Keep Her Safe
LadyPrin
Disclaimer Applies.
Thanks to Katblue (I don't have a Microsoft Word thing, but I do know a website that has a spell check. I'll try to use it! Darien will be showing up soon! I've already written the story up to chapter 13, and I've already written Darien into the story way before then. - It wasn't hard at all!
Hang on...It's going to be a LONG ride!
Place: The Throne Room of the Palace in England.
A three year old black haired girl with violet eyes quietly walked over to a three year old blond haired girl with light blue eyes, who was standing just behind her mother, the Queen of Venus.
"Mina, you all right?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"I'm fine, Ray." Mina replied in the same voice. "I'm just, well, nervous."
Ray put a hand on Mina's shoulder. She'd never admit it, but she was nervous as well. The Royal's of the planet Mars never admit how they feel, unless it was really necessary.
"Why aren't Merc- uh, I mean, Ami and Lita here?" Mina asked.
"You need to watch your tongue, Mina." Ray warned sternly. Then her face softened. "Mother told me they are missing." She explained.
"Where could they have gone to be proclaimed missing?" Mina asked.
Mina...always dim...
"We don't know. That's why they're missing." Ray explained with exaggerated patience.
"Oh." Mina finally understood.
Mina was the Princess of Love and Beauty, yet when it came to wits she didn't have much. But she had a good heart.
"That's why we're here two hours early?" Mina asked. "Because they don't want us to go missing, and thus leave the Princess unprotected?"
Maybe there was a spark of wit in there after all.
"That's right." Ray replied.
"Girls!" The Queen of Mars, Ray's mother, called to them and gestured for them to come over. She and Venus had been talking with the Royal's of England. But now the Royal's had left.
When the girls had stationed themselves beside their mothers, the Queen of Venus started to talk to them.
"Girls, in a moment you will be introduced to Princess Serena. Mind you she doesn't have an advanced vocabulary as you two have."
"Why not?" Mina asked.
"Because her power was taken from her to protect her. Without her power she can't learn things as fast as you two can."
"Oh." Mina whispered wide eyed.
"Now, before you meet her, please repeat to me what your roles are?" Venus asked.
Together Mina and Ray repeated what they had been taught for the last two years.
"We are to be ladies in waiting for the Princess. We are also to get to know her, so that she will feel comfortable in telling us things she normally wouldn't tell anyone. So we can decided if anything is wrong and thus tell you. Also, so we can know where her favorite hiding places are so we will know where to look if she goes missing, before sounding the alarm to you. We are to be attentive and watch for anything suspicious or anything that may be harmful to the Princess. We are to be her guardians, protectors, and friends."
"And about your powers?" Mars asked.
"We are not to use them unless all else fails. If our strength is not enough to protect her, say her true name and her true mother will know where to find her and thus send reinforcements. But be watchful and alert, for the enemy will know and will come too."
"Very good. You've learned well. Now, to meet the Princess." Venus said.
They waited.
In a few moments, Queen Ikoku and King Kenji came walking back down the corridor. In her arms Queen Ikoku held Princess Serena.
When she was a few feet away from the girls, Queen Ikoku sat the Princess down on the floor.
The Princess was wearing a light purple silk dress with white lace trim around the collar, cuffs, and hem. Her hair was as gold as the sun and fell to her waist. Her bangs were held back with mother of pearl hair pins. Her eyes were blue. Not as light as Mina's, but not dark either. Her eyes were alive with curiosity, as they looked from the women to the girls.
"Serena, these are you're new ladies in waiting." Ikoku told her in a warm gentle voice. "Mina, and Ray."
Mina and Ray stepped forward and knelt down to be eye level with Serena. Serena was sitting.
"Hey there, my lady!" Mina said cheerfully.
Ray didn't say anything, just knelt there and watched her.
Serena first looked at Mina. Then, with a little struggle, she unclipped one of her hair pins and leaned forward, and attempted to clip Mina's bangs back. Mina leaned forward to make it easier.
Serena was having trouble with the clip, but when Ray and Mina offered to help her, she shook her head.
"I can bo it." She said.
Mina and Ray glanced at each other. So the Princess could say four words. Almost... Great!
With a little more struggling Serena finally did manage to pin Mina's hair back. Admittedly, the pin was crooked, and a few strands of hair stood out from Mina's head, but Serena looked happy with her work.
Mina beamed at her.
"Thank you!" She cried.
Serena beamed too!
Then she unclipped her other pin and did the same thing to Ray. But this time it went a little faster. But not a whole lot neater.
Done with that, Serena clapped her hands together excitedly.
