Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Slipper ❯ Chapter 3

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


Crystal Slipper by Crystal Rose

~ part 3 ~

It was dawn when Serena awoke the next morning. She yawned with fatigue and faintly recalled the events from last night, but quickly dismissed them as she sat up to greet the rising sun. She lazily dragged herself out of bed and dressed herself in some simple clothing. It was a Saturday, the 21st of January. Then, she remembered.

"Oh . . . the 21st of January . . . It's my birthday!"

With this revelation, Serena cheerfully skipped downstairs to prepare breakfast. Being in such a good mood, she made her stepmother and stepsisters= favorite breakfasts and patiently awaited their descent. After waiting for about half an hour, Serena=s mood began to sour as the food slowly cooled and her impatience grew. She decided that she would wait no longer and swiftly left the kitchen. Tip-toeing carefully up the stairs, she peeked into each of their rooms to find them empty! When she went to check on her stepmother, she was confronted with a note hanging on the door. It read:

Serena,

Galaxia, Metalia, and I have decided to visit Uncle Wiseman and will be bringing him home for supper. You will need to travel into town to get the necessary ingredients. We will return at 5:30 and I expect you to have the dishes properly prepared by then. Uncle Wiseman=s favorite dish is roasted duck. Pick another one or two dishes to go along with that, then bake a cake for dessert. If you embarrass or humiliate me by failing to do so, you will not only be severely punished, but you will lose your freedom as well for dishonoring me in the eyes of your step-uncle.

Your Stepmother,

Beryl

"Oh, how terrible. I don=t understand. Why?" Serena was confused and saddened by the prospect of having to slave over yet another dinner tonight. Of all days, too. It was her birthday, but no one seemed to know or care.

"Oh, Serena. You know exactly why she's doing this. She hates you and wants to make your life miserable! No matter what, though, you can't give in!" She told herself.

Despite herself though, Serena could still feel the hot, salty tears stream down her face as she quietly sunk to the floor. Quickly wiping away her tears, she shakily stood and decided that she would go straight into town to get the necessary ingredients. Rushing through the house, she collected her cloak and hood, along with a reasonable amount of money. In less than ten minutes, she was ready and out the door, convinced that some fresh air was all she needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The market was busy with people bustling to and fro. Horse carts and wagons sped by with their own accord on the crowded streets of Terran, the city of the royal palace. The place was alive with all sorts of appealing aromas and wonderful sounds of happiness and laughter. The gayness of the surrounding atmosphere was enough to cheer up even the most depressed of people; that included the crowned prince of earth, who had been pondering about the young girl of the night before and, in doing so, stayed up half the night obsessing over the mystery, only to dream of the enigmatic angel while he slept. Being in such distress, the prince had woken up with quite a headache and was very irritable to those around him, so he had decided to head to the market, where he hoped to rid himself of his troubles. No one had objected, since the prince was in such a fickle mood, and even allowed him to journey alone.

"Ha! No doubt Malachite and the guys are just tagging behind." Darien mused to himself.

Dismounting off his mighty black stallion, the prince sighed as he touched ground. Wearily, he pulled a dust-covered glove off of his right hand and ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair that shined a bluish-black in the sun. After placing the dirtied glove into the sac that had been strapped onto his loyal steed, he sighed and proceeded in removing the other glove, then placing it beside its match. With that done, he took the horse=s reins into his hands and led the way through the busy streets, hoping to drown his troubles in the never-ending sea of happy and gay people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While the prince was casually strolling amongst the crowds of people in the market, Serena had just arrived and looked about her surroundings with an awed expression at the liveliness of the place and its occupants. Looking around, she almost forgot about what had taken place earlier that morning and set out to collect what was necessary for the feast with a skip and a dazzling smile.

People were everywhere, smiling and laughing, offering Serena various foods and items. She flushed with excitement as she ran through the streets, passing the many booths that filled them. In one, she recognized the many carcasses of poultry hanging above and abruptly pulled to a stop. The owner of the booth stood hard and rigid with his greased black hair covering his eyes. He was broad and muscular, standing with a righteous disposition as he undoubtedly glared at her. She cautiously stepped closer.

"Um . . . excuse me . . ." Serena sputtered.

"What?" The man growled.

"I was just wondering if you, by chance, had any duck?"


"Hmph."The man grunted as he grabbed a carcass and held it before her. "That'll be a dollar and a half."

Serena quickly scrambled to search for her pouch of money and drew out three half dollars.

"Here." Serena handed the man the three coins and carefully took the carcass by the feet.

After getting what she needed for the main course, she took her time in thinking of what else to make. She had quickly chosen what to bake for dessert, however, and decided to head off in search of some blueberries for the pie that she was going to make. She soon came upon a kind old woman with all sorts of fruits and berries. Peaches, apples, oranges, cranberries, mulberries, and plenty more littered the booth.

"Oh! May I ask if you have any blueberries?" Serena smiled kindly at the wizened old woman.

"Of course, my child. How much would you like?"

"A pound should do, I think."

"Making a pie, my dear?"

"Why, yes!" The kind old woman chuckled in reply and handed her the bag of blueberries.

"Here you go. Take it and just think of it as a gift. Now, be off."

"Wait!" Serena hurriedly reached for her pouch of money when a soft hand pushed down upon her own. She looked up to see the old woman staring kindly at her with an almost wistful expression.

"Never lose the magic that you possess, my child, for your kindness and generosity shall touch the world one day and no one will have ever seen such beauty." The old woman intoned with an air of wiseness from long ago.

