I don't own any of the characters in this story! They belong to Takeuchi-sama, I'm just borrowing them!
WARNING: This contains major, major angst. If you're expecting picnics and rainbows, look elsewhere!
He came silently, amidst the whispers of the cool night breeze. He flew over the palace wall, swept through the courtyard, and sailed onto her balcony, where she stood, waiting, forever waiting for him.
Under night's veil of secrecy, he wrapped her lithe body in his strong arms and held her to him. She was sobbing against his chest, harsh tears marring the perfection of her face.
"Why?" she whispered brokenly. "Endymion, why must we hide our love? Why must it be forbidden?"
"Not forever," he promised her gently. "One day, perhaps our kingdoms will ally themselves and we will be permitted to love…until then, we may only meet, may only love, by secret night."
She shook her head morosely and continued to sob. "You do not understand! My mother has discovered our secret… O-one of the servants found one of the roses you gave me… I have been forbidden to ever re-visit Earth! Nor may I meet with you…we are being watched as I speak…" she trailed off brokenly as a harsh sob burst from her throat.
He could do nothing but hold her closer to his body, his tears now mingling with hers, the tangible sadness dampening her hair where it fell.
"I do not accept that," he murmured against her hair. "There must be a way!"
She slumped against him, defeated. "I wish it were so. I have already argued with mother; she refuses to allow it. She…she doesn't trust Earth. And she has declared that all inhabitants of Earth be banned from the Moon – including you."
He pulled back to gaze at her intently. "Come with me. My parents do not yet know you…We could pretend that you are of Earth."
"You know that I cannot. My mother would never give up! Why, it could cause a war between our planets! And mother would kill you if she caught you." She threw herself back into his embrace, shaking her head in rejection of the thought. "I could never let that happen! Never."
"I do not know how to let you go," he admitted softly.
"Nor I, you." She paused, hearing a rustling below. "The guard…Endymion, you must hurry! If they catch you…"
"They won't."
"I will never forgive you if you die…"
"How can I die when I plan to remedy the Earth-Moon conflict when I become King of Earth? And when you are Queen of the Moon?"
She managed a small smile at that thought of the future. "I will wait for you…for us…"
"I love you," he whispered as he swung a leg over the balcony, gazing intently into her eyes in an attempt to show her the depth of his love.
Tears spilling freely down her cheeks, she pressed her lips to his firmly, the chaste peck holding a sense of finality to it. She gripped his shoulders tightly as though her very life was at stake – and she felt that it was. She moved her arms around his neck a final time. He allowed one of his arms to encircle her waist, holding her close, memorizing the feel of her lips. The once chaste kiss was no longer so, but was passionately desperate, desperately passionate.
They broke apart at the sound of the guards' cries. They'd taken too long. Their mouths touched one last time and then he slipped his other leg over the balcony, so that but his powerful arms held him up. She covered his large hands with her smaller ones.
"I will always love you," she told him quietly, running her fingers over his face, engraving every minute detail on her heart, so that she would never forget, as though she ever could.
He dug his toes into the stone of the palace, so that he could release an arm from the balcony and hold her hand to his cheek, pressing a soft kiss to her palm before letting go.
He mouthed his love to her yet again, willing her to always remember his passion for her. Then he pushed away from the balcony, jumped to the ground, and disappeared into the night's shadows to elude the castle's guards. So wet with salty tears were his cheeks that he could swear he'd used up all of Earth's oceans to shed them.
But he couldn't care for the Earth in that moment; couldn't care for the Moon. His pain was so acute, that he could care for nothing but the soul-searing pain, the result of losing the other half of his immortal self.
Above him, on the innocently white balcony, in her innocently white gown, Selenity had crumpled to the ground, her liquid sorrow pouring forth from her eyes like waterfalls, burning her cheeks.
"Please," she whispered to the night sky and its sparkling stars. "Do not let this be the end…Not without him…"
The End
