Small Lady is sitting on a swing rocking her feet from her toes to her heel and back again. She makes the swing sway gently, watching her feet meditatively.
"I am not experienced enough. I am 14 and still not a lady."
She pauses and then looks up as she twists her arms around the chains holding the swing.
"Perhaps.. perhaps it's hopeless for me to dream for a guy like Elios."
She looks at her feet again and rocks the swing a little more.
"Even if I'm not experienced, I wonder if I could see him again. Just give him one more embrace, even if I'm not the maiden he wanted me to be."In the Crystal Palace people are running around. A few pause to bow to Small Lady, but most ignore her because they are too busy to pay their respects to their princess and future queen. Small Lady walks down the hall slowly swinging her arms only a little. She looks up to see Sailor Pallas followed by Sailor Juno.
"Small Lady-chan! Small Lady-chan!" Sailor Pallas yells running down the hall stumbling on the smooth floor.
Small Lady forces a smile on her face and greets her friend by waving.
Sailor Pallas could even considered a true lady. She somehow managed to ace the manners course that was held a few weeks ago to make sure everyone would behave their best at the ball. She also did very well on the Pre-examination for entrance to High School. Sailor Pallas even almost rivaled Sailor Mercury's original score. It was a shock to everyone, since Juno and Sailor Vesta didn't do that well and Sailor Ceres only got a mediocre score.
Sailor Pallas was in her Sailor Senshi outfit and so was Juno. They had their dresses designed by the top designers in the Empire. Small Lady had declined any fancy designers for her dress to the ball that everyone was preparing for.
"Pallas doesn't want to go to the formal ball! Pallas want to go to the amusement park and PLAY!" Sailor Pallas wails.
Sailor Juno finally catches up to Sailor Pallas, yanks her by the collar and drags her down the hall.
"Don't bother Small Lady like that! I know you love to play, but this ball is required. She can't help you about the stupid ball thingie.
You can't play all the time."
The words "duty" and "responsibility" echoed down the hall. A wail followed each of the words.
The forced smile fades from Small Lady's lips. A finger taps Small Lady's shoulder. Another hand holds up a golden mirror in front of Small Lady. Small Lady doesn't look into the mirror afraid of what she might see.
"You seem quite sad after the announcement of the ball. I thought you would be happy." Sailor Ceres says putting her head next to Small Lady.
Sailor Vesta appears on the other side of Small Lady and teases, "She has a man to pine over."
Small Lady blushes for a second.
Sailor Ceres holds up an aster in front of Small Lady's face and says,
"You should take this."
Junmi: Sailor Ceres is into flowers and fortune telling. The aster is a symbol of fickleness. So in a sense she's saying get over Elios and come and party
"No thank you, I'll be alright! I'm fine, really, I'm just not used to having such a formal ball with so many important people," Small Lady says forcing a smile.
Sailor Ceres puts away the aster and wiggles the mirror.
"What do you think of my new golden mirror?"
"It's pretty," Small Lady replies not looking at her reflection.
"I think the crystal glass that they put into it is nice."
Small Lady blinks and looks into the mirror. She sees a girl with soft red-brown eyes staring at her. The girl in the mirror has long ponytails coming from cone-shaped odango. The odango do not fit in the view of the mirror. Her bangs were longer than she remembered them as a child. They were much like her mother's, but it did not please her.
She was looking more like a brown-eyed, pink-haired version of Usagi every day. She did not have enough beauty.
The lips in the mirror moved to form the words, "Am I worthy of Elios?"
Sailor Vesta complains, "Let's get going! We have to get ready soon!"
Sailor Ceres takes away the mirror and gently smiles into it before walking off. Small Lady starts towards her room.
Sailor Vesta whispers as she walks, "I know you were tricking her!"
Sailor Ceres doesn't reply.
Sailor Vesta complains, "You can be so tricky!"
"It's an old habit. So, do you know which guys are going to be there?"
Sailor Ceres asks smoothly.
"Yes! I have the list! There's supposed to be this really cute bishounen from Ogata-ken! He's the son of a really rich movie producer in Kyoto!"Sailor Pallas is struggling with her dress. She looked at it in pride.
It was so beautiful and most of all cute! It has the same basic design of the other dresses, but was in a baby blue and had a lot of ruffles and nice ribbon. She just was having trouble getting the straps straight and getting the zipper up.
