The Moon Saga: Part XII

"I’m glad that you are back to your old self, Serena." Celeste giggled as Serena’s face turned redder due to the blood rushing to her head. It had been two days since Serena had woken up, and the girls were now celebrating a sleepover in Serena’s room. To end the boredom, Crystal had suggested to play Truth or Dare and had dared Serena to stand on her head for half an hour. The time was nearly up.

"O.k. Time is officially up!" Aims announced.

"Thank the merciful angels in heaven." Serena said as she did a flip to get back on her feet. "My turn! OK…. um….Aims, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Wimp…UMMMMMMM….how many bases have you ran with Greg?" Celeste and Crystal uhed the question.

"Well, if you must know…"

"Oh, we must, WE MUST." The Earthen girls chanted.

"He is a perfect gentleman."

"What type of answer is that?" Serena demanded. Amy only raised one finger to completely answer. The girls giggled.

"OK Serena," Amy gave her a devilish smile, "truth or dare."

"I’m not so wimpy…give me your best shot…DARE."

"I DARE you to go to Darien’s room…and take something from his nightstand without him knowing."

"You are CRAZY!" Celeste shrieked.

"OK, is that it." Serena smiled.

"Is that it? IS THAT IT?! Serena are you nuts?" Luna screamed.

"I’ll do it." Serena smiled at Aims, who did not like her over confident expression. She rose and exited her room.

"Serena, you should know that my brother is a Very light sleeper."

"I’ll be as quiet as a lioness." She slowly turned the knob and entered the pitch-black room. She went in and closed the door behind her. After a few minutes, her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. The distance between her and the nightstand seemed eternal. She started to walk so lightly that it seemed that she was not touching the floor. In a few minutes, which to her had felt like lifetimes, she reached the nightstand. He turned towards her; she held her breath, and she only released it when she was sure that he was asleep. In a careless glance at the nightstand, she noticed a perfect red rose. She was about to pick it up when Darien grabbed her hand and pulled her over his body on the bed. She let out a quick shriek and he bent over her.

The girls that were waiting outside rushed back to the room in giggles. Darien looked down at Serena in shocked and asked, "Serena, what are you doing here?"

"I…um…I wanted to…um…talk to you…um…but I’ve changed my mind." Serena made an effort to rise, but he pinned her against the bed.

"What about?"

"I’ve changed my mind." Again, Serena made an effort to get up, but he still held her down.

"I know you. You wouldn’t have come unless it was important." He made her slide into the bed against her will.

"I don’t want to talk about it! I don’t want to stay here! I’m sorry, but I’ve really changed my mind!" Her voice was icy.

"I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU LEAVE!"

"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO STOP ME?"

"Well, what are you going to do? Scream? How are you going to explain what you are doing in my room in your p.j.’s? And if you were planing to force your way out, I am physically bigger and stronger than you!" At this point he turned the cold steel hardness in his voice into soft worried gentleness. "Com’n Serena, you’re scaring me. I know you wouldn’t come to me at this hour or under these conditions unless there was something wrong. Serena?"

"If you won’t let me leave, I won’t speak!"

He took the light blue cotton sheet with a sigh and covered her. "Good night, then." He trapped her waist in his arms and kissed her cheek.

Serena awoke disoriented. Never had she slept on such a firm, warm, smooth, protective pillow as the one she was using now. Surprised, she realized it was not a pillow but his bear chest. His steady heartbeat sang to her, and she was embarrassed to discover that this excited her.

Extremely quietly, she rose from the bed. She hovered blindly across the floor through the unlit room. She circled her side of the bed and started for the door when, suddenly, a hand covered her mouth. The hairs on her neck stiffened; goose bumps covered her skin, and her muscles were so stiff that she could have been mistaken for a Grecian statue.

A light breeze opened the curtains, and she saw Darien’s sweet face under the moonlight. Her body relaxed. Darien took her into his arms and carried her back to his bed.

"I told you; I’m not letting you leave until you talk."

"Darien…I…I um…I lied. I came because Aims dared me."

"That’s lame!" It had not occurred to her how lame the truth really was, but it was still the truth. "You know, if you had said Crystal or Celeste, I might have bought it, but Aims?"

"But it’s the truth!" She took a deep breath. If she wanted to leave the room, she had to come up with a damn good lie. "Do you believe in love?"

