Thank you again everyone for reviewing and reading, and I'm still at my camp in Philadelphia. But there is joy because my friend has lent me her laptop so that I might type up my story after my classes. So much thanks to her and hopefully I will get the other chapters up soon. Thank you for keeping faith :) I'll keep up dating, I love you all!
Remember Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 7: Threatened
For three days and nights Serenity's fever raged, and Endymion stayed at her side only taking a couple of moments to get some fresh air or to see to the happenings of the ship. At Zoicite's insistence he began to take shifts with Endymion to look after Serenity.
"If you keep going like this Endymion you'll get yourself sick. I know you're worried, we're all worried, but we need you now especially." Zoicite had said. Endymion had relented and agreed to have shifts with Zoicite.
Everything was going smoothly, and they hadn't been blown that far off course by the storm. Though they hadn't received word about the engagement they had no doubt that they soon would.
While Endymion was working about the ship it gave him time to think about his situation with Serenity. She'd told him many things a couple nights ago that she wouldn't have reveled to him on normal circumstances. He decided it would be best if he just kept them to himself, he doubted that Serenity would remember anything she said during her intense fever.
In about a week or so they would reach their hideout, which was hidden amongst a series of caves that almost none knew about. They would have to hear about her engagement soon; they'd already received word that a messenger had been sent to Jericho to inform the King and Queen of their missing daughter. Diamond hadn't wanted the message sent, but when he'd been unable to find them so far he had no choice but to tell King Solus.
On the fourth day of Serenity's fever Endymion began to greatly fear for her life; he'd seen many men come out of a fever like hers, but also die from it. In the late afternoon however while he was working on deck Eric came and told him Serenity's fever had broken.
Dropping whatever he was doing he rushed down to his cabin and saw Serenity was indeed awake and sitting up in the bed. Zoicite was trying to get her to eat a bowl of light soup, when she saw Endymion and she smiled.
"How are you feeling?" he asked rushing over to the bed. Zoicite silently grinned at his friend's eagerness, but kept his comments to himself.
"I'm fine; in fact I can't wait to get out of this bed." Serenity said leaning back against the pillows. In truth her body felt extremely drained from the fever. She wasn't quite sure if she could stand at the moment, but she wasn't sure she could stand another day in bed. And she wasn't about to admit it to Endymion either, he might never let her leave the room. Knowing he had rarely left her side made her smile, but he might decide to keep her in the room forever if he knew she was still weak. "When can I get out of this bed?"
"This afternoon should be fine, but not for to long." Said Zoicite, Serenity put on a disappointed look and he added "Don't worry Serenity you'll be up and about in no time." With a smile he left the room leaving Serenity and Endymion alone again.
Serenity looked up at Endymion gratitude written all over her face. All the generals had been in to visit her and told her about Endymion never leaving her side and always taking care of her. Her own parents had never done that; they'd always been too preoccupied with duties around the castle.
"Thank you so much Endymion, I probably would've never recovered without you." She said smiling up at him.
To Endymion's surprise he almost blushed at her praise but adverted his gaze to hide it. "It was nothing Serenity. But please don't do that again you scared ten years off of my life." He said sitting down beside her on the bed.
To Serenity's complete surprise he embraced her against his chest, hugging her to him. Serenity let out a surprised squeal, but her arms encircled his waist automatically. Endymion rested his chin on her head inhaling her scent into his lungs; he was so afraid that he would've lost her.
Serenity leaned into his letting her meager weight rest against him. This was a new experience holding another person. Her hugs with her parents had always been brief and never lasted very long; Serenity had never really physically touched or connected with a person. And that's what it felt like to be held by Endymion, she could lean on him and not worry about anything around her. In his arms she was safe and connected to him; he was dependable and always there. Serenity realized she wanted to be there for him as well; she wanted to be there for him to lean on. She wanted to be with him forever…
Startled at the intensity of her thoughts she jerked away from him a blush on her face. These thoughts were new to her, she'd never really needed anyone and no one had never really needed her. And the new emotions moving through her felt weird and unidentifiable
To cover up her sudden movement she said, "I hope I wasn't to much trouble Endymion."
He smiled and ran a hand through her hair, "You could never be a problem Serenity, not even if you tried." Serenity felt warmed by his response she settled back on the bed and asked, "Can I get up now?"
"No," he said trying to be stern, but couldn't manage it when she was sitting there looking absolutely adorable. "Zoicite said you can get up this afternoon, it's not even 11 o'clock yet."
"Please," she begged trying to put on her best puppy eyed look. Endymion saw it coming and quickly said, "Don't even try it Serenity, not until the afternoon."
