"A White Rose, A Red Rose" - Chapter 7 Well, hello again! I am happy to see that I still have people coming back to see my story, it makes writing it all worth while! I hope that you all are enjoying it, I try to make it as understandable as possible. I know that some of you don't understand my views, or what I am trying to say, but I hope that you like it all the same. As usual I want to thank all of my friends and editors who give me courage and support in writing this awfully long fanfic, but then if you think this is long you ought to see my poetry. (No, I have not published any of it.) Special thanks to Chichiri, Sailor V, Sailor Saturn, Melinda, Mareike, and all of you others who have written me! My adress is Nitehawk@silcom.com. Disclaimers: These disclaimers are really boring, so I will put it to a tune. Sing it to "Jingle Bells" I don't own Sailor Moon, fa la la la la (Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way) It belongs to other people (Oh what fun it is to ride) So don't sue me to o day (In a one horse open slay) Did you like it? Well, on to the story! "A White Rose, A Red Rose" - Chapter 7 Queen Serenity looked out the window and then back at the Terran Queen and King. "I suppose you are right," she said with a sigh, "I suppose there is no other way." "We also have put a lot of thought into this, we tried to see a way around it, but after all it was the way ALL of the other planets joined, and the tradition must be kept," the Queen said, understanding Queen Serenity's hesitation. "Well, we had best not delay, we have for long enough." Serenity rang a little bell summoning in Molly. "Call the Princess and the Prince," she said calmly. Molly curtsied and left the room. @-->-->--- A moment later, Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity stood before their parents waiting for them to speak. "Endymion, Princess Serenity," the King began slowly, "it has been decided that you shall be wed for the sake of the treaty." "During the ball celebrating Serenity's sixteenth birthday the engagement is to be announced," the Terran Queen put in. "And then in two months time you shall be wed." "I hope you understand that it is all for the best, we tried to find another way, but this is the only one to be found," Queen Serenity spoke quietly and the Princess knew that it pained her mother to do this and knew that there was no other way. She had expected it, although she had hoped against it. She did not want to marry a man who did not love her. "Mother, King and Queen, I will consent to this marriage," she whispered softly, only barely heard. Endymion looked at Serenity shocked, 'She consents to this marriage, I thought she hated me. . . ' but then he looked into her eyes and saw the pain there. 'She's doing this for her Kingdom and for her Mother, it is not me that she truly marries, but the treaty and peace. There was a reason that she was named Serenity.' But even as his thoughts wandered, he felt his heart break under the revelation. "I also will consent to the marriage," he said stiffly. @-->-->--- Serenity ran to the safety of her room as soon as it was possible. She quickly rid herself of the dress that she was required to wear in the presence of the King and Queen and put on her usual slacks and shirt. She then flung herself onto her bed and wrapped the golden blanket around her shoulders. 'Mamochan, what am I going to do? Even if I could not marry you, or even meet you, I still wanted to marry someone that at least loved me,' she thought. But even with her heart broken, she refused to cry. If she cried, Mamochan would know her pain, but then he probably already felt it. Her thoughts drifted to the first time that she had spoken to him, almost thirteen years ago in the garden. She had cried then and he had come to her rescue. "Usagi, what is it? What is wrong?" she heard Mamoru ask her. But she could not speak, barely think, so instead she opened her mind and let him see, see what ailed her. At the same time that he looked into her mind he opened his mind to her and she saw that he to was in the same plight. 'Cruel, cruel destiny. To bring us together and then make us marry others,' she thought bitterly. The two sat together, comforting one another well into the night and the early morning hours. Usagi did not have to wake Mamoru to see the morning star this time, they were both already up to see it. When the two finally did go to sleep, it was already mid morning. @-->-->--- Usagi woke from her peaceful slumber with a joyful feeling in her heart. She knew that she had every reason to be unhappy, but the joy would not be ignored, she needed to be happy for her people, her kingdom. They all served her so loyally and she could not let them down. She felt a slight tingling sensation welling up in her body and knew she needed to release some energy. Opening the window she slipped out and ran down her usual path to through the garden. Usagi reached the lake and took a deep breath, the air was wonderfully cool and the dark night seemed peaceful and content. She bent down to breath on the lake and begin her dance, but was stopped by what she saw. The reflection that stared