"Huh?" The question caught him by surprised. He expected anything except that.

"You see," she began with a truth, "on my way to the spaceport, Jedite and I had a big disagreement. He said, well yelled, that unless I felt love, I could NOT denounce it, BUT if love doesn’t exist, how can I feel it?" She continued with a lie. "It has bothered me ever since."

"You’ve kept that on your mind for two weeks now?" She nodded. "Well, if love didn’t exist, what are you doing in my room?"

"Huh?"

"If it didn’t exist, you wouldn’t let a simple logic problem bug you. If love exists, but you don’t feel it, then it doesn’t exist."

"So you don’t believe in love?"

"I said if. I feel love, so it does exist."

"But you just said…"

"No, I used your logic, not my own."

"So, you do,"

"Yes. How can you ask me that with those blue sapphire eyes of yours?"

"Because I’m a curious cat."

He laughed at her joke. "You see, love isn’t something you can define or analyze. Like poetry, it just is. When you feel it, you’re in heaven; when you lose it, you’re in hell, but it’s such a great feeling that you will spend an eternity in hell, for a second in heaven."

"That’s deep, but…"

"You haven’t felt it, or at least think you haven’t felt it, so you can’t or chose not to understand."

"How do you recognize the symptoms?"

"You make it sound like a disease!"

"Isn’t it?"

"Ah, so you do believe." He smiled softly at her. "There is no exact formula or guarantees. Some lose appetite, while others gain. Some become chatty; others draw back. The best I can say is, you know when you know. You wake up one day and realize it." He looked at her delicately. She kissed his cheek, and tried to get up, but he held her back and whispered into her ear, "So, I have Aims to thank for this conversation?" She elbowed him.

"You knew I was telling the truth?"

He laughed airily, "I knew there was something else bothering you, so I was a good friend and made you tell me. Hey, I was only thinking of you!"

"Yeah right, and the thought of satisfying your curiosity never crossed your mind!"

"No, I was only thinking of you!" She motioned to get up, but he stopped her one last time. "It’s five thirty. There is no way you can leave this room through the door without being seen by one of the cleaning people."

"So, what do you suggest?" He took a hanker-chief and blindfolded her. "You can wait them out, but that’s too risky." He picked her up. "So your only choice is the secrete passage. It is a secrete, so you can’t see where it is." He took her through the passage.

Aims, Celeste, and Crystal were sleeping on the floor. He placed her on the bed, removed the blindfold, and stared into her sleeping eyes.

Darien was fifteen minutes away from Serena. She had left with the others a week earlier for the moon. He had not been able to go due to business. It was a separation that burnt him inside out.

He got off the carriage and saw something move in the bushes. He followed it until he recognized Serena in a baby-blue nightgown walking in a trance towards the lake. He heard a sword being draw behind him. He turned to see Jedite signal him to remain quiet.

Serena was a zombie until she reached the lake. There, Prince Barbiturate waited with glowing purple eyes. He was using his hypnotic powers to lure her there. The dirty blond haired Prince stood on the peer with his sinister hand beckoning her. She was sweating from resisting him and the midsummer heat.

"My Princess, I hope you see that you cannot resist me! Pledge to me your love in the Lunar Love Promise, or," he pointed to the lake, "die!"

Serena was trying to resist him by holding on to the image behind the ice. It was the only thing that kept her from surrendering to his will, but the melting and cracking ice made it difficult to concentrate. She heard his words, ‘or die.’ That is the one thing she didn’t want at the moment, but the alternative was not pleasing either.

She looked at him as she chose the lesser of two evils. "Pledge my love, or die?" she repeated.

"Yes!"

For a second, she was able to see beyond the ice, only for a second. She saw his face clear as day, but forgot it, as the ice became foggy again. Surrendering her will, she threw herself into the water.

"No!" Barbiturate screamed as Jedite arrested him. Darien jumped in after Serena. He found her quickly and brought her to the surface. She coughed the water from her lungs, and still in a half trance, she kissed him with all her love. Then, she lost consciousness.

Darien ripped into the castle dripping wet with a soaked Serena in his arms. The Earth and Moon families were shocked as Jedite explained, and Darien carried Serena to her room. They dried her with soft white towels, and when the men exited the room, changed her clothes. The King could not deny Darien’s request to stay by her side that night, but he only granted it after Darien accompanied him to judge Barbiturate.

