Princess Chapter 5

Liana walked into Odette's room only a few minutes after Kuruko and Long's voices had disappeared. She pulled out a long purple silk dress, matching shoes and a corset. Sighing, Odette got out of bed and let Liana put the corset on. "There were some leftovers after dinner." Liana commented, "I had some of the quail, milady caught. It was delicious!" "Thank you." Odette said slipping into the dress.
"Did you hear that Queen Beryl had enough power to have a real body for a few hours last night?" Liana asked, "Prince Kuruko was quite upset. He's been up since dawn trying to figure out how she got the power." "Really?" Odette asked, "Has he asked his friend Long?" "I'm not sure." Liana replied shrugging, as she started brushing Odette's hair, "But Kuruko would never suspect him. He's his best friend."
Liana stopped brushing Odette's for a second and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "This is for you from Prince Kuruko." She said handing it to Odette. Liana continued to brush Odette's hair as Odette read the letter. It read:
Dearest Odette,
I'm going to be too busy today to visit sadly enough. Please
pick out a few books from your library and go to the garden.
Liana will bring you lunch there. If you'd like to practice
archery anytime in the day please call for Liana who'll bring
you back into your room to change into more suitable clothing
for archery. You can call her if you need anything else. Long,
who you met yesterday, will meet you for dinner. I hope you
have an enjoyable day.
Love,
Kuruko

Odette frowned. "It says that I can call you if I need you." She said, "But how do I call you?" Liana stopped brushing again and pulled a small silver hand bell out of her pocket and handed it to Odette. Odette took it. "Ring it." Liana instructed. Odette did. No sound came out of the bell, but a pretty ringing started around Liana's wrist. Liana pulled her sleeve up to reveal a bracelet with a small bell on it. "I'll come when I hear this." She explained, "Would you like your hair in a braid?" "Yes please." Odette replied looking at the bell Liana had given her.

Ray and Mina walked into Crown Arcade to see that Bunny was sipping a milkshake absentmindedly at the counter, staring at nothing in particular. "Hey, Meatball Head." Ray said sitting down at the stool next to her, "What's up? You've been acting so vague since Rini left. Are you starting to regret agreeing to marry Darien?" "I think she's exited." Mina said sitting on the other side of Bunny.
"I don't why she's like this but she's been sitting here all day doing nothing." Andrew said walking behind the counter, "What can I get for you ladies?" "Vanilla milkshake." Mina said. "And a chocolate one." Ray added. Andrew left to get them.
Suddenly Bunny got up and walked out of the arcade. Mina and Ray watched her go. "I really don't know what's up with her." Andrew said shaking his head. He handed the two milkshakes to the girls. "Darien asked her to marry him a week ago." Mina said. "I know." Andrew replied, "Darien was so excited. And nervous. To tell you the truth he's been carrying that old rock around for about a month. Did Bunny or Darien ever tell you exactly the date he proposed?" "No." Ray said, "When?"
"Well you know that Darien did it last week, but here's the whole story. About two weeks ago Darien started to get jittery. He knew the right time to ask was coming up but he wanted it to be perfect. So I volunteered to let him use Crown Fruits after hours as a place to propose. Lizzy and I waited on them. It was fun. We watched when Darien proposed. It was hilarious! You should have seen Bunny's response to the question. She was jumping around screaming yes."
"Yeah. That's Bunny." Ray said rolling her eyes, "But I wish I knew what was bugging her!" "We should probably catch up with her." Mina said standing up. "Yeah." Ray agreed standing up too, "See you later Andrew!" "Bye!" Andrew replied, waving at the girls.

There was a knock at Pluto's door. Guessing that it wasn't Neo Queen Serenity, she got up and opened the door. As she expected it was Kado. "Hello." Pluto said letting him in. "Hello." He replied sitting down on one of the hard to see chairs. "I was thinking about all those questions that you asked me yesterday." Pluto said sitting down in another chair, "And I realized that you're an immortal. You know about those things."
"Well, you're special." Kado replied smiling, "Yes, I am immortal but that doesn't mean that all immortals are the same. I still have to eat. Basically I'm a mortal that can't die from old age. But there's one thing I didn't understand about you. When you have a kid do you turn mortal?" "No." Pluto said, "I will become a 'regular immortal'." "Oh." Kado said. The two smiled at each other.

