Forbidden Hearts Part 1/? By Elisabeth James ejames000@ameritech.net This is my first real attempt at a silver millenium fic so bear with me here. The storyline will be different than most of the normal fics out there. Well just read and find out, but I can tell you right now that there won’t be a lot of fighting in this, or any appearances by Queen Beryl or Metallia. This is pure romantic angst Disclaimer: *singing to the tune of the farmer in the dell* I don’t own Sailor Moon; I don’t own Sailor Moon; Hi ho the dairy-o; I don’t own Sailor Moon. The daylight was just breaking above the lunar mountains that guarded the Moon castle. Princess Serenity had been up for hours before the dawn. She sat out on her large balcony that overlooked the gardens painting the earth. It was so beautiful, like a perfect marble floating in the heaven. It was from that very planet that her future husband resided on at that very same moment, watching the sunrise himself. She didn’t know what he looked like, or what type of person he was. She hoped he would be nice, caring, and maybe even handsome. Still the idea of being betrothed to someone didn’t sit well inside her. She wasn’t even the one to become queen, her older sister Raina was. Oh Raina was definitely fit to become ruler of the moon, she was tall, proud and regal. Serenity was wild and carefree, regal was not a word fit to describe her or her actions. Raina was to marry Prince Endymion, the future ruler of earth. Prince Adonis was his younger brother, that was who she was supposed to marry. A second best prince for a second best princess was what her mother had told her. She set down her paintbrush on her easel and stared at the work of art before her. Her eyes glanced up at earth, studying it’s shape and features. All she could see were glaring imperfections in her painting compared to the real thing; without a second thought she tore through the canvas, letting the painting fall from the easel with a thud. The fabric rustled around her waist as Raina slipped into the crimson red velvet dress that had been made especially for today’s occasion. It looked lovely with her dark chocolate brown mane. Servants bustled around her room, fixing up her hair, doing her nails and other last minute preparation before the big meeting. Her mother stood in the doorway supervising the activity. “Mother, I just don’t know about this dress. Isn’t it a bit bold?” Raina smoothed the front of it down and studied her reflection in the mirror. “Relax child, Endymion will not know what hit him when he catches sight of you. You look absolutely glowing, the vision of a queen.” a smile spread across the pale face of the queen. “You must forget what is riding on this marriage, the peace of this land is guaranteed when you take a husband from earth.” For the last two years the people of the moon have been on the brink of war. Many Terran people had migrated from the earth seeking a less populated place to live and raise children. Lunatarians at first accepted the Terrans and the moon remained peaceful. It was not until one of the unhappy Terrens assassinated the king during the Lunar festival two years ago that everything fell apart. The Lunatarians wanted vengeance for the crime that had been committed against them, but the queen only sought to keep the peace. Small confrontations started to escalate along the outer rim of the kingdom just after the assassination and now the Terrens and the Lunatarians were ready for war. The situation had grown increasingly worse over the past few months and if something wasn’t done to remedy the situation quickly, civil war would tear the moon apart. By Raina taking a husband from earth Queen Serenity hoped that perhaps the Terrens and Lunatarians could strike a compromise. “I know, I must do what is best for the moon. But isn’t there any other way?” Raina didn’t want this marriage, she was only 18 and she wanted to marry for love, not for political gain. “Listen child, there is no other option. The moon is on dangerous ground right now. War is on the horizon, something must be done to prevent it from taking place. We all must make sacrifices for the land we love.” the queen walked toward her and placed her hands on her eldest daughter’s shoulders. “They will be here any moment, hurry up and get finished, I have to go and see how Serenity is faring.” With a faint nod Raina brushed a stray tear from her cheek and took a deep breath. Life just wasn’t fair. Serenity was alone in her bedroom, all ready to go and meet earth’s royal family. Her hair was done up in her buns and she wore a satin ice blue dress with pearls and small gems embroidered around the hem and low cut collar. It matched her silver hair perfectly in color. She clutched her torn painting in her hands, wondering if there was any way to repair it. It hadn’t been that bad of a job after all. “There you are Serenity, all ready to go I see. Let’s away then.” the queen entered her room without knocking and walked straight up to the bed. “What have you got there?” “Just something I painted this morning.” she quietly replied. The queen only nodded, and grabbed her 16 year old daughter’s hand. “The time is at hand, the princes have arrived and await Raina’s arrival. We must not make her late now.” Serenity quickly dropped the ruined painting onto her bed and allowed her mother to lead her from the room. Queen Serenity had no patience for dealing with her younger daughter’s antics. She was busy trying to raise Raina to be a proud and nobel queen, she never really had much time for Serenity. And since her husband was killed, she seemed to have put even more distance between her and her namesake. She saw so much of her beloved in her daughter, his light, his kind heart, it killed her to even look at her daughter sometimes. It didn’t help