back at her was not the one she was used to. Carefully she stood up and picked up a strand of her hair to look at it closer. Her reflection did not lie, her hair was silver. A small smile graced her lips, she had become a woman. Her mother had told her that on her sixteenth birthday, or shortly thereafter she would find her hair start to turn silver and other changes as well. Serenity laughed and looked at the lake, it immediately froze and she stepped onto it. Skates appeared on her feet and she began to fly on the ice. A feather floated to the ice beside her and she looked around to see where it had come from. It was then that she noticed them, her wings were no longer like a butterfly's, they were those of an angels. Beautiful white feathers covered her wings and shimmered with a soft silver light. She flapped and stretched her wings slowly and found herself born up into the air. Pushing her glasses back up onto her nose, Serenity laughed and then began her dance afresh. To an observer it would have seemed like she had had her wings her entire life, she used them automatically for balance and easily caught herself into the air and then let herself dance up into the sky and then fly back to the ground. In the sky the stars twinkled brightly, seemingly laughing with her and Terra seemed to smile down at the dancing Princess. @-->-->--- Mamoru awoke to an intense joy coursing through his body. His world seemed to alight and he walked out onto the balcony for air. Looking out over the expanse of the gardens, the joy that ran through his very blood seemed to call him into the gardens depths. Lithely he jumped over the balcony railing and ran into the garden, allowing his heart to lead him on. His pace quickened until to an onlooker it would have seemed that he flew. A shiver ran through his spine as the weather cooled around him. Soon he reached the lake that marked the center of the garden and found that it was ice. He looked out into the middle of the lake and saw what seemed to be an angel dancing there. The angel had long silver hair that flowed about her like a waterfall of silver coursing over her. She wore silvery white garments that matched the silver rims of her glasses and her skin shown like ivory. Her lithe body moved about the ice with unimaginable grace and her great white wings supported her every movement. Music floated from her direction on the ice and he felt he should know the tune. The angel began laughing and silver light radiated from her every pour and a symbol appeared on her forehead. Looking harder he realized what the symbol was, it was a golden crescent moon, the sign of the Moon Kingdom. He gasped in surprise, this angel was Princess Serenity. Suddenly a realization welled up within Mamoru and he realized that she was not only the Princess Serenity, this was Usagi. No one else laughed like that, with that amount of joy and no one had her light. But perhaps the most definite sign was that the music was from their star locket. Smiling he looked up into the sky and willed snow to start falling. @-->-->--- Usagi continued her dance, laughing with joy. Suddenly snow was falling all around her and she stopped dancing to stare around her. Someone was close by, she could feel their presence. Slowly a form began to appear out of the mist. The silver light that coursed around her seemed to run toward the form and pull him closer. Serenity gasped as the form came into view, it was Prince Endymion. Her breath caught in her throat as he smiled at her and her heart rate began to speed. His voice called out to her using a name that she had only dreamed of hearing. "Usagi, so I have finally met you," was all he said, but it was more than enough. All her thoughts seemed to stop inside her head and she was sure for a moment that she was dreaming. How could Prince Endymion be Mamoru, but how else could he know her name? And how else could he look at her like this? @-->-->--- Prince Endymion felt her shock at seeing him and his smile broadened. He reached out his hand to her and she placed hers into his gently. He pulled her into a dance and the two began to fly around the ice together, in perfect unison. Time seemed to stand still as the two glided along the ice together. The dance ended and Serenity pulled a little ways away, looking up into his eyes. For the first time he really saw them. Her eyes seemed to have more depth than the sky and seemed to be bluer. Thousands of silver flakes filled them making her eyes look like the day sky filled with stars. Suddenly she reached from behind her back and threw a snow ball into his face. Startled only for a moment, he started after her retreating figure. @-->-->--- Usagi smiled and held her hand behind her back. Carefully, she concentrated so that he would not notice and called the snow into her hand. Quickly a ball was formed and she brought her hand from behind her back and swiftly threw it into his face. Laughing she skated off and he started after her. She was fast on the ice, but he was faster. Soon he cought up with her and pulled her to him, pinning her to his chest. Quickly he called the snow to him and poured a bunch down the back