Chapter V. The Ark

Endymion slowly turned around to face the man from the shadows. "I should have expected this."

Jadeite stared at him coldly. "You know you should not keep secrets as important as this. How do you expect me to obey when I do not understand your reasoning?"

"Friend, it is nothing against you or any of the other Shitennou. It is for her protection."

"You know nothing about her!" exclaimed Jadeite.

The two men stared at each other for several moments. The prince sighed and looked downwards. "You may be right."

"Of course I am." The uniformed man walked towards his prince. Suddenly, Jadeite started laughing.

Endymion looked at him in surprise. "Jadeite?"

Jadeite's grin glistened in the moonlight. "Leave it to the tallest of us to fall to a single girl. And you—you who had sworn to never fall for a woman's charm. You know I have to give you a hard time about it."

The earth prince smiled in relief. "You really had me worried. I thought for sure you would—"

"—Tell on you?" interrupted Jadeite, a smile still in his voice. "Surely not. I am more interested in where this relationship would go. Many times we have discussed extending our relationships beyond our borders. What better way than to allow the Lunarians to come to us? The Moon Kingdom certainly showed no interest before."

"So you do trust her?"

"I trust your judgment, nothing else. Even if you are somewhat smitten with her, there is no reason not to believe in your decision. You will be my king one day—if I do not trust you now, then how can I do so in the future?" Jadeite inquired, folding his arms.

Endymion bowed his head. "I appreciate your sentiments."

"Besides, the fates have sent her here for a reason. I do not know the future, but I do know this: tonight will be the first of many. And you should proceed with caution, Prince Endymion," warned Jadeite.

"I shall." Endymion walked towards his general and put his hands on his shoulders. "Thank you."

…..

The princess of the moon made her way quietly to her quarters. Fortunately, the halls appeared to be clear. As long as she did not run into—

"Princess?" a voice called out.

Her, she thought. Serenity stopped in her tracks in the middle of the hall and turned her head around slowly. Luna stared at her with some curiosity in her feline eyes. "Yes Luna?" squeaked Serenity, hoping her guardian would not interrogate about her past whereabouts.

"I thought you were at dinner. You know you do not have to wander the halls alone," Luna said.

"Well, I, uh, had enough to eat. I am so full that I am tired. I wanted to retire to my quarters early."

"You?" asked a surprised Luna. "You always are the last one to leave the dinner table. Well, finally you are curving your gluttony. Perhaps those royalty lessons are getting through to you."

The princess nervously laughed. "Heh. Yeah. Guess they are." She cleared her throat. "I am going to rest now."

"Alright. See you in a rotation* for your lessons."

Serenity courtesied to her guardian, and then hurried down the hall to her room. Luna turned her head. She knew something was going on, but as flighty as the princess could be, surely it was nothing too serious.

….

The blonde princess made it to her quarters, entered, and quickly shut the door behind her. She sighed, thinking only of how close she was to be discovered. She was also giddy with joy—her little rebellion was a lovely secret. Also the prince—he was certainly nothing like anyone she had ever met. Even the potential suitors whom had sought for her hand before showed no promise like he did.

Still half-dreaming, she made her way to her chamber bed and collapsed on it, looking at the ceiling. A light flickered on—the source of which was none other than Sailor Mars, in her nightgown. Behind her were the other senshi, all with curious smiles. Seeing the light, Serenity sat straight up, her eyes wide open when she recognized her friends, all in their night clothes.

"You had us all worried," accused the senshi of Mars harshly.

The girls separated from their corner. Mercury made herself comfortable in an armchair in the corner of the room, while Venus and Jupiter joined Serenity on the bed. Mars continued to stand by her light, unrelenting in her stare.

Jupiter asked with a twinkle in her eye, "So how was it?"

"It was so wonderful. So much plant growth! So much life! No wonder you are fond of it, Makoto." Serenity crossed her arms. "But you did not tell me the entire truth of your last visit."

