Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Real Deal ❯ Dane ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3:Dane

 

It's so foggy that I can't even see my feet and am hard pressed to see any part of my legs whatsoever. I blink and suddenly I'm in a courtyard with walkways made of the most beautiful emerald. I'm wearing a simple dark green evening gown with a low neckline and slightly puffed short sleeves. My hands are together in front of me and I feel I'm waiting for someone. Suddenly a pair of arms find their way around my shoulders and someone hugs me from behind. I turn to see who it is and am greeted with a pair of lips and a soft kiss that I instinctively return.

Our lips separate and I look up at the person and can't help but smile as he gazes down at me, “I didn't think it was possible, but you're even more beautiful then usual. The rest of the guys are going to be insanely jealous.” He says, causing me to blush slightly.

“I doubt it. They'll be to busy with the other princesses to be jealous of little ol' me.”

The man, who I somehow know is the Prince of Jupiter, my beloved, holds me in his arms and kisses me gently again before smiling down at me, “Now what did I tell you about being humble like that? You're gorgeous, and you know it.”

I smile back up at him, “Well, you don't look to bad yourself, love.”

The prince beams and reaches down, touching his nose to mine, “I love it when you call me that.”

I smile, totally at ease in his arms and I lay my head on his strong chest, “Well then, I'll just have to call you it more often.”

He takes my chin gently with his forefinger and thumb, lifting my face so we are gazing into each others eyes, “What did I ever do to deserve a beauty like you?”

I smile and blush a little, “Well, whatever you did, I must have done the same thing to deserve you. I feel like the luckiest girl in the universe.” I sigh and lay my head back on his chest, closing my eyes and just enjoying being in his arms.

Suddenly, his arms aren't around me any more, and I hear screaming around me along with the crackling of fire. I blink when I open my eyes again. I am on the moon, pressed against a marble pillar. I shake my head, clearing it from the confusion that clouds it. Something is very wrong. I run in the direction that people are coming from, knowing that that's where my friends, and my beloved, will be, transforming into my fuku as I go. The flow of people leads me to the palace, and I just get in the entryway when I run right into someone.

I slam into the floor before hurrying to get up. I then notice who I had slammed into. It is my beloved, badly wounded from fighting something powerful. I rush to his side as he struggles to sit up, “Love! What's happening?! Who's attacking?”

He looks up at me, panic written all over his face, “Beloved, you must get out of here. They're to powerful, you must escape while you have a chance!”

I shake my head, tears threatening to spill from my eyes, “Not without you love! I promised I would never leave your side and I won't!”

Just as I say this, a dark shadow creeps slowly towards him, burning yellow eyes that I notice just before it pounces, slashing at him with dark long claws. I watch in horror as the last of his life is ripped away from him. “No! Beloved! Beloved!”

I sit straight up in my bed, “Beloved!” I look around; I'm in my room, safe. I breathe heavily, pouring out sweat as I remember the nightmare. It felt so real. I look at my clock where the numbers 12:30 blare at me in a bright red light that I can make out even without my glasses. I rub my eyes to try and offset the headache I feel coming on. “I never remember this happening to the Scouts on the show.” I grumble to myself as I yawn. I'm just about to turn over and go back to sleep when I heard a quiet scratching. I cock an eyebrow and grab my glasses. I can tell that the scratching is coming from the front door, (A.N. I can hear it even though it's quiet because the way my home's set up my room is right next to the front door. I can actually look straight out of my window and see who is there, but here I'm not going to lol.) I stomp out to the living room and look in the peephole. I have to stop myself from screaming.

Staring back at me was a light blue lizard-like eye. As I regain control of my breath, I hear a soft voice come from the other side of the door, “Princess? Princess? Princess, please, let me in; it's cold out here. Please Princess, this isn't good for my health, I'm cold-blooded. Cold-blooded and winter don't mix. Come on, open up.”

I crawl to the door and put a hand on it, trying to get my heart and voice under control, “Wh...Who are you? What do you want?”

A moment of silence follows before the thing answers, sounding a little hurt, “You mean you don't remember me? I'm Dane, your advisor from the Silver Millenium. The one you hand picked and that never left your side, even when you wanted to be left alone.”

I open my mouth to say that I don't remember anything like that when I'm hit with a flashback. I'm about six or so and my mother is holding my hand. “Alright little one, it's time to choose your guardian. It will be your best friend and advisor when you take over my role as queen.” My mother's melodious voice rings down to me.

I smile and nod, “I know mamma. Just like your Europa right?”

She smiles gently and nods back, “That's right, just like Europa. Now go on, and remember, when you see the right one, you'll know it.”

