This chapter is a bit late and for that, I apologize. I've been ill for the last few days and I've just been out of it and not at all productive. Due to this, there will not be a chapter posted next week, but there will be the following week.
As Endymion watched the two blondes waltz, Serenity's white ball gown swirling around her, he could feel a fit of slow rolling anger begin to well up inside of him. He couldn't understand why. Was he angry at Serenity or her dance partner? Or perhaps himself for hiding in the shadows and allowing someone else to dance with her. But why should it matter? He cursed silently that Zoicite hadn't returned before he had left.
He retreated to the spread of sweets that had been laid out. A treat for the princess no doubt as Endymion remembered her love of decadent foods. He popped a small red square into his mouth enjoying the taste of the treat. It reminded him of chocolate from Earth but less milky, more sweet with a distinct roasted taste. Whatever it was, it tasted fantastic.
"Kunap from Mars is really something else," the aqua-haired lady by his side commented. "You should try that one," she said pointing to a green pastry. "It's made with Pippen berries from Neptune. Not as sweet," the lady popped said pastry into her mouth and chewed the small morsel, "but very light."
He raised his eyebrow at the woman and picked up the recommended dessert. She was very beautiful with blue eyes and a navy blue dress that hugged her shapely body. Shrugging, he popped the little cake into his mouth. "It's good. But not as good as the first one." After savoring the treat.
"Shame."
"You're quite biased to that dessert." He shot back.
"A Princess of Neptune tends to be biased to products of her home." His eyes widened slightly when he realized who she was. Before he could respond something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. The man that had been dancing with Serenity was currently dragging the princess across the dance floor and was heading straight for them.
The blonde walked right past Endymion and grabbed the princess of Neptune and kissed her long and hard. Princess Serenity stood behind them trying to catch her breath, her hand still in the man's. "The two of you can come up for air now," she wheezed out behind them.
Breaking the kiss, the man spun around and grabbed Serenity's shoulders, "Oh, moonbeam, I'm so sorry, precious. I didn't mean to drag you around like that. I just saw a goddess over her looking like she came from above and I couldn't help myself." The princess of Neptune rolled her eyes at his antics.
"Prince Endymion, allow me to introduce to you, Princess Haruka of Uranus, my wife." The Terran prince caught himself before it was obvious that he was staring. Relationships of the same sex weren't particularly new on Earth but were still rare and kept in a hushed manner. To see the two princesses display their connection so openly and without a fuss from others was startling, but refreshing. Then again, he wondered if many even knew that Princess Haruka was a female, to begin with. She blended in with his own gender seamlessly.
"Prince," the blonde princess stuck her hand out to shake his hand. He responded in kind and before he knew it she had grabbed his hand pulled him forward straight into Serenity. "Let's exchange, Sere didn't finish her dance so now you can do the honors, and I'm" she said wrapping her arm around the Princess of Neptune's waist, "going to have some fun with this sexy-" Endymion didn't even get to hear the end of the sentence when he was led onto the dance floor by an eye-rolling Serenity. He did, however, hear a loud 'Ruka behave' coming from his retreating direction.
Endymion tensed as he held Serenity's smaller hand. He was a bundle of nerves as they danced around the floor. On the other hand, the Princess seemed absolutely ecstatic. She was blushing deeply as she tried to keep herself from grinning too hard. She was failing miserably. He couldn't help but find that it was adorable. "Are you alright, Prince Endymion? You seem troubled?" She finally asked as she noticed his stoic expression.
"I'm fine, Princess. I just had a hard time sleeping last night." He said trying his best to tiptoe around the subject.
Serenity's eyes widened slightly at his words but caught herself before she could betray her overly perverted thoughts. "Please, I would much prefer it if you call me Serenity. And I, too, had a peculiar encounter the previous evening. Perhaps there was something strange in the air last night." Fishing for information wasn't something she tended to be good at. Rei, Minako, and Michiru all excelled in that sort of scenario. Unfortunately, she neither possessed their quick wit or their flirtatious charms.
