Disclaimer: SM is not mine. Surprised? Didn't think so...The

characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi and various others, not me...

As ever, emails are always welcome: caoilte.la-canadienne@laposte.net

Chapter Four - Revelations

***FLASHBACK***

Serenity winced as she heard her name called out but chose not to

reveal herself to the searchers. As soon as the other girls moved

on, she came out of hiding and resumed her seat on the bench in

front of the giant viewscreens showing the planet Earth.

She gazed in rapt attention at the scenes shown; a grassy meadow, a

lake with various unknown species of winged animals, forests that

stretched as far as the eye could see. All these things had no

counterpart on the silvery expanse of the moon. Any wildlife that

lived here was the same silvery or white hue as everything else on the

moon. She enjoyed the different colours these Earth people had and

wanted so much to see them for herself.

She looked at the digital clock that registered the time, on the

bottom right corner of the viewscreen. It was still early in the day.

Her mother and friends wouldn't be needing her for anything 'official'

yet so she had plenty of time to kill.

Making up her mind, she furtively made her way to the transport grid.

Using her access code, she punched in co-ordinates for the place she

knew as the Palace lands. She had seen a gorgeous prince there, who

had captivated her since she first laid eyes on him a few years back.

Every spare moment since then had been spent looking at him on the

viewscreens and studying his planet.

"Who knows," Serenity thought, with a thrill of excitement. "I may get

to meet this handsome prince in person. He looks like a fair and

gentle man. I wonder what sort of person he is REALLY like," she

hugged herself with anticipation.

She stepped onto the transport grid and within seconds vanished from

view. She didn't expect to be gone too long, she knew it was forbidden

to go to Earth, but couldn't help herself. She had to see things for

herself. Especially the handsome young Earth prince.

Serenity smiled. She found herself in the King's Forest, several kilo-

metres from the palace itself. She knew the prince would be out today

and wanted to meet him as quickly as possible. As she was thinking

this, someone grabged her roughly from behind.

"Be quiet girl, if you know what's good for you," the as yet unseen

man hissed in her ear. She shivered with fright but didn't make a

sound.

"There's a good girl," the bandit smiled as he turned her around.

"Let's see you then," he growled.

As soon as he let her go to turn her around, she tried to make a run

for it but he was quicker off the mark. He'd obviously had experience

with this before because he caught her quickly and grabbed her arm,

swinging her around roughly.

Then she noticed the other men, stationed around the small clearing

she'd landed in. She gasped with horror and struggled with all her

strength.

"Now, let's have a look at your goods, girl," he said with a hard

laugh. The beautiful silver-blonde girl in his arms twisted and

squirmed to avoid his touch.

"Enough of this," he growled and took hold of the neckline of her now

dirty and torn white gold-trimmed dress. He tore it off and away from

her and began to kiss her with an animal lust.

She began to scream and cry, only inflaming him further. Gathering her

strength, she kneed him in the groin. With a cry of pain, he

systematically began beating her, his pain spurring him to more

savagery. Soon the girl was on the ground, unconscious from the brutal

beating he was giving her. The dark-haired bandit leader towered over

her body, continuing to beat and kick her by turns until he heard

something behind him and turned to see what was happening.

***END OF FLASHBACK***

She looked down sadly. "I am not who you think I am." she told him

softly. He stared at her, thoroughly confused.

"I am Princess Serenity, of the Moon Kingdom, and like you, I have

guardians in the form of the Sailor Senshi. They, in turn, are the

princesses of their respective planets."

Endymion looked at her as if she'd taken leave of her senses but

didn't interrupt her.

Serenity continued her story without looking at him. "I have been

watching you from the Moon Palace for years. It's like I felt drawn to

you from the first time I saw you and I had to see you so I waited

until they were otherwise occupied and snuck down here. The only thing

was that I got caught by that...," here her words failed her and she

began to cry softly.

Endymion didn't know what to say but put his arms around her. He loved

her, no matter what she said or did, and though he didn't understand

everything she said, he knew she wasn't lying to him. She rested her

head on his chest before continuing with her explanation.

"I'd ended up in the trees, a little way from where you rescued me

from and they were just...there," she said, a little calmer now.

"I don't know where they came from or even who they were or what they

wanted. He just grabbed me before I knew what was going on and...well,

you know the rest," she continued, sighing. She didn't want to spoil

the moment but it was inevitable.

"My mother is going to be frantic. I've never been gone this long

before. She'll know I've done something I shouldn't have," despite

herself, she began to cry again. "I just can't bear to be apart from

you now, Endymion. I love you, I know I shouldn't but I do..." she

wept into his chest. "What am I going to do? How do I explain all this

to my mother? How am I going to explain this to the Senshi? They're

going to kill me!" Serenity began to get hysterical.

Endymion sighed inwardly and stroked her beautiful hair. It seemed to

calm her down and oddly enough calmed him as well. He loved her hair,

he loved everything about this delicate Moon Princess of his and he

wasn't about to let anything come between them. Not the Moon Queen,

not the Senshi (whoever they were), not his Generals and certainly not

his parents.

Reluctantly, he began to move away from Serenity. "You know we're

going to have to tell my parents about this. My mother in particular,"

he sighed. "She is not going to like this at all, but I know she has a

strange soft spot for you," here, he smiled gently at the girl in his

arms and gave her his handkerchief to dry her eyes.

She looked up at him in surprise. "She does?" Serenity asked.

"Yes, she doesn't let many people have access to her best healers

every day, you know," he grinned at her. "In all seriousness, she was

almost as frantic as we were at the state you were in when we brought you

back to the palace yesterday. She made sure that there was only the

best available for you." He paused, deep in thought.

"My mother's always been a bit strange. She gets these...premonitions

at times, and almost always, they come true. Maybe she knew something

about this. I will ask her if you like," Endymion told Serenity.

"That's not necessary, my dear."

The two whirled in shock as they heard the Earth Queen's voice from

the doorway.