Once Upon a ….. Sometime.
By Skyflame
Chapter NineSerena spent two days before making her decision, and returning to the Chateau to tell the prince what she had decided. Upon arriving at the Chateau she was informed he hadn't emerged from his chambers yet, so she decided to surprise him. Seeing that he wasn't in his outer chamber she knocked on the door to his bedroom and when she got no answer she opened the door a crack and called gently
"Darien, its me Serena. We need to talk."
All of a sudden she heard a noise like someone falling out of bed before hearing Darien shout "Ouch." Trying to control her giggling Serena inquired
"Darien are you alright or would you like me to come and help you." Serena then heard a muffled voice saying
"I'm fine and will be ready before you know it, just give me a few moments to wake up" so she shut the door and stepped away before she heard him bang into something and couldn't control her laughter.
When he emerged a little while later he bounded up to her, and taking her in his arms said,
"You were not laughing at me were you, my princess?" With laughter shining in his eyes and with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes she smiled up at him sweetly and said,
"Why would I do a thing like that." Darien just laughed before seating her and saying seriously
"My love what is it you wish to talk to me about?"
Hanging her head she said quietly
"I think you know Darien. But before I tell you my decision know that I will always love you no matter what" Darien began worrying as she still had her head hung with her golden hair hiding her face.
"I've thought about this a lot and it has been a difficult decision and after talking to Mina I've made my decision." Serena started and the prince's heart sank and it took all of his effort to continue listening and not yell at her that they were meant to be together.
She then continued
"That is why I've decided that I love you and can't stand to be apart from you so I will marry you. That is if you still want me" with doubt evident in her voice and still looking at the floor. Darien never thought he would hear words that meant so much to him. While still in his shocked state he lifted her into his arms and spun her around and around before telling her that he would want her as long as there was still breath in his body.
Then he kissed her showing her how much he loved her and letting her know he was the luckiest man alive. Before she could change her mind he called all his family in to one room and dragging Serena with him he told them that the wedding was once again scheduled for April.
After deciding to marry the prince and everything was being arranged for the wedding, Serena parents decided they needed to tell her about her past, so she could try and discover who her true parents were so they could know what she had become and attend their daughters wedding.
When Serena returned home from telling Darien she would marry him despite the fact she was sick, she saw the worried look on her parent's faces. When she asked them what was wrong they told her they had something they had to tell her and suggested she sit down. Once Serena was seated they told her that they were not her real parents and told her the story about the part of her past that they knew.
One day a young women was walking in the forest behind her home and she came across a baby wrapped in blankets laying beneath a tree. The young women and her husband were unable to have children of their own, so finding this child had been a true blessing. The young women had looked for some clue as to who the baby was, for as much as she wanted this child she would not take it from its parents if she could discover who they were. She looked all through the blankets, which were beautiful and would be those of a child of someone in the upper class, but she couldn't find any clue as to who the baby belonged.
Surely if the child belonged to someone important they would put out a notice saying that she was missing and then the young women could return the girl. The baby had beautiful golden hair that curled into little ringlets around her smiling face while her bright sapphire eyes shined up at the young women. She was dressed in a white silk dress with gold embroidery all over it and around her neck lay a gold heart necklace, which seemed to have been split in half. On the half of necklace the little girl was wearing there was engraved a picture of an angel with a crescent moon behind it and on the back the name Serena was engraved.
The young women decided that the angel had something to do with the little girl's family while the moon had something to do with the child and her name, but she couldn't think of any families in the area who had an angel as a symbol of the family but of course the girls parents could have just been visiting.
The young women took the baby home and her husband and her raised Serena as they had never found where she belonged since there had been no search for her, but they had always known that somehow she had the right to know where she belonged
They then gave her the necklace she had been wearing when her mother had found her.
Serena was confused by what she had been told and said
"So you are telling me that my parents didn't want me and that they left me out in the woods to die. Why would they do that, did they not love me? And the truth is I don't know who I truly am or when I was born. The only thing that is true about my life is that my name is Serena."
Her mother felt terrible and was close to tears
"That is not true, the fact that we love you and everyone else's love for you has always been the truth. I know you have always felt out of place and like you didn't belong, but if we could have we would have returned you to your family if we could have. But the only clue we had as to who you were was the angel on the necklace and no one we knew could think of any family that was represented by that symbol. We truly felt you were a gift and loved you more than if you had been our own child as you were the answer to our prayers since we could have no children of our own. The only thing I can suggest is that you ask Prince Darien if he has any idea which family the symbol belongs to. But no matter what happens we will always love you and be here for you."
"Thank you. I love you both too, but I think I need some time alone to think about this whole thing" and as her parents nodded she got up and went to her room still in a state of shock. After sitting on her bed staring out her window for awhile trying to work out what had happened to her she decided she needed to get away for awhile.
After telling her parents she would be back in a few days so they could tell anyone who was looking for her, she took the necklace and rode as fast as she could to the one person who always seemed to understand her no matter what.
When Serena got to the house in the next kingdom Raye was waiting for her outside which was nothing new as she as she always seemed to sense when she was going to have a visitor, and be there when they arrived. When Serena and Raye were seated inside Raye finally asked Serena
"What's up? There is no way you rode all this way just for a social visit this time." Serena looked at Raye with tears forming in her eyes and said her voice full of sorrow
"Oh Raye what am I going to do, I'm not who I thought I was. What am I going to tell Darien? Should I try and find them? What if they didn't really want me?"
"Serena calm down. What are you talking about, who are they and what do you have to tell Darien?"
