Chapter 8: Fare Thee Well
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, because if I did, I would not accept the opening of season three of Crystal to be that song… just saying!
Queen Serenity was the leader of the Silver Millennium, the Moon Kingdom, and the Sol system, her word was final, and no one ever ignored what she said, well no one that is except princess Serenity, her own daughter; the girl, lovely as she was, was very hyper and curious about everything, but did not like to study, and always found ways to escape her tutors, even poor Mercury was having troubles with her; so when the queen tried to intervene, she hoped to have some measure of success, and she did at first, but the princess, like always, got bored with what she was taught and escaped from her lessons once again!
Things were peaceful in the Moon Kingdom, and the Queen hoped they remained the same until her daughter could take over, well once she was able to break the curse on her. The Princess and her guardians remained oblivious to the impending curse hanging over their destinies. The queen had been attempting to break the curse, however, she was still unable to; the curse was rooted in the princess becoming queen of this queendom, how exactly she was still unsure.
Queen Serenity had put years studying and attempting to break the curse, and even with her power coupled with that of the silver crystal, she was unable to do anything, she now dreaded the day her daughter would be ready to take over the nation, because it would signify that the end was neigh; due to the nature of the curse, the queen chose not to focus much on the princess' preparation, hoping to delay the curse as long as possible, she had her tutors focus on art and history, and in hindsight, she did not realize that it was the history lessons that would cause the beginning of the end.
"The Earth is the planet we all come from princess," said the tutor, when the young Serenity asked him about it. "Currently it is forbidden to travel to the earth, but according to our records it was a planet of water and greenery."
It was those words that enticed Serenity for the first time; she knew what plants are, some grew in the greenhouses across the moon, however, vast spaces of grass and trees and flowers was a foreign concept for her, and no matter what, the ten year old girl wanted to see it no matter what.
Asking her mother for permission to go to the earth did not get the princess anywhere, the queen was adamant that no one is to visit the earth, and she had forbidden travel down there long ago and refused any argument to lift the ban. "One day you will become queen, my daughter," she had said "And only then will you be able to open overturn my decisions, but until then, my word is final!"
However, as one would expect the princess, rather than let the issue go, became more obsessed with the little blue planet which the moon orbited. 'How could anyone not be mesmerized by its beauty?' she thought to herself, 'something must be wrong with mother.'
And as the years passed, the princess grew more and more beautiful and her mother's features started to become more apparent in her, in a few years, the only difference would be the color of their eyes, the queen's silver ones and the princess' blue, similar to the color of the planet that younger hoped to visit.
It was on the princess' fifteenth birthday that she first discovered an active teleporter to earth, and mostly by coincidence; it was when she was playing hide and seek with her Guardians that she stumbled upon the room while looking for a place to hide from the great taker that is Jupiter. When the teleporter activated, the princess was taken to a garden filled with flowers, water, and trees, it was the most breathtaking sight the young princess had ever seen. Exploring the garden, the princess looked around, taking in the different colors and smells around her; euphoria had filled the young eternal, she danced around twirling and feeling the gentle warmth of the sunlight and cool wind on her skin, until she tripped on a tree root that was slightly above the ground.
"Ouch!" she screamed in pain as she fell down.
"Is anyone there?" asked a voice from further ahead between the trees.
Serenity looked up and saw a young man approaching; the man dressed in armor with a long flowing black cape, had the most dazzling blue eyes she had ever seen, so blue in fact she feared she could drown in them, and be lost in their depths forever.
"Are you alright?" asked the young man worriedly, "my name is Endymion, I live here, what's your name? Where are you from?"
"I'm Serenity," answered the girl "I'm from far away."
"So you are not from the palace?"
"The palace? What palace?"
"You mean… could it be you are not from Elysion?"
"What's that?"
"It is the capital of the Golden kingdom!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"It is fine, don't worry about it, so what are you doing here in the palace gardens?"
"I was looking at the trees and flowers, I've never seen so many in my life! It looks very beautiful and peaceful here."
"I am glad you like it," said the young man with a smile, Serenity felt her heart ache and her stomach started to flutter, it was a feeling she could not describe with words, she wanted to hold this boy, she wanted to know everything about him, she wanted to – whatever she wanted to do however was put on old as her communicator buzzed, signaling a call from her guardians, once she looked at the time, she realized she had been on earth for a few hours now, and she should quickly return home, lest her mother send someone looking for her here.
"Sorry!" she said turning away from the man and running back the way she came from "but I have to go."
"Serenity" she shouted after her "will I ever see you again?"
"Yes!" she shouted back.
And that was the first meeting between the princess and the prince, the meeting which set in motion the end of the silver millennium.
Serenity the younger had made it a point to visit Endymion at least once a week, however, she made sure to keep her rendezvous secret from her guardians as well as her mother, she did not want the teleporter to be shut down and never be able to visit Endymion again.
Endymion, it appeared, was of like mind, he did not inform anyone of his meetings with Serenity, and would always sneak away in order to meet up with her.
It was three weeks after their first meetings that they first became lovers, though neither had told the other where they were truly from, perhaps feeling that knowing that could change something, they decided to for the moment keep that piece of information to themselves; however it was not long before Endymion was exposed, thanks to the efforts of his knights who were looking for him one day as he snuck away to meet the princess, which caused Serenity to tell him that she was the moon princess and heiress od the Sol system, reassuring him that he has not changed in her eyes, and from that day their relationship only grew stronger.
