Glossary

kangura battlements; drum; finial: all architetural terms specific to the Indo-Saracenic Revival/Indo-Gothic style. The most famous example of this style is the Taj Mahal.

(Source: Wikipedia/Google)

VII

Endymion had not forgotten what he had seen that night. And in the days afterwards, as news of Parliament's edict spread throughout all corners of the palace, he found himself replaying the scene in his mind over and over again.

How could I have forgotten it? Was the first question that came to mind, and one he constantly asked himself.

That evening so long ago had been maybe one of the last peaceful times before the queen's health had turned for the worst. Him giving Serenity that book was real; the smile she had given him, the way her hair had fallen on her shoulders, and the way the apples of her cheeks had flushed—all of those things were real.

How could I have let it slip from my memory?

Why am I only remembering it now?

The more he thought about it, the sights and sounds and the sequence of it, the more he found himself coming back to two things:

Diamond. The image of Diamond from that night, most especially the moment when the royal's head turned to face him. Dressed in his one of his many white suits, reclining on the couch with his drink of red wine swirling in its glass, the full image of his seething expression always held for a second, and then his face—his nose and mouth—would become…warped. Scratched out. Distorted. As if the image itself was actively and purposely erasing itself from his consciousness.

Except for the royal's eyes. They remained the same.

And his own feeling of deep-seated dislike of Diamond—that stayed in Endymion's memory as well.

But why?

The question of Why? only seemed to cause physical pain whenever he focused on trying to find an answer. If he dwelled too long or fought against the alteration, a headache unlike any he had ever experienced started. And it grew and intensified the more he pressed for answers as to why he would feel this way towards his…friend.

Yes, a part of him always assured him, your friend.

…It did not help that the Earth-born prince had not laid eyes on the man in question in the wake of Parliament's edict…

And he kept coming back to Serenity.

Serenity… He did not experience the same feelings of pain and misgiving whenever he saw her in his memory. No, with her…it was a warmth. An intense glow that radiated and spread within him, so different from the idea of longing. The more he reflected on the memory and the need for answers reflected in her pale blue eyes, the stronger he felt that same desire within him. …The cadence of his heartbeat pulsed with a sense of warning and urgency until he felt he would split open from the sensation.

He sought refuse outside.

The night's cool breeze, the gentle shaking of tree leaves, and the music of crickets greeted him like old friends. The surrounding world at this time of night was still and silent. The smaller palaces of the Moon's elders all had darkened windows; there were no occupants in any of the gazebos or benches around him, and no patrolling guards in his immediate view. His only companion seemed to be the palace itself, the chandeliers he saw through windows dimly illuminated. It was difficult to pull his eyes away from the pearl-white and pale gold structure with the etched carvings of kangura battlements along its drum, and lotus carvings atop the domed roofs. For a moment, his gaze lingered at its highest peak, where the crescent-moon insignia stood atop its finial and glittered in the clouded sky.

He continued on and did not think twice as he stepped off the walkway and unto the meticulously cut, dew-sprinkled lawns.

The wind grew fierce around him as he stopped at the threshold he had unconsciously sought: the rose garden. Serenity's favorite place on the royal grounds. He stepped unto the wooden planks that laid out the safe path for walking. He stared down at pale yellow and white roses before him and the tiny lights that lined the planks' either side and gave the bare minimum of sight. Above him were the sky and the stars and blue-marbled Earth peeking from along the horizon of the northern wall.

"I feel like I am at war with myself," he murmured aloud.

Something within him told him he needed to understand. He wished he could.

There was movement behind him. Feeling himself snatched outside of his thoughts, unwilling to be intruded upon at such a moment, Endymion turned.

And there, standing before him against the backdrop of the Moon Palace, panting for breath, and dressed in a long, white silk robe with a multitude of small hair bows in her pigtails…

Serena.

The crazy, mixed up feelings within him seemed to driven away by the sight of her. "…What are you doing here?" He asked softly.

