Disclaimer: Does this seem even remotely like anything they'd show on tv? Nah, don't own it and I really don't want to. Can you imagine the paperwork?

Another spur of the moment fic, I hope you like it.

~Love is a Battlefield~

To put it frankly, she was furious. Not that her husband-to-be didn't love her or respect her or even wanted to marry her; although that was particularly vexing as well. Not that it was a war between his lands and those of his age-old enemy, Demando; even if annoying, there wasn't much to be done about that and it was waiting to happen anyway. Not that all of her friends, although female, had gone off to fight the war along with their husbands and her husband-to-be; no matter how much she missed them, it was fairly acceptable and they were one of the country's most valuable assets in a war.

No, it was the fact that she was not allowed to fight. Her husband-to-be, ignorant as he was, knew absolutely nothing of her. Not about where she came from, not about how she'd grown up and not about what she felt like. And he didn't care. To him, she was a useful trade that made sure her lands agreed to trade with his, and assist him in a war.

Every single time she ran into him, he was nothing but rude – completely unlike the gracious King he was supposed to be –, he never tried to have a civil talk with her – great way to get to know whom you're supposed to be marrying –, he mostly looked at her with disgust – she was a princess, and a well-raised one at that so she did not deserve those looks – and he'd made it perfectly clear to her, over and over again, that he'd never get married if it'd been up to him – so why had the idiot agreed to marry her, then? -.

Her future husband, the person she was to be stuck with for the rest of her life, didn't care about her at all. In preparation for the wedding, she'd been moved to his castle half a year before the event was to take place. She'd met her friends, the generals' wives, at that very same castle. In all that time, she'd tried to get to know the man she was to marry. Of couse, since he wasn't exactly forthcoming with anything but insults to her, she'd had to use other sources. Fortunately, her friends' husbands were his best friends, so she'd gotten to know a side of him he most certainly never showed to her. And she knew that, if she would ever get to actually meet that side, it would be almost too easy to fall in love with him.

Too easy because, through all of the stories, she already had.

Then war had broken out and they hadn't yet gotten the chance to get married. The last thing he'd told her before he left to go and fight was that he was glad – some more free time before getting permanently stuck with her. She'd hissed at him, almost cat-like in her anger, and walked back into the castle.

She hadn't been allowed to come with, because she'd only be a burden to all of them and would be of no practical use in a fight, other than as a distraction. Like all things deemed useless in a war, she'd been left behind. It was completely unfair, because not only did that make her feel absolutely horrible about herself and the upcoming marriage, but he also didn't know enough of her to be making that judgement. As the youngest princess, she wasn't required to take the throne and had therefore been allowed pretty much free reign.

Suffice to say that she would be of plenty use in a war, if he'd only. Bloody. Asked. But no, of course his judgement was always the just one and she had absolutely no say in what was to happen to her. The only person who'd cared for her in her homeland had been her brother, the prince, and even he'd been forced to concede when she'd suddenly become part of a trade agreement with their rich neighbouring country. Now she was here and her future husband didn't even try to care. Unfortunately, she hadn't been allowed that luxury and had been her usual self, having to get to know everyone and thinking the best of them.

Look where that had gotten her. Stuck in a cold castle, feeling absolutely useless and waiting only for the return of the husband-to-be that hated her. Just fabulous.

Due to her training, she could fight. Due to her education, she could strategize. Due to her size, she could make every single one of those enemies underestimate her and then make sure they'd never make that mistake again. In fact, she could do all of that to her husband-to-be. Despite the time she and her friends had spent together, they were still getting to know one another and to them, she was still a bit of a stuck-up unknown princess that was meant to marry their King. They dealt with her because he was their friend, and their husbands' friend and she was to marry him and tie him down for the rest of his life. She called them friends and she thought of them like that, but it wasn't much more than a superficial one where they provided her with company.

Except now they were out there, showing just how useful the lot of them were in a war, while she was stuck in this pile of rocks. Great, they knew how to fight and how to shoot arrows and how to strategize and how to lay the best traps. Good for them. And when the lot of them would come back victorious – no matter how uncertain that still was – nothing would have changed and she'd have been stuck in here while they were out there, being useful and loved and respected.

Well, if it took fighting for him to think her useful and to love her and to respect her, then that would be what she'd do. Because, as her brother could have told every single one of these idiots, Princess Serenity did not do well with being cooped up and having nothing useful to do. So either she was going to drive everyone in this damned castle into insanity or she'd go out there and do something useful.