The absence of the princess did not go unnoticed on the moon; it was as she was sneaking away for a picnic with the prince that her guardians caught her and came with her to earth the first time. On earth, it appeared that the prince himself also faced a similar incident, and both the prince and princess were able to convince their guardians to come with them rather than expose the secret. The queen of the moon had also found out about her daughter's excursions to earth, but decided not to act, because she could not bring herself to destroy the smile that had started adorning her daughter's face recently, so she turned a blind eye to her daughter, and her daughter's guardians.
As the princess' sixteenth birthday approached, the Moon Kingdom was busy preparing for the princess' coming of age party. The queen wanted everything to be perfect, and had taken it upon herself to choose everything from what flowers to decorate the party, to the wine and cake, her daughter will be the happiest that day, and if no incidents happen, in a few years, the princess will become queen. The curse could be beaten if Serenity the younger ruled as queen, however, she could not rule before becoming an adult in the eyes of the universe and the gods as per the ancient rules, which stated that an adult is considered such when they reached their sixteenth birthday.
Everything was planned down to the last note the orchestra assembled would play in the ballroom, everything perhaps except for the unexpected guest the princess had brought from the earth. To the queen, the young man was an unwelcomed guest, and would always be as such; thus, knowing how their queen felt, the guardians came up with the plan of hiding Endymion and only introducing him to the queen during the party, giving her no way of rejecting the meeting between the two of them.
While Serenity the elder knew of the "surprise" awaiting her, she was more focused on her daughter's party, not wanting to sour her mood with the thoughts of the man with a similar name to her heartbreaker; she had overheard Serenity and her guardians talking about him and discussing ways for her to meet the young man, and it appeared that Serenity was serious about him, however she was still a child and knew nothing of love, surely this was only a crush which would fade in time, and since their relationship is forbidden, it made it all the more exciting in the princess and her guardians' eyes.
Unbeknownst to all of them, Metaria, who was once a dark goddess of chaos, had awoken from her long slumber and was in contact with Prince Endymion's former intended and formed a plan with her to take back the prince and bring the world under their control, and today was the day their planning comes into fruition.
Meanwhile in the moon kingdom, the party had started and in full swing. The prince was brought in secretly and allowed enough time to have a few dances with the princess before the queen called both of them away in order for her to talk to them. When the princess and the prince first arrived at the throne room which was empty save for the queen, they were both apprehensive; however they hoped that through their love for each other they could convince the queen to bless their relationship.
When Endymion entered the Throne room it was the first time the queen had seen the prince of the earth clearly, and quickly she noticed how much he looked like his ancestor, the Endymion who betrayed her.
"Come close both of you," Said Serenity the elder, and the two obeyed "there is a reason that relations with earthlings are forbidden, you know that well Serenity."
"I know the reason as well, oh queen of the moon," said the prince "however, don't you know that I love her, and I want to marry her? And from our marriage, our kingdoms will be one."
"Oh mother, can't you see that I want no other man? I wish, no, I demand that you give us your blessing!"
The queen was looking intently at the prince, she had a few choice words for him, but which she was going to say first she was undecided; but apparently, it was going to be none of those words, for it was at that moment that Queen Metaria and Baryl attacke began.
The aftermath of the attack was devastating, much of the Moon Castle was destroyed and all of the cities on the moon were wiped out, alone Queen Serenity surveyed the dead who were left in her kingdom, only she and her two cat advisors survived, the cats had their memories altered and sent to earth in hopes for them to one day in the future meet up with her reincarnated daughter and guardians, she even allowed the earth prince to be reincarnated, she hoped that this time, her daughter will grow up happy.
With the death of the guardians and the fact that no heirs were available, the planets of the guardians would die; there was no longer any way for them to sustain life without an active guardian, thus she used a part of her power end entered the population of these planets into a near eternal sleep that would only break once all the guardians were awakened and had returned to their respective castles and activated them, hiding the people away in a place that no one but the guardians could find.
"May moonlight guide you, and may you meet one another, and grow together, my beloved daughters," said the queen looking at the earth.
Next was the gates of time and Pluto, who would remember what she was about to do if Serenity does not amend that.
"Pluto," she said to the guardian as she entered, the last of the guardians was walking around anxiously.
"My queen, you are safe!"
"Yes, however, our kingdom is no more, my daughter."
"You can rebuild, make it into an even greater kingdom than it ever was!"
"I am afraid that is no longer possible, the rest of the guardians are dead, but they will be reincarnated someday, but their planets will be long dead by then, which is why I intervened and kept the people safe for a while yet. And as for the earth, Metaria's attack caused its history to reset; it will be far too long before they are able to reach the planets once more."
"Then what do you require from me my queen, just say the word and I will go back and end the threat that caused this to our kingdom!"
"No Pluto, I have insured that the entirety of Sol will think me dead, but you my dear know that to be wrong, so I will have you remember the same."
"But I don't want you to die, my queen please, allow me to remember that you survived."
"No, I am sorry; I have been planning on leaving Sol in the hands of my daughter and leave it for good; it was too much for me all the deaths of my daughters over the millennia; so please, smile for me one last time on my way out."
Pluto couldn't smile for her queen, she only cried for her mother, the one person who visited her for all these thousands of years, and now would be the last time they spoke.
The queen raised her hand and used her power to alter Pluto's memories, but she sealed her real ones in a way that would allow Pluto to remember her if there was ever a threat that her own daughter could not defend the earth against, a threat that would need her.
And so, Queen Serenity, the Goddess Selene, the Queen of the Moon and Sol, left the system never to return.
Thousands of years later, Island of Japan, a teenage girl was sleeping in her bed, not knowing that today would be the day she was once again put back on the path to her true destiny.
A/N: And done! I hope you all enjoyed the final chapter!
I truly am blessed by all of your wonderful readers and hope to see you again someday in a new story.
Slices out