that Serenity wasted her time on such frivious things such as painting, or writing. She never seemed to be ready to perform her duties as a Princess. She was always off somewhere, never telling anyone where she was going, causing trouble in the Queen’s opinion. She always told herself that if her youngest daughter would just take more responsiblity then she would tolerate her more, but she never really knew if that was true or not. “Announcing the arrival of her royal majesty Queen Serenity the first and her daughters Princess Raina and Princess Serenity the second.” the royal guards opened the large silver doors and queen and the princesses stepped into the large hall. The room itself was huge with a high vaulted ceiling held up with carved oak beams that crisscrossed back and forth. The walls were clothed with tapestries and paintings. A long red carpet lay down the center of the room and on the other side awaited earth’s royal family. Prince Endymion watched the two princesses approach him, wondering which one of them he was to marry in two weeks. The petite silver haired one caught his eye, she was beautiful. She stared back at him, uncertainty shown in her eyes, she did not want to be here. “Your majesties.” the two girls curtsied low to the ground in front of the king and queen. “You have two lovely daughters Serenity. I can see they were well raised.” Queen Rhea remarked as the girls slowly rose. “Well a single mother does the best she can Rhea. How have you been?” the two queens had been friends since childhood, and still kept in close contact. “I have been good Serenity.” Rhea smiled warmly at her old friend, “I would like to present my two sons Endymion and Adonis. Boys, this is Princess Raina and Princess Serenity, your future wives.” Rhea pushed them both forward toward the young girls. They looked at each other for a few still, tense moments before any of them said anything. Endymion was the first speak. He planted a gentle kiss on Serenity’s hand, “It is a pleasure to meet you Princess.” her gray eyes caught his as he stared up at her with his cool blue ones. She felt the blush rise through her cheeks and tried to smile as best she could. Rhea quickly corrected the situation, “Endy darling, you are engaged to Raina, the dark haired one.” she whispered harshly in his ear. He quickly dropped Serenity’s hand and kissed Raina’s instead. Serenity got her first good look at Adonis as her mother pushed her toward him. He was no Endymion that was for sure. He wore his dark brown hair long, down to his shoulders and he had dull blue eyes. He grinned widely at her. “It is a pleasure to meet you Princess.” he full-heartedly kissed her hand. His lips were no where near as gentle as Endymion’s when he brushed them against her hand. What was she thinking? Endymion was her sister’s fiancée, she could never have him, not matter how hard she wished it. “How old is your sister?” Endymion asked Raina softly as he released her hand. Her brows knitted in confusion, why was he asking questions about her sister? “She is 16, why do you ask?” she followed his eyes to her younger sister, a smile played across his lips. “I was just curious, she looks so much older.” he replied, not pulling his sight from Serenity. “As it is you Prince Adonis.” she could feel Endymion’s eyes staring at them from behind Adonis, but she didn’t dare look. “My mother tells me that you are an artist of sorts, your mother speaks very highly of your talents.” he eagerly dove into conversation, in a hurry to get to know this angel. He knew Endymion was watching them closely, might as well give him something to watch, and something to get jealous over. “My mother speaks highly of nothing I do. I do enjoy painting though, it sooths the soul and quiets the mind.” she smiled at him, he did seem nice enough. Maybe she would be happy in her life with him... only time would tell. The queen suddenly decided to break into the already uncomfortable moment, “Serenity has offered her services and is willing to give a tour of the grounds after this short meeting is over.” the queen looked coldly at her daughter silently willing her to say something on the matter. “Oh yes, the castle grounds are quite large, I thought you all might be interested in seeing them in some detail.” she forced a pleasant smile upon her face. “That is very kind of you, but the king and I are quite tired from the day’s journey, perhaps Endymion or Adonis will take you up on your offer however.” Rhea glanced at her sons, Endymion’s eyes were fixated on Serenity. This was not going at all as was planned. “Actually mother, I was planning on just exploring on my own and then taking a short nap before dinner.” Adonis quickly added. He gently kissed Serenity’s hand once more, “I will see you at dinner then Serenity.” Adonis left the meeting room in silence, Serenity watched him with curiosity. Endymion saw this as the perfect opportunity to step in, “I would love to see the palace Princess, I would be most honored if you could give me the grand tour.” for the first time all day Serenity found herself genuinely smiling back at someone. “It would be my pleasure your highness. Mother shall I go?” the queen nodded slowly, eyeing Endymion as they walked past. Raina seemed preoccupied with talking to the queen of earth and didn’t notice anything that was happening between her sister and her future husband. “This is the north wing of the castle. The dining room is located here, right down that long hallway.” she pointed to the large oak doors that stood tall at the end of the hall that lead to the kitchen and dining hall. “I have to admit this is all rather fascinating but isn’t there anything more exciting in this castle than a dining room and a ton of guest rooms?” Endymion asked the young girl that was leading him throughout