Her mind stopped for a moment as it tried to comprehend the faces before her.
"Don't touch her!" Darien commanded, running across the cracked marble.
Serena met Nephlite's eyes, his face colder than the rest. The magic rose inside her chest and she held her hands out. A pulse wave of energy traveled over the distance between herself and the generals, and knocked them from their feet.
She looked at Darien, sorrow lining her face. "I'm afraid I must leave now."
"But-"
She placed a gentle hand on his chest, using the scarce magic she had left to send him into slumber. It was then, in his last moments of consciousness that he realized his generals were sleeping on the floor as well.
And that's where she left him, in the middle of his ruined entrance hall, belly down, lost in dreams.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
For a week, the castle was run by Darien's cousin, Terra, a beautiful young girl who could barely run her own life, let alone the lives of hundreds of people. Every night she would visit her dear cousin who slept in his bedchambers, never awakening.
"Would you wake up already, Dare!" she would yell at him. "I cannot take this place anymore!"
The red head was much too used to her pampered life along the sea to run a dark castle in the mainland. It seemed for a long while that the Earth's Prince nor his generals would awaken. It seemed the Moon Goddess had overused her strength on him.
But she'd measured it first.
She knew the precise moment when he would wake up, a little after midnight a week after she had reclaimed her throne. She arrived on the Earth, dressed in her royal attire and dead tired. She'd traveled all around the Moon, eyeing the damage she would have to fix and taking note of what she should do first.
"Darien," she whispered, shattering the silence of his room. She laid a letter beside his head, explaining what she had done and what she was going to do. She remembered his room so well, that morning she had shared with him.
She'd never have another.
Seconds before Darien awakened she was gone. His mind was foggy and he felt out of place. He grabbed the note, sealed with a the Moon's Royal Crest. He opened it quickly, lighting a lamp on the table beside him. He held his breath.
Endymion,
I have taken back my throne as you will remember soon. You have been asleep for one week and your cousin Terra has been running the castle. I imagine a great deal of work needs to be done to fix the damage of your entrance hall. I apologize.
I hope that you can forgive me for fleeing as I did, but you must understand the circumstances I am under. I hope that the Moon and the Earth can be Allies in the future.
Sincerely,
Queen Serenity II
He let out the breath, running his hand through his hair. He closed his eyes, sadness pushing at his shoulders. He looked out the window where the Moon shone silver.
"Serenity..."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
On the Moon, a new palace was being built while the dark one had been demolished within hours of Serena's return. The ruins of the first Moon Palace had been turned into a memorial where the strange magical flower bloomed in larger numbers.
Serena stayed in a different home every night, a different village every day. This night she was in a small village beside the Sea of Serenity. While the homeowners slept, she waded out into the cool waters and cried. Even though she had taken back what she had lost, she had lost more in the process. She imagined Darien had read the letter by now.
What did he think?
She dove under the water pushing away thoughts, focusing all her strength on sinking rather than floating. But her body rose to the surface without her consent and she breathed again.
"Helios, I could use some sweet dreams tonight if you have any to spare."
She pulled herself back to the shore, then to the porch of the home. She then laid down on a cushioned bench and slept until the gold of morning awoke her.
She didn't have any dreams at all.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The next day Serena traveled to the Moon's only remaining capsule port to greet her new Court. The first to arrive was Princess Reily of Mars, Raye's first cousin. The girl was only thirteen, and though she looked remarkably like Raye had, she was different as well. Her eyes, rather than being the deep brown like Raye's, were a light brown color, with a hint of yellow like warm embers. Her hair was cut short, two long strands framing her face. She held the inner fire that all Martians had, an unfailing strength that carried them through.
"Hello, Majesty," Reily said, curtseying gracefully.
"It is wonderful to meet you, Princess Reily," Serena said, smiling warmly. "The others should be arriving shortly."
They did, one by one. The next to arrive was the golden-headed Princess of Venus who, though the second cousin of Mina, bore a remarkable resemblance. The same blue eyes and freckles. Her smile was the same mischievous one Mina had always had. They even shared the same name.
