Chapter Two
It was near midnight and there was a knock on Venus' door. She knew who it was and what it was about before she even answered it. Mars had come by to tell her that the princess was not in her room again. Her running off was becoming routine, and Venus wasn't surprised that she'd come again with this news. At first, it was only once a great while that she disappeared, but lately it was happening two to three times a week. Venus remembered the first time they'd noticed. It was a fluke that they'd found out, actually, not that they'd admit it. Venus had gone to wake the princess up, as she usually did, only to find her missing. Looking back, she knew she should have seen the signs of it happening, the distracted looks, not paying attention during her training, the nights she caught her staring at the blue globe in the sky. But it was too late now, their princess had fallen in love with the Earth's prince, and there was nothing they could do about it.
As Venus left to go retrieve her, she remembered the last time she'd caught her sneaking out, which was the last time she did so during the day. Recently, she'd been leaving in the dead of the night, when no one else was awake. Serenity had sneered at her and told her that she didn't understand how she felt, since Venus herself had never been in love before. And, Venus had supposed it was true. She had never truly been in love, as odd as it was being the supposed Goddess of Love as she was, so maybe she really just didn't understand. But was there to understand? She wasn't supposed to be down there. The two of them should never had met.
She reached the gardens, the nearest space that was outside from her room, raised her hand high, and in an instant, teleported herself to the Earth. She'd been down here enough times to know exactly where she'd find them. She made her way to the back of the palace, to the garden, and inside the garden, to a fountain where the prince and princess were busy cuddling each other.
"Pst! Serenity!" she called from the edge of the treeline.
The princess did not turn her head to look. Venus frowned, she was too far away and the princess was not paying her any attention. "Serenity!"
The princess looked up and over to her guardian, her affectionate smile fading.
"Princess! Come! We must leave now!" Venus struggled to whisper.
The princess shook her head, "No. Not yet!"
Venus' frown deepened as stood from her hiding place. "Serenity!"
The princess continued to sit there pouting, clinging onto the arm of the prince, who was now aware of what was going on. "Endymion..."
The prince smiled, lovingly looking down at the girl in his arms. "It seems that it is time for you to leave again, my little moonbeam."
"No!" Serenity buried her face into his chest and clasped her arms around him. "I don't want to leave yet!"
Venus had walked over to the fountain now, and grabbed one of Serenity's arms. "We have to go home!"
The princess looked up at her guardian, and slowly let go of the prince. "But I don't want to." Her tone was pleading.
"Too bad." Venus was immune to that tone, much to Serenity's dismay.
A chuckle escaped into the air, and Venus turned to find a tall, silver haired man standing just behind the prince. He stood slightly taller than the prince, and appeared to be a few years his senior. Even in this darkness, she could tell he was a well built man, strong and muscular. He wore a uniform of the royal guard, white adorned with blue accents, his sword hanging from his side. His eyes were a pale blue, almost silver. She found herself staring into them, as the light of the moon made them appear to glow.
"It must be hard having a bundle of curiosity for a Princess."
"Kunzite!" The prince twisted his body around to look at the man, who he knew now to be his first general.
But, Kunzite was not looking at his prince. His eyes were locked with Venus'.
Venus could feel her cheeks flush as his eyes met hers. She yanked the princess free from the prince's arm and in another brilliant flash, transported the two of them back to the Moon.
Back in Serenity's room, Venus was pacing at the foot of the bed as the princess wept into one of her pillows. She was still agitated with the princess for going to Earth, yet again. Despite how many times she and the other guardians told her not to, they couldn't keep her from sneaking off. But part of her mind couldn't get the image of those piercing eyes to disappear. There was something about them. Something familiar. It was distracting her from preparing the speech was about to give the princess. And that only irritated her more.
Serenity's cries rang through the room, breaking Venus' thoughts.
Sighing, Venus took a seat on the bed next to Serenity and placed a hand on her friends arm. "You can't keep sneaking down there just for fun, Serenity. It's not safe. And it is forbidden. You know this."
The princess looked to her friend, stifling her tears momentarily. "It's not just for fun. I love him, Venus. I love him!"
The tears welling up again, Venus embraced the trembling princess. "I know, Serenity, I know." As the princess cried in her arms, Venus couldn't help but feel a sense of regret. Regret for not stopping Serenity sooner. Perhaps if she had, none of this would ever had happened. She wouldn't have to force her to accept her duties as heiress to the throne, and throw away this life of sin, loving a man of Earth. The people of the Moon Kingdom where to watch over Earth, and protect it from evil, but they were not supposed to have contact with the inhabitants of that beautiful blue planet—at least not romantic contact. It was law, as it had been for centuries. Serenity had broken that law, and before anyone had realized it, had tragically fallen in love with the Earth's prince, Endymion.
"Venus?" Serenity's voice was just barely above a whisper.
Venus hated seeing her princess in such pain. "Yes, Princess?"
"Do you think, that one day, when I take the throne... that the law could change?"
"Hmm. I suppose so." The prince probably wouldn't be alive by then, she knew, but she didn't say this, she simply played along, hoping to cheer her up. "We'll have to wait and see."
