A cool breeze penetrated the room through the open windows, making the blue satin curtains dance, as well as a certain princess's dress sway. The lady didn't flinch from her trance-like concentration in reading the great volume of ancient literature that lay before her. Her short blue hair didn't dare to fall in her way, but instead found a place behind her ear to hide itself from the breeze. It was in the library that this princess found one of her truest happiness, reading. Three years earlier, her fiancee gave it to her like an engagement ring. Silence found its sanctuary in the library. A single pin drop could cause a heart attack in the room, noise had no place in the great Lady’s library.

    No one actually saw the doors of the Grand-doorway open slowly. They were so quiet that it seemed the doors were afraid they might loose their position as doors if they made a sound. The marble tiles that exquisitely decorated the floor utterly refused to make even a creak when it was tread upon. The young lady smiled secretly behind the mask of her book, because she knew whom it was who entered. She always seemed to know. The unheard footsteps he made towards her were the only telltale she needed. Coyly avoiding his gaze, she pretended not to see him. Adorned in his splendid battle armor, the prince and guardian to the kingdom pulled up a chair across the table from the woman of his dreams and patiently awaited her permission to speak.

    "I never thanked you properly for this wonderful gift," she whispered, indicating the entire cathedral like room, packed to the breaking point with thousands upon thousands of neatly organized, categorized, and alphabetized books. And for the first time, or the millionth time, she gazed into his eyes. She was always captivated by his dark, mysterious, enchanting eyes. Every time she looked at his face, she could always manage to find something she adored about him. She notably was aware of his bushy brown eyebrows.

    "You don't have to," he whispered affectionately back to her. "The fact that you're even in here, reading, is more than I ask." He stood slowly, as not to cause a racket with his chair. He practically glided over the floor to her and offered his hand. Graciously, she accepted and slowly rose with his help. "Now," he continued to whisper, "let's go somewhere where we can talk." Offering his arm, she slipped her own slender arm through his, and they calmly left the library.
 

    The hall they walked in was beautiful. On one side, it was a solid marble wall, adorned with blue tapestries, each with it's own unique detail. Between each tapestry, torches hang from fixtures in the wall. Each torch was dipped in a special chemical (cobalt?) that makes the torches burn for an entire year emitting only royal blue flames. On the opposite side of the hall, only columns that hold up the ceiling appear. Beyond the columns is a vast courtyard, adorned with bushes, Easter Lilly gardens, paths, benches, and a few gardeners happily pruning their pride and joy. The Prince and Princess walked down this hall, and entered the garden.

    Sitting down on one of the benches, the Princess began. "Greg," she sighed, "What did you want to tell me?"

    "Ami, how long have we known each other?"

    "About nine years, why?"

    "Do you remember a few years ago, when I gave you your library? Do you remember what I asked you?"

    "Yes, you asked me to marry you."

    "Do you remember what you said?"

    "Yes, I said that I would, and I also remember leaving it up to you to pick a date."

    "How does this time, day after tomorrow, sound to you?"

    "Oh, that's wonderful!" Ami cried, throwing her arms around his neck. Greg hugged her in return.

    Still holding each other, "I still have one or two arrangements to make," Greg explained, "but it is all taken care of."

    Pushing him away to see his face, Ami realized; "But I haven't even picked out a gown! This is all to soon!"

    "I realized that. I haven't spent the last few years slacking off. Please, just trust me."

    "But I..."

    Ami tried to argue when Greg placed his fingers over her mouth to hush her. Smiling sweetly, with a twist of cunningness, he said simply; "Trust me." Changing the subject, "I have a pre-wedding gift for you."

    "Really, what is it?" Ami asked enthusiastically.

    "Not 'what', 'Who.' I believe you recognize your old friend, Lita."

    Walking into the garden was a lady of 26, who stood a good foot above both Ami and Greg. She possessed a smile that could knock any man off his feet, and had hands to match. Her moderately long brown hair hung in a ponytail as it always had for the last nine years. A look of fascination was instantly replaced by one of joy as she suddenly caught a glance of her long-lost friend. Shouting across the distance, "Hi, Ami. Long time, no see, eh?" Running down the pavement path to close the distance between her and her friends, she waved her arm high in the air.

    Ami stood with Greg as he greeted her. "Lita, what are you doing here?" Ami asked.