Serena tossed and turned all night. She was plagued by the recurring dream of her wedding. She woke up screaming without seeing his face. Automatically, his arms were around her. "Shhh," he began soothingly, "he can’t hurt you now."

"Darien?" she asked confused.

"Yes." He held her tight.

"Where am I? What are you doing here? What happened? Why is my hair wet? Why do I feel so disoriented?"

"You are in your room. Your father let me stay by your side after I brought you back. Prince Barbiturate put you in a trance. He made you chose between marrying him or dying. You choose the latter and jumped into the lake; I jumped in after you while Jedite arrested him. I guess, you are still suffering from the effects of his hypnotic suggestions." Darien decided to pause and let her digest the information, but she instead asked,

"My father let you, a member of the opposite sex, stay with me, in my room? Did he hit his head? Wait a minute! When did you get back?"

"Yes, no, and the nine o’clock flight."

"I thought you were coming in the morning."

"I finished business a bit earlier and decided to surprise you."

"Darien,"

"Yes?"

"Thank you, again."

He kissed her cheek and let her fall asleep in his arms. He had found his heaven.

"Good morning Princess."

"Darien, oh, good morning." Serena blushed as she realized Darien had been watching her tending her flowers and humming a light tone for a while. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to tell that you had a good night’s sleep. Why didn’t you wake me?"

"You seem to be enjoying your dream so much, I didn’t have the heart to." she whispered.

"Instead you let me wake up with your nana’s broom on my head. Thank God Jedite was there to explain." Serena burst into giggles.

"Didn’t my father tell her?"

"I guess not. She retired after you were in bed, but before your father granted me permission, so may be someone forgot to mention it to her in the morning."

"Well, at least she didn’t wake you half an hour earlier. It wouldn’t be a broom on your head; that’s for sure!" she laughed lightly.

He examined her for a moment. She was wearing a Barbie-pink, spaghetti strap sundress. It was tighten by a string that criss-crossed on her back. It fell gently to her ankles. There was a certain glow to her. It was one she had always carried, but until then she had suppressed. Darien at first thought it was the glow that made her look odd, but he soon realized it was something else. "I thought you said you hated that pink." he said pointing to her dress.

"I did."

"Then why are you wearing it?"

"Because I like how it looks on her!" The both turn to see Prince Charms enter the Wild Gardens. He was a six feet six inches prince with golden hair and blue eyes. He had a too pale completion mixed with an athletic body. Like Darien, he was one of the most sought after princes in the universe. Unlike Darien, he wore a too white too pure uniform with golden medals. "Serena, I just heard what happened last night. Are you all right?"

"Yes, thanks to Darien here."

"Well, we all owe you our thanks."

"I only did what any other self-respecting man would have done in my place." Darien said eyeing the Prince. "Since when does he get to call her Serena? And why would she wear something she hated because he liked it?" he thought suspiciously.

"Serena," Charms began, "could you grant me the pleasure of your first dance?"

"The pleasure is all mine." she flirted.

"I’ll see you then." He kissed her hand and left her smiling at her roses.

"What was that?" Darien asked in a jealous rage.

"What was what?" Serena asked surprised.

" ‘The pleasure is all mine.’" he mocked, "You sounded like a love-sick fool."

"May be I am!" The words ripped through Darien’s heart and soul. He placed his hand under her chin forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Are you in love with this Prince?" he asked calmly.

"I…I…I’m not sure. I think so." She looked away as she said the last sentence, which was below a whisper. She had not doubted being in love with Charms until that moment, when Darien’s eyes pleaded her truth. She took a deep breath and continued, "Any how, is not of your concern. I have to go." She bowed and left.

Darien took a deep breath and leaned against the weeping willow. "Darien, what are you doing here?" He opened his eyes to see a beautiful princess. She had long, curly, black hair and green eyes. She had a healthy tan and painted blood red lips. She had a body that was the envy of half the princesses in the universe, and a beauty mark kissed her cheek.

"Moureen," he said surprise, "I didn’t know you where on the Moon!"

"I only told you that I was staying until September the last time we met. That wasn’t more than a month ago."

"That’s right. I’m sorry; how about the first dance tonight to make up?"

