"For Serenity's Sake"
By: Isis @}->--
isis@moonkingdom.com
Rated: G
Disclaimers:  Please do not copy.
AN:  The growth of emotion does not grow alone.  The soul of the 
person must also intercede.  We bear no hardships alone, and we 
receive no joys alone.  Dedicated to anyone else out there in a long 
distance relationship; the quote at the bottom is for you!  ;)


Chapter 7
@}->--


The days were long and bright, perfect weather permeated the 
gardens and the palace grounds.  Flowers were in full bloom 
everywhere and the wind was warm and cheery.  Such a typical 
day on the Moon, always bright, always sunny, always perfect…

And Serenity was sick to tears of it.  For once, just once, she 
wanted it to down-pour on a couple on a picnic, she wanted the 
wind to blow away a woman's favorite veil, she wanted someone 
somewhere on this ball of rock to be miserable!

"Such a thing to think," she mumbled to herself.  "Were the 
Councils to hear that they would define me as being under the 
'influence' of the Earth Sphere."  The princess turned and threw 
the pillow that she had been holding against her headboard.  "Well 
quite frankly, I am!"

She immediately picked up the pillow again when it bounced back 
to her and cradled it close as she had done for the last three days.  
Serenity simply sat in the center of her bed, facing the wall, and 
thought.  Of what she could not honestly say most of the time; her 
thoughts bounced between the Earth and the Moon, Endymion and 
her mother, war and peace, hate and love, eternity and fidelity, 
salted or unsalted peanuts…

They all meant something to her during the time that she was 
spending walled up in her perfect little room on her perfect little 
home world, in her perfect little "I am an obedient daughter and 
princess to the thrown of the System" life.  She abhorred the entire 
concept.

She wanted to see Earth again.  She wanted to see dying flowers in 
the garden, and shiver in the middle of the night when the winds 
were screaming outside.  She wanted to feel oppressed by the 
gravity and drink that dreadful tasting tea to help her sleep.  She 
wanted to be with her husband!  Was that such an atrocious 
thought for a woman to have?  She only wanted Endymion…

Serenity clutched the pillow as tightly to her as she could as 
another wave of tears hit her full force.  Her eyes filled before she 
could stop them and the anger that she had been willing to flow 
turned cold and hard in her chest.

She only wanted Endymion.

She had been drug away from his side by her own mother, and the 
High Council had quickly barred the direct contact of anyone with 
the Earth or its members.  The world below her was cut off from 
the rest of the galaxy as councils and meetings and other useless 
wastes of time were heard.  And yet, none of that would have 
mattered nearly as much if it would simply not apply to herself.  In 
fact, only to herself and Endymion, her husband…

The tears would not stop again and she tried once more to feel 
angry, enraged, at the thought of blocking her from…  But her lip 
trembled until she bit down on it and her eyes would not clear 
enough to see.  The sobs were rising in her throat and she finally 
gave in, collapsing onto her side, pillow still smashed against her 
chest, trying for all its worth to muffle the agonizingly loud 
heartbeat.

"Why?" she moaned, over and over in her own pathetic chant.  
"Why?"

She suddenly sat up once more and swiped at her tears.  She would 
not keep crying like this, she would not.  Yet as she looked around 
her for a tissue her eyes clouded again and her bottom lip still 
trembled.  "Stop it!" she commanded herself beating her fists 
against the pillow, "Just stop…"

Nothing let up and she simply continued to leak.  Yet she felt the 
small padding of little feet on her bed behind her and she brushed 
away the tears again, resolving once more to grow up.

"No use hiding them from me," came the slightly haughty 
sounding voice.  She turned with an angered face to the black cat 
that was sitting beside her now on the bed.  Large blue eyes calmly 
looked back at her and a golden crescent moon adorned her 
forehead.  Yet in front of her paws lay a new kerchief.  "Go ahead 
and take it.  You should see yourself, you are a royal mess."

Serenity snatched up the white cloth, "Well, at least I am still 
royal."

