Planning (Part Two of Four)

Another Invidia tale by AMI MEITSU

A/N: Part two in four part tale about Arty and Invidia’s wedding, so it’s 2203 and then 2204 when Arty leaves.

“Invidia…I need to talk to you.”

“Huh…?”

“What’s wrong?” Invidia asked.

“It’s about our wedding,” Arty said.

“You didn’t change your mind, did you? Or did you meet someone else?!”

“No, just come here.” Arty led her into the living room and they sat on the couch.

“I just got some bad news…”

“What?”

“Well, today, I just found out that I’m going on patrol next year.”

“Uh huh…”

“All year.”

“What?! No, you can’t! We’re supposed to get married!” Invidia said with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t have a choice, I’m sorry Princess…” Arty said.

Invidia grabbed onto him. “No! You can’t go! We’ve got it planned out and…”

“Shush…” Arty said. “We’ll just move it; we can get married the March after next.”

“So? This means you won’t be around for any other occasions, like Christmas and my birthday or our anniversary!”

“Well I’ll be here for Christmas and New Year’s this year; I don’t leave until January fifteenth.”

“That’s my birthday!” Invidia cried.

“Oh, that’s right…sorry Princess, but I can’t change it.”

“Arty!” Invidia whined.

“I’m sorry.” Arty pushed some of her hair aside. “All we can do is make the most of the time we have together, okay?”

Invidia nodded, and over the next two or three months she spent as much time with Arty as possible. She planned in the middle of all of it, but she still made sure that he had a good time before he left and even gave him one of the best Christmas Presents he had ever received. That evening they sat on Invidia’s couch, a small tree was on her side table. Arty has taught her most of what she knew about Christmas and she didn’t exactly celebrate it but she kept one or two decorations around. Arty bought her the little tree though. And they always exchanged gifts.

“Arty…,” she said.

“Hm?”

“Well, you know you only have about three more weeks before you leave…”

“And?”

“I…Uh…I got you something, something to remember me by. So you’ll always remember our time together even when you’re away,” She reached behind her and pulled out a flat black thing with a red ribbon around it.

“What is it?” Arty said as he ripped the thin paper off and looked at the disc she had given him.

“You put it in the computer, it’s a virtual scrapbook, I don’t normally do these things but Nova helped. I just wanted you to think about me…”

“I love it.” Arty said as he hugged her. “And I haven’t gotten you anything yet, but I’m working on it and I promise you’ll have it before I leave, okay?”

Invidia nodded.“It’s all right; the only thing that matters to me now is seeing you, anyway.”

“Aw...You’re gonna miss me, aren’t you?”

Invidia looked down as tears formed in her eyes and nodded. “Of course I will, I mean we were supposed to get married and now this? And I’m going to miss seeing you around, I already get lonely when you’re not here.”

“Aw, Princess don’t cry.” Arty hugged her again. “We can still contact each other and it’ll be okay, you have other people here for you.”

“But I want you!” Invidia whined.

“Aw, it’ll be okay…just wait okay, soon you’ll be too busy to think of me, you just watch.”

Invidia nodded as she cried and Arty held her, running his fingers through his hair.

“But I want to think of you! I can’t forget you! Ever!”

“Invidia,” Arty pulled her off so that she sat across from him.

“Yeah?”

“Shush…” He said as he leaned in and kissed her.

“I’m gonna miss that…” Invidia said after he broke off.

“It’s not that far away, all you have to do is think about me.” Arty kissed her forehead.

Invidia nodded and grabbed onto him again.

“Invidia…what are you…?”

“Please, just hold me for a little longer; I want to be with you.”

Arty smile and hugged her, she needed it, Invidia just seemed so sad…

She sighed and he just cuddled her until she fell asleep…

Three weeks later, and four hours before he left, Arty was at the dockyards getting everything ready.

‘And the countdown begins…’ He thought. He had been dreading this day, mostly because he would miss Invidia’s birthday, but also because this day ruined all of their wedding plans and he’d be leaving Invidia all alone…. He sighed.

“Arty, are you okay?” Derek asked.

“Not really.”

“Invidia?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to get married in March and then this came up and then we leave today…”

“Wait…” Derek thought. “Today’s her birthday, isn’t it?”

Arty nodded. “I wanted to be here for her and give her the birthday-slash-Christmas Present I got for her…”

“You still haven’t…”

“I had to find it first, but she’ll love it…and she knows it’s late.”

“You should see her before we take off…”

“I will, don’t worry.” Arty said. ‘Don’t you worry…you either Invidia…’ He thought.Then he sighed, he knew he wouldn’t see Invidia until just before launch, they had so much to do still…

Later, half hour before launch he met Invidia in a huge crowd of people that surrounded the ship. He had taken her out to breakfast, but that seemed so long ago as he looked for her with a red-wrapped box in hand.