After a moment, the princess sat up. "Venus?"
"Yes?" She carefully brushed a few strands of wet hair from the other girls reddened face.
"I want to go again, Venus. My heart aches. I need to see him."
Venus let out a heavy sigh. "Princess... I can't let you go." Seeing the sadness in the princess's face, Venus thought of a way she could ease her pain. There had to be a way for the two to communicate without allowing Serenity to run off to Earth all the time, without her blowing off her training. She was the heir after all, this love affair had put a huge dent into her studies. "What about..." She thought a moment longer before the idea popped into her head. "How about this, Princess. Until you have trained and received your powers, that the two of you only communicate through letters?" As she waited for an answer, she knew Mercury would be thrilled at the idea. With this motivation, she might actually be able to keep the princesses attention for longer than a few moments. "What do you say, Serenity? A deal?"
"I think..." Serenity's face was still sad, but not as sad as it had been. "I think that's fair. But Venus," she grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "Do you promise to deliver such letters for me? And help me train quickly so I can return to seeing him?"
Venus smiled. "Yes, Princess," she paused and then continued in a very matter-of-fact tone, "But you have to study hard."
"Oh, I will! Thank you, Venus! You're the best!"
Venus closed the door and sighed. A quiet giggle could be heard from the other side of the hall. Venus looked up to find Mars standing there. She rolled her eyes and Mars threw an arm around her friend's shoulder as they walked down the hall back towards their chambers.
"I take it you heard our conversation."
Mars nodded, smirking slightly. "Letters, huh?"
"Eavesdropper." Venus playfully bumped her hip into her friend, knocking her slightly off balance.
A small chuckle escaped the raven haired girl's lips. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure delivering her letters won't be so bad. Proof-reading them might be a challenge."
Venus laughed. "I will do no such thing. I will simply deliver them and return. It will definitely cut my time spent there in half. She has been so hard to pry away lately." She removed her arm from her friend's shoulder, as they had reached their destination, and were about to part ways.
Mars crossed her arms, and shifted her weight to one leg, obviously distressed with their topic. "What happens when you give your heart away, I suppose. A love like that is dangerous. It makes people reckless, and blinds them from what is important."
Venus nodded, and found herself deep in thought at Mars' last few words. She wasn't so sure she felt so strongly about it as her friend did. Yes, the Princess had things she needed to devote her attention to—and now was not the most appropriate time, but romantic love was important, too. Maybe not for herself, as she did not have the time, but people needed to feel love, and give love. That was why her thoughts on the matter were divided.
Mars hugged her friend warmly, bringing her back from her reverie. "Don't worry about it, okay? At least this arrangement is better than her being in danger. We're trained to take care of ourselves; She's not. At least not yet. Whatever it takes, right? Besides, this is brilliant. She might actually pay attention to what we have to teach her now." With a wink, Mars parted ways with her blonde counterpart, and Venus made her way to her room.
Venus thought back to when she had said that to her fellow guardians. Whatever it takes. It was over a decade ago she'd given that speech. They'd sworn to protect her from anything that may harm her, no matter what. She was their one most important person—they were warriors born to protect her, no matter the cost. Never had she thought it would have meant becoming the princess's personal letter carrier, however. But if it kept her out of harms way for the time being, she'd do it. Begrudgingly, but she would. Even if something deep inside told her this would not go as smoothly as she'd like.
The following afternoon, Venus walked into the royal garden and took a seat with her fellow protectors on the grass. They ate lunch out here every time they were all at the Palace, unless it was raining of course. It was a time for them to gossip and just relax. They spent the majority of their time busy, so lunch was a nice retreat for them.
"Hey girls—" She was cut off by a collective giggle. She frowned and gave Mars a nudge. "You told them!?"
"I couldn't hold it in!" Mars managed to get out between laughs. "I'm sorry!"
"I can't believe this…" Venus shook her head. They'd managed to take her brilliant plan and turn it into a joke.
The laughter died and Jupiter spoke. "Look at it this way, at least she won't be in danger anymore."
Venus sighed. That's what Mars said. "I know… I know. I just didn't expect her to volunteer me. Of all people, me?"
"She trusts you, and you know the palace down there pretty well," Mercury stated. "Besides, I think you may have just single-handedly solved our problems with her and her studies. This very well could be a blessing in disguise."
"Yeah! So this is great!"
Venus frowned and laughter erupted again. "Gah! I can't believe you girls think this is funny. It was a brilliant, on a whim, plan of the ages. And you all," she paused to point a finger at each of them jokingly, now taking part in their fun, "Have turned it into some silly joke." She then let out a fake sigh of exasperation and giggled with the rest of them.
"What's funny?" a voice asked.
The girls looked over to find Serenity, holding a letter.
"Nothing," Venus said simply and then looked to the letter. "Is that a letter for you-know-who?"
Serenity nodded and then handed it to her. "Make sure no one reads it. I want you to make sure it gets to him. Hand it to him personally."
Venus nodded and then stood to go find a place to hide the letter until later when she could go down there. The girls giggled as she walked away calling out things like "don't forget you satchel" and "Venus the Mail Carrier." Venus shook her head, laughing.