Forgotten Moon

by Fione

In the hidden find Water, Fire, Lightning and Love, and try to see more than darkness under Envy." Without memory a young maiden awakes at the earthian court to fulfil her destiny. SereEndy(formerly Moon's Destiny)

3. The Stallion

Title: Forgotten Moon

Chapter 3
Author: Fione
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Adventure/Action
Alternate Reality
Setting: Silver Millennium
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, it belongs to Naoko Takahashi and the various Companies
that published it.
Author Notes: Alright, here's another chapter. Have fun!

Finally Randall opened another great door and the distinct smell of fresh hay and horses intensified. Serena's body grew stiffer as her anxiety rose, but she determinedly straightened up, having no intention of showing fear or turning back. Neighing was heard and the sounds of other stable hands cleaning out the boxes, as the giant of a man and the lithe lad entered the main stables. Lined on each side of a long corridor were at least 30 great boxes and Serena was in awe at the beautiful creatures that curiously stuck their heads out the doors as if they had noticed that a new stable hand had stepped onto their premises. The neighing suddenly stopped, as Serenity was lead by the first box where a white mare observed her with deep brown eyes. The young maiden in disguise would have loved to caress the shiny fur but she suddenly became aware of the fact that all activity had come to a halt, multiple pairs of eyes scrutinising her.

She decided to ignore the sudden silence, again falling into step with Randall who was looking around the stables in wonder before training his inquiring eyes on her. The young lad beside him, however, seemed oblivious as to what was wrong but the broad man had never been met with silence while walking by the boxes, making the strange boy even more of a riddle to him. Not being able to figure out the mystery at that very moment Randall turned back to face the other stable hands that had stopped their tasks to muster the new arrival. "Get back to work, lads.", he said in a strong but friendly voice and the men in the boxes obeyed immediately, even if they felt strange because the horses continued to stay silent and observed the lithe lad beside Randall who now continued to lead Sertis down the corridor to Rios' box, occasionally greeting a stable hand.

The unusual pair finally arrived at the very end of the stables where the biggest box was situated. There a gorgeous stallion, its fur as black as the darkest night, was proudly sticking its head into the corridor. Black, seemingly unending eyes were scrutinising the young lad and the board stable hand, which the stallion identified as Randall who had the supervision over the men in the north part of the palace's stables. Rios, however, wasn't really concerned with him at the moment but more with the lithe, blonde form with the strange grey eyes that watched him intently. Serena was awed by the beauty of the creature before her and didn't notice that the stables had once again grown silent.

She couldn't understand what should be so dangerous about Rios. The dark stallion seemed perfectly calm even if wiser than other horses. "He is one in a million and as it seems, you are too.", Randall's voice startled her out of her contemplation of Rios and the disguised young maiden turned to her broad supervisor in question, as she heard the surprise lacing his words. "May I inquire as to what you might mean by that statement, sir?", the memory-less maiden questioned respectfully, slipping back into noble speech, which seemed to come naturally to her. Had she been educated as a lady?", Serena asked herself but quickly returned her full attention to the man beside her.

Randall was once again taken aback by the lad and that for the fourth time in one morning. First his appearance, then the sudden silence in the stables, the seemingly undivided attention of every horse housed in the boxes in the corridor, including Rios and his disturbingly noble speech. Who was Sertis? Could he be from a privileged family? But what was he doing in the palace's stables then and under his services? "Sir?", the lad spoke up softly again, efficiently stopping his supervisor's train of thoughts and reminding him of the question that had been asked.

"I have never met anyone who has drawn the attention of every single horse, and in consequence of all the people occupying the stables at the time, by simple entering the room and it surely was not me whose every move they were aware of. Besides I have never seen Rios take such interest in an individual person. As it seems he deems you worthy of tending to him and that is a true blessing, lad.", Randall elaborated and Serena stared strangely at him not really believing or understanding the last bit he said. "A blessing?", she inquired shortly and a small smile began to grace her companion's garbed face.

"Nobody except for the prince could go near that creature without receiving at least a few bruises or bites and since his highness has been preoccupied as Earth ambassador to the Silver Millennium for the last two weeks I was assigned to take care of Rios. I was, however, as much unable to approach this stubborn stallion as anybody else and I have never seen him as calm as today. Furthermore, the fact that he seems to deem you worthy of treating him will make the task Hans assigned you a lot easier, for he hoped that Rios would treat you no different.", Randall concluded giving the black horse in the box a strong glare as if to punish him for being so picky about the people who where allowed to approach him. In return Rios seemed to snort, a bout of air leaving his nostrils while his hooves banged against the box door.