Sailor Pallas finally cries hoping that someone else would take care of it for her.
Sailor Vesta zips her up and straightens the straps.
"Pallas now has a dress on! Let's go!"
"It took you long enough!" Juno sighs.
"It shouldn't be too bad, I heard that the majority of the cute guys will arrive just around this time. We should get there with the crowd," Ceres says smiling.
"I wonder if Small Lady will be OK. I've never seen her like that,"
Sailor Vesta says quietly.
Sailor Juno agrees with her hands on her hips, adding, "I don't see why she is so spacey so suddenly!"
"Pallas wants to go now! Pallas heard it's going to be fun after all!"
"We have to be on our best behavior to catch the boys' attention,"
Ceres says taking the opportunity to change the subject.
"I will be on my best behavior!" Juno says.
Junmi: Juno used the word "ore" which is the informal male vulgar version of "I". I is also not used a lot on Japanese and would be the equivalent of referring to yourself in third person
"Pallas wants to attract cute boys!" Pallas says raising her hands in the air.
Vesta glances at Ceres suspicious of Ceres's subject change.
Vesta says, "I hope Small Lady-sama will be alright."flashback
Neo-Queen Selenity puts her hands on Small Lady's shoulders. She is bracing Small Lady for news she knows her daughter will not like.
Small Lady reads it immediately on Neo-Queen Selenity's face.
Neo-Queen Selenity shakes her head slowly.
"But Mama! Why can't Elios come?" Small Lady immediately asked knowing what her mother would say.
"He has a duty to Elysion, just as you do to Earth and the Moon. There is nothing I can do. He has refused the invitation, and sends his deepest regrets."
Small Lady hadn't been expecting him to say something like that. She was shocked that he would refuse her carefully written invitation.
She'd checked all her kanji several times and even asked Sailor Mercury to check over the non private parts.
"He didn't say anything more?"
Neo-Queen Selenity pauses and gives her a letter slowly. She says,
"You know there are other men for you. I remember what you had in the past, but some things are better to let go of."
Neo-Queen Selenity knew how Small Lady felt, but she did not like seeing her child hurt so deeply.
Through tears Small Lady shakes her head.
"Why couldn't he come? Why?"
Neo-Queen Selenity hugs her daughter tightly as Small Lady clenches the letter in her fist.
end flashbackSmall Lady is standing in front of a full length mirror looking at her dress. It's very much like her mother's and her regular princess dress but has more layers and has a shimmery pinkish white hue to the last layer.
Diana in human form stands behind her in a full length silvery-gray dress. She has grown quite a bit and has lost her tail.
"You shouldn't be sad, he still loves you." Diana says twirling around.
"But his letter... I am still not worthy of Elios. I am not important enough."
"Of course you are! You are beautiful and kind. You've grown up a lot in the years I've known you."
"Thank you Diana-chan."
Small Lady looks out the window. It has finally gotten dark and the sky is full of stars. She absently makes a wish on a star she sees fall in the sky. She used to do that a lot as a child because it brought her hope. She stopped for a while since Juno said it was childish and Vesta seemed to never have the patience to try it out with her.
Small Lady glances at the mirror again before walking out of her bedroom.
flashback
"Small Lady, long ago, the queen was a crybaby too. Small Lady.
Someday that name will change to beautiful lady. You are very important to the queen. You're her daughter," King Endymion says smiling gently.
end flashback
flashback
"You and the queen are two peas in a pod. Surely, you'll become a beautiful lady too," Sailor Pluto says.
end flashback
flashback
"Neo-Queen Selenity gave Small Lady that name because she will be a wonderful lady," a maid whispers.
end flashback
Junmi: The last three are alterations or variations on quotes I picked up from the manga about Small Lady! Thanks goes to Alex Glover
Small Lady is announced when she arrives. Everyone bows and curtsies to her. She looks around and notices her mama and papa talking to some important ambassadors. Sailor Ceres is surrounded by several gentlemen. The Sailor Senshi Guardians are laughing with a crowd of entertainers.
Small Lady gets a few offers to dance, but she refuses and lets Diana dance instead. She's not in the mood, so she sits down on one of the chairs lined up at the edge of the ballroom floor.
Sailor Juno eyes the crowd of bishounen around Sailor Ceres and gives them all the dirtiest look she can muster.