"Fine, it sounds just fine. I’ll see you then." She walked away moving her hips seductively because she did not realize Darien was no longer watching.

"What was that?" I screamed as soon as she could not hear. He looked at me in shocked.

"Excuse me?"

"You pledged your love to Serena; you work hard to break the ice in her heart, and when it is finally melting, you let someone else take it!" My blood was boiling, and a desire to run my fist through his face entered my body.

"If you weren’t listening, she loves this guy! There is nothing I can say or do to change that!"

"I can’t believe you are giving up THIS easily! She doesn’t love him, AND you KNOW it! If she DID, she would have TOLD YOU WHEN YOU ASKED HER!"

"She doesn’t love him?" he asked in dismay.

"Hello, Moon to Darien! Her eyes never left yours, even when she was flirting. She is confusing love with lust! Why do you think it was so important for him to ask her for the first dance? He has asked her just before the dance in all the previous dances. She loves you, and he knows it!"

"She loves me?" Darien asked in disbelief.

I covered my mouth as I realized I had said too much. Darien did not notice this. He stood up strait and looked into the future, and he did not see Charms anywhere in it.

"Tell me about this Charms."

"He is a prominent prince of the Doppelganger galaxy. I believe his planet is Iberia."

"You don’t like him, do you?"

"I want to throw up every time I here his name. I don’t trust him."

"Neither do I. How close have they gotten?"

"I’m not sure, but I don’t think any more than you have seen. He wouldn’t be worried if they had ‘run a base or two.’"

"What do you mean you are not sure? Aren’t you suppose to record everything?"

"Like I said, I can’t stand him, so I took a vacation. I called in sick for a week."

"Anything else I should know."

"Yeah, I’m happy your back. At least now, I can write about something. Oh, can you do me a small favor?"

"What?"

"Talk to Jedite about his girl problem." I disappeared.

"Well, hello little princess."

"Serry’s boyfriend back? YEY!" Darien took Serene into his arms.

"Did you miss me?"

"Yea! Me don’t like the other boyfriend. He not nice like you."

"Other boyfriend?"

"She means Charms," Gilbert answered as he came into the Placid Gardens, "the Prince Jerk that my cousin has fallen head over heals for!"

"Prince Jerk? Head over heals? Are you sure?"

"He is a jerk. When she is looking, he acts like the perfect gentleman, but when she isn’t, he undresses her with his eyes! He even does it when I’m looking. At least with you…"

"At least with me what?"

"Like Rene said, ‘you’re nice.’ You respected her and didn’t put on and façade! And my innocent cousin does not see pass his charming smile! She won’t even listen to me when I warn her!"

"That bad?"

"Worse, when they dance, he holds her too close, and…he does it in front of HER FATHER! If I could only deck him without getting Serena mad, oh, what a happy man I would be."

"If I could kill him without Serena noticing, oh what a happy man I would be." Jedite said as he entered the gardens. "Lust is a dangerous thing. Why did you have to take so long to get back? The princes got too comfortable. One tries to hypnotize her, another tries to lust her into marriage…all because you were not here to make yourself respected as her true love!"

"Hey, you shouldn’t comment because you haven’t made yourself respected as another young lady’s love!" Gilbert retaliated.

"What is he talking about? Who’s the lucky lady, Jed?"

"Mina and Jedite sit’in’ in a tree, K I S S I NG, first come love, the come marr’age. Here come Jedite with the baby carr’age!" Serene sang.

"Mina!" Darien said as he remembered the little interaction between Jedite and Mina when he had first arrived from Earth a month earlier. "So, when’s the wedding?"

"We are not together! It’s just a rumor!" he defended himself.

"So what are you going to do?" a female voice asked another as they came down the dandelion path.

"I don’t know? I am sincerely considering your advice."

"Which one?"

"Tying him to my bed and…" Mina stopped as she and Serena came around the trees behind the dandelions and saw the three young men and the baby girl starring at them. They burst into giggles and excuse themselves.

"Well, letting her tie you to her bed isn’t such a bad idea." Gilbert teased.

The early August costume balls have always been a great occasion on the moon. The flowery dresses and the charming tuxedos dancing under the light of a full Earth is one of the more romantic things the moon has to offer. Unfortunately, Serena never fully appreciated them until it was too late.