Serena stared a moment, then realized that she was no longer standing in front of the same booth, or in the same place for that matter, anymore. She looked up shocked, a glazed look overtook her features for a moment as she went into reverie . . . that voice. Just as quickly as she had gone into that state, she snapped out of it and blinked a few times, trying to convince her that she had not been hallucinating during that whole time. She then pinched herself HARD!

"OW!" Serena was shocked, even more so when she looked down to discover a bag of blueberries in her left hand.

She suddenly felt slightly saddened by the prospect that no one had ever been so kind or loving to her. Even her father, before his untimely death, had never touched her so deeply,instilling in her his greatest of confidences that she would indeed amount to something special because of who she was. There had been such faith in her, in who she was. Then again, here she stood, alive and well with food and shelter. What else could she ask for? She smirked slightly at all the possibilities of the answer and resumed her walk through the market.

Unbeknownst to her, a deity of great grace and beauty looked down upon her with a quiet smile, remarking to herself what a wonderful young woman the girl had become. Dressed in a gown of the purest white, her hair spilled in glorious waves of silver from two balls upon her head to rest at her feet, her bangs framing a softly glowing golden crescent moon upon her forehead. The goddess stared at the child admiringly for one more moment before disappearing once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prince Darien had been walking about the market for over an hour now and he still could not rid the young girl from his mind. The barters and booth-keepers only proved to be an even greater annoyance to his irritable highness as he was constantly having to bat away those who would try and sell him something.

"Everything's way overpriced, of course, since I am the Prince." he thought to himself, adding to his already bitter thoughts.

He sighed with despair and turned around to begin his way back home when he spotted a most unlikely sight. A young girl lay sprawled in a heap in the middle of the street with her possessions scattered about. A menacing man stood towering above her, obviously angry at the girl, yelling insults and threats. His vision was slightly obscured by the fact that he was quite a good distance away from the scene, but did hear some of what was being said.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING LITTLE
WENCH?!!"

Upon saying this the man had reached down and smacked the young girl across her face; the powerful slap was resounding. The girl winced in pain and was on the verge of tears.

"I-I am terribly sorry. I didn't watch where I was going and . . ."

"AND WHAT?!"

"It was an accident and I really am sorry for running into you . . . I don't know how else I could possibly make this up to you, so please, sir, please forgive me."

"Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of ways you could make it up to me." The man formed an evil grin and began snickering as he looked her up and down.

Prince Darien moved closer and saw that the girl was utterly terrified. Then, on a more horrified note, realized that it was the girl from the night before!

"Serena." he thought.

He quickly urged himself to go to her rescue as his heart twisted at the thought of any harm coming to the fragile angel. Mounting his stallion, Prince Darien dashed to the scene, hoping to prevent any possible harm coming from the detestable man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, Serena! Look what you've gotten yourself into!" Serena stared into the intimidating man's eyes, which were darkened with lustful desire. She could feel her eyes rapidly filling with tears.

"Oh god, save me." Serena prayed before shutting her eyes tight, letting her tears fall freely.

Just then, the looming shadow disappeared and cries of alarm filled the air. Carefully opening one eye, Serena saw an incredible sight. A bull that had somehow gotten loose from a farm nearby was on a rampage and had taken two unfortunate men along for the ride. The bull had come crashing through the market with people scurrying like mice; the two men could barely get a hold of the wild animal and, most of the time, were desperately running beside it. Her eyes widened to their fullest extent as she realized where the animal was headed. Time seemed to slow as the raging animal made its stampede toward her. Its black coat gleamed in the sun; the horns flashed with warning, and the eyes seemed to be blind, yet seeing. Serena froze in her horrific fear of what was to come. Her eyes slammed shut once more as the onslaught of tears welcomed her death.

"NO! SERENA!!"

Serena jerked back into reality in an instant, her eyes snapping open.

"Darien."

Serena then looked up once again to see the beast, but this time her eyes flashed with determination; she then tried to dodge the oncoming animal in a hopeless attempt to save herself. While leaping aside, though, the bull had already reached her as the piercing pain in her right side confirmed. Looking down for a brief moment, she viewed a most horrific sight. The bull's right horn was threaded through her, blood trickled down her clothes and the bulls horn was stained a blood red. In the next few seconds the bull had proceeded to thrash its head about, throwing the gorged victim to the ground in its irritable state. The bull's young victim lay upon the ground, her eyes glazed over and unseeing as she slipped into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Darien had witnessed the entire incident with great horror. He quickly jumped off his steed and ran towards the gathering crowd. Seeing his highness, most of the people quickly made way for him as he neared the young girl. He stood there for a moment, staring at her. From her gaping wound, blood gushed forth as her body lay still and listless, her eyes closed. After the slight hesitation, Darien seemed to snap.

"Please! Everyone just move back!! Would someone alert Lord Malachite of this incident?!"

"I will!" A young boy stepped forward. Darien nodded to him and the boy took off.

"Good." Darien replied and hastily ripped a large strip of material from Serena's dress. Gently lifting her, he peeled the top of her dress down passed her bosom and began wrapping the cloth about her naked waist in an effort to stop the bleeding. Securely tying the knot, he took her into his arms and somehow managed to mount his horse with her. He looked down upon the wound to see that the blood was quickly staining the bandage that he had made for her, but decidedly covered her nudity by replacing the top of her dress. He then took off at top speed towards the palace to seek the healers.

"Oh god, Serena. You must live."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please Email!! Tell me what you think! My email is crystal_rose@senshi-mail.zzn.com

Crystal Rose ^_~