Chapter 1 - A bride for the Prince
"My Queen, the Queen of the Moon has come to speak with you. Will you allow an audience?" The messenger looked at the ground and dare not raise his head to the Queen, it was improper after all. To look upon royalty was a crime for a servant, that is how it has always been. "Yes, bring her in." "Yes, your majesty." With that the servant bowed even further and left the throne room.
Makoto sighed as the servant left, she really hated that no one would look at her. Makoto was the only Queen her age, the rest of the sailor scouts were still Princesses. They all had their parents. Makoto's parents were murdered when Makoto was only six years old, by someone in her own castle. So it was no mystery that Makoto became the strongest Sailor Scout, having to constantly be vigilant even in her own home.
Makoto snapped out of her memories as the clicking of heels brought her about. She looked up calmly into the eyes of Queen Serenity. "To what to I owe this visit?" Queen Serenity didn't waste any time, after all the connection to the Jupiter Royalty wasn't strong. It was obvious that Makoto cared for her daughter, Usagi, but that was the only thing keeping their relationship. "We are holding a ball tonight, it is short notice, but I have come to an agreement with the King of Earth to solidify our new alliance. At tonight's ball his son, the Prince, will choose a bride from all the planet's eligible Princesses." Makoto took a minute to soak in the new information, but she wasn't pleased in the least bit. "As you know... I am far from a Princess. I do not wish to participate in such a thing." 'Most of all... I do not wish to see him...' "If you come then I will release you from your senshi duty." Makoto glared at the woman before her, their relation had never been very good. "Very well, I will be there. You should know that if you don't keep your promise, however, I will not sit back and take it. Are you prepared?" "Tough words for someone only aged seventeen. You are quite brave... and stupid. See you tonight." And with that Queen Serenity left the throne room and made her way back to the moon.
Makoto boiled under her skin, he abhorred the Queen of the Moon. Their planets were currently allied, but that didn't mean Makoto had to like it. Her own Mother and Father had set up the alliance, so she was trying her best to keep it together. She sighed deeply as she stood from her throne and made her way to her bedroom. After her parents death she never moved into their room, she couldn't bare the thought of sleeping in that room. She stepped inside and the two maids inside snapped to attention. The two girls were her own age and were her closet servants. "I have just been informed of a ball at the Moon tonight. Will you help me dress for it?" The girl with red hair looked up, eyes sparkling. "Yes your majesty, I know just the dress!" With that she scurried off into the huge closet. When she came back she was holding a gorgeous sliver and green dress. Makoto didn't care much to pay attention to the detail and just nodded in approval. She never picked her own attire, and Beryl always seemed so excited to pick it for her anyway.
She left her room after the two were done with her, hair , make-up, and everything else. She made her way to the Moon Portal and entered the pass-code. The teleport was the quickest and most convenient way of travel, but Makoto had other means. She had rearranged her castle in such a way that if there was an attack she could tell who was attacking and immediately stop any advances. It seemed crude, but she had put all the transporters in different areas of the castle and had certain measures of protection for each planet near those transporters. Needless to say, none of the other scouts liked to visit her for that reason, of course being watched 24/7 doesn't feel too welcoming.
Within seconds she was inside the Moon Palace and taking her sweet time making it to the royal ballroom. As she neared she could tell that they had already begun the merriment, perhaps long before she had even been informed. The guard at the door snapped to attention and gave an order to the guard on the other side of the door, before opening the door for her. "Her Royal Majesty, Queen of Jupiter!" He didn't give her name, one of the many things that irritated her about being born into royalty... your name was of no importance, just your rank in the kingdom. She stepped into the room looking at the stilled dancers. She smiled and waved in a way that everyone knew they could continue dancing. Once almost everyone had forgotten she had come in she made her way to a waiter offered her a smile along with a glass of wine. Of course she was too young even on her planet, but there were benefits of being a Queen. She walked over to Ami, she was pretty close with her and didn't feel too awkward engaging her in conversation.
It wasn't long into the conversation till she was pulled away from her friend by the touch on her shoulder. Mamoru... "May I have this dance Queen?" She was completely shocked, was Mamoru so stupid as to dance with someone other than Usagi? Even if he didn't have feelings for her he should know the consequences. Although pissing off the Queen was something she couldn't refuse. Giving him a rueful smile she nodded her head and allowed him to take her to the dance floor before pulling her into the swirls of the other dancers. Dancing had been one of the few things she had ever enjoyed so it wasn't a surprise that she was better than the other girls of royalty.