Serena entered the ballroom with such an elegant poise that it was a shame to see Charms drag her to the dance floor and make her dance. During their dance, he reminded me of that man who dances with that life-size doll on the park for spare change. Tightly, he held her until Darien rescued her.

Darien tried to dance with her as much as possible, but this Prince knew the "switching partners" trick all too well. Darien was only able to dance five of her twelve dances; Charms had another five dances, and the other two went to King Guile and Prince Gilbert. Serena took ill after her last dance with Charms and left the ballroom. She came to greet me.

"Why don’t you join us, Lady Nena?" she asked in her usual cold manner.

"Oh, my dear Serenity, you should know by now that my stomach cannot handle most of those ruffians that call themselves princes." I responded with equal frigidness and watched her break into giggles.

"Nena, you kill me. Com’n, the party is inside, not out here. I can’t enjoy myself if you are not there!"

"Sure you can! As long as you stay with a close and personal friend."

"Like you?"

"Like Darien. You have not danced much with him. Are you two…fighting?"

"I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! The one person that knows everything about me is asking me about me!"

"Answer the question."

"No, it’s just that Charms…well, he enjoys my company…and I his."

"And Darien?"

"Darien? He is like a big brother! We fight and argue, but…"

"But it takes more than a brother to try to make you fall in love, stay by your side faithfully when you are dying, and still stick around when you tell him you love another."

She did not answer. Serena turned around and left towards the Wild Gardens.

"Why aren’t ya inside, M’Lady?"

"Huh, oh, hello Prince of Gemini." I said as I turned to see the seven-year-old boy who I had met while Prince Helot was trying to enslave him.

"Please call me Sergio, M’Lady." He gave me a wild lily, which he had been holding in his hand.

"Only if you stop calling me M’Lady and start calling me Nena, and it is easier to see the people from out here." I notice Darien "making a run for it."

"But you’re deprayving us gentlemen of a beauty." This comment made me turn to look at him like a mother looks at her son after he has cursed for the first time. He was trying to act nonchalant, cool, and older. I felt my body turn icy cold as I realized that I was looking at my first suitor.

"Sergio?"

"Yes." His hopeful eyes stared at me, and I found myself at a loss of words.

"Umm…do you see that girl with the pink dress over there?"

"Lisa? Yea, I see ‘er."

"You know, I have it from a good source that she likes you."

"So? She’s just a kid!"

"So are you!" The words cut through him, and his big puppy dog eyes began to water. "Don’t cry." I pleaded. I have never been too good with children.

"I weally like you. I love you. If you just let me take you on a date, I could prove that I’m the guy for you."

"Sergio," I began my explanation with a mournful heart; why did I have to break the heart of a seven-year-old? "I could never accept."

"It’s ‘cause my age, right?"

"No, it is also because of my vows. I have vowed to follow Serena around and write down what she does. I have vowed never to date or fall in love so I can achieve my first vow, and I have vowed never to marry and/or start a family. These are the sacred oaths of the Scribe."

"So, how do ya live…how ‘bout when Serena dies?"

"When that dreadful day comes…I will die with her."

"But that ain’t right!"

"I knew what I was getting into, and I have no regrets…this is what I live for." I showed him the cover my book.

"The-Ice-Cold-Prin-cess. It should be the Ice Cold Scribe. If what ya saying is true, then make me a promise."

"What?"

"If I ever grow to be older than ya…you will go on a date wit me." I smiled at his request and agreed. I looked up and realized that Darien and Serena were near the Dark Forest together. This is why I’m not supposed to have suitors. I rushed myself to where they were.

"So are you afraid?"

"Of the Dark Forest?" Serena asked with a seductive smile, "Why should I? It is just that I know it is a dangerous place to be at this hour. The trees aren’t bounded by their roots."

"Pamper me." He led her into the forest.

"Darien, this isn’t right. Not even white roses grow here."

"So, you are afraid?" He held her stiff body against his own and covered it with his cape. She relaxed enough to enjoy the song of his heart.

"I’m only heeding a warning." She looked up to him with her tired sapphire-blue eyes.

"Did someone warn you about love, too?"

"No, why?"

"Let me give you a bit of advice, if you find love, surrender to it. It is the most wonderful flight you will ever take, but DON’T confuse it with lust!" he said as he hypnotized her with his smile. Serena swallowed hard as he approached to kiss her. Her arms where around his waist, and his, around her small figure.

