Once Upon a ….. Sometime.

By Skyflame

Chapter Six

Without resting after her strenuous ride Amy stalked through the palace looking for her brother and upon finding him she yelled his ear off, telling him his stupid plan had to end now, he had to tell her the truth. When he refused she told him the truth, breaking into tears as she did so, she told him

"You fool she is dying. She doesn't have a lot of strength left. I heard from her own lips her saying that life wasn't worth living, as the person she had never told she loved them, was marrying someone else. I watch her everyday lying in her bed, I was there when she collapsed, and I know that you are the only one who can save her. She is my friend and I don't want to see her die, so go and tell her the truth. Please Darien, I know you don't want to lose her either."

Amy could see the tears in her brothers eyes and after a couple of moments silence he said

"Amy, I'm going to need your help so your going to have to change and be your true self and not the villager she has come to be friends with."

They quickly changed and mounted their horses riding as fast as their horses could carry them towards the house in the next kingdom where the young maiden who was so important to both of them lay dying in her bed.


When Darien and Amy arrived at the cottage Mina was just coming out, she hugged Amy and said

"Thank goodness you are here" before hitting Darien in his arm and saying "And you, this is all your fault, but you have to fix it. Please Darien" with her sadness evident in her eyes. Amy asked how Serena was and Mina looked at them grimly and said

"Worse than when you left. But there is no time to lose, because without her hope the disease will take over and we will lose her." Hearing this Darien raced towards the house while Mina and Amy spoke a few moments before following after him.

The young maiden's mother was surprised to see the prince knocking at her door. Seeing the horror on his face she said

"My daughter is unwell, but if you will follow me I will take you to her" all Darien could manage to say was thank you, his head seemed so full of thoughts that wouldn't go away. She couldn't die. How could he live without her, she brought him joy and laughter and without her there would be nothing, just an empty hole where his heart had been.


As Darien entered the young maiden's room and walked over to her bed he had to stop himself from gasping, it was like she was already dead. Her face was colorless and pale, her beautiful golden hair lay limp and lifeless, and her eyes held no spark, looking at her he could see none of his spirited princess and it took a great effort for him not to start crying. He took her hand and softly said

"Serena, its me Darien. How are you feeling? I hear that you haven't been feeling too well, but you have to get better now. OK."

It took Serena a while to realize who was speaking to her, she slowly turned to look at him and said quietly

"Your highness, is that you. I need to tell you something, but I'm so tired."

"Serena please call me Darien, now you have to get better or I wont be able to go on. You need to know something too. Serena I love you, you mean the world to me and I won't be able to go on if you leave me" he said in response as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

She looked at him confused and said softly

"But your fiancée, how can you say you love me when you told me about how much you love her and need her in your life. You also said she was great friends with all your family including Amy, and that they love her, so how can you say you love me now?" Darien looked at her and said,

"I need to explain something to you, and then I have someone for you to meet."

"We will start at the beginning. The first time we met in the forest, I thought you were the most beautiful and spirited princess I had ever met. You had a sparkle in your eyes and a liveliness I'd never seen before, the moment I put my eyes on you I fell instantly in love. I thought I was in the presence of an angel. I didn't sleep that night and spent the entire next day looking for you."

"When we finally got a chance to talk, I discovered you were not a princess, but I didn't care because you had my heart. When I was waiting for you at the ball, a beautiful princess walked in and instantly grabbed my attention, and by the end of the night I was utterly confused not knowing if I truly loved the spirited maiden from the forest, or the beautiful princess who prayed to Selene. When I discovered you were the same person it was too late, I had already hurt you and only by going could I ease your pain and hope for your forgiveness. Knowing I had lost you and could offer you no comfort I raced home to find some compassion with Amy, and she made me realize I had to win you back, so I formulated a plan. Just one moment while I get someone then I will continue" he finished before going over to the door and briefly speaking to someone outside.


When he returned he was closely followed by a beautiful young girl, it wasn't until she asked her Serena how she was doing today, that she recognized this girl as her friend from the village all dressed up. To start with she had thought this was the girl Darien was going to marry, but now she was even more confused.

Seeing the confusion in the young maiden's eyes he quickly said,

"Serena, I know you two have already met, but its time I introduced you. I'd like you to meet my sister Amy" seeing the shock on Serena's face Amy began

"Darien and I need to explain the rest of the story now, and since I know the most I will do my best to explain. First off when Darien came home he was a mess, he just sulked and sat around feeling sorry for himself, I had never seen him like that before so I told him that he had to snap out of it and work out how to win you back. I also felt sorry for the pain he had inflicted on you and I wished I could know what kind of person had captured my brother's heart, and turned him into such a sniveling mess. Anyway Darien thought about it and decided that since we had never met, I should dress as a commoner and become your friend to keep an eye on you and let him know when your heart had begun to mend, since I would not be suspected to be a spy."

"After awhile I saw your pain was easing and told Darien, but by then I had been taken in by your beautiful spirit and I loved being your friend so I didn't want to give you up, as I had never had a friend as caring and wonderful as you. The whole family has been in on the plan, except for mother she doesn't know about you yet although I think she knows that something has been going on that her whole family seems to know about, especially with all the secret messages that have been sent. When you fell down sick I didn't know what to do and when you told me that you had never told the one you love how you felt, I assumed you meant Darien and raced to get him. I'm so sorry Serena, please forgive me for deceiving you and bringing Darien here. If it is not what you want I will make him leave."

Serena smiled up at her friend and said,

"There is nothing to forgive, your highness, for you were only trying to help those you love so there was no real crime in my eyes. What I'm unclear on milord is who you are engaged to?"

"I never actually said I was engaged even though many people took it that way. What I actually said was that 'I had found the one I loved, I had loved her since my first glimpse of her and that I planned to marry within the year'. I had never told the young women I love how I felt or that I wanted to marry her. I had said that I would marry within the year hoping that when I asked her she would say yes, hoping that when I told her how I felt she would say she felt the same, but I was unsure because I had hurt her and needed her forgiveness first. Serena there is no one else, I love only you and have since I met you, I had been searching for the girl in my dreams, and when you crashed into me in the forest I knew that it was you I was searching for. Please come back to me my beautiful princess. Don't die because I can't live without you. You fill my life with spirit, hope, laughter, love and beauty and without you I will have nothing to live for" Darien said, finishing with a single tear rolling down his face.

Serena wiped the tear from the prince's cheek and said in a whisper

"I Love You Darien. I always have and always will. My heart belongs to you and no one else and when you say you love me, all the pain you have caused goes away. Never forget I love you, ever." Serena then looked around and saw that at some point Amy had removed herself from the room. Not realizing that Amy was gone but not caring Darien said

"Now, hurry and get well my beautiful angel. Because when you do I have something to ask you and someone for you to meet" before touching his lips to her forehead and finishing

"Get some sleep now, I'll be back later, but remember that I love you and no one else." And with that he quietly left her to sleep.


After that day the prince spent most of his time by her bedside barely leaving, and slowly Serena began to get better and after a month she could stand with the prince's help. One month after that she was almost back to normal, but got tired a lot more than she had before she had first collapsed. When Darien could see that Serena was almost normal it was time for him to organize his surprises for her.

With the help of Mina and Amy, Darien organized a grand ball and sent for the Queen to come, while Mina and Amy helped Serena design the perfect dress for the ball, as they knew how special he night would be even though she didn't yet. They also organized for her family and friends to be there.