Title: Legends of Love
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Sailor Moon
Authors Notes: Again with a quick update. I better be careful or you guys are going to get used to it. Another chapter with no Beta Reader, so sorry for any mistakes. Please let me know if you find any.
I'm going to England for two weeks on Sunday, so I'm going to try as hard as I can to get this story posted before then. There's still a couple of chapters left, so I really will try my hardest. If not, it's only a two week trip and I'll be back and ready to post more stories.
From the moment Serenity had made her speech, she never rested. Zoicite led them to the place the few remaining advisers were gathered along with the head of the royal guard, the publicly elected dignitary and the general of the Kings army. Those men, along with Zoicite, Jadeite, Neprhite and Kunzite were the power that was left of the throne.
And her.
Serenity was nervous, but the public excitement of her declaration had made her stronger. If the people needed her, then she would be there for them. That was the only argument that mattered in her mind.
They deserved her very best effort.
She glanced at Nephrite again, dying to ask him how Lita was. She hadn't seen her in so long and she was worried that he was here without her. She had only met the tall man with beautiful brown hair a few times and she had always admired how fiercely he had protected her friend. She trusted that he wouldn't have abandoned her, especially not while she was carrying his child.
She turned back to the council
Everything was decided. A plan was put into place to secure the safety of the people. The army was position around the kingdom to help those in need. The foreign dignitaries were being contacted to alert them to fall back on any ongoing negotiations unless they were to specifically stop another Kingdom from attacking theirs. The trade routes were being protected so that food was still coming into the city.
The only thing that wasn't yet decided on, was what to do with Serenity.
"He will come after her, I am sure," Nephrite said strongly.
She could see why Lita liked him so much. He was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in. She wished she had spent more time getting to know him before all of this.
"There is no question of that," Zoicite said. "But Serenity has decided against simply hiding away. She is committed to standing up against him and refuses to be scared."
"If she should be killed, we will have no one to take her place," Jadeite said.
"She will not be killed," Darien said suddenly. He was not part of the negotiations, but he had expressed his opinion several times. Every man in the room had seemed eager to include him. Serenity wondered how many people here knew who he was.
It did not escape her notice that his father hadn't shown his face again.
Darien stood beside her, with his posture straight and his gaze unyielding.
She felt stronger with him so close.
"I would like to have the confidence that you have," one of the advisers said with a sigh, "but the King has ways of getting what he wants."
"There is almost nobody left that follows him," Zoicite said. "It will be hard for him to get close to her."
"And yet we don't know where he is," Kunzite said. "With all our eager followers and loyal people, we can't find one man in the city."
"I will not hide," Serenity said as confidently as she could.
The room turned to look at her.
"You are captain of the royal guard," she said to the man standing across the room. He stood up straighter and nodded to her.
"I am your majesty."
"Are there enough of you left to make an impact."
"Most of my men have survived your majesty. They are waiting for your command."
"Then we will ask them to protect whatever area I am in at any given time. As long as I am surrounded, then there is no reason I can't both help the people and be protected. If the King tries anything, we will be ready to act. If he has any intelligence left in him at all, then he is already gone from our lands."
"I think his anger will ruin any hope of rational thought," Zoicite said, "but you are right. There is no reason you can't do both."
"Once we are settled," Serenity continued, "and we know that the people are safe from both attack and starvation. Then we will try to re-establish ourselves. We will rebuild the palace and repair the wounded parts of the Kingdom. It will take time, but we will recover."
They men nodded.
"My house is as always open for your use," Kunzite said with a bow. "I offer it to you as a temporary residence."
Serenity nodded. "I appreciate that."
"I will send my men immediately to make sure it is secure," the captain of the guards said.
Serenity turned to look at Raye, Amy and Mina behind her.
"If you ask us to do something stupid like leave," Raye said crossing her arms, "don't bother, I already know the answer."
Serenity couldn't help but laugh. "You're so stubborn."
"That doesn't make her wrong," Amy said softly. "We're staying."
Mina nodded excitedly. "I have spent my whole life hiding. My father loved me so much he didn't want me hurt. But I can't spend my whole life like that. I want to help."
Serenity hugged her tightly. "I don't want to see you hurt."
"If we stick together, we can't get hurt," Mina said smiling confidently.
Serenity felt like crying. Her friends were so wonderful.
"Nephrite is waiting for you," Raye said pointing behind her.
Serenity immediately turned to see the tall man smile gently at her. She went to him, hoping he would tell her about Lita.
But his eyes were slightly sad.
"She's fine," he said softly. "But the stress of recent events have put strain on her pregnancy. She wanted to come here with me, but I refused to let her. She's with my family in the country, resting. I would not have left her if I wasn't sure she was safe."