"Why do men always like that type of girl?" she says leaning back on the serving table with her arms behind her and her hands on the edge.
Two guys next to Sailor Juno are debating loudly. She glances over and hears, "I don't think it has any purpose at all, all it does is put strain on the damn engine. Who needs to hear the engine to know if it's working. It's just more noise pollution."
Juno's eyes light up and she listens more closely.
"I gives the bike a certain charm, you're too modern to appreciate the sound of a good motorcycle engine, loud and raw! Besides it's been too quiet these days!"
Sailor Juno stares at the boy who defended the loudness of the engine.
She starts to stare at his feet. There are slightly dusty leather boots on his feet. She looks up at his legs and sees slightly tattered jeans, though good enough for a semi-formal occasion they were not appropriate for this occasion. She looks at the man's back to see her favorite kind of jacket! It's a vest! She gets up from the edge of the table and maneuvers herself so she can see the boy's face. His hair is a bit messy and ruffled though it looked like he made some effort to calm it. She stares at him entirely in love.
The man who was complaining about noise pollution is interrupted by Juno who happily says, "You are a fool old man! The muffler is fine out of alignment. Without the muffler like that the bike just simply isn't the same. Besides it all depends on how you want to hear that engine rip! If you do it right there is no strain on the motorcycle!"
The boys turns and says, "Hey, It's a biker broad. I wouldn't pin you as the type."
Juno smiles and says, "Yeah, I do it as a hobby on the side."
"Wow! I'm impressed, not many chics ride bikes these days."
The man who had been defending quiet air protests, "Hey! Have some respect for the girl."
"Nahh, it's alright, old man," Juno says promptly and proudly flexing her muscles.
The man is shocked and creeps away.
Sailor Vesta is on the dance floor with a cute and rich boy.
"I heard something about you."
Sailor Vesta smiles and asks, "What was it?"
"I heard that you had a really bad temper and was very impatient!"
Sailor Vesta fumes, " Who would tell you that?"
"It's funny because I find that it's mostly true."
Sailor Vesta promptly punches him in the face, steps on his jacket grinding her heel into his jacket. She holds her head high and says,
"It's only a stupid rumor. I wouldn't listen to RUMORS!!"
She walks off the dance floor and finds someone else to dance with.
Sailor Pallas who was crying in a corner and spots the guy. She drags him to her corner and puts her index finger to her lips trying to figure out what to do with him.
"Pallas see that you are hurt! Pallas can try to make it better!"
Sailor Pallas says pulling out a kit from nowhere.
"That's OK.. I'll be fine," the boy replies.
"But Pallas see that you are not fine! See, Pallas wants to be a dentist! But Pallas also make a great doctor!"
She open her kit with one hand and leans the guy against the wall with her other hand. In the kit are scalpels, needle, razors, a bottle of moving leeches, and dentist tools.
The guy sweat drops, and slowly crawls away while she is digging inside the kit.
Sailor Pallas empties the kit slowly and finally finds what she's looking for. She pulls out some adhesive bandages and gauze.
"Where did he go? Pallas just wanted to help!" Pallas says crying.
She looks around and then says, "Oh! He must be playing new game!
Pallas want to play too! Pallas can find him! Then Pallas can help him!"
She grins evilly before she crawls under the table.
Small Lady gets up from her chair to get a cup of punch. She starts to ladle it when she hears a soft and soothing voice say, "Small Maiden."
She looks around and sees no one that could have said it, she sighs and thinks of Elios.
A masked person next to her says, "May I be of assistance?"
"Thank you," she says formally not looking up.
"You are beautiful tonight maiden," he says softly.
Small Lady drops her cup into the punch and looks up at soft brown eyes behind a white mask. Her eyes water in joy, as she recognizes Elios, but then she realizes he's gone.flashback
Small Lady is reading her letter from Elios. She breaks the wax seal on the letter already crying because she knows it says that he would not be able to come.
"Dear Small Lady,
I regret that I could not come to the ball, as I would like to. I know this will be hard for you to read as much as it is for me to write, my beautiful Small Maiden."
Small Lady paused at the use of small. Her lips faltered for a second.
She continued trying not to cry so much so she could finish it.
In the same paragraph it read:
"I cannot come because I have pressing matters to attend to in Elysion. I cannot come to you in person until you are truly a full grown lady. I feel I cannot take advantage of your situation.