Which was exactly why she was pulling on these clothes.

Honestly, she'd always thought Prince Demando an arrogant ass. Those few times he'd visited their kingdom – they'd never lasted long, since he and her brother couldn't stand one another either – she'd thought him creepy and a bit too obsessed with her. Right now, her husband-to-be was in a fight with him, and she most certainly knew whom she'd be supporting. Caught in a bit of a deadlock from what she'd heard from the latest messenger, she was determined to shake things up a bit. And what better way to shake things up and decimate some of Demando's army than to sneak into his camp and randomly kill some of his soldiers? Preferably that annoying right hand of his, Rubeus, as well.

So she was getting dressed in black clothes and made sure to have something covering her annoyingly noticeable hair. In various pieces of her getup, weapons were being hidden. Even if she lost one weapon, there would be plenty more available. These morons had no idea what was coming to them, and she just wasn't kind enough to send them some sort of warning. They'd asked for it, the lot of them with their stupid greed and their stupid selfishness and their stupid male ego problems. Honestly; just bloody measure them and move on to more important things like, for example, the world outside them.

Most of the soldiers she was going to carefully exterminate this evening would be innocent bystanders, forced to participate in a conflict between two people who'd accidentally ended up being leaders of their lands. There was absolutely no end to human selfishness.

Obviously, there also had been other leaders that had taken sides and were participating in this conflict. Her own homeland was standing by the side of her husband-to-be – which they'd better be, considering she was marrying him – whereas the Queen Beryl had taken the side of Demando. No matter, they'd all be dead by the end of this war if she had anything to say about it. They'd started the conflict, causing thousands of innocents to be forced to battle for the whims of one lunatic that decided he just couldn't be happy with the state of affairs. Selfish little prince deserved everything he had coming to him, and she was going to deliver it.

It would be almost too easy to sneak by all the guards in the castle, few as there were. Already, she had a note prepared for when the leftovers at the castle realized she was gone; an explanation of how the war was getting too close and how she'd ran off to her homeland to be safe, and how she'd be returning once it was safer again. Not completely untrue, since things had gotten closer to the castle and she would be returning... probably. At the moment, looking forward to a loveless marriage and being forced to be seen through a mask – she didn't know if she'd mind too much dying for a good cause, like putting an end to this moronic war before even more people got needlessly killed and even more of the harvest would be lost and even more of the country would fall into despair. She'd see what would happen.

The final daggers had been put into her clothing, and now it was the turn to her swords. A bow was deemed too impractical for this trip, since she'd be able to do most by just approaching stealthily. For the rest, she had both regular throwing knives and shuriken. Deciding she was ready, she started moving toward the exit of the castle, making sure no one would notice.

No, they never should have left Princess Serenity behind.

~*~

Stupidity was underrated, she thought. After all, Prince Demando's encampment was close enough to the trees for them to cover her approach even more. Furthermore, that forest was particularly difficult to navigate and if anyone tried to run in there, they'd likely never get out before being eaten by the various wild creatures that lived there. In all, it was in the perfect place for a succesful surprise attack and the epitome of stupidity. Even the mountains would've been a better idea. The moron obviously should've done some more research before just blundering into someone else's lands.

Night had fallen a little while ago, leaving her some eight hours to seriously cut down on the army of Demando and Beryl. The design of the campground left her to plan her attack carefully, and she knew the lot of them wouldn't stand a chance. Almost silly, how it could be such a good idea for a single person to attack as opposed to an entire army. Saved down on the casualties, too, which was a positive thing.

Most certainly, this would be a night to remember. A slow grin spread on her face as she moved into action, almost undetectable due to her speed and size. In fact, it appeared to be completely undetectable to the guards who, seconds later, were lying on the ground with their eyes wide open. They were lucky she didn't do torture, since if she'd sliced just a little less far into their throats, they probably would've been laying there for a while, bleeding to death and unable to make a sound.

Having easily entered, she moved on into the encampment itself. The roofs would've been just as easy, and she wouldn't have needed to kill those guards, but at least it would've been clear they didn't just let her through and so they wouldn't be punished when people would be getting pissed over the massacre the next day. In a way, she'd been merciful to them.

Sneaking into the first tent, it was too easy to kill the ten men sleeping in there. None even realized the others were dying, or even their own swift death. Poor fools never stood a chance, and she mentally apologized to any family they might be leaving behind. Despicable war, forcing things like this to happen.

