The Black Rose Curse

By Princess Serena

Chapter 10

Gomen! Gomen! GOMEN!!! School's is very annoying and time-consuming. Plus I got band from the internet. -_- Long story. Anyway, I'm here! With chapter 10!! Please leave comments! ^_^ Thank you all who left reviews! I'd go and check who did, but I'm not allowed on line. *sigh*

I love you all! Thank you for reading! You guys are the greatest ever!!!!

Disclaimer: I am not a professional writer or anything. I only have about $10 is you really wanna sue me.

Something 'bout the way you looked at me Made me think for a moment That maybe we were meant to be Living our lives separately And it's strange that things change But not me wanting you so desperately

-'Desperately' by Michelle Branch

***

The newly discovered Moon Princess lay on her bed in a white satin nightgown twisting the white and light pink sheets of her bed around her long, slender finger. She stared at the top of the canopy above her bed and sighed. She hadn't been herself lately, knowing that Darien wanted her out of his life.

She clutched the material and sat up. It just wasn't fair! What had she done? He never said. She pushed back the tears and fell back onto her pillow.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something or someone tap her head. She turned over and found a black cat on her pillow only to roll her eyes and turn away. She was poked again, and she gave in a rolled over. "What?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Get up, lazy bum. It's almost lunch time," the cat replied.

Serena rolled her eyes stared at the cat. "Lunaaaaaaa..." she moaned.

The cat, who was obviously named Luna, nudged the princess's shoulder with her head. "Come on. Get up, sleepy head. Queen Serenity is waiting for you in the dining hall. You already missed breakfast."

The princess sighed and sat up. "Fine. I'm up. Happy?"

In response, the cat gathered the sheets in her mouth and pulled them back off Serena. "Get up and get dressed. And in a nice dress, too. None of that playing around stuff you usually wear."

The bed was empty after Serena had stuck her tongue out at her cat, then got up and made her way over to the large closet full of dresses. She stared blankly at the dresses until Luna came over and started helping her pick out one.

"I think you should wear the blue one. It brings out your eyes," Luna suggested.

Serena shrugged dully and dragged the dress out. She trudged into the bathroom and washed her hair quickly and washed her face. Then she slipped into the dress. She came out and watched Luna nod in approval. She walked over to her closet with shoes and picked out some dark blue ones to match the dress, even though she knew no one would see them.

Serena turned around to face the cat. "Is this ok, Luna?"

"Yes. No hurry down there. And don't rip your dress again!" Luna had to scream the last sentence because the princess was already heading out the door and down the hall after seeing what time it was.

The blue dress was so long that Serena had to hold it up as she ran and she still tripped a couple times. Luckily, though, she didn't fall. She flew down the hall passing a few servants and even running into one. She quickly helped pick up the laundry and put it in the basket, then continued her sprint to meet her mother.

Once again, she had tripped on her dress, and this time, she fell. She cringed and looked at the small rip at the bottom of her dress. She silently prayed that no one would notice, then picked herself up and hurried down the hall once again.

Eventually, she made it to the dining hall where her mother was. Serena was panting and trying to catch her breath when she noticed that there was more than one person in the dining hall, and the four girls looked around her age, maybe.

The queen got up and smiled at her daughter. She glided over to the confused princess and stood behind her with her hands on Serena's shoulders. "Girls," she started. "May I introduce to you the Princess of the Moon."

Queen Serenity led her daughter over to the table and had her sit down next to her. "Serena, I'd like you to meet your guardians, the Sailor Scouts. This is Princess Raye of Mars," she gestured to a girl with long black hair, "and Princess Ami of Mercury," a girl with short blue hair, "Princess Mina of Venus," the Queen motioned to a girl with long blonde hair, blonder than Serena's, pulled up into a red bow, "and Princess Lita of Jupiter." Serena gawked at the name. The girl with brown hair tied up in a ponytail stared at her.

"You're... You're that cook from Earth..." Serena said surprised.

Lita looked as if she didn't know what she was talking about, but then smiled as her green eyes showed remembrance. "And you were that servant."

Serena smiled and nodded. "Funny we're meeting up again."

Lita nodded while still smiling. The other girls looked confused, but Lita just laughed. "We'll tell you guys later."

Serena smiled then stared at her lap. She looked down at the rip on the side of her dress and saw it had made it all the way up to her knee. She cringed, but looked up and smiled again. Maybe someone actually WOULD be seeing the blue shoes she was wearing.

"Anyway," Queen Serenity said. "We will be having a party, well, ball, in honor of your 17th birthday, and welcoming home of the moon princess." She paused, then gasped. "I almost forgot!" The queen turned toward her daughter and placed her index and middle fingers on Serena's head.

