"The ceremony will take place three days from this night."
"What?" Serena's fork clattered to her plate and she
looked at her mother incredulously.
The table, consisting of Serena, her mother, Darien, his
parents, the Generals and the Scouts, fell silent.
"Mother, why did you not discuss this with me?"
"We tried finding you Serenity, but you were nowhere to
be found. Someone was sent to your room in the afternoon but you
were not there. Where were you?"
Serena blushed and looked down. She couldn't
very well tell her mother that she had been sprawled on top of her
future husband at the time someone came looking for her.
Queen Serenity looked expectantly at her daughter and
realizing she would get no answer, continued with her announcement.
"Immediately following the ceremony, you, Serenity, and Prince
Endymion will go to Earth to stay there for a week or so, where a
ball will be held in your honor. After all, it is only fair that
the people of Earth get to celebrate too," she ended, smiling
towards Darien's parents.
"What?" This time Serena pushed back her chair and
stood up, her palms gripping the table. You want us to just leave
after the ceremony? I won't even get the time to say good-bye to all
of my friends!"
"The Scouts will be accompanying you."
"I have other friends too, Mother. Why couldn't you
have sought me out before dinner? Why have you made all these
plans without talking to me? Did he know about all of this?" she
asked gesturing towards Darien.
"Yes he did. Now, Serenity, if you'd like to discuss this
further, we will talk after dinner. Now please, sit down and finish
your dinner."
"You too are talking to me as though I were a child!"
Serena snapped, "It seems I have no rights whatsoever, do I? No
one consults me and I am always the last to know. I guess I am
just a puppet to be tossed around in this game of yours."
"Serenity!"
"I have finished, Mother."
With that, she walked out of the dining room leaving
everyone to stare after her. The Scouts couldn't believe what they
had witnessed. They looked at each other, concern etched on their
faces, unsure of what to do. An awkward silence filled the room.
"I'll go see if I can talk to her." Darien said, getting up
and surprising everyone.
"Thank you Endymion. I am quite sorry you had to
witness my daughter's temper. She usually isn't like this."
"I understand. Please, call me Darien."
He strode from the room and stopped just outside.
Where would she have gone? He had no idea and decided to go to
the most logical place, her bedroom.
'That girl is completely selfish,' he
thought, 'spoiled completely. No wonder she gets away with yelling at her
mother like that.'
He stopped a servant to ask where her room was and
then headed towards it. He knocked lightly on her door but
received no answer. Cautiously, he tried the doorknob and not
finding it locked he slowly walked in. He looked around seeing the
big bed against the wall and the spotless furniture.
He looked
ahead of him and stopped. She stood there on the balcony, her
long hair swaying lightly in the breeze. He slowly walked towards
her when she suddenly turned her head.
"What do you want?" she said, annoyed.
'So much for comforting,' he thought and walked up stand beside her.
"I just wanted to see if you were alright."
"Oh please, Mother probably sent you. Who gave you
the right to come barging in here? This is my room and I don't like
unwanted visitors."
He felt anger at her attitude and took hold of her
shoulders, "Look, stop acting like such an ungrateful person and
face your destiny. Your mother only wants the best for you, and like
a spoiled little child, you are acting like a brat because it's
something you don't want."
She pushed him away from her, "How dare you call me
a brat! You have no idea how I feel, what I'm feeling right now! Do
you want to know? I'll tell you, I'm feeling betrayed and hurt. Why?
Because I've been left out for so long. Let me ask you this, how
long did you know about our betrothal?"
"Ever since the day we were betrothed of course," he
looked away immediately so she wouldn't see the lie in his eyes (AN:
and believe me folks, it's not b/c he found out about it last minute like
her, it's something else ^_~).
"Well, my mind had completely erased that day, so my
mother was nice enough to never even mention such an event until a
couple of days before my 'intended,' meaning you, were to arrive!"
"A lot of marriages are formed that way."
"Well, mine wasn't supposed to be. I wanted one where I
would be free to have a choice to whom I wanted to marry and when.
Instead I get handed a groom and a date."
He felt anger growing inside him once more at her words,
"Well, I'm not exactly too keen on marrying you. If you would
kindly remember, I didn't exactly have a choice either. If it was
up to me, I would marry someone completely different, someone a
little more kind and a little bit more considerate of others."
She tried to slap him but he grabbed her wrist and they
looked at each other, frigid ice in his eyes, burning flames in
hers. She pulled her hand away from his and backed away. "Get
out," she hissed, "Just leave me alone!"
"Gladly."
She watched him walk away, anger emanating from his
every stride.
She turned back to look at the stars and two tears trickled down her
face. Great, she thought, now he hates me. Now I'll never have a
marriage of love or happiness. I'll be miserable for the rest of my
life.
More tears followed the first two, and she tried wiping her
face but found that they kept on coming. She finally gave in and
began to sob quietly. He'll never love me. He hates me.
Darien slammed into his room and sat heavily into a chair,
rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was not surprised to find Jadeite
and Zoicite sitting there.
"I take it all did not go well as planned?" Zoicite asked.