Serenity nodded. "Is it serious?"
"The baby has developed to the point of accuracy in kicking," he smiled softly. "He wasn't being very cooperative with her. She had some pains that the doctor was worried about, and she weakened a great deal. But there is no cause for alarm."
Despite his confident words, Serenity was still scared for her friend.
"She sends her love," Nephrite said.
"We will see her soon," Serenity said softly. "When all is safe."
"She expects you there the moment you have time to settle."
Serenity laughed. "I bet she does."
"I will keep you informed of her condition as I hear of it, I promise."
"I appreciate that. If we can spare you, I will have no problems with you returning to her."
He laughed. "If I showed up a moment before this was finished, she'd demand I leave her at once and come back to your side."
It was an accurate description of her friend.
"Be safe, your majesty. I wouldn't want to deprive my beautiful wife of the pleasure of seeing you again. I have not let her down yet, and I refuse to in the near future."
He kissed her hand gently and turned to walk away.
He had been given the task of planning for the reconstruction of the palace. It was a safe enough task, but Serenity still worried.
There was nothing that could stop her from worrying.
She went from this meeting back out into the open where she made sure to visit as many people as she could, quenching their fears for her safety and the safety of their families. She made sure the orphanages were still working and took a list of what was lacking in the public markets. But for the most part, things seemed to be moving rather smoothly.
With her standing up to fight, the public had gone out of their way to make sure everything remained calm. They kept the food moving so no one went hungry. They set up shelters to make sure that those who were injured could find help. Serenity visited as many injured as she could while Amy used her skills to bandage and treat anyone in need.
The day turned back to night, and the night moved on, and still she refused to stop helping.
And the whole time, Darien didn't leave her side.
She could always see him. Sometimes he talked with the head of the royal guard, who had personally taken up post around her with his men. Sometimes he was scanning the crowd. And sometimes he watched her. But he never left and he never moved more than a handful of feet away.
It gave her courage.
Days went by like this. Serenity found it more than a little disconcerting that the King hadn't shown himself yet.
But to see the whole Kingdom form a bond and work together as they were made her believe more and more that she could do this. Every person simply wanted to be happy and they were willing to work for it. It gave her pride in them and made her want to work harder for them.
Not a single person seemed to mind that she hadn't been born here.
But the longer the King kept hidden, the harder it was to work despite him. She could tell the people were getting edgy. None of them believed that he would just let this go without a fight. He was still the King. He had the power to cause a great amount of damage if he really wanted to.
It was exactly four days after Serenity stood up and promised the Kingdom she would take control, and she was exhausted.
"Eat this," Molly said putting a plate of food in front of her.
Serenity sighed. "I don't have the energy."
Mina giggled, eating her own food in pure happiness.
Darien kissed her temple lovingly. "You'll have less energy if you don't eat that."
"That's not true," she said yawning. "I just won't have more."
"I was wondering," Kunzite said sitting back in his chair looking at them. "What do you two have planned exactly?"
Serenity and Darien looked back at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Mina asked with curiosity.
"I mean in the future, between you," Kunzite said. "Are you going to try and get married? Or are you just going to stay together and not make anything official at all? Serenity might have pressure on her to find another husband, although after the last King that is unlikely."
There was silence.
"I hadn't really thought about it," Darien said after a moment.
Serenity looked at him. "Really?"
"It just doesn't seem to matter," he said honestly. "We're here right now, and happy. My plan is to stay that way with you as long as possible. I figure we'll deal with the future when it gets here."
"It would make things easier if you took your father's title," Zoicite said seriously.
Darien immediately tensed and turned to look at his own food.
"We know how much you hate the thought," Kunzite said. "He's not a good man. But that doesn't mean you have to be like him. He did help us when we needed it."
Serenity watched Darien sigh in defeat and felt awful for him.
"No," she said suddenly, startling them all.
"What do you mean, no?" Raye asked.
"He's not allowed to take his father's title," she crossed her arms.
Darien looked at her in amusement. "Why not? It would make it easier to be with you."
"But it's not what you want."
"I'll do it if I have to."
"Absolutely not, no, I won't allow it. If you want to be with me fine, but you're not making any sacrifices to do it."
He laughed. "Not a single one?"
"Not one," she said as seriously as she could. "We'll deal with the future when we get there. But you can't do anything that's going to make you unhappy just because it makes things easier between us. If you do, my opinion of you will drop so drastically it'll be worse then if you had never done it at all."
Raye smirked at her, and she heard Mina giggled.
"Deal," Darien said kissing her lightly. "I wouldn't want to do anything to affect your opinion of me."
"Good," she said feeling stubborn. She dug into her food, ignoring the way they were all looking at her.
