Every Girl Wants to Be You
The light from outside pierced the multi colored glass window, which was the height of most of the wall, and drenched the white, stone floor in a myriad of different colors. Of course, being as high as the ceiling of the entry way, the window had a lot of color to spread around the main receiving anterior room of the palace. In the corner, untouched by the light, sat a girl with long, stringy blonde hair wearing a flowing pink gown with small straps to hold it on her bony shoulders.
Even attired in the lace and ribbons of her frilly dress, the young princess still looked just that: young. Everyone heard the rumors the queen's pregnancy went awry, and the princess had been born early. Throughout her life, she'd always been tiny like a child's doll, and if never explicitly unwell, the young Serenity had ever been paler than the moon itself. However, when anyone met her, the first thing they would notice was that, even behind her porcelain facade and eloquent clothes, there was something quite awkward about the princess that just didn't fit with the image of royalty. Maybe it was how she wore her hair or her dreamy manner, but something about the tiny princess didn't suite many in the royal court.
And today, the young Serenity had to deal with the royal court. When the two large doors at the end of the room swung open, the young princess stood up and shook out her skirt. She knew she should look presentable, if only for her mother, so she tried her best and drew her thin, pink lips into a smile.
A host of people walked through the door, and the young princess feared she would know none of them. In front of the group came Luna, her shiny black hair pulled up onto her head in a finely coiffed style, wearing a large, silk taffeta dress with pearls sewn into the bodice. The princess walked over to her mother's most trusted advisor, who curtsied to the girl.
"We have been honored to be graced by the presence of the royal families from the outer planets today," Luna explained, and the princess Serenity stood on tiptoes to look over Luna's shoulder to get a better glimpse at the guests.
Among them were some men, some women, but all looked ready to be presented to the future queen of the moon kingdom. Everyone seemed to shine and glitter in the multi-colored brightness of their own worlds. They all curtsied in unison, and Luna moved aside to announce the princess a moment too late.
These behaviors – the slightly childish and unladylike ones – always perturbed Luna, but in front of the guests, she could do nothing but adore the princess with her practiced and perfect smile. As the guests rose, Luna escorted the princess to one end of the line.
"This is the princess Juno, who is the grown princess of Jupiter," Luna said as she introduced her to the eldest princess of Jupiter. The tall, brunette girl made a bow to the tiny moon princess. There could not have been two more different human beings standing beside each other. The Jupiter princess, tall, severe, and cloaked in a dress of thick, heavy emerald silk with long, stiff sleeves that puffed at her shoulders, seemed to dwarf the moon princess in every way. "These," Luna said, "are the princess's siblings, who will one day rule the moons of Jupiter. This is Alekto, the second eldest, princess of Ganymede."
The copper hair girl stepped to the front and curtsied to the princess, and the ruffles of her silk, golden dress crumpled against the floor. Every bit as tall as her sister, the younger Alekto seemed made of gold to the moon princess, who noticed even the girl's eyes were topaz in color. Then, two young men stepped up behind the copper haired princess. "These are the princes Nikola and Horos, of Callisto and Io, respectively."
The moon princess felt her face flush a bit in the presence of the two men. Like their sisters, both were tall and finely built. Nikola had lighter brown hair and dressed in gold like his sister, Alekto, while Horos had darker hair and eyes like Juno and wore a navy jacket trimmed in fine, cream lace. Young as she was, the moon princess knew an attractive man when she saw one. And as she was a princess, the young Serenity suspected one day she, too, would marry a prince.
"This," Luna said, as the fifth and final sibling stepped forward, "is the youngest prince, Orpheus, future ruler of Europa."
To the moon princess's surprise, the youngest boy appeared far less intimidating than his four older siblings. A bit smaller in stature, the youngest prince wore a jacket the color of sage in spring. Along the center of the jacket were a row of shining, golden buttons, and up along the collar were a sewn several emeralds. However, like his sister, Alketo, the boy had bright, coppery hair, and it certainly seemed almost as long as his sister's hair, too. When she looked up at the princess, a half cocked smile slipped across her lips, and an unmistakable gleam of mischief glinted in her teal eyes.
The moon princess nodded as she turned her head to look down the line of people, which seemed to have grown all too long for her tastes. At the end of the line, past the ruffles, gowns, silk, starched collars, and lace, stood two people – a man and a woman – dressed in black. The woman, with her long, shimmering green hair, wore a simple black dress with a high, green collar covered in black lace. The man wore a pair of black riding boots, black tights, and a grey vest with a long, elegant black jacket over it.
The young princess knew Luna spoke to her again, but she found she couldn't take her eyes off the strangers she'd never seen. In the hall of colors, they looked sorely out of place, and the young Serenity stepped away from her guardian, passing in front of the other guests, to go to the end of the line to greet them.