"Oh you are royal all right," came the snooty reply, "a royal—"

"What do you want?" she yelled, wiping her face.

"Well," the cat humphed, lying her head down on her paws and 
facing away from the princess.  "Here I bring you something to dry 
your eyes with and you go and yell at me for.  The load of thanks I 
get for being polite.  I am your advisor, Princess Serenity, not your 
servant."

Serenity mumbled along with her last phrase, having heard it a 
thousand times over.  "Fine, so as my 'advisor' what are you doing 
here?"

She picked her head up, ears pricking up as well.  "I am advising."

The princess blew her nose and gave the cat an annoyed look.  
"Luna, I do not want nor need your advice at this point in time.  
Thank you greatly, you may be excused now."

Luna rose to all four paws and walked calmly around in front of 
the princess and seated herself again, slowly wrapping her tail 
around her for good measure.  "Princess Serenity, I was sent in 
here by your mother, the Queen—"

"I am well aware of who my mother is, Luna."

"—in order to convince you to come to your senses and come out."

"I have no intension of coming out.  To what purpose?  They will 
only bring me before the councils and ask me very polite questions 
about the 'attempted assassination,' express their 'sincere' 
gratitude that I was not harmed, and exhaustibly thank me for 
coming before them.  Yet just after I leave they will rework my 
words so that they can cast a vote to have the Earth blown up!"  
She realized she was yelling right at the poor creature before her 
and settled back on her knees, neatly smoothing the crumpled 
pillow on her lap.  "So why should I venture out, dear Advisor?"

Luna seemed very unimpressed by her speech and with head 
lowered she shook it back and forth.  "I knew that would be your 
answer, that was why I was not going to mention a thing."

"Well then," she sighed, "run tell my mother that."

"Serenity, this is very important."

The princess was simply not looking at her companion; she did not 
want her to see the tears again forming in her eyes.  She could not 
go before them like this, not until she could gain all of her 
composure and face them wholly, with only a smothered anger at 
allowing this to happen.  She would not cry before those old men!

"Oh, Serenity."  She had not noticed that tears were again trailing 
down her checks yet she was not surprised to find them there, not 
surprised that in truth, she never stopped crying.

Luna padded up and placed her front paws on the pillow in her lap 
so that she could stand taller.  Looking down, she was looking into 
her feline guardian's eyes and knew that her friend was trying her 
best to raise her confidence, and her anger, and march her out of 
here.

She closed her eyes tightly as another sob hit.  She felt Luna jerk 
back and when she opened her lashes again, her cat was wiping her 
nose with her paw furiously.  "Serenity please, you know how 
terrible my fur looks when it gets wet!"

She burst out with a laugh at the same time that another wave of 
tears hit; yet she simply continued to laugh through sobs and sob 
through laughs.  She clutched her pillow to herself again and found 
it soggily more appreciative of her tears.


"The plan did accomplish its goal."

"That sits as very little comfort to me right now, Mother."  The 
thrown room of Earth was empty and dark, the short days of fall 
taking care of that.  Yet no one had bothered to light a lamp, for in 
truth the discussion was in no mood for lighting.

"Perhaps, but the people have a greater fear hanging over their 
heads now," Lady Styx commented.

"The Moon has once again become a symbol of oppression and of 
distrust," Kunzite offered.  "We have entered the princess herself 
into the public eye but we have lost the battle."

"The opinions of the people have indeed shifted.  Princess Serenity 
certainly has a way with those around her."  Kallisto was seated 
next to Styx on the dais's steps before the seated king and queen of 
Earth.  The generals were scattered about the room in various 
postures.  And Endymion stood before a darkening window behind 
them all.

He stared out at the dying gardens as the plants turned inward and 
prepared themselves for the coming of winter.  Yet they knew the 
signs.  The dropping temperatures, the Northern winds blowing 
colder, the shortening of days.  They were warned in advance of 
the loss… why did he not see his signs before?

The deliberations had taken three weeks from his life, yet there 
was no word, no message, no indication that those in supreme 
power would allow their voices to be heard again.  Their oracles 
were under strict penalty should they hear or send any message 
outside the blue of Earth.

