Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Fairytale Princess ❯ Oh, The Joy Of Making Friends... ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Sailor Moon. Do you think I would be writing fanfics if I did?
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Serena glanced around nervously as she walked through a set of large doors. She had no idea where she was now. Despite being right behind the scouts before, the princess had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed them getting away. And now she found herself standing in the middle of the gardens as a result.
Those large doors had led her outside. Serena shifted uncomfortably in her large dress. The material was getting rather hot and she wasn’t used to the extra weight. The heels weren’t helping either.
A root protruding from the soil escape the girls notice as she paced the paths of the gardens. Her shoe was caught in it and she tumbled to the ground in a show of fabric and skirts.
“New shoes?” someone laughed to her left. She looked up to come face to face with one of the prince’s generals. She looked away embarrassed as he walked over and extended a hand. She thankfully took it and rose to her feet.
Serena dusted off her dress in an attempt to avoid his eyes. He bowed once she had righted herself.
“What is your name?” she asked.
“Nephrite milady,” he replied straightening up. Serena nodded.
“Welcome to the Moon Lord Nephlyte,” she said as formally as possible. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. Serena blushed as he placed a light kiss upon the back of her hand.
“Please call me Nephrite, Princess,” he said.
“Then I insist you call me Serena,” she said. He chuckled and released her hand.
“Will do,” he said. “Now can I be of some assistance? You seem a little lost,” he asked. Serena blushed once again.
“Yes. I’m not sure how to get back to my room,” she said meekly. He chuckled once again.
“Well I cannot lead you back to your chambers, for that would be un-gentlemanly and I do not know where it is, but I can take you to your mothers study if that is any better?” Serena nodded and accepted his outstretched arm. They then began making their way towards the study.
“Why me?” Raye muttered as she ran through the halls of the palace. The scouts had agreed to separate and search for the missing princess. Raye had unfortunately been given the job of informing the Queen. She stopped once she arrived outside the Queen’s study to compose herself. After a moment she rapped on the door and entered.
“You majesty?” she said as she walked in to find Queen Selena, Queen Beryl, King Arren and to her surprise Prince Endymion.
“What is it Raye?” Selena asked the flustered girl. “Is something wrong?”
Raye nodded.
“Yes your highness. The princess has….disappeared,” she said. Selena immediately jumped to her feet.
“What?” she almost yelled.
“When we were showing the guests to their rooms, Serenity vanished,” Raye explained. Selena began pacing as she nervously bit her lip.
“How could she have just disappeared?” Beryl asked. Raye shrugged.
“We don’t know. One minute she was behind us, the next she was not.” Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes before the handle of the door turned and in entered the object of their discussion. On a mans arm no less.
Endymion shifted uncomfortably as he watched the princess hold Nephrite’s arm. Something stirred in his gut but he just brushed it off. He hadn’t eaten since this morning after all.
Serena was too busy laughing at the Earth joke Nephrite had just told her to notice everyone in the study who were looking at her. When she did stop however, her mother was the first to react.
“Serenity, where have you been? The scouts were worried sick about you,” she exclaimed. Serena released her escorts arm and looked down.
“I’m sorry mother. I got lost,” she said quietly. Selena’s face softened at her statement.
“It’s okay dear. Just try and keep with the scouts. They will look after you,” she said kindly. Serena nodded slightly.
“Now that everything is settled, I would like to introduce you to the royal family of Earth,” Selena said. She pointed at King Arren first.
“This is King Arren and his wife Queen Beryline Serai of Earth. And this is their son Prince Endymion,” she said. Serena remembered the incident earlier and curtsied as best she could. The Queen curtsied back and the men bowed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Princess Serenity,” Beryl said as she looked at the princess. Her long blonde hair had been fashioned to look like her mothers, in the traditional moon bun style. Her skin seemed practically flawless and was also a pale creamy colour that was almost glowing. All in all, the queen concluded, she looked like everything a Moon princess should be. Beautiful beyond compare.
Endymion also took his own time to examine the Moon princess’ appearance. Since all that fabric covered her legs, Endymion let his eyes wander up to her slim waist. Then over her confined bust, delicate shoulders and swan like neck. The thing that grabbed his attention the most though was not her body, but her eyes. Baby blue and crystal clear that just happened to be looking right at him.
Serena’s eyes had instantly been drawn to the prince who stood to the left of his parents.