Next came Princess Andria, or Andi, of Mercury. Her blue hair reached her waist, and was kept back with a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was quite shy, no doubt she possessed a wonderful mind. She was shorter than the rest by almost a complete head, but the most mature out of all of them.
The last to arrive was the tall, muscular Lena of Jupiter. She had the Amazonian build that all Jupiterians grew into, and her hair was in a long French braid down her back. Her eyes were an emerald green, serious and loving at the same time.
Serena found herself surrounded by ghosts.
"You may call me Serena," she told them as they began to leave. "Each of you will have your own set of responsibilities as my Court but I don't want you to think all business.
"I need you to be my friends too."
"Serena," Andi said meekly, "are you sure that we are the right choice for your Court? We are, after all, only thirteen."
"And I am only eighteen. I'm sure we'll do fine."
Her Court exchanged unsure glances.
Serena laughed. "You four! Come now, don't think so lowly of yourselves. If I had any doubts, then I would have recruited the Princesses of the outer planets."
"I suppose that is true," Andi said.
They left together four thirteen-year-olds and their eighteen year old leader. They were graceful and elegant as they descending the limestone stairs where their carriages awaited them. People stopped to watch in awe, smiling at the pure beauty of what lied before them.
There were only three or four steps left when a voice stopped them.
"Serenity!"
Serena turned to look to the top of the stairs where Endymion stood in all of his handsomeness. Her body was torn on whether or not to bow her head or kiss him. She wasn't ready for him yet. She couldn't face what she'd left behind.
"Endymion, what are you doing here?"
He came down to the step she was on and looked straight into her intense eyes. "I needed to talk to you."
She nodded quietly and turned away. He took it as an invitation and followed her down the stairs, to the carriage where he helped her inside first. He stepped in as well while Serena's new court took another carriage.
It was uncomfortable, to say the least. Serena kept her eyes mainly out the window, trying not to cry, or kiss him, or jump out of the moving carriage. Darien was trying to keep from staring at her.
Serena finally gave in and sighed. "What did you need to talk about?"
He paused. "Everything." She stared at her hands now, just anything to keep from looking at him. Darien felt guilty, felt horrible for causing her pain. But she in turn had hurt him. She'd left him alone. "Why?"
"Why what?" she asked.
"Why did you leave me? Don't you trust me, Serenity?"
Tears pulled at her eyes. "I had to, Endymion. You wouldn't have let me go. You wouldn't have understood then." She looked at him with watery blue eyes. "You don't understand now."
He searched her eyes, searched her soul. In them he found truth. He wouldn't have let her leave him again, he could scarcely let her go the first time. He did suddenly understand that she had to go, with or without his consent. She had a planet to protect, to rule. Just as he had his. He'd forgotten for so long that he still had responsibilities.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Oh God, Serenity I'm sorry." He reached forward to wipe away her tears with his thumb, to hold her cheek in his hand, but she pulled away.
"No, Endymion, I can't do this." She hated the words coming from her own mouth, the mature words of a woman with a job to do. Is this why she'd never met her father? Had her mother separated herself from love to protect her planet? Was she turning into her mother, someone who was always alone?
Serena longed to have him hold her, to wrap her up in safety so she didn't have to face all that was ahead of her. She wanted to be with him forever, just him. This was the dangerous side of love, the one that turned you into someone who did not care for the world, who only cared for one person. She could not be that person. She had to be the Queen, the mother of her planet.
"Fine, your Majesty," Darien said. "You can go on, you can pretend that none of this matters, none of this happened. You can pretend you don't care for me, but I will always know the truth."
"I think you should go," she told him quietly, commandingly.
He nodded, anger burning in his eyes . He stopped the carriage and stepped out.
"You will never really know the truth," Serena said. "You'll never know how much it hurts."
The carriage rode away, leaving Darien back in the dust, where Serena, like her mother before her, left everything she couldn't see again.