Over the next hour, she moved on to several other tents, repeating the process. No matter how gruesome every single death was to her, it was becoming seriously boring. That, and if she went on like this, there would be no one left in the morning. There was need for some resistance if they even wanted to stand a chance. Somehow, this just made her feel like some sort of creepy assassin – which, admittedly, she was acting like at the moment. There was nothing even resembling war in this entire situation. Besides, she wanted them to panic and have a serious lack of sleep, not to wake up and realize they were completely out of innocents to fight their war for them. That would only cause more casualties in the end, when they came back with more.

So, some two tents later, she moved closer to the edge again and let one of the guards see her as she exited the tent with a bloodied sword. The poor man had time to raise the alarm before being killed himself. The situation was about to get risky, which was exactly what she'd hoped for. No way was she going to feel more useful if all she managed was to surprise some poor men in their sleep.

It was almost funny to see how they realized how many tents had already been visited by death that night, men running in screaming for help and coming out pale and frightened. Soon, they were somewhat actively hunting her, if they ever managed to spot her that was. Most of them didn't, and she showed up at their backs multiple times, allowing them to only open their mouth to scream for help before killing them as well. She had them running all over the camp, and soon their famed leaders came out to see what was going on with their previously silent encampment.

Rubeus didn't even have time to ask before a throwing knife hit him in the heart, instantly killing him. The man had annoyed her needlessly and the death of a leading figure would cause even more panic. True enough, some of the soldiers ran for the forest. Poor idiots. She didn't kill either Demando or Beryl on purpose, knowing that wasn't quite her fight. Their seconds, Safiru and Esmeraude, would make for nice new leaders and were also off-limits for killing. Those two would probably do a better job at leading the kingdoms and at least they weren't as hell-bent on a war as their respective older siblings were.

Screams filled the area as fear started to take over. Their attacker was only ever briefly seen, a black blur, before another dead body fell over. There was no organization and any attempts by their leaders were soon ignored when every attempt at recovering was cut short by another untimely death. Although it seemed to last forever to the scared soldiers, sunrise was soon approaching.

Enough damage had been done for her husband-to-be and her brother to deliver a fatal strike, if they were smart enough to recognize the opportunity. She sincerely hoped so, since they hadn't been doing much if that wasn't the case. Or, perhaps – although it was probably too much to hope for – Demando and Beryl would retreat and be reasonable, keeping from leading all of these people into their untimely deaths. Yes, that would definitely be too much to hope for, knowing the two whiny, stuck up brats that never learned what it was like not to get what they wanted. Selfish morons, united in their blindness to everyone else but themselves.

With one final kill, she decided to round up this exercize and move into the trees. If she moved a bit further back in the direction of the castle, she would be in the perfect position to see this day's battle. Not to mention to make some of them scream in fear once again by throwing some weapons at them from the trees.

Satisfied, she pulled back and left the enemy camp devastated and beyond exhausted from an active, if unproductive night. She'd also calmed down a lot herself, the activity doing her some good and helping in making her frustration ease up a bit. Now that she'd asserted to herself that not only was she not a useless trophy wife to be ignored, she was also as able as ever even despite her lack of practice, her feelings of unhappiness had lessened considerably. No, she wasn't happy she was going to be married to a man that would never love her back and no, she wasn't happy with the state of her life in general. But at least she wasn't useless.

Despite the prayers she was still saying for the souls of the people she'd killed, Serenity felt somewhat better now.

~*~

As predicted, her view of the battlefield was practically perfect. She'd thrown a few knives – her husband-to-be's soldiers hadn't known what to do with their terrified opponents - , she'd admired the argument her former suitor and her husband-to-be had had – of course, he had no idea what Demando was talking about when he accused him of the sneak attack that night - , she'd looked at her friends, their husbands and her brother on the battlefield for a bit – as predicted, they were all briljant – and she'd generally looked at her future husband greedily as he fought the enemy – he was gorgeous, no denying it, and his fighting was a work of art in itself – .

However, the expected strike back at Demando's army didn't come, and she realized the messenger had been severely wrong; her husband-to-be had been losing the war and now, finally, they were on somewhat even footing. Her frustration rose a notch again. If he'd managed to at least be honest about the situation, she'd have been able to plan more of a strategy than the one she'd had. But no, for some reason he seemed to want her to be ambushed in his castle, unprepared, when Demando would finally run them over and go there immediately after. For some reason, he couldn't even be honest with her when he was losing a war. Moron.