"I couldn't fall back sleep," was the first answer to pop into her head. It wasn't a lie—over the past few weeks, Serena just kept waking up in the middle of the night with her fingers rubbing small, comforting circles around the mark on her forehead. It was just that this time, she hadn't been able to lie in bed and count the number of printed butterflies fluttering around the camilla flowers on her bedroom wallpaper until she felt sleepy again. She had stepped out unto her bedroom's balcony, feeling the breeze blow about her and the cold marble under her bare feet. First, she leaned on the railing and stared out at the bit of the Earth she could see, like how she used to look at the Moon Palace from the bridge. And when she got tired of standing, she sat and let her feet dangle between the rails. Her thoughts had wandered, and then they had started to focus on Prince Endymion. And she had just decided that she couldn't keep thinking about him and needed to go back to bed and force herself to sleep when she noticed him walking towards the back of the grounds.

She had scrambled to her feet; found her favorite bathroom robe with its pattern of brightly colored birds to wear over her thin cotton nightgown, and her slippers; and followed the path he traveled.

Now here she was.

Prince Endymion relaxed. "Nor can I." He extended an arm to gesture to the spot beside him. "Please join me."

She did, tried to keep her head facing forward, and failed each time she watched him from the corner of her eye. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket, and his hands were stuffed in his pants pockets. His gaze was solemn and focused. The wind ruffled his hair and the sleeves of his white dress shirt and carried the faint smell of his cologne.

She sighed loudly.

He looked over at her. "Is something troubling you?"

"…I feel like I'm just…doing something wrong."

He considered her words. "How so?" He leaned forward slightly. "In what way?"

She was turning red at the cheeks. Her eyes didn't meet his, but she shook her head and shrugged.

Everything had changed in the last few days.

Since Parliament's letter, she had spent days sitting in the "secret meetings" the elders had decided to have. Just…sitting and listening to some of them say things here and there and Aglecta argue for or against the general consensus while the ones that only cared about the arrival of meals agreed or just didn't argue back.

Aglecta herself had become more critical during her instruction, not even bothering to hide that she was taking her frustrations out on her. The way Serena held out her arm was wrong: she was to relax her hand. Why would she close her eyes when she needed to concentrate her power in her hands? She breathed too deeply; she was breathing too quickly. What she was doing was not so difficult; a child could do this if it willed itself hard enough!

The one time she had felt like she was doing everything right—perfect posture, breathing, and a relaxed gaze on the very center of her palm—and she thought she could feel something, a headache suddenly came to her. Finally frustrated at the teenager's "antics," the elder ended the lesson early, quipping, "Here you are. A girl who looks like the princess, acts like the princess, who sounds like her and has led us to believe you hold the same power as her. But you fail in the one thing we need you to do. To find us the one thing the Moon Kingdom needs even more than its royal family.

"From the information we gathered about you, you have proved to be exactly as you appear. An average girl whose capabilities were no more than a fluke we must now live with."

Serena had sat there, staring at nothing until Luna had arrived.

…She still felt bad for not sticking up for Luna when Aglecta had yelled at her. Even still, the dark-haired woman was still her greatest companion and always seemed to have a way of making her feel better until her headaches went away. She wished she could say sorry, but didn't know how the words would sound after she had waited for so long.

And Prince Diamond was the biggest change of all.

Since that day in the meeting room, she felt that there was something different about him. Like a crack in a mask. He never offered any input during the elder's meetings or spoke to her directly anymore, but at times, she caught him looking at her from his favorite spot along the wall. He always caressed his hand. It was weird in a way she couldn't explain. But it had been his idea that she begin to take her dinners in the banquet hall to stop the gossip. And despite his cold treatment, he sat beside her during the meal where the nobles looked up from their plates, glanced over at her, and whispered behind their forks and hands.

"I just feel like…there's something I'm not doing. I was," she paused to truly consider her words, "I did what I did the night of the Coronation Announcement because…something bad would've happened if I didn't. And I don't know how I did it.

"The whole reason I'm here is because I'm Princess Serenity. I don't need anyone to tell me that; I know it's true. And, and, and I should be able to do the things she'd be able to do: the things I'm expected to do. But I don't know what those things are exactly. And even though everyone here loves her, no one ever talks about how she was or how she would do things…"

Her thoughts trailed. She wrapped her arms around her as the wind swirled upset the hem of her robe. She searched the Earth-born prince's face for his reaction.

