"I now pronounce you Man and Wife, you may kiss the bride." An old man with a large book said. Alex and Meria turned to face each other, looking deeply into each other's eyes as they both smiled softly. Alex was in a black tux with a blood red bow tie. They had but one Bridesmaid, Youkai, who was wearing a golden gown, studded with rubies and emeralds. The real beauty of the wedding however, was the bride. Meria was in a grand gown of the brightest white possible in clothing. Interweaving within each other were gold, black, silver, green, red, and blue strands.
Alex pulled the veil away from her face, his eyes never leaving hers. Their heads slowly moved towards each other, their eyes closing. "I Love you Meria." Alex whispered so that only Meria could hear. Their lips met, prompting deafening cheers from the clan that sat behind them.
The newly wed couple walked back down the aisle, Nethretor and Youkai following. They got into Alex's newest creation, a car from the 21st century, and drove off.
"Mmmm. Hm?" Alex moaned as he woke up. He remembered his dream vividly, he and Meria got married. "I guess, I really do want to ask her. But how to go about doing it? Should I just ask her the next time I see her? No, this is a first time for both of us and I want to make it special for her. I need to plan this out. Nobody can know about this, not even Nethretor." Alex said to himself.
"I heard my name, sup?" Nethretor said from the door.
"Don't do that! And no, nothin's up Nethretor. Just talking to myself, that's all." Alex said hastily, hoping that Nethretor didn't hear more then his name.
"Right, anyway Meria told me to give you this when I got back." Nethretor replied, handing Alex a small, black parcel.
Alex opened it to find a necklace, from it hanging a black onyx stone, one of the rarest in that time period. Around the incredible jewel there were rubies, and many. All were set in a solid gold chain. "Oh wow. Where could she possibly have found this? And how could she ever have afforded it? Only the Ghost Bear, Wolf, and Jade Falcon clan's greatest Khans have ever received one of these! Perhaps she really does think that I can make this clan the one to inhabit Terra! My mind is set, I am gonna ask Meria to marry me." He said, opening it only after Nethretor had left to oversee the programming of the new firewall application.
Several days passed before Alex got the chance to ask Meria out to another date. Even then, it had to wait several more days due to defensive preparations. The entire clan knew what was happening. The IlKhan, now Trolec, had suggested a Trial of Annihilation against the Dark Star clan. The entire Grand War Council voted yes, as well as the entire Clan society through the polls that were sometimes held to keep morale up. The clan was now in extreme danger, and the Inner Sphere would soon join the clans, although the clans would still treat the IS as an enemy even while the two factions are firing at the same targets.
"Meria, perhaps you'd like to go see a movie this weekend?" Alex asked.
"Sure Alex, I'd like that. How about we see March of Chaos? I've heard that you wrote the opening theme for it. I'd like to hear your work" she replied cheerfully. It didn't take long for her to figure out how long they had before the Clans attempted another attack. "I believe we should have around a year until the Clans try another attack, just to let you know." She added, confirming her beliefs.
"Yeah, I thought it was something around there. Anyway, see ya Saturday, say around 9:00 PM?" Alex responded, smiling slightly.
"Sounds good to me Alex, see ya!" Meria said cheerfully. They both went back to their own business, Meria training new recruits, Alex building Warmechs for them.
The weekend came slowly to young Alex, now 16. Wearing his favorite dragon shirt and his blackest jeans, he walked to Meria's house, meeting Youkai on the way.
"You look nice today, another date with Meria I presume?" she said as they passed on the road.
"Yeah, and thanks for the compliment Youkai. Oh, before I forget: Nethretor was looking for you. I think he went over to the main complex. He seemed like he wanted to tell you something important." Alex replied, walking onwards.
It took him a couple more minutes to get to Meria's house, where she was waiting by the door. "Shall we go? I thought you could drive?" she asked, seeing him come to her house on foot.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Ah, here it is. Button, button, who's got the button? Aha!" he exclaimed, pulling out a small remote from his pocket. The two heard a sound like 'Mech myomers screaming in protest to a movement that's sending it where it can't go. They both saw as a large bike came screaming down the road, flying straight towards them.
"Oh my god! It's gonna hit us!" Meria screamed, trying to run to the side. She couldn't get to far when Alex grabbed her forearm.
"No it won't, watch." He said calmly. He pushed another button on the small remote and the bike's tires squealed as the brakes tried to get a hold on the wheels. After a couple seconds of deafening screeches, the bike finally came to a stop, right in front of the couple. "Told you. Come, get on! It's not gonna bite you!" he said, laughing.
He got on the bike, motioning for her to come too. "I don't know, I've never ridden on of these before." Meria said nervously.
"That's because this is probably the only one left from the day of the Star League! I don't think anyone alive now has ever ridden one besides me! It's alright, I know perfectly well how to work it. It's an automatic so that takes care of the shifting, brakes on both handgrips, speedometer, odometer, power, fuel, heat, ammo. Yes, a civilian transport with weapons. 2 small lasers. Not much, but their ones I made. They create tiny electromagnetic pulses that take out enemy 'Mech targeting systems and sensors, as well as the neural helmet and energy weapons. Very useful technology. Come on, we'll miss the movie." He said, not explaining where he got it.
"I trust you Alex, just don't scare me with it, okay?" Meria said, getting on slowly.
"Alright, now hold on to my waist, good. Don't let go or you'll fall off the back and probably get burned on the exhaust pipe there." Alex said, pointing at a small chrome pipe running down the side of the bike. The bike roared as it started up again, the engine taking a second to catch. The wheels screeched a little as they sought traction on the road, and the two zoomed off towards the theatre.