"Forgive me everyone", Serenity wiped her tears, "I'll never forget you, but I have to go now."
No one answered, because there was no one around. She stood alone in the forest, gathering all her power to proceed according to her plan.
"I'm coming to you!", Moon Princess raised her head and gazed at the sky, "Just now!"
She closed her eyes, relaxing her body and releasing her mind, hoping that she manage to teleport so far away, to a place where she had never been before. Her energy was increasing and when she recalled the dearest face she knew she could make it.
"Him. I'm going to see him, no matter what!", Serenity stretched out her arms. Then something blew at her, just sucking all the energy from her body, making her weak. She struggled to continue, but there was just not enough energy left. In spite of that she made the last effort, and fainted.
When she awakened, it was her own bed she was lying in. Her head was aching badly and all her body was dull.
"She's conscious now, bring him here quickly", she heard her father's voice and her eyes reached him.
"Daddy... what happened to me?"
"It's okay, darling", King stroked her forehead nervously, "You'll feel better soon, the doctor is coming."
The old web-eyed man strode into the room, smoothing his robe.
"What a pleasure to meet you, Princess Serenity", he almost knelt down.
"Stop that courtesies, please, and do your job", Queen uttered with a dead voice, "Will she be okay?"
"I guarantee that. I think you know that I have never failed. This is why you called me, right?", he sat down on Princess' bed, "Now, let me see you..."
The Queen sobbed quietly, biting her lip. King pushed her softly towards the door.
"Better wait outside. I'll handle this."
"Thanks... But are you sure she'll be okay?", Queen crumpled her dress.
"She will", the man stated with a certain voice and moved his hand in front of Serenity's widened, frightened eyes.
Queen went out and leaned against the wall, sweat dropped and pale, with tiny tears in the corners of her eyes. All the Senshi were gathered there and Uranus quickly brought the chair, seeing Queen's condition.
"Thank you, Uranus...", the silver-haired woman placed herself on the chair, "Thank you very much for everything..."
"It was my duty", Senshi of Wind bowed to her Queen, "I was told to stop Princess and I just did."
"I know you love her deeply, as much as I do. You have to understand that's for her own sake, and for ours."
"Isn't there any other way?", Venus dared to ask. Uranus glared at her, wondering how could she question Queen's will.
"I hoped it was, but since she was ready to desert us and make for his planet, I realized the only way to stop her is..."
"To change her memory", Mars added.
"We should teach him a lesson, what he had done was unforgivable!", Uranus clenched her fist.
"It doesn't matter now, they came back home. They'll be warned just to approach Silver Millennium never again."
"But he...!"
"Uranus, I'm begging you...", Queen looked so tired as if she grew old by many years, "Just let me be. I'm still in doubt if it was the best..."
"I'm sure it was", Neptune tried to comfort the unhappy mother, "I've heard the Wiseman is the best. He won't cause any damage to Princess' mind, just remove some of her memories. We have to keep Earth in alliance, right?"
"Right", answered the King, who walked out of Princess' chamber, "That's why you mustn't mention that man's name in her presence. You have to keep them apart forever and ever, understood?"
"Yes", Senshi nodded immediately, "Understood."
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"Endymion, there is something I wanted to give you", Serenity beamed while seeking for her little gift, "Wait a minute, where I put it?"
Her husband was waiting patiently, admiring her slender figure still having her wedding dress on. They were alone at last, after the ceremony and feast, and he was smiling to himself because he ultimately hadhis most desired treasure in his hands, his dear love, his lady. He was waiting for that moment for so long that it didn't matter to wait a minute longer.
"Ah, there it is!", Princess uttered a triumphal exclamation, "Here!"
Endymion looked down at her hand, took a golden star-shaped locket and opened it. There was a small silver moon inside and it began to glow when the slow sweet melody played. Serenity observed her husband's slight serene smile.
A year ago she had found the thing in the pocket of her negligee she wasn't wearing for ages. There had been a short letter and Serenity was kind of bewildered when read it. "My heart will belong to you for ever. Seiya", the letter was saying.
For some reason she didn't show it to anyone, but burned it immediately. Yet the melody was sweet and heart-captivating that Serenity kept the locket. The second time she heard that strange name was a five months before her wedding, when her mother asked her an odd question all of a sudden with a trembling voice.
"Serenity, do you think we should invite Seiya to your marriage ceremony?"
"Who?", Serenity shuffled, "Mother, I don't know who are you speaking of. If he's kind of important, maybe he should be invited. Please, can I go now?"
"No, he's not. Sorry to bother you. You can go of course", Queen nodded and Serenity ran out. She never heard of Seiya again, but sometimes wondered who was he. A secret fan of her, maybe a servant, who fell in love with her?
Looking at Endymion's face at the moment, she deserted those thoughts at once. He liked the melody, it was obvious. She was so happy to be able to give him something he liked.
"Serenity, my love...", he whispered, putting the locket aside, "Come to me..."
She blushed slightly when he started to undress her. The sensation was a bit uneasy, and she asked him to switch the light off. He didn't want to, but knew she was shy, so did what he was toldto do. When they reached a bed at last, Endymion opened the locket again and the touching, sweet melody started to flow. He kissed his beautiful wife gently, caressed her flawless, lithe body and then made love to her, completely unaware that she wasn't there. She was lying beneath him in the darkness, trying to get excited, to make her heart beat faster, to respond to his caress, to feel the pleasure, but it didn't work. She could only listen to the melody, again and again, realizing that two streams of tears were streaking down her cheeks and she wasn't able to stop them in any way.
"That's probably because it is my first time", she thought to herself, "I'm a bit scared, even if I love him so much. I bet every bride feels that way. There's nothing to worry about, I'm the happiest girl in the world, am I not? To get her Prince Charming. Wow."
Pretending to writhe from delight, she knocked the locket off the bed and it shattered against the floor.
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A thousand years later the girl looking just like Serenity, but named Usagi Tsukino, stood on her high school's rooftop, with her boyfriend Mamoru and her friends by her side.
In front of her there were four figures standing, three men and one woman preparing to leave, illuminated by the setting sun. One of them, raven-haired and blue-eyed, cast a last long glance at Usagi. In his heart thousands words were pushing out to be uttered, but he remained silent. Thousands of tears begged to let them out, but he held them. He only allowed himself to look.
"Ja ne, Odango!", he heard his own voice, cool and careless, not letting anyone know how much he suffered. The sunlight was growing red, making him feel as if he was drowning in the ocean of blood, his own blood.
Then he disappeared, leaving behind his heart ripped out from his chest, with crimson streams of his life force slowly dripping down.
Usagi watched the scene with a grin until one of her friends elbowed her in the ribs.
"Usagi-chan, why are you crying?"
"Crying? Nah", she rubbed her eye and in fact there were uncountable teardrops falling, like plentiful summer rain.
"You're really hopeless", the other blonde rolled her eyes, "You should be happy!"
"These are tears of happiness!", Usagi pouted, "I'm so happy to have you here again, and Mamo-chan...", she gazed at him, "I missed you so much!"
"But it didn't prevent you from dating Seiya!", the blonde girl stuck her tongue out.
"Don't be kidding", Usagi hooked onto Mamoru's arm, ignoring the dumb feeling inside her, the voices screaming, the whispers struggling to flee from darkness covering her soul, "Seiya was never a comparison to Mamo-chan, ne?"
"I'm glad to hear that", Mamoru smiled, "Our love is eternal."
"Yes", she agreed, her grin wide yet dead, "Our love is eternal."
THE END
Kitsune1978
November 2006