Seeking Love
Chapter 25
The sun was just breaking the horizon. Looking at the skyline, the sunrise was just as beautiful here as the sunset was on Earth. Endymion was on his balcony sipping his cup of coffee. He usually opted for tea, but that morning he was going to need all the energy he could get. The ball was that night, and his body ached from the training the night before with Mina. He had a lot to learn. Jadeite's master of the arts was more harsh than he expected. He didn't even start them with basic moves. They began by sitting there in meditation for over 2 hours! Then forced straight into battle. All he remembered was, "Good Evening Sensei. Yes Sensei. No Sensei. Good Night Sensei." Now his body was yelling at him, and he had sores at every joint. It was like the time he sprained his hand and it was in a cast for 3 weeks. After, his hand felt like a piece of marble and wouldn't budge!
Following up to the ball, there was still a lot for him to do. His tuxedo laid on his bed with a top hat and his white mask. His plans for the morning, before he had to start greeting guests with Kunzite and the other men, was to go for a morning run to loosen him up.
Serenity still felt like a puppet being pulled this way and that. She still couldn't get out of her slump! It was like summer break, and now she was expected to go back to studying textbooks. In this case, it was going back to life! Her bed never felt as comfortable as it did that night. It was like a cloud encasing her body and making the pain flee in panic.
A ringing sound finally pierced her cement shield of thoughts of peace. Her phone was ringing somewhere, but of course tied up somewhere in her sheets. Ugh! After throwing her entire bed apart she found the little device, annoying as a fly in a kitchen.
"Hello?!"
"Serenity! I've been up all night, and I have something to tell you." It was Ami, she was talking at a million words per minute. "Research. News. Run," was all she caught through the ear device.
"Slow down Ami! Let me get dressed and I'll meet you in the gardens in ten."
Quickly dressing herself in the first thing she found, sweatpants and a white tee, she made her way down to the gardens. She was hoping not to run into anybody in the state of dress she was in. It was only Ami she was planning to see anyway, she wouldn't care about the lack of formality.
She found the blue bobbed haired girl sitting on a bench. To an outsider she would look.. well stoned. Looking into the emptiness in front of her, blinking only once a minute at most. Serenity knew all too well that the prodigy child was deep into cyberspace and swimming through the coded text projected on her contacts. Waiting patiently, she knew she wouldn't be able to get her attention until she came out of the feed.
A small jolt ran through the small girl. "You're here. Hope you weren't waiting too long."
"No worries. Not like I was doing anything really important anyway."
Ami couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not. She wasn't the best at picking up social cues. "Umm.. To the point, I have been up all night doing security run throughs of the palace, and then I got sidetracked. Which is unusual for me since I usually have a schedule for everything. I don't like to be interrupted, as you know, and.. well it was bugging me. So I decided it was best so my abilities wouldn't be dimmed by this pestering problem of meaningless value..."
"To the point Ami.."
"Oh...well, I started doing some background research on Takeshi. I know this subject matter isn't something you really want to talk about, but there was a small break in code in his file, which is unusual. The compiler picked it up, and the syntax is all wrong! It was in a completely different language, something they used back in the 21st century, C++. Well, I finally was able to read the code, and run it through a virtual machine. I don't know why the human race used the system, it seems so... anyway, I guess you have to start from somewhere."
Serenity didn't understand anything coming out of the girl's mouth. She was just waiting for Ami to condense everything she trying to saying.
"...he left us something. I don't know how he got into the system database, but he left a list of names. They are all encoded, but I'm thinking they are people he worked with, or maybe others who were working under the same boss. I'm still figuring out a key to decode the jumble, but it's something I've never seen before!"
"A list?" Serenity furrowed her brows and crossed her arms. "How do we know it isn't a trap? One he set for us, or someone else set for us?"
"It could be, but what would it hurt to find out the names at least. It's a crumb to somewhere."
"That's true. I guess, just keep working on it. Then once we figure out what it means we can decide what to do from there."
Earth Year: 22nd Century 64th Earth Cycle
"Happy Birthday Natsumi!" yelled Takeshi. "I can't believe you are already 20!"
In his hands he held a delicious chocolate cake. He convinced his 'mom' to teach him how to bake so he could make one for his lifelong friend. It didn't have 20 candles on it, or any fancy sprinkles. Just the rich dark brown icing that made his mouth water while he stirred it together while thinking of the time he had to pry his body through bars in order to get his next meal. It was all due to... her. He had finally gotten over the fact that he was a she the whole time they'd been training together after a whole year since the incident that made it impossible to cover up her gender. It wasn't his whole fault though. Sir always took her aside and made her train by herself. Their master said it was so she wasn't a distraction to them, and that they weren't a distraction to her. Eventually, she came back to training with them. It took Takeshi a while to get use to training with her, but he gave it all he had - in fear that Sir would give him a good punishing. Which he did once or twice to this day.
A soft air drifted over the cake. "Just because there aren't lights, doesn't mean I can't make a wish does it?" Natsumi asked. She closed her eyes, and the two sat in silence.
"Let's eat!"