    "It's not just me," Lita said. "The whole gang's here."

    "As for what they're doing here," Greg explained, "they're here to help you pick out a wedding dress." Greg secretly shook a little piece of tuna behind his back. "Lita here is actually going to be the Head Cook for the wedding. Only the best for my Princess." Ami blushed and Lita laughed embarrassedly. Behind Greg's back, Luna jumped up into his arms and ate the little piece of tuna. "I also have another little surprise for you." Giving the cat a little jiggle, she jumped up onto his shoulder. Ami's overloading of joy brought her back to the moment she first saw Luna.

    It was nine and a half years ago. Ami had just transferred into Serena's junior high school, where a particular black cat had caused her of being a Negaverse monster. She recalled many events that happened that day. It was the day she learned that she was Sailor Mercury. It was also the first time she had ever played a video game, but that isn't important. Her life since has been far from what anyone would call normal.

    Leaping from Greg's shoulder to Ami's open arms, Luna thoroughly enjoyed the caressing that only Ami had a certain touch for. Purring satisfactorily, Luna said: "Oh how we've missed you, Ami. It hasn't been quite the same without you."

    "I have missed you guys as well," Ami responded. "I wish you could visit more often."

    "Your wish is my command," Greg quoted. "I have taken the liberty of booking the two of us, as well as all the Sailor Scouts and Royal Warriors, to a month long stay at the luxurious Moon Kingdom Palace. Effective right after the wedding."

    Ami had a sudden premonition. "Something must be wrong."

    "What is it?" Asked Greg, suddenly alert.
 
    "Everything is going so right, something must go wrong."

    "Pre-wedding jitters, I'm sure of it," Lita shrugged.
 

    "They have slain my finest warriors," a dark entity stated, "Jedite, Neflyte, Zoisite, Malacite, Beryl, and the rest of them. This time, we go with energy to spare. Energy collecting from that reality is dangerous, so I have decided to create a task force that will take the entire troop of nuisances out in one stroke. They'll never know what hit them." Chuckles filled the hall at his evil preposition.
 

As the trio, and the cat, resumed walking down the marble halls, Lita said, "Greg, don't you think this is a bit much?" She, of course, implied the fantastic setting of the entire Palace. "I mean, this is way to nice."

"Nothing is to good for my Ami." Greg responded cheerfully. "It has become a hobby of mine to continually impress my bride."

"And he is doing an exquisite job at it." Ami added. "Everyday, something new to look forward to."

"Don't you think you're spoiling her?" Luna asked Greg. "Look at this place, and you still believe that she isn't satisfied?"

"It doesn't matter whether or not she's satisfied," Greg answered, "it's the look of surpass that I get from her that make me happy."

"Well," Lita explained, "we're here."

They enter a small room, where in, each of the Sailor Scouts were reminiscing over lost times. All but Serena stopped talking as they entered the room. Serena took about a minute longer. But once they were all silent, they mobbed Ami with a thousand 'how do you do's and 'what have you been up to's. Ami shot a glance saying 'pity me' to Greg whom immediately clapped his hands. The room they were in was acoustically perfect, making his clap echo in everyone's ears, silencing them instantly.

"Ladies," Greg explained, "I'm sure you have millions of things to reminisce about, but let's keep it below 15,000 decibels, please? Thank you. I have to prepare myself, so let's try to keep a cool head." With that, he left them.

"Let's get to business." Raye cried from the back of the room, opening a closet filled with extravagant wedding dresses. "What do you want to try first?" In all the years of being in the Sailor Scouts, Ami has never been the center of attention like this before. The mob opened a line that looked like the parting of the Red Sea, only harder to actually do. Ami walked the narrow opening and slowly picked out a dress that had long flowing folds of sky-blue silk and white ribbons, a torso jeweled with diamonds and sapphires, and tight sleeves and a high collar.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the palace, Greg himself was mobbed by quite a few 'hey, buddy's and 'what's up's. Standing tall in the back of the room was Prince Darien, laughing at himself, imagining his wife and her girlfriends doing the same thing to poor little Ami. "Gentlemen." He said calmly, and the entire room was silent. "There will be time enough for that after we fit him with a Tux."

"You'd be the expert on that, wouldn't you?" Ken cried out, getting a laugh from everyone in the room. Ken has always been a protector of Lita, especially after he found out that he was Prince Zeus. They got married about a year ago, and each one of the inner Scouts thought it was about time that they admitted they had feelings for each other.

