The Earth Has
Two Loves
Part 2: Moon
Song
I do not own Sailor Moon or Ronin Warriors.
It was one hour before sunset and the sun princess was very reluctant to return to the sun. She stayed close by Darien's side, hoping that he would be able to know she was there.
She watched the prince study things and would whisper the answers in his ear. When he got discouraged, she stroked his hair and soothed him with kind word, even though she knew he didn't hear her.
Darien yawned and so did she. Both of their bedtimes were drawing near. She looked out at the window and sighed. The sun was now beginning to set.
"I don't want to go yet," Mia groaned. But she knew she had no other choice. "I'll be back tomorrow at sunrise," she whispered in Darien's ear. "Sweet dreams." She kissed his cheek and escaped through the window, taking one last look at Darien.
Darien touched his cheek. How could he feel like he was just kissed by the sun when it was now setting?
The phoenix bird appeared outside and waited for the sun princess. It screeched, telling her it was time to go back home.
"I know, Phoenix," she whispered softly, "let's go home." She climbed up the fiery bird and settled herself between its wings. She took hold of its blazing feathers. Screeching, the bird took off, carrying its rider into the sunset.
By the time the sun princess was falling asleep, the moon princess was waking up. She sighed softly and rubbed her eyes, feeling refreshed.
"Pegasus," she called and her mount neighed and stood ready for her. "Let's go to the Earth." She rubbed the flying horses mane and climbed upon its back.
Pegasus entered the atmosphere of Earth and smiled in anticipation as she got closer, and closer to her prince.
Prince Darien was on his way to dinner when she arrived. She hopped off her mount, rubbed its mane as she said, "now behave yourself, Pegasus."
Pegasus neighed softly and flew away, disappearing in the sky.
The moon princess went through the prince's window. Though humans could not see her, she still had a human's sense of smell. She floated through the room and down the hall where Prince Darien was having dinner.
Everything smelled absolutely delicious, but she had no need to eat. She was a whole other being and she got her energy from resting on the moon and eating 'her' food of the moon. It wasn't that the food from Earth was poison for her; she could eat it if she wanted to, but the food was not for her to eat.
She watched Prince Darien eat his food and adored every moment of it. She loved watching him eat or do just about anything. There was nothing that the Prince could possibly do that would bore her.
"What kind of food would you like for the ball, your highness?" a servant asked the prince.
"Something that the maidens would like," he replied.
"Ball?" the moon princess asked, "Maidens?"
"I think a mixture of breakfast and lunch will be good," a female servant suggested, "then we can have a dinner after the ball."
"Why not just before?" the first servant asked.
"We can have a few things after the brunch throughout the ball and until the dinner."
"I hope our guests won't fill up," Darien mumbled. "Why not a dessert instead?"
"What ever you would like, your highness," the maid said.
"Will you like the ball to start right after the brunch?" a different servant asked.
"We can have a variety of activities," he said, "horseback riding, croquet, badminton and then we start the ball."
"That's a wonderful idea!" she exclaimed.
"What's going on here?" Serena demanded, "A ball? What ball? You cannot have a ball; there's no woman on Earth that can love you like I can!"
"I'm sure it will all be worked out by morning," the old female servant asked. "Soon, your highness you will have many girls who will want to wed you!"
"No, you can't do this!" Serena cried, "Please, tell them not to do this!" she begged the prince, grasping his shoulders, what little good it did. "I love you!"
"Excuse me," the prince said, "I'm going to bed now." He wiped his mouth and dropped it onto his plate, stood and began walking to his room. He changed out his royal attire and into his pajamas. He lit a candle and did some reading before going to sleep.
"I'm not sure you can't hear me," Serena whispered, "and you can't see me, but please, don't have this ball. I won't be able to come here until sunset tomorrow. You might find someone until then. I am the person you wished for. You wanted someone to watch over you during the night. That is I." She came closer to him and sat on his bed. "Darien, please say something."
Darien did not see or hear her. The room seemed a little stuffy and Darien went to open a window. He stared at the moon for a little bit.
Noticing he was looking at the moon, Serena said, "I've come from the moon to watch over you."
"I love the moon," he said softly to himself.
She gasped, "You do?" Her heart jumped, "do you love me? Oh, if only you could see me!"
"I love the sun too," he added and went back to his bed.
"The sun?" she mumbled. Then she figured that whoever came to him in the day had to be from the sun.
Darien got under his covers and rested his head down on his pillow. As the wind blew in, it carried Serena's voice. She began to sing him to sleep, lying next to him.
He could hear something in the wind, something sweet and soft but he didn't know that it was Serena singing. Darien began to fall asleep but Serena continued to sing. When her song was over, Darien was in a deep slumber and she kissed him on the forehead, humming soothingly.
Three hours past midnight, Darien moaned with bad dreams. Serena soothed him with soft whispers and stroking his dark hair. "Shh," she cooed. "Only a dream."
But his dream seemed so real. Darien dreamed that he would be alone forever. There would be no one to make him happy. Even if all the girls in the world were to show up at the ball, not one of them would be the girl he dreamed of. But his dream girl was always unclear. He could not see her face or the color of her hair. It was all so blurry. He always heard a voice, soft and soothing and he felt someone brushing past him.