Serena laughed and her supervisor's glare grew even darker. The proud stallion, however, ignored the agitated stable hand and turned its head to once again fix his eyes on the lithe lad in front of his box. Shaking his mane, Rios snout suddenly tipped against the young maiden's shoulder who immediately stopped laughing and for a few long moments stared into the stallion's black eyes; before as if in trance lifting her hand and beginning to pet the beautiful head. In an instance neighing was heard again in the stables while the stable hands where silently staring at the display, their startled eyes glued to the incredulous scene displayed.

Randall had once again fixed his gaze on Sertis in wonder and decided that he would stop to ask himself question about the lad. The broad built supervisor over the north stables would take the lad as he was; however, different he may appear to be from the other people he had encountered so far. He had never been one to judge other people. Inquiring about their background and being ever suspicious was too straining in his opinion, so he simple ordered the other lads in the boxes back to work and continued to observe the exchange between the stubborn stallion and the strange, lithe lad.

Serena was thoroughly immersed in the task of petting the gorgeous black head that rested on her shoulder and in finding comfort in the slow intakes of breath of the demanding animal. "Why only the prince?", she asked the horse, not expecting an answer, but Randall thought the question was once more directed at him and answered, ignoring the fact that it was strange for a lad to ask such a thing. "My guess is that it is because Rios was a present for his highness' 20th birthday half a year ago. From what I have heard he comes from the moon. The queen, Serenity of the Silver Millennium, has always been a good friend of her majesty, Queen Gaia and it seemed right to present the prince with this exceptional stallion for his Coming of Age. He, however, only accepted the prince as his master and let nobody else near him, until you, that is, which tells me that you must be at least as special a person as his highness.", Randall finished, ruffling Serena's short hair as she had lifted her head from Rios throat to listen to him.

Curiously a strange feeling had risen in her whenever the giant of a man beside her had mentioned the moon, but she just smiled at Randall and dismissed her confusion before turning back to caressing Rios. "You are from the moon.", she repeated as if to ingrain that information into her mind and the man still observing her had to smile at the familiarity between them. The queen and the king would surely be pleased to hear of this development, as would be the prince when he returned. Sighing Randall finally remembered that he had other tasks to pursue and swiftly informed Sertis what he had to do, for which he received a smile from the lad and another snort from the magnificent horse in the grand box. After wishing the lithe boy good luck the broad built supervisor of the north stables turned to head back down the corridor, here and there halting to exchange a few words with the other lads.

However, as soon as Randall had vanished from the stables the attention was once again on the strange, new lad that had seemingly tamed the most temperamental stallion the royal family owned. Such an event was an exciting matter that sliced through the everyday monotony of the stable work, thus drawing the greater part of the stable hands from their work and letting them assemble themselves, if still in a distance deemed safe, in front of Rios box and the disguised maiden. Serena was startled when a shadow suddenly fell over her as she retrieved the items she would need to comb the gorgeous stallion's fur to an even shinier black.

Taking back a step in surprise she hit the box door just when its resident gave an annoyed huff at the curious crowd. The magnificent horse didn't appreciate it if the attention of his caretaker was otherwise occupied and made his distaste at the situation known by banging his hoof against the entrance to his box which caused a sharp noise to echo in the stables, making all the workers as well as the strange lad jump at the sudden sound. In an instance Randall's ward had returned his full attention to the black stallion, a timid hand reaching out to caress Rios' snout in the hope that he would calm down. Serena gave a small sigh of relief as the beautiful animal in the box stopped hammering against the wooden, sliding door; the stables growing still as the stallion's muscles slowly relaxed, leaving behind a seemingly tame horse that relished in the soft touch of its new caretaker.

A small smile grew on the disguised young woman's lips as she forgot the crowd behind her finding some peace for her roughed up nerves as her hand soothingly flew over the shining black fur. Rios, on the other hand, didn't grow oblivious to his surroundings and even if his body had relaxed his eyes still gleamed with fire, staring down the stable hands that had remained standing in front of the box. Slowly, almost grudgingly the last workers went back to their tasks as the other horses in the stables began to protest. They decided that they would question the lithe lad later when he wasn't anywhere near the temperamental stallion, for even if Rios was in his box, they still recalled the time he had easily broken the door and attacked them. It had taken the prince a quarter of an hour until the gorgeous horse's temper had been tamed enough to not make any more outright moves against the stable hands.

Many of the workers had hoped that the royal family would get rid of the wild beast after the incidence but the fact that the beautiful animal had been a present from the queen of the Silver Millennium for the prince's birthday already made that impossible because of political reason, not to mention the great affection that seemed to exist between Rios and his highness. On the other hand, it was the very fact that there obviously also existed an affection of the stallion toward the mysterious lad that made them want to inquire about the new caretaker of Rios. The magnificent horse had taken even faster to him than to the Earth prince. Either there was something terrible wrong with the lad or he was incredible special. The stable hands did not know, but they agreed silently that they would get to the bottom of the mystery as soon as they could.