His ebony black hair had shielded his eyes from her view until he slowly stood from his bow. Serena could see the way his white shirt clung to his back. His arms and back were roped with muscle, but not to the point that made her gag. Her curious eyes wandered to his face as it came into view. She was startled slightly by the perfect combination his simple yet kissable lips, slightly tanned skin and well-defined jaw made.
When his eyes connected with hers Serena felt her heart flutter just like in those ridiculous stories everyone was always spouting out. Maybe they weren’t so ridiculous after all.
For a few moments their gazes stayed fixed on one another, completely ignoring everything happening around them. Serena was the first to break their staring contest.
When she looked around, the princess noticed that Raye had left while she had been staring at the prince. King Arren and the two Queens had also resumed their conversation.
“Mother may I be excused?” Serena asked when she noticed that the sun had begun to set. Selena nodded and Serena curtsied once more before leaving the study.
When she eventually found her way back to her chamber, Serena collapsed on the bed. The prince’s looks had taken her by surprise. She had seen he was handsome when he first arrived but after closer inspection, Serena concluded that he was very handsome indeed.
Serena’s eyes drifted shut and she was lost in her dreams.
In another part of the castle, Prince Endymion walked into his general’s chambers to find them seated around a table playing cards.
“Hey Endymion, want to join in? Zoicite is losing money faster than I’ve ever seen before,” Jadeite said to the prince. Endymion just shook his head and sunk down into a nearby chair. Jaedite just shrugged and returned to his cards.
“So,” Jaedite began fiddling with his cards, “What did everyone think of little Miss Moon princess?”
“Serena seems rather nice,” Nephrite commented.
“Oh so your on a first name basis with her now?” Endymion said bitterly. He couldn’t understand why something as trivial as Nephrite knowing the princess’ first name would upset him so. After all, he had Giana.
Before any of the awesome foursome (A/N: I love that name) could reply a knock was heard at the door.
“What is it?” Malachite asked standing from his seat.
“Dinner is served my lords,” a small voice floated through. All of them stood and made their way over to the door. When they opened it, whoever had knocked was gone.
“Great. How are we supposed to get to the dinning room now?” Nephrite said a little frustrated.
“Well my lord Nephrite, of all the places in the castle, that is the one I do know how to find,” someone said from behind them. The group turned to find princess Serenity standing there with a smile.
“Ah Serena. Would you be so kind as to show us the way then?” Nephrite replied.
“Of course,” she said. “Follow me.” Serena then walked past the men and down the hall.
“So Princess Serenity,” Jadeite said stepping in beside her, “How much do you know about the Sailor Scouts?” Serena eyed him suspiciously as they continued on their way.
“Enough. Why do you ask Lord Jadeite?” she replied.
“Oh no reason. I was just curious as to which planet each of the ladies is from, that’s all,” he replied as innocently as possible.
“Well, Princess Minara is from Venus, Princess Amelia from Mercury, Princess Natality is from Jupiter and Princess Raychel is from Mars,” Serena recited.
“What a coincidence. I too am from Mars,” Jadeite said.
“We all are,” Nephrite added. Serena looked at them surprised.
“I myself are from Jupiter. Jadeite is from Mars, Malachite from Venus and,” Nephrite explained.
“Zoicite from Mercury?” Serena finished for him. He nodded.
“Wow. I never knew that there were other guardians that came from the planets,” Serena commented. At this point Endymion chose to join the conversation.
“You didn’t think that the Moon Princess was the only royal worth protecting, did you?” he snorted. Nephrite secretly glared at his prince.
“Why no Prince Endymion, I didn’t. And you are very arrogant indeed if you think I did. I am not like many people you must encounter. I try not to judge people on what planet they come from. Only on what kind of person they are. And let me say that everything I thought of you seems to be true,” Serena replied easily as they arrived at the dinning room. She pushed open the doors and entered.
The entire group of general’s snickered behind their princes’ back as he followed the princess in. Serena and Endymion’s parents were already seated at the rather long table and seemed to be discussing something. Serena saw Mina, Raye, Lita and Amy already seated too. They were all wearing normal dresses rather than their scout uniforms.
Mina was wearing a yellow dress that clung tightly to her bust but flared out in cris crossing layers of yellow material after her waist. It stretched down her body and brushed the floor. A yellow ribbon was tied around her neck, sitting just above her topaz necklace.
