Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Slipper ❯ Chapter 2

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Disclaimer: No! I don't own Sailor Moon!


Crystal Slipper by Crystal Rose

~ part 2 ~

Setting off for the roads, Serena decided that she would at least get a good look at the masquerade that had been the most talked about for the past few days. She could at least feast her eyes upon what a lovely sight it would make upon a night such as this, with the full moon shining brightly above. Serena began to smile at the thought of it, as she stealthily crept along the road. After about ten minutes of walking, she could hear the sound of merriment just ahead; in a few minutes, she spotted the royal palace and was relieved to discover that the masquerade was located towards the back of the palace, where the guards seemed not to be. She would not be thrown out if she was careful, she hoped. Serena carefully made her way towards the back of the palace gates and then nimbly climbed up and over them. She dropped to the ground without a
sound and kept low to the ground as she inched towards a window. Looking inside, she was filled with wonder.

'Oh, wow! How I wish I could be in there.' As if on cue, Serena caught sight of her stepmother introducing her two stepsister's to the King, Queen, and Prince with great enthusiasm. The King and Queen seemed to receive them with grace and pleasure. The Prince, however, seemed to be a statue of boredom. That much she could tell. Serena then realized that she had been staring at the prince the whole time and quickly diverted her gaze, but eventually
found that she could not and searched for the dark-haired Prince again. He was no where to be found.

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While Serena had been outside watching, Darien, or rather Prince Endymion, was bored out of his mind. There had been hundreds of young girls thrown upon him, both older and younger, yet none of them appealed to him. Actually, they all rather disgusted him with their flirtatious ways and coquettish smiles. They all spoke to him with the most sickeningly sweet voices too. He quite truthfully wished to die. All this matchmaking was going to kill him anyway, sooner or later.

'Here come two more of them,' he thought grimly to himself as two young ladies, accompanied by who seemed to be their mother, came towards him and his parents.

"Good evening, your majesties," The young girls quickly followed suit and curtsied.

"Why hello lady Beryl." His mother had responded with an empty tone that he recognized to be her way of addressing someone that she would really rather not speak with.

"Queen Augusta, I present you with my daughters, Metallia and Galaxia." Lady Beryl seemed to boast of her daughters, one of who seemed to be looking at me in an uncomfortably licentious and suggesting way, while I hoped they could not detect my snide undertone.

"It's a pleasure to meet you ladies, but I simply must go out for a breath of fresh air, Mother, Father." I exited the scene as quickly as possible and hoped to seek refuge in the gardens.

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After watching the joyful occasion for over half an hour, Serena had grown tired and contented herself in walking through the palace gardens. She was overwhelmed with the enormity and beauty of the royal gardens, which held roses of all colors, blossoming in the spring air. Serena was in heaven. Ever since she had been young, she had had an affinity with flowers of all kinds, but especially roses. She loved the beautiful blossoms, with petals of silk
and deadly, yet breathtaking, thorns. Not paying attention to where she was going, Serena bumped into something, or rather someone, as the object had proceeded to speak.

"Ow!" A deep voice cried.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, this is all really my fault. Please forgive me, I was just so absorbed in enjoying the gardens that I wasn't even watching where I was going and . . ."

"Whoa! Calm down. It's alright, I'm not angry with you."

"Y-you aren't?"

In the shadow of the setting sun, Serena flushed a bright crimson and was thankful for the darkness that hid her deep embarrassment. She had been rambling on and on about how contrite she was and felt that he surely thought her an idiot now. In the last rays of the setting sun, she could make out a figure of a young man with a towering figure and muscular build. She could see from where she was standing that he had jet black hair and a pair of intense midnight-blue
eyes. Without realizing it, Serena had been staring at him for the past few minutes and quickly looked down again in shame. The young man looked at her for a moment, then spoke.

"So, what are you doing here anyway?"

"Me? I . . .uh . . ." Serena began to feel frightened.