The princess closed her eyes and felt a strong warmth on her forehead. When she opened her eyes, her mother was smiling at her. "You now have the mark of the moon family," she said.

Serena blinked, then looked at the silver goblet at her place. She saw her reflection, and on her forehead was a gold crescent moon mark. She smiled and looked up at everyone. She didn't know what to say. Yes, she felt whole now. Nothing was missing.

Well, something was missing. A half of her was missing, or at least it felt like it. And she knew why, but her mind dared not even think it. She had to forget, even if it took all her strength.

The food was served, and everyone made small talk while eating their lunch. Serena nibbled on a chicken sandwich, thinking about the Earth, and everyone there. Well, ALMOST everyone.

"Is that ok with you, Serena?"

Serena snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. "Is what ok?"

The queen smiled. "We will have your party three days from now, since that is when your 17th birthday is."

"Oh, yes. That's perfectly fine with me," the princess agreed.

"Great! I have already ordered your dress for the ball, and it is being made this very second. It will be delivered to you that night, and you will wear it." Queen Serenity put her index finger to her lips in thought. "Oh! And we shall invite the Earth family, seeing as how they took you in. Won't that be splendid?"

"The... the Earth family?" She gulped.

"Why, yes, of course. We heard that you got pretty friendly with the prince," Queen Serenity commented. The other girls at the table smiled and whispered to each other.

"Oh... Well, yes... I guess that would be the right thing to do..." she trailed off. Serena swallowed, then put her sandwich down on her ivory plate. "Will you excuse me, please. I am suddenly not hungry and feel that I need to lay down." She stood up.

Queen Serenity brows knitted together in concern. "Are you alright, dear?"

Serena nodded. "Yes, I just think I need some rest." And with that comment, she flew out of the dining hall and down the corridor.

Time passed, and Serena finally made her way to the rose gardens. She tried to catch her breath, and sunk to the ground on her knees. She was still breathing heavily as she observed the roses: red, white, pink, yellow, blue, and all the colors. She swallowed and remembered how Darien and her used to sit in the rose gardens together. She choked back the tears, urging her self not to cry.

But it didn't work. All the memories were flooding her head, and the tears just spilled out. She covered her face and sobbed. She was ashamed for crying like this, and she scolded herself for coming here.

The sobs racked her body and more tears flowed. She couldn't stop thinking about him. His dark blue eyes, his raven-colored hair, his smile... everything. She didn't know why he had done what he did. What did she do? Did she say something? Did she do something so horrible for him to make her go through this pain? Did he even know how much pain she was going through?

She rested her head on the ground and kept her eyes closed. She had to go on. She couldn't keep thinking about him anymore. She wouldn't be able to live if she did. She had to forget him despite of everything. She just had to.

***

Darien trudged down the corridors of the castle, slowly making his way to his mother and father's room. They said they had something to tell him... but what? He shook his head. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything much anymore. The one thing that mattered in life was gone now... and he felt as if his heart had been ripped out nad torn to shreds. He didn't have any emotion anymore, and he'd locked himself out from the world. He hadn't talked to his best friend for about a week, but it wasn't like he wanted to talk to anyone. He just wanted to be alone. And why was he in this state? Because one girl broke his heart...

No. He had to stop thinking about her. Why was he? He had to get her out of his head, but it was just so hard. He remembered how her laugh sounded like twinkling bells in the night. Her hair was so golden, so beautiful, and her eyes were so blue, a laughing blue, always laughing, never weeping. Except that one time. But why had she wept? Why had she cried? She didn't care-

"Darien..."

The prince whipped around to come face to face with his best friend.

"I haven't seen you for a week. What's up? Why have you locked yourself away from the world?" Andrew asked with true sincerity.

Darien raked his fingers through his thick, raven hair. "I've just had a lot of things on my mind, I guess. But I can't talk now. I'm supposed to meet my parents. Without another word, he spun around and took off down the hallway with long and fast strides. He didn't want to talk about it.

The door of his parents' room finally came into view, and the prince rapped on the mahogany door with his knuckles lightly. The door instantly opened and his mother's face came into view. She smiled, then pulled him into a tight hug. "Ah, my son. We must talk," she said, then pulled away and let him enter.

The queen closed the door, and Darien sat down in a red armchair across the room from where his parents were. His mother sat down gracefully on the king-sized golden-draped bed, while his father sat next to his wife.

The king spoke first. "We have been informed that the princess of the moon, Serena, as you well know, will be turning 17 and having a welcome home/17th birthday party. We have been invited, but I'm afraid we have a very important meeting that day and cannot attend."

