Star-Crossed Lovers-Chapter Ten

As soon as Serena had made it to her bedroom, she closed the door behind her. Tears began to overwhelm her as she slid against the wall. Of course, she should not have run out on Darien like that. He probably hated her and never wanted to speak with her again. She wouldn't have been surprised if he went back to Earth and told the whole planet what a rude princess the Moon had, and this just made the tears pour more.

But, she couldn't help it. She could not bear to let him see her cry. Not now. Now she had to be strong. The story he had told her was just so emotional that she could do nothing more than act hysterical. For almost her entire life, her father's existence had seemed to her as nothing more than a legend. Never having known him, his absence in her life used to be just that: an absence, as though he had never existed at all. Her mother had always been the ruler of the Moon, and everyone had praised her for her kindness and power. She had defeated every enemy that had knocked on her door, including the evil Queens Nehelenia and Kaguya, all in Serena's lifetime. The Moon Kingdom, as well as the Imperium Silver Crystal, had always been known as belonging to Queen Serenity. No one, apart from Serena's Aunt Marianna, Queen of Venus, had ever mentioned Queen Serenity's late husband, and even then, Marianna's talks were only of childhood memories, like playing hide-and-seek with her brother and their governess in the Moon Palace gardens. There had never been any mention of his regal power, and as such, Serena had never given too much thought about him.

In fact, it was only fairly recently that Serena had realized the effects of King Julius' absence and the toll it had taken on his loving wife.

Approximately a year before, sometime in early April, Serena had awoken one night to the sound of muffled crying. At first, she was perplexed as to who it could be, but soon realized that it was coming from her mother's bedroom. She had crept along the dark corridor with a lit candle in hand, scared that her mother might be hurt, and yet, no servants or guards were rushing to attend to her. Finally, upon reaching her mother's door, she found that it was shut, but unlocked. She opened it on her own accord and noticed Queen Serenity lying across her bed, weeping, her hair undone and falling over the bed like waterfall.

"Mother?" Serena had questioned, concerned.

The Moon Queen looked up with a tear-streaked face and gestured for her daughter to come forward and sit down with her. It was then that she explained that this day was her fourteenth wedding anniversary. She talked of everything, from the day she had first met the future King of the Moon to the day he had proposed to his achievements to the horrible day when he had died.

"The day I told him I was pregnant was the happiest of his life. He had always wanted to be a father and had waited years, and now, God had answered his prayers," she had said thoughtfully as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close. "For the first three months, everything was well. We had started considering names and even outfits. It was still early, but we were so excited." She had smiled, and for a moment, the tears had ceased to flow, but almost as quickly as it had come, her happy demeanor had left and sank back into one of sadness. "Then, when winter came, everything changed. He became ill, and what began as a mild cough had escalated rapidly in a few days' time. He ran a strong fever and started vomiting and bleeding profusely. He even had a seizure once and lost the ability to walk…and all I could do was watch him suffer."

She had paused as her memories overwhelmed her and more tears began to flow. Serena could feel her own tears forming behind her eyes as she rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

As the Queen continued, Serena began to understand why her mother had refrained from mentioning her father all of these years. The sadness and longing in her voice explained it all. But now, Serena also felt a joy in knowing that her father had lived and breathed and walked the ground, and that he was, most importantly, a wonderful man and king.

Since that day, Serena had carried her father in her heart. She smiled as she thought about Darien's pin and her father's generosity. There was no reason for her to be hysterical over something as lovely as that, she thought, scowling and scolding herself for her actions toward the Earth Prince.

She took a deep breath and stood up. She had to go looking for him and apologize. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she opened the door and her eyes widened with whom she saw standing in the hallway.

"Darien!" she squealed, as the tall Prince chuckled. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness, I—" she stuttered out her apology rapidly as the young man stepped forward and took her hand.

"No need for an apology," he smiled, Julius' golden pin shimmering brightly on his shirt. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I knew the story would upset you. It's my fault I even began it. Please forgive me."

"No, no," she insisted. "I needed to hear it, and I'm glad I did. I should have never walked out on you. I just didn't know how you would react to my crying."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Darien responded, pulling the Princess into a hug, which she gladly returned.

She was utterly glad that he did not see her as a horrible person, and she could see that he was telling the truth. The light in his blue eyes said it all.

"Well," he began, still wrapped in her embrace, "I think I had better get going before Michael kills my Generals."

Serena laughed, but for some reason, Darien's tone was serious. "I had a wonderful time," she said. "I would love to do it again."

"So would I." He bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek and then bowed. "Good night, Princess."

She watched as he turned and gracefully walked down hallway. Her heart was leaping as fast as a gazelle. Could he be the one she was to marry? She had to remind herself that it was too early to tell before she became too carried away.

But, apparently, she wasn't the only one who suspected it.

"Wedding bells!"

Serena jumped as she heard the sound of her cousin's voice come out of seemingly nowhere. Her four guardians were standing to the left of her door, dressed in their princess garbs.

"I hear wedding bells!" Mina repeated, wearing the widest smile Serena had ever seen on anyone's face. "I heard them as soon as he came over to ask where your room was so he could apologize."