"I think the girls have made it off to a great start!" Ikoku announced happily.
The others smiled with relief.
Then to everyones wonderment, Serena managed to stand up! She was a bit wobbly, but she allowed Ray and Mina to hold her up.
"Why, Serena! You can stand! When did that happen?" Ikoku asked.
Serena justed smiled.
"I think it happened just now!" Mina laughed.
Serena looked at Mina's and Ray's dresses. Mina was wearing a yellow dress, that had a V-neck and hung straight from her shoulders down to the floor. No waist.
Ray was wearing a red dress, with a regular neck and long sleeves. She had a V-shaped waist, and a floor length flowing skirt.
"Bwess up! Bwess up!" Serena cried.
Mina and Ray arched their eyebrows.
"I think she means dress up." Kenji said with a smile.
Serena started tugging at Mina and Ray's hands. Then she stopped. She looked questioningly up at Ikoku.
Ikoku nodded.
Serena lead Mina and Ray off to her bedroom to play dress up. Mina and Ray helped her to stay standing.
Ikoku looked at one of the guards at the door of the throne room, and motioned with her eyes for the guard to follow the girls.
The guard silently complied.
When the girls were out of earshot, Ikoku and Kenji turned to Mars and Venus.
"I remember hearing the Queen say that there were going to be four protectors." Ikoku started.
"Ami and Lita are missing." Mars explained.
"We don't know where they are, except that they might be on Earth." Venus continued.
"So please keep a look out. You will know them, by the name they write down as the Princess's true name." Mars finished.
"Uranus and Neptune have already left." Ikoku started.
"Yes, we know. They are back with the Queen and their children. And we must go now too. We'll check in at the start of every month." Venus replied.
Just before they left, Mars looked back at the couple.
"On behalf of the Queen and the Sailor Scouts, I thank you. So much!"
And they were gone in a flash of red and orange light.
After a moment Ikoku and Kenji walked back to Serena's playroom.
Blue, silver, and yellow colors flashed themselves off to the eye as one entered the room.
Ray was sitting in a too-stuffed comfy chair, leaning over the arm of it, watching Mina and Serena. Mina and Serena were in front of Serena's little vanity set. Serena was sitting in her chair while Mina stood behind her twiddling with her hair.
A few minutes later, Mina was finished.
"There!" She said with pride as Serena stared at her reflection in the mirror. "A hairstyle fit for a Princess!"
"And for a Queen, when she turns old enough." Ray offered from her seat.
Serena's new hairstyle was just like Queen Serenity's. A golden bun on each side of her head, with streamers of gold flowing behind them. But since her hair was so short, the streamers only came to her shoulders in little curls.
Serena turned and looked at her mother, a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Look mama! I'm a real princess now!" She cried happily!
Four years later:
Serena was trying to sleep, but she couldn't. Tonight was another restless night.
She knew that if she fell asleep she'd and hear those words which she dreaded more than any other.
She sat up in her rose colored, satin, four poster bed that nearly filled her huge bedroom. The curtains had been drawn to cover the windows, but even if they were open, no light would filter through. For it was midnight, and it was a new moon.
She sat there, head bowed, trying to fend off sleep.
Then the door connecting her bedroom to the bedroom Mina and Ray shared opened, and Ray slipped through, closing the door gently behind her.
"My lady, what's wrong?" She asked as she walked gently across the floor to climb up on the edge of Serena's bed.
"I couldn't sleep." Serena replied.
"I wouldn't doubt it!" Ray replied. "You sleep most of your slumber during your lessons in the day!"
Then Ray took a closer look at Serena.
"Yet, you look like you're going to fall asleep sitting there."
She was right, for Serena's eyelids were beginning to droop.
Serena shook her head.
"I don't want to fall asleep!" She cried vehemently.
Ray was taken aback by her behavior.
"Why?" She asked softly.
Serena looked up at her, with fear in her eyes.
"Why?" Ray asked more firmly. It was more an order to tell her, then a question. Serena knew that Ray would not back down now.
With a sigh, Serena stared at the satin sheets, and told her.
"Every night, on the night of the new moon, I have...this...dream. I'm a baby, and I'm being held in someones arms. It's a women, but I can't see her face. There's white mist all around us and it shields her features from me. But I feel warm and loved in her arms. Yet I since sadness in her too. She puts a hand to my forehead. Then I hear her say these words. "I take thy birthright from thee, Princess Serenity. 'Till I see safe to give it back."."
Here Serena stopped to take a breath.
Ray's heart nearly stopped. 'She remembers that!' Her mind cried.