The prince didn't speak for several moments. "I know that amongst the Moon's people, Princess Serenity is treated as a decisive leader—and her sacrificing her life for the good of the Moon's people was decisive. She had the potential to be strong, but she was treated much like you are now by the elders of the Moon. The only decision she was ever able to make on her own was to save the kingdom.

"You are not Princess Serenity." His tone was gentle. Like it was okay. "But I believe that your desire to keep people safe from harm and be strong for them matches with her own. And it is useful. It will enable you to make decisions in the kingdom's best interest, and over time, the elders will recognize that within you."

His words made her feel better. "…What was she like? The princess?"

"She was…" he smiled gently, "well-loved. And well-protected by her mother and her senshi. Her soldiers. She loved to laugh and smile and be outside. She loved color."

"Color?"

"There were times when she felt the colors of the Moon were too…muted. She would see the Earth like this," he pointed to the planet peeking over the palace's wall, "and say that she liked how bright it was…"

Serena looked down at her robe again, seeing the oranges and gold and bright blue colors of the birds. And then she stared at the roses… Her mind wandered with images of the princess doing the things she did like daydreaming in class or playing video games at Game Crown. "I think I would have liked her."

The prince smiled at her, and she felt a sort of heat in her chest at the soft look on his face. I wish he would kiss me.

She blushed at the thought.

They fell to silence and she stared at her slippers until she almost bore a hole in them. "Can we—I stay out here a little while longer and just…walk around?"

He smiled once more. "Of course. I'll stay here and watch."

"Thank you, Prince Endymion."

"Endymion." He corrected her.

"…Endymion…"

Feeling happy under the protection of the Earth and its prince, she started down the path. She breathed in the smell of the roses and childishly kicked up her nightgown. She reached an intersection and, on impulse, started down another walkway. And then she was walking farther and faster, and then sort of running. And then…just feeling a little like she was just regular Serena Tsukino from Juuban, Neo-Tokyo.

He had insisted on escorting her back, but she hadn't recognized the place they had entered the palace from. It was the shape of a backwards "L,"and the path in front of her, the longer section, just seemed to be a hallway leading to nowhere. The walls on its either side didn't look old exactly, but they were aged: the chandeliers a little different from all the others in the palace…she had a feeling like no one had been down here in a long time.

"Can you remember your way back from here?" Endymion whispered.

She shook her head at what stood before her. "The elders never showed me this place before… Where are we?"

Endymion looked at their surroundings, but didn't pay attention to the hallway before him, just the one to his left. He crouched down and took off his shoes, holding them in one hand. He stepped towards the left hallway, his free hand gripping the wall. He looked like he was little kid trying to sneak back home after curfew. He looked at her and beckoned with a little movement of his head. "Come along this wall."

Serena followed his example, taking off her slippers and doing a half-tiptoe/hop to catch up.

He grinned at her antics. "You look like a rabbit."

She giggled.

"I believe going down this way will take us to the grand ballroom. You will be fine to reach your quarters from there; after all, you seem to be good at avoiding guards when need be," he joked. "No one will know you're missing." He started down.

Serena made the steps to follow, but then she had heard a noise…

…Pulling her gaze away from Endymion, she turned around.

She looked at the wall's moldings and carvings, gazed up at the chandeliers that twinkled. It looked so ordinary, but there was that…sound. …Like…ringing.

Without even really thinking about it, she stepped into that hallway.

The noise—ringing? music? whispers?—was a little louder now. The pull towards that wall was a little stronger. The air around her was thick with power. She could feel it like it was a tangible thing that ran in currents around her and along the walls. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and goosebumps were popping up along her skin.

"What are you doing?"

She whirled to see the prince standing behind her. Blinking, she slowly answered, "I don't know. …What is this place?"

He looked around him, but it was like he wasn't seeing the same things she saw. "I'm not familiar with this part of the palace myself. After the attack and the palace's reconstruction, a lot of places were moved. Changed. This may be the result of that."