The sweet hazelnut spread engulfed Natsumi's sense of smell. The dewy cake hadn't spent the necessary full time in the oven, but she didn't care. It was chocolate, and only that. It had been a while since something so sweet had touched her lips. She was grateful to have such a person sitting next to her on the grass hill.
The little bump a half mile off the side road had become theirs after they mended their friendship. It's where they met in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep in their soft bed, as they were doing that night. She was lucky to have someone care for her, both never knew their real parents, or if they even had siblings. Now, they only had each other - like Sir said.
"What did you wish for?" asked Takeshi in the darkness. All that lit the sky was the stars and the small fireflies.
"You're seriously asking me that? You ask me every year, and I answer the same way every time."
"I like to hear you say it... it reminds me, that there is something else out there other than Sir's training program, this town, and this hill."
"I like this 'hill.'" She could see him make his face of 'I'm serious, but joking.. but serious' even in this dimmed light.
"I wish I could blow out the lights in the sky. One by one. All that would shine would be us, standing side by side. Because, you know what they say about the white light? It's a lie. It's only darkness anyway."
"You'd have to be pretty old in order to blow out that many lights on your birthday."
"I'm sure the time will comes sooner than you or I would imagine. Sir was telling me the other day of his plans. We're going to be activated soon. You and I."
Present Day
The White Cherry Gardens 6pm
"Princess, the Queen has arrived."
Princess Serenity was in a silk robe, her dress hung on on a hanger by the mirror. It looked like a wedding dress. Why did she give in so easily to Mina? She was brushing her hair out in the mirror.
"You've grown since I last saw you, and I don't mean in size. You look older, and maybe a little more wiser, my daughter." The Queen walked up behind her, and grabbed the brush from her hand. "I see you have found a way around facing the Prince tonight at your own engagement." Her eyebrow raised in question. The Queen was still curious as to how her daughter was going to get herself out of this little mess.
"It wasn't my idea, but there isn't a way to break the news without causing an uproar. You just came back from the UENP meeting, they are in open caucus about what to do about the last attack still?"
"You are right, but I trust you still know that it is still your duty to marry. As it is still your duty to go through the pre-engagement ceremony before the party begins. I went through it, your grandma went through it, your great-grandma..."
"I get the point mother. You still haven't told me what the ceremony is quite yet."
"Mmm.. it's different for everyone. In most cases, it is to calm the nerves of the bride to be. In my day, arranged marriages were traditional, so this tradition helps the bride from getting cold feet. Are you ready?"
Serenity stood from her vanity chair, and looked right in her mother's eyes. They were a deep green with hints of yellow. She had never seen anyone other than her mother with those color of eyes. "I'm ready."
The procession through the gardens began. The four sailor soldiers led the way through the path, each dropping flower petals of their planet's origin: Mina, daisies; Makoto, Molucella; Ami, Forget-me-nots; and Rei, Snapdragons. Serenity followed their soft bare feet against white polished moon stones until they reached a circular pool of water. Her mom waited wearing a simple white silk dress. Her guardians stepped to either side of the steps entering the silent spring. Without a word, her mother called her forward.
Warm arms wrapped around her, an everlasting hug, and Serenity began to feel the cold water touch her heels, and the sensation quickly reached the rest of her backside. Her hair was dipped in, and soon all that stood out of the water was her nose and and closed eyes. A prayer was chanted over her body. She could hear a strange sound of shaking beads, and multiple hands pressed against her pushing her to the bottom of the water. The air in her lungs held fast, and all she wanted to do was lash out those who she called blood. It took all her will to keep her mouth shut, but her eyes flew open - darkness. Her mind traveled to deep meditation; Her physical body left behind.
A light reached out to her soul, her conscience. It was calling for her, to follow it into the new world. It lead her to a garden, a garden she knew all too well.
White flowers filled the lawn, and there was a small path leading into the bushes. The sounds of wind chimes and bells rang, and the remnants of a whistling tune remained in the air. Children's laughs came from the green shrubs, and Serenity began to run towards them – having this instilling feeling to play with them. Her heart began to race in the excitement of the chase. The passing plants and flowers became swirls of color as she followed the path.
Coming to a slow walk, laying on the ground before her was a single red rose. The bud was fully matured, showing off it's luscious petals. Serenity bent over to pick it up when a child's voice stopped her.
"No. That's not yours."
A boy, no older than the age of 9 stood before her. His onyx hair ruffled, his eyes set in determination for the rose. He scurried forward to retrieve his prize, but ended up tripping over himself landing him face down on the ground. Serenity couldn't help but to let out a small laugh. She walked over to him to lend a hand. The boy pushed it away.
Kneeling beside him, Serenity asked, "What is your name little boy?"
"Mother said not to talk to strangers."
"My name is Serenity." She offered her hand out again, not to help him, but to shake his hand. The boy re-situated himself to stand up.
In the deepest voice he could conjure, he puffed out his chest and set his hands on hips like his father, and said, "My name is Prince Endymion."
Finally! The cat is out of the bag, and the ball is once again rolling. Figured out how I'm going to end the story, but I make no promises on when the next chapter is going to come out.
A BIG thanks to all of you who have stuck with me through the past 4 months of no writing. School.. and other excuses. :S Hope you think these next two installments have held up against all that I have been leading you to. Please R&R.