“Invidia!” He called when he saw her, her blue gown stuck out in the crowd.

She turned around. “Arty?” When she realized it was him she ran to him and as soon as they hugged their lips met in a soft, deep kiss.

After they were done, Arty just held her. “I got you something.” Arty said.

“Hm?” Invidia looked at him and he handed her the box. “Don’t open it until you get home, okay? This counts as your Christmas present too, I’m sorry it took so long but it took awhile to find…”

“It’s all right, as long as I got it, and you’re taking your present with you, right?”

“Of course Princess, it’s in my bag.”

“I’m gonna miss you.” Invidia said.

“I know, but remember, no matter what I still love you.”

“I love you too…” Invidia said.

“I hope so, or I proposed for nothing!”

“Arty! We’re supposed to be sad…not stupid!” Invidia hit him.

“Sorry, I know.” Arty hugged her again. “And I’ve got to go for last minute inspections, okay?”

“One more kiss?” Invidia asked.

Arty nodded and they kissed again.

“I’ll hold that until you come back…” Invidia said.

“Same here…” Arty said as he ran off.

A little while later Invidia watched and looked up as the ship launched off. After it did she sighed.

“You’re gonna be lonely, huh?” said a voice next to her.

“Hm?” Invidia turned to see…Nova! “You did not go this time?” Invidia asked.

‘No, I wanted to stay with Setsuna, I didn’t want to leave her with my parents again.” Nova said as she picked her up. “She loves her ‘Auntie’ very much but she needs Mommy to take care of her too, right?”

“Yeah!” Setsuna said as she hugged Nova.

“You’re lucky you have that child…”

“Hey, you have me.” Nova said. “And you still need to plan your wedding. That should take up some time…”

“Right, but can we start tomorrow? I want to go home and rest.”

“Sure…” Nova said. “I can drop you off.”

“I’d like that, and you did bring me here too, I should at least get a ride back!”

“Fine.” Nova said as Invidia followed her.

When she got home Invidia threw both her coat and her present on the couch. She looked at it for a minute and went over. She slowly tore the paper off and opened it, the first thing she found was a card, she read it.

Princess,

I’m sorry I couldn’t be here for you birthday and that it took awhile to get your Christmas present, but I hope it’s okay. I picked it out special for you, and I would like you to wear it the day I come back. I hope you like it!

Love Forever,

Arty…

Invidia put the card aside and pulled out a long red dress. It was almost like a dinner dress, it was a spaghetti strap dress with an extra layer on top with little silver sparkles on it, it had a small, fake red rose on one strap. “Arty…” She breathed. “It’s beautiful…” With it was a black wrap that had a red ‘I’ embroidered on it and another necklace, this one had a garnet heart on the end of it...her birthstone. She looked at it and burst into tears, it was so nice…and it made her miss him even more… ‘Why did he leave?! I need him, I want him…’ She thought. “Arty come back!” she cried. That day was one bittersweet birthday…The only one worse than this was when she turned seven and she fell down the stairs, but only the first small flight, it wasn’t her fault…One of the servants rushed past her and she slipped, and when she fell she didn’t break anything, but her ankle hurt and she couldn’t walk for a day or two…

Now, she just sighed. ‘This is going to be one long year…’ she thought.

And it was. Even with the wedding plans it was hard for Invidia to take her mind off of Arty. She worked as she thought though, and by that September she had most of it layed out or done. The only things left were to order the actual flowers, which wouldn’t happen until the wedding day, talk to some caterers, and get Invidia’s dress and Arty’s tux. Most of it was just layed out, a lot of the stuff would be done closer to the wedding, and Arty had approved most of it. Invidia had been emailing him about what was going on, and he approved most of what she sent him, except for the stuff that she wanted to surprise him with, which she didn’t send, including her ideas for the food and her dress…

Invidia decided that she did not want a white dress and she wanted the food to be good, yet different by mixing in some her own stuff, this came in December. They day after her mother’s birthday, the thirteenth, Nova took her out to look at dresses.

“Nova, these are all ridiculous.” Invidia said as she looked through the all-white dress shop.

“It’s a bridal shop and wedding dresses are usually white…” Nova told her.

“But I hate them, I mean they’re cute but not for me! I don’t wear pure white! I need something black or maybe black and white, not all white!”

“Invidia, it’s a wedding not a funeral!”

“Yes, but it’s MY wedding! If I want black I get black! Let’s go!” Invidia left and Nova followed. She took her into to three other shops, none of which she was happy with, and then Nova gave up.

“Why are you so picky?” She asked when they had stopped suddenly in the mall, this was their last stop.