"Damn, but that girl can really test a person's limits
sometimes," he said, feeling a headache coming on, "I don't understand
how anyone can stand her, she's so self centered!"
"That seems a bit harsh. Her friends don't seem to mind
her at all. In fact they act like close sisters towards each other.
Speaking of which, didn't that dress Lady Amy was wearing
compliment her eyes just perfectly?" Zoicite asked, getting a
somewhat glazed look in his eyes.
His other two friends just stared at him and then Jadeite
spoke, "Darien, I think you like her. You like the challenge she
presents you. All the women you've had the pleasure of knowing
have always been soft and winsome but the Princess is nothing like
that, she's not boring and you like that meaning you like her. "
"What?" he burst out of his chair and paced around the
room, "I do not like her, I cannot *stand* her. You know, I think I
could list all her good qualities on my five fingers and then go on and on
about her bad qualities. She doesn't even act like a lady! I bet you, that
she's probably in training right now, fighting with a sword."
"I wouldn't mind seeing Lady Rei brandish a sword,"
Jadeite murmured.
Darien just looked at his friends and then shook his head.
"You two disgust me."
"I could go and try to comfort the Princess," Jadeite
offered, "she seemed quite animated when I spoke with her at dinner."
"No!"
Zoicite and Jadeite looked at each other, then looked back
at their friend, grins forming on their faces.
"Jed is right, you do like her."
Darien shook his head vehemently, "No, I do not."
"Then why won't you let him go talk to Princess Serenity?"
"Because...she needs to be alone right now. She'll refuse to
see anyone. By the way where are Kunzite and Nephrite?"
The two Generals grinned even wider at the abrupt change
of subject and then Zoicite answered, "Oh Kunzite has taken Lady
Mina for a 'walk' in the gardens and Nephrite said something about
learning some cooking secrets from Lady Lita. I'd say they'll be
preoccupied for quite some time."
"So why aren't you two with your 'ladies'?"
"That's not a bad idea Dare, thanks for the suggestion,"
and with that the two men left the room leaving Darien alone.
"Lovesick fools," he muttered.
The Wedding Day
She awoke with a sense of trepidation. The sun's ray's
peeked through the curtains and she squinted, noticing the clear sky.
Today's the day, she thought, today is the day. She turned over and looked
at the empty space beside her. I won't be sleeping alone anymore. He'll be
there. I'll wake up and see his face, sleeping peacefully. She felt her
heart twist painfully. I've always wanted to be held by someone lovingly
while I sleep, she thought, but now.... but now that dream of mine will be
just that, a dream. Nothing more.
Well, no use whining about it, a voice scolded her and she
sat up hugging the sheets around her. It would be the last time she
would be sitting here in this bed. After coming back from Earth, the
newlywed couple would be moved to the royal chambers, where her
mother and father used to sleep.
Her mother had long abandoned
that room after her father had died, and now it would be used once
again.
She sighed and looked at the sky again. She had been so
busy these last three days, hardly getting time to see any of her friends.
She had definitely been avoiding Endymion, and apparently it had worked for
she hadn't seen him at all and she didn't care what anyone thought of that.
A knock from the door stopped her train of thought and
she looked to see the Scouts walk in. They were all smiling, fresh and
awake.
"Come on Serena, this is your big day. Time to get out of that bed
and get ready!" Lita said.
"Yeah sleepyhead, if you stay in there any longer you'll start growing
mold," this from Raye.
"Gee thanks, Raye. By the way, you know, I haven't seen
you guys at all so I never got to ask you, where were all of you on that
first night? I was hoping one of you would stop by after dinner."
They all looked at each other with guilty faces, none of
them saying a word.
"Amy, where were you?"
"Umm, well..." for once the intelligent girl had nothing to say. All she
seemed to be doing was blushing.
"Lita, how about you?"
"Well, I-I was in the kitchen."
"The kitchen? Whatever for?"
Lita grinned sheepishly. "I was showing Nephrite some of
the ingredients I used to make my famous chicken capon."
Serena rolled her eyes, "Oh that must have been fun.
How about you Mina, where were you? I was wondering why you
hadn't even stopped to say good night."
"I was taking a walk."
"Alone?" Serena raised an eyebrow.
"No, with Kunzite. And it was the best thing in the world!
He kissed me!"
"What?!" All the girls chorused.
"He did, we were walking for a while and then he stopped
me and tilted my chin and he said he couldn't wait or something like
that and then he kissed me!"
The Scouts sighed and Serena found herself rolling her eyes
once more.
"Zoicite kissed me too," Amy said quietly, hearts in her
eyes, "He was so sweet about it. He asked me if I wouldn't think
he would be forward by doing something and I asked him what and
then he kissed me."
"Oh Amy, that's so wonderful!" Raye said, "I think all of us
have found our soul mates."
"Oh please, you all sound like lovesick fools. I think I
would rather gag than hear any more of these stories."
Serena got out
of bed and walked over to the mirror where she began to brush out
her hair. But somewhere, deep inside of her, a part of her secretly
wished that maybe one day she would be able to act a little lovesick.
She snorted at the thought and pushed it to the back of her mind.
Never was she going to act like that, especially not around *him*.