Darien was obviously trying his hardest to keep his cool and not brake out laughing, and it visibly showed on his face. The joke obviously refereed to his Superhero form, Tuxedo Mask, whom always managed to hang around the scouts, with each one of them, with the exception of Ami, having a crush on him. His face finally cracked into a big smile, and he couldn't stop laughing for a time. Regaining his composure, he said, "Okay, you got me good that time. But let's get serious here. Do your thing Vail."

From the group stepped forward someone who wasn't a Royal Warrior, but actually the bet tailor in all the Kingdoms. He was fast as lightning when it came to measuring each one of them for their tuxedos. He had already managed to measure the others before Greg had arrived, and finishing practically before he started, he ran out of the room, crying, "I'll have them to you in 3 hours." And with that, he was gone.

"Well, now that's done," Corrin, the Royal Warrior of Neptune, began, "I bet I can still beat you in a fight, Greg."

You're on." Greg accepted the challenge. "I'll meet you in the training hall in 10 minutes. And that goes for all of you." Greg extended the challenge to everyone in the room.

"Yes," Corrin cheered. "A brawl match!"

All of them ran to the training hall. it was the size of a football stadium inside. Within, each wall showed signs of wear-n-tear.  Despite the wear-n-tear, the walls showed little signs of the amount of powerful attacks it had been subjected to.  Although the room looked as if a few meganukes hit it at ground zero but that was nothing compared to the extent of abuse that the walls had withstood. Hitting a few buttons on a keypad nested to the door, Greg made all the walls around them draw back and titanium sheets of metal covered the walls. "Here are the rules," Greg said, getting a few moans from various Royal Warriors. "First, no energy attacks, I want steel against steel. Second, we fight until someone gets hurt."

"That could take forever!" Ken shouted. "You and I both know that!"

"OR, until Vail is done with our Tuxes."

"I personally preferred the first part." Corrin whispered to Ken.

"Third, NO SPECTATOR CASUALTIES!!! BEGIN!!!!!!....."

The room flashed with brilliant light as each man cried aloud their transformation word of power. All friendships were dissolved at that moment. Each Warrior looked suspiciously at each other. Swords, axes, scythes, spears, and many other weapons flashed their glint at each other, as if to outdo each other with their glimmer alone. Corrin was the first to make a move. Leaping 30 feet into the air, he was followed by everyone in the hall. Diving into the group, he swung his sword with pinpoint accuracy. However, each of the Warrior's blocks were just as accurate. Darien made a counter swing with his sword, and tried for Corrin, which Ken's axe caught after missing the target. With the party still falling to the ground, Greg swung his scythe, breaking the lock of Darien's sword and Ken's axe. The Prince of Venus decided to add his two cents, and began stabbing at Ken with his spear. Thrust after thrust, it was nearly impossible to tell where it might strike next. Yet, with  speed that defied the laws of nature, he dodged or deflected each attempt. Greg, finding a foot hold against the Prince of Saturn's back, pushed himself away from the continual fight. Each warrior did so until everyone was out of the circle, with the exception of Corrin.

Each one of them landed simultaneously, creating a circle of fighters, with the Prince of Neptune in the center. They all rushed at him, and he just stood there, ready to take on the onslaught. Any attempts to describe the entire rumble would be completely useless. To the average onlooker, it would be like a cloud of chaos with arms, legs, and heads sticking out once in a while. But to the trained eye, it was a dance like fluidity that has never been surpassed by anyone in thousands of year. So great was the flawlessness that it was enough to make the Martial Arts Masters of Earth look like mere beginners. The fighting continued for what seemed like an eternity, when suddenly some one shouted, "Ouch!"

All fighting stopped immediately and all eyes turned to the Prince of Mars. With a dumbfounded look on his face, he said, "Just kidding." The fighting resumed as if it had never stopped. Each warrior, relentless as an avalanche. A cool hum of continuous
clashing of weapons permeated as it had before the interruption. No one saw the shade hovering above their heads, studying their every move, assimilating each distinct form and style into his own.
 

"That one looks absolutely ravishing on you!"