Invidia said nothing.

“Invidia? Invidia, I’m talking to you!”

Invidia said nothing again, she just walked off.

“Where are you going?” Nova followed her until they came to another dress shop. It was not a bridal shop, just a dress shop.

“This is it!” Invidia said. She picked up a black spaghetti-strap dress with a double layer and little black roses on it in, giving it a cute, yet stylish look. “This is my dress!”

“Invidia, this isn’t a wedding dress, it’s more like a black ball gown.” Nova corrected, not trying to be critical, just truthful.

“This is my wedding dress, okay?”

“All right, and I’m sorry, I just thought you’d have some tradition in your wedding, but it’s fine for you.”

“I accept your apology, now let’s go pay for this and get out of here!” Invidia said. “I’m going to be late for my meeting with the caterer!” She ran off and they left within twenty minutes, given the line and the packaging of her dress. Then Nova took her down to her caterer’s business, it was a small place but they did well and things were sometimes on the expensive side…

“You sure you want them? Won’t your father get mad about all the money?” Nova asked.

“No, we’ve got plenty of money and this is my dream wedding! He can’t take that away!” Invidia said.

“You’re really into this, huh?”

“Well Arty comes back next month and I want it to be at least laid out when he comes back!”

Nova just smiled, this was the first time she’d ever seen Invidia this into something, she really had skills for planning…

“Nova, stop! This is it!” Invidia said as they came to what looked like a small restaurant.

“Invidia, this is…”

“They run a restaurant and do catering, it’s a fancy place.” Invidia said as she got out of the car and headed in, Nova followed.

“Can I help you?” The hostess asked.

“I’m Princess Invidia; I have a meeting with your manager, about some wedding catering.”

“Hold on…” The hostess scanned the computer. “Here it is, just go through the hallway here, third door on the right.”

Invidia nodded to her and headed off. The place wasn’t that hard to find, there was a sign on the door. Invidia knocked softly when she came to it.

“Come in,” said a female voice from inside.

Inside the office was a woman at a desk, she had long black hair, also in her office were a couple plants, some furniture and a couple other things.

“Hi, are you the… uh…manager?” Invidia asked just to be sure.

“Yes, I’m Nakada Tsaiyumi, have a seat. What can I do for you?”

Invidia and Nova sat in the chairs in front of her desk. “Well, I’m Princess Invidia and I’m supposed to meet with you.”

Nakada looked up. “Oh, the wedding! We don’t get those that a lot. What can I do?”

“I’d like some suggestions and estimates, and I want to know if you can do some Cometine dishes? Do you know what kren is?”

“Yes, it’s made of berries from other planets, inspected and now imported here, why?”

“Can you put that on cake?”

“Invidia!” Nova lightly hit her. “You’re supposed to have a wedding cake.”

“I know that, I just want something on the side.” Invidia said.

“Um, ladies?” Nakada interrupted.

“Hm?” They looked at her.

“Yes, we can put kren on cake, but may I recommend one of our custom wedding cakes?” Nakada walked over other bookshelf and pulled one off the shelf, it was a book of wedding cake designs.

Invidia sieved through it white Nakada talked.

“I like this one.” Invidia said. She flipped the book over and pointed to a half-chocolate, half-vanilla cake with white vanilla frosting. “And Arty did say we should consider a double cake.”

“That’s one of our most popular ones.” Nakada said as she wrote something down. “And here’s your estimate for everything you had called about.”

“Uh…five thousand dollars?”

“And that’s a discount; it’s either that or the usual ten thousand.”

“A five thousand dollar discount?!”

“You’re royalty and we really don’t want you to hurt us…”

“She’s not going to…” Nova stared.

“Quiet you!” Invidia snapped. “This will be fine and if what I get isn’t what I ordered I will have your head!”

Nakada gulped and nodded as Invidia left, taking some papers with her.

“Invidia, why did you do that? You know you won’t hurt her.” Nova said.

“I wanted the discount, so be quiet.” Invidia said.“Please don’t ruin this, please!”

“Okay, I promise I’ll let you do what you want.”

Invidia smiled at her. “Good.” She thought the whole way home, counting down the days until January tenth, the day Arty would come home…She couldn’t wait to see him; this made her dreams flow… She would remember to wear her dress and when he saw her he’d kiss her in front of everyone…it would be so deep and passionate, their first kiss in a year…then they’d get married and things would get even better, boundaries previously broken would no longer be immoral! They could do what they wanted!

‘It’ll be such a wonderful experience…I can’t wait to see him!’ Invidia thought. ‘My world’s finally coming together! He’s coming back!’

‘My dream is coming true!’

TO BE CONTINUED…