Chapter Twenty-two
LadyPrin
Disclaimer Applies.
"Welcome back, Prince Endymion. To what may I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Queen Serenity asked, as she walked into the throne room to find Prince Endymion standing before the throne in his shiny black armor.
"My parents have sent me with presents for the Moon Princess in celebration of her engagement." Prince Endymion announced, though his voice sounded dull, almost lifeless.
"I thank you and them for their generous gifts." Queen Serenity responded, seeing the three big packages lying on the floor by his feet.
Queen Serenity suddenly had an idea.
"It's morning, and Serena must already be up. Why don't we go surprise her with the gifts?" She asked, and almost smiled as she saw the spark of life in Endymion's eyes at the prospect of meeting Serena again. "Follow me then."
Prince Endymion picked up the packages and dutifully followed Queen Serenity through the door of the throne room and down the hall, silently fighting down the excitement he felt for being able to see Serena before her wedding and the pain he felt at the goodbye he knew must follow their meeting.
They had to cross through the ball room in order to get to the staircase that lead to the second floor, but they stopped short when they saw Prince Alan pacing the floor by the staircase.
He was all dressed in his crisp Prince uniform, but his hair was all shuffled like as if he hadn't combed it yet.
As they watched, Prince Alan's hair started turning slowly blue and lengthening.
Prince Alan would notice it, and stop just long enough to turn it back to brown and short before starting up his pacing again.
Queen Serenity turned to Endymion and whispered.
"In Prince Alan's species, the males have blue hair and the females have pink hair. Prince Alan has explained to me that he made his hair brown so that he wouldn't look out of place, or be mistaken for a Mercurian. He also informed me that his hair might start turning back to it's blue and longish state if he got really worried and lost control over the spell that keeps it brown and short. He must be worried now. I wonder about what."
Queen Serenity quietly walked forward toward Alan who didn't notice her until she was only a few steps away from him.
Alan stopped his pacing and stood up straight, and then he bowed to the Queen.
"May I ask what worries you Prince Alan?" Queen Serenity asked in a calm voice that sounded almost like she was just talking about the whether.
"What makes you think I'm worried?" Alan asked in reply.
He didn't seem to notice that his hair was turning blue again.
Queen Serenity turned to smile at Endymion who had sat the packages down on the floor again and was standing with a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"It doesn't really matter what galaxy one is from. There are some things that all living intelligent beings have in common." Queen Serenity turned back to Alan. "Just like trying to advert suspicion when one is worried by asking what makes one think the other is worried."
Alan looked at her for a moment, and then sighed.
"Yes, I'm worried. I admit that. I'm worried sick." Alan answered starting his pacing again, his hair now all the way to his waist and as blue as the sky of Earth.
"About what?" Serenity asked.
"People in general." Alan tried to be vague about it, but Serenity wasn't having any of it.
Serenity sighed at the prospect of having to do this, but she realized she wasn't going to get a straight answer from this man.
"Alan." She spoke firmly, and Alan paused abruptly in his pacing to look at her with wide-open eyes.
Queen Serenity's crescent moon symbol glowed on her forehead and she entered the memories of Prince Alan. She saw everything from the moment her daughter woke Prince Alan up in the middle of the night; right up to the moment she put Alan to sleep.
She also dug back deep enough within the Prince's memories to find out who this Ann was to him.
When she withdrew from his mind, he rubbed the back of his head.
The bump was still there from when he'd hit the floor.
"That's the second—no wait, that's not the second time someone's invaded my memories. I mean the first time she drew me into her own memories, and now you just drew yourself into my memories. Isn't there any privacy in this family???" Prince Alan exclaimed.
"Not really where the women are concerned." Queen Serenity explained. "We get drawn into memories of others whether we want to or not."
"Just like Serena was with Ann earlier." Alan muttered.
"Yes. Just like that." Queen Serenity said softly.
Endymion stood at attention wondering what was going on. What were they saying? What did they mean by what they said?
Just then a big door of swirling pink clouds formed up on the opposite side of the ballroom. On the farthest side form them by the entrance door.
Two people stepped out.
Pluto still supported Ann, though when they came fully out of the door, Ann insisted on standing on her own.
Alan stood still for a moment, taking in the sight of his true love standing before him, dirty, pale, and in torn clothes.
Then he was streaking across the floor of the ballroom toward her, crying her name as he went.
She staggered along the floor of the ballroom, crying his name too.
Nobody in the room had even a hint of the evil that was staggering toward the Prince in the disguise of the girl he loved.
And the ones who knew the truth were too far away to warn them.