Chapter 3

The next morning, Serenity woke feeling very well rested and in good spirits. Today feels like a good day. Serenity washed, dressed, ate, and then left for school. When she got to school, she was surprised that she didn't get into any accidents along the way. That's odd. Usually I trip up somewhere along the way. She quickly found her way to her locker so that she could gather up her books for class. When she opened up her locker, she was stunned to find a single, blood red rose waiting in her locker along with a note. Another one. This has to be a dream. She rubbed her eyes and gave herself a little pinch to make sure she was actually awake before she had another look. When she took a second look, she fainted. I must not be getting enough sleep with my dreams. Just before she fell, she felt someone catch her before she completely passed out. While she slept, she began to dream of a day that hadn't been a happy one.

It was a week before her 18th birthday. They were to be celebrating Earth's induction into the Solaris Millennium later tonight. Nothing could have made Princess Serenity more happy that day. It has been three months since she had first meet Darien. Ever since then, she had been going back and forth between the Moon and the Earth to see him whenever she could sneak away from her guardians. They could only spend a few hours together but they made the most of the time they had.

About a week ago, Queen Serenity announced that negotiations with the Earth had been successful and that they would join the alliance in a week's time. When Serenity heard the news she immediately went down to Earth to see Darien. When she arrived, she found Darien waiting for her. She immediately ran into his arms with a bright smile on her face.

"Darien! Did you hear the news?"

"Yes, I did."



"Finally!" giggled Serenity. "Finally we'll be able to see each other whenever we want."

"That's right. Now, I can come to see you and you don't have to sneak down here to see me all the time."

"This is so great!" Serenity gave Darien a big hug. They just stood there hugging each other for several minutes; letting the gravity of the situation sink in.

After a while, Serenity spoke up. "I guess I better get back. I left in such a hurry that I didn't give myself anytime to stay. I was just so excited to hear the news that I had to come and see you."

"Yes. You better go before you get a tongue lashing from your guardians again."

"Yeah. I also think that we should wait until the commencement ball to see each other. That way it will make it even better when we get to see each other." She smiled up at him.

"Until then Reni."

"Until then, my sweet Darien." She gave him a quick kiss and skipped back to the teleportation site and headed back to the Moon. When she arrived back on the moon, she was meet by the last person she expected: her mother, Queen Serenity.

"Hello my daughter," greeted the Queen with a knowing look on her face.

"Mother!" Shock was an understatement for how she felt at this moment.

"How was your trip? I hope that Prince Endymion was doing well?"

Serenity's mouth dropped open before quickly closing. "How did you know? How did you know I went to see him? How long have you known?"



"My dear one, I've always known. Ever since I've allowed you to view the Earth, you've constantly been watching the newest prince of the Earth, Prince Endymion. Even when he was little, you could never take your eyes off him." Serenity blushed. Queen Serenity smiled and continued, "Since I knew that Earth wanted to join the alliance, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I allowed you to go to Earth that day three months ago so that you could meet Prince Endymion. I wanted to see how you two did together and I'm very pleased."

"But mother I don't understand. Why would you do something like that?"

Queen Serenity smiled. "The reason is because in order to seal the agreement between the Moon and the Earth is to have our heirs marry."

When Serenity learned of this all the days leading up to the celebration were even happier because she would soon be engaged to her prince. She was so excited by the happy memory that she didn't hear the knocking at her bedroom door.

"Yes, come in," assuming it was her bath being delivered, but that was not the case. Instead it was Ophellia, Princess of Venus, looking very upset.

"Princess, we have an emergency. We need to get you to a safe place."

"What's going on Ophellia? What's happening?"

"Princess, we do not have time. We must go now."

"No. I will not. Not until you tell me what is going on."

Knowing that time was of the essence, Ophellia decided to tell her, "The Earth is launching an attack. We do not have the force to repel them. The best we can do is hold them off while you and the Queen make your escape. They wanted to use the celebration as a mask for what they were really planning."



"And what are they planning?" fearing she already knew the answer.

"They are planning to overtake the kingdom and establish themselves as rulers of the galaxy."

Serenity was devastated to hear this. It was simply unbelieveable.

"Princess, we must go now," bring Serenity back to the present. Ophellia gently grabbed her by her arm and pulled her out of the room. However, they didn't get very far when the first bomb went off. The girls ducked when the bomb hit and waited until the aftershocks were over to move. When they looked up, Serenity saw a man in front of them with a bloody sword in his hand. When she looked closer, she saw that the man was Endymion.

"Reni, please forgive me," said Endymion with regret lacing his voice.