Realizing Raye didn't know the story she handed her best friend the necklace and told her what her mother had said to her about her past. After Serena had finished Raye looked at her in amazement and handed her back the necklace before saying,
"This is so unbelievable, and you never knew until today? That means that you could be a princess or something important like that, because not many families give their daughter such an expensive gift at such a young age. Serena I think you need to find them and you know it too, but you are scared which is why you came to me. You want to know about yourself and your family. Darien will understand. He loves you as we all do and no matter what you find out that will never change, as you will still be you. Besides he may know whose symbol it is because I certainly have no idea. But now that you are here you have to stay a few days because I have barely seen you since you first got sick and I want to hear all the details about this whole thing between Darien and you."
"Raye you are so nosey, but I guess you are right. I do want to know. By the way I will only stay on one condition," Raye looked at Serena suspiciously and then cautiously said
"What?" but jumped up to hug her when she said,
"Promise to be one of my bridesmaids."
Four days later Serena returned home and discovered that Darien had been looking for her so headed to the Chateau with one main purpose in mind, to find out who the angel symbol belonged to. She had told her parents she would always love them, but she needed to find out about her past too. When she arrived at the Chateau Darien came racing out to meet her and swung her into a hug before kissing her forehead and asking with a worried look on his face
"You haven't changed your mind have you?" Serena smiled up at him as she said
"Never, but I want to talk to you about something important. Can we go out in the gardens and talk?"
He nodded and said,
"Thank goodness. When I heard you had gone I thought you must have and I was so worried" while smiling down at her, happiness in his eyes as they walked to the gardens. Once they were seated Darien asked,
"So what do you want to talk about?"
"For starters I want you to know that I went away because I needed to think about some things and to talk to someone about what they thought about it. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, so don't ever worry that I will change my mind about marrying you. What I don't understand is why you are still here for me, most guys would have run long ago."
Darien laughed then looked at her and said seriously
"Because I love you and we were destined to be together and I knew that the first time I saw you, so I will be here for you always. You are the most important thing in my life."
"I don't deserve someone like you, but now I have a question that you might think is kind of strange. Do you know of a family that is represented by the symbol of an angel?" Darien looked surprised then thought before saying
"Mina's family, the King and Queen of Sapphire Coast have used an angel to represent their kingdom and family for centuries. Why do you ask?"
"I'd just seen the symbol somewhere and I wondered who it belonged to. Where about is the kingdom, does Mina have to travel far to see her family?"
"They live on the edge of the ocean about 4 days traveling from here, but Mina sees them every summer when they visit. They have come here in the summers for as long as they have ruled, they stay at the Chateau now, but they used to stay with friends in the area."
"Darien, I know you are going to hate me for this since I just got back, but in a couple of days I am going to have to go away for a few weeks. This has nothing to do with you, I just need to sort out a few things and I need to go away to do them." Darien looked at her and asked
"Can't I come with you? At this rate we are never going to get to spend any time together" when he saw her shake her head he continued
"I understand, but please come back safe and healthy, and spend some time with me because I will be miserable without you." Serena hugged him and said
"Thank you. Can we go inside now please? I need to send a message and I would like to see everyone" before he let her pull him inside he kissed her and told her
"That's so you know you belong to me."
By the end of the day Lita had received a letter from Serena telling her she needed her help and to pack up enough stuff for a couple of weeks and to come to the Chateau the next day where she would explain everything. Lita told Ken she had to go away with Serena for a few weeks.
Seeing the worry in his dark blue eyes had to reassure him that everything would be fine and Serena wouldn't do anything risky so close to her wedding, but Ken wasn't entirely convinced as he knew about all the dangerous and silly things Lita and Serena had done as girls. But seeing the pleading in his wife's emerald eyes he had to let her go and trust that they would be safe.
When Serena had told Darien she needed Lady Lita to go with her on her trip he had suggested that she stay at the Chateau until they were ready to leave for purely selfish reasons. Darien wanted to know where they were going and what was going on. He hoped that he could get it out of Serena's friend, but little did he know that Serena's friends were loyal to the bitter end and would rather die than tell a secret that was important to Serena.
Lita arrived at the Chateau at about midday the next day and beat Serena there so got to spend some time with Mina and Amy, and quickly became friends with them. She was just telling them about some of the foolish things that the two of them had done together when they were kids when Serena burst in. Lita looked up at her guiltily as Serena greeted them before looking into Lita's eyes and laughed before saying
"I remember that, and afterwards I couldn't get the taste of mud out of my mouth for days." After the 4 of them had told stories about things they had done as children for awhile Serena excused Lita and herself so they could walk in the gardens.
Once they were out of anyone's earshot Lita said
"So Serena, what's the deal. I need to know what's going on and where we are going even though you know I won't back out. It's about time we had another one of our adventures, we haven't had many since I married Ken he always worries about us too much." Serena told her where they were going and that the King and Queen might be her family so she had to go and find out.
"Man, that must be tough finding out your whole life has been a lie. But I'm here for you and wont tell anyone, I wont even speak of the matter until we are on the road tomorrow." With that Serena hugged Lita and told her they would be leaving in the morning, but she had to go now as she had to get into the Chateau library and find out which direction they had to go to get to Sapphire Coast.
The next morning when Serena came to pick up Lita Mina and Amy hugged them goodbye and wished them a safe trip, but Darien didn't want to let Serena go. Serena patiently hugged Darien and whispered to him
"This is something I need to do and I will be fine. I'm sorry my darling but you can't come, as there are things that I have to find out for myself. And don't send anyone after us, promise me you will let me and Lita do this ourselves" and when he agreed she kissed him lightly and said
"Don't worry everything will be fine. I love you" then she mounted her horse and side-by-side Lita and her took off in a gallop.