"In that case, Serenity, I would insist that you call me Endymion." Regardless of what he was experiencing, he was still here for a specific reason and besides there was no point on taking his confusion out on Serenity. He had enjoyed his time chatting with her the night before. Tits or no tits, he did find himself appreciating her company. "You seemed a bit troubled when we last parted ways. Did I do something to offend you?"
"Oh no, not at all. I quite enjoyed the evening. I honestly find myself liking you more each time we spend time together." She bit her lip tensely for a moment in deep thought and then stepped a bit closer to him than necessary. "Endymion, can I talk to you in private?"
Endymion's eyes widened in surprise. He had gotten similar propositions before but he hadn't expected something so blatant from the moon princess. And she looked so innocent. "Are you sure that's appropriate, Serenity?" He asked cautiously.
"No, I suppose it wouldn't be," she answered, Endymion's actual question going completely over her head, "but I really do need to talk to you alone. Everyone keeps watching us, including the girls and even my mother. She might not show it but her eyes are following me everywhere." It was then that Endymion understood that Serenity actually wanted to talk and he berated himself for allowing the actions of the dream Serenity to dictate his thoughts toward the real thing.
"How pray-tell are we supposed to escape for a decent amount of time before your guards find us? You said it yourself, they're always watching."
Serenity's face broke out into an absolutely feral grin, "Don't worry about that. I've been wanting to try this trick on them for a while but I never got a chance. Let's go closer to the exit. We need to step out onto the terrace as if we're just stopping to get a breath of fresh air. I'll take it from there." Endymion nodded, confused but agreed to follow along.
They stepped outside hand in hand and Endymion realized that there were a few individuals following them, two of her Senshi included. "What was this brilliant plan of yours?" he managed to whisper in her ear as they walked closer to the outside staircase. He had traveled down them earlier that evening trying to get to the gardens, however, the gate at the end was locked. A piece of information that he realized Serenity ignored completely.
As they arrived at the gate, Serenity pushed him against the wall, sandwiching him between herself and the cobblestone. A finger pressed against his lips before he had a chance to protest. He felt a strange warmth cascade over him before someone banked the corner at the top of the stairs. The brown-haired Princess of Jupiter that he had admired days prior, walked down the steps toward the gate a confused look on her face. She grabbed the lock and pulled the gate testing its hold. Cursing, she stomped away, her eyes never turning to glance at the duo.
Cautiously, Serenity pulled her finger away from his mouth and let out a sigh. Her eyes glanced up at his and for the first time, she realized how she had pressed herself against him, closer even than when she had danced with Haruka. She could feel his chest against hers, all lean and hard with muscle. She blushed deeply and tried not to jump away, she didn't know how far her magic would spread and couldn't risk it.
Endymion could make out the extra color in the princess' cheeks in the darkness. His height also allowed him to look straight down her neckline, giving him a perfect view of her breasts being pressed against his chest. He had to admit, from this angle they looked, well, nice. He felt her fingers intertwine with his own and she put her hand to her own lips this time in a gesture to remain silent. Her shimmering magic led them through the door. Not unlocking the door to allow them to pass, but literally right through the door. Endymion had thought that the magic shielding them from the Jupitarian Princess was pretty cool, but passing through objects took the cake.
"Okay," Serenity murmured dropping his hand and then subsequently dropping herself onto a bench in the private garden. There were no lights to brighten the area although the layout looked similar to the one on the opposite end of the terrace. "That took a bit more out of me than expected." She reached her hand to touch her now-aching head.
"That was," Endymion began, "incredible." He meant it completely. Since his arrival on the moon he had seen magic being utilized for small everyday tasks, but nothing like this.
She smiled softly at his praise and Endymion wondered if there would be a point where she would stop turning pink or red or any color in between. "Thank you. I've done it before multiple times by myself but this is my first time taking someone else with me. The girls don't know that I've been practicing it so I finally managed to trick them and get away," Serenity giggled.
"Whatever you want to talk to me about must be pretty important to bring me all the way out here."