The brunette rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the princess. "Oh well, I wanted you to see it all for yourself."

"And what about Nephrite?" inquired the princess, smiling.

"Who is Nephrite!" Mars exclaimed.

"Shhh," the others said.

Venus declared, "It must be someone you fancy; you are glowing, even in the dark, Makoto." The senshi of love studied her friend with a smug look on her face.

Jupiter sighed—there was no arguing with someone whose very power was that of love. "Maybe," she conceded, "but there is more to it than that. Besides, this is about Princess Serenity, not me."

"You are going to have to explain yourself later," Mars stated strictly, "but for now, we are concerned with the princess's safety."

"I was safe!" argued the moon princess. "Endymion would never harm me."

"Oooh, you met the prince?" asked Jupiter.

"The prince?" chorused the others.

Serenity nodded. "Yes, a prince."

"What was he like?" Venus asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"He was kind, handsome…and I think he likes me."

Mars stomped her foot. "This has gone too far. You cannot simply go off without our protection, much less no protection at all! What if something had happened to you?"

"But—"

"No! I will not tolerate anything less than your safety. It was irresponsible. What would your mother say?" accused the senshi of fire.

Serenity looked down. She chuckled in spite of herself. "You seem just like him."

"Who?"

The princess shook her head. "Just someone else I met on Earth. He's very similar in manner to you."

Mars stepped towards her princess and lifted her head. "It is not that I am mad at you—I just feel that you need to be more careful. While we have enjoyed peace for many years, it may not last forever. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Serenity nodded. She stood up and hugged her friend, who stiffly patted her on the back. Mars had never been much for intimacy.

"I will have to say, though, it is much harder to be you than I realized," Venus spoke up. "Do you realize how many times I had to force myself to trip just to appear like you?"

The others laughed, even the princess.

…..

Later that night, Jadeite dreamed of a girl with silver hair and a moon crescent on her head. She raised a crystal crescent wand into the air, and a bright light enveloped the scene. Before he could cry out, everything went dark. He woke up, wondering what his dream could possibly mean.

….

After the royal class, Serenity and her senshi went into Jupiter's gardens. As the rest of their time was free and clear, for what Luna and Artemis called, "Relaxation of the mind," they were dressed in informal dresses, free to enjoy their time as long as they wished—til dinner, that was. "If only there was some way for all of us to travel to Earth without causing too much distraction," Jupiter said. "Our teleports combined would be much too bright, not to mention our absence."

"Absences are easily explained. After all, if we all corroborate the same story, then we should have no problem," Venus said simply.

"Oh really. So how do you propose we travel?" asked a sarcastic Sailor Mars.

Venus grinned. "Follow me."

The four girls followed the blonde senshi down the winding path from the gardens to the stables. The stables were part of a large barn, with a dome of great height. A tower spiraling off to the right was where the quartermaster—the caretaker of the stables—was said to stay. Mr. Hons, as he was known, kept several apprentices working below while he was working on other projects. "It so happens, Mr. Hons is a good friend of a family," explained Venus.

"But what does that have to do with anything?" inquired Mercury.

"Well, you see, my parents from my home planet had a special project commissioned for me, as a gift for becoming the leader of the senshi a short while ago."

The girls entered the structure, and were greeted by an elderly man working at a drawing desk. "Ah, Minako! Or should I address you as Sailor Venus? Goodness, I do not mean to be rude." He bowed in apology.

"You can say Minako, dear Mr. Hons," said the smiling blonde. "You have been there all my life—my title is only that for which the royalty has bestowed to me."

"And the princess!" Mr. Hons proclaimed, bowing very low. "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you and your court?"

Venus started to ask, "Have you finished…?

"Ah, yes! The boys finished early—they were more excited to discover that it was a project for the senshi of love. I think they secretly hope you will bless them with love of their own," said the jolly quartermaster, with a chuckle.

Venus smiled. "May I take it out for a test ride?"