'What if he finds out who I am? I'll surely be doomed! What will I say? Hmm . . . I, a simple servant of a girl, just happened to walking past the royal palace and decided to break through the palace walls to spy on the royal masquerade. Great, really convincing.'

Sensing her beginning to fearfully back away, he quickly reassured her.

"Don't worry, I'm not a guard at the palace or anything like that, and I promise not to hurt you, so please don't be frightened and leave."

Serena was speechless.

'He seems so kind.'

"A-alright," she whispered shakily to the stranger.

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Prince Endymion, Darien, had been walking peacefully through the rose garden when he had been bombarded by what he later saw to be a young girl that was maybe twelve or thirteen years old. After she'd apologized profusely, he had calmed her down considerably and they were now facing each other, neither saying a word.

"What's your name?"

"Serena."

"Serena, huh? That's a nice name."

"What's yours?"

"Darien."

"Hmm. Somehow I think I've heard of you somewhere before . . ."

"Well, it's a very popular name." 'Oh great excuse, Einstein.' Darien lectured himself.

"Oh."

"So . . . why are you here?"

"I . . . um . . . are you sure you're not some sort of guard?" Serena blurted. 'Oh just great Serena! Now he must think you're mentally impaired!'

He laughed, "Yeah, I think I'm pretty sure, but seriously."

"I am being serious," she replied slightly hurt.

"Hey I didn't mean it that way." His eyes softened at the sight of the quivering young girl who reminded him of a frightened bunny, as he gently spoke to her with soothing words.

"Really, I didn't," he said trying to placate her.

"Well . . . alright, but I just know what your reaction will be!"

He looked down at the young girl, shocked to see her teary-eyed with a melodramatic look of self pity that was anything but false. He searched the depths of her shining blue orbs to find that she was afraid, afraid of being scorned and hated by all that seemed to judge her, even him. Gasping, he quickly regained his senses and replied to her with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"I would never think, or do, so!"

"Your feelings may very well change!" Serena cried out, wondering why she seemed so vulnerable to this man, a boy nonetheless, that she cared so much about what he thought of her. She felt ashamed and belittled in his presence and wished for them to just be friends, but she knew it could never be, not if he found out who, or what, she was. She began to sob brokenly and turned away from him as she did so, as if to hide herself from him.

Darien felt his heart melt with such compassion for the young girl.

'Such angelic features of innocence,' he thought to himself, 'If only I could take away her pain. To see her smile and laugh. . .Wait a minute. What am I thinking? She's just a young girl, maybe two or three years my junior . . . but an adorable one at that.' He sighed. The girl was
definitely getting to him.

"Serena," he spoke her name with great care, "please. Turn around and face me." He touched her shoulder lightly and she turned her tear-streaked face towards him in the newly risen moon's light. He breathed in sharply, she was beautiful. Her face was etched in moonlight, her cheeks rosy from weeping while her soft lips pouted, and her sky blue eyes shined with yet more unshed tears.

"But it's true, what I said. I wish us to be friends, but I know that that cannot be if I am to tell you who I really am. Our friendship would have never had a chance to start." She whispered.

"Serena," Darien replied with real heart-felt emotion, "I'm sure I could overlook anything if it would allow us to begin such a wonderful friendship." The prince didn't know when he had ever felt so kindhearted towards anyone before, but the strange girl had such an effect on him.

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Serena stared into Darien's dark blue eyes and felt herself drowning and losing her ground. She had to escape.

"I think not." That was all she said before she whipped around and ran off into the night, not daring to look back, for fear of not being able to keep running. She heard the boy's voice off in the distance.

"SERENA!"

She began sobbing again as she flew across the forest trails toward her home in the quiet village. Running up to the cottage's back door, she quickly threw it open and ran upstairs to fall upon her bed and continue to quietly sob. She had pushed away yet another friend and she was in pain. When her sobbing had lessened, Serena fell into a peaceful sleep, exhausted from the whole
ordeal. She had been so deeply into her world of dreams that she hardly heard the racket being made by her stepmother and stepsisters' return.

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Crystal Rose ^_~