Seeking Love

Chapter 16

Dearest Serenity,

It has been two weeks since the United Galaxy Conference has started ruffling feathers over recent events. While representing the Moon Kingdom, I keep trying to sway negotiations forward for a solution to the gathering forces of the dark energies. However it seems that this raises more questions and concerns then a solution of any kind. In open caucuses the U.E.N.P repeatedly state their claims of concern for their own people, and skirt around the protection of our Galaxy as a whole. They are resisting aide sending aide to other planets in fear of sacrificing their own safety. Do not hear me wrong, for I still believe that the Earth Kingdom has good intentions, but in past relations they too have been let down by other pacts and are wary to fold into such a dilemma. This worries me, and that is why I must do what I'm about to tell you.

I have arranged for the Prince of Earth and his guardians to come visit you on the Moon. I know you were not found of him, but please give this another chance. Without a unanimous vote to begin a war effort against our enemies we can do nothing but keep sitting in these rooms breathing air and chasing after our own tails. As my daughter, and as your fidelity to one's Queen calls, please persuade the son of Earth – he is our last string to pull in order to save over trillions of lives.

On another note, I miss you dearly, I hope all has gone well in your few weeks back. As I hear, you have been deeply shaken, and do not sleep well at night, but you will heal over time my daughter – this I promise you. I will be busy over the following weeks, but I wanted to take this time to also let you know that I will always be your mother. Keep your head high, and your soul light – for these past few months may only be the silence before the storm.

Love you with every part of being, and may you feel me by your side in times of need,

Your Queen, and most importantly your Mother.

- Queen Serenity.

Serenity didn't know if she wanted to crumple the letter and throw it out the window, or to read it over again. She'd already scanned the scripted characters five times now, but she still couldn't get the words to stick in her head. It had been a two week since the Princess and soldiers arrived back to the Moon, and everyone had finally stopped bringing up the Prince, Takeshi, or anything related to Earth. Serenity fell back into her daily routine, and now it was going to be shaken once again. Why did she have to be the Queen's daughter!

RRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNG! RIIIIING!

"Hello?" she answered the phone sitting on her desk. It was an old ivory victorian phone where you turned a gold knob to dial numbers. Serenity had a deep love for the classics.

"Princess?"

"Makoto? What's all that noise?" She could hear some type of music, and the bass was cutting out her words.

"Oh – sorry." The sound mellowed down. "I was just working out, but I was thinking about what you said earlier about the Prince coming back. Are Mina and you going to switch places again?" she asked while trying to catch her breath.

"Not like we can just say 'psych' and tell them the truth. No, I talked to Mina earlier today – we're switching again. The servants know, and we wont have a problem since my mother will be at the conference for another week at least. I don't know what she was thinking sending them here. If anything, we might just be pushing the Earth council away based on how our last conversation with those boys went."

"Ah, don't get so down. If anything, just think of your people – in a way, this is your battle for them. You are the knight in shining armor, you're fulfilling your dream – you are just going to have to do it by swooning a guys heart."

"Hah. Don't try to bring up my childhood fantasies, it won't work Makoto." She smiled over the phone, Makoto always knew what to say when a subject had to be tip-toed around.

"It's true! Anyway, I also called to let you know that the trial date for Takeshi has been set. It will be ten days from today."

"Ya, Ami sent me a message earlier. The lawyer wants me to go talk to him at least once before the hearing to get more information out of him." Her heart had put a temporary patch on the wound. It was easier when she didn't have to see the man. 'Out of sight, out of mind.'

"Kay, well I'm going to go finish my aqua-tone-dance class. See ya tonight!"

Serenity heard a click, and put down her phone. Makoto was always getting herself into heavy physical activities. An aqua-tone-dance class? Sounded painful and in need of a lot of coordination, something Serenity knew she would never test herself for.