"Hey, Bunny wait up!" Mina called, running to her friend. Bunny looked behind her. "Oh, hi guys." She said softly when she saw Ray and Mina. "What's wrong?" Ray asked, "You're so, I don't know!" "Yeah." Mina said, "What's wrong." "I'm worried about Rini." Bunny mumbled. Ray sighed. "Didn't we already talk about this?" she asked. "Yes." Bunny replied. "Well then what are you worrying about?" Mina asked, "You know she's a good kid and you know that she's not as little as she used to be. She's our age now! She can take care of herself."
Bunny looked at her friends and gave them a weak smile. "I guess, you guys are right." "Now let's hang out at the temple!" Mina declared jumping up and down happily. "Why the temple?" Ray asked scowling. "I don't know." Mina said shrugging, "Your grandpa is cool." "He's a pervert." Ray mumbled. "It's a place to hang out." Bunny said settling the fight before it began, "Now let's go!"

Odette looked up from her book. It was an old book, titled, The Secret Garden. Her stomach rumbled. Odette frowned. She hadn't had a very large breakfast and she was hungry again. Odette looked around her. The plants seemed to be growing very quickly. "They must have Earth Mages here." Odette commented to herself. She spied a juicy, red, ripe apple tree that was now over twenty feet tall. It had only been around five feet before.
Odette walked up to the tree and considered climbing the tree. There were a few branches near the bottom that would be good for climbing. At the castle in Crystal Tokyo, Odette had spent a fair amount of time climbing trees, but they were shorter and she had not been wearing skirts. The girl shrugged and hitched up her dress. She would get that apple and that was final.
Odette put her foot on the first strong branch and pulled herself up, her skirts falling around her. She hitched them up again and climbed up another level carefully, closer to the apple. Minutes passed and Odette got closer and closer to the apple. Finally she only had one more step to go until she reached the apple. Odette hitched up her skirts one more time and stepped. Her foot touched the branch and she pushed up.
Suddenly Odette's foot slipped before she could reach the next branch for a grip. She fell to the ground at an alarming rate. Odette closed her eyes. Of course she had fallen out of a tree before. The memory flashed through her head.
"Mommy! Look at me!" a five year old Odette called to Neo Queen Serenity. The whole family was visiting a large, beautiful garden outside of Crystal Tokyo. Odette pulled herself onto the first branch. Her mother laughed. "That's nice dear." Serenity said, "Now get down before you hurt yourself. "I'm not going to hurt myself!" Odette replied continuing to climb higher and higher.
"You're going to fall out the tree." A ten year old Rini said scowling. Odette scowled back and climbed faster. "Come down and we'll go get ice cream." King Endymion prompted. "I don't want ice cream!" Odette replied, "I'm having fun climbing this tree!" Odette insisted pulling herself onto a large branch.
"Come down here right now!" Neo Queen Serenity cried. "You're scaring your mother." Endymion warned. Odette scowled at them and continued to climb. "You're going to fall out the stupid tree." Rini said. "I'm not going to!" Odette yelled. "We warned you." Rini replied shrugging, "She what I care when you fall."
Just then she lost her footing and plunged to the ground. The ground approached rapidly. Serenity and Endymion watched speechlessly in horror. "USE YOUR MAGIC!" Rini screamed at her sister. Odette was too panicked to do anything but to pull herself into a ball. She hit the ground...
Odette did just what she did six years ago. She pulled herself into a ball and prayed that it wouldn't hurt as much as it did the last time. That part of the memory flashed through her head.
Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion rushed towards their daughter who was sobbing on the ground. "It hurts!" Odette cried. "I bet it does." Serenity said sympathetically, "But we warned you that this might happen. Odette didn't reply except for more tears.
Serenity turned towards Rini. "Go get Sailor Mercury." She instructed. Rini ran off. "Where does it hurt?" Endymion asked Odette. "My leg." Odette cried, "And my arm." "Which one?" Endymion questioned. "I don't know!" Odette sobbed.
Rini returned with Sailor Mercury at a run. After a quick scan with her computer Amy sighed. "She broke her arm and fractured her leg." She informed the group, "We best get her back to the castle."
Odette had been falling for a few seconds now. She knew the landing was coming. She pulled herself into a tighter ball and squeezed her eyes shut. Her fall stopped immediately, but it didn't hurt. Odette opened one eye cautiously. Kuruko was frowning at her. "What in the NegaVerse possessed you to climb that tree?" he demanded, "If I wasn't here to catch you, you would be a human pancake!" "I wanted the apple at the top of the tree." Odette replied nervously.
Kuruko laughed. "You are something, Raven." he said shaking his head as he put her down, still laughing, "You are so innocent." He waved his hand and the apple flew down from the tree and landed in Odette's hand. "Now are you happy?" Kuruko asked. Odette smiled. "Yes." She replied, "Thanks." "No problem." Kuruko said smiling, "Why shouldn't I save the life of my betrothed?" Odette frowned and remember why she was wearing a ring around her finger.
"I'm thanking you as a friend. Not as a fiancé." Odette said stubbornly. Kuruko shrugged. "Then thank me that way." he said, "I doesn't make a difference."
"I thought I wasn't going to see you today." Odette said changing the subject. "I didn't think I would when I wrote that note." "Weren't you trying to work out that thing about your mother?" Odette asked. Kuruko paled. "How do you know about that?" he asked. "You can't keep things from your servants." Odette replied. "Ah, Liana told you." Kuruko said. She nodded, biting into the apple.