"Oh, please." Raye rolled her eyes. She still looked sore from falling on the ice. "Those 'wedding bells' are all in your mind. They could have even been the echoing sound my buttocks made when hitting the ice for the millionth time."

Serena fought back the urge to laugh at this statement. Seeing Raye's attempt at ice-skating was quite entertainment.

"It is a rather impulsive conclusion," Amy said. "Let them get more acquainted."

Serena had to agree with Mercury's eldest princess. She was always the logical one and had a tendency to know what was best, but if Serena hadn't known better, she would have thought that all Amy said were quotes from books.

"I agree," Princess Lita chimed in, looking a bit red in the face from all the skating she had done in the past hour. "Let them get to know each other more, and then they can consider marriage."

"And you realize she put emphasis on the 'they'?" Raye asked Mina sternly. "As in you can't decide whether or not a marriage would work out for them."

Mina stared back at her fellow Sailor and Solar Princess with equal sternness. It seemed to Serena that she was beginning to dislike Raye more and more every day.

"I am from Venus, the planet of love!" she retorted.

"So?" Raye raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't mean a thing. All that says is that you have a huge ego when it comes to supposed match-making, not that it actually works."

+*+*+

If Michael had to spend another three hours with Bernice and the three most annoying men to ever walk the Earth he was most likely going to explode. As usual, King Robert and Queen Bianca had left for a meeting with some ambassador of no particular importance (at least in Michael's mind), and they had left their two youngest children with Darien's generals and a handful of crazy servants who did nothing but screw Michael's life up.

The only positive part of the day was getting to see Zoicite. Unfortunately, she was spending more time with Michael's brat of a sister and hardly seemed to notice him. That didn't stopped him from being attracted to her alluring voice as she sang to Bernice and swung her around happily in the middle of the foyer. She was even wearing new General uniform, one complete with high black boots and white gloves, which hid the daintiness of her fingers. Surprisingly, Michael didn't find her wearing it to be a displeasure. Her feminine features were still prominent and the suit fit her frame quite well.

Yet, Nephlite, the most arrogant of the generals, happened to be ruining Michael's moment even more what with his snide, chauvinistic comments about the beautiful young woman behind her back.

"I can't believe the King would be so foolish as to accept a woman as a guardian!" the brunet remarked.

Michael had the sudden urge to punch the older man square in the face, which wouldn't have been hard to do, since he had already done it several years before.

"I think she's lovely," Malachite responded, attempting to sound rather nonchalant, but failing miserably.

Michael scowled, suddenly feeling even more hatred for the eldest man than he had Nephlite. He deserved a punch far more than the other did. In fact, Michael would probably have carried one out had the subject of the conversation, as well as the giggling Princess, hadn't come walking through the door.

"What is everyone up to?" Zoicite asked sweetly, her cheeks rosy, which somehow made her blonde hair shine even more.

"Nothing," both Michael and Malachite said at once, which caused Michael to give the other man a strong glare. Malachite was looking ahead, however, and did not appear to notice.

"We were simply discussing how Prince Darien's date must be going," Malachite said quickly, smiling broadly.

He began to get up from his armchair by the fire to approach the young woman, when Michael realized what he was doing and beat him to it.

"You must be tired from all that singing and playing," the Prince commented, puffing out his chest and looking deeply into the woman's eyes. "I would love to make you some hot tea."

"What?" Most ironically, it was Jadeite, perched on an overly cushioned sofa, who spoke up to that offer. "But you've never even been to the kitchen, Your Majesty. You always say it's a 'servant's' thing."

What a great time for him to get smart, Michael thought, annoyed. If the man said any more, he was liable to make Zoicite suspicious of the Prince's motives.

"How dare you question what I do, you imbecile?" Michael retorted, feeling as though Jadeite strongly deserved the comment, although, with his brain, probably wouldn't understand what an 'imbecile' even was.

"How about I be the gentleman and make the tea?" Malachite offered, obviously attempting to prevent any further arguments.

He generously hopped out of his chair and went around Zoicite (throwing her a sickeningly sweet look that made Michael's blood boil) to open the door to head for the kitchen, when there were already two people standing in the threshold.

"Good evening, Malachite," Darien said, smiling one of his usual overly broad smiles that told everyone to look at how polite he was being.

Michael felt as though he would vomit.

"Juanita was just going to bring everyone some tea," the Crown Prince continued.

Sure enough, the Spanish servant was standing next to him, carrying a large tray full of porcelain cups and a steaming teakettle, and not to mention, wearing the ugliest blue dress Michael had ever seen.

"Well, it looks like neither one of you has to make it," Jadeite commented, not seeing the disappointment in both Michael and Malachite's eyes. "Isn't that nice?"

Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to be posted. I had a lot to do with school, but I just got home for Christmas a few days ago! Yay! Finally a break. I really hope you guys liked this chapter. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with it and thought it was pretty funny. So you can see the competition (at least in Michael's eyes) between him and Malachite, right? There is going to be much more of it in future chapters, as well as more interaction between Serena and Darien, and the appearance of another canon character. Any guesses who? Please leave a review with some good analysis! I only have fourteen so far and I'm dying for more! Please tell me what you liked about it.

Merci mille fois,

Amélie