the corridors. “Well...” she trailed off, the entire time she was walking with the prince she couldn’t look him in the eyes. “I could show you the gardens.” she said helplessly. “That sounds lovely princess, we shall go there next.” he took her arm in his and they started toward the lunar gardens. “Well the children certainly seemed to get along all right.” Rhea told Serenity as she sipped her tea. “Well I believe that Serenity and Endymion hit it off a little too well. They must not forget who is betrothed to whom.” Serenity added slowly, waiting to hear agreement from the terran queen. “Much agreed, I took notice of that in the meeting room. I will put a stop to that tonight Serenity, it will go no farther than it has already.” “Good, Raina must be married to Endymion to ensure the peace of both our worlds.” “These are the gardens your highness. We grow every type of flower available anywhere in the galaxy here.” the familiar feelings of peace came over her. She spend almost all of her free time out here, among the flowers. “Please don’t call me that. It’s not my name.” he told her quietly. She was just so beautiful. That smile she had was dazzling, enough to melt the coldest heart. “Then what should I call you?” “How about Endymion.” he prompted her. She nodded, “All right Endymion it is.” He turned his eyes back toward the castle, “Say whose room is that?” he asked her while pointing to a window with a large balcony suspended off the side of the stone wall. “Oh, that’s my room. I requested one that looked out over the gardens. It has a spectacular view as well, I can see forever on a clear day.” she smiled back at him. “I wish to see that room next.” he grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the castle. “Your highnes- I mean Endymion, I don’t think that would really be appropriate to show you.” she protested. “I only wish to see the view Princess, nothing more. You spoke of it and now I am curious. This is my first journey to the moon and I wish to see all that I can of it.” they reached the door and she pushed it open slowly. The room was bright with natural sunlight. She quickly led him to the back of the room and outside onto the balcony. The day was clear and the view stretched back all the way until the lake on the edge of the grounds. The Lunar mountains stood tall with wisps of clouds covering their peaks. “It is spectacular, absolutely breathtaking, never have I seen such a sight.” he breathed in the fresh air, this place was so much cleaner than earth. “Those are the Lunar mountains, they offer protection to the castle grounds.” she put her elbows on the railing and stared down at the sea of flowers below her. She made a note to try and paint them later. “Oh!” suddenly she raced back into her bedroom and over to her bed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle of glue that she had managed to sneak from the kitchen staff on her way down to the meeting room. She picked up her torn painting and tried to figure out how to use the glue to repair it. “Did you paint that?” Endymion was instantly behind her, staring over her shoulder. “Yes, this morning as the sun was coming up. Unfortunately I tore a large hole right down the center of it.” “Why would you do such a thing, it’s a wonderful painting of my home.” he took the painting carefully from her hand and studied it further. “What can I say, I am a perfectionist and it is not perfect. I would like to try and fix it though, it was AS bad as I thought it was.” “Allow me, I can take it back to my room tonight and have it fixed as good as new by tomorrow.” he took it smoothly from her hands and slipped it under his arm. “Thank you, that would be most kind of you to do.” she spun around to face him and met his eyes. She felt her heart skip a beat within her chest. His entire face was a masterpiece, a perfect piece of earth architecture. “It would be the least I could do to repay you for the tour. Now do you think you can show me where I will be sleeping tonight?” “Of course Endymion, I’ll take you there right now. It’s only right down the hallway from this room.” “You sleep in the guest hall?” he asked her puzzled, why would a princess chose a lowly guest room when she could have a grand suite closer to the main part of the castle? “Yes, I told you, I wanted a room that overlooked the garden.” she smiled and lead him from the room. “Well thank you for the lovely tour, your castle is quite beautiful.” they stood awkwardly outside the door of Endymion’s room, neither of them were sure exactly what to say. “Well it was my pleasure. If you need anything, just come and find me. I’ll be in my room until dinner.” she turned to walk away when he reached out and delicately grabbed her arm. “If you weren’t my brother’s...” he trailed off. She sighed and carefully released herself from his grasp. “Don’t talk like that, I’ll see you at dinner your highness.” she walked away from him as quickly as her legs could carry her. He couldn’t know she thought the same thing. ~ To be continued... ~ I realize this is kinda boring right now, but I’m working on building a sturdy starting point. I think we can all see which direction I’m going with this :) Please write me with some sort of comment even if it’s just to tell me that this is extremely boring so far. Special thanks to!: Clare-chan, even though you don't read SM fanfiction anymore, you're still one of my best friends :) Adrianne and Kelly: I can always depend on you guys for feedback and to be great pre-readers for me Meredith: for putting up with my numerous fics sent out at different times and to give me honest opinions of what she thinks. Rinoa: We must have discussed this fic for at least a good half an hour on AIM. I really appreciate all the help you gave me, it helped make this chapter so much better :) Liz-chan