The next planet Future Sailor Venus and Future Sailor Mercury saw looked a lot like Earth. "I hope these people are peaceful this time." Venus commented, "I have to admit that none of us excel at fighting skills." "That's not true." Mercury said, "You beat Kaede in sword play just last week and she's the best out of all of us. And you rank eleventh best hand-to-hand combatant in the Crystal Palace." "Yeah." Venus replied dryly, "Eleventh." "Well it's only to be expected that you're not as good as the Sailor Senshi. They're older and more experienced than us." Mercury pointed out.
"Whatever." Venus said rolling her eyes, "Let's check out this new planet."
Twenty minutes later the two Future Sailor Senshi touched down on the planet. It seemed normal enough. They had landed in a field. Just a few yards away was the beginning of a large city. "It looks nice." Mercury commented. "Yeah." Mercury agreed.
Just then two people ran out of a building, a woman and a man and ran towards the two scouts. When they were only a few feet away the woman spoke. "How in the world can you fly?" she demanded, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. "You must tell us exactly over noon time tea!" the man insisted motioning for them to follow as he walked back towards the building with the woman.
"Something tells me that this is definitely not a warring planet." Venus mumbled following the two people into the building. Inside was the largest library the two girls had ever seen. That was saying something because the Crystal Palace was extremely large. Near the door was a table with four armchairs around it. The man and the woman sat down in two of the large squishy armchairs. Venus and Mercury took the other two.
The woman clapped her hands twice and a girl around twenty hurried in with a tray with a full tea set, which she put on the table and left. The woman poured each person and herself a cup of tea and passed it around. "I am Pro. Amory." The man said, "And this," gesturing to the woman, "is my wife, Isana."

"So why aren't you straitening things out about your mom?" Odette asked. Kuruko sighed. "There's not enough clues to do anything with it." he explained, "And yes, it wouldn't be a good thing if my mother was resurrected, but for now we don't have to worry because she isn't. Long convinced me of that."
"I don't like Long." Odette said frowning, "He leaves a bad taste in my mouth." "What's that supposed to mean?" Kuruko asked. "It's a saying in Crystal Tokyo." Odette explained, "It pretty much means there's something I don't like about him." "He's my best friend," Kuruko said, "I'd know if he was planning something against me." "Do you?" Odette asked.

