The Black Rose Curse
By Princess Serena
Chapter 2

Hi! I'm back! Hope you liked Chapter 1, and I'm
back with Chapter 2! Hope you like it! E-mail me
with your comments! VanillaChick32@yahoo.com.
Thankies!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the
characters, blah, blah, blah, but I own the
characters that I make up.

***

Darien looked out the window of the classroom
filled with his teacher's monotonous voice. He
watched the sun rays light up the dark classroom
and the glass dance in the wind. He sighed, wishing
he was out there instead of in this boring,
pointless hall.

Darien chewed on the end of his pen, thinking.
'I wonder what ever happened to that little kid I
used to baby-sit before my parents insisted on me
learning from the "Halls of Terror."' He chuckled at
the thought.

"Is there something funny about how life on the
planets came to pass?" his teacher asked in a stern
voice.

Darien shot around and looked at his teacher's
cold, green eyes. He rolled his eyes. 'His voice
isn't so monotonous, now.' "No, Sir Robert."

"Then please answer the question."

Darien blinked. "Uh… 865 BC?"

Sir Robert arched a thick, brown eyebrow.
"That's the name of the Queen who started the
Silver Millennium?"

His classmates broke in laughter and Darien's
face turned a light crimson. Sir Robert sighed.
"Darien, you're 15. Can't you start to be a little
more serious and pay attention instead of day
dreaming every single day?" The noble shook his
head and walked up to the front of the room.

Darien cleared his throat and got the class's
attention. "Why do we have to learn about the
Silver Millennium anyway? It's not like we're apart
of it. The Queen of the Silver Millennium doesn't
like Earth, so we're not. I don't see why we have
to learn about something we're never going to be
apart of."

Sir Robert nodded in thought, and the class
looked at him with hopeful eyes. "I teach it to you
because it's part of the history I have to
teach. If you want to learn something different, go
ask the King and Queen. I'm still teaching it as
long as I have to." The class groaned and Darien
joined them.

He sighed and looked out the window again,
watching the tiny creatures of Earth wondering
around the rose gardens. He thought the girl again.
'I wonder how she's doing, and what she looks like...'

***

A golden-headed girl sat in the corner of a
small room in the servants' quarters. She worked
the needle through the blue cloth and pulled it
through, dragging the black string with the needle.
Her tiny hands repeated this pattern over and over
again, pulling more of the material together.
She sighed. "Almost done." Her voice was like
twinkling bells in the silent night.

She knotted the thread and ripped the remaining
string off the needle. She set the extra thread and
the needle on the table beside her and held up a
newly finished blue, silk shirt. It had been made
for special occasions, such as balls and parties.

The girl stood up and turned into another room.
She walked over to a wooden dresser and pulled out
matching dark blue, suede pants. She laid then out
on the bed next to her and smiled to herself.
"Perfect."

"Serena!" A woman about early 30's late 20's
bursted into the room. "The Queen want the Prince's
new outfit in his room by the time he gets back
from his teachings! And that's going to be very
soon!"

The golden-locked girl looked up as a woman
with long brown hair ran into the room. "No
problem. Just finished." She scooped up the blue
material and dashed out of the room towards the
Prince's chambers.

***

The Prince walked down the corridor toward his
quarters. He sighed, glad that the history lesson
was over.

He continued down the hallway, very close to
her room. His mood changed when he remembered the
party his family was holding later that night. He
sighed again. "Why? Why do my parents have to be so
fond of parties and balls?" He shook his head and
turned to open the door to his room.

In that second, he felt something slam into him
and fall onto the floor. He looked down and saw a
girl with the most unusual hairstyle.

The girl looked up for one moment before
gathering herself together and standing up. Her
head was bowed to him. "I am so sorry, your
highness. I should have been watching where I was
going. I was just in a rush to get here and give
you the new clothes I have sewn together for your
party later tonight that I wasn't watching where I
was going. Please, forgive me."

The prince grinned slightly down at the girl.
"No need to apologize, milady. If you were flying
down the corridor at me, I should have caught you.
And please, don't bow to me, milady."

The girl lifted her head and looked up at him.
Her eyes were the brightest blues he has ever seen,
her lips like two flattened cherries. Her hair was
as if gold was spun into thread and put atop her
head. She nodded, her locks bouncing along with her
head. "Yes, anything, your highness. And, may I
tell you with all my respect, please do not call me
'lady,' for I am no lady. I am only a mere servant
that has been lucky to be in the presence of the
Prince."

"If that is what you think. But I can not see
why a beautiful creature like you is a 'mere
servant.' And you shouldn't hide your beauty by
bowing your head."