I nod and skip around the enclosure she'd brought me to, looking at all manner of animals. None of them really interest me, so I continue to skip by and am near the back when something catches my eye. It is a creamy green egg that has blue swirls on it. I tug on my mother's dress, “Mamma, what's that aminal? Its egg is as big as I am! It's pretty too.”

My mother follows my pointing finger and stares at the egg for a few seconds before looking down at me, “Is that the one you want?”

I look at it again for a few seconds before looking back at my mother and nod, “Uh-huh, that's the one Mamma.”

From that point the memories are more like a slide show, with short clips of various times in my life, growing up with a large, lizard-like creature. Then the word comes to me from across the rift of time, `dragon'.

I blink and I'm back against the door. I quickly get up, unlock the door and open it. Looking back at me is a dragon, standing on its hind legs. It's skin is a beautiful emerald green that is offset by its sky-blue eyes. “Took you long enough Princess. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever open up.” He says with a note of humor in his voice.

I smile and fling myself at him, remembering how much he had meant to me. “Dane, I'm sorry. I just found out today who I really am, and I don't remember everything yet. I can't believe I forgot you!”

His small forearms wrap around me as best they can, and he lies his large head over my shoulder comfortingly, “I know. I just woke up today. Took a heck of a lot to find you, this is a big planet. Plus I had almost no idea where to start looking for you. I finally was able to track down Luna and she told me your address. I must have scratched for at least half an hour before I heard you wake up.”

I back up so I can look into his eyes, blushing a little. “You heard that?”

I swear I see a glint of mischief in his eyes as he nods “Yep. Seems you've done a lot of remembering tonight, haven't you?”

I blush a little before I realize I'm shivering and back up so that Dane can come in. I shut the door behind him and usher him to my room, closing the door and turning on the light on. We both groan at the abrupt change in brightness, before I hop onto my bed and Dane stands beside me as I look him up and down. “We're going to have to do something about you, Mom's definitely going to notice a six-foot dragon.”

Dane smiles, “Look like some of your memories are still incomplete. Dragons such as myself have a very unique talent. We're morphs.”

I smirk and roll my eyes, “There's creativity for ya'. Gee, whatever can it mean?”

Dane smirks, raising an eyebrow (well, at least what might be able to be called an eyebrow) “Well one thing's for sure, you may not be so good in the memory department, but you're still as sharp as ever when it comes to sarcasm.” While saying this, I notice that Dane is shrinking considerably. He's about the size of a small dog when he stops shrinking and the real change starts. His entire body changes, settling down on his front legs as well, neck and nose shortening while his eyes reposition themselves. Meanwhile, his tail has shortened considerably and shoots of fur start to pop out of his skin all over the place.

In a matter of seconds the six-foot dragon had melted down into a small cocker spaniel. I chuckle as he hops onto the bed and curls into my lap. “That could be useful. So, can you change into anything?”

From my lap Dane shakes his head, “No, I can only take the form of animals, and then I have to know what the animal looks like.”

I nod, “Ok, that makes sense. So, can you turn into a human? I'm figuring you'll want to reinstate your `never let me out of your sight' policy asap right?”

Dane sighs, “Of all the things you don't remember, that you do. Yes I can, and I'll be starting Monday. I plan to be in all your classes and sitting nearby you at all times.”

I lean back, rolling my eyes, “Grreeat.”

I then think of something and chuckles earning an inquisitive look from Dane, “What is it?”

I smirk down at him, “Oh, nothing. I just realized that you're gonna have to be a girl for one of my classes, I'm in Women's Chorus Dane.”

His eyes widen and he clears his throat, “Yes…well…I'll just have to be an assistant or student teacher or something.”

I smile and say, “Well, unless you wanna be a second soprano, you better figure something out before the weekend's out.” I chuckle as Dane gives me a good-natured glare. I yawn, “Come on Dane, it's late and you've been working all day trying to find me. Let's get some sleep.”

Dane chuckles, “Dragons don't sleep much Princess. Not to mention that I've spent the last who knows how long sleeping.” He says, getting up and hopping off the bed before turning to look up at me with a smile, “Besides, I have work to do. You go to sleep Princess; you will probably need the rest. No one knows what lays beyond the horizon.” With that he turns around and starts to pad out of the room.

He is almost out when I say, “Umm…Dane?”

He turns, “Yes Princess?”

I look at my hands for a second before looking at him again, “Don't go to far, okay?”

Dane smiles softly and nods, “As you wish Princess. Good night.”

I smile before yawning, “Good night Dane. Until tomorrow.” I sat as I turned out my light.

The last thing I hear is a soft, “Until tomorrow, my Princess.” and the door softly closing as I drift off into a sweet slumber, feeling safer than I ever have knowing that Dane would be on guard. How could I not feel safe with a dragon protecting me?