Dropping the look she sighed and said, "Fine Endy." She brought a hand up to her mouth realizing she let the pet name slip. Endymion wasn't expecting it and got a mischievous smile on his face. "I-I mean Endymion. I won't try to get up until this afternoon, I promise."
"I'll keep you to that. I'll come back to visit you for lunch, there are some things I must see to. I'll be back soon." He said standing up from the bed. He turned to leave but seemed to think better of it. He turned around and kissed Serenity on the cheek then turned and left. Serenity's mouth was still agap two minuets later a hand on her cheek where he kissed her. She'd certainly never encountered a man like Endymion before; she'd never been in a situation like this before. New emotions were swamping her at every turn and she had no idea how to deal with them. But Serenity asked herself, did she really want to be away from all of this?
Over the next few days Serenity got to leave Endymion's cabin more often every day. She soon went around the ship always looking for something to help with. The crew was surprised a Princess would want to help and learn about a ship instead of sulking in her room. But not Serenity, she went around asking all sorts of questions getting to know all of the crew members very well. They of course all loved her and answered her every question.
Serenity also got spend a lot time with Endymion on deck and with the other generals as well. She wanted to know everything, and she was often found climbing all over the place. To Endymion it seemed like she was blooming under his every eyes. You could always found her smiling or talking to someone enthusiastically and hanging on their every word. The time he spent with her he cherished above any part of his day, and they ended up spending most of their days together.
Endymion had seen glimpses of what she'd been denied as her life as a Princess. Any physical contact he made with her she seemed awkward about it, as if she was unsure of what to do, but she would then embrace it with a relish he'd rarely seen. She glowed under the attention she received and eagerly jumped to anything she was asked to help out with. As a Princess Endymion suspected that she must've been terribly neglected, probably not on purpose, but she had no other siblings and he was sure she hadn't had many friends.
One night Serenity had volunteered to help with the night watch and was looking out at the ocean with a peaceful expression on her face. He walked up and stood next to her.
"Tell me about your life at the palace Serenity."
"Why?" she asked, looking at him curiously. "It was forever a life full of nothing but lessons on everything you could think of, why would you want to hear about that?"
He turned to her and said, "Because I think there was more to it than you say. You show signs Serenity of an emotionally neglected person, so I'm assuming your life as Princess wasn't all ball gowns and parties."
Serenity sucked in a breath; no one had ever asked her these questions before. Asked truly her opinion about her life, but I brought back the barren memories of herself in that beautiful palace…all by herself.
"You don't get many friends when you're a Princess. Mostly everyone wants to be your friend simply because you are the Princess. I caught onto that pretty quickly, and decided it was better not have any. My parents were always to busy for to spend much time with me and as I got older it was less and less because of my studies. I hated going to parties because I didn't know anyone, and soon young men came to court me. Of course it was the same exact thing I'm the best prize in the whole kingdom, whoever marries me becomes King.
I ended up avoiding people in general; I only have one real friend amongst the court. Soon I started sneaking out into the city, there I could see how happy my people actually were, and what they thought of us at the palace. I guess I just reclined in on myself and I spent most of my time along doing whatever I could to fill the time. And then, I became an eligible age to marry."
"Is that when you met Diamond?" Endymion asked.
"Yes, and I've never met a more evil person in my life. When I was introduced I was practically chocking on the aura surrounding him. Later I found him abusing a maid in the hall. Of course I sent her away immediately, but he turned his wrath on me. I was able to avoid being harmed, but when I told my parents they didn't listen to me. Sadly, Diamond was the most favored Prince in my parent's view and I was soon betrothed to him."
Serenity was surprised to feel tears prickle behind her eyes. She never thought about this as a touchy subject, but she realized as she had talked her voice had gotten hollow and emotionless. Her breath was uneven and there was tightness in her chest that refused to leave. Not quite knowing what was happening to her she turned to Endymion a helpless look on her face.
Endymion embraced her again; she asked breathlessly "What's happening to me Endymion?"
"It's called grief, sadness Serenity. Go ahead and let it out." He murmured into her hair. Serenity did as he said and let the tears spill from her eyes and roll down her face. Her mouth opened in a sob as she buried her face against his chest. How many times am I going to e in his arms, crying? She asked herself. She let more sobs escape her mouth and felt the knot in her chest loose. She cried and cried for her dejected childhood, and her loneliness; she wasn't sure how long she cried. And Endymion was there holding her with never ending patience crowning soft comforting words to her. She clutched him once again never wanting to let him go.