He approached to kiss her, first lightly on the cheek. Then he kissed the other. Finally, he brushed his lips lightly against the canvas of her lips. He felt her tremble under his protecting arms. Her knees were week, and she was holding on to him for support. He lowered his lips once more upon hers for the kill. She closed her eyes and parted her lips. She wanted to be killed. He held her firmly, but not harshly. He took a deep breath and parted his lips.

"Are you sure he said they went this way?"

"Yes Maureen! Now, shut up!"

"May be he was mistaken."

"Hans is never mistaken!"

"Charms, he is NOT perfect!" Charms looked around, and when he was convinced that there was no one around,

"You wouldn’t be getting jealous, would you, my love?"

"Do I have something to be jealous about?"

"You know this is business as usual. Baryl could become a worthy opponent. According to Hans, she is becoming stronger every day! All I want to do is secure my kingdom’s future. When that is done…well, it’d be like old times again. You, me and the bunk…can you wait a few months?"

"Yea, and if the Princess is still alive after the war?"

"I would be more worried about your catch being alive. He is harder to kill; she is a delicate rose…like these right here." He pointed to Serena’s rosebush.

"Well," she whispered as her arms slipped around his neck, "since we haven’t found either of our prey…can we at least practice the wedding night routine?"

"Anything to make you happy." He said kissing her neck and shoulder. He led her away in the darkness that hid their sin.

Serena was brimming with hate, pain, sorrow, weakness, and death. She wanted them both killed! Darien held her up so she would not fall, but he couldn’t do anything to extinguish the pain in her eyes.

"I hate you!" she began in a spiteful whisper, "I really hate you!" Tears were beginning to surface, but she pushed them back. Darien just held her. He knew she was hurt and needed to vent on any available man. She had tried to give love a second chance and it ended with her heart being chopped up into tiny pieces with a chain saw. "I listened to you! I took your FÜ©K!ÑG advice, and the same happened! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU ALL!" Serena tried to run away, but he grabbed her arm.

"WORDS! That’s all it is WORDS! LET GO OF ME! I HATE YOU I REALLY HATE YOU!" she was screaming, but not crying. Darien had all the rejection he could handle. He pulled her close and piercing her mouth, he kissed her with all his passion and love. Serena tried to resist with all her strength, but she soon found surrendering to his tender, loving, passionate kiss. All the energy she had summoned to push him away dispersed into the night, turning it into day for a brief moment. With no energy left, Serena fainted in his arms.

Mina grabbed Jeite’s arm as he has running out of the ball into the main hall. "Hey! What’s the hurry?"

"Mina, I don’t have time now. Serena could be in danger."

"But she isn’t." He turned to face her.

"That was her energy! I don’t want to think what Charms has done to her."

"Nothing." He gave her an incredulous look. "He and Maureen will been enjoying each others company for a while." She pointed behind him, and he saw the two royals sneak into a vacant room for a "private chat."

"Then, who?"

"Your boy, Darien, has finally woken up!" she said as Jedite sighed in relief. Jedite turned and walked to the tower. "Where are you going?"

"To check something out!" He was really running away from her. Even if she was a general, she was still training under him. It would be unethical to have such a relationship.

He reached the tower and saw the guards changing guard. It was only midnight. "Josef, why are you switching shifts this early?"

"General." The soldier saluted. "London and Simmons had tickets to tonight’s game. They switch shifts earlier, so they could go. We will switch again at four to fulfill our hours, sir." They saluted and the soldier return to guard Serena’s room.

"Are you done interrogating the poor cadets?"

"What do you want, Mina?" he said a bit annoyed.

"To find out what how I have wronged you!" He gave her a surprised look. "Lately you have been rude to me, and you have also been avoiding my company. What have I done? What ever it is, I’m sure it wasn’t meant as an intentional harm!" Her eyes were pleading him. His lips were burning him.

"Nothing. You have done nothing."

"Then, why the rudeness and coldness?"

"You’re imagining things!"

"Fine, don’t talk to me about it! I’m only suffering because of it! Is not like it is affecting me in any important way." She walked away nearing tears. She took a false step descending the stairs and fell back. Jedite caught her immediately.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes...my foot." She said when she tried to stand up. He took a look at it.

"Nothing serious. You just won’t be making any back flips tonight."