There were two voices, one was younger and one older. Now as he dreamed a happier dream, he could make out the voices. The older voice he heard during the day and the younger one at night. The touch was the same but a little different; one was warm and moist and the other was cool and dry. If only he could match the voices and touch to the face.
He wanted to see them; he wanted to see them so badly. He'd do anything in order to hold them, to kiss them, to hear their voice, if not both, then at least one. Just let him see one of them. Let him drink sunshine again and let him hear another moon song and know where it was coming from.
Sunrise was two hours away and Darien awoke. Serena was surprised; sometimes he was still asleep by the time she left.
"Good morning," she said merrily, "you're up early."
He smiled as if he heard her. He took a nice bath and dressed for the day. Serena was always heartbroken to leave. What if something were to happen to him during the day? Then she remembered last night about what he said about the sun. He wouldn't be alone. Someone will come at sunrise. She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or not. Truthfully, she wanted to be the only guardian of the prince.
"The sun is rising," she informed sadly, "I have to go now. I will come back after sunset. Just like I've always done for the last six years."
Should he have known she was leaving and be able to see her, Darien would feel sad too. He would beg her to stay and not to leave. When the sun princess would have to go at sunset, he would beg her to stay too. Even if he knew someone would come back in the next hour.
But he had no idea about the princesses and neither knew when he would.
"Goodbye, Darien," and she kissed him. She went outside where Pegasus was waiting for her. "Let's go home, Pegasus." She climbed upon the ivory back of Pegasus and he flew up into the horizon, just as the sun was about to rise.
Darien decided to watch the sunrise since he was already in time to see it. He settled on the grass and he began to feel the sun's warmth. He smiled and closed his eyes for a moment, the sun shining on his face. When he opened his eyes, the sky was in many beautiful shades of colors: blue, orange, and yellow, purple, red.
The sun was coming up and he saw something coming from the giant golden glowing globe. (Betcha can't say that 3 times fast!)
He sat up and strained for a better look. "What is that?" he wondered out loud. "What could it be?"
The image came closer and he could see what it was. The figure coming from the sun was a bird of fire.
"A bird of fire?" he asked.
He saw something on the bird. It was a woman. He could not understand how someone could ride a bird of fire.
The bird landed and the woman dismounted.
"How can you ride a bird of fire?" he asked the woman in amazement. "How come you do not burn?"
"You can see me?" she questioned in surprise.
"Yes. Of course I can see you." He answered, "Just who are you? Where do you come from?"
"The sun," she said, a tear forming in her eye. "I'm the princess of the sun and I've come for you. I've been coming here for the last 6 years."
"For me?"
"Do you remember the wish you made?" she asked, "the wish you made when you were a boy?"
"I wished that I would have someone with me," he said.
"Yes, day and night," she finished, "and I come to you and sunrise and I leave at sunset."
He smiled, "My wish came true?"
"Yes."
"Who comes to me at sunset?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," she replied, "I think the moon princess."
"How come I've never been able to see you before?" he asked, "were you always by my side?"
"Always," she replied, "I'm not sure why you weren't able to see me before."
"Are you my guardian angel?"
"Something like that."
"This is incredible," Darien mumbled and he raised his voice in a happy cry, "This, this is just amazing! My wish came true!"
"It is," she agreed with a nod and a smile. "Yesterday I hoped you would see me. I know about the ball that is going to start at noon and onto sunset."
"You heard?" he asked.
"Yes."
Darien ran his hand through his hair, "You really do stay by my side, do you?"
"Always. There's no place I'd rather be than here with you."
"The ball was going to start at sunset," he said with a frown.
"Yes, I remember," Mia said, "I was a little upset because then I would miss it."
"I want you to stay here with me," Darien told her, "and eat with me and play games with me and dance with me."
"There's nothing else I'd rather do," she whispered, "I've always wanted to do the things you can do."
"Can you stay until after sunset?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I'm sorry. I sleep during the night. Like you do."
He frowned. "I don't want you to go."
"We still have plenty of daylight left," she said, trying to cheer him up. She kissed his forehead. "Don't worry, we'll make the most of it."
Darien touched the spot where she had just kissed him.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Have you ever done that before?" he inquired, "Kiss me?"
"The first thing I do when I come into your room at sunrise is kiss you," she said, "and then you wake up. I kiss you during the day and before I leave."
"Did you kiss me any where else besides my forehead?" he asked, remembering that warm sensation in his mouth yesterday.
She blushed, "once. Yesterday."
"Yesterday?" he placed his hands on her shoulders, "when I was by the river under a tree?"
"I wanted you to see me," she said, "and you looked so peaceful. I really couldn't help myself. I kissed your lips, hoping that you would be able to see me. I wanted you to know I was there."
He smiled, "I felt it."
"You did?" she asked, returning the smile.
"It was the most wonderful thing I ever felt!" he cried, he began to ache for another taste of sunshine, "everything inside me felt so warm. Kiss me again!" he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
Mia could not believe it. It was the first time he had ever kissed her. Her arms reached over his shoulders and stroke his dark hair. Darien kissed her and kissed her until he was full of sunshine and out of breath.
TBC