"My dream… I will become the Queen of the Earth. I will marry Prince Endymion, and become his bride."
"Sounds like a fairy tale. Like a – a – Ami, what's that Earth fairy tale with that sleeping princess? How she is woken up with a kiss?"
Chapter 2
"…And her name was called Pluto, Guardian of Time. She was a very tall and attractive woman, but that was all that was known of her physical appearance. More often then not, if she was somehow spotted, she was always surrounded by heavy mist…"
As I mentioned before, Luna and Artemis were my father's two closest advisors and my mother's two closest companions when she was alive. Luna was a pretty woman, with long, black wavy hair that were done up into buns rather like my own. She had blue eyes and her pink lips were more often then not, curled up into a smile. Artemis was her companion and he had long, platinum colored hair that was let loose, pale skin and light blue eyes. I can remember Luna telling me that they were from the planet Mau, one far away in a different star system. They themselves were not Sailor Soldiers, though they spoke of their own, Sailor Mau with respect.
I said that I was never able to truly learn who my father was. We were never close and he never talked to me unless it had to be done. Nobody knew him very well, Luna and Artemis being the exception, and when my mother was alive, the four were said to have been like… 'Peas in a pod.' Still, it was rather surprising for them, when they heard that he had an announcement to make and a huge shock when they heard what it was. They… seemed rather ashamed that they had not seen this coming. They thought that they knew him best.
I was about fifteen years old at the time, when the changes came. Slowly, though inevitably, they came, and we were powerless to stop them. Ciel was known for his stubbornness as well. His announcement was that he would be remarrying again, to a woman from Earth called 'Morgan'. The Lady Morgan. She had a young daughter, though I didn't know her name. My studies kept me busy so I was not often able to talk to them. Finally, it had been the two who had approached me.
Like Luna and Artemis, the girls were absolutely mystified as to why my father would do such a thing. Rei seemed rather worried about this matter, though at that time, none of us heeded her warnings. They thought that he would never get over my mother, and always keep to himself. So we did not think much of it when he brought in the beautiful Earth woman and her just as attractive, if intimidating daughter, and we all did not think of it when they started spending time with us, and having meals with us.
It was rather a large surprise, then, when my father stood up, cleared his throat, and lovingly looking at the lady, announced their engagement. Only the daughter seemed happy, laughing with delight. From us, there was only a stunned silence. I didn't know what to say; Beryl and I had interacted, but something separated us. An invisible barrier, if you will. Morgan, Beryl's mother, and soon to be Ciel's wife, seemed nice enough. When I think back now though, to that dinner, I'm pretty sure that Artemis and Luna exchanged glances, before returning their gazes to Ciel. I am sure that they knew something was not right, even if I didn't know then. I am quite certain, though, that even if they were father's two most trusted advisors, they still did not hold much sway over him. Nobody else did, except my mother. It seemed that this Morgan would be the second to.
**********
I remember a time, when Beryl, the girls and I were spending some time together. We were just talking, lying in the sun, discussing our futures. I didn't think much of it at that time, only that I wanted to go and visit Earth, in all its natural glory. Ami wanted to become a scientist, Minako a singer, and Makoto wanted to become a famous chef. Rei did not say what her dream was. Ciel did not approve of these dreams. He had known them for a long time, and he always made sure to let us know that we were royalty and that we should act like royalty. Princesses did not tramp around in dirt, or entertain (besides through balls and parties), or cook. But, they were our dreams, and while we had them, nothing could go wrong.
When we asked Beryl what her dream was, she had leaned back onto the grass, sighed rather absentmindedly, and then smiled. It was a smile full of purpose, full of love, full of determination. She would reach for her goal and she would fulfill it.
"My dream… I will become the Queen of the Earth. I will marry Prince Endymion, and become his bride."
Makoto rolled onto her side and, with an arched eyebrow asked rather lazily how Beryl was going to accomplish that. Beryl, just gave her a slightly irritated look, before continuing on.
"Have you seen the Prince Endymion?" she shook her head ruefully when we shook our heads, waving for her to continue on.
"He… he is very tall… tall, with hair as black as ebony… eyes… the color of sapphires. He's skin is rather pale, though… it might be tanned now. Its summer down there where he is, no doubt he'll be outdoors. He's very well built, very strong, and an excellent swordsman." Beryl sounded so happy.
"Sounds like a fairy tale. Like a – a – Ami, what's that Earth fairy tale with that sleeping princess? How she is woken up with a kiss?"
"… Snow White?"
"Yeah, that. Hair black as ebony, skin white as snow. Except that Endy's a male." Beryl had obviously not been very appreciative of Makoto's teasing of her prince.
