[A.N.] Hello and welcome to the next chapter of my take on swan lake! (i rhymed! ^.^) anyway, here is the backstory. This is only a small chopped up bit of the actual happenstance, but here we go! So friends, enjoy!
~Serene
She ran through the garden, her bare feet squishing though the damp morning grass as she outran her pursuer. He wouldn't catch her this time. He was quick, but she could be just as much if not more so. On this, her twelfth birthday, her parents had decided to hold a ball in celebration of her official betrothal to the crown prince and heir of their neighboring kingdom: Heero Yuy. The two families had long been friends ensuring peace and prosperity with profitable trade and revenue. It only seemed natural when Queen Peacecraft birthed a little girl that she and the infant prince be set to wed one they both turned of age.
And so it was that, as they had so many times before, the young prince and princess found themselves in the middle of one of their childish games. Relena climbed up the tree, careful not to tear her borrowed tunic. She often dressed in boy clothes when playing outside, much to her mother's great displeasure. Still, a dress was hardly the appropriate attire for leaping about the garden like a gazelle.
Heero was, for all intents and purposes, her best friend. Being an excellent tracker and hunter even at twelve, it would take him no time at all to find her if she didn't move fast enough. She quite enjoyed the various times they would be brought together to play. Although, now that she was nearing "adulthood" as her mother had said, such games were surely soon to come to an end. She knew things were changing; she could see it in every look she received from the young men at court and the maids who tended to her dressing. For today, however, it didn't matter. Today it was just the two of them, playing in the garden as usual, laughing in innocent joy.
"I'm on to you, Relena!" the young prince called. "You can't escape me so just give up already!"
"Never!" she called back. She saw his shadow below the tree come to a halt and held her breath. The sounds of his feet crunching on the dryer earth beneath the shade of the great oak told of his nearness.
"Hiding in a tree again?" Heero called up.
"Only because I know how you hate to climb!"
"Do not!"
"Do too! You're afraid of heights and you know it!" Relena teased back.
"Oh yeah?" Heero grabbed the trunk of the tree and began to make his way up to her. She smiled and began to pick small apples off the nearby branch and throw them at his head one by one. "Hey! Cut it out!" He chided ad he made his way swiftly up to her side. "Looks like I win!"
"Very well, then. You found me. What is it you wish to claim for your reward? My new hair bow perhaps?" She teased. He raised a brow.
"I get brag rights."
"Oh, big deal. Hail Heero Yuy; King of the tree climbers!" She laughed. He reached over and poked her in the side, eliciting a small laugh. "I wish it could always be this way."
"Can't it?"
"No…" Her voice saddened. "Mother said that after today everything is going to change.
"Why?"
"She says it's time for me to take being a princess seriously because I am becoming a young lady."
"You're just a girl."
"Maybe to you, but not to the kingdom."
"I don't see any difference. You're still my Relena." His Relena. He had called her that from the moment he could talk. She was laced in his arms at the young age of three and told that they were to be friends.
"Am I?" She paused and rolled an apple between her palms. He surprised her then by putting his hand on hers and looking into her eyes.
"Whatever changes are coming our way, you won't have to handle them alone. I'll be right here to protect you." She smiled.
"Let's make a promise then, to be together, forever, no matter what comes our way." He nodded and the faced each other, locking hands. "I Relena Peacecraft, promise to be forever your Relena."
"And I, Heero Yuy, promise to be forever, your Heero." Leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. He leaned his head against hers and slowly, they fell asleep like that. For those few precious moments no one else existed. It was just the two of them in their tree.
Suddenly, the sky grew dark and Relena found herself growing father and farther away from Heero. an evil laugh echoed through what once was the castle garden. The black void grew deeper and darker, and the distance grew more and more. Heero called out for her but as the distance grew, the harder it was to hear him. Relena stood, legs suddenly frozen in place. She could only look on in horror as Heero; her best friend, her soul mate, slowly turned to stone.
"NO!" Relena called out. "Heeeeeeeroooooo!"
Relena woke up with a start. The nightmarish memory plagued her whenever she dared try and let herself relax. It seemed as though Dermail wished to torment her even in her dreams. The sun had not yet come up, but its golden rays, barely visible beyond the gloom of the forest, were beginning to peak through.
"Are you alright, Relena?" Catherine asked. She looked up to see the concerned faces of her friends staring at her.
"I am fine. It was only a night terror."
"It was about that night, wasn't it?" Relena didn't need to answer them; they knew.
"Do not trouble yourselves over it. We have a whole month before Dermail returns. We should try our best to enjoy it."
"Not likely. I hate water! I hate swimming and this curse we're under combines those two things in the worst way."
"It could be worse," Catherine teased.
"Ladies, please. The sun is rising; we must go to the lake." Relena chided. They all became silent, a solemn resolve in their eyes. They followed her, each falling in behind her in a V-like formation. As the sun's golden glow illuminated the clearing and graced their skin, the dark magic swirled around them. Where once five young women proudly stood, now five swans swam together, their heads hung low in resignation.
