							May 2000

			Secret Garden 3: Final Battle
				Scene 6

	The door latched shut with a quiet click as Endymion entered
 the room.  His gaze immediately fell on Serenity and he had to bite
 back a cry of rage.  She lay on the floor, dress torn and sullied,
 wound around swollen and bruised ankles.  Diamond was crouched
 beside her, his hands working on the buttons at the back of the
 garment, obscuring her face from his view.

	"Get your hands off of my wife," 

	Diamond spun around at the sound of the voice, his hand
 tearing through the thin material with a jerk, sending two of the
 three buttons spinning off across the floor.  His gaze narrowed on
 the man standing in the doorway, "Prince Endymion, how nice to see
 you again," he said casually, sliding one hand down Serenity's back
 and parting the fabric of her dress as he spoke.

	"Get your hands off of my wife."

	Diamond raised an eyebrow, "Your wife?  Do you have a wife,
 Prince?"

	Endymion stepped forward, raising his sword, "Get away from
 her."

	Diamond remained where he was, "Or you'll what?  Strike down
 an unarmed opponant?  Kill me where I can bleed all over your
 precious Serenity.  I know who holds the upper hand in this fight,
 Endymion, and as long as I have your precious princess you won't
 touch me."

	Endymion took another step forward, "If you have hurt her in
 any way, bathing in your blood should get rid of any injuries."

	Diamond grabbed Serenity around the neck and tugged her
 upright, using her as a human shield, revealing the ravaged side of
 her face, bruised and bloodied, her golder hair tainted with a
 crimson stain.  Her dress just barely clung to her figure, the
 daphenous material hanging at a dangerous angle and ready to fall
 away at any moment.

	Endymion's eyes flared with rage, hatred and concern seeing
 his beloved in such a state.  He took a step forward, intending to
 rip her from Diamond's grasp when the flash of a blade being pressed
 against her neck caught his attention.  "One more move, and she is
 lost to us both, Endymion," 

	"You would not,"

	"And why not?  She is not mine to loose, though I have spent
 much time trying to persuade her otherwise.  You do not deserve her,
 she was mine to begin with!"

	"She was never yours.  I have seen the way she looks at you,
 Diamond, and she hates you, she would never have married you of her
 own free will if she had been given that choice."

	"Oh and she married you because she chose too, and not
 because her and your mother wanted and alliance between the Earth
 and the Moon?"

	"She married me because I asked her, not because she was
 forced too.  Had she turned me down I would have accepted that. 
 Release her, Diamond, she is not yours."

	Diamond tugged her head upwards, a small crimson line making
 its way down the slender column of her throat and he smiled wickedly
 as Endymion tensed. "I could kill her now," he taunted softly, "And
 she would be lost to you forever."

	Endymion smiled tightly, "You and I will both follow her if
 she dies," he promised.

	"You will, perhaps Prince, but I intend to rule this new
 order as we rise from the ashes of the Moon Kingdom."

	Endymion suddenly lunged at the two of them, one hand
 grasping the knife blade at Serenity's throat and tearing it away,
 blood pouring from a bone deep slash in the middle of his palm.  The
 knife clattered to the ground as Endymion's other arm wrapped around
 Serenity's waist and yanked her, forcefuly, from Diamond's grasp.

	Diamond fell back with a hiss, one hand cradling the opposite
 shoulder, "Neither of you will leave here alive,"

	Endymion cradled his beloved in his arms, gently brushing her
 blood spattered hair out of her face, "You are wrong, Diamond, it is
 you who will not leave this place alive."

	Diamond spun away and unsheathed his blade, dropping into an
 enguard stance between Endymion and the door, "Get past me if you
 can, little Prince."

	Endymion strode two steps to a seat by the window and gently
 laid his wife down before turning to face Diamond, blood dripping
 from the wound in his palm and spattering on the floor.  His
 uninjured hand grasped his sword in a light, deceptive grip.  "You
 will not leave this room alive, Diamond."

	"Then you will be going with me, Endymion."

	Diamond lunged at the other prince with his sword stretched
 out in front of him, straight for the heart.  Endymion parried the
 blow and pushed back viciously, sending Diamond into the heavy door
 with a loud crash, splinters raining down on the floor, cracks
 appearing in the fixture.  Diamond snarled at Endymion, raising his
 sword and pointing it at him, "It is not that easy, Prince of Earth,
 you'll have to do better than that."