Makoto had apologized straight after that; she was not a spiteful person, though Beryl was not very gracious in accepting it. I couldn't blame her then; I wouldn't have appreciated being teased about somebody I cared for.
Trying to ease the tension, Minako had begged Ami for yet another story, to which the latter had sighed good-naturedly, wondering out loud what it would take to satisfy us before launching into the sad story of Sailor Pluto: Guardian of the Time Gates. Even Beryl had perked up at the idea of another story.
As we lay there, I thought about her dream, of the way she spoke of her Prince Endymion, and of how she would be a good wife and Queen to him, and how they would be happy and have two children; one boy and one girl.
"- She stands there at the gates for eternity. Years, decades, centuries and millenniums will go by but Sailor Pluto will never –" I interrupted Ami then. I turned onto my side, reached out and grasped Beryl's hand.
"When you go to Earth," I said, "Please take me with you. I want to see what Earth is truly like. And when we get there, you will marry Prince Endymion, and become the Queen of the Earth, and I will be your bridesmaid." Beryl stared at me, in silent, before she smiled slowly, and beautifully.
"Yes," she said. "I will take you with me, and you will be my bridesmaid."
**********
We were in the library, studying, when we first heard the news. I was trying to read through a book on politics (terribly boring!), the others doing some homework, and it was silent. We sat by a large window that overlooked the gardens, and it was around midday, which gave us plenty of light. The library door opened, and Ami shifted slightly on her seat. She didn't really like interruptions when she was reading any of her books.
"Maids. Gossiping." The way Rei said those words did not make them sound any nicer then they were meant to be. Indeed, the maids were. We could hear curious whispers, and an occasionally shocked 'Really?!' Minako shifted; she loved hearing about any news. She listened, and she talked with us about it, but that was the extent of it. Makoto was like her, to a lesser extent, and so was Ami, though she often denied it when it was pointed out. Rei just did not care.
"It's strange… King… new…"
"But- that's… truly?!"
"Are you certain?!"
"Yes! … Certain… Very…!"
"Great Selene… they can't truly mean that!!" muttered Minako. Her face was abnormally pale, and I looked up at her curiously. She wasn't afraid, just, very shocked. Her hands were trembling, most likely from excitement.
"Not Ciel!" this was a surprise. Makoto often referred to my father as 'King', 'the King', 'Majesty', but never just by his personal name unless something was wrong.
"What about the King?" murmured Ami distractedly. She still had not looked from her book.
"It might be a misunderstanding. You know how maids are; the, uh, 'information' they give out is never really accurate after the first two runs." Makoto again. She sounded amused at that. 'Runs' were the amount of times gossip went through the 'levels' in the palace. It usually started off with the eavesdropper, for example, a chambermaid, who passed it on to another chambermaid, and so on, until the news reached 'the outside' – say, that of the kitchen girls. That was a 'run'. The longest running rumor involved a Captain and a lesser noblewoman. That had lasted for about 50 runs, going through the different levels several times, and the captain had gone from a mere soldier to that of a prince from an unknown planet, with great powers, and the noblewoman an enchantress, who had somehow bewitched him.
"Ciel… what have you done…?!" and here was Rei, with her clenched fists so hard that the pen she held broke in her grasp, and her wide, violet eyes as she stared in horror at something unseen to the rest of us. I remember her expression, and her tone all to well.
What have you done…?!
**********
We saw them later on, walking in the garden. By that time, Minako had managed to procure two names, and a few descriptions of the women.
Morgan was a tall, lovely woman with milky skin, startlingly red eyes and long, wavy hair. She had a rather deep, throaty voice that no doubt sent shivers down men's necks, and her gaze sent anybody into stutters and stammers.
Beryl shared the same beauty with her mother, except that her hair was a darker red, and somehow she seemed crueler. Minako told me with a bit of disgust what she heard from a couple of maids. Beryl threw a huge fit and ordered a servant whipped because he had brought her the incorrect pair of shoes.
The rest of us were a bit dubious about this little piece of information, but Makoto then told us that no matter how unreliable servants could get when it came to gossip, they never exaggerated something as serious as this. When I saw Beryl though, she always had a sweet smile on her face. She was about the same age us.
Artemis introduced us to them, giving out our full titles. So long, not even Ami could remember all of hers.
Beryl just smiled politely, but Morgan started gushing over me, going,
"So you're Ciel's lovely daughter!" it was rather embarrassing, but overall, my very first impression of Morgan wasn't bad.
Beside me, I felt Rei tense up; she was standing that close to me. I felt, though, that any misgivings of Rei's were just from her imagination – if she were having any in the first place. She couldn't always be correct could she?