"Therefore," the queen continued. "You must go in place of us. She is your friend, of course. I don't see why you wouldn't want to go."

Darien's blood ran cold. Go to the moon? To see HER? The girl who broke his heart? "B-but Mother," he stuttered, trying desperately to think of any excuse.

"That isn't a problem, is it?" the king asked in a stern, deep voice while arching a thick eyebrow.

The prince shut his mouth and shook his head stiffly. "No, I'll go," he replied. Yes, he would go, but just to go. He'd avoid her at all costs.

Darien stood up, his whole body tense. "Thank you, Mother, Father, but I fear I have some business to take care of. Please inform me of when the party is, and I will... happily... go." He struggled to say the word 'happily'. He wouldn't go happily. He'd go miserably. He'd be extremely miserable. He wouldn't mention that, though.

With one swift motion, the prince exited the room leaving his parents in slight confusion.

***

Serena stood on a stool in her room, holding her tired arms out while she had about 5 or 6 women swarm around her, making measurements and fixing her dress. She didn't exactly like it, and she hoped she could suggest some alterations.

"Ow!" She winced when she felt a sharp pain on her stomach.

The seamstress apologized earnestly and respectfully, then went back to her work. The princess sighed wondering how much longer this would take.

She turned her head to see herself in the mirror. The observed the dress with a little scrunch in her nose from disgust. It was white. Yes, she loved the color, but this dress wasn't exactly what she pictured her dress to be. There was too much beads, bows, and lace. So many beads drooped off the top of the skirt along with the lace. There was a big bow in the back made of ribbon, and more bows along her waist.

One woman seemed to notice her displeasure and asked, "Is there something wrong, Princess?" The other maids looked up.

"Well, do you mind if I make some suggestions?" Serena looked at them hopefully.

They didn't seem to mind, and they shook their heads.

The princess grinned, then put her arms down and started making suggestions. She pointed out the bigger things, like the bows, then the tinier details. The maids seemed to like her ideas, but the dress would need a lot of work.

The maids quickly stripped her from the dress and hurried out of the room to make the alterations. Yes, there needed to be so many changes to ALL her dresses. They were too frilly for her, WAY too frilly.

She quickly pulled out her old maid's dress, slipped it on, then took out one of her nice gowns. She grabbed a needle and thread, along with a seam- ripper and a pair of scissors, then sat down in her armchair and got to work. This would take all day, and probably longer.

***

The three days rolled by quickly, and all the preparations were almost done. Serena stood in the ball room admiring the decorations. It would be even prettier at night, with the chandelier on and the silver candles lit. But it was already so beautiful! The floor was pure marble, and the walls painted white with a tint of silver. There were small, round tables in tiny groups on the side of the ballroom, almost exactly like the balls on Earth. They were draped in silver, and in the middle of each table was a large, silver candle.

Serena thought the whole room just seemed to sparkle. It was so beautiful that she didn't realize she was standing with her mouth wide opened, not to mention that someone was talking to her.

"Moon to Meatball Head!"

The princess blinked and looked at the dark-haired girl in front of her. She rolled her eyes. "Raye, my mother does her hair like this too," she pointed out.

"Hmm, you're right, but this is YOUR nick name." Raye grinned.

Serena looked around at the room again, mesmerized by its beauty.

"Jeez, Serena, you're almost 17. You'd think you would stop spacing out by now," said Raye exasperatedly.

"Just because I dream and not totally down-to-Moon like you doesn't mean I'm immature."

"I never said that!"

"No, but you implied it."

And that's when the great tongue war began.

"You're BOTH immature," came a voice from behind both of them."

The two princesses stopped and looked at the Jupiter princess who stood smirking with the Venus and Mercury princesses.

They both rolled their eyes and said, "Whatever."

"Serena, your mother wanted me to tell you that she wanted to see you," Ami said.

"And she said that your dress was on your bed in your room," Mina finished. "She said that it looked so much better than what it did before and tat you have great taste."

Serena smiled. "You should see what I did to the other dresses in my closet."

The girls rose a brow in unison at the Moon princess, then grinned at her.

"I'll see you guys later tonight, alright?"

The girls nodded, then watched their princess skip out of the room to see her mother.

***

As for the prince of Earth, the day he dreaded had finally arrived, and too fast for him. He stood in front of his mirror. His parents were making him were a very formal tuxedo. They never made him wear a tuxedo, but according to his parents, he wore when to his 10th birthday ball, and since this was the Moon princess's home-coming/birthday ball, he needed to wear one. Plus, the queen said they wore tuxedos all the time to balls on the moon, so he was forced to.