But then she sighed. "We should really thank your father for helping us."
Darien breathed out, stretching his shoulders and sitting back. "I guess."
"Just because he wasn't a good man when you were young, doesn't mean we should ignore how hard he tries now."
"He wasn't doing it for the good of anyone but himself."
"The reason for ones support doesn't always matter. Sometimes it's only the fact that they gave that support that makes the difference."
Darien nodded. "I know. I just don't want to give him hope. I really don't want to be part of his life."
"I know," she said. "But you don't have to thank him. I will."
Darien took her hand in his. "I won't let you go to him alone. Without me, he doesn't have the reason to give you support. I wouldn't want him to try anything."
"Okay," Raye said interrupting them. "So we'll thank the awful Darien senior when we're sure this is all done. For now, perhaps we should worry about something else."
"Like what?" Amy asked.
"Pick something," Mina said cheerily. "There's like a million things to worry about." She didn't look worried at all. In fact, her eyes lit up in excitement when another thought crossed her mind. "Are you going to have a baby Serenity?"
Serenity nearly choked on her food and she saw Darien sit up straight.
"What?"
"Oh! It would be so cute," Mina immediately gushed. "Can you imagine a girl with Darien's dark hair and Serenity's beautiful eyes? Or a boy with shocking blond hair and Darien's stubborn features."
Darien looked at Serenity.
"I'm not pregnant," she said at his startled look.
"But you could be," Mina continued brightly. "Just because you didn't have a child with the King doesn't mean you can't."
Serenity looked at Darien. "Do you have any children?"
"What? No?" He seemed confronted. "I was always careful. I know when to…….I just mean that I know how to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm not a fool."
"Were you careful with me?" Serenity asked.
"Ah," he said thinking about it. "Well no, I wasn't."
"Why not?" She asked.
"Honestly, I didn't think about it," he couldn't help but smile. "You have a way of making me forget everything else."
Serenity blushed. She looked back at Mina. "I'm not pregnant. Not yet."
Mina squealed in delight despite that answer. "You two are going to have the most beautiful baby. I can't wait to see it."
"You know, I used to think you were happy," Darien said to Mina. "But now I think you're just crazy."
Mina wasn't affected by his words. "I think we're all so lucky," she said happily. "Soon we'll have nothing to worry about at all, and we can live happily ever after."
Kunzite looked at her incredulously, but there was a softness in his gaze.
Serenity smiled at her friends, but she was suddenly nervous. She hadn't had a chance to be with Darien again since their one night together, and she had hoped that tonight she would be able to relax with him. But Mina's words sent her crashing into a nervous wreck. She was right. It was possible for her to be pregnant. She couldn't see any reason why she wouldn't be. The timing was right and she had never believed that her lack of child before was her own fault.
She was also curious about how Darien stayed safe before. It was strange, with his reputation, that he didn't have a child somewhere. She didn't care about who the other women were, but she was a little worried that someone somewhere might have a child he didn't know about.
And then something else occurred to her.
"Oh," she said startling him. "You were going to give me some names if I progressed in my happiness."
The way he looked at her, like there was nothing on this earth she could have said he expected less, almost made her laugh.
He coughed slightly before answering. "Are you serious?"
"Yes," she said with a nod. "We made a deal."
"What deal?" Kunzite asked.
"Darien let out early in our friendship that there were certain noble ladies he had……had fun with. He promised to tell me a name if I took a step towards happiness. I think I've come a long way. It's only fair that I get my payment."
She had never seen him look so uncomfortable.
"You told her about those other women?" Kunzite asked incredulously.
Darien ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't think we would get to this point at the time. I didn't see the harm in it. Besides, the first time we met I was……on my way……."
"He was taking a pretty little maid with him away from the party. I drew my own conclusions," Serenity said without any sort of hurt in her voice. "I don't mind. My past doesn't have as many names, but I think it's just as bad."
Kunzite looked at her like he couldn't believe what she was saying.
"Don't tell her," Raye said seriously to Darien. "It'll just make things worse."
"You promised," Serenity looked up at him with a pout.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Amy said.
"It's not so bad," Mina said with a shrug. "There aren't really that many noble women."
"There's more than one?" Raye asked.
Mina shrank down in her seat when Darien sent her a look.
"Please?" Serenity tried again.
Darien shook his head. "No, absolutely not."
"But you promised."
"Things are different now Serenity. It wasn't going to hurt you back then."
"It's not going to hurt me now," she said defiantly.
"You don't know that."
"Is it one of my friends?" She demanded.
"No," he said quickly. "None of the girls here or your friend Lita were ever close to me."
"Then who?"
"Serenity," he said chidingly. "I'm not telling you."