The silence was deafening; the loneliness claustrophobic.  The wait 
was exhausting and he wanted nothing more than to teleport 
straight into the Moon's meeting hall and force them to face him 
directly.

"What shall be done about the prisoners that you captured?"  There 
was a silence following the queen's question.

"The panels will likely wish to interview them," Styx commented.

"They will learn no more from them than we have," Kunzite paced 
before the steps, circling as though physically barred.

"That is what I am afraid of," Kallisto commented.  "If we have no 
one to show for this tragedy then we have no proof that we did not 
arrange this ourselves."

"What would we gain?  What have we gained if this was our 
intention?" the king questioned mildly.  "What indeed do the 
councils see as a threat?"  He left the question hang before 
answering himself.  "An up-rising?  An over-throw of power?"

"Just as the old fears were always centered on power and politics, 
so now too the generation falls prey to old thinking once more."  
Endymion opened his eyes to the last traces of light.  "This has 
simply become another complicated plot in this long war of 
words."

His father quietly appraised his words, "It is the old that continue 
such ideas, yet it is not the elders with little time remaining that 
take risks for power.  For that you must look to the younger, the 
fools taught by master fools."

"Indeed, but that does not help us find the instigator of this," 
Jadeite added.

"I doubt we shall," the queen commented.  All eyes focused on her 
as the room scowled in confusion.  Looking up from the hands in 
her lap, she gazed down at Kallisto.  "I desperately tried to focus 
on their leader, yet I could hear nothing of his mind, could feel no 
presence there at all.  He was a shadow's cape."

Kallisto lowered her eyes in thought, then calmly nodded her head 
as well.  "I had not paid it enough attention, but I agree with you 
now.  I felt no presence from him."

"Endymion?" the queen called over her shoulder.

"Nor I, Mother," he spoke almost silently.

"Then we are looking for a ghost?" Zoicite questioned.

"Not a ghost, a man," the queen said.  "A man that was not 
standing at the lead of his army at the time of the attack."

Jadeite stood from his leaning pillar again, "So what blasted the Ice 
Hall to ice cubes?"

"The same person you saw before you."  King Odin rested his 
elbows on the arms of his thrown and folded his hands together.  
"There is a unique power known as bi-location.  It allows a person 
to send their essence to another place in space without physically 
being present.  Should this person do so, they would be manifested 
in all but solid reality… and their mental processes and spirit 
would remain in the same place their true body was."

"A psychic puppet," came Nephrite's reply.


Five weeks.  She had not seen or heard from anyone on Earth in 
five weeks.  She had heard that a witness or two had been sent for 
and been brought before the councils, yet she had not been allowed 
to know of anything that was in their proceedings.

That was now at an end.  Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom 
sat down before the very council that had denied her access to 
those of the planet they circled about.  She sat absently before the 
group of elders with her back straight and her hands resting lightly 
in her lap.  She was placid and spoke not a word through their 
introduction and statements of gratitude that she was not harmed 
during the unfortunate incident.  She was indeed, only there in 
body.

Her mind was elsewhere, somewhere far away from this council 
chamber.  Somewhere that the winds were cold and smoke rose 
from chimneys, where trees were skirted with dull colors of rest 
and people scuttled about with coats wrapped round, chopping 
wood… just as they did in the murals and tapestries, that had 
fascinated her through paint on plaster and of the weave of wool.

These were the images floating lazily through her mind's eye as 
she listened to these men comment upon the problem they face.

Serenity had long since wrung the tears from her eyes, wrung them 
even from her soul.  She had become only passive and quiet, 
charmed by solitude and flirting with memories.  Yet she heard the 
men, she heard everything around her, though she ignored it.

"Princess?"

She rose her eyes to meet them with those of the lead chair of 
elders, ironically filled by the youngest man on the board.  "Yes, 
Council Loki?"