Right, left, right, back, forward, right, dip, right, right, lunge. Endymion's feet and arms were moving faster then ever. Blowing off steam in the training rooms, the equipment was getting a harsh beating for the days news. He couldn't believe it, he was going to go visit the Moon Kingdom. Kunzite stood there in training sweats, and held out a towel to the dripping head of hair in front of him.

"Decided to create a new ecosystem in here with a lake?" asked Kunzite. "Or wait, you're getting ready for another battle of 'capture the flag?' We'd be sure to win," Kunzite teased. Endymion always let him shoot of slide comments during practice, it made him train even harder.

"Ya, whatever. I bet we're going to have to sit at conferences the whole time with news crews, not much to do on that bare rock I'd imagine," said Endymion. He took a swig of water, the ice cold liquid making his lungs burn in his chest.

"We'll see. Doesn't seem fair to the girls though, I mean – after all, they did get attacked here. Our last meeting wasn't the smoothest, and from what I recall – something about you yelling at Mina?" Kunzite shook his head in a dogging disappointment.

"I've sent her three letters about the incident saying how royally sorry I am. Not much I can do about that."

"A letter? Really Prince? You do know girls only like love letters..." He rolled his eyes, didn't his Prince know anything about women? "Well, I'm just going to say this now so no more 'feelings' get hurt. I'll play Prince one more time, but you've really got to get your head in the game and figure out how you're going to get out of this marriage without taking down the rest of the Galaxy. Doesn't seem fair to those people living off of the lint in their belly buttons."

"Now you just make me sound like a prig! You know it's not my say if the U.E.N.P council decides to go with the U.G.C on the war compact. I mean, we barely have any intel on the creatures that attacked us. Really, I think we should be taking the situation into our own hands. There haven't been any sighting on the other planets, just ours. The only reason those old farts can't seem to get their rusty zippers up is due to the Moon Kingdom! They have that monster in their prison. As I see it, they just want to stick their noses into any hole they can find! Why waste reserves, men who have families, on a half-made plan."

"You're just restating what you read in the caucus notes Zoisite set on your desk, I got one too. Come on, let's go get ourselves cleaned up for the trip up there." Kunzite looked up into the blue sky, the white moon was barely visible, but still there none the less.

Shuffling down the halls heading towards his room, Endymion's mind was still set on the big mess. Nephrite joined his walking pace when he saw him coming from the gardens.

"Prince, Kunzite." Nephrite greeted his leader and fellow officer. "Looks like you two just got a good work out in. I wanted to let you know Prince, your therapist wants you to go see him before we leave tonight. And Kunzite – Zoisite wants to see you to discuss those weapons, we're going to pack them with us to calibrate to the Princess and her soldiers."

"Thanks Neph, I'll make sure to do that." He said curtly. That hypnotherapy couldn't be put off any longer it would seem.

A maid knocked on Serenity's door. "Princess, the Prince and his generals should be here in about 15 minutes."

"Thank you. Make sure that all the other girls are ready, and have them come to my room please."

"Yes ma'am, I will do that immediately."

The door closed silently behind her. Serenity always tried to keep her orders to the servants at a minimum, and to treat them with respect. Her mother was the same, the only reason they had hired servants was to create jobs and to keep homeless and poverty rates down.

Looking into the mirror, Serenity wished she had the simple life of a servant. They got their hands dirty by doing the work around the palace, but they had the rights to go about their personal business in their own fashion. She was beginning to feel tired of the life she led. There was the glamour, riches, and knowing that she was straight in line to make her Kingdom prosper - but they had all been handed to her. Not once had she had to work for those privileges. Then, the first time her country asks of her duty, it is to marry! She remembered cracking open history books on how it use to be uncustomary to have arranged marriages, but somehow the tradition snuck back. There had been problems with individuals not marrying, not having children, and in turn creating a deficit in the population. Researchers had come out with statistic showing the downhill spiral, creating a panic across the public; eventually causing 'upper management' to mobilize laws. Of course, the millions of orphaned children were still being ignored. Even with codes in place, people still had a strong sense of carrying their own blood lines.