It was partly her own fault, she supposed. Instead of distrusting her husband-to-be and checking for herself the status of things at his own camp, she'd simply assumed he'd be kind enough to tell her the truth about this. Why trust him, after all? He'd made it blatantly obvious he didn't care about her or her opinion and that he would do things exactly the way he wanted to, regardless of her. For all he cared, she was a dog that was to follow when he wished to. And yet, she'd expected him to tell the truth?

Such a dangerous thing, unconditional love.

Why she'd ever fallen for this man was a riddle to her, sometimes. Sure, he was gorgeous and an amazing fighter. But she wasn't that superficial and, if she were to be honest, if those were traits that attracted her; she'd have accepted Demando's proposal and have been done with it. The man was rich after all, not too bad to look at and a good fighter. On the inside, however, he was a selfish spoilt brat that cared nothing for anyone but himself, his own satisfaction and the easiest way to reach this.

The stories her friends and their husbands told her about her husband-to-be showed another man than that entirely, and her own observations when he didn't think she was there also gave her a different picture than he portrayed to her. Apparently lonely and forced into ruling his kingdom from a young age, he had no idea how to let people in. He cared for the people in his kingdom, however, and tried to do the best by everyone in his capacity as a King. He was noble in a way that was rare these days and appreciative of even the little things. She'd often seen him taking a walk in his rose garden and he seemed a totally different person at those times. Since he was a great person inside and to the persons he was close to, she supposed that there was just something about her that was not loveable. For her, it was impossible to get past his walls and apparently she just wasn't good enough for him.

A battlefield was not the best place to be thinking of the reasons why she loved the stubborn idiot, though, so she snapped out of it and threw a quick knife at a soldier that was about to kill one of her brother's generals; men she wasn't close to, but she knew he appreciated them. Around him, enemy soldiers screamed as they noted the design on the dagger, looking around them in fear and making them a very easy target to kill. The general almost thought the design looked familiar, but had no time to linger on that trail of thoughts as he was being drawn back into battle.

Not much appeared to be happening, since the two armies were quite evenly matched. Idiot. Since she wanted this fighting to be over with today, she supposed it was time to get in there and help along a bit. Not like a battlefield was the best place for fighting, of course, since everyone was everywhere and the usual elegant practice had practically no use unless one was a true expert. Still, for that one idiot soldier to think that his opponent knew the same fighting style and moves was quite ridiculous. In a war, you try to slam your sword into your enemy before he does the same to you; any fighting practice was thrown to the side.

Taking this into account, it was surprisingly easy to quickly kill quite a few more of Beryl's soldiers before any of them even realized she was there. Cries of 'demon' then filled the group before they fell down onto the blood-covered ground, their eyes lifeless. Quite funny to think how easy it was for a skilled fighter to be deemed unnatural by the morons that just couldn't fight it. Honestly, it wasn't even as though she used any magic tricks, just her natural speed and skill with weapons. Not her fault they were crap at fighting a skilled opponent.

Some time and a lot of dead later, she finally ran into a skilled opponent that actually presented a challenge. It was a female under the direct control of the late Rubeus, so it wasn't too surprising that she knew how to fight. Even this challenge wasn't too spectacular, since she didn't even end up wounded before being able to kill the woman. Somewhat disappointing, but then again, who knew what kind of wound would have been inflicted? Besides being crude, wars were also unpredictable.

In a way, it was amusing how she was thinning out the enemy army from behind while the ones in the front had no idea what was going on. Most never even saw her before dying, since she wasn't particularly tall. Especially compared to the men the battlefield was dominated by. Her size had always been somewhat advantageous, making her quicker, allowing her to evade attacks easier, having no one notice her in time and causing her to be underestimated pretty much all the time.

Bored quickly by the easy kills, she started to think. The day was passing quickly and the death toll on both sides was rising, although the one on the enemy side was quicker to do so because of her interference. Still, it looked to become an unresolved battle with merely a lot of dead people at the end of the day, which was exactly the result she hadn't wanted when she'd attacked that night. She'd hoped for a battle that would decide something about the balance in this war, not one that decided night was just not the perfect time to kill people because many of them turned out to be on your side, and that the next day would be better to start again.