The girl blushed and nodded at the Prince.

"May I ask what name has graced this angel?"

The blonde's face turned a darker pink.
"Serena."
"Ah. Almost as beautiful as yourself." He
smiled at her. "Now, what has brought you to fall
into my presence? And I really do mean fall."

Serena giggled. "I have just finished your
tunic for tonight. The Queen requests that you wear
it, although I don't see why since she hasn't seen
anything done by me yet."

Darien nodded. "I see. But why wouldn't she
want me to wear it? I am sure that you have done
wonderfully on it."

Serena's face was now a very dark crimson.
"Maybe. I think I have done ok, but I've seen
better, and, in my opinion, the color is too dark
for me." She held out the material to reveal a
folded button-down-the-chest shirt. Underneath were
pants of the same color. The shirt was the finest
silk and the pants were the softest suede.

Darien took the outfit. "I think it is
wonderful. Although, I must disagree with you, the
color is fine for me. I do not wear light colors
that often. Dark colors match my hair."

Serena smiled. "Maybe you just haven't found
the right light color, yet."

Darien smiled, amused by this girl. "What part
of the castle do you live, and who do you live
with?"

"I live in the eastern part of the castle. My
mother is Ilene."

Darien's eyes widened. "Your mother is Ilene?"

Serena started panicking. "Is there something
wrong, my lord?"
Darien shook his head. "Not at all." He smiled.
"You probably don't remember me, but I used to
baby-sit you. Ah! I remember now! Serena!" He
laughed. "You had the biggest ball of hair one your
head when you were little!" He laughed again.

Serena giggled. "That is funny, I agree, but as
you said, I do not remember you."

Darien smiled. "Well, I am glad that I have met
you again, Serena. And I do hope that I see you
again sometime. You are most amusing and
delighting, and I enjoy spending time with you." He
smiled again. "I am sorry to leave you, but I must
go. I shall dress in this piece of work and walk
down to my mother's tedious party." He smiled, yet
again.

Serena giggled. "I guess I wouldn't know how
tedious it is, since I've never been to one. But I
will be helping to serve supper later tonight. So
maybe we will see each other, but I will understand
if you would not want to talk to me, since I am a
mere servant while you are the Prince of Earth."

Darien shook his head. "I would never want to
not talk to you. I am very sorry, but I must go. I
do hope that I see you later tonight." He smiled
and turned the doorknob on his door and walked into
his room, and Serena turned and headed back to the
servants' area of the castle.

***

Serena skipped back to her quarters, humming a
tune happily. As she hummed and skipped, she
imagined herself dancing in the Prince's arms. His
raven-colored hair falling into his deep blue eyes,
and muscular arms holding her petite body.

Serena shook her head. 'What are you thinking,
Serena? He's a prince, and you're a servant. That
would never happen.' She rid her mind of that
thought and walked into her room. She plopped
herself down in a chair and sighed, enjoying the
comfort.

"Don't get comfortable, Serena. The cook wants
us down in the kitchen in half an hour. She wants
to explain the order of the foods we need to bring
out tonight."

Serena looked up and saw her best friend,
Molly, dressed in a black dress. It was a plain
black dress; short sleeves, v-neck, and it ended
right at her knees. "What's with the dress?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! The Queen had these made
for all the servants serving at the ball tonight.
She said that she didn't want us to stand out or
distract the guests." Molly pushed a strand of her
red hair behind her ear. "I have one for you, too."
Molly walked into the room she came out of and
Serena followed.

Molly walked over her small cot with woolen
blankets piled on top of it and picked up a black
dress similar to Molly's. Molly handed it to Serena
and Serena held it up to her shoulders. Of course,
it was a little bit smaller than Molly's dress,
since Serena had a smaller waist and bust than
Molly. Serena smiled at her best friend. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Molly smiled back at her. "Well, I'm
going to go down to the kitchen early. I want to
talk to the cook about something." The red head
walked out of the room and closed the door.

Serena quickly changed into her dress and stood
in front of a dirty mirror. It had a small mahogany
frame, one of the corners was falling off, and the
wood was almost cracked throughout the whole frame.
She let down her hair and combed through it with a
wooden comb her mother had made a long time ago.
She then put her hair up in her usual style, two
buns on either side with a ponytail trailing from
each bun.

She fixed her dress and smiled at her
reflection. She thought the dress actually looked
ok on her. Then she thought of Darien. 'I hope I
see him at the party tonight. Maybe he'll even say
hi! I hope he does.' She shook her head. 'What are
you thinking? He's a prince! A prince! And not just
any prince, the Prince of Earth!' She sighed.