She could feel more than one heated stare upon her back as she danced with the most eligible bachelor. It was mostly like the Queen and Usagi, she wouldn't be surprised if Rei had joined in on the glaring. She was snapped out of her thoughts once more as the hand that rested upon her back brought her even closer leaving little to no space between the two of them. "I wish you were focusing on me, my Queen." Makoto hated that she blushed at that, to her blushing was a weakness and she couldn't afford to be weak. It was too bad for her that she was easy swayed by kind words and handsome men. "I apologize, how rude of me. It just has been quite a while since I had so many people glaring at me. I suppose I can thank you for that?" She was being coy, one of the oldest tricks in the book. "Hmm I suppose so, but if I hadn't met you the other night, Sailor Jupiter, I might not have asked you to dance with me today. So who's fault is it really?" "Confidant aren't you?" They continued the rest of the song in silence and they both revealed in it.
Once the song was over Mamoru bowed to Makoto and kissed her hand. "Until we meet again, adieu." Without looking back he made his way to who she assumed was his father. The older man's eyes locked on hers and gleamed with a mischievous twinkle. She was used to the look, it was the look of a man with ambition, no doubt about that. She turned around abruptly, still feeling his gaze on her back and made her was over to Ami once again. The girl looked more timid than usual, but that was to be expected. Ami was probably the most loyal of the followers of the Moon, so seeing Makoto deliberately dancing with Usagi's love was kind of worrying for her.
She didn't doubt that the other scouts would side with the moon if she should ever defy them, but it was getting to the point where she couldn't even stand Usagi anymore. She was so caught up in thought that she didn't notice that the music had stopped and that Mamoru and his father along with Queen Serenity were up by the throne. "Now we gathered you all here today to celebrate the joining of Earth into the alliance. The terms of the alliance have been decided and both parties are satisfied by them. The term is that Prince Mamoru will become King of Earth by marrying one of the Princesses." There was a round of audible gasps, of course this wasn't a normal thing to settle an alliance with. At least not in the Moon Kingdom, the Queen knew he was going to pick Usagi so it wasn't too much of a worry for her. "Calm down please. All eligible Princesses and Queen have agree to this as well. Now we will let the Prince choose and the rest of the night will be a wedding proposal celebration." As Mamoru made it down right in front of the thrown a servant took his place to introduce all the Princesses.
"Princess Usagi, Princess of the Moon Kingdom and leader of the Sailor Senshi." With that Usagi walked up to Mamoru and curtised and he bowed in return. She smiled knowingly at him and he did his best not to retch at the site of it. "Princess Ami, Princess of Mercury and Sailor Senshi of wisdom and strategy." Ami timidly walked up to Mamoru, already her face was tinted with a light pink. He shyly curtised and as soon as he bowed back she quickly took her place right by Usagi who gave her hand a light squeeze of happiness. "Princess Rei, Princess of Mars and Sailor Senshi of passion and war." Rei confidently walked up to Mamoru admiring how handsome he was and put Usagi and Ami's curtsies to shame. "Princess Minako, Princess of Venus and Sailor Senshi of love and beauty." Makoto had loved the irony... she used to be ranked number three, but as of late she had become more distant than the outer planets. The other announcements became a blur to her... all becoming one. "Princess Hakura, Princess of Uranus and Sailor Senshi of power and stealth. Princess Michiru, Princess of Neptune and Sailor Senshi of talent and tides. Princess Setsuna, Princess of Pluto and Sailor Senshi of time and insight. Princess Hotaru, Princess of Saturn and Sailor Senshi or death and forewarning. And lastly, Queen Makoto, Queen of Jupiter and Sailor Senshi of courage and perseverance." Makoto snapped out of her thoughts long enough to make it up to Mamoru, curtsy and over to the other girls. She felt numb and alone, but she would never let anyone know that. She knew that Mamoru would choose Usagi... that was the smart thing to do.
"Now my son... Which will you choose to be your bride and seal this alliance with the Moon and other planets. Have you decided?" "I have... I have chosen Queen Makoto to be my bride... if she will have me."