At that moment, she saw Demando and her husband-to-be approaching one another. She couldn't hear what they were yelling about, but both appeared to be quite pissed off at one another. It looked like that deciding fight she'd wanted would be coming after all, because the two males were going to clash.

Indeed, they were locked in a swordfight soon enough and she decided to get closer, even though that was the center of the battlefield and it would be hard to continue on like she had. This was a deciding fight, after all, and she refused to let her future husband get killed by that arrogant swine. Nothing good would come out of a victory like that, since the greedy child would only keep wanting more, instead of being satisfied with what he had. It had always been like that and it would always be like that. Furthermore, any victory by Demando was likely to happen just because he had a disturbing little plan that would constitute as cheating had this been anything but a war.

Like the bowman she'd just thoughtfully pierced with a shuriken. If it were up to her, this would not be the way he won his precious little war. Two more of them were out and a third appeared to have been taken out by one of her friends' husbands, who by then had caught on to Demando's plan, even though it evaded him who could be the one stopping it.

Anger flared again as she realized that her husband-to-be's shoulder wound had to have been present when he'd sent his last messenger. Could that man tell her nothing? She hoped he was proud of himself, fighting an army and needlessly killing his men because he wouldn't communicate. She hoped he was proud of himself, fighting an enemy that now had a clear advantage over him that would probably get him killed. Honestly, he was such a bloody moron and he would be lucky if she stopped chewing him out for his idiocy by the time they were both old. At the moment, she really couldn't care less that he really couldn't care less about her opinion; if he kept being an idiot like this, he'd just have to put up with it instead of having her trying to be nice.

By now, she was close to the fighting and dropping enemy soldiers left and right in order to get there quicker. The enemy had isolated him and, even though the bowmen that should have taken him out were now out of commission, this was a dangerous situation. His generals,as well as her brother, were trying to reach him but were mostly unsuccessful, and she was the only one actually closing in on them. No one had noticed her, too focused on the fight between the weakened king and Demando. It didn't matter how good a fighter her future husband was, Demando was also a great fighter and he had the advantage of being uninjured. With his wound slowing him down and weakening him, the battle was already fought and they both knew it.

Then why, she had to wonder, did he have to be so stupidly stubborn as to get into the fight anyway?

Just when she broke through the final layer of enemy soldiers, Demando managed to knock her future husband's sword away as he fell to the ground, a bleeding wound on his leg. With a final 'I'll have everything that once belonged to you, now', Demando brought down his sword for the killing blow. She vaguely heard cries around her as her future husband's allies watched this, but all she focused on at the moment was getting there in time to prevent it.

Inches before impacting, Demando's sword was stopped by another, the sharp sound of swords hitting seeming to dominate the entire battlefield. All eyes were on her, and she heard whispers of 'demon' from the enemy soldiers that recognized her from that night. Demando, too, recognized her as the one that had killed many of his men last night and a grin appeared on his face. He seemed eager to prove himself the best and she eagerly took the challenge.

Both were taking one another in as they prepared for battle – okay, that was a lie. She knew enough about him already, having known him way before and having observed him that night and during this battle as well. To him, however, she was an unknown opponent. No, she was currently thinking about how ridiculously easy it would be for just one person to realize everyone was staring at them and to start killing off enemy soldiers, because no one was fighting anymore. It had lessened when trying to reach the King, but now that he was temporarily safe, she was an interesting unknown to everyone.

Disappointingly enough, it was easy to tell when Demando was going to attack, and she simply evaded the attack. He was feeling her out, and she was going to tease him into a rage. Self-absorbed idiot deserved to have someone mock him. And of course, she was happy to take up that role in his life, even though she knew he'd die before finally being knocked off his figurative high horse. Still, it could be fun.

The next minutes were taken up by him attacking and her evading all of his jabs easily enough. She could see, however, he'd soon have enough of it and start attacking seriously. Taking one last look around and noticing that it seemed her brother recognized who it was that was currently facing the enemy leader, although no one else had – they were all morons and completely oblivious to the world around them, even if she had to cut them some slack because they'd been fighting for quite a few hours already – the true fight began.

Completely unlike the fighting that was common on a battlefield, theirs was an elegant dance of two experts that were seeing how much the other knew. It soon became complicated enough for the basic soldiers and even those of higher rank to marvel at the dance they were performing. Demando seemed to be enjoying himself with an opponent that could keep up with him and she had to admit she'd missed this as well. Perhaps, when this was done, she'd invite her future husband for a fight. Even injured, he'd been skilled.