She walked out of the sleeping room and into
the kitchen/sitting room. She looked up at an old,
rusty, metal clock. It read 5:35 PM. "Oh my
goodness! I'm late again! This isn't good!" She ran
out of the room, slamming the oak door behind her
and sprinted down the hallway.

***

The prince walked into his room and leaned
against the door. He smiled. "Wow, that girl is too
much. She's like a fallen angel." He looked down at
the blue material the girl had made for him. He
walked over to his bed and laid it out. "Whoa, I
can't even see the stitches! Wow."

He picked up the outfit and neatly folded it
over his arm. Her walked to the bathroom and closed
the door to get ready.

***

Serena ran into the royal kitchen and skidded
up to the crowd around the main cook. Everyone
turned and looked at her.

The chef walked up to her. "Late? I told
everyone to be here at 5:30." The chef had brown
hair up in a ponytail and green eyes. She was
wearing a green apron that tide around her neck and
then again on her waste. She smiled. "But it's ok.
I just started."

The girl turned around and walked into the
center of the circle again. She stood up on a stool
so everyone could see her. "Like I had said before,
my name is Lita. I am not the official chef of the
palace, but I am substituting for the main chef,
Randy (AN: That's for you, Mandy! ^_-), since he
can not attend this important feast. The king has
also enjoyed Juptitarian (AN: Pronounced 'Joo-pit-
tar-ee-an') delicacies."

Serena stood next to Molly and Molly gave
Serena a mocking smile. Serena rolled her eyes and
whispered to her friend, "Shut up." Molly just
smiled back at her.

Lita continued. "No one is to speak to anyone
Lord or Lady of importance, unless you are spoken
to. You must not draw attention to yourself. If any
of you are clumsy, try not to be tonight. If you
spill or drop something, clean it up immediately.
If you spill or drop something on someone and it
ruins their shirt, pants, dress, etc, offer a new
one. We have plenty back here for any emergencies.
Do not serve any of the animals. Do not taste any
of the food. Any leftovers will be given to us, so
don't take anything ahead of time.

"Now for the food. We will first be serving a
soup made from my special recipe. It will consist
of chicken broth, carrots, strips of chicken, corn,

peas, celery, and tiny cooked piece of dough. About
5 people will walk around the dining table pouring
the soup into the Lords' and Ladies' bowls. The
next course will be fried fish from Saturn. Once
again, about 5 people will walk around serving the
fish. The 3rd course will be Neptunian roasted
pheasant. This we will only put on the dining
table. The people will be free to serve themselves
and take as much as they like without having to
wait to be served. Some side dishes will be mashed
potatoes and warm Venusion bread with butter from
Mars. The dessert will have many foods: an apple
pie from Pluto, a cherry pie, lemon pastries from
Uranus, and blueberry muffins from Mercury. The
drink that will be served through this dinner will
be a special wine that what very hard to get. The
Moon has agreed to send us some Ver wine. For those
who are not familiar with this wine, it is a very
expensive wine, which costs 500,000 Earthen dollars
(AN: just like American dollars). It is the color
of silver, and if it spills on something, that
place will sparkle for life. Please try not to
spill it on anything."

Lita looked down at her green watch. "Ok. We
have to get started. The feast will start in an
hour, and we still have to cook a lot of things.
Now, I'm going to split everyone up in different
groups. The groups will be doing different things."
She started splitting the girls and guys up into
different groups.

Serena smiled at Molly. "We're in the same
group."

Molly smiled back and her. "I'm glad. I was
afraid we would get separated. Neither of us has
done this before, so we'll be able to help each
other now."

Lita walked up to Serena and Molly's group.
"Ok. This group will be cooking, and then serving.
I will choose who will serve what and cook what."
Lita walked around the group examining them. Then
she pointed to Molly, Serena, and two other girls.
"You four will serve. You will start out with
pouring the wine, and then serving the meals. If I
need it, I will ask more servants to serve with
you." Lita winked, then turned on her heel and made
her way to the next group.

Serena smiled dreamily. 'Maybe I'll see the
Prince.'

Molly nudged Serena. "Hello? Are you ok? You
got all dreamy."

Serena blinked. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She
smiled weakly.

Molly eyed her friend. "Did you meet any guy
recently?"

Serena blinked again. "What? You think I met a
guy? Me? Little Serena? Ha! No way!" She laughed
nervously.

The red head shook her head, her crimson locks
bouncing on her shoulders. "Whatever you say."

Serena sighed as Lita stepped up onto the stool
again. "Ok people! Let's get to work!"
***

^_^ I hope everyone liked that chapter. It's longer
than the last couple of chapters, so I hope that
fills your requests. ^_^ Be back soon!