In the meantime Serena had entered the box and was fully immersed in the task of combing Rios' fur, not noticing that the highly perceptive stallion observed her with pitying eyes, knowing that a hard path lay before the lad's feet. Still the beautiful horse was also sure that the gods would not have chosen the lad if they didn't believe in him being able to endure the hardships that were to come. Suddenly Rios halted in shock as his new caretaker stepped into the sunlight and his dim blond hair, for a moment, flashing a brilliant gold. Had it been his imagination or maybe just a play of the light? Rios didn't know and was just about to relax when the lad raised his head to meet the magnificent horse's eye, confused at the sudden stillness in the animal's body. A nearly choked sounding huff escaped the beautiful creature as the light of the sun hit the lad's face, causing him to close his startlingly azure eyes and raise a protecting hand. Rios dark orbs, however, were fixed on the pale crescent moon that now clearly resided on the lad's forehead while his short tresses glittered a breathtaking gold.

Immediately the intelligent moon horse knew whom he had before him and he was awed, confused and at the same time saddened at the Moon princess's presence in his box. Why had the deities chosen this innocent maiden to tread upon such a tiring path of destiny? As if in trance the stallion turned to face the young mistress of the moon, diligently taking in every feature of the disguised princess, from the now once again dim blond tresses to her mysterious grey eyes and something in the back of his mind slowly whispered to him the tale of the young maiden's fate. Rios was startled when he was told in silent, whispering tunes that he should keep an eye on the now memory less princess while she was occupied in the stables. The stallion had never been one to go against the expressed wished of the gods and shook his head in understanding, startling Serena with his sudden movement. When she once again met gazes with the magnificent creature the feeling of being watched and dissected by it had vanished and a sudden feeling of being protected settled over her as she studied the wise, dark eyes set upon her.

The fear of never finding her memory again and of her uncertain past seemed to lessen for the moment and with a small smile the young woman went back to combing the beautiful horse, being filled with an incredible calmness. Everything would be all right. Rios huffed in content as he felt the soft strokes over his fur, making the memory less maiden laugh. Yes, everything would be all right. The deities had chosen wisely.

For the rest of the morning the maiden tended to the Stallion's needs while humming a soft tune that came to mind and sounded awfully familiar. The melody soothed her even further as she did her tasks diligently, never missing an opportunity to lavish the beautiful creature in caresses. "What's going on here?", a voice suddenly thundered, making the hard working lad jump and causing Rios to neigh in surprise and dismay. Swinging its proud head around the stallion's dark, once again fiery eyes came to settle on Hans, who looked no less enraged. The disguised maiden, on the other hand, calmly finished manoeuvring the last bale of straw into one corner of the boy before, straitening up to look the head of the stables directly in the eye, questioning him with two raised eyebrows. Serena once again followed the great urge to agitate the cranky man, feeling no fear creep up on her while she was aware of Rios' presence right beside her.

Hans' face became an angry grimace as the lad stared at him with unsettling grey eyes. The head of the stable's cheeks coloured a heavy red as his eyebrows drew dangerously close, the man giving the clear impression that he would have liked nothing more than to strangle the young woman before him. How he despised not only the female species but especially this exemplar with her cocky attitude. It further enraged him that the stallion in the box showed no dislike toward her which meant that the royals would soon insist on her being the new caretaker of the beast, for Hans knew that such news as the taming of this horse would travel fast. Silently cursing, he grudgingly admitted to himself that his first attempt at torturing the slip of a girl, maybe even injuring her had failed, but the grey haired stable master was a headstrong man and could come up with other ways to achieve his goal. Slowly a cruel smile formed on his lips as the colour of his eyes darkened a shade.

Serena felt her stomach knotting but she didn't show that the head of the stables had managed to at least intimidate her somewhat. "How may I help you, sir?" Her voice was steady and her gaze piercingly, even if she had to fight the nervous urge to twitch under the scrutinising gaze of Hans. His malicious smirk broadened before he swiftly turned on his heal, snapping at her to follow him. The young woman gave an inaudible sigh, slowly feeling dread settle over her as she promised the beautiful stallion that she would see him later. With a hammering heart she carefully stepped out of the box, quickly closing the sliding door before swiftly following after Hans who was already half way down the corridor of the north stables.

She once again felt all eyes on her even if the stable hands didn't dare stop their labour this time. They knew Hans' wrath could be terrible and they all pitied the new lad. It was obvious that the master of the stables was after his blood, making it quite clear that the boy must have offended him in someway. The grey haired , old man never forgot a grudge and the unusual young man would pay dearly for his defiance. As these thoughts passed the minds of the busy stable hands they were at the same time amazed at the courage the lad displayed. No one looked Hans into the eye. His gaze was piercing and who had dared had soon learned it the hard way.