Serenity's tongue darted out to moisten her lips before she bit her lower lip gently. "I really wanted to inquire how you were dealing with everything? Are you ok, with what's happened?"
"Dealing with what?" Endymion asked, was the Princess aware that someone had put some type of spell had been put on him. Maybe Zoicite was wrong and it has been her that cast the spell in the first place.
"You know, the soulbond. Can't you feel it?"
Endymion held up his hands, motioning her to slow down. "I'm a bit confused, Serenity. Aren't soulbonds your version of marriage? Am I supposed to feel something?" The princess looked utterly crushed and Endymion hastened to try and correct his obviously horrible mistake. "I mean, I've felt a little weird since last night. I'm not really sure what caused it."
She looked slightly less devastated. "I don't understand. Do you not have soul bonds on Earth? Do you just marry without the bond?"
"Serenity, I'm not sure what a soul bond even is." He admitted. They had all assumed that the procedure had been the Lunarian version of a marriage ceremony. Obviously, it was something much more. "Maybe, if you can explain it, we can better understand each other."
The Lunarian princess was hesitant at first before she started to put the bonding process into words. "Basically, for every person born there's another born that he or she is or will be linked to. The person doesn't necessarily have to be the same race as them or even be from the same planet. The bond works by attempting to bring them together." She began to twirl pieces of her long hair between her fingers. "Basically, once you meet the person who you're bonded to, it activates. Some activations are more intense than others but it's to let you know that 'Hey!, I'm here!"
"So, basically the universe chooses who each person ends up with," Endymion asked finding the whole thing a bit bizarre, although he could tell others would find it romantic.
"For the most part. It's not like that's the only person you can end up with. But at the same time why cause the other person pain from the rejection when you can do so many fun things together as a couple that you can do with no one else." She was beaming now, his earlier transgression forgotten.
"Fun things?"
"Hmm. Remember how Princess Minako found you in the gardens earlier?" He cocked an eyebrow but nodded. "I sent her to find you there. With a bonded couple, if we concentrate hard enough we can find each other. If you wandered through the hedge maze near the menagerie, I could walk through and find you easily."
"That's extremely useful," he commented. "Anything else?"
"Oh, there's tons of things, sending your emotions to your bonded partner or knowing if something is wrong with your other half. There was even a Plutarian couple that could teleport to each other. But I haven't really read up on bonding effects since my first festival twenty years ago."
"Wait, twenty years ago? How old are you?" He has been thinking that the teleportation ability sounded interesting but he had been thrown for a loop at her second remark. Forgetting the age-old rule to never ask a lady her age.
She looked slightly affronted but turned her head and answered anyway. "I'm 45, my birthday was a few days before the festival. Don't look at me like that." She scolded him and his open mouth. "Lunarians live for a lot longer than Terrans. I would probably be around your 17 or 18. Although I would look like this for quite some time, I had my first festival when I was 25. And 10 years after ever since until I found who I shared my soul bond with."
She looked expectantly at Endymion, waiting for his reaction. "Sorry, it's just a lot to take in."
"That's fine, but you said you've been feeling odd since last night. Please, tell me." She reached over and took his hand, stroking over his knuckles gently.
"I had an odd dream last night," Endymion mentioned, "and when I awoke." He paused trying to find an appropriate wording to describe the previous night's predicament. "I kept seeing you."
"Seeing me?" She asked, confused at his extremely vague description.
"I woke up in the middle of the night and I saw you in the vanity mirror."
"Was I doing anything or just there?"
"You were," he swallowed as an image of the two of them in the bathroom flashed through his head, "just there. But, you were close to me, so close I could feel you. I could feel you as if you were actually standing right next to me. Like so." He removed his hand from hers and rested it on her shoulder.
"That's amazing,"
"Yeah. It freaked me out a bit, though. I didn't realize what was going on. Zoicite even went to the library to see if he could find anything, thinking that someone had cast a spell on me." His eyes widened when he remembered his general. "Shit. We've been here a long time, Serenity, your Senshi and my Generals must be tearing the place apart trying to find us."