"Then my forehead burns. Yet I can't make any noise against it. Then I see two huge red eyes, looking over the womens shoulders, at me. They burn with some emotion that I don't know. They burn away the mist around us, but as the mist goes, the image of the women fades. And I can never see her clearly. Then all the mist of white disappears, and only the darkness, the burning, and the eyes remain." Serena finished.
Ray's eyes were wide.
Serena looked up from staring at her covers. Her blue eyes stared at Ray with a pleading look in them.
"Ray, I don't want my birthright taken from me!" She cries. "That means that I can no longer stay with my family. And that I won't be able to take care of my people when my parents step down! What will happen to them?"
'She's worried about that, when she ought to be worried at the eyes. Those eyes were Baryl's! I'd bet my life on it!' Ray thought.
But before she could say anything to her, Serena spoke again.
"And then there's the eyes. Do you know what emotion they felt, that they burned like that?" She asked.
"It was, probably, hatred." Ray explained.
"Oh, so that's what that feels like." Serena muttered, looking down at the sheets again.
Ray knew that Serena would not know what hatred felt like. In order to keep her safe, she had been sheltered most of her life. And only surrounded by people who loved her.
Ray made a mental note to tell her mother this as soon as she could. In the mean time...
"Serena, you have to get your sleep or else you'll be sleeping in class again, and you know how your mother feels about that. Listen, I'll stay with you tonight. Maybe with me here, the dream won't come again." Ray said.
"You think so?"
"Yes, I do."
"Thanks."
Ray climbed up under the sheets beside Serena and they laid against each other, till they both fell asleep. And the dream did not come.
Sometime the next day, while Serena was in class, studying for once, Ray came into her bedroom.
She had thought it through, and had decided that maybe it wasn't necessary to tell her mother. Ray thought that maybe she could take care of this herself.
She went to the top of Serena's bed, and on the back of Serena's shiny ebony headboard she pasted a short strip of white paper with the Martian symbols for peace, tranquility, and love.
"With the power already in these words, protect my princess. Protect my friend." She whispered to it.
It glowed softly, then was silent.
Ray left the room then, feeling more confident that Serena was going to be okay.
And for the years to come Serena never had that dream again. And in time, she forgot she ever dreamed it.
(Stop here? Why? I'm gonna' tell you about one of our missing Senshi!)
Seven years later:
"I don't think this is a good idea, Serena!" Ray muttered as Serena pulled the hood of the brown cloak she was wearing down over head.
"Don't worry Ray." Serena told her quietly as she and Ray walked out to the front gate of the palace. "The only time I'm ever out is when I'm pretending to be my double while Mina plays me. And only for ceremony's. I want to get to know the kingdom I'll someday rule."
'If only she knew that this wasn't the kingdom she'll be ruling.' Ray thought.
"Besides," Serena added. "I'm taking Mina with me."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Ray asked exasperatedly. "You know Mina is dim most of the time, and though she knows how to fight somewhat, I'd feel better if it was me doing the fighting."
"Since no one will know it's me, there won't be any fights." Serena assured her.
"Hey Sere!" A voice called to them.
Mina, dressed in the same kind of cloak as Serena was, came running down the path. Her hood was down, but she quickly pulled it up, when she came to a stop beside them.
"Sorry I'm late. Let's go!" She said happily.
She grabbed Serena by the arm and towed her toward the village.
"Don't worry, Ray! We'll be fine. See you later!" Serena yelled over her shoulder.
Ray shook her head and closed the gate.
"I hate it when she does things like this." She muttered as she walked back toward the palace.
Serena was enjoying the tour immensely.
At the moment she and Mina were looking at the window displays of a weavers shop. They saw scarves, and blankets, and robes, and cloaks, and shawls.
Serena could see that Mina was staring at a very pretty orange and gold with a hint of red shawl.
"That would go great with your red and orange ball gown." Serena whispered to her.
"Uh huh." Mina nodded, transfixed by the shawl.
"Well, go in and buy it!" Serena coaxed her, as she pushed a little bag of money into Mina's hand.
That brought Mina out of her daydream with a jump.
"I couldn't!" She cried.
"Of course you can!" Serena countered. "Just go in there, ask to buy that shawl, pay for it, and come back. I'll be waiting right here!"
Mina stared at the money bag in her hand.
"There's enough in there for it, I'm sure." Serena assured her.
Mina smiled.
"Thanks!" She said quickly hugging Serena.
Then she ran into the store.
A few minutes later, Serena saw Mina and the store owner come to the window and pick up the shawl. Mina waved at Serena and Serena waved back.
Then they preceded to the counter at the back of the store.
That was when Serena heard the furious barking and the single cry of a child for help.