Each one of the Scouts had their own opinion on all things, and the last 15 dressed that poor little Ami tried on, it was never unanimous. Someone always had their own little problem with the dress, and the only one they all liked, Ami said she knew Greg wouldn't like it. Looking back into the closet, she still had at least 43 more styles of dresses to try. She welcomed her friend's opinions, nevertheless, she sighed at the thought of more of this unique kind of torture. She secretly envied Greg, betting that him and the guys were out having a blast.

She looked down on the dress, then back at herself in the mirror. The dress she wore was pure white. So white that it made her skin look tanned inside of it. Folds of white satin and silk interchanged with each other, dragging across the ground a good foot below her feet. The torso was fairly simple, just a few embroidered designs that managed to match the rest of the dress's style. On the shoulders were a pair of white silk rosebuds, that by touching them, they bloomed. She wore white gloves that went all the way up to the middle of her biceps. The whole thing left only her neck and shoulders exposed.

"I think it makes her look sun-burnt." Mina disagreed.

"I like the flowers." Rene added, trying to be helpful.

"I think I'll have to agree with Mina." Lita commented.

Graciously taking the dress that Raye handed her, Ami slowly walked into the dressing room next to where the whole party was. Changing into the next dress, she thought to herself: Nine years. I've known Greg for nine whole years. I wonder how long he has known me. Nine years? Ten? His entire life? How long has been in love with me? The same time? I wish I knew...

Emerging form the dressing room, Ami was dressed in the most beautiful dress yet. In her hair was a silver and gold pin, affixed with sapphires in the pattern of the symbol of Mercury. Around the neck was a ruffled high collar. Going down, the sleeves were one fold over the other, ending in golden wristbands. The torso was a work of art, with imbedded jewels, embroidered spirals and roses, and finely sculpted to fit Ami's body. From there the dress simply glowed with beauty. Each of the opinionated women in the room were instantly drop-jawed and awe-stricken. Not one audible word passed through their lips. Ami stood in shock at their reaction, then slowly made her way to the grand mirrors on the back wall. Ami soon joined the others in their reaction.

The first one to come out of shock was Serena. "Hello! I think we have a winner!"

The Princess of Pluto was next. "Where did the Goddess come from?"

Soon everyone recovered, and were giving their approval. Ami smiled at her friends in the mirror, and seeing her smile, she suddenly agreed with them. It was finally unanimous. Ami was overjoyed.
 

Back in the training hall, the fighting ceased. Darien opened the door and revealed Vail, awed by the sound of great commotion that went unseen by most eyes behind the door. Speedily regaining his composure, the tailor promptly announced that the tuxes were finished and ready for fitting and resizing, however he reassured them that resizing would not be necessary.

Another flash of light altered each prince's armored appearance into that which was before. They followed Vail down long corridors, finally leading into the tailor's personal workshop. Reaching into a closet, Vail threw several suits on hangers, each inside its' own plastic cover, out at the princes. Each package fell nicely into their owner's arms. Simultaneously, they all removed the plastic covers and were trying on the tuxes. In a moment, they were stylishly dressed in the finest suits they had ever seen. Each prince had a cummerbund that matched the color of the armor that they wore not ten minutes ago, and bow ties to match. Their black overcoats had an embroidered symbol over the left breast. The embroidery was a fine silk thread identical to the colors of each bow tie and cummerbund, in the shape of their planet’s astrological symbol..
 

Greg was impressed by the tailor’s unique ability, because it fit him better than any glove could dream. Leaning towards James, the Prince of Pluto, he said; "Don't say anything, just nod at whatever I say." James knew Greg well, and went along with him, knowing that he would understand his reasons later. "Act like I'm talking about the tuxedos," Greg pointed at a few features of his tux. Seeming to follow his example, others began chatting with each other about the quality job that Vail did. "During the training, one of my visions was confirmed. There is a force form the Negaverse that is here. I don't know when, but it's plan is only to kill all of us and the Sailor Scouts." Greg nervously glanced around to see if anyone heard him. "This is the same force that sent the small war- party, under the command of Queen Beryl, to destroy the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millenium." With a happy grin on his face, and holding his coat open in a prideful manner, he whispered, "I think they want revenge."

With a prideful grin that successfully disguised his concern, James whispered back, "What were they doing in the training hall?"

"They were studying our techniques, finding out weaknesses."

"Why don't we tell the others?"