Neither of the combatants spoke and no one else dared break the silence either. A wider circle had been made in order to accomodate them, allowing his generals to reach their King as well as her brother. Except the latter, they were all staring at her in astonishment, wondering who she could be. Even now, she relished in the surprised look in the dark blue eyes of her husband-to-be when he had first seen her. Her brother just looked somewhere in between proud and worried. Knowing that her future husband was safe, she focused wholly on the fight.

Sure, she was skilled at fighting and her size and speed gave her an extra edge. But she needed it in this fight, because she lacked the strength of a male. Demando was quite a lot taller than her and more muscled as well, so she made sure not to take too many swings head-on, knowing it would tire her too quickly. By now, she'd given him quite a few teasing cuts that were meant to annoy him. She'd also gotten some wounds in return, however, the first she'd gotten since she'd decided to head into the battle. It was kind of pathetic that one man could do what so many soldiers, both trained and untrained, had been unable to do. One of the demands of leadership, she supposed.

Of course, she shouldn't have counted on a somewhat fair fight. From his face when Beryl joined in the fight and managed barely a glancing blow, he had planned on this being fair, considering he'd finally found an opponent that could match him. It was not to be, and now it was two against one.

Besides the glancing blow that had caused another bloody wound, it was actually easier fighting this way. Demando was skilled and, while Beryl knew how to deal with a sword, she just wasn't up to his level. Their cooperation was messy at best and their frustration at her evasion and one another's incompetence caused the entire fight to be off-balance. With a silent apology to Esmeraude and a wish death might be a better place, she quickly managed to corner and kill Beryl once she'd set her mind to it. She didn't even think Demando put up as much of a fight as he should have.

Then, they had the ground for themselves again, and this time it was serious. After the night they'd had and the day of fighting, both were tiring. Now they both used all of their skill, and it soon became obvious who would come out the victor in this battle. Demando was too angry and impulsive to completely match her graceful and controlled style of fighting, and they both knew it.

That should have been a warning, she supposed.

This was a war, and he knew that if he lost the fight, he would die. This made Demando desparate to do something, anything, to turn the tides. And if that were not possible, he wanted to at least have done something that made a difference. It was kind of predictable, actually. A child that did not get what it wanted would throw a temper tantrum; his actions were comparable to that.

With an angry growl, he disengaged from his fight with her and used the last of his strength to make a charge for the King. By then, he was bleeding from several wounds and his death was certain; the only difference anything made was time. With his sword raised and a scream at his soldiers to distract anyone, he made his final attack.

She noticed the generals and her brother trying desparately to fight their way back in time. Her future husband was without a sword and had no way of defending himself, still on the ground and unable to get up because of his wound. This was the last of Demando's strenght, and in that split second she realized it would be impossible to get a sword in between them that would have enough strength backing it to be able to prevent what was about to happen. Anything she could get there in time would simply be knocked away, the angle all wrong.

It wasn't that hard of a decision.

Using all the force in her legs to jump, she used the only thing that could prevent Demando from making a killing blow to her future husband; another body. His life was more important than hers, after all. He had a kingdom to lead and friends that cared about him. She had friends that didn't know her, a brother she'd hardly see because she'd been used for a trade agreement and a future husband that resented having to get married to her. Overall, it was obvious what the best solution was.

At the same moment she landed on top of her husband-to-be, she felt the sword pierce her upper chest. It was a strange feeling, more as though something heavy had landed on her shoulder than as though a sword was sticking through, the tip hovering inches away from her future husband's heart. She didn't even feel too much pain, just looking down at the sword that had gone straight through her body.

Her brother's cry of pure rage broke through the numb void she was in, and she felt the moment the hands let go of the sword. From the sounds, she inferred her brother had just beheaded Demando in his rage. Everything seemed to be going twice as slow as normal, and it took a while before she felt her brother's hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him and allowing her future husband's generals to pull him out from under her.

To her brother, it didn't matter that she was wearing dark clothing or a mask – he recognized her anyhow. Blue eyes met blue as he tried to discern whether she was still alive. There was an awful feeling in her chest, but at least the sight of the blade sticking through her was no longer there. Someone was calling for a medic, and she thought it was one of her friends. Her brother was slowly taking her hood and mask off.

