A/N: Thank you so much for all of the amazing reviews! I didn't expect this story to catch on so well…I've been trying to get up a chapter of the Moon Princess Returns Home…I have it started and it's going great and then I realize I suck at fight scenes so I'm struggling with it…I'll get chapters up for the other stories I promise!
"Serenity! Where have you been we've been worried sick!" Nephrite shouted the second the young princess came walking in the door.
"Yes just who do you think you are going off without the Senshi! Anything could have happened to you!" Malachite said coming up beside Nephrite.
"I'm sure she has an explanation, calm down guys." Zoicite said trying for once to calm the over protectiveness of his fellow generals
Serenity just shook her head and walked past them and up the stairs to her room. She wanted to be alone, to live in old memories.
"Can she do that? Are we going to allow her to just ignore us like that?" Jedite said looking after the princess.
"Yes you can and you will. Serenity deserves to be alone…it must be hard to be around all of us, we each have our soul mates…and hers is lost to her." Raye said coming up behind the generals with the rest of the Senshi following.
"We must help Endymion remember, for our Princess' sake." Haruka said staring up at the closed door that led to Serenity's room.
………………………………………………………………………
"I remember your
kisses
They were so sweet
Soft on my face
I still feel you
in my arms
Intoxicated
My heart starts to race"
Serenity hugged herself tightly trying to imagine Endymion's arms clasped around her. She could remember every detail of her beloved. What he smelled like, exactly how his lips felt upon her neck, how she was the only one who could read the emotion in midnight eyes.
"Every moment a
lifetime
And I must spend them all with you
Sun embracing the
shadows
They all turn to dust
Now what do I do"
Serenity closed her eyes tightly, imagining herself dancing with Endymion, twirling about the room. She was lost so deeply in her fantasy that she began to smile, she could feel him, she could smell him, she could hear him whispering in her ear…but she bumped into the bed, causing her to open her eyes and realize once again that she was all alone.
"Today
I thought I saw you
Why does it all seem
So very strange
I'm
haunted by these things
Could it be the Moon
Or have I gone mad?"
Serenity stared up at the moon, wondering how things had gone so wrong. Why was she left here alone, and what had happened to her beloved prince to make him so cold?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
"She is old enough to take care of herself, not to mention more powerful than all of us, she doesn't need us to watch over her every second!" Michelle said to the four generals who had been scolding the Senshi for letting Serenity go off alone.
"Right she goes off by herself and comes back like that!" Nephrite said angrily gesturing to the still closed door.
"She's upset what do you expect? She is heartbroken!" Mina said getting tired of this ridiculous argument. "Why don't we just get to work on our plan to get them together so Serenity will be happy again and we can all go home?" Luckily the others agreed to her suggestion and dropped the argument.
"Andrew says Darien is at the Crown at the same time everyday so we can make sure we're there at the same time and become friends with him, and once we're sufficient enough friends we'll suggest he go to the mask ball with Serenity." Lita said explaining to the generals what they had come up with.
"Mask Ball? I hear that's a tradition long dead on this planet" Zoicite said from his chair.
"Well the opera house is doing a production of Phantom of the Opera, and to celebrate they are throwing a mask ball in a month." Raye said dreamily, loving the idea of dancing in an opera house.
"But we're going to need you guys to make the first few advances, we don't want to make it seem like we're coming on to him by trying to make friends with him as he'll probably thing we're some lovestruck teenagers." Ami said to them, laughing at the idea of the Senshi blushing and faltering over some guy like Earth girls were known to do.
"Alright tomorrow then, we'll strike up a conversation with him and mention you guys in passing, then introduce you and then one day we'll invite him out with us, yadda yadda yadda we're back home to the life of luxury." Jedite said thinking how hard could it be to rebecome friends with the man he had practically grown up with. They knew everything about each other.
"Alright so tonight we cheer up Serenity and have her looking like the goddess she is tomorrow. Endymion will be sure to notice her when we're done!" Mina shouted enjoying the idea of a make-over and a girls night.
When Mina finished announcing her plans the six Senshi and three generals all turned their eyes to Nephrite. He looked back at them already knowing what those glances meant. "I'm beginning to notice a pattern…we're all her friends, we all love her and yet I'm always the one you send in to talk to her, or tell her bad news or try to cheer her up. Why?" Nephrite asked, he thought he knew the answer but he wondered why was his relationship with Serenity so much different from theirs.
"Because Nephrite you sense her emotions better than all of us, you look at her and somehow you're able to feel exactly what she does and you're always able to tell her the right things, we botch it up. We need you to go up there, tell her things aren't so bad get her calmed down and then we rush in and make her laugh and have fun!" Lita said being entirely serious with her beloved. She always sense the connection Serenity and Nephrite had. She had helped him through so much when he needed her to looks past what he had done to Lita and he worked hard to return that favor.
"Alright I'll let Lita know when it is okay for you guys to randomly "pop up" though you should know she figured out this little scheme of ours long ago. You're not fooling her." Nephrite said with a small smile as he headed up the stairs.
"Serenity?" Nephrite said at the door knocking softly. The door wasn't locked, she knew better than to try and shut herself off from them, they would have just knocked it down. But she had learned to expect them to send up Nephrite, and she stopped fighting it, mainly because somehow Nephrite always did make her feel better.
He opened the door and walked to sit beside the crying figure on the bed. He gave a soft sigh and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.
"There's
a light behind your eyes.
I see it shining, it only fades when
you cry.
There's a heart that beats so strong,
I feel it
dying when the night time lasts too long.
Now you and I have
lived out centuries,
Through happiness and pain"
"I just can't help it Nephrite, I can see so much pain in his eyes and I can make it go away, he doesn't remember me. I can't live without him and yet I wonder if it's right to try and force his old life upon him." Nephrite was surprised by Serenity's words, the idea of Endymion regretting returning to his old life was something none of them considered, but that was Serenity always considering the feelings of everyone else, perhaps that was why they were so close…they were so alike it many ways.
"Please
don't be sad, cause I stood there too,
between survival and the
right thing to do.
Cause only the strong admit their fears,
and
if you really need us, We'll always be here."
"What if he doesn't want to come back and then I'm left with just my memories, I lived with nothing but memories for 19 years Nephrite, and now seeing him again knowing his alive…I don't think I could go back to memories, they would all be tainted by the fact that he doesn't want it, that he doesn't feel the love I do." Nephrite shook his head, Serenity was truly an amazing woman, so wise and brave, and yet when she was filled with hope she was filled with childish playfulness and laughter.
"The
parties and the lights
fade to memories in the still of the
night.
And you wonder in your mind
if there's nothing left to
show for all the time.
Cause feeling pain's a hard way
to
know you're still alive,
but someday your prince
will make you
glad you survived.
But till then live in hope
Follow your Heart Serenity
And then all you dream will come true"
"I promise my dear Princess" Nephrite finished seeing her look at him with hope slowly filling her eyes.
"My dear Nephrite what would I do without you?" Serenity asked with a smile.
"May I call the scouts up now? Lita is filling my head with impatience." The pair began to laugh at his words and Serenity nodded. Seconds later the Senshi and generals burst through the door, wondering what happened to make the normally stoic Nephrite laugh so hard. It was a sight that few besides Lita and Serenity ever got to see.
"Come on Serenity we've got a girls night planned!" Mina said happily dragging her friend downstairs to the large living room with the big screen tv.
Serenity heart filled with happiness, she was thankful for her friends and the fun they brought her.
A/N: Still in love with Barry Manilow, but also used Coven 13(!) this time. Anyone who knows that song gets like five hundred million bonus points for something that's my favorite song!