Serenity fixed her hair once more into a high ponytail. It was 'Mina' time.

Five men who cut fine figures across the cobbled pathway were walking towards the gleaming white palace in front of them. The architecture didn't resemble any they had seen before. Not one single straight line or perfect 90 degree angles existed. It seemed impossible that the structure stayed standing. In an odd way, the work of art made them all feel calm – an anthropologist would claim this reaction was due to the building's likeness to nature. Filling the front court yard was a field of white flowers. Flowers of all various classes grew there, but every petal was white. The floral plants were placed so the green stems or dark soil couldn't be seen; the affect creating a sea of white before entering the palace.

Walking behind Kunzite, the guardians were shown through the entrance into the foyer. Looking up above them, multiple colors of light shown down upon them. Glass windows cut at specific angles to create prisms rose up the sides. All astonished by the place, they noticed that they couldn't see a ceiling. It was as if the walls disappeared into a white steam cloud. The floors were deep dark hard wood, but the artist had designed the placement of each piece to create a work so intricate that the pattern never repeated itself.

The Princess and her soldiers walked down towards them from the grand staircase. Mina greeted them with the customary Moon bow. Her hands rose to her head, palms facing outward and she began to bend at the waist to a perfect 90 degree angle. The deepest bow for a magnifying show of gratitude. The girls behind her followed suit, as well as the Prince and his guardians responded in the same fashion. On the moon – there was no difference in male and female gestures of respect.

"You ladies look more gorgeous every time we meet. Hopefully we can look over the past, and move on to the future" said Kunzite.

"We are glad you were able to come. I believe that your stay here will be a peaceful visit," responded Mina. She could feel Serenity's eyes burning into the back of her head. "Since it is so late, you must all be tired. We will show you your rooms. Up this way."

Endymion's attention was on the princess for a while, but then his eyes slowly met Mina. When they had last seen each other, Mina words were cat claws scratching at his skin. They stung, but scarred over quickly. Her eyes now didn't show any of the anger from before. They held a deep despair, he wondered why... ?

"Kunzite... Kunzite..."

"Hmm... what?" His eyes shot away to find who was trying to vie for his attention.

"Your room will be here right by the Prince's room. These five rooms are all connected and much like the room that you accommodated us with, they have one room that connects them all." Mina explained. "Hope you sleep well, you had a long trip. All your things will be in your room. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call a servant."

"Thank you Princess, I hope you and your ladies all have a good night sleep as well." Kunzite acknowledge back.

"Thank you. We will see you in the morning for breakfast then. I will send a butler down to get you, so you don't loose your way around." The girls turned around, and began to walk back the way they came.

"So... you want the big bedroom right?" Kunzite asked his Prince.

"No, go ahead and take it Kunzite. It will be my thanks to you for taking my spot. Anyways, if someone were to come they would notice that I shouldn't be in there; lets not cause any confusion. So go ahead, and I will see you in the morning," said Endymion.

Endymion turned around and opened the door to his room. He looked around in puzzlement. The room was completely white from ceiling to floor. None of his things were in there either. Actually, nothing was in the space at all. He couldn't even tell where it all ended. If he walked forward, he felt like he would start falling into the white light. Okay.. this is the time I wish I was still back on Earth, Endymion thought. Then a single pixel of color began floating in front of Endymion's face, and then it started spreading as if regenerating itself to eat the void. Gray globs plopped out of nowhere, and started shifting shape – eventually getting covered in the pixels as well. That is when the prince realized - this was his room, his room that he had at home.

