Stretching, Venus tried to not look so tired during training that day. Artemis made everything more difficult and he threw the balls harder and faster at his ward. Luna and Sere watched curiously, Mars smirked, Jupiter looked a little worried, and Mercury, as always, looked disinterested.
After practice, Sere began to give the group a proper tour of the palace. Venus walked up next to Princess Sere, both quiet but smiling. Artemis walked alongside Luna, helping with the tour. It was long, boring, and Venus barely paid any attention. Once it was done Sere and Venus went into the Moon Princess's room, the two sitting in comfortable chairs and brushing each other's hair. The cats were not in the room with them, choosing instead to have another discussion away from the teenagers. It was only beneficial to the two blonde haired, blue eyed women.
"So how was your date with Endymion last night?"
"Wonderful, as usual. He asked me to partner him at the ball. And he kissed me!" Sere bit her lip, blushing a dark shade. "He kissed me…"
"Congrats Sere!" Venus took her time brushing her charge's hair, thinking about the date she had with the leader of the generals last night. She spoke quietly and a bit sheepishly. "I… I met with Kunzite."
"Really? Do leaders always pair up?"
"Do royals?" Venus stuck out her tongue, laughing when Sere blushed. "It was nice. We danced, we talked… we… we kissed…"
"Really?! Yay Venus, we can double date!"
The orange princess choked on her breath, snorting and coughing. "Oh, uh… I don't think…"
"Please Venus?" Sere pouted and Venus sighed, giving in. "Yay! There's going to be a visit for us to Earth one of these days. My mother makes them normally but she said I'm old enough to go with my guards."
"That's great, Sere." Venus began to do the Moon Princess's hair, tying it up into little balls and letting the rest flow over her shoulders. "When are you supposed to go?"
"In three months, after the Prince goes back."
Venus nodded, feeling a bit awkward as Sere brushed her hair. It was weird, having a girl younger than her brush her hair. "So this ball…"
"It's great, right? We always have one when the Earthlings visit." Sere sighed contently. "I want to marry Endymion."
"Wh…what? Really?"
"Yes. I love him. My mother has started to line up suitors, but I've met them all. None of them are interesting. They're all as quiet and cold as the rest of the people here. All so distant, all so… perfect…"
Venus sighed. She had met many of the men on Venus. They were all very nice, but not really her type. They all bowed down to her and saw her as better than them. She wondered if Sere had the same problem.
"And Endymion?"
"He's dreamy. His hair is as dark as the deepest space, his eyes are as blue as Earth's seas, and he's so kind and sweet and gentle…" Sere sighed, tying the ribbon into Venus's hair. The two sat silently for a moment before Venus brought up a question.
"Has… Has Luna ever turned into… a human?"
Sere tilted her head, looking at her main guard. "What do you mean?"
"Artemis… he… Last night…" Venus began to explain about when she came back into the common room, the cat getting mad, his sudden change into… well, a human, and every other detail she could think of. Sere thought about it but shook her head.
"I've never seen Luna or Artemis do that… I'm surprised…" Sere sighed, twirling a few strands of hair over her finger. "Well, let's think about that later. The ball is tomorrow!" Perking up and putting it out of her mind, Sere began to babble about dresses and the like.
"Hey… Why do the Earth Prince and his generals visit the Moon?" Venus looked up at the planet and sighed. In Serenity's room, her sky light covered most of the ceiling, so she had a perfect view of the planet.
"Oh. Um, well, they're not supposed to… See… One day I went down after watching Endymion for so long from the Moon, I found him on accident while I was watching a field, so I wanted to see him up close and learn about him, I didn't intend to actually meet him, but I got caught… and Luna had to help me out of the mess. And then they started to try and come up here because they felt they were being spied on, and I called Endymion up to see me, and after a couple visits my mother found him, and we decided that if their Prince and his guards could be satisfied with visiting, then…" Sere sighed. "Some people on Earth are jealous of the Moon kingdom because we live so long and so youthfully. This way we can work out a proper peace treaty, so they're constantly here with other people from Earth to work that out with my mother. Endymion and his guards consider this more like a vacation, I think."
"Oh. So this is an experiment?" Venus smiled. "At least we get to see what men from Earth are like."
"What do you think of them?"
Venus sighed, thinking about it. "They're brave, and handsome, and kind… I like them."
Sere nodded, smiling. "I hope that we can make peace with them."
A few days later, in the evening, Venus got dressed in a flowing golden gown. She slid Amber and Topaz clips into her hair before she tied golden ribbons around her neck and arms, and then dusted her cheeks with glitter. She went into the common area and looked at the other princesses who were there, waiting.
Each was dressed in the color of their royal house. Mars was wearing a long red dress with a slit up the left side, thin straps, and a gauze shawl draped over her shoulders. A silver choker with deep red stones hung around her neck. Jupiter wore a green dress with small crimps and folds that half clung to her body, half swirled around her feet. Green gems clipped her shoulder straps and kept them still, glinting in the light when she moved. Matching ones kept her hair up on her head. Her height made the slim dress look form fitting yet accented her developing body, giving her the look of a model. Mercury's blue dress had all the shades imaginable in it, rippling down over her body like waves in the ocean. Her sleeves faded into gossamer, silver bracelets, belts, and a hairband in her hair gave her a shine when the fairy lights floated over her. Serenity was dressed in all white, her dress synched around her chest, multiple layers falling to the floor. She had no sleeves on and the back of her dress dipped down to her lower back, a simple train of white ribbon that started under her synched fabric following the hem of the backing and meeting each other with a loose bow. Her hair had ropes of silver and diamonds, matching ones dotting her arms and shoulders.