"I have watched you grow, though you might not know it. I know you have dreamed of me. But perhaps it's better not to. All children, no matter how pure their dreams must grow up. Perhaps it's best to forget me for now, though I will never forget you.
"In the future I will come and meet you, and you will not forget me entirely. I will be a whisper of your past. I will meet you again someday, but I regret that I cannot come to you now.
"Priest Elios of Elysion yori."
Small Lady runs out of the Palace crying letting go of the letter.
Sailor Ceres sees her run and goes to her room. She picks up the letter and reads it. She nods and understands. She hides the letter from sight. The envelop contains a dried red rose in full bloom.
Sailor Ceres smiles.
Junmi: In the language of flowers that means love. That contradicts what the letter says
end flashbackA blue-eyed man with white hair in a tux escorts a green-haired maiden the dance floor. He winks at Small Lady. Small Lady realizes that it's Sailor Uranus. She scans the room for Sailor Saturn. Sailor Uranus tilts her head to one side. Small Lady looks and finds that her old friend, who has own quite a lot is sitting by herself. She is about to go over when she sees that Sailor Saturn is talking to a boy. Her heart drops.
Everyone gasps as King Endymion asks the band for a tango. Neo-Queen Selenity smiles as King Endymion gives her a red rose to carry in her mouth. The tango starts.
Juno immediately grabs the guy she's been talking to and leads him on the floor. Small Lady is amused for a second.
Pallas has finally found the she was looking for under the punch table. She has him bandaged head to foot in gauze.
"See! Pallas made you all better!" she says grinning and then adds,
"Pallas can also make you feel better inside!"
The man looks scared as Pallas pulls out her kit again.
She holds up a card and then says, "I fixed you up, bandaged you!
Right! Now I hug you!"
The boy relaxes until Sailor Pallas hugs him really hard. He tries to inch away and hits his head on the leg of the table. Sailor Pallas drags him back.
"Silly! Now Pallas have to bandage you some more!"
He sighs.
Sailor Ceres is dancing with a boy, but is keeping her eye on Small Lady.
The ball dissipates after the tango. Sailor Ceres is the last to leave. She tells Small Lady, "Elios still loves you."
Small Lady smiles and says a weak, "Arigato."
Sailor Ceres gives Small Lady a quick hug before going.
Small Lady walks out to the balcony and stares up at the stars.
flashback
"Kitten, sometimes the stars hold hope and dreams, "Sailor Uranus says affectionately.
"There are many beautiful people in the sky," Neptune says briefly.
Sailor Uranus chokes and then coughs.
end flashback
"He would have found a girl in the sky. Someone beautiful and talented. I bet he HAS forgotten about me, but I haven't--I can't,"
she pauses and then stares up again, "I will always dream of him."
She lets the tears run down her face as she remembers her first kiss from him. She looks up as she touches her lips.
"Elios, I dreamed of my own prince. I found him in you. My true dream-- my true dream was to become a beautiful lady with my own prince. Can't you see that prince is you?"
An arm embraces her around her waist from behind.
A soft voice whispers, "King Endymion said I would find you here."
"E-li-o-su?" She says slowly turning around.
She blushes slowly as she realizes she'd confessed her feelings to him openly. She turns around and pinches herself. He laughs and she hugs him hard.
"I wanted to surprise you my Beautiful Maiden. I can't stay for long,
but I'll stay for as long as I can."
He had grown, but seemed shorter than she remembered him. But then she realized that she'd grown too. His soft gentle eyes told her that he regretted what he'd written to her.
He gently wiped away her tears and said, "I didn't want to see you cry! I'd never forget you my maiden."
He clasped her hand gently in his and spun her bringing her close to him. He whispered, "You have grown into a beautiful woman."
Small Lady prayed that this was real. He danced with her and kissed her softly like he had the first time. She was ready for the kiss and returned it just as softly. He broke off and they danced together into the night.
Sailor Ceres and Neo-Queen Selenity looked down at Small Lady. They covered the small Princess with a blanket. Neo-Queen Selenity leaned down and kissed the forehead of her daughter whispering in her ear,
"May you dream of your Prince always."
Critique away, but be specific, with citations from text please! You can be harsh. Since this story is old, I probably won't be taking the suggestions.