He hadn't put on the tuxedo on quite yet; there were still a couple of hours left, and he wanted to make them as long as possible.

He couldn't believe that he was going to the moon by himself. He also heard that he could have a conference with the queen herself about making the Earth part of the Silver Millennium! His parents must trust him a lot to let him do this, especially by himself.

Darien was pretty excited about being part of the Silver Millennium, but the rest of the party he was dreading. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, a habit he had for as long as he could remember, and sighed. He really didn't want to go, and if he told his parents that he didn't want to, he'd have to explain the whole thing them, and he really didn't feel up to doing that.

But then a thought crossed his mind. What if... What if he had misread her? What if it was just a crazy thought? What is HE himself had broken HER heart, and not the other way around? Those tears seemed so real, and what if they were.

Darien's heart stopped and he sat down on his bed. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. What had he done? He had made a terrible mistake. He loved her, and she loved him. He'd broken the heart of his love, his one and only love.

The pain surged through him like a thousand lightning bolts from Jupiter. He had hurt her so much, and he couldn't bare it.

And for the first time in such a long while, he cried.

***

Serena closed the door of her room and leaned against it. She took in a shaky breath, then let it out. Her mother had told her that the prince of Earth was coming, and only him. Not his family, but just him. And that the she, the queen, and Darien would talk afterwards about letting the Earth into the Silver Millennium.

She noticed that her whole body was shaking. She thought that she'd never have to see him again, but she had to, and now it would be even tougher to get him out of her mind.

No, she COULD do it. Yes, she could.

She straitened herself up and calmed her stirring body, then looked at her gown for the evening on her bed. She gasped at its radiance. It was even more beautiful than she expected! And the maids had added a little more than she wanted, but it wasn't too much. It was perfect.

The dress was still completely white, but there was a tiny exception. There was a high "princess" waist marked with small, bead-sized pearls, and then a beautiful embroidered design above the chest where the dress ended below her collarbone. The sleeves were slightly poofy, but it seemed to suit the dress and make it even more pretty. The rest of the dress flowed from her "princess" waist down to her feet, and a bow with long tails streamed out of the bow and flowed with the rest of the dress.

It was absolutely gorgeous and she made a mental note to thank the maids with extremely gratefulness.

Luna popped into the room minutes later and informed the princess, "The queen says you must get ready now, for the ball will start in an hour."

Serena nodded, and Luna left. The blonde picked up the dress, then walked into the bathroom to get ready.

***

Prince Darien stood in front of his mirror, once again, but in his tuxedo. He fixed his hair and bow tie and searched his image for any other flaws.

'Serena, I'm very sorry for what I said. I made a wrong judgement and my life had been terrible without you. I know I have broken your heart, and I probably don't deserve you, and I will understand if you never want to see me again. Any guy would be lucky to have you. I just hope whatever guy you choose will treat you correctly as I had tried to do, yet failed. All I ask is for your forgiveness, but I know I do not even deserve that. But I ask you to please remember that I will always be here for you no matter what,' Darien recited in his mind. He didn't want her to choose another man, but he wanted what would make her happy.

He hoped she would say yes and take him back, even though he didn't deserve her. But he'd try his best.

And with one last glance in the mirror, he swept out of the room and headed down the hall, ready to face the love of his life, and hopefully win her back.

***

Serena smiled and nodded at the guest she was talking to. She must have talked to a billion people already, and it was quite tiring. She just wanted to get out and go to the rose gardens, he favorite place ever since she got here. It was on Earth as well, so she immediately fell in love with the one on the moon.

She had gotten many compliments and envious glares. The compliments, of course, were from the men who desired her, and the women didn't seem to enjoy their men drooling over this new princess. She was wearing her dress with a pearl bracelet on either wrist and beautiful gold earrings her mother had given to her. She also wore pearl-beaded barrettes in her hair along with pearl-stringed ponytail holders around each bun. She had to admit, though, she thought she wasn't nearly as attractive as some of the women here, such as Raye or Mina, but for some reason SHE was the one attracting the men.

Ami started having an intellectual talk with the man that was talking to Serena not that long ago, and took this as her moment to slip away.

Her plan worked, and she was soon in the rose gardens. She sat down on a bench and admired the white and red roses around her.

Throughout the enormous crowd, she hadn't seen Darien anywhere. Maybe he didn't come. Maybe he was busy or something. Maybe she wouldn't have to face him. She let out a sigh of relief at this thought.