	Endymion lunged forward, slamming his sword against Diamond's
 blade, the shriek of metal meeting metal echoed through the room as
 sparks flew, the gazes of the two princes clashing over their locked
 blades.  Endymion brought his injured hand up and slammed it into
 Diamond's face, blood coating his knuckled as Diamond's nose
 shattered under the blow.

	Diamond reared back, lashing out with one foot and catching
 Endymion on the side of the knee, wrenching it badly, only the armor
 protecting the Prince of Earth from a shattered knee.  Endymion
 stumbled, off balance from the blow and had to twist to avoid
 Diamonds blade as the Black Moon prince lunged blindly for his
 throat.  The blow was clumsily executed since Diamond couldn't see,
 but Endymion felt steel bite into the side of his neck and blood
 trickle down inside his breastplate.  He bit his tongue, trying not
 to curse from the pain and rolled away from Diamond, coming back to
 his feet and barely feeling the pain that tore through his leg as
 Diamond wiped the blood from his face.  "You will die for that,
 Earthling."

	Endymion smiled grimly and put his injured hand behind his
 back, clenching the fingers to try and stop the blood that was
 flowing from the deep cut.  He felt a little light headed but
 narrowed his eyes on Diamond as the adrenaline raced through his
 system, and swung his swoard at the other prince.

	Diamond caught the blade with his own and, with two hands on
 the hilt, threw the Prince of Earth back again.  He swung then, his
 blow aimed at Endymion's gut and smirked as the Prince held his
 ground and brought his blade down to deflect the blow.  Diamond
 tugged one hand off his grip and threw a black ball of energy at
 Endymion, crying out with maniacal glee as Endymion brought his
 injured hand up as if to stop the energy.

	Enymiond closed his eyes as the rose he'd let fly colided
 with the energy and exploded, throwing Diamond back across the room,
 his sword skittering from his grasp.  Endymion felt himself
 propelled backwards and encounter something solid, and heard
 something crunch.  He groaned pain raced through his system.  He
 tried to raise his head but found he cultn't as stars began to form
 behind his eyelids.  He felt his grip on consciouness slipping...

********

	The sound of his sword being hefted next to him brought
 Endymion back around, the tip of the heavy weapon dragging along the
 floor and creating an awful screech.  Heavy lidded, he fought to
 open his eyes, to move, to somehow defend against the killing blow
 he knew would fall.  His sight was hazy, blood making it difficult
 to see as he forced his eyes open.  He felt like he'd been run over
 by something huge, his body one big ache.  Barefeet with slender,
 swollen ankles came into focus and he blinked.  Diamond didn't have
 feel like that, did he?  Wasn't the man wearing boots?  Torn, white
 material brushed against one of the ankles and his eyes flew
 completely open as he registered the sceen.

	Diamond lay across the room, his face turned away,
 motionless.  Serenity, his precious Serenity, as both of her hands
 wrapped around the hilt of his sword, her fingers bruised, bleeding
 and swollen, her steps faltering under the weight of the weapon as
 she walked slowly towards the other Prince.  Endymion could see the
 skin of her back sported finger marks, bruises, from Diamond's grip,
 as well as a new bow, the fabric falling just barely away from the
 knotted fabric around her chest, two buttons missing from the
 fasterners on her dress.  The sword screeched on the floor again as
 she took another step towards Diamond, her arms visibly shaking from
 the weight as she pulled it forward.

	Serenity's back straightened as she finally stood over
 Diamond, dragging the sword next to his neck and stepping around so
 that his neck was under the heavy blade.  He moaned and turned his
 head as if in a great deal of pain.  Serenity's face was visible to
 Endymion as she tossed her head, throwing her hair behind her. 
 Bruised and bloodied, he saw her mouth flattened in a dertermined
 line, her eyes narrowed on the man lying helpessly in front of her.  

	Diamond groaned and opened his eyes with obvious difficulty.
  He blinked several times before focusing on the woman above him,
 and his face took on a confused look, "Serenity?  What are you
 doing?"

	Her arms shook with the effort of holding the sword as she
 looked down at him, a tear trailing slowly down her cheek, leaving a
 single track in the blood.  She met his gaze evenly, "You will
 suffer the same fate as my aunt, and my mother's court." she told
 him, her voice lacking any kind of emotion.  "If I have to
 administer the punishment myself I will and I will rid my family, my
 kingdom, of your evil forever."