Endymion's jaw dropped to the floor, the room must be enchanted - he had never heard of such advanced technology! He walked over to a familiar dresser and poked at it. Yep, it was solid – and there was even an identical scratch on the front drawer from when he was mad at his father and threw metal shuriken. Sliding the drawer open, all of his clothes were perfectly folded. In the closet, his clothes still hung in outfits. All of his clothes were here, and probably everything else where he usually stored them. This place was throwing him for a loop. While he stood there in 'his room' he experimented with it's capabilities. He imagined his bed sheets turning a midnight blue silk from his ivory cotton. No doubt, little squares started flipping over and a pool of blue spread over the fabric. He slipped into bed, literally due to the new texture; this he could get use to. Thinking the bed was somehow more comfortable then his own at home, he was curious if he would have the nightmares his therapist discussed with him.

Earlier that day

"I want you to close your eyes, and focus on my voice," said Mr. Baldy. Today the therapist fashioned grey corduroy pants, a pressed light pink dress shirt, with a grey skinny tie. "Focus on your body, and I want you to picture lead filling your toes.. your feet... your ankles. The warm metal is running up your calves to you knees and the rest of your leg. Now it is going up your torso to your stomach, organs, and chest. It is slowly spreading to your shoulders and arms, elbows, wrists, hands, and fingertips. Rising upward into your neck... your chin... your lips... your ears... and your eyelids..."

Endymion walked through the halls, and was wearing tan slacks and a leather jacket. He was in a rush to get somewhere, but he didn't know why – he just had to get out. Walking faster, he found himself in the carriage, the green velvet brushing against his hands as he pulled at it in agitation. There were no stars or moon out, too much cloud coverage. The heat of the day lingered in the air, an inversion created by the smog. Watching his feet, one foot in front of the other, he saw the ground moving beneath them. He couldn't let his face show in public, not at this time of night. Seeing a light source leaking out of a wooden frame, the door protruding open, he walked in. The barkeep was tending to drunkards. An illegal game of cards was being played in the corner. At least seventy people had to be crammed into the space. He made his way to a person sitting in a booth by himself. How did he get the nerve to sit with the guy? There was probably a reason why nobody else sat with him. He sucked in his gut, and ordered a drink.

"Glad you made it... kind sir," said the man. Endymion tried to look closer, but the features of the face were blurry. Squinting his eyes, the face settled – and it was a mixture of his guardians? Kunzite's eyes, Zoisite's hair, Jadeite's lips, and Nephrite's face structure. He had to have taken a drug, or something had been slipped to him from the time he left the palace.

"Hear you've been looking in the wrong places for something you can't seem to get your hands on," continued the man.
Endymion tried jogging his brain for what the man was referencing. Searching... for... ? A large mug of ale was reaching his lips now. It tasted like cat piss, but it made it's way to his stomach. "You must have me mistaken for somebody else."

"No. I don't think I do." The man leaned in closer. "What were you looking for?"

"I... I don't remember. Maybe something to do with my project in the 3rd ring."

"What business do ya have there?" he asked.

Endymion pondered if he should share his workings with this stranger. Why not give it a shot? "I.. I've been trying to clean out the place. Not in the way the King did, but to move people to better places. Get them jobs, get them on there feet. Especially the children, the ones without parents. They need the most help."

"Hmph. As if one person could help all those people. Maybe you should be keeping your nose where it belongs. On that pretty face of yours."

"No! It's not right what my father did!"

"You're father? You're the Prince 'ancha? So maybe you do have some power, but why would a royal be wasting his royal time out here?"

The man was getting on his nerves. His business? It was his city! He was only trying... he was trying to find a way to clean the water! "It's the water systems! I was trying to find something to purify the water so less people would get sick. The sewage was leaking into the water systems. There was a device I was looking for!"

"Good..."

'Ring' Endymion looked to the door of the inn.

"Looks like we found where you were that night." Baldy's voice resounded in his head. The beer in his hand dissolved into nothingness, the man disappeared with the gambling fools in the corner. He was back laying on the couch. "A water system eh? That does sound like a task that would be quite an undertaking."

"How do you know that?"