of her shirt. She squirmed in his grasp but could not release herself. Instead she began to heat her body so that the snow melted. She looked up into his eyes defiantly and laughed again. Her laughter stopped abruptly as she noticed that he was staring at her. The look in his eyes confused her, yet at the same time caused her heart to beat even faster. She realized just how close she was to him, but for some reason could not bring herself to pull away. Instead, she looked back up into his face, searching him for answers. Still keeping one arm wrapped around her, securing her to him, Mamoru reached up and touched her face, removing her glasses. They disappeared as soon as he removed them. He then took her chin in his hand and tilted her face upward. Slowly he closed the gap between their faces and just before he closed the last inch he whispered the very words that she had always dreamed of hearing from him, "Aishiteru." Surprise as his actions hit her full force when she felt his lips close over her own. A small gasp escaped from between her lips and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth. Her whole body felt like she was melting, he was kissing her! Slowly she responded to the kiss, unsure of herself, but sure that she should. She slid her tongue in his mouth and felt his joy. The sensation of being kissed and the intense joy that was building up between them made her feel giddy. Emotions swirled in her heart and she could sense the energy building up between them. @-->-->--- Mamoru could no longer resist the urge to touche her face. She was staring up at him through her sliver tipped lashes and he wanted to see her eyes when they were not hidden behind a pair of glasses. Slowly he reached up and removed them causing them to vanish as soon as he pulled them off. Her eyes widened at his actions and he could no longer hold himself back. Tilting her chin up to him he closed the gap between them and then whispered "Aishiteru" to confirm to her what he was sure she already knew. Then he kissed her. He felt like she lost all weight in his arms and then heard a small gasp escaped from her lips. Quickly he took the opportunity and deepened the kiss. His happiness intensified when she responded and began to kiss him back. @-->-->--- An enormous amount of energy was building up between them and when he pulled her closer to himself and she slipped her arms around his neck it exploded. A great flash of light lit the sky to the outermost parts of the universe. A rush of energy engulfed the couple and they felt themselves sink into each others minds. Vaguely it occurred to them both that they would no longer be able to keep each other out at all, the last barrier had been breached by the kiss. When the two finally separated, they were gasping for breath. Serenity opened her eyes slowly, praying that it was no dream. But what she saw before her made her breath catch in her throat. Endymion no longer wore the black pants and shirt that he had been a moment ago. In its place was black armor lined with silver and gold. His hair seemed to have gotten even darker. His eyes seemed to have gained depth and where now flecked with gold, like the night sky filled with stars. But what surprised her most was that from his back emitted wings. Wings quite like her own, only his were black with gold light emanating from them while hers were white with a silver light. @-->-->--- Endymion stared at Serenity, he had thought she was beautiful before, but now . . . She stood before him in a long white gown that reached her feet. Her hair was up in the royal hair style but still the streams of silver hair touched the ground. Her skin seemed to be whiter and her eyes even deeper, if that were possible. She radiated a gentle silver light and even standing there she read of innocence and grace. Endymion looked about them and found that they were no longer standing on the ice, in fact the lake was not even ice anymore. Instead they seemed to be suspended in space, looking back at his Princess, he noticed that her wings were gently flapping. It was then that he realized that he also had a pair of wings coming out of his back keeping him from falling to the ground. Looking around them he found that they were surrounded with light, light that was emanating from them both. It was a gentle golden silver light, pulsing with power and life. He then looked back at Serenity and found her staring back at him. Smiling again he pulled her back toward him and kissed her again. @-->-->--- End of Chapter 7. Well, we have finally reached the end of the story! Just kidding! There is still at least one more chapter in the works! So write back and tell me what you think? Did the meeting do them justice? Do you like the wings? The thought of Mamoru with wings is just a little strange, ne? But I had to make him match her, and I wanted to keep her wings, so the only answer was to give them to him as well. Please E-mail me and tell me what you think! I'll take any comments, even flames! (A very strong HINT) Well, catch you guys latter God bless you all! My adress is Nitehawk@silcom.com! I really don't mind e-mail! ~Miaka Well, catch you guys