Raye had on a floor length, blood red dress that flowed and moulded to her body like a second skin. A strip down the centre was a lighter shade than the rest of the dress and situated above her ruby necklace was a red ribbon.
Amy sported a pale blue gown that billowed around her like water. It reached the floor with ease and the colour matched that of her own blue ribbon that was once again tied just above her aquamarine necklace.
Lita’s forest green dress as similar to Amy’s but the main defining feature was the long slit stretching up so as to almost reach her waist. Thin layers of white material could bee seen under the slit giving the princess a little more modesty. One ribbon was keeping her hair up in its ponytail, while the other was, coincidently, once again tied just above her emerald necklace.
Serena suddenly felt very small and insignificant. Compared to these four women, she wasn’t anything special. They were beautiful, graceful and powerful. What was she but lucky?
By the time Serena had broken from her examination, everyone else was already seated. She quickly took the seat across from Raye. Queen Selena and queen Beryl were involved in a discussion, King Arren was conversing with his son and each of the generals seemed to be talking to one of the scouts.
As Serena looked around she noticed someone was missing.
“Your highness, where is the lady you were with earlier?” Serena asked the prince. He glanced at her but continued talking to his father.
‘Why that little,’ she thought angrily. ‘How dare he ignore me!’ While Serena was mentally raging, the servants brought out their food.
Serena smiled widely at them and looked them in the eye when she thanked them. Each one beamed back at her and continued on with a smile now lighting their features.
Queen Selena had been watching her daughter as the food was served. She noted how she treated all of the servants as her equals. No one was treated as though they were worth nothing. Her attention was peaked once again as Serena grasped her glass of water and walked stealthily over to the prince.
“Try ignoring me this time,” she said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. Everyone gasped as Serena turned her glass and unceremoniously dumped its contents over the raven-haired prince.
Everyone sat in shock for a moment before Selena attempted to change the subject.
“Uh…Serenity?” she called.
“Yes mother,” Serena replied without a second thought about the now wet prince.
“Yaten has…informed me of…your ability to…sing. Would you…uh…do us the honour?” she said staring at the cursing prince.
Serena blushed.
“Well I only know one song,” she admitted sheepishly.
“That will do,” Selena said motioning for her to sing. Everyone, including Endymion although his was more of a glare, turned to look at her. Serena felt her knees go weak with nerves.
“Sing darling,” her mother coaxed. Serena shut her eyes and shook her head.
“I can’t,” she said before turning and running from the room.
Everyone watched her go before Queen Selena buried her face in her hands.
“I’m sorry Prince Endymion. Serenity is a little hard to control sometimes,” she apologised. The scraping of a chair was heard and when the queen looked up, the prince was gone too.
Serena had found her way into the gardens again. She sat down and huddled as best she could in her dress. Her stomach was churning from the butterflies that were dancing in it. She didn’t understand. She had never been shy or nervous when it came to singing so why did she freeze all of a sudden?
‘Maybe Endymion has something to do with it?’ her mind whispered. Serena shook the thought off. Not a chance in hell. No guy, let alone a prince, could make her act like that. All nervous and such.
The snapping of a twig caught her attention and Serena lifted her head to find Endymion glaring down at her.
“Did you think that was funny? Dumping your drink on me? Let me tell you something princess Serenity,” he spat. “I am not someone you want to toy with.”
Serena stood to her full height and glared at him.
“What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? Fine then. I’m sorry,” she replied angrily. Endymion shook his head and turned to go.
Serena sighed and grabbed his arm.
“Look I’m sorry okay? I act rashly sometimes,” she said for real this time. Endymion just snorted.
“Do you think I care? Let me go,” he said trying to shake her off. Serena held firm until he pushed her extra hard and she fell back. She whimpered lightly as her back made harsh contact with the roots of a nearby tree.
Endymion ignored her and stalked off to find Giana. Serena sat there on the ground for a moment as she felt tears prickle her eyes. Eventually she lifted herself up and slowly made her way back to her room. She undressed and looked at her back in the mirror. Her birthmark still stood out easily against the developing red area.
All nine of the planetary symbols ran down her spine in a perfect line.
The order matched that of the universe, which went Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Each helping to define who she was. The crescent moon mark however only appeared on her forehead at certain times. Like when she was in danger or using her powers.
Yet only one symbol was missing. Well, missing to everyone except Serenity for she knew exactly where on her body the symbol for Earth was located.