Serena woke to the sound of the phone ringing. She pulled her head off her text book and groped for the receiver buried under a pile of yesterday's clothes. "Hello?" she asked in a groggy voice.
"Serena, this is Ami," the girl said in a shaky voice.
"I'm sorry! I feel asleep doing my homework again!" Serena exclaimed. "I'm trying to be a better student, Ami, really, I am!"
"Serena, Makato has gone missing," Ami said in a raspy voice. "Minako called me. She saw it happen. I can't get a hold of Rei, yet, but I thought I'd call you and tell you. Luna is still with me. You should come over."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Serena said as she slammed down the phone. 'Makato. . . she's missing? I wonder what happened,' Serena thought absently as she got up and whisked her bag off the floor. She shouted a parting, "Going to Ami's to study! Bye mom! Be back soon!"
Walking down the street, Serena's memory jogged back to the strange events of the day. 'That thing happened this afternoon, and now, Makato's missing . . . did they take her? I can't think Ami could mean anything differently. Why would they . . . what good does kidnapping us do? They're just inviting us to come and . . . no way! Makato's too tough to be kidnapped!'
Even as Serena reassured herself her friend was okay, she felt a pang in her gut. At first, she thought maybe she should get dinner before going to Ami's house, and then, the image of Makato dressed in an emerald, silk dress flashed through her mind. For a moment, Serena stopped walking, but then, she shook her head and forced herself to continue down the street. 'Those stupid dreams . . . sometimes I'll just wake up and see flashes of . . . people and things. That was definitely Makato, but wow! I've never seen her that dressed up in her life!'
Arriving at Ami's place, Serena let herself inside. When she entered the kitchen, Ami and Minako sat at the table, and a cat perched on each of their laps. Ami looked shaken, and Serena could tell the gentle-hearted scout spent some time crying because of her slightly red and puffy eyes. Minako looked the opposite of Ami. The golden haired senshi stared out the window like she'd been carved from stone, and only her hand, which stroke Artemis's back, moved.
"What happened?" Serena asked as she plopped her bag on the floor and took a seat.
"I told you," Ami began, "Makato's missing. Kunzite kidnapped her, and we think he took another one of the crystal shard bearers. That means he's at least found two of the seven."
"What's he doing? Didn't we, like, stop that before?" Serena asked.
Luna jumped onto the table. "Serena, this is serious!" the cat snapped in a very human voice. "We don't know how to get into the Negaverse, but we need to get Makato back before they can hurt her! Do I need to remind you what happened when they kidnapped Tuxedo Kamen?"
Serena's face drained of blood, and she blurted out, "You don't think . . . not Makato!"
"That's exactly what I think," Artemis said. "I'm worried. Baryl has resources that we can't begin to imagine, I think. I'm afraid what it could mean if they kidnap Makato and brainwash her, too. We've been trying to find a hole into the Negaverse . . . someway to get there . . . but the only time one opens up is when one of the youmas or the generals pass into our world."
Ami leaned forward. "We could set a trap. They trap us enough, so why can't we set one for them?"
"Not a bad idea," Luna muttered as she paced across the table silently on her paws. "I can't imagine how we could lure them out without really putting ourselves in danger, though."
Minako pushed her chair away and stood up. "Well, don't they want Sailor Moon? Let's . . . let's give her to them."
"What! No way! Are you crazy?" Serena blurted out as she, too, jumped up from the table.
"She didn't mean it literally," Ami tried to reassure Serena. "She means we're going to use a decoy."
"They could very easily believe me to be Sailor Moon," Minako suggested. "We . . . we do something. Make them believe it's me. I'll draw Kunzite off, and you, all of you can get in while they're after me."
"I don't know how long we could trick Kunzite," Artemis mused out loud. "Even if we could, Minako, that's very dangerous."
"I'm the one who get Makato captured!" Minako exploded. "Give me a chance to get her back! Please, Artemis . . . Luna . . . give me that chance."
"I don't see how . . ." Serena began to speak again, but Minako strode over to her and held out her hand.
"Your transformation pen. I need to borrow it. I'll be back . . . I promise. It'll be very quick," Minako said. Serena hesitantly held up her pen. As much as she'd been afraid to be the princess, suddenly, she found she didn't want to let go of the pen. But, before she could think about it anymore, Minako snatched the pen from her hand. In a flash, the senshi gathered her bag and disappeared with a slam of the door.
"Where is she going? Can she get that done on her own?" Ami asked Artemis.
"I guess we'll find out," Artemis said. "Ami, see if you can reach Rei now. If Minako's going to get her part of the trap, we have to be ready to get into the Negaverse."
Note: Serena begins to remember more about the moon kingdom! Minako is full of guilt, so we'll see what she does . . . and more fighting to come! I always wondered why the senshi never set more traps themselves, too, so I decided that would be a nice way to kick of this part of the story.