She crossed her arms and pouted in her chair. "Fine," she said stubbornly. "Then you can just spend tonight on your own." She got up quickly and walked away from his startled form. "Have a good night."
For a moment no one in the room moved.
And then Mina laughed out loud. "This is so much fun."
Serenity knew he would come to her. She knew he wouldn't be able to stay away if he thought she might be mad. She wasn't. She just found a certain amount of enjoyment in being stubborn. She had never had the chance to have any fun with the King, and she was reveling in it now. Darien was so good at playing these games. He did it to her all the time. Now she felt like it was her turn.
She really didn't care what the names where. She just liked that she could find a way to get him to tell her.
When he came in, she pretended not to notice.
Her plan was simple. She would continue getting ready for bed as she was doing right now, and hardly react to him at all.
But when he leaned down behind her and kissed the back of her neck slowly, her stomach immediately started to heat up and her legs became hardly able to hold her.
She let her arms fall to her side as his arm came around, smoothly gliding over her lower stomach, making her almost moan.
"I had no idea when I met you that you would like to be difficult," he said in a husky voice, moving the top of her night dress to fall down her shoulder so he could lightly kiss the skin of her shoulder and back.
Her breathing became quicker and she felt her heart stutter in her chest.
Her eyes drifted closed.
He caressed her neck and breathed his hot breath delicately on her skin, sending shivers down her entire body.
"I had no idea you'd be so beautifully defiant," he whispered.
The tone of his voice sent her lower stomach into an inferno.
"And I had no idea how badly I'd want you every time you'd look at me with this willful eyes," he breathed before turning her quickly around and kissing her.
Serenity immediately responded to his aggression and passion. Any thought she had had before was completely gone, to be replaced by her desire for him. She almost felt crazy with the need for him.
He stepped her back against the vanity she had been using and she allowed him to push her up on it so she could wrap her legs around him. His hand immediately moved smoothly up her leg, moving her thin night dress up so her legs were exposed.
He kissed down her neck as she pulled his shirt out from his pants and immediately ran her hands across his firm stomach and up his chest. Her body arched unconsciously against his.
She felt on fire in the most amazing way. Every single touch sent currents through her, and every kiss made her body ache for him.
His pleasure filled moan vibrated through him as she touched him, and it excited her. She liked that she could affect him this way. She liked that he wanted her badly enough that her lightest touch made it impossible for him to think of anything but her.
She pulled his shirt off over his head, breaking their kiss for only a moment.
His skin was hot against her hands.
Serenity reached down to undo his pants. The way he kissed her more fiercely as she did made it so much more exciting. She was so completely intoxicated by him that when he pulled her to him and swiftly entered her, she was already ready to scream in pleasure.
She arched hard at the intense feeling of him inside her, and she cried out as the feeling absorbed her.
Her legs gripped his hips as he moved his entire length in and out, smoothly and firmly. His breathing was as rough as hers and his rhythm was almost fierce with passion.
Serenity felt wave after wave crash over her, exploding within her and completely devouring everything that she was. Her heart beat so quickly she thought it might burst from her chest. The only thing she could do as the ecstasy consumed her was cling desperately to him as his own pleasure made his thrusts harder and faster, tipping her even farther over the edge.
It seemed like an eternity of pleasure. Her vision gave way to white and her whole body tensed as the world slipped away from her.
When she finally seemed to become aware again of the dark room around her, she could hardly focus on it at all.
Her legs were still tight around him, and her breathing was still ragged. His head was buried against her shoulder, and his own rapid breathing shook his whole body.
The only sound she could make as she pulsed around him still inside her was one of soft pleasure.
He kissed the skin at the base of her neck softly.
She leaned back, supported by his arms as he moved up her neck and across her jaw until he was looking at her.
His eyes were dark with passion.
"I love you," he whispered still breathless.
She smiled, reaching her almost numb arms up to caress his face in both her hands.
"I love you, too," she said kissing him softly. "But you're still giving me those names."
"Oh yeah?" he smiled darkly down at her.
Serenity wasn't afraid of him. "Yeah," she said confidently.
She squealed in surprised pleasure as he lifted her up and quickly carried her across the room towards the bed. She laughed as he threw her down on the bed and crawled quickly on top of her.
She gasped in laughter when he playfully bit her shoulder, pulling her nightgown swiftly off of her.
"I can make you forget," he promised huskily.
Already she was feeling his affect on her as he moved to kiss her breast.
"Not forever," she was hardly able to gasp out.
"Is that a challenge?" He asked, moving a hand down her stomach.
Serenity was only able to focus on the reaction of her own body as he entered her with his fingers.
She gasped as her body started to immediately pulse at his touch.
End of chapter Thirteen! Please review! And don't forget to check out my website.