Serenity frowned but nodded in agreement. They had been gone a longer time than she had anticipated. "But first," she reached out and grabbed his hand as he rose, "please, I've made up my mind. Would you, Prince Endymion, heir to the Planet Earth, the Terran Realm and Elysian do me the honor of marrying me?"
Endymion could recall numerous awkward situations throughout his life, boasting to Jadeite about his archery skills prior to getting his ass handed to him by the former. Another had been walking in on his father having sex in his office. That one took a while to recover from and he also learned the importance of a knock, even when the door was partially opened. With Serenity looking up at him with wide hopeful eyes the shade of the oceans, her hand grasping his fervently, he should have told her that it was typically the male who did this and to remind her that he was the suitor not her. It should have felt awkward. But it didn't. So he just nodded and squeezed her hand tightly in his. "Of course,"
The two emerged in the garden that Endymion had wandered through earlier that evening. The Prince followed Serenity as she expertly made her way through the grounds. Rounding a sharp corner, Endymion was surprised to see Zoicite passing through another plot in the distance. The man looked absolutely frantic. "Zoi," he called out causing the General to look up and practically dash through the Lantanas to get to them.
"Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you. The Senshi told us not to worry but you just upped and disappeared without a word."
"That was my fault, General, I do apologize for delaying him for so long." The princess bowed her head in apology to the long-haired General who gave a stunning interpretation of a goldfish.
"It's no problem, your majesty. Please take as long with him as you like." He managed to muster out a reply to Serenity and avoid Endymion's state of disbelief. For once he didn't have something smart to shoot back.
The noise brought Princess Ami, who was standing watch for when Serenity returned, over to them.
"Serenity, you're back." She commented, a stark contrast to the General's anxiousness.
The Lunarian princess replied by shaking her head in affirmation, her pigtails bouncing with each nod. "We're bonded, Ami." She announced happily, glad to be able to say it officially.
"Are you sure? When Endymion started to act strangely I tried to do some research but I doubt it can be a soul bond. Only magical beings form those. That's why we don't have them on Terra." Zoicite pointed out.
"Is it possible," Ami interrupted before Serenity could respond, "that because of Serenity's immense magic threshold that she holds the bond together for both of them? It can be a possibility that everyone can form soul bonds, just that Terrans don't have enough of a magical capacity to display the signs." It was a new possibility that Zoicite hadn't given thought to. He had read of it occurring when one party was significantly weaker than the next, but never when the other party had any magic to speak of. Then again, the books hadn't used one of the strongest beings in the galaxy as a reference.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Both Endymion and I have both experienced the marks of the bond. And, "Serenity said scooping up the Prince's hand and swung them happily, "we're going to get married. I've chosen him, or well the bond has anyway."
"The queen will want to meet with you before she announces this," warned Ami ignoring Zoicite's dumbstruck face at Serenity's announcement. "But somehow I don't think she's surprised. Her Majesty was quite nonchalant when we informed her that you had disappeared together."
"Really?" That was unlike her mother, although they did have their little talk earlier that morning.
"Yes, if I recall correctly her exact words were 'As long as she doesn't get pregnant before the wedding.'"
And now he's an engaged man. I hope you guys all like the chapter. Kudos and comments rock. I'll repeat what I said at the top in case someone didn't catch it. There won't be a chapter update next week. I will instead post the following week. This should not be a regular thing but until I get better and caught up with the work that I've missed I have to put off writing a bit. If you want, you can follow my twitter for updates. My un is URepose.
Mianngu - Thank you so much for the wonderful review. Unfortunately, it may be some time before we see the two head over heels for each other. I hope you like this new installement.
SaphireShimmer - Thanks for the review. There's a saying where I live that basically goes 'Do what you want at home but don't embarrass me when you're out in public'. Endymion is super polite and the poster prince in public but we'll see how much of an asshole he can be when he's with his friends. The rating is partly because of their mouths.