"You told me yourself! The way the hypnotherapy works is I put you back into the stored memory. In a way I create a bridge for the broken link that is missing. You were talking to someone in your other state right?"

"Yeeess... this odd looking man. He was.."

Baldy cut him off. "That was me! I was able to present myself to you in another form – ones that are familiar to you. Guess those are your guardians. Which is good since the bond between you all should be that strong." He began scribbling down notes.

"I don't know what tavern I was at though. It didn't look familiar to me."

"Well, what's important I believe, is that you found out why you went out. That's a lead."

"More like an arrow pointing me in a direction, a direction to nowhere."

"Lighten up sir. You're bound to find more clues."

In the morning white hair brushed under Endymion's nose.

"Endymion! Endymion! wake up!"

"What Kunzite, what do you want? I'm still tired... leave me alone. Get your nasty hair off my face."

"Come on! We have to go to breakfast."

"Fine.. don't want that Princess to think that we aren't disciplined."

"Oooo.. someone is waking up on the wrong side of bed. Breakfast in thirty. Get dressed! By the way, these rooms are pretty spectacular huh? I was stumped last night until it started transforming - I've got to ask Zoisite about it. Not that you asked, but I designed a star room.. looked like I was sleeping over at the planetarium. Pretty cool right? NOW Get up!"

"I said I'm up, I'll get changed! Once your OUT of my room Kunzite!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll be in the other room then," and Kunzite skirted out through the doorway.

Once Endymion had changed and went to the main room that connected all the other rooms, he made sure everyone remembered to call him Kunzite, play it out like a broken record. They were lead by a butler out into the hall. They started walking, and in one footstep they were already at the end of the hallway.

"Please stand here, don't make any sudden movements. We wouldn't want to loose one of you, or part of you," the butler said in a monotone voice.

The walls changed like the bedrooms did, and they were all standing in front of a round breakfast table.

"I see that was one of your first times using a teleportation device." The princess said with a grin on her face. "Sit down and eat, you all must be hungry."

"I think I'm going to be sick," said Jadeite. The moving had left him a feeling of being on a boat for too long.

"Get a hold of yourself man, just the wave of new technology hitting you," said Zoisite as he clapped a hand on the man's back.

The food was delicious, nothing like the Earth Kingdom. Incomparable, but only due to the fact that every item on the table was nothing they had seen before. The tastes and textures were nothing they had tried, but familiar enough that it wasn't hard to get down. Trying to eat everything, without looking like a bunch of pigs, was going to be hard on each boy refilling their plates.

"This place, there must be spells on it. The rooms are breathtaking, mind boggling really! I was completely blown away," Kunzite said to start the morning conversation

"Ah! I forgot to tell you!" Mina had intentionally not said a word, the look of each of the guardian's faces was priceless – a satisfactory reaping of her actions. "I hope each of you figured out how to use your room. Though, it seems like you did since none of you look like you had a horrible night sleeping on the floor."

"We all had a pleasant night of sleep. It was hard to get up this morning it was so comfortable," said Nephrite as he stuffed an oversized looking blueberry into his mouth. A yellow sauce seeped out of the corner of his mouth – it tasted like butterscotch.

"I was wondering, what are we going to do today? Tour of your palace?" asked Endymion. He wanted to get the formalities over with as soon as possible.

"No, we aren't going to give you a tour of the palace. Instead, I've planned for all of us to pair up and go explore the city. My girls haven't spent too much time out of the palace since we came back, and I think out there would reflect the Moon Kingdom more then in here. Sound alright?" asked Mina.

"Yes, that sounds great. I can't wait!" Kunzite said in a mixture of curiosity and excitement.

"Outside the palace walls?" Endymion asked. "That will be interesting. I'm surprised that you are so willing to let us see how your city runs," he directed his statement towards the Princess.

"Of course, I consider you dear friends."

New world! Moon Kingdom say what? :D