Soon enough, her hair and face were exposed to everyone else, and she heard a few cries of shock and horror. She supposed those were her friends', although by now she wasn't sure of much anymore. Everything was slow-moving and she had to focus to even see her brother's lips moving. With a bit more focusing, she could actually hear what he was saying.

"Hush, Serenity, everything'll be alright. They're going to get a doctor over here and they're going to heal you and everything is going to be just fine. Don't give up now, come on Serenity. Please don't give up now, keep fighting, I'm here and everything will be okay. Come on, little sister, stay with me now, right? You can do it, just focus on my voice, okay?" There was a scuffle in the background, but she just focused on her brother in front of her, knowing that any straying attention would likely cause unconsciousness which could easily result in death. So she kept fighting to stay awake, squeezing his hand where it was holding hers. It was slick with blood, but she ignored that fact and just kept holding on.

Then there was a pressure on her chest, both at the front and from behind, and she knew the medics had arrived and were trying to stop the bleeding. By now, all focus on conversation was lost and she was only just remaining conscious. The medics were having a conversation, she was aware, and her brother was what appeared to be arguing with someone else.

In the end, it didn't matter much. Sensations kept fading away and at a certain point, she could only vaguely see some clouds in the blue sky that belied what had happened that day. It didn't take long for those to fade away as well and for darkness to welcome her in its comforting grasp, and her last thought was to keep fighting, or she'd just be useless in the end.

~*~

Awakening came in a familiar room, and her first thought was that they had returned to the castle again. Or at least, she had. Her second thought was that she was alive, something she honestly hadn't expected anymore. However long she'd remained conscious, she had known the wound was a serious one. While she didn't feel much of it at the moment, she supposed it would take quite some time to heal completely. Best be careful not to move too much, she told herself.

That became difficult when the third thought entered her head; she wasn't alone. Not only was there someone with her, it was her very much asleep husband-to-be.

Mystified, she stared at where he was sitting in a chair that was probably quite uncomfortable to sleep in. Of all the people she'd expected to find at her bedside in what seemed to be the middle of the night, it certainly hadn't been him. Even if the war had ended – which seemed to be the case – and everyone was back at the castle – which she presumed was true, considering he was there – there still should've been quite a lot to do that was a more useful way to spend his time than sitting by her bedside. Especially considering his actions before he had left her.

There wasn't much use wondering about it at the moment, however, since he was asleep and wouldn't be able to answer the questions anyway. Well, he would if she woke him up, but he just looked too darn cute when he was sleeping. Even when spying on him, she hadn't seen him this unguarded. And he seemed a bit too tired to be answering questions while he should be sleeping, if the near-bruises underneath his eyes were any indication. Still, she risked her health moving a bit in order to put a blanket on him, considering it wasn't the warmest of nights. At least her suspicions were right and moving her chest too much was definitely hurtful. Laying back down, she soon fell asleep again.

It was daytime the next time she woke up. Again, she observed her surroundings, noticing not much had changed – including the presence of her husband-to-be, surprisingly. He was currently sitting at the desk against the wall and working on a pile of papers she didn't envy him and he hadn't yet noticed that she was awake. She took that time to study him in the light of day.

He still appeared tired and he wasn't as well-groomed as he usually was. There was also quite a lot of frustration evident on his face as he regarded the amount of work he still had to do. It amused her to no end when he sighed an obvious sigh of relief when he finished yet another paper before looking at the 'to do' pile miserably. She'd rarely seen him this unguarded and was enjoying the opportunity to just watch him.

A wistful smile appeared on her face. This was the side of her future husband she rarely saw. Usually, when he was around her, he was in control and cold, not allowing any emotion to show except for contempt. He only ever talked to her when she tried to engage him in the activity first, and then only to tell her he neither needed her company nor her mindless chatting. These memories made her wonder, again, what he was doing in her room when he could be sitting in the comfortable private study she'd only been allowed to enter once. Perhaps a misguided sense of obligation, considering she'd practically given her life for his? Well, no option but to ask, she supposed.

"Excuse me?" she ventured, hoping to draw his attention to the fact that she was awake.

His head snapped to face her and, once noticing that she was awake and aware, gave her a smile and moved to her bedside. Her eyes widened at the unfamiliar sensation of having his smile directed at her, and he seemed to sadden. She honestly had no idea what was with him, so she only hoped he would explain some things to her before turning back to the way he usually was.