Mr. Hons opened his eyes wide. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I wish to take my princess—" Venus gestured to Serenity "—on royal ride."

"Ah, of course, of course. Let me direct you to the controls, as it is, after all, your ark."

"Ark?" whispered Mars.

Sailor Venus only smiled and followed Mr. Hons into a much wider room. The others followed, and gasped.

Large would be an underestimated adjective, for the ark, as it was called, was massive. It was wide, but much longer in length, extending almost past the lengths of the stables themselves. An additional level, much shorter and smaller, but with windows, sat atop the massive ark. A few boys, approximately in their teens, were up there, sanding down the wood on the deck. "Boys!" called out Mr. Hons. "Miss Venus has arrived!"

Yelps of glee erupted from the woodworkers, who made their way down a ladder on the side of the ark. They slid down, their gloves whistling as the dropped the long distance from the top. They ran over and bowed in front of Venus and the others. "It seems you have quite a fan club," joked Jupiter.

"We are very pleased to meet you!" they exclaimed. The teenagers looked up and saw the others with the love senshi. "We all pleased to meet all of you!"

The girls giggled—even Mars was caught smirking. "Boys, we appreciate all the hard work you have put into the ark. It looks wonderful," said Venus regally.

The boys grinned in delight. "Thank you!"

Venus continued speaking. "We are going to take it for a test ride. No," she held up her hand as the guys perked up, "we do not wish to be escorted. This ride is for Princess Serenity's benefit."

Mr. Hons directed to Venus. "Shall we go up to the deck, then?"

"Yes, let us go." Mr. Hons pulled a rope on the side of the ark, which opened the inside, revealing a wide room and a spiral staircase. It presumably led up to the top, where the deck was.

"You would think they would come up with a quicker way to reach the top," muttered Sailor Mars, eyeing the stairs. Serenity shot her a look and nudged her with an elbow.

Mercury, who had been silent most of the time, spoke up. "We should have a few hours free to use as the quartermaster can account for us using the ark. This is actually quite a good idea."

Serenity giggled, "Of course it is. Leave it to Minako to find a loophole to travel somewhere we should not."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Mars candidly. "Let us go see if this Earth is as grand as you say it is."

The princess smiled, knowing this was her senshi's way of allowing permission. "Okay, then." The girls followed the quartermaster and Venus up the spiral stairs. Serenity's heart skipped a beat, knowing someone on Earth, a certain prince would be waiting for her return.

….

"Ahhhhh!" the girls screamed as the ark shook violently around them.

Jupiter yelled at Venus, "You really should have at least taken a test ride around the moon before attempting this!"

"Shut up, I am trying to steer!" Venus snapped back, her blonde hair flowed back from the high velocity at which the ark was entering the atmosphere.

Mercury had self-appointed herself to be a co-pilot, as she studied the controls and was adjusting buttons. She read meters and made changes as to the altitude and speed. "We should not be far now! Our destination is soon!"

"Soon, we will hit the ground!" shouted Mars. "Do you know what you are doing, Venus?"

"I have this!" Venus turned the wheel, causing the ark to turn sharply to the left. Beneath the clouds, an island familiar to Serenity appeared.

"There it is!" she and Jupiter declared.

"Everyone, hold on!"

"Ahhhh….!"

…..

*Rotation refers to a time period on the moon. It would not make sense for them to observe Earth hours if they are on the moon. My assumption is that the Moon Kingdom is on the north side of the moon, and therefore has alternating light and dark moments. For more information, see http:/ en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Orbit_of_the_Moon

**Also, the ark is something I pulled out of the video game Sailor Moon: Another Story. A small part of the story includes an ark that Venus discovers was used by her past self. You can travel in it from world to world. Really good RPG game, if you can stand the old Nintendo 8-bit graphics. Not entirely canon, but I wanted to use it for this instance. It was said that Venus used it many times herself to visit Earth, anyway.