When there were no more tears left in her eyes and she fell silent Endymion still didn't let go of her. And Serenity felt better, a lot better than she did before. It confused her and she realized she'd never spoken about her childhood to anyone before. She'd practically laid her heart bare before and Endymion and he was still there sheltering her from harm, warming her with his embrace. Serenity sighed and leaned into him.
Endymion pulled her even close to him her body feeling amazingly small in his arms. His heart wept for her and her horrible childhood, her loneliness and hurt. He wanted to be the one to make the sadness disappear from her eyes, and he knew he would be hard pressed to do that. Their position was complicated, but he couldn't fight his growing feelings for her. He didn't want to stop what he felt for her; he might be hard pressed for Serenity to do the same.
They stood like this for a few more moments when he felt Serenity begin to pull away he let her; he needed to let her learn her emotions on her own time. Serenity took one step away when the ship gave a sudden lurch that sent her unrepentantly back into his arms and their lips crashing together.
They were both so surprised by the sudden gesture that neither reacted at all; Serenity was the first. Serenity tried to jump away a bright blush across her face, but Endymion retained possession of her in his arms. He kept her close to him staring down at her upturned face, the look in his eyes unnerved her a bit.
"Endymion?" she said quietly, she didn't try to pull away again. Instead she stayed in his arms fearing, expecting what he would do next. When his dark head dipped towards hers she knew exactly what he was going to do, and she still didn't pull away.
When their lips met this time Endymion took complete control of the kiss. His lips were firm against hers and spoke of expertise and passion. Serenity was unsure of what to do, but she found she like the feelings of his lips against hers, and a new emotion rose up in her chest. When his wet tongue glided against the seem of her lips she jumped in response. When he did it again Serenity opened her mouth tentatively afraid that if she did something wrong he would stop.
At the first taste of her Endymion groaned, it was more than he'd dreamed of. She tasted of vanilla and strawberries; his tongue plundered the silken interior of her mouth like the pirate he was. When she offered no resistance and began to shyly respond back he swept her up in her arms lifting her feet off of the ground.
Serenity gasped at the sensations his kiss was creating within her. Little tingles ran down her spin and back up again to her lips. He left no place in her mouth unexplored, and Serenity began to respond herself. She flicked her tongue inside his mouth mimicking some of the movements that he had done. He let her explore him and let her get used to the feeling. The more Serenity kissed him back the more consumed she felt in the flames that were rising all around them.
Out of instinct her legs rose and wrapped themselves around his waist hugging him to her. Endymion no longer able to hold himself back began to kiss her again and this time Serenity participated full fold. Their tongues met and stroked retreating to meet again. It was like a dance that only increased their passions. When Endymion sucked her bottom lip into his mouth she moaned; she was slightly startled by the sound she made, but soon lost that thought as Endymion resumed kissing her.
It was Endymion who pulled away, slowly but he pulled away none the less. Serenity let him go her lips feeling hot and full. Realizing the position her legs were in she quickly let them drop and Endymion set her back on her feet. Oh my God! I just kissed Endymion! She shrieked in her mind. Without giving much thought to her actions she darted away below deck into Endymion's cabin.
She leaned back against the closed door a hand on her mouth, her breath was coming fast, and her mind racing. She knew now that she couldn't ignore these feelings she was developing for Endymion. They were growing with each moment she spent with him. And their romance was a doomed one; they could never possibly be together. These new emotions frightened her, she'd only felt a mild affection for her parents and Andrew. This feeling was much more powerfully burning brightly in her breast refusing to be ignored. She was unsure as to what it was, but she knew if given the choice she would want to stay with Endymion. We can never be, and I was foolish enough to let my emotions grow to these proportions. She thought to herself. It was then she decided that it was time for her to leave Endymion and his ship, before they grew even more involved.
They soon had to stop at a nearby town to pick up supplies. At this town Endymion and his crew were known as peaceful merchants, and went about their business like every normal person. When the ship pulled into the harbor Endymion came and asked her to stay within the cabin until either he or one of the generals could escort her into the town. Serenity of course agreed trying to act the same as she had every day. But inside she was crying for this was the last time she would see Endymion and his generals, and the last time she would be on this magnificent ship.
They soon left and Serenity put on her dark cloak pulling the hood over her head. She walked out onto the deck unnoticed, for it was bustling with activity. The sailors wanted everything to be done with as quickly as possible so they had more time to spend in town. They were only staying for one day and would be departing tomorrow morning. This didn't leave much time to get a few drinks and have a pleasurable night with a woman.
Serenity simply walked off the ship and blended into the crowd, no one noticed her departure. Once a good distance away she stopped and took one last look at Endymion's ship. A tear slid down her face as she thought Goodbye Endy.