Gently, he asked if she was alright and if there was anything she needed. Still puzzled, she requested some water and he promptly got it for her. When asked if she wanted anything else, she responded that she'd like to know what had happened since the battle with Demando.

Apparently, she had been right when she'd assumed her brother had killed Demando. There was some chaos on the battlefield as the enemy soldiers were clueless as to what should happen next. Safiru and Esmeraude had taken control and told them to pull back, before requesting a conversation with her future husband and her brother about peace negotiations. Those had been done with soon enough, neither party wanting any more dead and both former enemies agreeing their older siblings had gone about things the wrong way. The exact content of the peace treaty was still unknown, but they'd made a lot of progress in the twelve days she'd been out of commission. Her brother came to visit her a lot, as well as her friends and even sometimes their husbands.

The careful omission of his own involvement didn't go unnoticed by her, though, and she carefully admitted he seemed to be acting a bit weird, afraid he'd lash out again. With sorrow-filled eyes, he turned away, making her wonder even more about what was going on. Then, he turned back to her. She didn't think she'd ever be able to forget what he said then.

"First of all, I really want to apologize for the way I've been behaving toward you. After... After all I've done and said to you, I don't expect you to believe this, but I'll spend every moment after this proving it to you. You deserve that, especially after what you did for me even though I was completely wrong in the way I treated you. I mean, I was always... I always said the wrong things to you and I always behaved incorrectly when it came to you, and it's just...

"I never wanted to get married, like I told you. My parents, they weren't very happy together after having been forced to wed in order to unite two countries, and I never wanted that for myself. And then I found myself forced to do so anyway, because it was the only way your father would agree to any sort of treaty between our countries, and in a way I resented you for that, even though it wasn't your fault and I don't think you wanted that either.

"But then you came here, and you were so different from what I'd expected. I was fully prepared to resent you when you got here, and I suppose that I did in the beginning. That changed, though, as you spent more time here and I got to know you better and I saw what you were really like. It was almost unreal and I had no idea how to deal with everything, so I just pushed you away even further in hopes that things would get better. And they just kept getting worse.

"Then there was that war to worry about, and I just wanted you to stay safe and away from there, admittedly also because I didn't think you'd last. And then I got to know your brother there and I got to know even more about you and I've been so wrong all that time. I was fully prepared to make up for everything when we would get back, and then for a while I didn't think we were going to because there were just too many of them and I wasn't sure we'd even win.

"Finally, there was that battle between you and Demando, and I didn't know it was you at first. But then your brother was taking off that hood and I saw your hair and I didn't want to believe it, and then the mask came off and it really was you and I was so terrified that I'd never get to tell you the truth and to apologize for everything I've done to you and I was just so scared that I'd lose you..."

It could be the fact that she'd just woken up, or that she was still quite weak from her wound, but she didn't get where he was going with his entire story. Her eyes appeared to be telling him the same thing, because he sighed and drew his hand through his already messy hair. She absently thought it looked incredibly good on him, not to mention quite cute in combination with that awkward face.

"What I'm trying to say is... I love you."

She wondered if it was possible for a mind to completely freeze and focus in on one single thing. If it was, that single thing was this statement. It was his face as he looked at her for a reaction and it was his eyes as he tried to convey the sincerety of his statement. For a moment, time stopped.

Then, it continued once again, and it just wasn't possible for her to believe that this man loved her – not after everything that had happened and after all the things that had shown the exact opposite. It would be too perfect and this could only be wishful thinking.

Having caught on to her train of thought, he looked back down, ashamed. "I promise, Serenity, I'll do everything I can to prove it to you. I'm not lying, but it's okay if you believe I am, for now. I'll prove to you that I'm not, though, and one day you'll believe it. I swear, I'll make you believe me. Just, please, give me a chance to do so?" Strangely enough, he did seem sincere when he said this.

Although she didn't know what to think of it, she nodded. No matter now much she tried to stop the hope before it surfaced, it couldn't be helped. Perhaps her love wouldn't be one-sided after all. A tear escaped before she even realized it, caused by her desparate will to believe what he was telling her.

Before she could do anything, he reached up a hand and caught the tear on its way down. "One day soon, these will be tears of happiness," he promised her softly, and she couldn't help the small flame of belief from growing.

Perhaps, Endymion really did love her in return.

~The End~

That was it for now. Although I have to admit, I have considered doing a second one from Endymion's POV. What do you think, should I do it or not?

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it. Hugs,
MoonlightKitten22