As he tried to approach, Serenity backed away from him and let out a blood- curdling scream. "No. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Serenity awoke with a start from the dream she had. When she had taken a few calming breaths, she saw that she was in the nurse's office. What happened that landed me in the nurse's office, she thought. Then she remembered the flowers, note, and immediately knew why she was there. Now I remember, but who caught me? As she looked around, she saw someone looking down at her. She blinked her eyes a couple times and found the last person she expected to there; Darien with a concerned look on his face. Why would Darien be here in the nurse's office with me?

"Are you awake, sleeping beauty," Darien said softly.
"What are you doing here?" Serenity asked him, feeling light-headed.
"Well, you fainted this morning before class and since I was the only one close, I was the one who caught you before you hit the ground and ended up with a concussion. I just came from third period to check on you." Now I know why I felt safe enough to faint. She wanted to deny that she had any feelings toward him but it was no use, she 

had fallen just like every other girl in school.
"Thanks, Darien. You know you make it hard to hate you when you keep saving me." She smiled at him sweetly, knowing for a fact that he was the one who had given her the nice gifts. Just by his first statement, I know that he must have been waiting around to see what my reaction would be to the gifts.
"It was no problem," he said smiling back the same knowing smile.
"What time is it? What class is it right now?" He looked down at his watch.

"It's noon and time for lunch."
"Good, I'm starved!" Trying to get up, Serenity found herself dizzy at the effort.
"How about I walk you to lunch and to the rest of your classes just to make sure you don't faint again. By the way why did you faint?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.
"I fainted because I found a rose in my locker. I was so surprised that 'someone' was able to get into my locker let alone put a rose in it." He smiled. "I now know who gave them to me."
"Who? Who gave you the rose?"

"I think you already know who gave them to me."

"Now how would I know something like that?"

"Because I can hear the slight panic in your voice which tells me you must be nervous about something. Furthermore, because you were the one to catch me that tells me you just happen to be an early riser or you were waiting to see how I would react to your gifts. I believe it is the latter."

"I always knew you were smart, Reni. I was never good at keeping my actions hidden from you." Serenity froze the moment she heard him call her Reni.

"What did you just call me?"



"I called you Reni. Don't you remember? You told me I could call you that the first time we met in the field." Now Serenity knew she had to be hearing things. In my dream, I did tell him that but how could he know that? The answer came as soon as she asked the question.

"It's you," I stated simply. "You are the prince of my dreams, Prince Endymion. I should have known. Even back then, your favorite garden was filled with red roses."
"Those where no dreams; they are your memories of your past life. Glad you remembered sweet Princess Serenity of the grand Moon Kingdom."
"Thanks for waiting for me. I'm glad you remembered to call me Reni." She paused. "So that was our past life? I always wondered why it seemed sequential. By the way, how long have you known about our past?"

"I've known ever since I was a child. At first, they were memories about my childhood, but then the day that I first saw you at school I felt a moment of déjà vu; as if I had seen you before. That same night, I dreamt of meeting a girl who looked just like you. After a week, I was convinced of the connection that I had with you; that you had to be the same girl I saw in my dreams."
"Well, I knew there was something about you too, even when I was calling you a jerk." She smiled at him. "Well, enough of this chatter," She said getting off the bed, "I'm missing lunch. Let's go."
"Alright." With that, they walked out of the office and down to lunch. When they got down to the lunchroom, she felt many pairs of eyes staring at them; eyes of jealous girls and envious guys but they didn't care. She tried to ignore them as best as she could until they had gotten their lunches.

After they had grabbed our lunches, they sat down at a table and they began talking about nothing and everything. They talked about what things they've been doing and what they had planned to do later. Nevertheless, no matter what they talked about Serenity still felt an unease creep into her heart because of the dream she had had while sleeping in the nurse's office. After lunch was over, Darien walked her to the rest of her classes. He opened the door for her, carried some of her books, and made sure 

she was comfortable before he left for his own classes. He was being the perfect gentleman yet she still couldn't shake away her unease. After school, he walked her home. While they were walking, she tried to put her mind at ease because there had to be more to the dream than what she had seen. When they arrived at her house, they discussed plans to meet tomorrow at his house in order to catch up on more things. They said their goodnights and he was off. Serenity went inside, went to her room, showered, got directly into bed and sent a wish to the heavens. Please let me see what happened that day. Set my heart at ease, so that I can live happily in the present with Darien. She then closed her eyes and prepared herself for her dream. Little did she know, nothing could prepare her for the events that happened that fateful day.