"Princess, I realize that this may well be a very difficult subject for 
you, but could you find leave to tell the council of what happened 
that night?" he asked, mock concern centered so deeply into his 
brow.  She disliked the man, she always had.  He was too pushy 
for her liking, oozing with his own unrighteous power and thought 
little of those beneath himself.

"Why should that night be cause of sorrow?" she asked, 
sidestepping the question for a time.

The man faltered a bit and stuttered for an answer too late.

In her much too clam frame of mind she looked over the group and 
continued with Loki still standing.  "I find no difficulty in related 
the events that brought us to this point," she said to them.  "Yet, I 
ask you to refrain from asking me much of what has transpired 
since."

"What is it that you mean, Princess?" the second Councilor asked.

She looked down to the hands in her lap before raising her eyes 
once more.  "I have difficulty expressing my desire to have this 
ban eliminated with the most haste."

Council Loki finally seated himself again but remained silent as 
the second council again questioned her, "Then you wish the Earth 
to be held accountable for none of this?"

She looked at the man a moment, coming as close to surprise as 
her subdued emotions could claim.  "Why should I wish an entire 
planet to suffer a punishment for the actions of a few?"

There was a silence in the room as the group stirred restlessly a 
moment, as though their chairs had shrunk on them.

"Yes, I understand your concern for those not involved, Princess," 
was Loki's comment.  "Yet could you then tell us of the night's 
events?"

"Of course," she said, lowering her eyes to her hands once again as 
she related what she knew of the attack.

"So then, Prince Endymion remained with you during the raid?"

She looked at the nameless member oddly yet answered, "Yes, 
were it not for him and Lady Styx we would both be dead."

"And yet, the Earth's Golden Crystal is very powerful.  It is 
interesting to me that the prince should not have been able to 
simply destroy the attackers and protect all of you from this energy 
ball."

"Could the Silver Crystal do that under those circumstances?" she 
questioned them, yet no one was eager to answer her.  "No, it 
could not, just as the Golden Crystal of Earth could not be used so 
precisely as to not harm the people around them or my own 
guardians standing before us.  Likewise, the power of a planetary 
crystal must be focused through the body of the individual calling 
upon it, therefore Endymion could not concentrate enough energy 
to completely block that attack without harming me by simple way 
of being in contact."

There was a general consensus of nodding within in the ranks and 
she wondered exactly what types of things were being spoken 
within these walls that they were confused on even this matter.  
"And afterward, when the men were captured, what happened 
then?"

She paused a moment, attempting to collect the random images 
branded upon the backs of her eyelids.  "The men were locked 
away somewhere, the High Oracle Kallisto teleported them out of 
the room.  When the remainder of us gathered together we were all 
greatly shaken and it was Lita, Lady Jupiter, that stayed by my side 
once Prince Endymion had…" she stopped just a noticeable 
moment and quieted herself again, "once he made sure that I was 
unharmed."

"He left you then?" Loki asked, as though he was attempting to 
prove something by it.

"No," she said, silencing the quick whispers.  "One of his 
guardians, General Zoicite, had been injured during the battle.  
Knocked back when he attempted to rush the leader.  Prince 
Endymion is endowed with the power of healing through direct 
contact, he left me only to tend the wound."

There was a great murmuring throughout the room at this news, 
indeed she had done the same when she saw with her own eyes the 
gash across Zoicite's right shoulder and upper arm close and seal 
over.  Yet she had not had time to ask him of the powers that his 
hands truly possessed before she was commanded back to the 
Moon.

"Once we were rejoined with the group of guests he was the first to 
separate himself among the injured."  She paused, thinking of the 
aftermath of that battle.  "I did not have the chance to speak with 
him again before I was brought back here without even helping 
those with my own healing abilities."  She looked slowly down the 
aisle of the men before un-focusing her eyes once more.  "That 
was when this shroud fell."

The elders thanked her profusely for speaking with them, and 
Serenity did hope that she had done something to help their 
situation.  Yet, she was so numb inside that she could not say if it 
went well or worse.  All she knew was that she wished to return to 
her quarters and simply keep herself company.  Reaching it she 
positioned herself at the head of her bed once more and watched, 
through the window beside it, as the afternoon wore on, bright and 
sunny.