	"I never meant to hurt you," he told her, his voice hoarse,
 "I only wanted us to be together."

	"And in doing so you would kill every emotion, every spec of
 who I was just to have me." Her voice softened, showing the hurt and
 strain she'd been under the last few days as tears leaked from the
 corner of her eyes and ran slowly down her cheeks, "You nearly
 killed my mother, you killed her court, my aunt, injured my love and
 held me captive against my will.  The last I can forgive, the
 rest... You deserve no less than what you put them through.  May
 Selene forgive you for what you have done to my family, for I never
 will."

	Serenity dropped to her knees, the blade coming down with a
 clang as it cut cleanly through bone, muscle and skin, severing
 Diamond's head from his shoulders.  His last cry was cut short as
 the life fled his body and it spasmed in its death throes.  Serenity
 turned her face away as blood poured from the wound, spurting out
 around the blade and turned her gown crimson.  She looked at her
 hands as she dropped the blade and fell back, her stomach heaving
 with revulsion.  She met Endymion's gaze across the room, her own
 stricken, "What have I done?" she whispered brokenly.

	Endymion winced as the feeling was slowly returning to his
 body, allowing him to push himself painfully from his position to
 his knees and crawled slowly towards her, his head and body
 protesting with every movement.  She colapsed as he approached, her
 face turned away, as her stomach rebelled and she retched.  Endymion
 caught her as her body spasmed uncontrolably, gently stroaking her
 blood matted hair and holding her until she was able to control and
 compose herself. He tugged the fabric of his shirt and ripped a
 clean piece off, offering it to her with a faint smile, "It is not a
 lace handkerchief, but it will have too do."

	She smiled faintly at his attempt at humor and leaned against
 him as she wiped her face.  She glanced at Diamond's corpse before
 quickly adverting her gaze, meeting Endymion's eyes briefly before
 lowering her eyes, tears pooling quickly before streaming down her
 cheeks.  She clung to him as she wept and he enfolded her in his
 arms, rocking her gently back and forth as all feeling returned to
 his body, whispering comforting words in her ear.

	A sound on the other side of the door brought their attention
 from each other and Endymion pushed himself to his feet, collecting
 its sword from its gruesome resting place.  He positioned himself in
 front of Serenity as the door was forced open and guards spilled
 into the room.  They froze seeing him standing over the body of
 their prince, his sword dripping blood.

	"My name is Endymion, The Prince of Earth, I have reclaimed
 my bride from the man who wronfully stole her," he told them, his
 voice steady and powerful.  His gaze swept the men standing in the
 doorway, staring at him with awe.  "Any who wish to join my army and
 fight for the right side in this war my do so by surrending
 yourselves to the women in the next room.  We will make arrangements
 to have you transported off this place.  Those who do not... I take
 the right of leaving here unmolested with my woman and our friends.
  Any who oppose me will share his fate," he pointed at Diamond's
 headless, bloody corpse and locked a hard stare on the group of
 guards.  They parted slowly to allow him and Serenity access to the
 exit.

	Endymion turned to her and wrapped one arm around her,
 enfolding her carefully in his arms as he escorted her through the
 throng, sword at the ready, into the other room.  He paused on the
 threashold, seeing Uranus standing to greet him, Neptune held
 cradled in her arms.  He cast an inquiring look at the aqua haired
 senshi  only to recieve a minimal shake of the head from her
 partner.

	Serenity looked at them confused, "Neptune and Uranus?" she
 looked back to Endymion, "You brought them to help you rescue me?"

	"They insisted," he told her softly.  

	Serenity closed her eyes and fought against a new wave of
 tears as the realization that the outer senshi cared for her as
 much, if not more than, her court almost overwhelmed her.  She
 finally opened her eyes again and met Uranus' gaze, "Thank you," she
 said softly as she and Endymion approached.

	Uranus smiled wanly, the pain in her eyes mixed with
 pleasure.  "We would die for you Princess," she said simply as she
 turned away, leading the way out of Diamond's chambers.

	Endymion sheathed his sword, scooping his wife up in his
 arms, and followed the senshi of Uranus back through the caverns.

********

 Author's Note: Ok, that's it for scene 6.  If you're lucky I've
 already posted both scene 7 and scene 8... Let me know what you
 think.. flames, questions, comments.. heck, if you have a
 suggestion, those too... send em to me.

 Jade_Max@innocent.com

 Thanks for reading!
 Jade_Max