It was quite possibly the most awkward group of women Venus had seen, solely because they still knew next to nothing about each other and didn't even talk all that much.
"Sere, you look great!"
"Thank you Venus, you look beautiful."
"Hehe, well… yeah." She grinned, sticking out her tongue. "You all look gorgeous."
"Yes, well…" Mars glared at Venus, but she finally stopped and just looked away, as if she had lost interest in being mad anymore.
"Thanks! You look perfect," Jupiter grinned, giving the princess of beauty a thumbs up.
Mercury looked over at them, showed a small smile, and then went back to staring at the wall. It was progress in Venus and Sere's eyes.
"Well, we're all ready, so let's go, they'll be expecting us." Serenity began to lead them down the hall, five pairs of heels clicking on the marble floors. They met no one on the way and entered the ball room, all eyes turning to see them.
Venus looked around and almost at once she saw Kunzite standing off with some of his own. He was dressed in a black uniform trimmed with silver, his long hair falling over his shoulders. He was drinking something and smirking, talking to Zoicite. The feminine looking male glared at his tall commander, who just chuckled. But when all the heads turned, his did too, and he locked eyes with Venus. He raised his glass and Venus blushed, looking down at her hands. When she managed to look back up, Serenity had already been swept away by Endymion, who wore his uniform, minus the cape and shoulder pads. Venus watched them move about the silvery colored room and various colored dresses, sighing with envy. That was until she turned and Kunzite was standing next to her, smiling down at her.
"You look beautiful," he muttered, offering his hand. Venus took it and they joined the dancing couples on the floor. Venus spun with him and gazed up at her dance partner, a light blush on her cheeks. They danced together for a few songs before taking a break, standing off to the side, seeing who was dancing with whom.
"I see all the generals picked a soldier to dance with." Venus giggled, leaning against a pillar and watching for a few minutes. Kunzite joined her, and soon they were both admiring the Prince and Princess as they danced.
"Mmm, and they all look… adorable." Venus giggled, leaning a bit against Kunzite. He leaned back against her and brushed his hand over her arm in a warm and familiar way.
"Would you like to take a walk in the garden?" Kunzite laced his fingers with Venus's, gazing down at her. They both knew they had to watch their royals, and Venus bit her lip.
She was about to respond when everything happened at once.
"So this is how you trick the people of Earth? You lull them into a false sense of security with dances and secret visits?" A woman stood in the middle of the dance floor, dressed in a black top with a golden skirt, brandishing a sword. "Always lording over the people of Earth, spying on us, watching us like gods. And you lull our prince and his generals here for your dumb parties and false promises!" The woman pointed her sword at Queen Serenity while Prince Endymion stood in front of Princess Serenity. Venus squeezed Kunzite's hand, but someone grabbed her free hand. Whipping her head around, she saw a man as tall as Kunzite with long white hair, dressed in silver pants and a matching jacket over his white shirt.
His blue eyes bored into Venus's and he hissed angrily, "Would you do your job and protect your princess?"
Venus let go of Kunzite's hand, stepping back and looking a bit fearful before she took a secret passage. One connected to another and she ran to her room, grabbed the sword that hung on the wall, and then bolted back to the ball. The woman's revolt was pathetic, but Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury stood around Princess Serenity, all glaring at the intruder. Venus joined them, holding her sword ready.
Queen Serenity stared at the black haired woman, frowning. "I do not know what you are talking about, but your actions make it very clear: The Moon cannot work with the Earth at this time. Go home, all of you. We will discontinue any connections we have with your planet."
Venus swallowed, watching Kunzite pull Endymion away with the other generals, take the woman's wrist, and leave the ball. Artemis came and stood next to Venus, a neutral expression on his face. She saw Kunzite turn back, but he looked mad. She didn't know why until she looked down and Artemis had his arm around her waist and was leaning in close to her. She didn't even hear what he was saying to her. Jupiter grabbed Serenity and Venus finally jerked back into motion. She put the sword in its sheath and slid it over her shoulder, walking with the girls back to their rooms. A black haired, gold clad woman came up next to Artemis, her bare feet making no sound on the floor. Everyone except Artemis stared at her curiously. In fact, everyone except Venus and Serenity stared at the both of them.
"So…" Jupiter cleared her throat, looking at the two new people. "Who are you?"
"It's me, Artemis. And this is Luna." He barely gave them a glance as he brought them into the common area and instructed them to sit. They all did, with Serenity in the middle, Venus and Jupiter to her right, Mars and Mercury to the left.
"We have a lot to talk about girls. Firstly, there will be no more communications with Earth. No more late night visits," he glared at Venus for a moment, "No more parties, no more visits, no more anything. If any of you leave Princess Serenity's side, it will be for sleep, in which case Luna will be there instead. There will be more training and stricter policies. As of right now, in this dome, we are isolated from the outside world. No one gets in, no one gets out." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Dismissed, Luna and I have to meet with the Queen. Stay in your rooms. Venus… stay with the Princess." Artemis turned and left, Luna following after giving Serenity a pitying look.
Venus looked around at the girls, who were all in their own worlds. Finally she said, softly, "So… we all like the men from Earth?"
There was a shocked silence, but slowly, one by one, all the girls started to laugh, until they were practically on top of each other, unable to help but giggle and hold their sides.
A/N: Aww, what a ball! So far there's no damage to where I am in RI, so hopefully this will be uploaded on the 30th. I hope you all liked this chapter? Who foresees a forbidden visit to Earth in the very near future?
2017 A/N: Some grammar updates for this chapter, nothing major.