Eventually she left her bedchamber and was intent to walk out onto 
her balcony, yet realized that what she really wanted to see outside 
was something that would never happen.  …She wanted to see 
snow.

She closed her eyes again and remembered the paintings and colors 
centered in the Northern part of the castle.  The colors, the feeling.  
She had thought that it would be a lonely season, one filled only 
with cold, no plants to brighten the surroundings.  It almost seemed 
depressing to her… yet perhaps that was why she wished so 
desperately to see it now.

Reopening her eyes once again she walked instead to the sitting 
room and to the hearth, which was never used.  She thought of the 
cool nights that were already chilled, and of the Ice Hall before its 
destruction.  The cool majesty of Winter, and the relief that it 
seemed to bring to those native to that region of the Earth.

Yet she raised her eyes to the centerpiece above the stone, 
supposedly used for warmth, to a bouquet of flowers perched 
unchangingly in a crystal vase.  The flowers mixed colors of pink 
and silver, white and gold.  An arrangement that represented the 
best of two worlds… the best that could be offered from two rivals 
that had not co-existed well in all of written history.  Yet, Serenity 
knew very well that they could indeed flower together, if they were 
held together by a strong enough thread…

The princess raised a hand to brush a petal or two of the magically 
sealed flowers.  They would remain, perfectly intact, as long as she 
lived… that she promised.  And she promised it well, touching the 
small white ribbon tied fastidiously around the top of the crystal 
enclosing them.


The image of a vase, filled over with Lunar roses and golden 
filigree, a side Earthly roses and white orchids, remained stationary 
in a bubble of light.  The ghostly apparition floated within a 
darkened room, yet it cast no light, no shadow attached itself to it, 
as though it were one of the dark's own kind.  Yet the vision 
stayed stationary as it hovered over the floor.

"Such a pretty bouquet," came a soft comment.  "The ribbon was a 
nice touch."

The ball hovered over a bit and an outlined frame immerged from 
the quiet darkness.  The apparition of a hand reached out and under 
it as though balancing it a few centimeters above non-existent 
fingers.

The only light in the room came from a window, coverings open to 
reveal pale moonlight reflecting from a heavy dusting of frost over 
every surface without.  In the dimness a table sat in the beams of 
the faint light and a chair sat across from it.  Though the hour was 
late and the moon would soon enough be overshadowed by the 
sun's entrance, a woman sat perched in the chair, watching the 
blackness.

"Such a heart that could design such a thing," the phantom 
mentioned, the display still centered on the flowers.  "The princess 
has become calm now.  Her words still enter from her heart, yet 
they pass more readily through her mind first.  She is learning…"

The woman at the table closed her eyes from her unseeing stare.

The figure in the darkness snapped close the whispered image of 
her hand and collapsed the ball of light.  She glided over to the 
woman and settled herself aside her.  Through the lightened 
atmosphere before the window, the figment took on a more solid 
shape and though she seemed to trail the night with her the form 
she took was more defined.

She hovered, as though perched in a chair of her own, legs crossed 
yet covered over with that receding trail of night's all-intrusive 
black gown.  One arm was positioned over her abdomen, the other 
elbow resting on it and her chin upon that hand.  A perpetually 
shifting shadow was observed, resembling hair that waved in unfelt 
wind, dropping from her head to melt away into the dimness before 
quite reaching the floor.

She sat with her back to the filtered light and instead watched the 
woman, who still sat deafly in her chair, watching the window.  
Though mortal, this second figure appeared much like the light-
fearing phenomenon floating beside her.  The woman was wrapped 
over in a blanket that protected her from the night's cold even 
within the thick stone of the castle.  Yet her hair hung past her 
chair to the floor and she gazed out with velvet eyes that nearly 
never blinked.

"Well, Lady Styx," the shadow said.  "What are we to do with the 
precious child?"  There was no answer forthcoming and the 
figment simply shrugged and continued.  "I would hate to see her 
come to harm.  After all, I was becoming quite found of her and 
the prince; they turned out much more to my liking than I had 
expected.  I find them truly sweet."