"We will, soon enough, but I don't want to worry Vail at the moment, he has enough cares at the moment. Earlier today, Ami told me that she felt 'Something must be wrong.' I didn't want to worry her with to many cares at a time, so I let Lita shrug it off as 'pre-wedding jitters,' or something of that manner."

"Is that why you invited all of us to be in the brawl? To refresh our skills?

"Yes, but I fear that may be a fatal mistake..."

"You have done an excellent job. Vail." Darien stated.

"Thank you, Sir." He said humbly, an emotion that rarely came out of his mouth.

"No kidding!" Ken said, tracing the embroidered symbol of Jupiter on his coat with his finger. "Flawed is one word that is far from this quality."

In turn, the princes stated their impressed opinions. Several invitations were given to Vail, asking him to the same things for their own weddings. Many moments were spent bragging about their stylish outfits, but they removed them so they wouldn't be  soiled before the wedding.

"Let's go somewhere where we can talk?" Greg suggested to everyone, "We have a lot of catching up to do."

Obediently, they left the tailor’s workshop, and once again navigated the halls of the Palace. Passing the Gardens, they waved a greeting to the gardeners, whom waved back cheerfully. They silently passed the dressing rooms, wherein, the Sailor Scouts were sure to be tormenting Ami into millions of dress styles. One or two of them tried to listen in on them, and sure enough, half of the scouts had agreed with the dress, while the other half hated it.

They finally entered a hall with doors identical to the library. Within was a table that must have stretched the entire length of the room, which was at least a hundred feet long. Greg led the others to the head of the table. Each found a chair, Greg sitting at the head of the table, Darien to his left and James to his right. He nodded to James whom immediately knew what they were doing. The calm air of chatter was gradually silenced as Greg stood up to get their attention. Greg suddenly looked up at the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and the gazes of the other warriors followed. Perched on one of the blue-glass structures, a dark entity looked down upon them. Blinking, the entity noticed the warriors were suddenly in their battle suits. Corrin jumped up to him and cut the cord holding up the chandelier with his sword. Corrin, the entity, and the chandelier went plummeting down and landed, or shattered, on the table. Still off guard, Corrin rushed the dark-man, knocking him of the table. He was instantly stuck on the wall by a rain of several projectiles surrounding the shape of his body, a red rose, and icicle, a serpentine dagger, a throwing star, and several others. Darien moved to the front of the group and removed the heavy hood covering the face of the cloaked figure. The cloak was dark enough to make the midnight sky look grey. His face was battle-scarred and greyish. He had long, violet hair that reached his mid back. His eyes were solid red, and they glowed with a fury that could compete with 'a woman scorned."

"Who are you?" Ken asked with a thick layer of venom in his tone. He would have killed anyone who would have interfered with his own wedding, but his friend's wedding was unforgivable.

Greg spoke up. "His name is Bane." The dark-man looked up at him in shock. "He was sent to spy on us by the Council of the Black Order, the Negaverse force that has severed many openings into alternate universes." Then to Bane, "tell me if I miss anything. They sent Beryl and her army to destroy the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millenium. After the debatable success of their mission, Queen Serenity stopped them by sending all our souls to the earth. She was eventually defeated, and a series of events lead us here.

"He will go back to his commanding officer, and tell him how we fought. Each of our secrets and techniques he will reveal to a small army so that when we are eventually attacked, that they will know what we will do before we do it."

Then let's kill him now while we have the chance!" Corinne had his sword at the stranger's neck.

"No." Greg answered.  "This isn't the time or the place to do that. We will let him go."

All eyes were instantly upon him, including the shocked face of Bane. "He will go back and tell his masters that we are prepared for the attack, and they will decide to postpone the attack. Get him down."

They reluctantly removed all of their projectiles off the wall, and Bane fell to the floor. In a voice that seemed even to dark for this form, Bane said, "You are a wise one. But foolish in letting me go." He wrapped himself up in his cloak, which kept wrapping itself into itself until it disappeared.

"Do you really believe that he will postpone the attack?" Darien asked, a little worried.

"No." Greg stated. "They will attack, but I don't know when."

"What are we going to do?" Corrin asked.

"We are going to carry on as we always have. There isn't one of you who weren’t expecting this to happen. We just have to be more prepared."

"Are you going to cancel the wedding?" Ken asked nervously.

"Never. I am going to marry Ami even if I have to say 'I do' while I'm fighting the entire Negaverse solo."
 
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