The stable master opened the door quite forcefully, glaring back at the lad that trailed him. He grew even more enraged as he saw the elegant way the disguised woman moved down the corridor. To Hans it looked more like strutting than the actual succession of feather light steps and his eyes grew even darker as he became aware of the clear blue orbs still steadily observing him. 'How dare her. No one has ever defied my wishes and a woman certainly won't be the first. I will teach her the place where she belongs,' the angry man vowed in the very moment that Serena came to a halt about three feet in front of him, looking expectantly as a lady would when waiting for a stable hand to bring her horse.

Hans nails pressed into his palm as he tried his best not to strike out at the insolent woman for he knew that physically harming anybody, even if it was an inferior was highly frowned upon at the court and could easily cost him his position. He knew that none of the stable hands would hesitate to inform the queen of any misbehaviour on his side and in their numbers they would even overcome Francis, may she be as much of a witch as she could, men weren't that easily intimidated and Hans didn't want to loose his status. Still, for an instance, he considered that maybe it would be worth it. In the end, however, the master of the palace stables went with his character, deciding for the subtle method against which none of his hands could say anything, for he wouldn't lay a finger on her other than when showing her the way to her new area of work. At least until word of Rios taming reached the royals ears and the prince had returned. He would simple have to be satisfied with slowly breaking the "lady's" spirit with strategically planned tasks that would cost much of her energy and hopefully beauty as time went by, but Hans was a very patient man.

A malicious grin spread across his garbed face as his eyes became slits. He would win and see her at his feet, begging for forgiveness for ever challenging him. Serena suddenly felt as if the temperature had dropped a few degrees and an involuntary shiver ran through her that Hans obviously didn't miss as his grin grew even wider, but the young woman quickly composed herself, her resolve strengthening. This was a battle of wills, she knew and she wouldn't loose. "How may I be of help to you, sir?", she kindly repeated her features softening to a welcoming smile. Now she saw Hans' left brow twitch as the master of the stables aggressively stepped up to her, obviously his temper was on the brink of spilling over. Looking down his nose at her, his dark eyes alight with fire a growl seemed to escape him.

Serena's stomach knotted even further and she was suddenly aware of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything since dinner the day before. She prayed that her body wouldn't betray her now, but her smile and steady gaze remained the same. "You think you are very clever don't you, lad. But don't fear I shall show you your place very soon." The voice of the head of the stables was cutting and nothing more than a mere whisper but it seemed to echo through the absolutely silent stable. Swiftly turning, Hans violently grabbed Serena's wrist, making her wince in pain as he unceremoniously dragged her out of the north stables, letting the disguised woman hope that he wouldn't dislocate her shoulder with his careless and hurtful handling of her body. She knew whatever was to come wouldn't be enjoyable, but at the same time she was surprised that he hadn't yet resorted to whipping her or any other form of cruel punishment.

Serena thought herself lucky and at the same time in some remote part of her mind she wondered about her defiant and authoritarian nature. The young woman knew that she acted in no way like a servant but her behaviour resembled more that of a determined lady. However, the maiden didn't believe herself to be of noble blood, on the other hand, she had no chance of finding out since the blank in her mind covering her past had by no means diminished.

The corridors through which the head of the stables dragged her were dark and cold. Goosebumps sprang up on her skin, her thin shirt helping little against the freezing cold that reigned outside the warmth of the inner stables. Her hot breath came out in buffs of condensing air and she suddenly became aware of how thickly Hans was clothed. 'It must have grown immensely cold overnight', Serena finally concluded, knowing that she had had no means of finding out the temperatures outside the stables before this point since she hadn't set another food outside after she had arrived the previous night.

Shivering again, she slowly began to fear the wrath of the master of the stables for by now the young maiden didn't doubt that she would work outside or somewhere rather cold. To make it worse, Serena knew that she wouldn't receive any other clothing. Hans surely wouldn't care if she froze to death, would he? He had no reason to wish for her best health, after she had taken up such a defiant stance against him from the beginning. For a moment Serena considered conceding defeat but at the same time she knew she couldn't, as the only, fragmentary piece of memory she possessed flowed back to the surface of her mind.

"In the hidden find Water, Fire, Lightning and Love, and try to see more than darkness under Envy. Good Luck, my child."

End of Chapter 3

That's it for chapter three. Took me terribly long, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it. Next one as soon as I can. I'll do my best. Does anybody want to beta read for me? If you do please mail me. Ashleysanterayahoo.de

Fione