts to victory. I’m proud to call them both friends, but more than that, I’m proud to call them my leaders as well. Without further ado...”
You motion for Niki to join you at the podium, retrieve a thick leather bound tome from the shelf beneath it. You have to push back tears again, and can tell that she’s doing the same as she lays her hand on the founding documents of your nation, all written by your dearly departed president. You could even see a fingerprint on the edge of the pages, preserved forever in black ink.
“If you’ll repeat after me...I, Niki Nihachu, do solemnly swear...” you start. You’ve spent so many hours memorizing this bit. It had to be perfect. It had to be theirs.
“I, Niki Nihachu, do solemnly swear...” she repeats, projecting her voice to reach the back of the crowd even as she looks at you, grinning and beautiful, as always.
“To uphold the ideals of our founders, to fight for the common good of our citizens, to protect L’manburg and all she stands for.” She repeats it after you, and you lay your hand on hers atop the book. “I hereby, as acting second general, pronounce you Vice President of L’manburg, in all her glory.” She nods to you as the crowd erupts in roars of applause and cheers so loud that you think it can be heard even at the borders, in every town and village in the Rocky Mountains. You hold the book out to her, wavering for only a moment, before she turns to you, takes it gently from your hands. You salute her and step back as Tommy switches positions with you, taking your place at the podium as she holds the book out to him. You watch as he takes a deep breath, unable to look at the crowd as he lays his hand on the book.
“You’ve got this,” you hear Niki whisper to him, before she launches into the same formal speech you’d just given. “I, Tommy Innit, do solemnly swear...”
“I, Tommy Innit, do solemnly swear...” he repeats after her.
“To uphold the ideals of our founders, to fight for the common good of our citizens, to protect L’manburg and all she represents.” Tommy repeats after her and she puts a hand on top of his. “I hereby, as Vice President, with all the power vested in me by the people, by our allies, by our dearly departed friends,” she continues, adding her own spin to the speech, “pronounce you President of L’manburg, in all her glory.”
If Niki’s cheers were a roar, these were cannon fire, a verbal 21 gun salute as Tommy looks up and out over the crowd. People leave their seats, screaming with wild aplomb for their new leaders. This was it. This was the peak. It couldn’t get any better than this.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After nearly a week of celebrations, of paperwork, of outlining power structures and what exactly constitutes a ‘head of state’, you find yourself standing at the very same gate at the edge of the capital, surrounded once more by a contingent of L’manburg’s soldiers.
“If we wait any more we’re gonna be late,” Alex points out, as you sit beside him on the back of one of the wagons, your feet swinging in the late fall air.
“I know, I know. She’ll be here, don’t worry,” you reassure, resting your head on his shoulder. He sighs, turns to kiss you on the temple, before going back to watching your soldiers continue to load the final few provisions for your trip back to Las Nevadas.
It had been hard to convince them to let you go. Especially Tubbo, who’d been clinging to you like glue from the moment you’d even broached the subject. But, despite what some people might say, you were a good negotiator. Eventually they’d agreed that yes, maybe a permanent embassy in Las Nevadas would be a positive for the country as a whole. And if they just so happened to have a diplomat with the ear of the King, why not send her as the permanent ambassador to the country? And if she and said King just so happened to be pushing the country towards at the very least a constitutional monarchy, then wasn’t that just a bonus? You’d thought so, at the very least.
There, on the horizon, you finally catch sight of them. Niki, practically speed-walking down the busy street, followed immediately by O’Hara, the new Ambassador to L’manburg. You’d figured out a way for her to stay and still serve her people, just as you planned to. You push up off the cart, meeting Niki halfway and whisking her up and into the air as she gives you the tightest hug you’ve ever experienced.
“We thought we might have missed you,” she sniffles, sounding already on the edge of tears as you put her back down.
“Of course not. You know I’ll always wait for you.” You glance at Alex, see him talking to O’Hara, probably giving her the same speech you knew Niki was about to give you.
“You have to write to me every day. I want to know everything, even if it’s just boring meeting stuff,” she emphasizes.
“It’s not like you’re never going to see me again,” you joke. “You can come visit me anytime you want. And I’m sure I’ll be returning to L’manburg every so often to deal with the mountains of paperwork you’ve somehow gotten me to agree to.”
“You’d better come back. Alex!” she calls out, and both he and O’Hara turn to her. “You’ll bring her back at least once a year,” she commands. “At least .”
“That...sounds like a threat,” he answers quietly, and O’Hara bursts into laughter, putting a hand on his shoulder as he looks between the three of you, as if he’s missed something.
“Probably is,” you shrug. “She does that. Oh, which reminds me-” You reach into the inner pocket of your uniform coat, pull out the tiny parcel wrapped in butcher’s paper that she’d given you so many months ago. You hand it back to her and her eyes go wide as she realizes what it is, that you still have it. The wither rose stems, all 5 of them. “Didn’t end up needing it. Figure you might get more use out of it than I will.”
“I can’t believe you kept it,” she marvels, before quickly stowing it away. It wasn’t exactly something that was legal to have. Technically. But neither of you had ever been too big on rules, ironically. It comes with the territory of being revolutionaries, you supposed.
“Always just in case,” you quote her message to you and she smiles, throws her arms around you again. “I already said goodbye to everyone, but give them my best anyway.”
“I will, I promise. Good luck.”
You climb into the saddle of your horse, the same one you’d rode back to the capital on, now recovered from the ordeal you’d put it through. Alex does the same for his own mount, and you set off, waving back periodically as Niki and O’Hara disappear over the horizon.
“I think when we get back I’m just going to sleep for a full week straight. I don’t even want to see a quill for a very long time,” you sigh.
“Hm. Don’t think Ambassadors get days off.” His delivery is so serious that you almost believe him. You turn, ready to argue, and see that adorable grin on his face, the one you’d come to love so very much. “Queens might, though.”
“‘Queens might’,” you repeat, rolling your eyes as you push down a laugh. Even still, you can’t help but smile at the concept. “Let’s bring some freedom to your people first, then we’ll talk about Queens.”
“An honor to follow your commands, my lady,” he gives you an overly exaggerated seated bow and you realize that you truly wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.