She shook her head. He was wrong. The part of her that knew things knew what this place was. It always had been here. Longer than the time of the attack; longer than the extra century he had been alive. How could he not feel what she felt?

…She had been here before.

No, she hadn't.

Yes. She had.

There was that sound again, louder than ever, calling out to her.

The sixteen-year-old stepped forward—

She was being held back. Endymion was holding her hand. He looked worried. It took all of her to listen to what he was saying:

"—We must leave," he said with urgency.

Her head shook. "I'm sorry," she could hear herself saying, "I just need to go and see. The door…I keep hearing something coming from the door…"

Endymion asked her a question, but it was lost on her…he sounded like he was a 1,000 miles away to her ears.

"The door." Her voice sounded far away too.

There was a…buzzing in her ears now. Like a ringing reverberating over and over and over again, magnified a million times. Or maybe the sound was in her head…centered where her headaches were always happening, right where the crescent-moon mark lay.

She neared the end of the hallway where…the door stood.

The door to The Holy Sanatorium.

Would it let her in? She remembered…Mama saying she could only approach it in times of need. And that had been true; she had only been let inside on her own just once, when it had been important and the lives of her people would have been lost forever if she hadn't.

But it's important now, too. I'm here because there's Evil. And it's trying to hurt the kingdom again. That's why I'm here.

Her hands pressed against the door in search of the latch where it was supposed to give like it had long ago. And she could feel it; but no matter how much pressure she put, it wouldn't move. The door wouldn't open.

There was no use fighting her way in. "I need you," she whispered, pressing her fingertips against the surface. "Now that I remember that you're here, I need you."

The power she could feel paused in the air for a moment and then moved. It receded towards her, washed over her like a wave. And then there was light from the other side of the door and all around her, blinding her.

"This room will not yet yield for you." A voice that seemed made up of a thousand others said to her.

She removed her hands from the latch. "I understand; I'm not strong enough."

"It is not a matter of your strength. You are strong and have grown capable of protecting yourself, and us. But, there are things…memories I have kept dormant, so as to not overwhelm you. I fear you knowing everything so quickly would make you vulnerable or place you in danger. Please understand."

"I do understand, but…I have to protect my people."

"Their hearts are being protected as I promised.

"…You can no longer doubt your strength," a new voice suddenly said. Distinctly feminine and young; it almost exactly like hers. "You must trust in others around you. They will protect you and lend you their strength—they want to do so."

"Who wants to?"

"So many… The man who holds your hand now. The man I loved…"

And then she felt lighter than air and images ran through her mind. There were so many things to see…

Herself.

But not herself…

Mama, her eyes shut in pain…the elders bowing to her, telling her things…the Moon Palace, torn open, destroyed…the looks of her greatest friends and trusted protectors as they left to fight for her for the last time…fire, smoke…a clouded sky…a living sky that knew where she was and wanted her…her own hands covered in blood…her grandmother's statue…blinding light…a figure in silver armor…

…And then herself as she was now, just sixteen and a student trying to pass an exam…wearing a borrowed dress…seeing the signs her people held up as the Moon Palace opened its doors to the outside…watching Diamond be called a prince…a sea of faces, her dad's scared and worried…watching Aglecta yell at her…seeing Luna in a yellow dress, lace with embroidered birds on the bust, wiping away her tears…Artemis dancing a jig and bowing to her surprised, impressed laughter and applause…Diamond's friendly, purple eyes…and their dropped façade that showed how angry his gaze could be…

…And Endymion…dressed in dark armor…smiling…laughing…dancing with her over and over again…brushing away her tears…kissing her for the first time…dying in front of her, the wound he endured bleeding all over him, all over her and her dress…him, alive and alone…sitting by himself…walking by himself…standing amongst the roses by himself with his back turned…alone…and then him smiling at her, a smile that was the same as it was long ago, and then laughing…his blue eyes watching her as she ran through those roses…

Serena gasped, the trance broken, and felt herself be pulled back to the ground. Someone caught her; strong arms held her.

It had been so much. And she couldn't help it: she cried.

R&R