Again the other did not seem to perceive that she had heard any 
comment uttered aside her.

"I admit that I had my doubts as to this marriage, I had thought that 
the Queen had lost her conscious, sending her daughter to such an 
arrangement.  I suppose that should teach me to stop 
underestimating the depth of their human understanding."

"That is only because you have lost yours."

The figment turned to regard the, once again, silent figure seated 
there in non-existing light.  Studyingly, she paused… only to begin 
a soft, knowing laugh.

"And do you remember so much, my friend?" she inquired.  "Or 
have you picked it up once again with this assignment?"

The lady closed her eyes and bowed her head.  "Can those such as 
us ever claim to have had life?"

There was a sigh of contemplation, turning quickly again to a 
chuckle.  "No."

Styx raised her head to again look out of the window, determined 
to her purpose.  "The princess is the key, she is the one that must 
meet the needs of the people that she will later govern, and she 
must do it now.  There is no time for excessive stalling."

"Indeed."  The shadow cocked her head to the side as though 
listening a moment.  "The whole of the System holds its breath… 
should it be released in a sigh of defeat there will be more and 
more small fires fanned into life."

"This marriage was suppose to be able to bridge the two worlds, 
unite them, stop them before it was begun…"

"Ah, yes," said the sigh.  "Yet, was it not you that said that such a 
thing would not work?"  She floated over, behind her sitting 
counterpart and leveled herself closer to her ear.  "Or was that a 
personal matter materialised from this 'life' of yours?"

"Was I correct?" the other snipped, glaring through the corner of 
her eye at the only slightly more solid nothingness.

She floated off again to round Styx and come to perch at her other 
side.  With a bored sigh she rested her chin on her hand and looked 
again at the other.  "I suppose you were, yet that is a two-fold 
problem."

"How do you mean?"

"Well," there was a pitch raise as she seemed to find something 
more interesting to speak about.  "It does seem that not only the 
little spectacle that the attack caused is under debate, but the whole 
of this arranged marriage."

A ball of light shimmered into being once more as she stretched a 
phantom hand out to the center of the table before her audience.  
Within its light there sat a row of elders, dressed in the royal white 
of the Moon Kingdom.  One stood at the forefront with fist raised 
in a freeze frame captured by this huge pearl.  "It seems that not 
everyone particularly cares for this little arrangement."

Styx leaned forward in her seat a bit farther to get a closer look at 
the orb.  "Then the two have opposition on every corner."

"Exactly," the other purred, "not only the agreements between the 
planets are to be decided by that council, but the fate of our most 
beloved couple as well."

Once more Styx leaned back in her chair and wrapped the blanket 
tighter around her.  "Then it would simply be a matter of holding 
this ban in place long enough that the marriage could be forgotten, 
and easily annulled, and the princess can be shuffled off to anyone 
the council then chooses, continually blaming Queen Selenity for 
the guilt of having rushed the child into her first encounter."

"It would seem so…" she sighed, plucking out a lock of extremely 
long hair and fiddling with it absently.

There was a dull silence in this private womb before Styx raised 
her eyes again and stared straight into those of her ghostly 
companion.  "Serenity may be but a child, yet she is powerful 
within the realm that she holds the most control over."  The 
shadow listened in interest.  "She is true to her emotions… she will 
not let the two things most dear to her be separated."

"Her home and the Earth?"

"Herself and her husband."

There was an intrigued sound that escaped from the figure now 
blending slowly back into the darkness that she seemed a part of.  
"Well then, you are correct indeed, my friend.  It is our dear 
princess that must hold the key to lock their life together, just as it 
will be Endymion's task to keep the people of two worlds 
together…  This should be an interesting show," she said, her 
voice disappearing with her form fading to black.  "…Quite the 
show."

@}->--_____________
"Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the 
wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire." - Francis Duc de 
la Rochefoucauld

"There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get 
nowhere." - Carl Sandburg