"Can you please help me to the ball room." He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t refuse. He slipped his left arm around her waist and took her right hand in his. Slowly, they walked down the stairs. It took them fifteen minutes to reach the bottom, partly because it was too painful for her and partly because they liked holding each other. They did not want it to end. When they reached the bottom, Mina put on her most innocent face and politely asked, "Jedite, I don’t think I can stay here; would it be to much to ask you to help me get to my room?"

"Your room?"

"Yes, I’m going to take this as a warning and retire, but if you don’t want to, I can ask Vinnie. He isn’t dancing."

"Vinnie?" Vinnie was the Moon Kingdom’s Playboy of the Moon, and he had shown interest in Venus. Jealousy won over his better judgement. "That won’t be necessary!" He tighten his grip and walked to the stairs that led to the Scouts’ rooms. He looked at the immense flight of stairs. It would be too painful for her. "How about a lift?" He took her in his arms so quickly that a surprised short scream escaped her mouth.

"I have no objections." She said as she recovered from the shock. He slowly climbed the stairs and walked her to her room. He kicked the ajar door fully open and laid her on her bed. He took an ice pack from the small fridge that looked like a nightstand and placed it on her ankle.

"Try to rest." Without thinking of it he kissed her cheek. He tried to retreat, but she would not let him.

"You never answered my question."

"Mina, I can’t"

"Why not!"

"Because it isn’t right."

"You’re telling the love child of a young captain of the guard and an older queen that it isn’t right." He had not realized that she had understood the true meaning of his words.

"It is unethical."

"Since when is the ways of love ethical? I’m not going to give up this easily!" She loved him. She had not said it in as many words, but she had said it. The realization filled him with pride and joy. He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. Their bodies went ablaze.

"Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down so she could kiss him with all her passion and love, fully opening Pandora’s box.

"Ditto." Her arms went around his neck, and his arms drove around her waist. They kissed twice for every kiss they had missed, and when they were done and their bodies had fully turned to ashes, they kissed one last time good night. He let her rest and recover her strength. They had a lifetime of kisses awaiting them.

Serena lightly touched her lips. "What have you done to me?"

"Loved you. I have loved you with all my body, heart, and soul."

"Love doesn’t exist!" She tried to get up, but she was still a little woozy from the kiss.

"How can you say that after the way you kissed me?"

"You kissed me!"

"And you kissed me back! Serena, it is natural to feel confuse. Love is not an exact science, but it is real."

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO," she kept repeating as tears fell down her cheeks, "NO, NO, NO!" With one final burst of strength, she broke free and ran to the safety of her room.

"Where is he?" Serena walked back and forth in her room, pacing nervously waiting for Tuxedo Mask. She had already taken a bath and was now in her nightgown. She had run out of things to do to occupy herself while she waited. She needed to talk to him badly. "Where are you? The biggest storm in my life has hit me, and YOU are not HERE!" In her frustration, she threw the brush she was holding across the room, and with a big "CRACK," it hit the wall and broke in two. Serena broke in tears.

"One o’clock, the guards should be changing shifts. It is time for Tuxedo Mask to make the scene." Darien jumped from his roof to Serena’s balcony and entered her room. Serena ran to his arms crying. "Shhh, Princess, love isn’t something to cry about."

"I’m so confuse!" she sobbed.

"It’s understandable." He soothed.

"NO, you don’t understand." She looked into his eyes. "If what I feel for Darien is love, then…I’m also in love with you! The feeling is the same; that’s why I thought that what I felt for Charms was love. It was a different feeling."

His worst fear had come true. She had fallen in love with the mask, but she had also fallen in love with the man. In one last desperate act, he kissed her. The angles sounded their trumpets as the last bit of ice melted and the blood fell on the rose, turning it into a passionate hue of red. She saw his face as clear as she understood her feelings.

"Darien." She whispered as she took of his mask. He whipped her tears away and kissed her one more time.

"Guards, arrest him!" The two lovers turned to see King Guile and half a dozen guards enter the room. "I never thought you capable of this, Darien!"

"Daddy, what are you doing?"

"You know the penalty for this. Both of you know. You shouldn’t have looked for a date this way, Darien. The only thing it bought you was a date with the executioners ax!"

e-mail me your comments at sailor_nena1@oocities.com.