Serena forgot about Mina, and ran toward the sound.
A few streets later, she came within sight of the dogs and the child.
The dogs were chasing a little girl of about four. She wore a little pink cotton dress, with a white apron. And her reddish hair was coming down from it's ponytail. Her knees and hands were scraped, bloody, and bruised.
The dogs were big. Two German Shepperd's. Slobber hung in ribbons around their mouths.
Serena was still two far away to help her when the girl fell.
But a stranger intervened then.
Out of nowhere a tall girl ran into the dogs, and started beating them away from the girls, with nothing but her fists.
Serena circled them keeping her distance, and picked up the little girl.
Not knowing what to do, she just stood there watching the stranger fighting the dogs...And winning.
Then the girl whirled around and flew toward Serena. She grabbed one of Serena's hands and pulled her away.
They ran down many more streets, with the dogs in hot pursuit.
Then they ran into a stone wall, a little bigger than the tall girl. Now that Serena was standing beside her, Serena could see that the girl was about two heads taller than she was.
The tall girl grabbed Serena around the waist and lifted her up.
"Climb over!" She cried.
Serena sat the little girl on top of the wall, and pulled herself over. Then she hugged the girl to herself and jumped off the wall, landing on the grass on the other side.
The tall girl landed beside her just as the dogs reached the wall.
No amount of barking, clawing, slobbering, howling, or jumping got them over the fence, and soon they gave up, and went away to sulk.
The tall girl leaned her back against the wall, with a sigh of relief.
Then she turned her attention to the little girl.
"Alright, Fey, what started that?" She asked her as she gently took Fey from Serena's arms.
"Mom sent me to the bakery to pick up one of your pies, but when I started walking home, the dogs started to chase me. I gave them the pie, but they just ate it and chased me some more."
"Mean old dogs." The teenager muttered as she looked little Fey over for wounds. All she found was shallow scratches on her knees and palms, and a whole lot of bruises everywhere else. Nothing serious.
"Okay, squirt. You're alright, but I bet your mom is worried sick. Go stand by the gate over there, while I talk to our new friend here, and then I'll take you home."
"Okay!" Fey said happily as the tall girl sat her down.
Then Fey hugged Serena around the legs.
"Thank you!" She cried, then ran off to wait by the gate on the other side of the garden. They had jumped the fence to the village garden. It was empty at the moment. The garden wouldn't start to accumulate people until late afternoon.
"Thank you for saving Fey..." The tall girl started to say, but stopped when she saw Serena's face. Her eyes went wide.
"Mina?" She asked in disbelief.
Serena felt around her shoulders and discovered that her hood had fallen back when she had jumped off the top of the fence.
She quickly pulled it back up, but it was too late. The girl had seen her face. But she thought Serena was Mina.
"Mina?" She asked again with a demanding tone.
"No, I'm not Mina." Serena answered.
The girl stared at her long and hard.
Then in a whisper that Serena could barely hear.
"Princess Serena?"
"You got me there." Serena replied, while scratching the back of her head nervously.
The girl's breath quickened. Then before Serena knew what hit her, the girl had trapped her in a hug so tight that Serena couldn't breath.
Lucky for her, the girl only hugged her for about two minutes.
"What was that about?" Serena laughed once she had gotten her breath back.
"I'm sorry, I was just so excited." The girl apologized. "Do you know a Ray, Mina and Ami?" She asked.
"Ray, yes. Mina, yes, she's my double. Ami, no. No Ami. Why?"
"Well, I knew them when we were very young. But we got separated when they went to the palace. I haven't seen them in years."
"Well, then. It's time for a little reunion." Serena said, clapping her hands gently together. Her mother had taught her never to clap loudly unless she was calling for silence in a room.
"I'd love that, but I don't think they'd let you."
"Ray, maybe. But I'm here with Mina. Well, I was here with Mina. Do you know the way to the weavers shop? That's where I left her." Serena inquired.
"Sure. Out the gate, to the left, you'll see the top of the palace over the houses and shops. Keep going toward the palace, and you'll come to the weavers shop. I'm going to take little Fey home, and get cleaned up. Why don't we meet at the south side of the palace in an half an hour?"
"That'd be great! The South side is by the ocean. My balcony overlooks it. We'll be there!" Serena said happily as they walked over to Fey.
The girl nodded and took Fey's hand, and started off to the right.
"Oh, uh, wait!" Serena called.
The girl paused and looked back at her.
"What's your name?"
"Oh," She said while brushing a strand of oak brown hair out of her eyes. "It's Lita."
They smiled and waved at each other, and parted ways.