"So tell us how exactly you flew." Isana insisted, "Did you use mechanical wings or rocket packs? Though I didn't see any on you when you landed. Did you dispose of them?" "Well we didn't us any type of machines." Mercury explained, "You could almost say we have the gift of flight. "Really?!" Amory questioned, "Is it like magic?" "Amory!" Isana exclaimed, "You know as well as me that there isn't such thing as magic!" "Well there sort of is." Mercury said slowly.
"Really?!" Amory asked, "Is that how you flew?" "Sort of." Mercury started, "Well we're Sailor Senshi, you must have one on your planet." "I've never heard of these 'Sailor Senshi' before." Isana said, "Tell me more. I'm interested. "Well, there's a Sailor Senshi for each planet." Mercury explained, "They protect the planet from intruders with I guess you could say, 'Magic' abilities. Each scout is named for the planet it protects. Take my mother for instance, She protects the planet Mercury and She's named Sailor Mercury."
"Mercury." Isana repeated, "Isn't that a few hundred light years away?" "Yeah." Mercury informed her. "What about you?" Amory asked, "Are you Sailor Mercury too?" "No." Mercury replied, "I can't be until my mother dies. Right now I'm Future Sailor Mercury. I have been looking for differences and all I can find are that I have weaker attacks than my mother.
"What brings you out this far?" Isana asked. "We're on our first mission." Venus said proudly. "We have to bring the Moon Princess home." Mercury said, "We're supposed to protect her when we grow up." "I think that your parents think that you've already grown up if they're letting you get her." Isana informed them, "You should be proud. We've got two kids a little older than you two and I'd never let them go so far from home."
"So what do you do here?" Mercury asked. "We're scientists." Amory informed them. "We're not really scientists." Isana said frowning, "We more like scholars, pursuers of knowledge." "That's interesting." Mercury said, "What are you pursuing right now?" "We're really not allowed to say." Amory said, "But when we finish it we'll be national heroes!"
"We should probably be going." Venus said to Amory and Isana, "Thanks for the tea." "It was no problem dear." Isana said kindly, "Best of luck finding your princess." "Thank you." Mercury said smiling. "You could go to the roof and leave that way." Amory suggested. "That would be great." Venus said, "How do we get there?" "Go through the door over there." Isana said pointing to one on the other side of the room, "Then turn left and walk until you find a set of circular stairs. Go up them as far as you can. Then turn to the right and there will be a door at the end of the hall. That will take you to the roof."
The two girls got up and followed the directions that Isana had given them. They climbed the circular stairs that seemed to go on forever. "When are we ever going to get to the top?!" Venus exclaimed. "I really don't know." Mercury said shaking her head, "But we're on the twentieth floor." "And the twenty first will be our last." Venus finished smiling. They had reached a landing with no more stairs." "So which side did she say to go to?" Mercury asked. "I don't remember." Venus replied, "All I do remember is that Isana told us there's a door at the end of the hall." "There's a door at each end of the hall." Mercury informed her. Then let's take a chance." Venus said. "You're right. We've got a fifty fifty chance of being right. Which way should we go?" "Uh... Left!" Venus said pointing right.
"That's right you dingbat!" Mercury said rolling her eyes. "Oh." Venus said changing the direction her hand pointed in. The two walked to the left. A few minutes later they reached the door. "Here goes nothing." Venus said. She pushed open the door. Inside was a large machine. They had guessed wrong. Isana and Amory were there.
"Drat." Venus said under her breath. "I'm sorry!" Mercury said, "I guess we opened the wrong door!" "That's all right." Isana said, "There's no harm done." "Is that an AIC?!" Mercury asked amazed. "It sure is." Amory said. "Did you make it?!" Mercury asked. "Yes." Isana replied. "Cool!" Mercury exclaimed.
"What's an AIC?" Venus asked Mercury. "An Artificial Intelligence Computer." Mercury explained. Turning the Isana and Amory she asked, "Can I see it closer?" "Sure!" Amory said cheerfully. Mercury walked into the room, admiring wires and switches as she went. "I can't believe you were able to make one on such a large scale." She said whistling in awe. "It took twenty years." Isana said, "And finally we're just fixing minor problems."
"Would you like to help us on that?" Amory asked. "I'd love to!" Mercury exclaimed happily. "But you have to find your princess." Isana said. "But we need more help on this." Amory pointed out. "Stay here." Venus told Mercury, "I'll be fine on my own." "You don't know that." Mercury said, "Just stay here." Venus said, "You'll be happy. Kuruko's a new monarch. He won't have complete control over the NegaVerse yet. It will be easier than if we're battling Beryl."
Venus closed the door and walked across to the door they were supposed to go through. Behind it, she found a roof just like Isana had described. Venus walked out onto and closed the door. She sighed. Venus walked to the edge of the roof and prayed that Sailor Teleport would work with one person.
The lone senshi sighed. And looked over the side and frowned. She was looking at the largest city she'd ever seen. It was larger that Crystal Tokyo, but there were no people in sight. "Where are the people?" she asked aloud. "They're inside. We're all scholars in this city." A voice replied. Venus whipped around to see a boy around her age. "Who are you?" he asked curiously.
The boy was very handsome. He had dirty blond hair that fell over his eyes and green eyes. He wore all black leather that made his hair stand out. "I'm Future Sailor Venus." She said, "Who are you?" "I'm Nicolas." The boy replied, "But everyone calls me Nick. What are doing here?" "I'm leaving." Venus replied. "Did you meet my parents?" Nick asked. "That depends, are your parents Isana and Amory?" "Uh huh." Nick replied, "You know, you're really good looking. Come back when you can stay longer." Venus blushed. "Sure." She said.