For some reason, something beckoned her to get up and start walking. So she did. She walked around for a while, getting lost in her thought and the wonderful scent of the roses. She didn't care how long she had been out here. The music was enough to keep the guests entertained until she came back. It wasn't like she WASN'T gonna come back. That'd be so silly. It was her party, after all.

Her thoughts kept drifting, and she kept staring at the roses and she walked. But then something caught her eyes. A black rose. She frowned. Black roses should ruin this beautiful garden. She walked over to it, then gracefully bent and picked it out of the ground she stood up and twirled it between her finger.

She winced and felt a sharp pain in her finger. She looked down and saw a drop of blood on her finger tip. The thorn had pricked her finger by accident.

Then her breath caught in her throat and her body tensed. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. She sunk to the ground, then fell over on her side. She released the black rose from her fingers. Her breath started to become shallow and more rapid.

And then all the memories came flooding back to her like a rushing river breaking through a dam. She remembered Metallic, and how she had killed her father, and almost killed her as well. She saw her mother banishing Metallic and leaving only her soul. And she remembered the curse. That's why she couldn't kiss Darien. Part of her knew not to, but yet something told her to come and prick her finger on this rose.

Hot tears streamed down her face and sunk into the soft ground. "No..." she whispered. Darien would never know how much she loved him, and she'd never live her life like she should.

It was over for her, she knew it.

But then she heard someone running, coming for her, and someone call her name...

***

Darien swished the water in his goblet around. He scanned the crowed with his deep blue eyes. He had seen Serena a few times, but she hadn't seen him and she looked to busy anyway.

Oh, how he longed to talk to her, to hold her, to kiss her. But he couldn't just walk up to her and give his speech, not when she was so busy. She had to please her subjects by greeting them, and letting them talk to their newly discovered princess.

But when he did see her, she looked so beautiful, maybe even more grown up than before. Her warm glow was brighter now, but she seemed a little bored with the whole thing, like she wanted to be somewhere else, talking to someone else. Could that someone possibly be him?

The prince sat down in a chair at a table and listened to the music. He smiled slightly, remembering all the times Serena had sung at his parents' balls. Her voice was so beautiful. If only her mother knew, then Serena could get her subjects to love her more.

He took a sip from his goblet. Throughout the night, he had gotten several flirtatious glances and gestures, but he didn't seem to care. His heart was already set on another. A couple girls actually came up to him to talk. Sure, they seemed like nice girls, but he was in love with someone else. He wanted to shout it to the world, prove it to the world, no, the universe, that he was in love, in love with the most beautiful, kind, wonderful, sweet, perfect girl ever to exist. But that would have to wait, and hopefully he would get his chance.

It had been a while, and Darien hadn't seen his love anywhere. Maybe she had escaped from all those people swarming her, like she seemed to have wanted to do. 'The rose gardens!' his mind shouted at him. Without even thinking, he stood up and let his feet and heart lead him.

They led him towards the rose gardens exit from the dining hall. He smirked at himself and shook his head. 'I should have known,' he thought.

He stepped out of the dining hall and into the warm air. Then again, it was always nice on the moon. But the second he stepped into the night, he felt something terribly wrong. He put his hand on his beating heart; it was beating so rapidly. He felt the pain of someone near by, and he knew that that pain was from Serena.

His eyes widened, and then her ran off through the gardens searching for his love. He looked for about a minute, and arrived just in time to see his love fall to the ground. "Serena!" he cried out. He ran faster, trying to get to her, then saw her fall over completely. He could feel her pain, but he didn't want to. He didn't want her to experience any pain at all. "Serena!" he called out again.

Darien raced to her side and put an arm under her neck to support her and an arm on the other side of her waist. "Serena," he said. He was starting to get scared.

Serena opened her eyes and looked up at Darien. "D-Darien..." she said weakly with tears in her eyes. One managed to slip out and run down her face.

Darien brushed the tear away with his thumb, and held back his own tears as much as he could. "What happened...?"

"Th-There was a curse... I'm sorry..."

"No, Serena, no. I'M sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did-"

"Shh," she cut him off. "Listen to me." She struggled to get her words out.

Darien nodded tearfully and held her close, taking in her every word.

"Darien, I... I... I think I'm... d-dying..."

***

Woo hoo! Chapter 10 done! Cliffie! Hee hee. I'm so evil. Don't worry, though. I'll try to get Chapter 11 out as soon as I can. ^_^ I have so much time since I'm grounded from the internet, and my teachers aren't giving me THAT much homework, and I get it done quicker. Wee! ^_^ Well, I'm gonna go see if I can sneak online to get this chapter up.

Gomen again! I'm so sorry that it took so long. *cries* I'm so sorry. Please forgive me!! And still read please!!

xoxo Sere