A few hours later Odette was dressed in a very fancy, very black dress for dinner. She was dining with Long and Kuruko. "You look lovely tonight." Kuruko commented. "You know the wedding is tomorrow." Long said watching Odette pale considerately. "You weren't supposed to say that." Kuruko warned frowning at his best friend. "I wasn't?" Long repeated, "Oops."
Kuruko turned to Odette. "I hope you don't do anything to hurt yourself tonight." Kuruko said seriously to his fiancé. Odette scowled back at him. "I hope you like them feisty Kuruko, because this one's never going to cool down." Odette turned to him. "Okay." She said, "You. Quiet." "You can't make me." Long replied snidely. "Actually she can." Kuruko put in, "She'll be the princess of the Dark Kingdom so she has power over you." Odette gave him a satisfied smile. Long glared at her.
Maids brought in the main course. It was lamb, mashed potatoes, and green beans, a favorite of Odette's, but she didn't eat any of it. The reminder of the marriage made her sick to her stomach. She didn't touch any of her food the entire meal. Kuruko saw this. "What's wrong my raven?" he asked. "I'm not in the mood for food at the moment." Odette replied, "May I go back to my rooms please?" "Of course." Kuruko replied smiling, "I want you to feel the best for tomorrow. I'll have Liana bring some food up later, okay?" "Sure." Odette said smiling weakly as she left the room.

Around an hour later Liana walked in with a tray of food. "Are you up for eating now?"
she asked. Odette, who had been lying on her bed looked up. I guess so." She replied. Liana placed the tray in front of her. Instead of the fancy dinner that had been given to her before
there was a bowl of soup and some bread. Liana left and Odette began to eat.
A few minutes later Odette finished her dinner and quietly left her room. She hadn't explored very well and if this was indeed going to be her eternal resting place. Her elegant black dress moving with her was the only sound Odette heard. As she walked down the long hallways, her ears caught on the sound of two voices coming from a partially open door. Odette hurried forward and stopped at the door to listen.
"-tell me why you're acting this way towards my Raven!" Kuruko exclaimed. "I just think that she's acting too independent for a girl and you're letting her." Came Long's cool response. "It's not your business how I let my fiancé act." Kuruko growled. "Whoa! Calm down." Long said quickly, "I'm just saying that girls should obey their male superiors and do nothing without their consent." "Well how am I going to say that to Raven?" Kuruko asked, "She comes from a planet that's ruled by a woman that just happens to be her mother for gods sakes!" "Well I think you should force her to learn." Long snapped, "If she was my wife I would have beaten the habit out of her the first day!"
There was a pause in the conversation. "Great." Kuruko said sighing, "She's been listening." A wisp of black smoke flew out the door and stopped besides Odette's head. She took a breath and with the air, came the smoke. Odette, who had been leaning against the wall listening, sagged down onto the floor, asleep. Long and Kuruko walked out of the room. Kuruko picked Odette up. "I'd better get her back to her room." Kuruko said sighing, "I just wished she didn't have to hear that."
The real action starts in the next chapter so I hope you liked this one!